I was very fortunate to spend this past weekend with my two best girlfriends. It was awesome.
Sometimes, “best friends” sounds so childish. And exclusionary. Any friend, new or old, is great to have. But these particular friends, Carol and Tracey, have been friends of mine since childhood. So I think calling them my best friends is justified.
That's Tracey beside me and Carol is in the front.
I’m not sure exactly when we all met. It seems like we have known each other since forever.
Really. It’s been about 35 years.
That’s a LONG time.
We’ve all been through and seen each other through so much together. We’re physically distant from each other and don’t get together nearly as often as we would like to, but that bond is and always will be very strong.
We all grew up together in Baltimore. Now, Carol is living in Southern Maryland, Tracey is in Central Pennsylvania, and I am in Virginia.
The distance isn’t insurmountable, but we all have pretty busy lives. Which is why we see so little of each other. But when we do get together, it’s always good.
Things are rarely rosy for all of us simultaneously. We all have our different struggles. So it’s not always sunshine and laughter. But even when times are bad, getting together with these two somehow makes things better.
I don’t want to get too mushy here. I just have to say I am really, REALLY glad we were all able to spend time together this holiday season.
I love you girls more than I think you know.
Here are some more shots from our weekend…
I finally got to show them my new town.
Tracey, like I told you, I really do shoot this church a lot. Especially when there’s a blue sky in the background.
I took that one just for you. 🙂
At the Marshall Tag Sale.
More snowmen for the collection.
The snowmen were perfect for the wall in my foyer.
Tracey doing her Vanna White impersonation.
Carol and Tracey with some treasures from Robin's Nest Antiques in Marshall, VA.
Carol LOVES old, red trucks.
Santa is driving that truck!
I am slowly getting to know some folks here in my new town. Working from home can sometimes be quite limiting. But I am going to make a concerted effort to change some things in 2013.
I’m going to get out of the house more, for one. It’s hard to make local friends when you never, or at least rarely, leave the house!
I am going to make time for my various DIY projects, too. Furniture painting. House decorating. Sewing.
I need to set aside more time for riding, too. And blogging. Although, to be honest, my blogging habits may have to change, too.
Anyway… it’s late. It has been a long, but wonderfully rejuvenating weekend.
Before leaving you with this one last image, I just have to say, have a happy week!
Temps climbed into the mid-60s here yesterday, which is VERY warm for December. I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m just saying.
When lunchtime rolled around, I decided I should go for a stroll to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. So, camera in hand, that’s exactly what I did.
Looking Southeast Down Main Street
I was thinking I’d take pictures of the many very pretty store windows in town. The windows that charm my big socks off as I stroll through town with the dogs every evening.
I wanted to share the very pretty merchandise displays with y’all.
I sort of did that. But then I got so caught up in the cool reflections captured in the windows that the merchandise displays don’t really stand out. So I’ll have to take another stroll one day.
For now, though, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the images I captured.
Rhodes Gift Shop
Cottage Antiques
Earth, Glaze, and Fire
Designs by Teresa
I have to stop here to say that the storefront window of this florist enchants me year-round. They do such a great job with their displays. I actually went inside, too, which is where I captured the next few shots.
Santa at Designs by Teresa
Looking Out at the Courthouse from Inside Designs by Teresa
Bird Mirror Lamp at Designs by Teresa
Note to Hubby… if you are reading this. I would LOVE to have that lamp. Really. They have two, but I only “need one.” 🙂
Jimmie's Market and The Madison Tea Room
Black Bear Bistro
Shelf Life Home Furnishings
Lee's Barber Shop
Piccadilly Ltd
Can You See Me Now?
Piccadilly Ltd
The Empty Nest
Of all the images I captured yesterday, I thing this one of the window at The Empty Nest would make the best Christmas card.
Latitudes Fair Trade Store
Latitudes Fair Trade Store
Kelly Ann's Quilts
There was a van parked in front of Kelly Ann’s, which limited my angle severely. But I love the cute simplicity of the display.
Sherrie's Stuff
Sherrie's Stuff
Be Boutique
One of these days I’ll get up enough nerve to go into that store for a much-needed fashion intervention.
The Empty Nest
Yes, that store is a repeat, but I just love the way the church and water tower are so clearly reflected. You can still see the display a bit, too.
Street Scene
The Old Mill House
That last shot isn’t a store. It’s “just” a house at the corner of S. Sixth and Main Street. I was very touched to see it decorated for Christmas again this year. Especially since the owner, Bob Rice, passed away a couple of months ago.
Did you enjoy your walk through town with me?
I really will try to capture the store windows another day. They’re awesome.
Things have been a bit weird for me lately. My level of motivation to do pretty much anything has been in the single digits. Very low, single digits.
But yesterday, I am proud to say, I FINALLY finished something.
Back in July, I painted one of the dining room chairs I bought right before we left Maryland. It didn’t turn out so well.
Before and After 1 (July 2012)
Actually, that’s a bit of an understatement. It was awful.
Looks-wise, it was okay. But it had WAY too much wax on it.
Before and After 2 (July 2012)
You can sort of see what I mean in the second shot. Not the overabundance of wax, just the ugliness.
The chair has been sitting since July. Waiting for me to strip the layers of wax off and re-apply more wax. More-sparingly this time.
I stripped and added a second coat of graphite-colored Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) to most of the chair over the course of a couple of evenings last week. The red is primer red. The graphite still wasn’t dark enough for me (ASCP doesn’t come in black). So I topped the graphite off with some ebony-colored wood stain.
Yesterday I added the clear wax over the graphite and then a layer of clear wax followed by dark wax over the red.
I think the chair looks much better.
Before and After (December 2012)
But I am not sure all of that effort was worth it to achieve black with ASCP.
Chair After Shot (December 2012)
I think I’ll use a different type of black paint on the next chair. I’ll stick with the primer red ASCP for the red bits, though.
Chair After (December 2012)
The chair does go much better with the table now. Although the table legs are a bit shinier than the chair, so I may want to add some poly or something over the paint.
The pie safe I bought a while back is still that hideous sea-foam green. You did catch what I said about lack of motivation, right?
I want to finish the chairs first. Then that will be painted. I was thinking red for that, too. But, as Janet of The Empty Nest, my personal chalk paint consultant, warned, it takes many coats of red to really cover a piece. And since ASCP is a tad on the expensive side, I am re-thinking my color choice.
Wanna know what else I have been up to? Besides work, that is, which is very time-consuming, but not-so-interesting to blog about.
I went to an auction last weekend.
Shumate's Auctions
I came away with a few good finds. And some not-so-good stuff. I bought this piece of pottery which looked good from a distance, but hideous close up. And a box of stuff filled with old glasses and canning jars in addition to the BBQ set (tongs and brush) that I really wanted. The box also had a cool, old, small-but-deep cast-iron frying pan in it, too. Which sort of made up for the glass stuff, which I so do not need. Thrift store here we come.
I also bought some cool, old costume jewelry, which I have no idea what to do with. I mean, I have a very good friend who I think would probably have fun with some of the stuff. So I could ship it off to her. I bought it thinking I could re-sell it for a little profit. But I have absolutely no idea what, or if, the stuff is really worth.
So, friend (you know who you are), if you don’t think getting a bunch of old, mismatched costume jewelry is tacky, it may be coming your way.
Oh, and Friday night I took the girls to the town Christmas parade.
I had no idea how crowded it would be (very!). I took my camera along, but couldn’t get close enough to the action to get decent pictures because of the girls.
Although I must say, I was quite proud of how well the girls behaved.
Belle, K, and Meg at the Parade
Really. Main Street was packed. Not just with people, but with pets. AND a very loud parade. With marching bands. And noisy vehicles. And horses. Plus at least one dancing cow (I love Chick-fil-A) and not one, but TWO, dancing frogs (Sweet Frog yogurt).
And my girls just sat through it all. Mostly. On the few occasions they did get up, I just had to point and they sat back down.
Amazing. My girls have come such a long way since becoming townies.
So that’s what we have been up to. Today’s project is to decorate the house for Christmas.
If I have any hope of getting that done today, I need to stop this blogging and get busy.
I love it a bunch. For many reasons. The other night while walking the dogs down Main Street, a guy in about his mid-40s walked past us headed in the opposite direction. He actually tipped his hat at me and said, “Good evening.” Really.
People are just so much nicer here. So much more relaxed. It’s a whole different vibe.
The Shops at Fifth and Main
I so enjoy walking the dogs around town every evening. People often stop us to chat. They get a kick out of seeing the three dogs with their blinking lights, which they wear to make sure people see us. You know, so we don’t get run over as we stroll around in the dark.
I absolutely love Main Street with its myriad restaurants and shops. Not just Main Street, but some of the side streets, too. Fifth Street in particular is an up and coming place.
During the past year, the Red Thread Yarn Shop opened. So did a barber shop right next to the Red Thread. But the most recent, and to me the most exciting, addition is Sherrie’s Stuff.
Sherrie’s Stuff has actually been in business since around April (I think) of 2011. It was definitely here before we moved in. But Sherrie just opened a new, bigger, and better location at 19 N. Fifth Street.
I’m not sure how best to describe the place. It’s a country crafts store, but it’s not your typical store. Sherrie does carry a lot of items one would find in similar stores selling items that are often characterized as primitives. But she also has a whole line of stuff that she paints herself.
Sherrie, on left, with her helpers.
I had to twist her arm a bit to agree to a picture, but I am glad she finally agreed. Sherrie is shown on the left in the above shot with her sister, Robyn (wearing red), and Sarah, who I suspected was Sherrie’s niece, but later learned that she’s “just” a worker. A hugely helpful worker, of course.
I first met Sherrie in October 2011, shortly after we moved here. It was during October’s First Friday. May to December of each year, on the First Friday night of each month, Main Street is closed to traffic while shops remain open late with open houses and specials. There’s usually music, artists, entertainment for the children and dinner specials at our award winning restaurants. Main Street will be bustling with shoppers, diners and fun. That’s another thing I love about living here. And we can walk to all of the events like that.
Anyway, back to Sherrie. That night was the first chance I’d had to visit her shop, which was at the bottom of the hill on S. Second Street. I was quite impressed with her shop and with Sherrie, who is a very welcoming, warm, and friendly lady. That’s when she told me that the Eva Walker Memorial Park that’s here in town is named for her mother, who died at an early age. It only came up because she was looking at a book about the town, Warrenton, Virginia: a Unique History of 200 Years, published by the Partnership for Warrenton.
I was very excited to learn that not only was Sherrie’s Stuff moving closer to us, but that it would be even bigger and better. I couldn’t wait for the place to open. And I am pretty sure I was the first customer at the new location.
I wanted to make sure I was there bright and early on Saturday to snag some pictures. And some snowmen, which I love.
The new shop is delightful as you will see in the images that follow…
Don’t let the unassuming facade fool you. The store is packed full of delightful treasures.
The Santa Bell sitting by the tree in the following image is one of the items hand-painted by Sherrie. I’m telling you, the woman has talent.
Remember, if you click on the image, you’ll get a better view.
One of the coolest things about the new shop is that it has space for Sherrie to work. The image below is a shelf full of snowmen in the making. Sherrie paints them herself. I think she said they are all waiting for scarves and cheeks.
In addition to frogs and toads, I also have a thing for snowmen.
I first learned that Sherrie was moving on Facebook. I was alarmed initially. But when I learned she was moving to Fifth Street, which is closer to me, I was excited.
How excited? That very night, when walking the dogs, I had to nose around to see where the shop would be. Sherrie was actually inside with her very handsome son, Evan. I hope I remembered his name correctly. I know the handsome part is absolutely correct.
Since Warrenton is a small town, I assumed the door would be unlocked. It was. So I poked my head in to say hi. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of construction, they invited us in to say hello. We chatted for a bit and she even got to meet the girls.
So, that’s Sherrie’s Stuff. Don’t you just love it?
Even if that type of decor is not your cup of tea, you have to admire Sherrie’s artistic and entrepreneurial spirit.
If you would like to support Sherrie and other small business owners like her, be sure to SHOP SMALL. Saturday, November 24 is designated as Shop Small Saturday. If you are an American Express cardholder, and you hurry, you can get a $25 statement credit when you spend $25 or more at a qualifying small business.
How cool is that. But you have to register. And the number of registrations are limited. So you really do need to hurry.
If you visit Sherrie’s after reading this, be sure to tell her ToadMama (who she only knows as Kathy) sent you!
Sandy did not completely overlook the Virginia Piedmont. But the storm’s impact on us was nothing compared to what the people in other states suffered.
However, because I know folks would wonder how we fared, I had to take pictures.
I HAD to. Right?
Hubby makes fun of me for, among many other things, becoming absorbed by news coverage of disasters. He doesn’t understand why I would want to see so much suffering. How can I enjoy such a thing? All that pain and destruction.
The thing is, I don’t enjoy that at all. What draws me in is the power of nature. Weather has always intrigued me. It’s seeing the result of natural forces beyond anyone’s control that fascinates me. That and seeing the people who made it through whatever trauma and survived.
People have always fascinated me, too. For as long as I can remember, I have always wondered what it would be like to be some other person. To see and experience the world through someone else’s eyes.
Not that I want to be someone else. I just wonder what the world looks and feels like for other people.
We were lucky to only have been at the outer edges of the Frankenstorm. My heart truly aches for those people closer to the storm’s path who lost so much. And even for those folks far removed from the hardest hit areas who lost loved ones. Or who had property damage, some so significant that houses had to be condemned.
FauquierNow.com, a local news outlet, ran a brief story on the impact to our area.
They even used one of my pics. 🙂
Speaking of my pics…
Rather than post a bunch of individual images here, I plopped them into a brief slideshow. It is embedded below if you would like to see.
Wanna guess what Hubby and I did this past weekend?
It didn’t involve motorcycles. But it did involve quite a few critters.
And fried food. Though nearly not as much fried food as we’d been hoping for.
I don’t want to keep you in suspense forever, so I’ll just tell you… we went to the Fauquier County Fair!
It was nice, but much smaller than I’d anticipated. Hubby says that’s because I’m used to the Maryland State Fair, which is a whole lot bigger than the Fauquier County Fair. But the I guess most state fairs are bigger…
We were quite disappointed NOT to see vendors selling all the goofy fried stuff we’ve heard about at fairs, like fried Oreos, fried Twinkies, fried Snickers bars, etc.
I did enjoy seeing all of the critters, though. Especially the baby goats. Oh my gosh, they were so cute!
Look at the little one in the milk crate!
They were so young that, when they came over to the fence to check me out, they were sucking on my finger.
Do you think the girls would mind having a goat as a sibling?
Maybe if we got one with dog-like markings they wouldn’t realize it wasn’t a dog. Although I imagine those hooves would make quite a racket on the hardwood floors.
Look at the blue eyes on that wee little baby!
I could have stayed in the goat area for hours, but Hubby said the smell was getting to him. Funny, I didn’t notice and bad or particularly strong odors.
Before we left, I did capture a few more pictures to share with y’all.
Here’s one of the strangest-looking duck I have ever seen. Looks like someone grabbed it’s neck and someone else grabbed its feet and then they PULLED, stretching the thing all out of shape.
Really… I’ve seen a lot of ducks in my time, but that one took the cake for being odd. There were more that were the same shape, too. Stretched Ducks. I don’t think that’s what they were called, but that’s what they should be called. If you ask me.
Oh, and check out this odd rooster.
It was a bald-necked rooster. How weird.
And how about these chickens with the crazy hairdos?
As Hubby observed… it was just like going to the zoo, only cheaper.
I quit working around 3:00 on Friday afternoon so we could get there before the crowds. Neither of us like crowds, but Hubby gets absolutely grumpy when forced to deal with throngs of people.
You know we HAD to visit the cow tent, right? I do love me some cows. Look at the eyes on that little one in the front. Its name is Bashful.
Holy cow (no pun intended), look at the milk sack on that missus. No wonder they commence to bawlerin’ when it’s time to be milked. That’s got to hurt.
That camera angle made those three look like real cows! My, what wide asses they had.
You won’t believe what happened next.
I told Hubby he’d just have to get a picture of me with a cow.
So, when I found one that I thought would make a good shot. I stood sort of close and gave Hubby the camera.
That’s when we heard a voice say, “You can get closer if you want.”
The cow’s owner was sitting nearby.
“I can?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said. “You can even put your hand on her hip if you want to.”
I got to TOUCH a cow!
Yes, folks… the woman who loves to stop along country roads and look at cows actually got to touch a real, live, cow.
“That’s not her hip,” Hubby said.
“Just shut up and take the picture!” was my reply.
Her name was Pansy. She’s three and, at about 1,200 pounds, is small for her age. That’s her Mama in the background. You can see how much taller the Mama is.
I’m glad Mike was along. I might have found a strange man saying, “hey, wanna touch my cow” a bit creepy otherwise…
After visiting with the cows a bit, we went off to find dinner.
Of course, the whole time we were eating, all I kept thinking was that goats had been sucking on my fingers. And that I’d touched a cow!
Where was Carol with her always-handy supply of Purell when I needed her?
Oh, well. I didn’t think it would kill me.
We moseyed around a bit more after dinner and then got to watch the Goat Dressing Contest.
Yes, I said Goat Dressing.
It involved about seven goats, a pile of clothing, and some brave kids. Once the contest started, the kids had to grab a t-shirt, hat, necktie, and two socks from a pile, select a goat, dress the goat, and then lead it to the finish. The first kid who showed up with a fully dressed goat got a trophy.
Goat dressing is MUCH easier said then done. Once the lady said GO, hilarity ensued.
Apparently these goats weren’t used to being dressed.
They had to put the socks on the feet, by the way, not the horns.
The little goat was cute, but the clothes sort of swallowed him up.
I don’t think any of the goats enjoyed being dressed.
I just LOVE the expression on that goat’s face.
And that was our afternoon at the Fauquier County Fair.
