'Tis the Season!

Today was the day for Christmas Open Houses at a couple of local antique malls. It has become a tradition that Auntie and I go to the Williamston Antique open house every year. I can't remember when we started going, but it's been a long time! I remember in the beginning, my youngest son would love to tag along because of all of the free food they put out. Just thinking about that makes me smile!

We've brought people from work with us on different occasions, but mostly, it's just been her and I. We have a "route" that we always take when we visit, and we usually can get through pretty quickly. It was really packed with shoppers today, and with dealers. We got there early and were pleasantly surprised that they opened early and let everyone in.

We went to Mega Mall's open house after Williamston and we both found some treasures there as well. The two open houses couldn't be more different. Where Williamston has a huge spread of food as soon as you walk in the door and trays of finger desserts in a good portion of booths, Mega Mall has a tray of cookies with punch and coffee as you enter. Williamston has a store-wide discount of 20%, and Mega Mall allows vendors to set their own discount (or not). Even though they are different, they are both nice in their own way.

We even took a quick side-trip to The Little Red Schoolhouse today! It was a fun day. We caught up on what each other has been doing, and we hashed over life's little issues. It's always good to have a good friend to speak your mind to, in a judgement-free zone. You get things off your chest, find out if you are crazy, mean, harsh, or right on track...it's a good thing!!

I'm still smiling, thinking about Auntie finding a treasure at one of the malls today. I was a few feet ahead of her and I heard the intake of air and the little squeak of delight. You know that sound. We all have our own uniquely special squeak, or squeal of delight. I love it when it's me making the sound, but I think I enjoy it just as much when a friend finds something that makes her heart smile and that sound just slips out. My heart is smiling just thinking about it!

While I've been off work, I've been reading and pondering a little book that has just been incredible-in my opinion. I am really finding it speaking to me, and wanted to share the title so you can see if it's something you might be interested in. It's called the Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent. All I can say is WOW! It has really given me a lot to think about and ponder these last few weeks. It's one of those books you an go back to again and again. I've been marking it all up as I go through it, and when I'm done, I plan to go through it again right away.

I didn't get much today. I don't really need/want much any more. Most of my collections are either full or getting full. There are only very specific things left that I'm looking for.I have a huge pile of vintage Pyrex that I'm hoping to trade for a couple of garland snowflake 501's and a 502, or a butterprint 441 or 442-other than that, I'm out of room!!

Here are my treasures from the malls today...the biggest treasure is spending time with a good friend!

A very bright vintage tablecloth, a couple of bottle brush trees (to go into Mason jars with some fake snow), a Fiesta smiley luncheon plate (been on my wish list for a long time), and a yellow refrigerator dish. I actually almost bought the refrigerator dish a couple of weeks ago when Mr. and I visited Mega Mall, but decided to put it back. I'm glad I did, I got a 40% discount today!!

I was very happy to see a LOT of vintage Fiesta at Williamston! I saw THREE vintage relish trays! I've never seen so many at an antique mall before. Just seeing one around here is a big deal! With 20% off today, the prices were pretty reasonable, considering how much they sell for online.

I had a big find online last week. I finally got the center for my relish tray!! So now mine is complete!

I would have preferred to have a different color in the middle, but I'm glad to have it complete!

Here are some of the fun things I saw today:

 I was doing some serious drooling over this lovely vintage green carafe! It was way out of my price range, but it was gorgeous!!

 How fun is this tricycle!?!? I loved it! No place to put it, but I loved seeing it!

 This is the biggest head vase I have ever seen!!

 This is made out of glass baby food jars!

 I've never seen a suitcase mod podged before, I have some pins on my pinterest board with plans to do this some day, so I was super excited to see this in person today! I wouldn't rip the map up into pieces if I were to do it with a map, like this person did, but that's just my personal preference.

While we were at my parent's for Thanksgiving, my mom and I spent some time in her glass room working on fused glass, so when I saw this, I snapped a pic to send to her so she has another idea of a simple, cute ornament.

These four are things that I made. I made three more, but I gave them away already.

Tomorrow will be get the tree up, hang the outside lights and get stuff together to start cookies day-then back to work and most of my usual routine on Monday. Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!! Looking forward to seeing the treasures you find!! Happy Hunting!!!