A Junkin' We Did Go...and a Bag!

My dear friend, Shelly, had a birthday in June.  As with all of our birthdays, our group of friends seized the opportunity to make a girls' day out of Shel's day!  We started at Bell Street Farm in Los Alamos, http://bellstreetfarm.com/, for a little lunch.

 Deb and Helen checked the lunch specials before entering...wise decision.  I did NOT and it took forever to make a choice!  I finally settled on the Rotisserie Pork Salad...ummmm...heavenly.  Seriously.  Words don't exist to accurately describe this salad.  The pork is juicy, and succulent, and beyond flavorful...

Bell Street Farm feels like home to me.  The owners are charming, funny, and awesome, and the ambiance and way they have decorated feel like a page out of my book!

We stopped in Los Olivos for a little shopping and dessert...

And Shel said that it was the PERFECT day!  Which was really the best part of the day, because she is one of my dearest friends, and that's the best part of friendship...knowing your friend is happy!  So there I was, feeling happy and stuffed full of good food, when I saw this...

...in my friend, Helen's, garage.  I gasped.  Out loud.  Everyone thought I had just had the worst attack of indigestion from all of the food I consumed.  Then they saw what I was staring at and thought I was just having a stroke instead.  They don't get "junk" pure unadulterated beauty like I get it.  I asked Helen why she wasn't using these gorgeous lockers and she said, "You want 'em?!  You can have them!" DO I NEED WANT THEM?!!! Of COURSE!  She then invited me to look around and take anything else I wanted, saying, "Only you would see the beauty in this junk!"  (This is why the four of us are friends...we GET each other! No judgement!  Only love!) I found a few more things, made my "pile" and promised to be back in a month after all of our vacations were over.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Mr. Birdie and I only put in half a tank of gas because to fill it would mean one of our children can't go to college filled the tank of our truck and headed to Helen's house.  Two days before  she asked if I'd be interested in a....BARBER CHAIR...as well!  I urged Mr. Birdie to break every speed law on the drive to her house, lest she changed her mind.  He wouldn't...he is in law enforcement after all.  And so, after an hour five minutes of convincing Mr. Birdie that everything WOULD fit in the back of the truck (even if it meant me sitting back there holding on to everything), we loaded all of this rustic, perfectly distressed, industrial, and heavenly GOODNESS...

And I am FEELING it today!  That barber chair up there?!  Yeah...it's HEAVY!  I have muscles hurting today that I didn't know existed...and I work out on a regular basis!  But oh...it was worth every aching back, sore muscle, stubbed toe, curse word...!

And Mr. Birdie?  He LOVES his new barber chair...

And I love HIM!  For always being willing to go along with my crazy, hare-brained brilliant ideas, even if they don't initially make sense to him!  And for being part of my dream...and for making my dreams come true!

A close up...

Oh.  One last thing...my new line of totes...Masterpiece Classics.  I'm working on a huge order of ring pillows, guestbooks, burlap bridesmaid gift envelopes...and sometimes...I just HAVE to take a break and make something other than a pillow before I lose my mind!  So, while watching Wuthering Heights on Masterpiece Classics...I came up with this...

The Bronte Bag. It's on my Etsy...if you like it.


HUGS!