Short-Story-Long!

John and I hit the yard sales fast and furiously this past weekend, and came away with the bounty of fun!  However, before we did that, we took advantage of our rented U-Haul to make a run to the county dump to drop off a large pile of debris and revolting dead furniture (old mattresses/box springs/broken mirrors) that had been "illegally dumped" on our property upstate. I was ticked about the illegal dumping, I'll tell you what! I wanted to track them down and point out that I was seven months pregnant and had no business lugging their filthy mattresses to the dump because they couldn't be sodded to do it themselves. John and I had a brief day-dream about using the serial # on their dumped computer box to hunt them down, but then we realized we weren't CSI tech gurus and learning how to be one was definitely going to take more time than loading it all into our rented U-Haul and driving into town... so we begrudgingly did the latter, while secretly channeling our inner Gil Grisoms.

The silver lining to this story is that while we were at the dump, we encountered a man throwing away a bunch of teeny, tiny children's chairs... Like mini-mini-versions of the chairs we used to have in grade school. And because I'm essentially a hoarder at heart, I casually sauntered over and said, "Excuse me. Are you throwing those away?" with my sweetest, biggest blue-eyed smile. "Go ahead and take them if you'd like them" the fella said. I enthusiastically picked up one to show John, and after he confirmed that these were well worth adding to my collection of stuff-I-got-for-free, went over to pick up the rest of the set. Sadly, I was a moment too late-- as I showed up, the chairs were launched into the air on a direct course to the giant dumpster. "Nooooooooooooooo!" I cried, in slow-motion, but to no avail. Their fate was sealed. Into the dumpster they went, and no amount of dismay could coax them back out (or anyone in after them...) I gracefully resigned myself to one cute tiny chair (rather than trying to whine John into a dumpster full of discarded filth) and brought it home for a quick and easy rehabilitation.

Easy as ONE-TWO-THREE... I taped some magazine pages over the seat and back rest, and then got to sprayin'. I happen to have cans and cans of meadow-green spray paint (Valspar's Leafy Rise) because you never know when you're going to want to make something green. Lickity-split, my junk-yard-child's-chair was transformed!

I was so enthused that I elected to spray paint the rest of my yard-sale finds in the same Leafy Rise. I know that might sound a little batty (or at least over-zealous), but they were headed for lots of different spots in the house, and I love having that cohesive theme from room to room. This theory applies to laundry hampers and retro fans as well, as you'll see in later postings... : )

We're on fire people!

This has been a great week for nursery progress!

You'll never believe the email I received today...

Inspired by the go-get-'em spirit from this diligent emailer (who should be recognized by name: Al, the same cousin-once-removed-sponsor-of-the-Charing-Cross-rug mentioned yesterday), I set off on the hunt. I was not to be stopped! Armed with the name of the pattern "Copacabana Monkey" I prowled the internet and after a little more research, discovered that my fabric was called, more specifically, "Pomegranate Copacabana Monkey". Even more headway! I'd like to take a moment to also point out that I was just in Rio, so it seemed like some kind of good luck omen, right? This fabric was my dessssstiny... And then, LO! I found the exact fabric for sale on Amazon.com for $16.99/yard. Hazzzahh! ( I didn't even know Amazon.com sold fabric. You learn something new everyday.)

This is even better news because I was reluctantly pondering buying one of the patterns below, all of which are clearly inferior monkey patterns, and SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than my preferred "Pomegranate Copacabana Monkey". Bully for me!

Granted... These monkeys also come with elephants.  : ) 

Elephants also come in beige, but beige seemed rather
unforgiving for a glider...

They may be monkeys, but they weren't really in the running.  If stuck with this option,
I think I'd just give up on monkeys all together.

I have ordered three yards of my monkeys from Amazon, and had it shipped directly to The Mother Figure, where she has generously agreed to start sewing glider slip-cover cushions. What a trooper! And what a family effort to make sure this glider will be all that it can be!

Another special thanks to Al for prompting this victorious search, and to my very talented, very patient mother for agreeing to sew the cushion covers once the "Pomegranate Copacabana Monkeys" grace her doorstep.  


Forward progress! 

Holy Smokes, folks!

Major Progress In The Brooklyn Nursery, People! 

Yesterday I received an email from John's cousins, Mollie & Al (I think they might officially be cousins, once removed, but extended family terminology always gets a little grey for me) and they've enthusiastically offered to 'sponsor' the gorgeous Serena & Lily Indigo Charing Cross Area Rug that I've been longingly coveting from afar.

Needless to say, we are BEYOND excited, particularly because though it was going to be a hard-to-swallow investment for us, I was COMPLETELY convinced that it was going to MAKE the design of the room. And now, it's going to do just that! Whooooooooo! An extra gigantic thanks to Mollie and Al for their incredible generosity and simultaneous love of beautiful design. If everyone can please take a moment to give them a round of applause.... Yes, even if you're sitting at your desk in your super-quiet office, surrounded by your diligent colleagues who are actually working and NOT reading my blog... Just a quick round of applause to express our sincere and enormous appreciation to Mollie & Al.

Thanks guys!! 

In other news, John has started tackling the biggest obstacle in the nursery-to-be: the existing furniture. He spent the day digging through the contents of the captain's bed that has functioned as our off-season-clothes-closet-giant-junk-drawer-guest-bed for the past five years, and did a major MAJOR purge. It turns out that I'm really the guilty party-- a secret hoarder-- who has been keeping all sorts of weird junk that I forgot I even had a sentimental attachment to, that is until John brought it out into the shocking light of day. Why was I keeping that stuff???   

Tomorrow we're loading up a U-HAUL with the excess furniture (captain's bed, awesome vintage two-piece sofa, a twin bed frame I just have down in our basement, and god-knows what else is hiding down there) and it's all getting marched off to Fox Ridge, where it will do a long stint in our barn until I figure out what its next role in life will be. The whole thing kind of stresses me out. Whenever I see how much weird, interesting, indispensible furniture I've acquired over the years, I am filled with an anxious desire to throw ALL OF IT away, combined with a strange compulsion to reupholster everything and open a vintage furniture store. Being a hoarder is hard work... 

At least we're making progress on the apartment, right? I'll deal with my psychological problems another day.

Gliding slowly forward...

One of the other essential pieces every new mother needs, according to virtually everyone we've asked, is a comfortable glider or rocking chair. I'm hoping, though not positive, that the newly upholstered Eames chair is going to do the trick in the city (and I've got a back-up plan waiting in the wings if that doesn't work), but we were still unsure about what to do up at Fox Ridge. That is until last weekend, when we found a gently used glider and matching ottoman at a church rummage sale for $50.00.

Unfortunately, gilders are only available in one of two ways: Really f--ing ugly OR really f-ing expensive. (Well, sometimes you can find one that is expensive and ugly, but a cheap, good-looking one has yet to appear on the market.) The one we picked up at the rummage sale clearly wasn't expensive, so you can imagine which camp it resided in, though we did feel like it wasn't as bad as some we've seen. You can see from the picture below that it really isn't a thing of beauty, despite my attempts to jazz it up with a tartan blanket and floral throw pillow. A girl can try...

Luckily, it also came with slip covers for the seat, back, and ottoman cushions, so I've pulled those bad boys off and I'm shipping them off to my mom, in the hopes that she'll use them as templates to whip together a couple of nicer slipcovers to improve matters somewhat. She's such a good sport about being our resident seamstress... : )

The plan is to keep the glider in the living room, so I can watch movies at 3:00 in the morning if the baby can't sleep, but again, we'll probably have to play all of that by ear. I'm hoping to buy more of this wild monkey fabric that was also used to upholster the desk chair cushion in the living room, to tie the glider and the desk chair together nicely, and to incorporate more of the warm tones from the oriental rug into the rest of the furnishings of the room. Unfortunately, I found the monkey fabric about 3 years ago, and I can't remember where in the D & D I got it, so that's likely to be a bit of a wild goose chance unto itself. Nothing is easy, right? Not on a budget!

I'll keep you posted on this project as it progresses... I have high hopes for a gorgeous transformation, thanks to the formidable talents of the mother figure! 

Kind of gross, but totally worthwhile.

*IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO THE BBQ RIB RECIPE FROM LAST WEEKEND: I realized as I was preparing the ribs without John's assistance that there are a couple of key pieces of information missing from this recipe. First: The quantities discussed in the rub and slather recipes are intended for 2-3 full sized racks of baby back ribs. These ribs are sometimes called "St. Louis Style" ribs too. I don't know why, but either name gets you the same results. You should use up almost all of the mustard slather and will have only a little extra rub for three racks. If you're doing two racks, you can save the rub for 6 months, to use for future rib rubbings. Any extra slather you should pitch. 

Second: John watched this youtube video about removing the membrane from the underside of the rib racks, and now swears by this prep step. Check it out to learn this vital trick of the trade, which will transform your ribs for years to come. I did it by myself on Friday night and it isn't difficult at all... Just kind of hands-on. : ) 

Happy Eating to All! 

Ps. A note on the ribs from last weekend...

John and I thought you should know-- if you decide to try out the rib recipe from last weekend-- that the leftovers also become ridiculously good tacos. I know. We turn everything into tacos eventually. And those ribs are no exception. John cut the meat off the bones from the leftover ribs, sauteed it with a couple of tablespoons of BBQ sauce (you know our favorite: Bull's Eye Traditional Sauce) and ba-da-bing... BBQ Pork Tacos.

Well... okay, you'll need to add tortilla wraps, some salsa, some guacamole, and a big spoonful of my beloved red-cabbage-cole-slaw, and then BA-DA-BING... BBQ Tacos! The red cabbage is a highly recommended addition to this taco affair. There is something so good about the contrast of the tartness of the cabbage slaw and the sweet-brown-sugary-ness of the BBQ pork. If I wasn't so full of tacos right now, I think this would make me hungry all over again. (In case you're worried that we are eating leftovers from last weekend, and are going to poison ourselves, let me reassure you. We made John's rib recipe in the city, using the broiler instead of the grill for the last cooking step, on Friday night to celebrate our friend Phoebus's birthday. Verdict: Equally delicious in oven vs. on grill, but your kitchen gets hot as billio, so tell your friends to come in swimsuits if this is your dinner party plan.)

It's been a while since I posted the recipe for the red cabbage salad, so I thought I'd stick it on the blog again, in case anyone wants to revisit this while enjoying the BBQ pork tacos.

Red-Cabbage-Cole-Slaw

by christina salway

Serves 4-6, as a side dish. 

Ingredients: 

1-   Small Red Cabbage, chopped kind of big.

1-   Bunch Cilantro, chopped pretty normal.

1/2 Red Onion, chopped pretty small, optional. 

1-   Fresh chili or jalapeno if desired.

2-   Fresh Limes or 2- Tablespoons bottled lime juice.

2-   Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

Salt/Pepper to taste.

Now, hold onto your hats because this gets pretty complicated. Basically, chop everything up, as instructed above. Put all of the ingredients into a bowl. Toss the vegetable ingredients in the liquid ingredients. Let this mixture sit in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. EAT! 

Enjoy! 

Moving forward with a nursery plan...

Next up on the "getting a lot done" front-- more work on the nursery. Or should I say, nurseries. We quickly realized that once this baby is born, he's probably going to need some place to sleep in our apartment. And in the little Fox Ridge cottage. Obviously the main focus will be on creating a "hospitable environment" in Brooklyn, since we spend the majority of our nights there, but inevitably he's going to need a comfortable place to rest his head in both places, so we have been planning a budget-nursery design for upstate too.

We have narrowed in on a cute, antique-inspired crib called the Jenny Lind Crib, found online for a whopping $158.99. Not nothin' albeit, but not totally out of reach either. We're thinking it's going to work well with the antique brass headboard and vintage tiger oak dresser that we're hoping to keep in the guest-room-cum-nursery upstate. The plan is to buy a changing table topper to sit on top of the tiger oak dresser, and then we should be set, furniture-wise.

I knew I wanted to go with a giraffe-jungle theme, because my mom bought me this fantastic vintage paint-by-numbers of a giraffe a while ago that was perfect for a baby's room. I'd also fallen in love with another Djeco crib mobile, called the African Savannah Mobile, which really sealed the deal for me. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I bumped into a baby decor bounty on the Gilt.com website... The piece that initially caught my eye was the blanket shown down below, sold on the Coyuchi website for $108.00.

Via the wonders of Gilt.com, I scored the exact same blanket for $49.00! I coupled that with two sets of pale blue fitted crib sheets for $32.00 a set, a white seersucker tailored crib skirt, and a set of pale blue changing pad covers for another $24.00. My grand total initially came to $195.00, until I took a chance and called the folks at Gilt.com. I managed to finagle an extra 20% discount code from them (the perks of chutzpah!) and my grand total came down slightly to $156.00!

According to my math, the country nursery budget, including four fitted sheets, two changing pad covers, a changing pad tray, the convertible crib and mattress, the tailored crib skirt, that really cute blanket, and the lovely djeco mobile comes to a total total of $550.00. Once again, it's not nothing, but it seems like a pretty good price for a fairly coordinated plan!

I can't wait for things to start arriving-- I'm starting to look pretty darn pregnant-- and it will be terrific to get these nurseries set up before this baby descends upon us. : ) 

Just because I don't call, doesn't mean that I'm not thinking of you...

This week has been another crazy one, so sadly blogging fell by the wayside in favor of employment. HOWEVER, I've been collecting lots of goodies to blog about, so hang onto your hats people, you've got a lot of reading ahead of you!

First things first, I just had the exciting opportunity to design a window display for a carpet showroom on the Upper East Side. This was a tremendous adventure-- I've never designed a window display before-- and I have a new found respect for those who do it for a living.

There's A LOT of looking in the window from the street, going in to adjust, looking in from the street, going in to adjust, back and forth, back and forth, tweaking every little detail. Hats off to those folks-- it must take a good deal of patience!

If you look closely, you may also recognize a couple of familiar accessories because I pillaged our apartment to decorate the window, so I didn't have to spend a fortune on my "free publicity." (Keep your eyes open for our orange pillows, our IKAT pillows, the white chandelier that used to hang in my old closet-office, there are lots of goodies if you look closely, kind of like one of those "Highlights" magazine hidden picture puzzles...) The carpet showroom let me pick a carpet to work with, so I started with a very beachy-sisal-esque striped carpet, and then went with a Hamptons-inspired theme to embrace the unfolding summer season.

If you happen to find yourself on the Upper East Side, swing by Broadway Carpet on 2nd Avenue between 67th and 68th Street and you can see my store window in the flesh. It was well received by the owner of the store, so hopefully I'll become their window-designing extraordinaire, and I'll get to do another one next season. Fingers crossed!

Feel free to stop by and mention how gorgeous their window display is if you've got a little extra time on your hands! : ) 

Baby steps? Movement on the nursery front.

We're trying to make some headway on the nursery plan, but we started our return to New York with some bummer news. The Serena & Lily "pimento ring" crib sheets that I love so much are no longer in production, and my order for them couldn't be filled, so I'm back to hunting for new crib sheets and some other splendid way to incorporate my orange accents into the room...

Booooo.... Back on the trail! 

However, on the positive side, we also placed our first order for the nursery! They're a mouthful: 3- Navy Blue Mini Dot Black-Out 96" Curtain Panels-- found (joyfully after some searching) on Ebay. These are intended to block out light coming through the cut-out windows that lead into the nursery, and should look awesome with the Serena & Lily Charing Cross Rug that I'm coveting. I originally found the drapes on the Pottery Barn Kids website, but of course they had been discontinued too. I sure know how to pick 'em... Luckily, with a little digging around online, I found them for sale on Ebay (at a cheaper price no less) so I'm totally chuffed! So I'm getting my curtains and I saved some money... Things are really moving folks!

Now I just have to save up for that fantastic rug and we'll really be cracking!


(Let's not talk about everything else on the to-do list...)  : )

Back at Fox Ridge (and eating for two!)

We are back from Rio and we've been thrown right back into the thick of things. After a couple of busy days of work, we ducked up to the country for the weekend, where we rendezvous-ed with John's parents to celebrate Mother's Day. John decided that BBQ was the way forward, so he did his due diligence, and put together a composite recipe for barbecue baby back ribs that struck his fancy, and then we got to cookin'. This was an especially successful meal (if we do say so ourselves) and we'd enthusiastically encourage our readers to give it a crack. 


The recipe is divided into two prep steps, and then two cooking steps... I know that sounds complicated, but actually each of the steps are very simple and the end result is well-worth the process. YOU CAN DO IT! Have confidence! (When you're waning in interest, just look at the picture to the right and know that delicious ribs are in your future.)


PREP STEP #1: DIJON SLATHER
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
4 cloves Garlic, mashed
1 Tablespoon fresh ground Black Pepper
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil


DIRECTIONS: PREP STEP #11. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients, except the baby back ribs, and whisk together until well blended.
2. Rub slather over both racks of ribs. Place in a large baking pan.

PREP STEP #2: CLASSIC BBQ RUB

• 2 tablespoons smoky paprika
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano, crushed

DIRECTIONS: PREP STEP #2

Combine paprika, salt, sugar, brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, pepper, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt and oregano in bowl; mix well. For a smoother rub, puree ingredients in a spice grinder until well combined and all pieces are uniform (the rub will be very fine and tan in color). Once the dijon mustard slather has been applied, sprinkle the dry rub over both sides of the racks of ribs (in the baking pan, like the photo down below) and store in the fridge for 1-2 hours. 

COOKING STEP #1:

After the ribs have marinated for 1-2 hours in the fridge, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place ribs in a deep large pan. Cover with foil securely. Cook ribs for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven, and unseal foil on each corner to allow the steam to vent. 

COOKING STEP #2:

Meanwhile, preheat gas grill on lowest setting. John set the two outside burners on high and the middle burners on low, and that worked out well. Now, take your favorite BBQ sauce (we are partial to Bulls Eye Traditional Sauce) and dilute with water by 50%. This apparently helps avoid burning due to the sugar content in the sauce.

Once the grill is hot, place the ribs on the grill and cover. Baste the ribs every 5 minutes with the diluted BBQ sauce, turning frequently. Cook ribs for 20-40 minutes - they are done when the meat begins to pull back from the bone, but is still slightly firm.

We served these delectable ribs with a wilted rainbow chard and my go-to favorite, cuban-style sweet potatoes. (Click the links to see the details for each recipes...) Both side dishes are a cinch to make, reasonably healthy, wildly delicious, and the meal was a very festive, roaring success! 

We hope all of the mothers out there had a wonderful day... Happy Mother's Day to all of you champions! 

You know you're the best. 

Love, John & Christina

*IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO THIS RECIPE: I realized as I was preparing the ribs without John's assistance that there are a couple of key pieces of information missing from this recipe. First: The quantities discussed in the rub and slather recipes are intended for 2-3 full sized racks of baby back ribs. These ribs are sometimes called "St. Louis Style" ribs too. I don't know why, but either name gets you the same results. You should use up almost all of the mustard slather and will have only a little extra rub for three racks. If you're doing two racks, you can save the rub for 6 months, to use for future rib rubbings. Any extra slather you should pitch. Second: John watched a youtube video about removing the membrane from the underside of the rib racks, and now swears by this prep step. I'm going to post the video on the blog, so check it out to learn this vital trick of the trade. I did it by myself on Friday night and it isn't difficult at all... Just kind of hands-on. : ) 

Good eating!  

It's been a hard couple of weeks...

Well, obviously the title of this post is a blatant lie, but we are nearing the end of our marathon "baby-moon" and then we head back to New York to tackle our real life. I have tons of work to catch up on, and of course we're also going to be starting the next big phase of our summer/lives -- preparing the Brooklyn apartment and the Fox Ridge cottage for the arrival of a new baby in August (ETA: August 18th, if you want specifics...) We have a lot of ground to cover in four months, so I think we're going to get cracking ASAP once we're back in New York...

However, before we become completely immersed in yet another quagmire of home improvements, I thought we should all spend one last moment basking in the beauty of the Brasilian sunset...

I promise I'll write with lots of nursery-design updates as soon as we're back in Brooklyn, but for the time being, let's all take a looooooong deeeeeeeep breath, look longingly into the serenity of this photograph, and then we can brace ourselves for the adventures yet to come.

Here goes folks!!! 

You'll never guess what we've bought!

Right before we left, John and I bought this beautiful mobile at a children's store in Paris! Take a look... It's not a terrific photo, but the gist of it is a lovely 3-D tree in the center with little country icons circling around it. There's a moon, stars, a fox, a little cottage, leaves and branches; all winding around. Once we hang it up, we'll take another photo so you can really appreciate how beautiful it is...

Why did we buy a baby mobile, you might be asking? I was waiting for the right time to mention this, and I think this might be just the opportunity...

John and I are having a baby!! 

Believe it or not, we've known about this for a while-- actually a long time (six months!) -- but I've been waiting for the chance to talk about it... The beginning of designing the nursery seems like the perfect opportunity, so here I am, laying the plan on the table...

So far, I've chosen colors and fitted crib sheets, have fallen desperately in love with a rug that might be a little too expensive to justify, and I'm pretty sure I've picked out the crib. There is still much debate surrounding how large the nursery is going to be (remember we're putting up a wall to divide "the room we walk through" into a hallway and a little bedroom), whether we'll keep a twin bed in the baby's room (for guests and late night visits to the baby), and whether it's inexcusably ridiculous to spend $400.00 on the cutest children's lamp that's ever existed (John say yes, I say probably...)

So-- here's what we're looking at so far:

The Argington Bam Bam convertible crib... 
(Practical, beautiful, rollable. What more can you ask for?)

It seems preferable to choose a crib that converts from bassinet to crib to toddler bed, but I'm also in no position to be spending $900.00 on a new crib, so this Bam-Bam by Argington seems like a happy medium. My first temptation was to scour Craig's List for a lightly used crib, but was surprised to find that the cribs for sale weren't considerably less expensive than the new models, especially considering they don't come with the peace of mind that a brand new one has... John pointed out that this might be a great piece not to skimp on, since we'll hopefully have it for the next four years, so I think we're going to take the plunge. 

Serena & Lily's Indigo Charing Cross Rug:

I'm thinking the 5' X 8' size would do the trick, and I happen to have a $100.00 off coupon, so I'm on the fence about this one. I think it's gorgeous and perfect, but I'm not sure if spending $400.00 on a rug in a baby's room is a little daft. I've never spent $400.00 on a rug for anywhere else in our house, and I suspect this one will get the least visibility and the most exposure to vomit.



Hmmm... The designer's dilemma: Do you sacrifice cute for practical, or can you occasionally say to hell with it and buy the cute thing anyway?

I mean, it would be soooooooo cute.


I've also gotten mixed up in a world of beautiful fitted sheets, but I figure you can't really have too many of those, and the more varieties you have, the longer each one will last, right? : )

Serena & Lily is a perilous place to look at children's bedding, because you can end up spending a small fortune, but I'm particularly taken with the Pimento Ring sheets.

Olio also has a fantastic blue-and-cream striped fitted crib sheet I'm coveting... I'm thinking a couple of each should do the trick! : ) I love the crib bumper that goes with this set, but since that's turned into such a controversial piece of bedding, and it's the most expensive element, I think we're just going to stick with the fitted sheets instead.

I have SO MANY more details to share, but I'm going to save those for another posting... But this is a good start on our nursery plan, as far as I'm concerned! 

Pretty excited to get started when we get back from Rio... 

This is going to be a busy summer! 

Next stop, Rio de Janeiro!

In keeping with our never-ending adventure, I thought I'd include this brief musical snippet to get everyone in the mood for the next stop on this crazy train... 

The song is "Si tu vas à Rio!" sung by that classic chanson master Dario Moreno, and he is so excited that we're heading to Rio... 

**I should also give a quick shout-out to my friend and french teacher Arezki for introducing me to this master of music... 

I'm not sure how reliable our internet connection is going to be while we're down in Rio (we're hopping from hotel to hotel for a lot of this trip) and we'll probably be pretty busy with wedding-y things, but I'll try to post a couple of times if I can squeeze it in. 

Thanks for following our adventures in Paris! 

Hopefully Rio will be just as action packed! 

All lust, but no luck!

I wouldn't say the Marché Aux Puces was a complete flop, as much as we were wildly under-funded for the venture. Julia and I spent most of our time swooning over things we couldn't afford, while John looked diligently at broken watches and tried to come up with new and innovative ways to convince me that buying one was a good idea. We didn't come home entirely empty handed though-- Julia bought two fabulous vintage necklaces and I bought a terrific little brooch for my spring coat lapel. These buys were great-- great finds and great bargains-- but let's be honest, they didn't hold a candle to the beautiful things we left behind. : ( 

Looking at the picture above, at first glance you might think, really? That seems like a pretty average french chair... And HOW could you get it on a plane anyway??? NOT SO! That chair is actually a salesmen's sample chair... a miniature version of what would have been a "pretty average french chair", that salesmen used when selling their furniture. It's only about 15" tall-- smaller than a child's chair and better suited for a medium sized doll. All three chair shown (above and below) are salesmen sample chairs and I thought they were beyond fantastic. Sadly, they were also beyond my budget, at €90.00 a pop, which converts to roughly more money than I can spend on tiny chairs in US Dollars. 

Another swoon-worthy sight: an antique stand brimming with huge hanging glass lanterns. The vendor had dozens of them, with all different varieties of etched and molded glass dome bases. I imagined hanging these from a tree or pergola out at Fox Ridge, with big pillar candles flickering away inside, and I'm pretty sure it would have been nigh on magical. However, getting them home wouldn't be quite so magical (they were about 20" of glass each) and the price wasn't so magical at €75.00 either. I do still love the idea though, so I'm going to file these away in my "to hunt for" folder and try to find something similar when I get back, stateside. 

Even though we couldn't afford to buy the things we were most smitten with, it is such a pleasure to go to a market where there are so many beautiful things. Often when you go to flea markets, the junk-to-gems ratio can be so disappointing/discouraging, and you end up leaving with three pairs of discount socks and a broken spirit. I think we were all so satisfied by the fabulous things we saw that we didn't mind coming home with only a couple of pieces of costume jewelry... well, except for John. Who still really wanted a broken watch. : ) 

Still more news to come, so keep checking back! 

À bientôt!