A Soldier and His New Wife

Congratulations to a wonderful couple, Shannon and Jeremiah, on their marriage this weekend. I had the pleasure of attending their wedding Saturday near Bulverde, TX. The drive through the Hill Country from Austin was gorgeous with plenty of wildflowers still showing their glory. Shannon was a beautiful bride who found the perfect location at Twelve Oaks Bed and Breakfast - the oak trees provided great ambiance for an evening full of celebrating this couple. 

After opening Shannon's handmade invitation, I knew the decor at this wedding would be great. Fresh lavender and burlap were adorning the tables, and the signature cocktails even had a splash of lavender syrup - the lavender champagne was a hit! 

 

Even the groom is decorated!

 

 

 

Candles were added to the centerpieces before dinner. What a beautifully simple yet elegant tablescape!

The weather was absolutely perfect!!!!

The groom's cake was decorated with a helicopter.

 

What a great burlap banner!

Bronzed cowboy boots!

The ring bearer by the bar's burlap banner.

Thank you, Shannon and Jeremiah, for all you do!

Both Shannon and Jeremiah have sacrificed so much for others. When I met Shannon in grad school, I was impressed to learn that she had served in the United States Air Force for four years. She has since earned her LCSW and is now a child advocate and Guardian ad Litem for Bell County. Her new husband Jeremiah has been in the United States Army for eight years and is a Warrant Officer. He has served in Iraq twice and Afghanistan once as a crew chief on the Black Hawk. Shannon and Jeremiah are moving to Alabama this week as Jeremiah was accepted to flight school and will become a helicopter pilot for the Army. 


I wish them all the best on their new journey and am so appreciative for what they do for others. 

One last piece of decor from the evening sported by the ring bearer...

Congratulations, Shannon and Jeremiah! 

And Happy Memorial Day to you all. 

Have a chic week!

~Sarah

New School Goes Old School

Just as I was typing the title of this post, the song "School's Out for Summer" popped into my head. I can hardly believe we are down to our last two weeks of school!

I have been spending a bit more time in our middle school library these last few weeks because my students are doing a research project with our awesome librarian. Being in the library makes me realize just how great our new school is; our school library is as big as the one in my hometown! We just celebrated our ten year anniversary as a campus and wow, our kids have amazing resources at their fingertips in our beautiful new building. They also have the wonders of technology to help them with research - did you know that they don't even have to learn the grueling steps to creating a bibliography anymore? MLA, APA, alphabetizing, ampersands, citing of pages, using correct abbreviations, inverse indenting, ugh! Now, this way cool online database does all that and more for them after they input the necessary information. Unbelievable!

Despite learning all these great new tools for research, I find myself distracted in the library - by all the great displays of junk! That's right, there are amazing vintage finds all over our library thanks to the funky eclectic style of our librarian. Paulette moved to our campus this year from the elementary down the street, and when I first walked in the library this fall and saw train cases sitting under the front bench, I knew we would have lots to talk about! Vintage window displays, mason jars, old records, globes, a shabby white cabinet, suitcases, movie reels, trunks, velvet riding helmets, board games, an old school desk, sporting equipment....this woman has great taste!

I just had to share her style on here because I am pretty certain it is underappreciated by her 11-14 year old patrons (though our students are great and probably ask her lots of questions about the cool old stuff).

Take a look at how she warms up the huge space:

Do you see that oar on the middle shelf? I have one just like it at the booth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at that great view and the helmets up above the window.

I just found these boots on the shelf last week! I wonder if the kids try them on?

 

 

Go Cougars! Cute banner. 

 

 

 

Here she is! It is no surprise this library is always filled with students -
she has created such an inviting and inspiring environment. 

Check out this necklace that her sister made from typewriter keys -
she sells these on Etsy.
I need to get the shop link to share with you after I get one!

I have so enjoyed getting to know Mrs. Rodriguez this year and explore her treasures around the library. I shared my blog with her several months back and am now excited to say that she too has a blog about her vintage finds - My Junk Obsession. In her latest post she describes herself as the 'quintessential librarian of the 1950's' - I say she is the perfect combination of old school charm with modern day funk. Our students are so lucky to have such a caring librarian. And I am glad to have a friend to talk with about treasure hunting!

Nine more days of school....but who's counting?

My kind of gardening

I sure love to admire gardens, but the green thumb in my family stopped at my sister. A few weeks back, my mom (Happy Mother's Day, Mom!) helped me with my annual spring planting; last weekend, I finished up planting some larger purple fountain grass. My 'gardening' is really the equivalent of me providing a feast for the area deer, and probably comedy for my neighbors as I attempt to dig into limestone. If, by some chance, Bambi doesn't eat my plants, then the drought kills them or strong winds blow them over. Yet, I am persistent and have high hopes for my most recent deer and drought resistant crop.

But one of my favorite blogs, Curious Boys, does my kind of gardening:

 

You think that would look good next to my mailbox?

Boys, I have some of your great tall crusty garden art in my flower bed out front. So far it has survived the deer, drought, and wind!

Follow Joe and Glenn as they perfect the art of pursuing imperfections. Here is another one of my favorites from their garden:

 

(Both photos are from http://curious-boys.blogspot.com/)

Have a chic week!

~Sarah

Country Living Luck at the Fair

Just finished reading the issue I got at the fair. Such inspiration in this magazine!

I think I have finally recovered from last weekend's Country Living Fair in Austin. I had the great fortune of helping with Karen Germany's booth, Vintage Designs. I wrote about her space in a post last weekend, but today I wanted to share some other spaces that I enjoyed visiting at the fair. 

The early-bird shoppers weren't too big a flock on Saturday morning, so I ran over to the show barn to do some browsing. It was a little after 9:30 when I looked out to see this crowd lining up to enter the show at 10:00am. I knew my time away from the booth was ticking....

So what did I buy first? Cookies! The BEST.COOKIES.EVER. I couldn't believe it when I walked up to this bakery stand to see the same orange shopping bag that my sister sent my birthday gift in...it was indeed the same bakery from Arthur, IL, which is about an hour from where we grew up (and very close to my sister who lives in Champaign). I was mesmerized by all the delectable delights The Homestead Bakery had - cinnamon rolls, pumpkin bread, rhubarb nut bread, and ...pumpkin cookies. I bought a tray for Brent and the girls at the booth, and the cookies were gone before 10am. Which was a good thing, since there wasn't a second to eat them after that! 

I cannot begin to tell you how amazing these cookies were. I went back the next day to get another tray and I wasn't surprised that they were sold out. But, the rhubarb nut bread and the banana bread were equally as yummy. If you are ever in the area, you must take some baked goods home! I really enjoyed talking with them and it felt nice to have a little hometown connection. 

I spent so much time talking at the bakery that I needed to get going back to the arena before the crowds came in. I had a few minutes to spare so I ran over to The Red Door Antiques. I had browsed the space on Friday and wanted to get some fun green vintage bingo cards. I got a few pictures of Tricia's space, but so wished I had gotten a shot of the hundreds of flashcards she had for sale. 

 

Sunday started out pretty slow again, so I snuck out for more shopping and browsing. 

It wouldn't be a fair in Texas if there weren't longhorns and a cowboy scooping poop!

Hook 'em, Horns!

How cute are these kids?! I really like this picture of the goats. I would love to have one for my side yard - not a picture, but a real goat. Wonder what the neighbors would think....I have investigated enough to know that having one goat would not violate any city ordinance. Two might.

Didn't make it any further than this to investigate these trailers, but that pink bike sure looks fun!


Now to one of my most FAVORITE designers/decorators of all time - House Wren. What a beautiful blend of industrial, farmhouse, vintage garden, and every other style that is chic! I will let the pictures do the talking for Nancy and Mike's space. 

One quick story - I asked Mike how he got the light bulbs to be shaded out on the end. I liked that you weren't blinded when looking at the cool repurposed fixture he created and that the light was reflected back to the wall. He started telling me about how he took the light bulb and dipped it in a bucket of mercury...and I was all, "Really? Wow," buying every word of it. Then he started laughing. Turns out he got the bulbs at a hardware store. Whew, I am relieved I don't have to inhale toxic poison  to get stylish light bulbs. 

 

Yay 4-H!

My iPhone camera doesn't do this vendor's display justice. The vintage travel trailer was decked out with beautiful fabric and floral arrangements. I asked the owner if I could take some pictures of her space to share on my blog, and she was so generous that gave me a copy of her hardback book, "Southern Wedding Flowers." WOW! Thank you so much, Mardee! Your displays are gorgeous and I love the book. Check out pictures of her arrangements at Mardee's Blooming Branches.

If I hadn't already gotten married (twice, to the same guy), 

I would definitely call on Mardee to design my wedding flowers and decor! 

Next up is this great cowgirl boots booth. This space was dangerous!!!! I managed to get out of there without buying a pair of boots, but I did find a fun scarf to take home from The Velvet Road.

Country Living had several decorated tables with comfortable seating set up for fair patrons to rest their feet. The tablescapes were great! 

 I love the moss-covered roosters.
It's not quite a big metal chicken, but nonetheless I got a chuckle thinking of one.
.

Speaking of seating, take a look at the chairs below. 

This was the Happy Chair booth, and after seeing Shawna's great work on these happy chairs, 

I realized my chairs must be pretty depressed. 

Check out that lamp shade frame covered in ties! I tell you these people at the CL Fair are creative!

I love the vintage industrial laundry basket filled with pillows too.

I first saw this fancy lady at the Junk Salvation Show, but I didn't realize she was the owner of the amazing Vintage sign until after she commented on my post this week! Here is Julie from Vintage Soul TX. We had a great time talking shop and I look forward to seeing more of her bright, bold, and blingy style at future shows.  

There are still a few more pictures of the Country Living Fair that I have to share, but I will have to post one final CL Fair write up in the next few days. 

For now, I will close with a few of my CL Fair purchases. 

I FINALLY got an olive bucket! I nearly attacked the vendor who had it and almost bought both of the buckets she had, but I maintained a tad bit of self-control. I was too caught up with my new purchase that I didn't think to ask her for her card. She was from Georgia and was super sweet. I love my new bucket!

The sign is a gift from my soon-to-be married friend Aden, whose sure-to-be gorgeous wedding is in Point Clear, AL next weekend. Can't wait for her to be Mrs. Wright - she definitely found her Mr. Right! 

Another souvenir I brought home from the show was this snazzy Country Living t-shirt.

Looks innocent enough, right?

If I wear my hair up, you can see the rest of the wording on the back...

Guess it isn't a wear to school t-shirt, but I do believe that I got VERY lucky at the 2012 Austin Country Living Fair. I had a blast, met lots of wonderful people, found some new old stuff, and even have some new readers! Thank you all for reading this blog and giving me a reason to write!

Have a chic week,

~Sarah