I love coffee.

I was just thinking how much I love rainy, cloudy days. This isn't something I often share with the general public, since I seem to be in the minority. In fact, sunny days and heat have actually always been hard on me and my body, I'm prone to migraines and heat stroke, so living in the Inland Northwest, particularly Spokane is so perfect! You (usually) get the just right amount of each season, and when you are ready for a change, there it is! I must say as a caveat however, having three little boys has really helped me make peace with summer the last year or so.

So, on a rainy day, if I have nothing scheduled, well, let's face it, no matter what time of year, or weather, I go for coffee. But some days, the weather calls for a special trip to the coffee shop. I do love local coffee haunts and all of their personality, it's just that Starbucks and I go way back. I met my latte friend in 1991 in Tacoma, my freshman year at PLU. Since then, we've been nearly insperable. Even while on bedrest in 2008, people would bring me decaf drinks as a treat, and the minute I was up and out, I reignited my relationship with Starbucks.

The other day I took two of my cuties to visit their auntie at the Starbucks far up Grand where she is a Barista, and had a little fortifying refreshment. Plus, I got my oldest, who has multiple food allergies, his favorite new allergen friendly "Lucy's cookies" which are (Praise God) sold at Starbucks, and my other two their fav. owl and pussycat cookies. So, all of us were happy, at least for a time, our cloudy day brightened, and mommy was caffenieted and feeling a little less lonely and isolated.

Today, even a cup of tea did the trick, warmed me and gave me a minute of peace while my life swirled around me and inside my head. Imagine what a cuppa can do.

A Day Turned on It's Right Side

It's been one of those weeks, where the lists are far longer than what I can accomplish, and the to-do's have turned into to-don'ts more often than not. Two times this week, I tried to get out and go shopping, but things just turned out the way I didn't plan. Today, things turned out not how I planned again, but in a really good way.
I went to the sale at Angel's Attic/Sophias on the North side of Spokane, and what a beautiful, peaceful, sweet way to start my day! The property that Angel's Attic sits on is just gorgeous, serene, and so perfectly landscaped! Linda, Jon & Kristen have such combined talent and style, it was like a mini getaway. I also got to meet the Tre Amici girls-whose version of camping/junking sounds just right! My mom and I got to shop while my dad followed my two littlest guys around the rocks, waterfall, grass, stairs, trees...yes, they had lots of fun too! (And they Loved the brownie bites we bought them!!). Thanks for a beautiful start to our day Angel Friends. You can check them out at and at .
We then traveled to Joe Albi Stadium, stopping by a few choice yard sales on our way. Okay, we just happened to follow the signs off of our real path, but those are often the best finds! We did eventually go and watch my oldest guy run his first America's Kids Run (formerly Jr. Bloomsday). So cute to see all of the elementary aged children from all over the area running. And we were all so proud of Haden for being brave enough to race alone, and follow his passion, just for fun. Especially mama. (Me.) After the race Mark, my husband, being understanding of my work, took the three boys home for lunch, and I took my mom and dad with me to go to a digger sale that lovely Jennifer of Unexpected Necessities told us about! We met our friend Christy of Ballyhoo Girl up there and dad stood by loyally watching our junk piles grow and grow and expand while we made multiple trips through the estate sale that rivals any in sheer amount of stuff that I've been to in a really long time. So much fun, so many possibilities now sit in my garage awaiting my time and attention, and dreams.
But by the end of our junking adventure, it was time to go home, as I knew my boys(including my husband) would be awaiting my time and attention. Tonight Liam, my middle boy, picked out "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" for his story, so we read about the steam shovel who in her day was the fastest and best, but was replaced by newer models. It reminded me why I love junking. It provides me with time to spend with friends who are like-junk minded, restore what was once useful to a new purpose, and to be brave and keep telling the stories of the past.

Junking Priorities

Last night I literally dreamed my house was clean. Let me explain. I have put housecleaning way on the back burner (which also needs cleaned) for a month while getting ready for and recovering from my very fun show, the Funky Junk Antique Show & Crafts Market. And this last weekend, only one weekend after said show, I had a full weekend of junking fun and then a run. (Race for the Cure).

So, instead of cleaning on Saturday, I started out my journey early with my mom and friend junker Christy (Ballyhoo Bazzar) and headed for some estate sales. We finally found a digger that we raced through, with spectacular results!

After loading the silver Odyssey (stand by your van--the last sale inspired me to sing), we drove on out Hwy 2 to GardenStone in Airway Heights, where we were greeted by Kelly Tareski, half of the magic of the business they run. (Monte being the other half, though they have a very big, amazing family! Maybe I should include the goats too?) By this time my sister Angela had joined our caravan of junking craziness, so the four of us enjoyed shopping GardenStone's huge selection of local fun goods, vintage, new, repurposed, handmade, blingy, rustic, it's all good! Kelly, her family and her animals were all so gracious, but we had to hit the road for Reardan and my mom's house.

I was eagerly anticipating visiting a new store the opened in Reardan recently, called Rejuvinations. My mom had told me about it and it was just so refreshing! Loved getting to meet the owner's sister, Tammy and Maria, who works there and had just visited us at the Funky Junk show the weekend before. Such cute, amazing inventory!! My mom, sister and I all picked up three different shades of a cute vintage looking organizer for our scrapbook rooms. Rejuvinations is well worth the drive! My mom headed to the Buggy Barn for a minute or two and Christy, Angela and I stopped by the antique store in town and found some very fun, unique finds. Christy couldn't pass up an awesome shopping cart! (Children sold seperately). The drive through Reardan wouldn't be complete on a sunny day without a milkshake from Dean's Drive In (where Hollie and her sister Heidi worked one summer way back), so I grabbed one and we drove on to Hollie's mom's house.

For decorating inspiration or hospitality, not much beats Gail Jantz's home. And I'm not even exaggerating. She treated us to looks at her collections (some new to me even) and fed our parched thirsts with Diet Cokes while we toured the grounds of her farm, where she gets to live, but not have to farm! (My mom grew up on a farm, daughter of a farmer, and is sister to a farmer, so she's well aware of the incredible hard work and sacrifice that go hand in hand with tending the land!) We were all worn out, we hard working junkin girls, by the (almost) end of our road trip. So Angela, Christy and I headed back to Spokane, our home sweet home. Christy and I HAD to stop by Habitat on Trent on the way home, where we found some fun finds and more projects than our minds could hold...such a cool store!

It's pretty amazing what junkers can accomplish when given a full day, the open road and some friends to enjoy the view with. It's a day to remember, and thankfully I have the pictures to prove it!

Next job: (before getting to cleaning my house) to figure out how to put the right pictures by the right paragraph so that you wonderful readers won't get too frustrated and give up on me!

Spring Fling

I think we've been flung into spring! After a few false starts, it seems like maybe, it is here for good. Yesterday my first tulip opened, our cherry blossom tree began blossoming, and literally, the birds were singing and the bees were buzzing! The boys played outside for literal hours, and I was able to spend a couple quality hours with Liam, the middle boy, volunteering at his preschool, where we did some earth day friendly crafts. All in all a perfect spring day for our family.

Today I was able to pick out some seed packets with my little-est boys and this afternoon we're planning to plant our first pack of peas! Our garden has been far from abundant, due to my junking addiction/shows/three little boys/wanting to sleep...so, it grows food, at the very least and we love to pick things from it during the summer, so we're giving another try this year. While we were at my fav. store, Target, picking up seeds, we also picked up 4 sets of brown flip flops (they have lots of colors to choose from!)for the three little boys, and one for the one big boy. So, here's to sunny days, happy kids, planting seeds in the garden and hopes for an earth that still springs new every year for generations to come!

Funky Finds

This is now sitting in front of my house, and it makes me happy every time I see it. Jennifer gave me the vintage oil can and yellow branches as a parting gift from our show. I love our yellow poster and the whole yellow, bright feel of our 7th show. Junkers are an awesome brand of people and we met so, so many of them at Funky Junk!
My friend Kara was at the show with her two adorable girls, and told me if my prized 1947 huge dictionary didn't sell, that she would definetly have a home for it. Tuesday, I delivered her find to her, and she was so excited, we even ended up looking up "sperious" (I think) that morning in it!!
One of our family's friends, the Morrison's, all came (5 and counting=)) and Jamie found a map puzzle in my Joy Harvest booth that he's positive he pieced together when he was young. (I will not reveal his age.) He put it together at home and discovered that we're only missing 1 (or 2) pieces to the puzzle.
That's a lot like Funky Junk is for me. Finding homes for junk I find amazing and prized, and piecing together the junk with the person who loved something similar long ago.
I love this life, this junking life, and the junk is super fun, but the people, well they are the missing pieces.
love.fun.junk. grab some for yourself.

Camp Funky Junk

I've always had post show letdown. Sometimes, it's major, and sometimes I'm back to normal within a day or two. Doing a junking show reminds me of summer camp in many ways. The buildup, the nerves, the packing up, meeting the cabin mates, getting to know everyone, eating a lot, playing, laughing, not being homesick anymore, and then all of sudden, because you are having so much fun, it's over. Too fast. So, here we are, and one of my most favorite things in the world to do is done. Where does that leave me? With sore muscles, in need of some dietary detox, a little bit emotional, slightly cranky=), and with a very neglected house to pick up. The blessings of my three boys and my husband always ease the transition back to real life after my Funky Junk weekends, for sure. But I have to say, today, I'm really missing my funky friends.

Sunny Junky Day

What a beautiful day! We couldn't have asked for a better first junking day of 2010! And ask we did=)...Jennifer & I kept sharing stories of fun new friends, junking finds walking by our booths, and of seeing some of junky friends=)...Thank you all for coming out and spending the day with us, what a pleasure, and truly an honor to have you all join us in what we love to do. So...I've got some things to pick up, and pick out tomorrow...I've been longingly eyeing many an item as I dashed by the booths today! I loved all the conversations and interactions today, but really, my favorite moments were seeing my husband Mark, our directing traffic like a pro, and seeing my oldest boy in his Funky Junk tee and vendor tag=). Love to you all, and the best of junk.
See you tomorrow--
Love
Hollie

Funky Junk Time

My head is spinning from the amazing booths! I just got home after walking through the grange and looking at what the vendors took so much time to set up today! Each booth is perfect and filled with creativity and talent, and yes, funky junk. I'm just amazed, not only by the stuff, but by the people. My heart is full from talking to good friends that I've been junking with for years, and from getting to meet some really good new friends. You all following our blog and facebook page, thank you so much. We are truly humbled by your love! See you today or tomorrow=)
Much love, fun & a little junk,
Hollie & Jennifer