Spreading My Wings

I finally did it.

Ye Olde Schoolhouse Country Store in Sodus, NY

I am stepping out in faith and spreading my wings to fly to the next level.

Live retail!

I had been thinking a lot about taking my love of vintage and passion for thrifting to a real live brick and mortar store. Selling on Etsy is great but I have so much stuff and I want to buy more stuff so I needed another outlet.

As soon as the idea entered my mind, I would dismiss it because of the cost of renting a booth, where it might be and just for plain and real fear. What if I didn't sell anything?

I found myself sharing my desire out loud again though, to my friend Susan, who has been in the retail world for a long time.

I believe that the Lord gives us the desires of our heart when we follow and obey His word the best we can. He also uses other people to put the puzzle pieces together to make it all happen.

Thanks to Susan's connections with a lot of the people who run the country, primitive stores in the area, I was able to grab the last open booth at Ye Olde Schoolhouse Country Store in Sodus, NY. As soon as I went to look at the space and talk to Larissa there, I was in. I told her she didn't even know what I sold and she said she trusted me and if Susan said I was good, then I am good.

The door has been wide open ever since and I am still walking through it!

It is the sweetest place.

Only 6' x 11', my space is perfect for me. Just big enough to get my feet wet. I already feel like I am in over my head though! Lots and lots of trips and work to get it all set up and priced.

And then there is that fear again. What if nothing sells at the Open House coming up this Friday, April 29th?

Or, what if a lot sells and then I have to fill it all up again?

Well, that part is not too hard, as I will be shopping this week at two church rummage sales and whatever else I can find to pick at.  

It was very bright the day I took these pictures, the front of the schoolhouse facing north, with Lake Ontario in the horizon. The building is the cutest thing and it was an actual schoolhouse. Old wood floors, great windows and rafters make it so quaint. It was a country shop when I lived in the area 20+ years ago and then closed. Reopened last year, the vendors and the quality of product offered are top notch. I am humbled to be a part of it.

I shopped my house and my Etsy inventory to fill my little space. I even brought out the button frames and bracelets from my Button Lady days. This is the "Think Mother's Day" table!





There are some theatre items too from the community theatre my husband and I have.



Lots of smalls....

Some more button items and my upcycled pant hangers.



A pig, a basket and a pair of roosters. 

It's a start.


If you live nearby, I hope you can stop by the Open House this weekend at Ye Olde Schoolhouse Country Store, 7290 Maxwell Rd. on the corner of Lake Rd. in Sodus, NY. It will be Friday 11-5, Saturday 10 - 5 and Sunday 12 - 5, April 29-May 1.


Visit their Facebook page here where new pictures of the whole shop will be posted soon.


AnnMarie xoxo


I am linking up here this week:
Let's Talk Vintage
Vintage Bliss Tuesdays Linky Party
Share Your Cup
Simple & Sweet Fridays
Best of the Weekend
Anything Blue Friday
"Anything Goes" Pink Saturday
Talk of the Town

A Shameless Plug and a Coupon

This is a shameless plug for my Etsy shop NaNa's Things.

Right now all of us sellers on Etsy are gearing up for the holiday season.

I am up to 567 items in my shop with about 40 items waiting to be researched, photographed, priced and listed.

Until that happens I am anxious to find new homes for my collection of treasures living on the pages of my shop. It is getting a little tight in the basement, where they live on my shelves!

I am trying to restrain myself from anymore thrifting for now so that I can catch up. The garage sale, flea market season is slowing down anyways. So although I don't have any newly picked treasures to show you, I have treasures to show you!

Something to decorate each season, for any occasion, even as gifts for the vintage lover.

I have fine china, rusty gas cans and stools.

Dolls, doll chairs and a doll couch.

I have linens and teapots and jewelry boxes.

I have tree stands and ornaments and lights.

I have small things, large things, heavy things and light things.

I have things from 1900 and each decade after to 1990.

Art deco, Victorian, Mid Century, retro and kitsch.

I have farmhouse, cottage chic and industrial.

 I have things for women and things for men. I have things for your kitchen and your garden.

 Your front porch and your bedroom.

To give as a gift or to keep. Handmade and up-cycled.

I have porcelain, plastic and metal, oh my. Wood, cast iron and glass.

I have camping gear, bedding and vases.

Things to hang on your wall. Things to wrap yourself in. Picture frames to hold your memories.

I have useful, useless and funky things. I have travel things, storage things, musical things.

 

Things to light your way, make your bed comfy and things to brighten your holidays.

 And that's just on the first few pages!

You can click on my Etsy shop on the sidebar and if you find anything you like you can take 20% off by using the coupon code MUSINGS2015 at checkout. It is a special code for my bloggy friends. Kind of a "sale before the holidays" sale to thank all of you that visit me here each week.

Aren't you glad you stopped by? I would love if you would stop by my shop and visit me there. I am adding new items daily. I can give you an exact shipping rate for your zip code and offer next day shipping.

Happy shopping!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking this post up to these great blog parties:

Show and Share
You're Gonna Love It Link Up Party
What's It Wednesday
Let's Talk Vintage
Vintage Inspiration Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Freedom Fridays With All My Bloggy Friends
Pink Saturday

Five on Friday

It's Five on Friday time!

This is a fun blog party to link up to every Friday. The hosts are Darci, April, Christina and Natasha. Just write 5 things on your mind today and post at the party! Then go read what others have been doing all week on their Five on Friday posts!

 

1. I have been listing and listing new items from my many thrifting excursions the past few weekends. I am always on the lookout for different and unique things I don't already have in my NaNa's Things shop. I think I found a few....

 

 

2. Tuesday was October 1st, the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and also the day I just happened to have an appointment for a mammogram. I got mine....have you gone for yours yet this year?

 

 

3. I love Fall for all the reasons everyone else does, plus another one. My church holds a ladies' bible study every Fall and it started this week. It is a nice two hours with woman learning about God's word. It is a study on the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

 

4. We have enjoyed gorgeous Indian Summer-like weather here in Upstate New York with temperatures in the high 70's all week. I had actually put all my capri pants and sandals away for the winter but quickly took them all out again for this weather. Saturday is supposed to hit 80.

 

This plant looks the best it has all summer!
It is full of petite lavender flowers.
Must be the weather!

5. In one week my husband and I are going off for the weekend alone while our son goes on a Youth Retreat. We are not going too far from home but far enough away to feel away! On the very end of Canandaigua Lake, one of the five Finger Lakes, is Naples, New York, known for it's grape vineyards, grape pies and Grape Festival every September . It is a quaint town where we found a cottage to rent for the weekend. Doesn't matter to me what the weather is like :)!

 

 



 

How has your week been?

 

AnnMarie :)

 

Linking up with these great parties!

 

Five on Friday

Freedom Fridays

The Weekend re-Treat Link Party

Weekend Wonders

I Love My Post Blog Hop

 



My Ga's Vanity

One of the things I most looked forward to growing up was to visit my Ga's house.

Ga was my paternal grandmother. She got the name from when my older sister was a toddler and couldn't say the full word "Grandma". It stuck and we called her that until she died when I was 12. She was a classy lady.

 

In my young eyes, her house was magical. I can still tell you the layout and the decorations. The most enchanting thing was to go through the glass French doors that led to the staircase that led to the upstairs. I still dream about the upstairs of her house. The bathroom was all white with a black and white checked floor, porcelain fixtures and antique items. Her bedroom was lacy and feminine with a four poster bed and a vanity table that I was allowed to sit at with her by my side.

It was at that vanity that she showed me a ring that I was to have someday and she told me that I was her favorite. I am the middle child, as she was, and so she understood the dynamics of that position in a family.

My grandmother collected antiques, but not just any antiques. She traveled to Europe and places like Mexico to find hers and bought only the best. A few years after her death my grandfather laid out a lot of her things on a table and the three of us granddaughters were told to choose the things we wanted. I wanted everything!

Some of my treasured things are from that vanity, which I proudly display on my dresser.

 

There is a silk lined porcelain box painted with daisies (my favorite flower), a vanity mirror with a ring box from Paris, a Madonna and child figurine, an open porcelain gold gilt painted box that I use for my watches and a money box with foreign money inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mirror, brush and comb vanity set is very heavy silver and another of my favorite treasures.

 



 

There is also a collection of trinket boxes, so intricately carved that the dust is impossible to get out. I am afraid to use cleaner on them! I don't know their origin but I can guess they were from some exotic country!

I was fortunate to grab all of her perfume bottle collection too! These bottles are old and they are exquisite. One still has perfume in it. They are proudly displayed in my favorite vignette in my bedroom.

 

 

 

 

Although I never had the pleasure of going antiquing or thrifting with Ga, I believe I inherited my love for all things old from her. I can still recall the feeling I got from being around her things, and so, in my 20's I started to collect antiques and vintage things, to surround myself with that same feeling.

Thirty years later I have quite a collection. So much so that I felt I should start to part with some of it. That is how NaNa's Things, my Etsy shop, was born. I thought it would be no problem selling off some things but I was wrong!

Lately I have become quite nostalgic about Ga's things and my things, NaNa's (my granddaughters' name for me) things and my daughter Jena is constantly asking, "You're selling that?!". It is always a treasure that she grew up with, having seen it everyday in our 1900's farmhouse and that has now become part of the memories of her childhood. There is no fair price to put on an item like that. And, if I sell those things, what will my granddaughters Cassidy and Chloe build their memories on?

So, I have pulled some of those items from my shop. I am quite happy to keep thrifting and buying vintage items to sell. What started out as a way to clean out some of my accumulation has turned into adding another 300+ items to our basement!

I am blessed with a husband who says if I am having fun with it and I love it, I should just keep thrifting! Besides, he likes to go with me sometimes for the thrill of the hunt too!

Sometimes I am overwhelmed with all the "stuff" I have and other times I am blessed by all the "stuff" and the memories they hold. It is always a good thing to surround yourself with things that spark a special memory of a cherished person or event. That's why we call where we live everyday "home", and we each have one that is uniquely ours.

I hope to pass down some of the passion and love for the past and vintage items that Ga instilled in me, to my granddaughters, and that they will want to surround themselves with it.

Someday they will get to choose a treasure from NaNa's things to cherish.

AnnMarie :)

I found a new fabulous party to link to this week!
Wow Us Wednesdays from Savvy Southern Style

Linking up with these fabulous blog parties (that are keeping me sane while I recover from hip surgery!!)

Marvelous Mondays
Tuesday Trivia
The Scoop
You're Gonna Love It
Adorned From Above
Fluster's Creative Muster Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
Be Inspired
Home Sweet Home
Weekend Wonders
Freedom Fridays
Bloglovin' Blog Hop
What's It Wednesday Blog Linky Party
Let Me Pintroduce You
Favorite Posts Showoff Weekend Blog Hop
Aloha Friday Blog Hop
Share It One More Time
A Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Let's Get Social Sunday
Amaze Me Monday