Shelf Life...

Greetings Sweet Hearts!

What inspires you to create a room or a space the way that you do?

Is it a beautiful picture from a magazine or book?

Is it something you saw in a movie, that you fell madly in love with?

A booth in your favorite antique mall that captured your imagination?

Or maybe it's simply, one piece.

One perfect piece of something, anything, that sings to your soul & says, this IS who I am.

For me, it's my antique Round Top Texas, tin ceiling tiles.

They capture the essence of everything I LOVE.

Their subtle,  neutral color.

The tarnish & tatters of age.

The remembrance of an era lost.

The attempt of ornamentation with limited means.

The dream of their journey, until they got to me.

To me, that's the magic of choosing something old over something that's new, the story.

Looking at this sweet little wall shelf, one could never imagine the story it has to tell, but it has one.

I bought this shelf new from Pottery Barn.

It has hung on my walls for over 20 years.

It was once as white as snow, with lovely glass windows in the door & on the sides.

I have always adored it.

This sweet little shelf, once bright & new, has endured more then most people have. You see, there was a fire.

The fire was so hot, it shattered all of the tiny glass window panes & the smoke was so thick, it's snow white paint turned as black as coal.

 In despair, I flung the sweet little shelf out onto the pile of ruble that once was my life.

Un beknowst to me, the little shelf had been spared.

Someone had taken it from the ruble, still seeing the diamond in the rough.

They knocked out the remaining pieces of broken glass

& sanded off most of the black soot

that covered it.

When my little shelf made it's way back to me, I cried in joy & in grief.

I cried for the things I had loved & lost.

 I cried for something loved & lost, that was given a new life & found it's way home.

This little shelf hangs on the wall next to my bed now, filled with the little things I love.

A silver baby mirror & brush.

Old tin types & hand rolled thread.

Baby shoes & clock faces.

Business cards & button cards.

White linen & rusty tub feet.

Holy cards & an antique hair comb.

The little shelf reminds me everyday of the possibility of pain & joy,

of death & rebirth.

It's why I love my ceiling tiles & it reminds me of who I am.

Subtle but strong, living my life in greys,

rusty & tattered, enjoying the patina of age,
coming from a lost era of innocence, still looking back,

& always dreaming of the journey that waits, just around the next corner.

I am joining Debra of Common Ground for her Vintage Inspiration Friday post. There are many lovely links to visit and I hope you will enjoy them as well.

I hope all of you friends, had a Blessed & Loving Thanksgiving!
Mine was PERFECT, proving you can still teach an old dog new tricks! ;)

XOXO
vintagesusie

400 Friends, a Giveaway & a Thanksgiving Blessing

Say WHAT? 400 Friends?

When, Where, How, Why?

It seems like only yesterday I was on my way to Texas & stopped by Glendale, Arizona to personally deliver my '300 Friends Giveaway' to Carol Anne of Carol Anne's Boutique.
What a wonderful morning we had getting to know each other, opening presents {she brought me some too!}, having a marvelous breakfast & finding out how very similar we were.

That was almost exactly 2 months ago & now,
how very lucky I am to have 100 more friends, today.
Thank you so very much Sweet Hearts, for making this one of the most amazing adventures of my life!

In Celebration of all of you, my friends, let's have a Holiday Giveaway.

That's right, you heard it here 1st...vintagesusie is having a GIVEAWAY & all of you are invited!!

So, what are the rules you may ask?

We don't need no darn rules friends!!

You need not become a follower or add the badge for this giveaway to your sidebar.

You need not wear a pin on your shirt with my face on it or hire a plane to write vintagesusie & wings across the sky.

Simply leave a comment to this post & your name will be thrown into my favorite cowboy hat, for the chance to win untold treasures!

I will pick a name out of my hat on December 13th, 2010 & on that night the lucky winner will be announced to all the world! How exciting, right? Another Christmas present to open!

Now, about the gift. I'm a thinkin...

somethin from Texas of course,

somethin I make, {jewelry always sounds good}

somethin pretty, somethin blue,

somethin old & somethin new!

Hey, I think some one's getting married!! LOL 

I will provide Sneak Peeks of the Grand Prize throughout the Giveaway, so stay tuned!

As you can probably see from my photo's, I've been playing dress-up today.

Johnson Brother's Vintage China

kinda dress-up.

I brought out the Wedgewood Wine Chiller & the Brighton Wine Glasses that I ADORE, along with the mercury glass candle holders & my new Pottery Barn burlap table runner...so purdy!

So I wonder, how will this Thanksgiving be?

This Thanksgiving, I will remember the lessons of last year.
I will laugh & love myself & my family, with all our beautiful imperfections.
I will not stress over the little stuff & if I do, I won't be upset with that either.
I will feel grateful for yet another year to share with my family & friends.
I will feel blessed for all the love that surrounds me everyday.

I will remember the people I don't even know, fighting in places that I've never seen,

risking their lives & missing their loved ones, so my loved ones & I can sleep in peace.

Even with our trials, we all have so very much to be thankful for friends.

I wanted to share this quote with you, I found it so lovely & true.
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~Melody Beattie
Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving Friends filled with Blessings, Love & Laughter!

XOXO
vintagesusie