Home & the Garden Antique Vintage Blog Party

Can you believe 8 days has gone by & I'm already back home?

I can't, it flew by in a wink & TEXAS was as Crazy as ever!

I LOVE this picture from the Blog Party of all the gals that were in our

'Crazy in Texas' 2011 Tour.

front row from left...Rita, Cindy, Riki & Diane

back row...Sandy, Charlene, Susie{me}, Karen & Joy.

We walked the fields, shopped, junked, talked, ate barbecue & pie, did I say walked & just in general had an awesome Good Time!!!

I took about a million pictures as I always do & will break them up into several posts...but this post is about Miss Teresa of Garden Antique Vintage's,

Blog Party at her booth right next to Zapp Hall.

She is the bestest hostess ever & blogger's come from far & wide to attend her event...

even the Junk Gypsy's!!

Here's Miss Amie, Miss Jolie & Mama Gypsy, Miss Janie & I LOVE them!!!  ;)

{see the pink tee Amie has on...I have a GREAT story to tell y'all about that,

but it'll have to wait for another time}

Now, being that these are the Junk Gypsy's & they are about as sweet as pie...

they did not come empty handed. No, they came with Pink Party Bags in a wheelbarrow...

really, how cool is that??

I love me some amy...

Amy of Amy Boland Photography & Amie of Junk Gypsy's fame.

{there's that cute tee again...}

Jolie Gypsy is chattin it up with Suzanne & Tracy from Rusted Gingham...

{I sure wish I lived in Texas & could go to their Barn Sale}

and here are the stylings of my gorgeous friends & fellow crazy people, Charlene & Joy...

don't they look FABULOUS!! Sweet Charlene was the tour guide & den mother of this group. She drove, scheduled, planned, did airport runs, made dinner reservations, pushed carts, brought waters, passed out snacks & let me sleep in & be the last one to breakfast everyday,

with a Smile on her Face...

you ROCK GIRLFRIEND...Thank You so much for EVERYTHING!

Miss Teresa's booth was amazing, as always! I thought y'all might enjoy a tour...

loved the great old frames...

& I just have a thing for the beauty of vintage family records like this one.

How cute is this display & the burlap pillow & lace...adorable!

A dream in cream along with a pink flamingo...

oh, & looks who's Talking Trash, Miss Debbie & Cat Daddy.

{hey, is she doin the pageant stand? I think she is...lol}

Don't ya just love rusty old bikes, especially with a basket full of flowers on the front.

And I thought this lamp shade made from delicate lace was killer!

A rainbow in a box...old rolls of ribbon lookin like they just came out of the five & dime, yummmmyyy.

Our lovely hostess Miss Teresa herself, getting caught in a Kodak moment. The challenge for the party this spring, was for everyone to make a fun name badge to represent themselves & their blog. At the end of the evening we all voted for our most favoritest.

And the WINNER of this coveted award is....

Lisa from Pix Up Sticks!

I adored her & her sweet little southern accent & I thought her necklace name badge was so cleaver. She used a broken antique doll as the base, added her name, a key for an arm, a cowboy boot for a leg & miscellaneous fun stuff in between, BRAVO Girlfriend!

And coming in 2nd place, was our very own Sandy who made each one of us in our group the cutest little shoulder bag made from tea stained muslin & lace. It had the image I made for our group on the front, along with each of our names & I absolutely ADORED mine. Thanks sweet friend!  :)

And just to make this event even better, my loving friend & sister in all things jewelry designer Diane Cook, was the featured artist. She is the reason I ever FOUND Texas in the first place, which then lead me to so many other wonderful people, places & things. Thank you friend for so much!

You know what Sweet Hearts???

I'm coming to truly understand how much I LOVE Texas & exactly why!

XOXO
vintagesusie

Junkin Gypsy Style in Round Top, Texas...Ohhh Yeahhhh!

Howdy Y'all!!!!

I finally made it to heaven...Welcome to Round Top!

A tiny little town with a population of 77 in the hill country of southern Texas,

Round Top is my idea of what heaven should be.

It'll have wide open fields & gingerbread houses,

chippy white paint & rusty old horse trailers,

the bluest skies you ever have seen...

there will be longhorn steer & cows that look like oreos,

pie with blue bell ice cream & most certainly...

there will be GYPSY'S,

Junkin Gypsy's, the very BESTEST kind!

They are ALWAYS my very 1st stop when I step into town, but this being opening day & all,

 I was in for a treat cuz the WHOLE Gypsy Family was there to greet me.

Mama & Daddy Gypsy were helping set up the booth,

Gorgeous sister Gypsy's, Miss Amie & Miss Jolie, were adding their last minute touches

& the 2 tiniest Gypsy's were showing me some of there newly acquired Gyspy skills!!

One was mastering his paddle ball & had gotten up to hittin it 15 times...

& the other little one was showing me her FABULOUS Gypsy handbag,

I mean really, does it get any better then that??   ;)

Well, maybe it does, cuz then there's the STUFF!!!

GOOD STUFF!!!

These gals know how to throw a party kinda STUFF!!

It took everything I had not to throw myself into their luscious bed...

I was hot {as usual}, sweaty {what's new} & probably a little stinky {sorry}, but their linens looked soooo yummmmy...it really was a tough call!

Who knew skelenton's could look so awesome?

And what's with the deer havin more bling then me???   ;o

Only in TEXAS!   ;)

I ADORED their new line of nubby linen's, along with the "Oh Poop" baby picture of course!

Now that's my idea of BLING, BABY!

The ROYAL Mounted Police... lol.

Peacock Feather's & a PINK pay phone?? Coool!!

My on going joke..."I Work for Tee's"! {I really do girls}

And I wouldn't mind workin for BOOTS either!!! yummmmmmyyyyy

Fabulousity is just everywhere you look...

I mean SERIOUSLY Friends...

I REALLY, REALLY,

WISH YOU WERE HERE!  ;)

Stay tuned Sweet Hearts, there's soooo much more to come....

XOXO

vintagesusie

as promised...San Anotonio Missions

Greetings Sweet Hearts & as promised I'm taking y'all back to Texas with me to visit the exceptional & truly unexpectedly, sooooo very coooool,

San Antonio!!!

So here's the silly scoop. I left all my Texas Lovelies telling them I was heading straight home, no detours, no off the map adventures, Hubby wanted me home, Kai was having a soccer game Sat morning & I just had to make it to the game...sooooo, noooooo playing around or crazy OCD National Park touring, none. Cross my heart & stick a needle in my eye!!!

Off I went with mt Dodge Durango weighed down with Texas Gold, straight on till morning...I was on a Mission!

Well, that lasted all the way from Weimer to San Anton & then I started seeing those damned brown signs. It's like taking a drunk to the bar & expecting him not to order a drink...I know, I'm sick!!! lol

Do they have a National Park 12 step program??? LOL
What truly perked my little eyes & ears, was that it seems unknowingly to me that San Antonio has a series of 4 Missions that are part of the National Park System. Hummmmm, what a coincidence...if you look on my sidebar you will notice under things I LOVE, that I am also a California Mission Junky.

Wow...two birds with 1 stone. I can get a few more stamps in my Passport Book & check out some Mission Love all at the same time. I mean what was I suppose to do??? Just drive by when I saw the turnoff? So even though the car was on cruise control at the leisurely Texas speed of 80 miles an hour & I really WAS trying to have SOME self control...I slammed on the brakes, took the turnoff & followed my favorite little brown signs.
Maybe it was a sign from God that I go, right?
It could have been!

This group of missions is called The San Antonio Missions National Historic Park & they are truly spectacular gems!

The 1st in the tour of 4, is the wondrous Mission Concepcion with it's hand~painted religious murals & glorious chapel.

How beautiful is this chapel, the painting, the lighting...it was breathtaking! Now this mission is awesome, but my favorite was number 2...

Mission San Jose, The Queen of the Missions! Founded in 1770, to me it is the mission of arches, an architects dream, my dream.

Again...hello, does anybody notice that you can't take a bad picture in this state cuz those sky's are just soooo blue & the grass & trees couldn't be any greener.

Did I mention it has arches,

in front of other arches, that are in front of some more arches?
I am in love with all of these arches!

Then, off in the distance, I saw THIS window...looks pretty cool right?

Well, come to find out, this Rose Window is considered to be one of the finest pieces of Spanish Colonial ornamentation in the country. Heavenly, this window is like looking at heaven.

After taking at least 40 pics of the window I turned towards the bell tower, just as the chimes began to ring noon...it was magical!

Now..heading towards the chapel doors, I'm greeted by these classical ornate concrete statues & cravings, can we just say WOW!

This could be any Capella in Italy, truly... it is that wonderful.


A simple iron door pull,

on a not so simple, amazingly exquisite, hand craved door.

Behind the heavy wooden doors, lies the chapel with it's cupola & arches & wrought iron chandelier candle holder.

This is still a local, viable, working church here in San Antonio.

I would go to church everyday if my local church had the history & the beauty of this one.

Could you imagine what I would have missed if I hadn't been flexible enough to change my mind in an instant, to take the unplanned path & follow my heart?

All of this historic grandeur!

The last 2 missions San Juan & Espada, were beautiful, but in a remodeling stage leaving the chapels unavailable to view, but the exteriors were still remarkable & something I couldn't pass up.

In 1716, Mission San José de los Nazonis was established to serve the Nazonis Indians. However, the mission was not successful, and was eventually moved to another location.

Founded in 1690, Mission Espada was the first mission in Texas. This mission is small & quint with a lush garden feeling to it & a beautiful well in the center of the courtyard.

And on top of the well is an...

unbelievable, really want to have it, wrought iron cross.

The wall of bells is stunning, especially against those Texas skies!

This one reminds me of home...the San Juan Capistrano Mission has a wall that looks very similar to this...it just needs a little bougainvillea! ;)

And of course, more gorgeous doors...

& arches...

& rustic charm door pulls.

This accidental tourist has found more wonders on her journey, then could EVER have been planned!

I LOVED San Antonio!

It is filled with soooo much history & beauty!

And since I'd already spent wayyyy toooo much time there, {I thought I could do it all in an hour} why not head over to The Alamo? The Mission's were just a sweet surprise!!

Oh, & by the way...the Missions were a treasure trove of passport stamps. I got 6 there!! Yipppeeeeee!!!!

See you soon Sweet Hearts & we'll be headed over to The Alamo...

Life is SWEEET!

XOXO