“….And I Believe In The Promised Land…”

“Blow away the dreams that tear you apart,

Blow away the dreams that break your heart,

Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted”

Happy birthday, Bruce Springsteen!!!  Thank you for EVERYTHING!!!

img_1327Bruce Springsteen performing at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on 09/14/2016 (yes, I was there!!!).

img_1326 Bruce Springsteen performing at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on 09/14/2016 (yes, I was there!!!).

img_1223 Bruce Springsteen performing at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on 09/14/2016 (yes, I was there!!!). 

 

 

 

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Weekend Wanderings

Hello, vixens!!!  How are all of you?  Are you as happy to say goodbye to summer & welcome fall as I am?!?!?!  This is truly my most wonderful time of year!!!  I am so happy to be going from seeing displays like this:

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To this:

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So we all know that over the last several years the back to school sales include many new items for fall.  I have come across several interesting ones.  I am not sure if Kellogg’s does this every year but this is the first time I noticed my favorite flavor of my favorite treat has been updated for fall:

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Or if you are a pumpkin pie fan, there is also this one:

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Isn’t the skeleton Snoopy a scream???  I promise it has two eyes, but my iPhone just did not pick it up.  As this year marks the 50th anniversary of “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown“, I have come across a lot of Peanuts items that celebrate that milestone & the season of fall/Halloween itself, like these adorable window clings I saw in the supermarket:

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I also loved these old school Halloween decorations.  They remind me of the ones my mother hung on our door for the holiday when I was a kid:

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Have you noticed that it starts to get dark around 7:30 pm now???  Yeah!!!  The other thing I have noticed since I have been in Connecticut is that even if the temperature during the day is still in the 80’s this month, overnight the temp drops town to the 60’s or 50’s.  Wonderful sleeping weather, as they say.  Speaking of CT, I have been up here an entire year now.  It’s hard to believe but I am happy and finally getting settled.  And this time of year makes everything better, right?  🙂

Nothing herein is sponsored, just sharing my weekend finds with you.

So how was your weekend???

Until next time, fellow vixens, happy digging!!!

 

9/11: 15 Years Later

Sept 11

Photo by:  Thomas Franklin  for The Bergen Record 

This picture was on the front page of every paper in America on 9/13/01. I remember distinctly wanting to go out and buy one after I saw one of the news anchors hold up a copy. I picked it up around 6pm that evening & thanked God again for sparing all of those that I love from any harm that day. Less than an hour later, I found out my grandmother died. Luckily, she was in the comfort, peace and safety of her own home. 9/11 changed our world forever. Two days later, my own world changed forever. To this day I believe she spent her first days in heaven cooking her famous sauce for all the victims, especially the 343 firefighters, 60 police officers and eight paramedics. I hope they enjoyed her food & company as much as I did. That 1-2 punch of 9/11 & my grandmother’s death left me with a stronger faith than I have ever known. May we never forget the lessons that tragedy taught us, or the lives of all those who died. 

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Me & my grandmother, Ida, a/k/a Idie, as I affectionately called her.  .

Local Store Stop: Maison St. Germain, Woodbury, CT

Hello, Vixens!!!  While I was patiently waiting for the summer to pass, I discovered a gem of a store in Woodbury, CT.  While the town is known as the “The Antiques Capital” of Connecticut, I have not had the time to check out too many of them yet because I have been distracted by junking, estate sales and my new favorite, barn sales.  But that is for another post.  Maison St. Germain is so beautiful I cannot help but share it!!!  (I am still without my SLR camera, so please forgive me if the quality of some of the shots is not the best).

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Owned, run and designed by the extremely talented mother-daughter team of Debra Germain and Nicole Germain-Perez (below, left to right), their store is 3,300 square feet of sheer loveliness.

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Both designers, these ladies are bursting with creativity, and it shows in every part of their store which they describe as “vintage style with eclectic flair”.  I think of them as the east coast version of the Junk Gypsies.

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Their philosophy?  “If you like it, buy it. It will work”.  Just look at the adorable table I snagged.  Debra said it was made from old cheese boxes.

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The women decided to open a store after doing various antiques shows for years. “It just wasn’t fun anymore,” Deborah said. “So we wrote a business plan on a napkin in a restaurant after a show & we opened a store.”

They still attend shows like Bouckville and Stormfield, but they admit they do not have time for too many estate sales. “There just isn’t time because this is a seven day a week job. If we are not in the store, we are out buying or home painting what we buy” said Nicole.  This dining room set is a perfect example of their painting skills.

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The painted furniture pieces most prominent items throughout the store but there is so much more, like one of my favorites, White Ironstone.  I love the look of the pristine white platters against the chippy old door.  The perfect combo, in my humble opinion.  And that pumpkin sign is perfect for fall, right?

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They have a big collection of punch bowls which they use for so many things, including floral displays & centerpieces for Christmas with ornaments & lights.  .

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And so many adorable items like this sink or the doll’s chair/stool.  Too cute!!!

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There is even a spot to enchant the men.

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The women love being inventive with their displays and designs which includes their own line of clothing with the best name I ever heard: The Vintage Vixen   🙂

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Their clothes line features hand-dyed & hand-painted clothes. “I saw something on TV about Ralph Lauren is doing hand painted clothes now, too,” said Debra.  This pair of shorts reminded me of a Jackson Pollock painting.

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They also carry accessories like these “Vogue” inspired purses & an array of footwear including cowboy boots.

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IMG_1028[1]And as a Rock & Roll chick myself, I appreciated all the music posters throughout the clothing section!!!

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The store does not just look good, it smells good, too, thanks to a line of beautiful soaps displayed just in front of the check out counter.

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So, for a treat for your eyes and nose, check out Maison St. Germain!!!

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