My Twelfth Day of Thanks

That old husband of mine planned a manly, long weekend of hunting for he and his two brothers-in-law, freeing up my time.  Naturally, I did what I do on many Saturday mornings; Head to my mom's house around 6:30am, grab a cup of coffee and hit the local yard sales.  The saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure," hold true, you really can find some great things at yard sales.  And it's economically friendly!  Reuse, baby. All you need is a creative eye, and you can take a worn-out piece of furniture and give it a totally new life.  My mom and I like to call this making it "ReFabulous".

It's November and the temperatures are finally starting to drop to where they should be, so I was more than happy to find our way inside of the Hollywood Fire Department.  This weekend they are hosting the, "Unique Boutique" which is a vendor show for local artists.  There were so many different and talented people selling their products there it's hard to pick just one favorite.  So I'm going to pick three...The first was, without a doubt, Miss Gerry Wood.  Her specialty was watercolor paintings of structures and landscapes.  One in particular that caught my eye was the Tobacco Barn with Daisy's. The next artisan I couldn't pull myself away from was a duo from Classic Glass Studios, Sherry Sonntag-Whorl and Steve Whorl.  They specialize in customized stained glass of all types.  All I could do was stare at the dangling sun-catchers and horizontal panels and think about how beautiful they'd look in my house.  Finally, the last artist that I just couldn't stop coming back to was Ellen Robinson and her crab pottery.  The never ending sea of turquoise, gold, brown and blue plates, bowls, dishes, ornaments (you name it, she had it) that were all dishwasher, oven and microwave safe had me in awe.  I definitely think I know what I'll be getting our favorite, water loving neighbors this Christmas!

I am thankful for local artists and all artists, really.  Today encouraged my to pick up my passion for photography again and do it because I love it. It's something that challenges me and satisfies me at the same time.  Oddly enough, I hadn't even been to the Unique Boutique yet when I snapped the photo below this morning. I was actually en route to a yard sale and thought it was pretty.  Looks like a sunny little piece of heaven on a blustery fall day, doesn't it?