Happy New Year!

Ricky and I wish you all a safe and very-very

Happy New Year!

Ghosts of Christmas Past.... Photo Album...

Now that Christmas 2011 is behind us.. today I walked around the house and decided I really wanted to remember the decor this year... so I took a photo album of the things I liked the best... and thought I'd share them here with you...

My Nativity, pared down quite a lot this year... just the creche, angels and sheep... along with a few newly bleached white bottle brush Christmas trees (an idea I ran across on Pinterest)... set under glass in a cloche where French birds normally reside in my office... but I really like it here, on the kitchen counter during Christmas dinner...  

My great mercury glass candle stick find at the Antique Mall in Seguin... only paid $16 for the set of three... then added red candles and snowy white Epsom salt... I'll be changing to white candles for the New Year celebration and then leaving the candles on the dining room table all year round!

My hot drink bar (another Pinterest idea) complete with cocoa and candy canes, vintage Holt Howard Santa candle huggers, peppermint tree from Hobby Lobby, holiday melamine plates from Target and a lighted Christmas tree...

I adore vintage Christmas candle huggers!

Kitchen niche, usually reserved for wine glasses we've collected from various wineries...

set aside to make room for my vintage Santa mugs and those bleached bottle brush trees... this was another Pinterest idea!

I bleached so many trees white, I put them everywhere... including as bottle tops in my kitchen window.  Candy and I found the little Santa hats at Blue Hills in Geronimo a few weeks ago.  I thought they would fit perfectly on wine bottles... but they were a little too small... so I made the one I bought a "bottle cap"... hehehehe...pun intended...

This year I played with putting many different items under glass... here, a candy dish with a tiny creche and a Cupie doll standing armless amongst Christmas trees... and see my sweet little Holt Howard Angel candle huggers...

I admit having fallen in love with old sewing cabinet drawers... I love them, but I've had no idea what to do with one... I purchased this one for about $10 at Blue Hills on my most recent shopping trip with Candy... It had a pretty blue knob on it when I bought it, but I traded that out for this fancy green glass knob purchased at Hobby Lobby... Here, I've used my drawer to display this years Christmas cards... now don't ask me what I'll do with it after Christmas... 'cause I don't know!  But if you have any ideas for me... share them with me here!  I could use the help!

and I don't know if you can see her wrapped around the white candle at the back of the drawer... but it's another candle hugger... this one is Mrs. Claus...

My garden art, Freddie Flamingo, is sporting a polka-dot Christmas ribbon... Freddie was meant for our camper when our daughter gave him to us for Christmas last year... but he's stood in the living room ever since... with a ribbon of the season as his only outfit!

My Paper Whites have begun to bloom finally.. I think I started them a little late this year... but I'll enjoy them through the new year and beyond... I brought twigs from the yard to stake the tall stems, and I love the way they look!

Last, but certainly not least, my vintage 1960's aluminum Christmas tree, complete with stand that turns and plays "Jingle Bells" and two rotating color wheels (Ricky like to "go big")... This was my Valentine's Day present in 2010 from Ricky... that man is full of romance!

and while I know that my decorating mentor, Sarah Richardson, said this season, she would never decorate her tree in green and red ornaments... my tree was a big hit at our Christmas Day family & friends get together... and I love the way it looks all decked out in bright green and red... it looks like... well... Christmas!

I hope that each of you had a joyous Christmas, and I wish you a safe and Happy New Year...

from down here in French Lique!

I'm linking to...
Mod Mix Monday
White Wednesday
Time Travel Thursday
Vintage Thingie Thursday
Show & Tell Friday

Small Town Vintage Shopping.... Fabulous Finds....

I spent the day working in Seguin Texas on Wednesday... and since I had 8 appointments scheduled, I knew I wouldn't have time to run by Glory B's Cottage in Geronimo for a little last minute shopping....and a visit with sweet Beverly...

 but on my way back from lunch, I drove past the Antique Mall in Seguin where the Curious Boys have a huge booth... so I thought... "why not stop... I've got 10-minutes to spare"... and I'm so glad I did... look at what I found!

Frames.. yes I love empty frames... and this pretty metal one was in a small booth that Beverly maintains in the Antique Mall...

and I had just the place to put it... in my guest room framing one of my sweet snow people...

and then there were these beauties... a set of 3 large Mercury Glass Candle Sticks with Hurricane glasses... all 3 in perfect condition...

so I played with candle sizes, and decided on the short fat ones... but I didn't have 3 of either color... so tomorrow, on my Friday before Christmas day off... I'll be candle shopping... for the short fat candles...
all 3 one color... red, or green, or maybe even white?

and the best part of all... the price $$$$$!

Candle Sticks with Hurricanes... $19.99 for the set!  Better than that... 20% off sale made them $16.00.... S-C-O-R-E!

and the pretty little metal frame... $4.50... which I thought was an amazing price for the pretty swirled frame painted chippy white...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

down here in French Lique!

linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Vintage Thingies Thursday

Show and Tell Friday

Play Date with Candy in Geronimo...

Candy and I had a wonderful shopping "play date" yesterday... We found bunches of treasures... and planned our Spring trip to Zapp Hall... stay tuned for photos of the treasures... and visit Candy to find out what she brought home!

In the meantime, the elves and I are joining Work of the Poet for Ruby Tuesday... 

I hope your day is full of blessings... 

From down here in French Lique...

Framed by the Skates....

Not the best photos... but you get the idea... right? I've been a little under the weather with a cold this week and had to cancel a flea market trip with Candy because of it... so I decided to post something that I'd actually accomplished in the past week... 

I wrote about finding the ice skates and some of the ideas I'd seen for them... Here...

and here it is... My Goodwill ice skates framed with an old square frame from Beverly's Glory B's Cottage...  

I love the way it turned out! 

I'd seen a photo of skates with fold over socks and I liked the way it looked... since I'd purchased a red sweater to create a pillow for my sofa, I decided to cut off the sleeves to create the fold over socks... 

and a photo of my Christmas nose-gay that greets visitors in the entryway...

Welcoming Christmas a little at a time...

Down here in French Lique... 

and I'm linking to Pink Saturday because Beverly knows that RED is almost PINK!

Pink Saturday.... October Blooms in Biloxi...

We went camping (we call it camping... we're in our camper!) in Biloxi, Mississippi the 3rd week of October this year... When we pulled into our luxury campsite... we were surrounded by these...

Azaleas

beautiful... beautiful... PINK...

they were everywhere... all over the grounds.. aren't these guys suppose to bloom in the spring!?  yet here they are near the end of October...
and just for good measure...

a pretty, PINK Camellia... blooming right along side of the Azaleas...

sure wish we could grow these (any time of year...)

down here in French Lique...

I'm joining Beverly for Pink Saturday... drop by and see who else is show PINK!

Blue Monday... shades of blue...

I love the play of light on a cloudy morning... it's so subtle...

it feels quiet... soft...

cloudy foggy mornings... feels like shades of blue...

down here in French Lique...

linking to Sally's Blue Monday... have a beautiful day...

Ice Skates in South Texas... Whooda thunk it!

I've been adding photos of Christmas wreaths with ice skates to my Pinterest Boards lately... Ricky and I have decided our Christmas colors this year will be traditional...

Red, Green, Silver (cause I'm using that 1960's silver tree again this year) and White...

So I'm searching for good ideas
in the traditional color scheme...

but I don't want rustic country...

I want shiny and bright Christmas...

with lots of sparkle!

and I've been wanting ice skates... I looked on line.. whoa! $40-$50 and more... kinda expensive for my thrifty budget...

and then today... I went by Goodwill, looking for sweaters to turn into pillows for my sofa.. in White, Red and Green of course...

and while driving my little Goodwill shopping buggy around looking at all manner of sweater...

I found these!

I couldn't believe it!  Ice Skates in south Texas!

Amazing!

and the best part of all...

the price!  $7.99!  Oh thank you Goodwill from the bottom of my little ole cheap... er... thrifty-heart!

and I know just what I'm going to do with them... thanks to this tutorial from fellow blogger, Jess at Just A Blink!

I'm feelin' lucky...

Down here in French Lique!

A New Wrinkle in time... and not very photogenic either...

My husband thinks it's funny.... that it bothers me so much...

 I noticed a new line in my forehead yesterday morning...

A new wrinkle... a SCOWL line... yep... one like this one here...

It's bad enough that I don't find myself  very photogenic...

(We're having head shots done at work tomorrow...)

Now I have to find a new wrinkle in my timeworn face...

just two days before the photographer comes!

I don't think that anyone would ever describe me as vain...

More likely "self-deprecating"...

but I'll be 57 years old next month...

and it seems that each year...

I'm finding more and more wrinkles and lines...
will there come a time that I don't even recognize the face in the mirror...
"hello... who are you and what did you do with Dixie?!"...
does that face really tell the story of the woman that I am...
is that a road map of life that I see there?

and does the younger generation... our daughters and our sons...
do they realize that although that face is nearing 60...
the woman that owns it...
still thinks of herself as 35...

a pondering of perplexity...
down here in French Lique...

Jefferson Davis' Beauvoir in Biloxi....

 The newly restored Beauvoir...

 What she looked like after Katrina...

 porch shadows...

picket fences to the ocean side... 

Front porch rockers... 

artsy shadow shot for my daughter... 

and ancient oaks...

we don't see this... down here in French Lique...

taking a coastal break... will return rested and sunburned!

Happy Birthday Wishes.... and a few more Warrenton pics...

First, and most important, today is Candy's birthday! I won't tell her age, since she is, after all, ageless... but I'll share a few photos of her zaniness... taken while we were in Warrenton last month...

I'm sure she'll say she was "framed"...

and more than once...

Candy is a junker in the true sense of the word.  She loves anything old, tattered and rusty...

and the artist in her will turn it into a treasure...

Ya'll drop by Rock Candy and give her a Birthday shout-out...

and tell her Dixie told you...

down here in French Lique...

Blue Monday Vintage Party Dress....

In 1968, my first beau escorted me to a dress up party... This is the dress I wore... not this specific dress... but the same dress, long ago discarded to Goodwill or something... this is the same dress... same pretty aqua blue color... same ties around the neck...

...same cinched waist and flirty full skirt...

I felt pretty in this dress... I wish I still had it...

strolling down Memory Lane with Sally at Blue Monday...

down here in French Lique...

Happy Birthday Panda... on Pink Saturday... the perfect day to celebrate YOU!

I have only one granddaughter... and we call her the Panda... Pink Saturday is her birthday... and this is my favorite photo... where she happens to be wearing her favorite color... PINK...

she's a precocious little child...

full of wonder and light...

Today the Panda is 9-years old...

growing up just a little too fast for her grandma...

but life happens...

Celebrating you sweet Panda...

love from grandma and grandpa...

down here in French Lique...

Looking for Pink at Zapp Hall....

While shopping Round Top/Warrenton, Texas I was on the lookout for a little PINK to post for Beverly's PINK Saturday... but it was slim pickins! PINK is not the color that is abundent amongst the rust and chippy paint... But, I did manage to find a few PINKs to share...

First stop... the HGTV booth where we met Emily Johnson of HGTV's Design Star... I'd love to show you the photo of Candy and me with Emily, but the lady that took our photo somehow managed to only get the top of the tent! 

and then there were the Junk Gypsys and their PINK SUV... and Candy framing herself with my treasure purchased at Theresa's Blog Party... you can read a little more about that HERE...

then finally... this pretty top made from vintage doilies...

all pretty in PINK and ready to shop...

down here in French Lique...

I'm joining Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound... drop by Beverly's and see who else is playing along...