Miss Frenchie's show and shopping in K.C.

On Friday morning 4 of us loaded up and headed to KC for Miss Frenchie's sale that began Fri. evening at 5:00. We also wanted to see the Country Club Plaza which is always decorated beautifully for the holidays. They must have at least a dozen horse-drawn carriages giving rides in the evening and the streets are bustling with shoppers, diners and sight-seers. It felt like Christmas.

It's hard to make out the decorations inside Anthropologie but they had made huge white tissue flowers that looks like snowballs.
Here are Jane, Judy and Brenda inside Mission Antique Mall. It's one of our favorite places to shop even though it gets slower everytime we go and the clerks don't see to be fazed by their slowness. The tearoom was the same and always is incredibly slow. We were trying to get lunch over quickly because Brenda had a family emergency but it took forever. Seems there are so many places anymore that treat you like they're doing you a favor when we were the ones spending the money with them. Am I ranting again?

The Plaza lights through our windshield.

These are a few pictures from the antique mall.

These are pictures from our Friday evening at Miss Frenchie's. It was a beautiful show and we found lots of treasures.

One of the first people I ran into was Elizabeth Maxson from St. Louis. Usually she has an area at this show but she didn't set up but was taking pictures. She sometimes has articles in Romantic Homes plus she has a blog that is certainly worth checking out. Her MIL, Diane, shops with us at Leola's and has become a good friend.

Linda and Ludmil from Texas were also at the show and their area was great. Tomorrow I'll try to show some of the treasures I found.

This was part of Curious Sofa's area. Would have loved to take more pictures in her area but they had food & drinks set up there so needless to say, it was pretty crowded.

Here is Linda looking like she was straight out of Dr. Zhivago. It was very cool inside this old barn & the furnace wasn't working very well.

These are Linda's bottles that were so cute. I bought a couple for Allison.

There was so much vintage Christmas. I bought some things at the Rusty Chandelier. They have a wonderful store in St. Joe that I love to go to.

We're having a little rain and snow today but will somehow escape the big snowstorm that will hit north of us. Looks like all of our friends in Iowa are going to get a big one. Think I'll go check on Sharon at Sweet Repose and see if she's snowed in yet in the pink chalet.

The Christmas decorating has begun...

It has been one of those cold blustery days today. A good day to be able to stay inside and do some decorating. Haven't made much progress but have I ever made a mess. I made a fire early and it's strange how I keep sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and Christmas magazines. To tell you the truth, I haven't had much inspiration. I did find the picture in Country Living that I used in my header. Loved that house.
This is my tree that I do every year with vintage ornaments. They aren't all on yet but I needed a break. I've already decided to not get so much out this year. Seems everyone is feeling that way. I would much rather decorate with more naturals and do some paperwhites.

Sage and I have a deer collection and this is some of it. He keeps most of the plastic ones at his house and I'm responsible for the breakable ones (not sure that's such a good idea).

Guess I'd better get back to my job. The chili is on and I'm expecting a guest later. Brenda is staying tonight and we're going to take a little trip with Judy and Jane to KC for the Miss Frenchie show. We all are so excited. We are staying on the Country Club Plaza so we can see all the lights and decorations. Maybe I'll come back inspired so I can get this job done.

My new bag....

Several weeks ago I was checking out http://dulcysdoorstep.blogspot.com/ to see what my friend Dulcy was doing. She's always got a new project going and lately it's been these beautiful hooked wool handbags. The first time she came to Leola's carrying one of her bags, I could hardly stand it I wanted one so bad. I tried to be subtle about it but I think she got the hint. She told me that she would make me one but it might take awhile. Well, there it was, right there on her blog -- my handbag. So yesterday she brought it by the shop and here it is being held by my sister-in-law Alice, who's visiting from Kansas City. You'll also notice Jean, Linda and Kay (my other SIL) as we gathered at Jean's place to meet my new bag and also go to lunch. Here we are at the Lemon Drop Tea Room where we took my new purse and Alice out for lunch. I think my purse had a good time as did Alice.

Thanks so much to Dulcy for this wonderful treasure. It's one of those things you hope someday to hand down to a granddaughter. We plan on many more trips the two of us. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks we can go to Miss Frenchie's sale in Kansas City.