Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Ahoy Matey! Permission granted to come Aboard!

 
Hi All!  It's time for Outdoor Wednesday @  http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/   I must confess I love this party!  It's fun for me because I love being outdoors!  It has still been awfully hot around here but lucky for us we had a bit of a break this weekend.  Saturday we had incoming storms that passed right by us leaving a slight drop in temperature, light sprinkles, overcast and breezy skies.  The perfect combination for a day of sailing on the lake!




I shared these photos with you last week to give you a hint at what I was working on for Saturday. 






Several of you we're right on target!   Arrghh!   No, It didn't involve me wearing a patch, but some of our other members did!  This was a fun day for our cruising fleet as we all participated in our very first
 "Capture the Flag"  race event.   It was a fun filled unofficial race of teams.  Our teams were named Pirates, Privateers and Buccaneers and were divided according to which dock your boat was on.  The first team that had all boats participating per team to arrive at our destination would win the flag!  I am happy to say the dock we were on was the winning team!  Yay " B " dock!  We now have official bragging rights!  Woohoo!

Here's what I was working on...

This was the flag we were all hoping to capture!


Preparing for our race instructions!


Last minute preparations before leaving..


And we are off!  These first photos show how the weather was a little rough at first.
But we pirates are a randy bunch!






Arrghh!  Those tall ships filled with Buccaneers and Privateer's make me skin crawl!








Look closely matey, I spy our flag aboard this vessel!
Ahoy!  Let's circle the mark!






Time to make our way back to the fort, bottoms up! 


Who's this wench with this hunky pirate?



But wait, what do ye spy under the sail there? 


Why it's a large bounty...


..just waiting to be overtaken!


Argghh!!  It's getting away!


Aye!  I've heard tales of the "Southern Patriot" before!
Let her be, we have more pressing issues back at fort.


Such as enjoying some grub!


More salty tales of the sea!


A bit of fun!


And bit o'folly!




There's talk of conspiracy... and a winning team is announced!


Then we're hijacked, and sidetracked...


...and tha...thaa..thass...that's all folks!


Hope you enjoyed the reveal of my fun filled Saturday special event!  I had a great time!  Please be sure and leave me a note if you stop by and enjoyed the adventure.  Love to hear from you!
First Mate Mary

Monday, June 21, 2010

Red, White and Blue Monday Porch Party



Are you thinking red, white and blue yet?   I have been, quite a bit lately!  I am the cruising fleet events coordinator for our  sailing club this year and we are hosting yet another party for the fourth of July.  My thoughts have been on Independence Day overload with planning,  but I will share more on that later!  This post is all about my own home!


I have several things in in the works for this special time of the year!  Today I was able to complete the first of what I hope to be several posts in celebration of "Independence Day".  After my usual hectic Monday chores, I was able to prepare the front porch.  Lucky for me, I didn't even spend a dime on this transformation as I already had everything on hand.  With a few easy switches and rearranging this is my Fourth of July front porch!


I started with simply adding a few small flags to the milk can.



Then my sassy rooster received a sporty new "blue" bow with sparkly gold trim!




Then I swapped out my multicolored flowers for these white flowers in a blue hanging basket.  I haven't been able to find a permanent place for this arrangement yet after putting it together several weeks ago, so I am happy to have it here for now.  I found this fantastic basket at a consignment store and the flowers were from a Kirklands.  I love it!




The front door got a new look I put together with an extra grapevine wreath I had and flowers.
  I even had the bow already!  It only need a little fluffing!




Then I swapped my oil lanterns out with these "blue" candle lanterns I had in the back!


So glad I gave them a fresh coat of paint this year!


And finally, I had nothing to do with this one but mother nature did!  My big beautiful red geranium has decided to bloom again, right on queue!  For some reason it has been sitting bloom less for some time. 



  Sorry, I am really having a time photographing true reds!
They are not this orange and really are very red and beautiful!



That's how I spent a part of my Monday!  Hope you like it and hope your getting inspired too!
Everyone loves a little red, white and blue!

I am joining the following parties today.
http://rhondisrosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/ for Rhondis 3rd Summer Porch Party

Be sure and check out all the other great posts from the links above!
Thanks for coming by!  I would love to hear from you!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Estate Sale Fun!

Whew!  I am I exhausted!  Today has been a very busy day and full of sooo much fun!  I started out my morning with a 3 mile walk with my neighbor.  We are both really trying to stay committed to our walks but only manage about 3 days a week.  She works and and has a young daughter with a very active schedule.  I am so thankful for the days that we can make it.  I really should do more on my own but just can't seen to commit to it like I should.   But I feel good that I was committed to it enough to put our walk before my trip to the estate sale.


Yes, that's right, we had a local estate sale in our community that was advertised online on FB.  It is going to be a two day tag sale.  I was so happy to hear that!  I really don't do auctions, too nerve wracking!  This company actually had already posted pictures online of items available for sale and many people where asking prices and they were giving them out.  I was thinking Oh no, this is going to be a out of my league!  I had already spotted a few things online I was really interested in but thought for sure they would be gone by the time I got there and that there would be many resale professionals who would beat me to the door anyway.  So, I really didn't worry too much about it and went on my morning walk and got there about 9:30am.  The sale started about 8:00.  I knew the room I wanted to find right off from the pictures so I went to that room first and dug right in!  Here are my treasures!






The very first thing I picked up was this beautiful white ceramic soup tureen.  I have wanted one of these after seeing all the lovely soup tureens everyone else has in blogland.  I saw this online with the sale pictures they advertised and set out to get it. The online photos were only whole room shots without any closeup photos.  I was really hoping this would be all that I was imaging it was.


I certainly think it was and more!  I thought for sure it would be too expensive, but it was marked $10.00 so I immediately picked it up.  An older gentlemen had leaned over to look at the price when I was picking it up and then he turned to his wife and said, "Well, she just got it!"  The wife said, how much was it?"  When he told her she said, "Well I guess so that was a good deal!"  I was so pleased to get this!


It is quite large to say the least.  Perfect condition with no chips and the ladle!  It has raised vegetables on the lid and vine or stem like handles.  It would actually hold and serve a nice pot of soup!  I love it!  Here's the markings on the bottom!  Italy...oohh la la!


Well the next thing I picked up is not the next thing I wanted!  I was holding back!  So I wandered around and saw this cute little table clothe for $3.00.  Of course if you follow me at all you know I love plaids of any kind and so this I had to have.


Then the next thing I got was actually part of a set, but priced separately.  There was a matching smaller pot too!  I noticed a crack in that pot so I only got this larger one.  It was $6.00 with the plant included.  Now if you have ever priced nice pots and plants you know that was a steal!


Ooops!  Sorry I just realized it's not part of the original goods photos but I never even brought it in today.  I set it down on the back deck in it's new home right away!


Okay, now it's time for the final purchase from this sale!  It was sitting next to the soup tureen with several other matching pieces.  I also saw this online and wanted to check these out as well.  I even left the sale and drove away then turned around and went back to get it! Yes, you guessed it, it's rooster #3!


Rooster # 3 is beautiful and Fitz and Floyd no less!  I was so excited to see that these were F&F as I actually have several F&F Christmas pieces that I adore!  I hedged on this because it was $15.00.  I thought that was a good deal but need the reassurance!  It is actually a pitcher and stands 13" tall!  Not a chip or scratch on it either.  There was a matching coffee pot for $15.00 and the salt & peppers for $10.00 that I passed on.


My big dilemma here is there were also some very large Woodland Bunnies by F&F that I held back on!  I really keep thinking I need to go back tomorrow and try and claim one if it's still there.  Should I, or should I just ride it out!  The bunnies would be used once a year but would add so much to the rest of my F&F pieces and are so cute! I have already spent more then I wanted to so I am so torn!

Well, let's move back a few days this week to the day I went out with my mom to an antique store.  They were loaded with so many pretty china sets but I wasn't looking for that and was just browsing.  However, I couldn't pass up these sweeties for $1.75 each.


I just fell in love with the pattern and the price!  They are actually very sturdy tin bowls.  There were 3, but one was slightly scratched so I passed it by.  The check out lady was so surprised to see these for this price she jumped when I told her there was still one more I didn't want.  She immediately went back to get it for herself.  LOL!  These pictures really do not do these bowls justice!


The bottom of the bowls are stamped with this!  It says, Daher Decorated Ware.  1971  Designed by Daher, Long Island - NY 11101 Made in England, REGD. DES 951942.
I'm not sure what that means but it looked good to me!  LOL!


That's my great deals this week!  What do think, pretty sweet huh?
No!  Wait!  I got a few more excellent deals today! I almost forgot to tell ya!  I told you I was exhausted earlier because I spent the rest of the day shopping some more.  I am going to bend the rules on this blog party just a bit and show you this retail deal too!  You just have to see these to good to be true finds!

Yes, this is not a mistake! I bought these today! And what a deal!


I got this warrior trident from Party City..originally $9.99 for only $2.39!

And these two pieces of fabric from Hancock Fabrics clearance remnants for only $1.28 cents total after tax! Can you believe that? They were only .49 cents a yard.This black piece is slightly less then 2 yards and the red one is slightly less then a half of a yard.

Now , I know what you are thinking!  Has she lost her mind?  Has she gone goth!  NO!  But I will only tell you this...it has to do with a little fun we are having this weekend at the Sailing Club!  I can't tell you more then that as I hope to do another post on this.  So you'll just have to come back next week!  My point in showing you was this, how lucky is it when you actually need something this off the wall to go in and find what you are looking for on clearance!  That doesn't happen often but when it does.  Woohoo!

I hope you can see how great my day was!  Please let me know what you think of these deals!  I love to hear from you!  So leave me a comment, okay?  Also please be sure and check out more great finds at the following linky parties...you will be amazed!


http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/ at Nifty Thrify Tuesday