Sid Dickens Memory Blocks - The Latest Release

Going to the Atlanta gift show is always an exhausting but exciting event for me as a shop owner and buyer.  It is 4 days of non-stop shopping till you drop.  We walk and carry inventories and catalogs on our shoulders from 7 am until 7 or 8 pm.  Often our lunch is whatever chips or drinks we are offered in various showrooms as there never seems to be quite enough time available to actually sit down and eat. Atlanta is a huge market and it really takes a LOT of time to write enough orders to fill up our 8000 sq ft shop.  

This past week we attended the Atlanta show for our 25th time.  Mr. Moxie is kind enough to go to the show with me each and every time.  He is my rock.  He has more energy than anyone I've ever met and his energy keeps me going and motivated to hustle and cover every square inch of the show in 4 days.

  Gift buying isn't his thing.  He stands patiently by my side (which is NOT easy for a high energy person) as I peruse showroom after showroom looking for the best fits for moxie.  He doesn't mind the looking as much as he minds the sometimes painstakingly slow process of finding someone to take our order and hoping that their scanner will work.  You'd be surprised at how many showrooms have problems with their scanners and Mr. Moxie has been known to ask if he can see it and often gets it to work for them.  I guess it's all these years of looking over their shoulders as they use them that has taught him how they work.  Sometimes they are so relieved they just hand him the scanner and let him take the order.  I think he likes it.  Actually I know he likes it because he hates standing around more than anything. 

One showroom we look forward to seeing each show is Sid Dickens.  We have been stocking his beautiful memory blocks since 2000.  He never fails to amaze us with his art.  We are always excited to see his new release at every show.  This time I asked his team if we could snap a picture and they said yes of course.  So taaaa daaaaa!  The above photo shows the upcoming release which I believe they said would be shipping some time in March.  Aren't they gorgeous!  I'm in love with the peacock.  Such vibrant and striking colors.  Sid's showroom never takes us long as we simply take everything new that he has to offer and stock up on other tiles we love and we're good to go!  His team has really got it going on.  They are a well oiled machine.  We love that!

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Artist Friends

I've always been drawn to artists.  Some of my very best friends in the world are artists.  Kind souls who see the world differently.  Some are shy and a bit under-confident about their own awesomeness so I make it a point to try to let them know how uber cool and talented I think they are.  They never brag about themselves so I guess I'm gonna have to do it for them! 

The little Sprite above is painted by my friend Patty.  I've had the best of times working with her for the better part of 12 years.  She gets me.  She makes me laugh and most of all she's got a pure heart and is a patient and generous soul.  The two of us together at work are constantly getting a wee bit in trouble from my sister (she takes work seriously as I should) for our shenanigans.  Our love of make-believe, spontaneous improv skits as it relates to retail situations and products alike, along with breaking into jigs for no apparent reason makes us on the top of the naughty retail girls list.  But no matter how many times we get the old .... "what are you two doing over there" routine, Patty and I stay true to our inner merry- mischief- making selves and let the jigs fly when they must. 

I'm a huge fan of Patty's art.  She is a painter.  I've purchased many paintings and been ever-so-luckily gifted others over the years.  They hang all over my house.  She doesn't have an etsy although she might in the future.  Right now we have a beautiful angel painting of hers for sale in the shop.  This little sprite carrying a package was a tiny painting done on an old book cover.  It was part of a Christmas present she made for me last year.  I love displaying it with my vintage Christmas decor.  Thanks Patty .... I love it!

My friend Lisa is also an artist and a vintage seller too.  I've had the good fortune to work with her for the last 7 plus years.  Her love of junkin rivals my own and we like to go major road-trip junkin together at least once a year until we can't junk no more!!!! She also makes me laugh (I find that my best friends all have that in common).  She is so talented and imaginative.  She has no problem hopping right into the world of make-believe with me at a moments notice.  She is like me in that she loves many different types of things.  She loves wide when it comes to vintage and so do I.  We just have a hard time sticking to any one era or style.  She also likes pie and coined the phrase "I'm going to put on my pie eating pants" which has gone on to become one of my favorite things to say.  How can you not love a girl who gets into special comfy pants for pie indulgence. She is so sweet and agreeable ... I adore her!

Last year for Christmas Lisa made me and sweet husband this adorable terrarium / winter scene.   I keep it on my kitchen windowsill  all winter long.  We just got it back out this week and I love gazing upon it while I do the dishes.  It is enchanting ... this little world of deer and mushrooms covered in snow.  And, did you see the cute little banner she made .... Fabulous!!

Lisa sells on etsy ... mostly vintage clothing and some prints of her art.  She is also a painter and is currently making fantastic little animal portraits.  She has sales at her house in the country several times a year which feature both vintage and art.  Please visit her on her Willow Nook facebook page

I wish I could paint .... but alas no.  But it sure does make it easier to accept when you have great friends who can paint for you!  

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sweet vintage painting and a dreamer

I'm a dreamer.  I cannot stop my imagination from doing a merry whirl around my brain at almost any given time.  I've been accused on more than one occasion by people I love that it seems like I'm not paying attention when they are talking to me and I have felt really badly about this.  I try extra hard to listen to my loved ones and stay present in the moment because I care very much about what they have to say but I will admit that my mind drifts off into the enchanted world of possibilities, make-believe and romantic wanderlust very very easily.  This proclivity towards drifting off into a dream like state can be dangerous or at the very least problematic.  Heck, I'm the girl who drove into the outskirts of Chicago because I got on the highway going the wrong way which in and of itself isn't that terrible but then continued on for a half an hour going the wrong way and was not "shook" (is that even a word?) out of my highway hypnosis until I saw the Sears tower off in the not that far distance.  I wish I could say that these type of things didn't happen but I'd be lying. 

Take for instance this vintage painting.  It was found this summer at an estate sale I was shopping at with my sweet husband.  All he wanted to know was did I think I wanted to buy it.  Like, was the price right for re--selling and would it be fun for the shop.  Simple enough thought process.  But as I'm standing in front of it at the sale probably not answering my husband's questions I'm thinking that I wonder where this sweet church is located and is Laura Ingalls Wilder a member and did people arrive in a horse driven sleigh to get there on this magical snowy morning.  Is there a woman inside wearing an ivory coat with a little shoulder cape attached and is her winter hat trimmed in fluffy white fur.  What would it be like to go to this church as opposed to any other more modern church.  Do they sing beautiful hymns and most importantly do they host a rockin church bizarre rummage sale annually because you know I love those!  

It's a good thing my husband loves me and even more importantly gets me.  He will nudge me out of my vintage dreaming stupors to keep things moving along but he never chastises me in any way for taking the imaginative journeys in the first place.  

I hid this gorgeous vintage painting away all summer long in anticipation of using it in one of our holiday windows and I'm so happy I did.  It looks so happy amongst our other snowy white finds.  If you are near to the shop please take a peek into the west window and see the painting.  Maybe it will take you on a journey too. 

Is there anyone else out there who suffers from my sweet affliction?  I'd love to hear about it if you do.  

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