MY HAPPY PLACE

We all need a getaway.  Whether its a "Calgon take me away" bubble bath, relaxing on your backyard deck with your favorite beverage, rocking on your front porch or a long weekend to a favorite destination.  For me, its Southern Illinois, to our cabin in the woods.  Once there, my favorite spot, or happy place is lounging on the beds in our sunroom.  Covered in comfy handmade quilts and stacked two to three deep with an array of pillows, it is my refuge.  I watch nature out the window, bask in the afternoon sun, watch the ripples of the lake, read, sleep, sip hot tea or wine and just let the hours slip away.

I've accumulated both the quilts and pillows from a variety of sources.  The red and white checked quilt was in John's family and a wonderful hand-me down that I cherish.  But then, I really cherish all my quilts.  I wonder at the work put into them and what the women who made them lives might have been like.  I picked up the yellow one for $15 at a yard sale.  The folded up multi-colored one I got over at a Wednesday yard sale in South County for $20.  The peach and green one folded on the other bed I scored at a church rummage sale for $20 and the white one with the blue embroidery I bought for just $10 at another rummage sale.  The green chenille bedspread I got for $5 at a flea market.

The pillows I have accumulated over time.  Some were purchased new, the red and blue striped ones in the back corner are from TJ Maxx, they're bolsters, and they were on clearance for just $7.99 each.  The blue striped and green striped square pillows are "outdoor" pillows I picked up at the garden center at Wal-Mart for under $10 each.  Some I bought at flea markets and are "new" pillows made out of recycled fabrics such as kitchen linens, quilt tops, chenille bedspreads and barkcloth.  I paid as little as a $1 for some, which allowed me to splurge on a few others, the most expensive one costing $18 (the long, larger muted floral and fruit one made from a kitchen tea towel or tablecloth sitting in the center of the beds).

The braided rag rug on the floor is also vintage handmade.  I purchased it at the Brimfield, Massachusetts Antique Fair for $15.  There are a couple floral paintings on the short little side wall that I picked up for under $5 each at second hand stores in South County.  The large floral on the back wall was a gift and the painting of the Herons (I think?) was purchased at an Estate Sale in Belleville for $20.  The chandelier hanging in the corner was a find from years ago that use to hang in my bedroom back home but I don't even remember what I paid for it, knowing me, probably not more than $20.  John rewired it for me and instead of the usual prisms that hang from chandeliers, I strung small seashells and crystals on wire and dangled them from the fixture.

Well, I've now made myself sufficiently homesick for the cabin.  Ahhh, till we meet again, my happy place.  I would love it if you would share with me and my readers where or what your "happy place" is.

GET OUT

Ok, its a BIG weekend folks, lots going on!  

Saturday is the village wide yard sale in Millstadt scheduled for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. but I'm sure if you're an early bird you'll find some yard sales open before 8:00.

Bon Vivant Wine Shop in Columbia is holding a wine tasting this Saturday with 4 wines from Jorge Ordonez Imports:

Eguren Protocolo Blanco VdlT Castilla, Spain 2008 $7.50 (2007 vintage on sale $6.49) 

Fournier Urban Uco Torrontes Cafayate - Salta, Argentina $8.75

Muga Rioja Rosado, Spain 2008 $12

Muga Rioja Reserva, Spain 2005 $24

Also on Saturday, Raven Moon will be performing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Columbia branch of newly opened First National Bank of St. Louis for their customer appreciation day.  There'll be free barbecue brats and hamburgers and more.  Bring a lawn chair.

And if you miss that performance don't forget to catch the Raven Moon concert at the Espenschied Chapel in Mascoutah this Sunday at 2 p.m.

Rock on with local band Morland Drive at the Valmeyer Corner Pub this Sat. night from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Maeystown Freuhlingfest is Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Shop for antiques and plants for your garden while enjoying entertainment, food and a wine garden.  If you don't et your fill of shopping there you can head across the river to Lindbergh High School's Flea Market (on Lindbergh in South County).

The Monroe County's Farmer's Market has opened for the season.  You'll find it open in Waterloo on Saturday mornings on Mill Street next to the Courthouse and on Thursday afternoons in Columbia on the Ace Hardware parking lot on Main Street.

Fourth Street Bar & Grill is having a benefit poker run for Erica Sanders on Sunday, May 3rd.  Erica is a local girl that was involved in a very bad car accident and she has a 12 year old son that she needs to take care of.  The run will start at Bobecks in Waterloo and leave there by 12:00 p.m. and end at Fourth Street Bar & Grill in Waterloo where food will be served.

I'm hoping to hit the yard sales and Maeystown and just maybe the Lindbergh Flea Market.  Get out there and enjoy SPRING!  (It will be gone before we know it!)

10 THINGS TO DO BEFORE THE END OF MAY

1.  Millstadt Village Wide Yard Sale Sat., May 2nd

2.  Maeystown Freuhlingfest, Antique & Garden Show, Sun., May 3rd and Lindbergh High School Flea Market Sun., May 3rd.

3.  Raven Moon performance at the Espenschied Chapel in Mascoutah on Sun., May 3rd at 2:00 p.m. 

4.  Laumeier Sculpture Park Art Fair May 8th, 9th and 10th at the park near the corner of Watson and Lindbergh in Sunset Hills.

5.  Festival of the Bluffs on Sat. 5/16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cedar Bluff Park in Fults, IL.  Interpretive hikes at hill prairies, land stewardship demonstrations, discussions and demonstrations on wildlife, arts & crafts, native plant sales, food, music and more. 

6.  Art on the Square in Belleville, downtown, on the square, May 15th, 16th & 17th.

7.  Columbia Maifest Sun., May 24th.

8.  Gypsy Caravan on Memorial Day, Mon., May 25th on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis.  Over 300 vendors in a flea market atmosphere.

9.  Free Yard Sale Permit Day means city wide yard sales in Columbia on Sat., May 30th.

10.  Concert in Metter Park on Sun., May 31st to benefit the Arthritis Foundation, on the bill are local rock bands Morland Drive and Rock City Overpass.

I'll try to bring you more details on all of these events as they approach but if you have any questions let me know.  Now get them on your calendar!!

THIS WAY TO THE YARD SALE

A reader told me about a site that searches craigslist in an area for yardsales and plots a route using google maps.  Check out: http://www.yardsaletreasuremap.com/.  I haven't tried it yet but it sounds interesting.  If you know of any yard sales let me know, I am always on the hunt!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG SALES SALES SALES

Yes, my favorite time of year.  Rummage sales, yard sales, estate sales, are all back in season.  I have a few for you for this weekend.

A friend of the daughter of a friend of mine (did you follow that, I'm not sure) is having what is being billed as a HUGE yard sale in Belleville.  She posted a listing on Craigslist that was then forwarded to me.  Some of the offerings include:  books from the 1800's thru present day, vintage dolls and doll clothes, old and new linens, glassware, oriental dished, glider rocking chair, desk, 2 dressers (one antique), exercise bike, lots of household items, antique and new lamps (over 30), dish sets, games, silverware, tools, baby and/or doll clothes, patio furniture, baskets, Miller Lite Pool Table light, tons of framed pictures including lithographs and some antique.  They're also promoting that they will be selling hundreds of items for 25 cents.  The sale is at 429 N. 40th Street in Belleville on Friday, April 3rd and Sat., April 4th from 7 a.m. to 3 .m. each day.  

There is a Methodist Church on Frank Scott Parkway between Rt. 159 and Hartman Lane that is having a rummage sale this weekend.  Sacred Heart Church in Dupo is also having a rummage sale this weekend.

I plan on picking up a newspaper tomorrow or checking the News Democrat's website for additional rummage and yard sales.  If I find any I will add them later!

WORLD'S LONGEST YARD SALE

Mark your calendars now, I have. The Highway 127 Sale, the Sale Across the South, The World's Longest Yard Sale is scheduled for Thurs., Aug. 6th through Sun., Aug. 9th. And I'll be there on opening day! The sale is over 400 miles long and starts around the Ohio/Kentucky state line and heads south along Highway 127 through Tennessee and Alabama. I've been a couple times and done a stretch in Kentuck just north and south of Lexington right off Interstate 64. Oh, the treasures I have found. You'll find people selling from their own front yards, farmers, churches and others with property renting out spaces and flea markets that have sprouted up on their grounds, businesses participating, just the most sales you've ever seen.

If you want to go you're best to plan early. I'm going with a friend and we got together last week to plot our course. This year we're moving south down the highway. We plan to leave on Wed. and drive down to Cookeville, Tennessee to spend the night at Hampton Inn about 40 miles off the route. This is key to saving some green so you have it to spend at the sale. The rate at the Cookeville Hampton is $89/night. If you were to drive on to Crossville, TN, which is just off the route you would pay $181/night. There just isn't a lot of lodging along the route because it's not along an interstate, its on a secondary road. So there's a premium on lodging and it books early for the most part. But if you're willing to drive 30 to 60 minutes off the route you should be able to find lodging even at the last minute and for less dough. We'll drive on in to the Crossville area on Thursday morning and head north and start shopping. The sale is "headquartered" out of Jamestown, TN. We'll spend most of our day in this area we imagine and then head a little further north into Kentucky and spend the night, an expensive one (just over $150 but split between 2 of us), at The Best Western in Dunlap, KY. The next day, we'll head further north and do some of the area we've hit in past years, then connect up to I-64 and head for home. We have informed our husbands that if the shopping was just so good we couldn't stop then we might stop at another hotel (cheap this time) on our way back if it gets too late and finish the drive home on Sat. morning. If you want more info on the sale let me know or click on the title above and it will link you to their official website. You can also google any of the names it goes by and find lots of info and opinions. Oh, and one last thing, if you go, it will be HOT! Take your shades, suntan lotion. squirt bottle, fan, hat and wear as little as possible. And realize the worse you look the better deal you'll get, so don't carry that Prada handbag!