Trying to come back.

Yo.  If only I had half as much zing, whether "nesting" or not, as Liz has at 39 weeks pregnant, this blog might be truly out of control.  But alas, every good relationship is made out of a "ying" and a "yang".  My las post was on May 30th?!!  What the heck?

Remember the beach quilt?  It was so lovely to sleep on at the beach.  You have no idea how much happiness it brought to me while I was laying upon the sand.  The beach was lovely.  I didn't sew for over two weeks.  It's being really hard to get my zip back.  Maybe it's because we also wrapped up our school year, and I now share my long and lazy summer days with a house full of four kids and a husband?!  But I've promised Liz to keep things hopping over here while she's busy laboring, and nursing, and sleeping, and not-sleeping, etc.  I must give her some reading material in the wee hours of the night when she's up with her wee little one!  So, a promise is a promise, and I'll be here, posting at a slow and steady summer pace.

I have just returned within the last 24 hours, from a speedy trip up to Virginia to visit my sister.  It was dreamy.  She has been living in Virginia for the past two years and she's become very familiar with an awesome variety of vintagy, cottagey, barn-type furniture stores.  She goes all the time.  She's always scoring amazing pieces of furniture at enviable prices.  See HERE, HERE and HERE (I got to sleep in the guest bedroom with that armoire.  It's just as charming, if not more so, in person)!  Jaloux?  I know I am.    It was time that I went with her on one of her weekend jaunts.

I drove up late Thursday night.  Though I think I arrived past the Fitzgeralds bedtime, they were gracious enough to wait up for me.  Though I am certain they could have fallen asleep, we proceeded to chat into the wee hours of the morning.  I felt awful for keeping them up so late, but it was too fun to want to go to sleep either. Friday morning they had real life things to do, I only had vacation life things to do, like sleeping in, and then heading out to The Old Lucketts Store.

I quickly spotted this sweet little chest, and was rather smitten:

But friends, it was my first stop on a weekend shopping trip, I had to show restraint, not to mention it wasn't going to fit in my Camry.  But I'm still wondering if I shouldn't have left it behind!  You know, the doors didn't always shut right, and the drawers wouldn't slide out smoothly.  But it's so sweet, isn't it?!

Next stop was My Wits End in Leesburg, VA.  Where my heart skipped a beat for this sweet little table. It's the exact shade of red that I dream of at night!  

Though this would have fit in the Camry, I'm just not an impulse buyer.  I need time to stew and hem, and mentally arrange and rearrange.  It's hard to do on a speedy weekend getaway.  Were I twenty minutes from Leesburg, I have a sneaking suspicious that I'd be driving back there on Monday morning to see if it was still there...

Dear Everyone in Leesburg,

You really don't want to buy this table.  It's too boring for you.  

Love,

Annee 

Later that night, after going out to dinner with my brother and his family, in addition to the Fitzgeralds, Rachel and I pulled up the handy yarn wreath tutorial by: Liz, and started making yarn balls.  Here's the proof:

Crafting on a Friday night with one's sister.  Does life get any better?!

I may or may not have had to call and interrupt Liz's hot Friday night date to ask a super important Yarn Wreath question.  I will give full details in just a few days...

On Saturday we headed to Chartreuse and Co's once a month barn sale.  It was so visually charming, I was happy just taking pictures.  

And then finally, the piece I simply couldn't leave without.  It's strange what finally makes you decide to purchase something at one of these places.  In the end, I LOVE the curved design on the front of this dresser.  The drawers worked.  It has all of it's hardware intact (though a bit loose).  And finally, it was the fact that it wasn't painted.  Oh boy do I love a little summer painting project!!  The endless possibility is what got me all excited to call this one mine!

But guess what?!  It did NOT fit in the Camry (though we tried mightily!!!).  It is now sitting in the back of Rachel's small SUV until we devise a grand scheme to meet somewhere halfway Between VA and NC where we'll put it in the trunk of my VAN, and I'll finally be reunited with my little barn treasure.

One last stop on Saturday at an Asian antique importer, had me dreaming of my days in Korea again, and being so happy that I purchased my yellow butterfly chest in Asia, before needing to pay an American importer for one in America!  When Rachel has saved up the required $2450 or so to buy this amazing piece, I have no doubt that she will :)

I only hope she's wearing something yellow on that very special day! 

And that wraps it up.  A weekend getaway.  I promise I have also sewn a thing or two in the past couple of days, so I hope to be back here again real soon.