it’s red!  That’s what my friend Tricia says!  By the way…she’s my March SweetTalk Pal!  Check her out…..

I use the word “kisses” a lot and thought nothing represented that word better than LIPS!  So paint those lips red, pucker up and give some one a big KISS!  Happy Friday!

My niece!  Today is her birthday…..SEVENTEEN!  Wow! 

She calls me “woman” and I call her “girl”!   We love to sit up late at night and chat!  And we get a kick out of texting while sitting across the table from each other!  Silly girls!

She’s beautiful and smart!  Happy Birthday Meg!  I love you to pieces!

P.S. I’M NOT HER FAVORITE AUNT…BUT I’M WORKING ON IT!

March 6th I headed over to Rockdale to Antique Queens where I have a space selling Rubbish and SweetTalk!  It’s a great mall!  About 6000 sq. ft. packed with amazing finds!

Lanna manages the mall and I simply adore her!  She always wears a smile!  We both love anything shabby and the chippier the better!

I picked up some cookies and drove over after lunch…..boy was I surprised!  The whole town was hoppin’!  An old car show, street vendors, food, bargains, people, balloons…you name it, it was there!

And, seriously, what rock have I been living under?  Rockdale has Market Days quarterly!  I had no idea!  Next one is June 5th.  Mark your calendars for a fun-filled-day in Rockdale!

Here are a coupla pics we took outside Antique Queens!  How ’bout that pink car?

Rockdale is only an hour from Round Top…hint, hint!  And practically due north of Giddings.  Antique Queens is located at 106 W. Cameron Ave (Hwy 79).  So stop by if you’re in the area.  You will not be disappointed!  Promise.

Oh gosh, have I mentioned…haha…that I’m setting up at Cole’s in Warrenton March 25 ~ April 3!  I’m so excited, I haven’t slept in weeks! 

You know that sick feeling you get at the end of the day when the vendors start to put down their tent flaps and you’re not ready to stop shopping?  Well…..come to Cole’s!  Open 10am ~ 7pm daily with late shopping til 8pm on the 30th!

I was talking to a friend the other day who told me she’s never been…..shame.  I told her if she’d just go once, she’d plan her whole life around it from that point forward!  That’s how much fun it is!

The April SweetTalk Give-Away continues!  Leave a comment on any of my posts until April 18th.  I’m picking a winner April 19th to join my happy mail mission!

Today I packaged up the tags for the March SweetTalk Give-Away winners and dropped them in the mail!  I am so excited for all of them and hope they’re excited too!

They chose some great words!  Shall I remind you who won?  Okay!  Zita, Theresa, Rebecca and Angelique! 

Can you believe that Angelique chose three words and actually let me choose the other three!  It was quite the task, but I stalked her blog until three words jumped out at me! 

And man, is Rebecca ever ahead of the game!  She chose her fabulous words on Postcards….little did she know…..

Getting those tags ready to mail reminded me that I have yet to post about the April SweetTalk Give-Away! 

SweetTalk Newsletters were delivered to email inboxes a week ago and those SweetTalk Pals have been busy leaving comments so they can be entered in the April Give-Away!

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again…..if you are not signed up for the SweetTalk Email Newsletter…tsk tsk!  Simply follow this link!  Do it today!

Now for the details…..I’m on a one woman mission to bring back happy mail!  I don’t know what ends up in your mailbox, but this is what ends up in mine…..

On those rare occasions when a handwritten note finds me, it just makes my day!  Oh the textings and IMing and emailing and voicemailing and Facebooking and Tweeting and…..you get the idea…..

Take a minute and write someone a personal note…..I guarantee…..you will make their day! 

With the April Give-Away you can join my cause!  The winner will receive a SweetTalk Postcard Variety Package!  Six Postcard tags, six different words:  congrats ~ dear ~ happy ~ hello ~ love ~ thanks

Who will be on the receiving end of your SweetTalk happy mail?

Start leaving comments on any of my blog posts right now!  You’ve got until April 18…on April 19 I’m pickin’ a winner and I sure hope it’s YOU!

that I would find one, much less two…..

Yesterday it was raining and cool and I was dressed in my jammies, but I was confident I could make it to the driveway to snatch the paper without being seen!  I perched at the front door, listening for silence, ready.  No matter that my hair was going twelve different directions and the wrinkles from the pillow case were still clearly visible on my cheek!

I decided to do the mad dash!  Why? on days like this does the paper land at the far end of the driveway….no worries…out I went with my bare feet splashing against the pavement!

I bent over *gracefully* and grabbed the paper.  Just as I turned to do the big skedaddle back to the front door I saw a bird nest!

The nest that bounced out of the Christmas tree last year was tiny….this one is itsy bitsy!  I don’t think precious things in life get much better than a bird nest…but this one is extra special…nestled inside is a wee egg…..

With much less care for making sure my gown covered my be-hind, I bent over in total wonder and carefully gathered the sweet nest!  Feeling both sad for the little bird that lost its home and baby and thrilled for this little treasure that made me smile!

And then I heard it….the roar of the school bus and the lawn crew and the idon’tknowhowmany cars that went whizzing by!  While they spent their day talking about the crazy lady bent over in her front yard, I spent the day not caring!  Sometimes this age thing just ain’t so bad!

The nest is about 2.5″ from side to side and the little egg is just about half an inch!  That dark spot on the egg, I’m sorry to say, is a hole. 

What nature tossed aside, I will cherish!

Here they are side by side!

I have no idea what I did to deserve finding these tiny jewels, but I’m sure glad I did it!

I shopped all day and I just can’t stand it!  Warrenton in 19 days!  WOW. 

Thus the beginning of the sleepless nights…a list going in every room…the self-doubt…do I have enough stuff…the pressure…will it all come together…what was I thinking when I bought that…is it priced too high…is it priced too low…

Dreading the “weekend” crowd that just doesn’t get me…at all.  Gotta love those folks who try so hard!  They stand outside my space with squinted eyes and wrinkled brows thinking that if everything is blurry it will make sense!

I feel like an animal at the zoo.  Perched on my stool behind my pink podium in the corner of my ”cage” staring out while they stand at the edge staring in and wondering if they dare approach…..

Surviving the “why would I buy one of those” or the “what in the world would I do with that” or how ’bout “my fillintheblank has one of those” and I always love the “do you have a trashcan…for my soda can, gum, gnawed on turkey leg, ETC!”

My grandfather used to say “I wouldn’t have that if I had room for a battleship!”  Suddenly my whole space feels like a gunmetal gray heap of scrap…with price tags on each fragment!

But then my loyal and faithful customers show up and ooh and ahh!  The tension drains from my body!  They get me!  And it’s unbelievably awesome!

I appreciate each of you to pieces and I thought I’d show you just a hint of a very few things that I am so excited about and that are definitely coming to Warrenton!

A delicious stack of these…discolored and crazed!

Don’t hate her because she’s beautiful! Oh and she actually has a body!

More of these than I care to count!

It’s okay to drool when you see the spectacular brown and white transferware!

All the way from Shiner, Texas…it’s impossible to have too many!

Cole’s at the corner of Hwy 237 and FM 954 in Warrenton!  March 25 through April 3, 10am – 7pm daily with late shopping on the 30th til 8pm!  I’m on Waco Drive in space #126!  It’s too much fun to miss!

Maybe not.  It’s a little BIG even for me! 

Have you ever seen one of these?  I’ve been told they are fraternal chains.  When a new “brother” came on board apparently they all sat around with adult beverages of the bottle kind and collected the caps!  Then sprayed them silver and made these chains!

Each link is about 8″ and I, therefore, don’t even need to tell you why I like this!  But, as goes my knack for stating the obvious…I’ll just say it!  it’s-not-the-size-it’s-suppose-to-be!  Plus, it’s just darn cool! 

I once saw one of these that was about 6′ long and it had a price tag to match!  If I’ve learned nothing else in this business I have certainly learned patience!  I’m not saying I always employ that new-found patience.   I’m just saying I’ve got more than I used to have…..which, on a good day, might actually fill up an entire thimble!

Anyway, I have learned that if there is one, chances are pretty good there are two!  That is my shopping philosophy and why I’m never terribly disappointed when I can’t afford something or I miss out on some nifty item!  Patience paid off and I stumbled across a fraternal chain that was in my price range!

I bet you’re wondering if this is coming to Warrenton with me in a few weeks…in a word…NO!  This baby is mine!  One of the perks of this biz is being an expert cherry picker!

No worries, cuz now my philosophy is confirmed…there was one, there are two and that means there is probably a third one lurking out there some where!  Happy Hunting!

Sure hope you’re coming to Warrenton!  March 25th – April 3rd….Cole’s at the corner of Hwy. 237 and FM 954.  Shopping hours are from 10am-7pm daily with late shopping til 8pm on the 30th!  See you soon!

Winners!  Toldya I was gonna wake up happy today!  Here they are…..

Zita is the brave girl who traveled to Warrenton from Canada last Fall all by her lonesome…..just to meet her blogging friends!   She is adorable!   She and her children are crafters and they make yummy creations!  And she blogs about their time at the farmhouse which makes me want to pack a bag and move right up there!  Check out her blog…..you will not want to miss her sweet view of the world!

Rebecca is an old friend….not in age….time!  Our mother’s were best friends in college!  How cute is that?  Rebecca came to the SweetTalk party in Tyler last year and after that we became Facebook friends!  She has a beautiful soul, three precious children and a great guy behind it all!  She recently joked that we both end all of our sentences in exclamation marks!

You already know how I feel about Theresa!  She put all us antique bloggers on the map!  She is generous of heart and time and has an energy about her that is contagious!  We love all the same things and I tease her that we are twins separated at birth!

Angelique is a new blogging friend!  I met her in Warrenton at Theresa’s blog party last Fall!  She is handling life’s challenges with grace!  She has a fabulous blog and her writing style always leaves me wanting more!  I look forward to getting to know her better as time goes on.

Congrats to these lucky duckies!  I’m headed over to my email to notify these girlies that they are WINNERS in the March SweetTalk give-away!  I sure hope they’ve been thinking of their six favorite words!

The SweetTalk email newsletter will be out this week announcing the April give-away!  Sign-up for the newsletter today and you will be amongst the first to know the skinny on the next SweetTalk give-away!

Thanks everyone for playing!  Leaving comments means so much to me and I appreciate each and every one of you who stop by to read my blog!  You all are the BEST-EST!

On Tuesday it will be blank no more!  Time is running out to leave comments on any of my posts for a chance to win your choice of six SweetTalk tags!

That’s right!  You win, you choose…..six tags…..Postcards, Gift Tags, Custom Tags or any combination!  March 2nd bright and early I’m pickin’ the winners! 

Which gives you until midnight March 1st to leave a comment…..and can you believe…..I still haven’t decided how many lucky ducks there will be!  Probably a mood-thing which means it will definitely be more than two cuz I plan on waking up real happy Tuesday morning!

Leave a comment for your chance to win and then you get to decide what six of your favorite words go on the SweetTalk tags!

My friend Tricia has decided that Friday is all about RED!  She is The Red Door Antiques so be sure to check out her blog…RED is her favorite color and I thought…whattheheck!  Then I started looking around my house and realized that I have virtually nothing red! 

That’s okay….I’m always willing to branch out!  I’m not sure how consistent I’ll be…”consistent” is not exactly my middle name…but I wanted to support Tricia in her launch of Red Friday!  In my scramble to find something red, I remembered this precious RED beaded boot that I bought just a few weeks ago!

Here’s to you Tricia and your love of RED!