can't help it

 ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I ADMIT IT - SOMETIMES I GET A LITTLE CARRIED AWAY!

weekend score

Ahhh... can I just tell you how much I needed a quiet, relaxing weekend? Actually, I'm not sure it would be humanly possible to express it. Just take my word for it - I desperately needed some serious downtime. And a bit of alone time. I love to have fun with my friends and my fam. But I relish my alone time too. 

Saturday afternoon I took off to my favorite local funky antiques mall. I hadn't been there for a few months. That place and I go way back. We have a history. Sometimes it bugs me because it's definitely more trash than treasure, and I get trash overload pretty quickly. I'm not a junk girl. Sometimes the grumpy women who have worked there forever annoy me. Sometimes even the music grates on me! But I love the vastness. The overhead fan that kind of makes me dizzy. The familiarity. The smell. 

I've scored a lot of cool things there over the last 20 years, both big and small. A lot of them have come and gone, as I am an antiques dealer myself. But a lot of them I've hung on to. Some of my favorite things actually, have come out of this odd, unpredictable place. This weekend was no exception. 

Most of my readers know by now that I collect antique croquet and billiard balls. Well, never have I found any at this particular antiques mall - until this weekend! It was so fun to find them because it was so unexpected. Not a full set, and not terribly old, but still very much a great surprise - AND an elusive PINK croquet ball was the absolute icing on the cake! Score! Add to those a few vintage yard sticks and I was a very happy girl :)

I hope all of you had a lovely weekend?    

Collections

A little eye candy for all of us today!

 

I am always amazed at what people collect. Even friends, whom I think I know well, turn up with collections I knew nothing about. I have several collections myself, though over the years I have pared everything down, keeping only what I truly enjoy. Perhaps it's more like fine tuning. It's interesting even to me, the things I'm willing to let go of, and the things I can't imagine living without. 

I find my collections bring me daily joy - probably because I am such a visual person. Color and texture are at the top of my list. When I began collecting, the main requirements were all about things that a home full of boys couldn't do too much damage to! Antique woodenware and textiles rated high because they had already been knocked around and yet still survived. And plus, I'm a big believer in using the things I collect. 

I found that I really gravitated toward vintage items. I do like new - my funkalitious lamps for example (from my "vignette" post). I get a lot of enjoyment out of mixing old and new together. But when something is vintage, you know that every mark, every crack, every faded color, has a story. I recently mentioned my love of textiles ("gratitude" post) and wooden boxes and step stools ("vignette" post)......

 

Here are a few collections that have passed the test of time and continue to give me much happiness.

Miniature, children's billiard balls are colorful and great fun to play with. I love big, chunky glass marbles too.

Ah, my vintage croquet balls....... joy and rapture! 

Your different colors, and textures, and sizes, and styles, delight me every day.

I also collect standard size vintage billiard balls - always a cheerful sight to behold.

I keep all my colorful vintage balls displayed in thick, glass jars - they look GREAT! 

Oh, antique quilts and textiles of all kinds - you comfort me with your colors, your feel, your handiwork, your warmth.

Someone spent a lot of hours creating you - I have spent a lot of hours appreciating you.

What kinds of collections to *YOU* have? I would love to hear - and so would all those who stop by. 

This is your chance to redeem yourself for not posting any comments yet - you know who you are :) 

And it will give all of you lurkers a chance to come out of the shadows and play.