Peace, Love, and All The Good Stuff: July 2012

Hey, Y'all, four short years ago we said goodbye to our little piece of Texas. We left a Victorian cottage we loved.

We left our friends. We left our family. We left Texas for the second time in our 30 year marriage. A bittersweet parting...sad, but the opportunity of a lifetime for sweet hubby.

We followed the road north, and further north, and still farther north to Washington state. It was a place so foreign to us at the time. We'd never lived so far north.

Washington state is a gorgeous juxtaposition of rugged highlands, lush coastal lowlands and mountains unlike anything we'd ever experienced before. We eagerly looked forward to finding a house and settling in. We didn't really know about RAIN until we moved to WA. Lots of rain. Sometimes cold rain, sometimes freezing cold rain to Texans like us.

Upon our arrival to WA I entered a personal journey I never imagined before our move. We lost our dear grandmother (GG) just a few months after we moved to WA. Her imprint on my life is evident to anyone who knew her and knows me. Her death caused me to search DEEP for my purpose...or maybe it was just the inevitable direction our lives take in mid-life. Regardless, it was another key turning point for me...for our family.

I must admit to many months I wasted being depressed and sad, feeling like I was missing out on everything in Texas not feeling a part of anything in our new state. I felt like a stranger in a strange land for sure.

We learned to appreciate rainy days. And on those glorious days full of sun, we learned to soak it in. We learned not to take our blessings for granted...to be THANKFUL.

Creativity seems to have rooted itself in each of us while we lived here. Our son wrote a symphony. Our daughter learned to sketch portraits. Sweet hubby envisioned and brought to life several patents for a high tech company. And me? Well, I remembered I love to write and junk, and JUNK and WRITE!

Then a wonderful person invited me to share a booth with her at Clayson Farm Primitives Show! Her warm smile shook away all the loneliness.

I was thrilled to unpack Garden Cat and set up in a new place with my new friend, Pam of Bugaboo Vintage Design. It was the beginning of a tremendous "game-changer" for me.

I met some wonderful new junker friends and signed up for vintage markets in Seattle. From the wonderful whimsy that is the JUNK TRIBE at 2ND SATURDAYZ

to the incredible vintage variety that is JUNK SALVATION by the Funky Junk Sisters. I found what was missing...my life in JUNK! I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy meeting new people at antique shows and vintage markets.

JUNKIN' PEOPLE!! Folks who understand WHY I'd rather wait in line in the pouring rain for an Estate Sale than shop inside at a department store...

Did I mention INSPIRING people?

Did I mention CREATIVE people?

Did I mention GREAT people?

What has evolved is a wonderfulness that I don't think would have happened if we hadn't made our way to WA a few years ago.

Life is really crazy like that! It was in here in the Great Pacific NW that I've met some my dearest friends--in the Northwest and in Texas!

I am truly so blessed to have met so many wonderful, creative, eclectic, amazing
Junkers and regular folks here in the Pacific Northwest. Blessed to have so many new friends. Parting is once again BITTERSWEET.

Thanks to each of you for sharing your smiles, great attitudes and your love of junk!

Now, we find ourselves headed back on those now-all-too-familiar roads back to TEXAS to a new chapter in our lives. Scary and yet quite comforting--kinda like fried pickles!