Sunday, October 2, 2011

Warning! Remove Nose From Books

Happy October!  Being a new teacher I feel that I have not done anything in the last few months except decorate my classroom, grade papers, and do lesson plans.  This weekend however, I decided that there is more to life than lesson plans so I spent some time in my art loft.  Eureka!  My stress level has been lowered and I feel a little more like my old self.  Oh the joy of rubber stamping!

Last week I had to place a Stampin' Up order to meet my quota so today I played with some of my new toys.


Everything is from Stampin' Up.  The new catalog is out and I have some extra copies if you would like one.

I'm getting into the Christmas card, tags and gifts making mood!  My goal is to use the stamps I have and only purchase paper.  Do you think I can do it?


Well, I hope you have a wonderful week.  Please comment; I love to hear your thoughts!

Meschill

Sunday, May 15, 2011

I'm Back!!!!

Wow - it feels as if I have finally stepped out of the fog.  For those of you who don't know (and may not care) I have been going to school for the last year and also working on my teacher certification for the last three months.  Well I am more than happy to say that I AM THROUGH!!!!!!  Finally after more years than I care to admit, I have graduated from college.  I am also through with my certification exams so now all I need is a job!

This weekend was the first in a very long time that I didn't have to study and I enjoyed it immensely.  I cleaned and organized my bedroom and my art loft (which still needs a name - any suggestions).  During this mad cleaning dash I enjoyed my pandora radio listening to Pink, Mozart, and the Beatles.  HA!  Don't even try to put me into a category!

I have tons of projects to work on this summer - remember all of that STUFF that I bought on Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour?  If not see my earlier posts!

Plans for the summer:

Frame and hang old family photos
Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour Scrapbook
Birthday cards for the whole year
Find something creative to do with all of my antique lace and linens
Paint my kitchen cabinets
Paint my un-named art loft
Find out more history on my house
Redecorate my upstairs bathroom
Teach VBS
Go to youth camp in New Mexico
Visit Mattie

Ok, so you get the idea!  Debbie and I are also wanting to start a business!  Oh, and I also plan to make tons of altered art!

Something I've been thinking about this weekend - Dreams.  Not the kind you have at night.  My dreams are:

To have an effective ministry
To become a mixed media artist
To be a teacher
To write

One final thing - please pray for my dad - he was recently diagnosed with lung cancer.  Miraculously it has not spread.  He will have surgery to remove part of his lung as well as insert a stint and possibly a bypass.  The date is May 25th.  

Thank you and have a great week!

Meschill 

Saturday, March 19, 2011

What Part of Party Don't You Understand

Day 5 - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour


We started the day early as usual to make a trip back to Dolly Python because we had been told that they would be having a flea market in the parking lot.  Great stuff!!!!  Great prices!!!!  We picked up several treasures here including an old suitcase and birdcage for Mattie, more keys and little glass bottles.  Debbie also found some keepers including a fantastic mirror which features a crown and two unicorns - can't wait to see what she does with that!

Next we planned to head back to Deep Ellum to take some pics of these cool silver birds but found ourselves  in Highland Park at, can you believe it, a park.  We stopped so we could take pictures.  Debbie really enjoyed the photo shoot and I've included some of the pictures.  I joke about her big girl camera but seriously she is an amazing photographer!  While she took pictures, I enjoyed some much needed chilaxin' watching the ducks - oh, yeah, did I mention there was also a gorgeous lake, well maybe a creek?





 There is just something about spending time in nature especially in the Spring - it has healing powers!  Wordsworth wrote "Revisiting the natural beauty of the Wye fills the poet with a sense of "tranquil restoration".  This is so true.  I really enjoyed a sense of renewal watching and listening to the gentle ripple of the water as the ducks skimmed easily over the glass lake.  But I digress .......



We said farewell to the beauty of the little park, our nice surprise for the day, and set out to find the Swiss Avenue Historic District which was one of the first swanky neighborhoods in Dallas.




The street was lined with gorgeous old mansions in several different styles.  The neighborhood began in the early 1900's.  It was fun to see the different styles and unique characteristics of the stately homes.  
 




Next, we headed back home to pick up Mattie for lunch.  We decided to try another "best of Dallas" - The Grape which is said to have the best cheeseburger.  It's located in Uptown, a neighborhood that we now know well.  The street is lined with restaurants with outside dining and the patios were full of spring-loving diners enjoying the sun and conversation.  We noticed however, that The Grape was not crowded, in fact the closer we got the more empty it appeared. Well, I'm sure you have guessed that it was closed - closed on Saturday?  We were hungry so we just decided to try the Blue Goose next door.  This eatery turned out to be mexican food and as luck would have it they were serving Brunch.  Mattie and I took advantage of this and had Eggs Benedict and Migas respectfully.  Debbie had Quesadillas.



It was nice to visit with Mattie and hear about her trip to California.
Next we headed to Frisco for a visit to a huge Asian Market.  Mattie was able to pick up some spices for a dish that she wanted to make and Debbie and I collected some Asian newspapers for use in art projects so the drive to Frisco was worth it.  Next we went to a huge DSW so Debbie could do a little shoe shopping. As I said the store was huge and was decorated with a shoe chandelier.
Well, sadly our shopping trip has come to an end but we have some great memories, new fave shops, and tons of treasures.  In my next few posts I will let you in on some of our goodies and what we plan to do with them.  We also want to thank Pink for the inspiration for our daily titles.  Tomorrow we head home but who knows what adventures we may encounter along the way so stay tuned!  I'll leave you with a funny little story.  Debbie was taking a picture of one of the shops and two men yelled at her, "miss, miss" and posed wanting to have their picture taken so of course she did.  Little things like that have just made us laugh and smile this week.  We're anxious to hear your comments and maybe your spring break adventures or your fave vintage or thrift shops!


Friday, March 18, 2011

Nitty Gritty Dirty Little Freaks

Day 4 - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour

Today we got down and dirty with a few garage sales, thrift stores and even an architectural salvage yard. Our first stop was what was advertised as an estate sale but turned out to be a poor excuse for a yard sale.  We did however find a pretty cool garage sale and picked up a few things there.  We had plenty of misses but that's just the name of the game with garage sales.  Next we hit a couple of thrift stores without much luck and decided to check out Orr-Reed Wrecking Co.
They boast having "plenty of good ol' junk" and this was no exaggeration.  Old doors, windows, wood, hardware, granite, fixtures and the list goes on and on just like their rows of "house stuff".  We also met Mr. N. L. Jones who is famous in Dallas for his amazing birdhouses built using the discarded junk found in the wrecking yard.  He has worked there for more than 40 years and is called Dallas' Birdhouse Man.  Our visit to Orr-Reed was well worth the drive.  We scored some cool vintage hardware that we can use for our projects!

Now as fortune would have it we found ourselves very close to the Bishop Arts District which we had planned for our last day so we decided to spend a few hours there.
 This is an artsy (as the name implies) little area right off IH35 in Oakcliff which is south Dallas.  Cute, cute, too school for cool shops, boutiques and art galleries as well as a few restaurants.  Some notable mentions include Made which has handmade items and offers sewing lessons, Dirt which has gorgeous flower arrangements, Just Add Jeans where you can find young stylish clothes and jewelry for a very modest price, and Artisan's Collective that houses amazing mixed media and assemblage art from several different artists.  Debbie bought a few things in this district but mainly we were inspired and now have tons of projects planned!



 Even the tire shop was artsy!


 Epiphany had gorgeous clothes and jewelry but plan to pay a little more than Just Add Jeans.

Another cute mural in the Bishop Arts District!  I need to back up a  bit because before we checked out the shops we headed to the most unique and intimate little restaurant called Tillman's Roadhouse.  Debbie had eaten here before and like so many of our other establishments that we visited, has been voted the Best in Dallas, in this case for their fries and let me tell you I was not disappointed.  We shared an order of the Trio of Frieswhich consists of three very large portions of parmesan black pepper kennebec, chili dusted purple peruvian, and smoked salt scented sweet potato fries with housemade ketchup & horseradish pickle mayo.  Oh my goodness - these are to die for!  We also shared a B.L.A.T. sandwich - that's bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato on grilled sourdough bread.


The atmosphere was very unique and a lesson in contrasts.  Velvet cushions and assorted pillows made up the booth type tables alongside elegant brocade wallpaper and eight, yes count them, (umm, Debbie did) chandeliers while one wall was decorated with carved wooden deer heads - I was extremely pleased that these were not real!  We sat at a little back corner table and I remarked "french fries, avocado, bacon and sourdough bread, what more do you need" to which my best friend-might-as-well-be-sister replied, "you and me"!  Checkout Tillman's website.

We also stopped at a little coffee house for a pick-me-up called Espumoso - great atmosphere and a nice cappuccino for me, iced tea for Debbie and a thick yummy lemon bar which we split. 

We took a little rest on a park bench and due to a bad shoe choice my feet were hurting.  I stuck them out and said that I wished that someone would come along and offer to rub my feet.  Debbie said that whoever would do that would probably be a pervert, to which I replied, "seriously, I really wouldn't care".  Aw, good times!

After Debbie's little idea book was full of inspiration we headed to another thrift store, St. Vincent de Paul on Northwest Highway.  What a find!  This will be a permanent stop on our Dallas trips from now on.  We found tons of treasures here for our newly inspired projects and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that everything in the store was 30% off! 

Be sure to include this charity based thrift store on your list when you go junking.  Oh, by the way, we decided that we are now Junk Divas!  Well, after going through this store and the Bishop Arts District and the prior three days, my feet were refusing to go another step so we decided to head home.



Yep, she couldn't resist! 




Be sure and check back tomorrow - we plan to go to a flea market at Dolly Python.  We'll also give you a rundown of all the shops we visited as well as our list of "Best in Dallas".  Please leave us comments - it thrills us to get them, of course it doesn't take much - today we were quite entertained by the fact that as we drove up to Orr-Reed, after thinking we were lost and driving around trying to avoid and then finally facing I 30 traffic, Fastball sang out from the radio "but where were they going without ever knowing the way".  I'll say it again - Good Times!

We'll Never Be Anyting But Loud

Day 3  - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour

Day 3 was delightful.  We started the day with what was advertised as an estate sale.  It turned out to be a warehouse where a guy sells the junk (that's a good thing) he has bought from storage units gone bad.  What a treasure trove although our hands were filthy by the time we got through digging.

 Here is our stack of treasures.  Quite a haul for $42! Nice and dirty we now headed for the Arts District and arrived at the DMA, that's Dallas Museum of Art for the uninitiated, about 10 minutes before it opened so we walked across the street to the Trammel Crow Building.  Debbie had been before but it was my first time - AMAZING!!!  They have a huge collection of Asian art and it's free! 


This is outside the Trammel Crow building.  I love taking pics of Deb taking pics :)

Next we walked back to the DMA and decided to split up and go at our own pace.  Tons of pics here and I'm sure Debbie will share these on facebook; I'll provide a link later.

 Because we are not huge party animals, um let me rephrase that, because we should not be huge party animals, we decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a late lunch at The Old Monk, a cool Irish Pub in the oh so hip Knox-Henderson area.  We were not disappointed.  We tried some Irish beer and Debbie had Shepherd's Pie and I had Fish and Chips.  YUM-O!!! 
Debbie just had to take a pic of these lads and they quickly posed in their St. Patty's hats.  We were tempted to stay another hour for the Irish dancers but opted to find a shop we had read about and Debbie had been to before called Junkadoodle.  What a wonderful shop - some really nice things but tons of cheap things waiting for a little love and elbow grease.  I scored an amazing poster book of Ladies Home Journal reproductions for only $8!!!  I may frame these for my downstairs bathroom or use them as inspiration for my new guest bedroom.  By the time we finished in Junkadoodle, it was 6:00pm but we decided to go the short drive to Dallas' famous Salvation Army store on Inwood and Harry Hines.  What a find.  Debbie bought a few things, including a gift for her son and daughter-in-law.  I didn't buy anything here but when I'm ready to buy furniture this is where I'll come.  Gorgeous antiques for amazing prices.

Don't you just love it when pure bliss just falls intp your lap!  That's exactly what happened as we were making our way to DSW shoes (which we never made it to).  I spied a sign that said Wine Chocolate Bliss - well to say the least Debbie just about stopped traffic to turn around and head back.  Chocolate Secrets turned out to be the most charming Uptown shop with coffee, tea, wine, and of course the most heavenly chocolate.  We split what they call a wine and chocolate pairing which included a glass of wine and chocolates.  The shop guy was great and helped us pick out wine and chocolates.  Yes it was pure bliss.
  Next, we headed home.  More pics and shop reviews to come.  Let me leave you with the best quote of the day from Debbie, "I yield for pedestrians, but only ones with brains."  Yep, Dallas driving at it's best!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wrong in All The Right Ways

CRAZY DAY 2 of Meschebbie's Magical Tour!

This will be short because we are trying to head out early this morning for an estate sale.  Let's just say that day 2 was amazing!  We found tons of treasures and will review all the shops we visited in a post tonight as well as pictures to entice you to follow our trail.  Let me just say now however that by far our fave shop is Curiosities.  Their sign reads "Curious things for creative people" and it did not disappoint.  The abbreviated version of day 2 is chilaxing a bit in the morning, frantic shop-hopping, going without lunch because we spent sooooo much time in Curiosities, dinner at the most amazing hamburger joint (more on that tonight), a whirlwind tour of Deep Ellum, and some live music and cool views of the Dallas skyline at night where Debbie got out her big girl camera, finally home to crash!  Here are just a few pics to bring you back tonight.

Another Time Another Place - fab Turkish import shop.  Debbie and Sarik are good friends now and she plans to go to Turkey to stay in his new hotel. She also bought a gorgeous ring here - very unique.

 The most perfect cappuccino I have ever had at The Pearl Cup.
 Never seen one of these - a wine tasting table at Lula B's Antique mall that Debbie fell in love with and looked at me and said "Um, can you drive a U-haul?" This is also where I picked up a perfect gift for my hubby :)  Oh, yeah I also found THE perfect gift for my Dad at Curiosities!

Voted Best Hamburger Joint in Texas - Twisted Root!  YUM-O!
 Deep Ellum - Let me just say that it's official - I LOVE DE!  So many cool pics to come.
So please post comments - we would love to hear from you!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Day 1 - Raise Your Glass

Day 1 of Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour!

On the road by 6:50AM!  I know, I know, why would we insist on getting up early during Spring Break - cuz we have things to do and places to be! 
First stop - Cafe Cappuccino in Waco for breakfast.  Huge pancakes - if you're ever through Waco be sure to check it out.


We hit Big D around 10am and headed straight downtown to The Old Red Courthouse where a huge tourist's information center is located.  We picked up tons of brochures as if we had never been to Dallas before :) 


Next we headed across the street to the 6th Floor Museum - very interesting.  Also a visit to the grassy knoll.


Debbie standing on the spot where JFK was shot.

 Ok, now to the SHOPPING!  We dropped our stuff off at Mattie's apartment - multiple trips up the three flights of stairs!  It looked like we were moving in - I guess you could say we are both pretty high maintenance.  Next we headed to Lower Greenville Ave., known for it's bohemian vibe.  On the way we stopped at a cute little taco stand which happened to be in a very seedy part of town.  While waiting for our tacos I watched a drug deal go down - what luck!!!!!
On to Greenville.  Some of the shops we wanted to visit weren't open so we'll have to go back.  We did visit The Shining - very cool, lots of unique jewelry and stuffed mice.  Debbie fell in love with this little angel mouse.  A short walk, actually a few steps, next door to We Are 1976, another cool shop with original artwork, books, jewelry and odds and ends. 
Next, across the street to Again Design Studio, lots of mid century modern furniture, beautiful antique chandeliers and re-purposed furniture. The most amazing thing about this shop is the bathroom.
 A short drive and we arrive at Dolly Python - OMG - I've never seen so much stuff - vintage clothing, old records, and alot of other very fabulous finds.  We only had an hour before closing time and we spent every minute - as in the guy followed us out the door to lock it up.  We made a few nice vintage purchases.


We plan to go back on Saturday morning for a Bizarre Bazaar (flea market) in the parking lot!  Finally, we headed to T.J. Max on Preston looking for purses, etc.  With hurting feet we stopped at Kroger for a few snacks and headed back to the apartment - another trip up the stair,s both of us looking like pack mules - no way we were making more than one trip.  Awww, settled in to watch Glee, luckily Mattie had taped it, with wine, cheese, bread,etc.  A great first day!