I had a pretty ideal weekend. Friday evening my husband and I left our long list of work behind us and drove up the coast at sunset to stay the weekend at my parent house. We both agreed to not think too much about work and what we needed to accomplish back home and just enjoy ourselves. I will honestly admit, this is hard for me to do, being self-employed I find myself working or thinking about work 24/7. However, I woke up at my parent’s house on Saturday morning to the sound of squirrels running around on the roof, sunny skies and anticipation for the day’s event, Three Speckled Hens, an antique and old stuff bi-annual show in Paso Robles.

There was a mental list that had been building in my head for weeks and I knew I would check off a few of the items as we strolled through all the well-decorated, whimsical booths filled with a mix of salvaged treasures, textiles, sparkly baubles, repurposed folk art, cottage-estate-farmhouse-industrial furniture and many other pearls of Americana history. My first find was an item on my mental list, we had been wanting a vegetable basket to hang on the wall in our kitchen pantry/laundry room area and one booth had a pile of old frying baskets and french linens. I picked up one of each. The linen and fry basket were a great price and both had a uniqueness that fit our home.

The next purchase of the day was a glass dome with a wood base (from Len Designs) which can be used as a terrarium or the pieces can be used separately to display food for a buffet or your favorite tchcatchke. Then I found the table. The table that made me a bit nutso with glee for a few hours. As a photographer, I have dream photo shoots being planned in my mind and one of those shoots that I have been planning requires a turquoise (my favorite color), vintage dining table. As we approached one of the final booths, which had a lot of sparkly, ornate items, I saw this table. The table said hello to me and I squealed. As my husband Richard was checking the condition of the table, I was already gathering the money out of my wallet and beaming from ear to ear. That ol’ turquoise dining table truly had me at hello. The table, as seen below, is now being used as a writing desk in a corner of our house. I love how the table folds on both sides, it serves so many great purposes. I am looking forward to using it for a lot of photo shoots.

After the shopping adventure, we returned home to my parent’s house for a few projects. My Mom, the great artist that she is, helped me with three upcoming D.I.Y blog projects. Then we sat down to a fantastic barbecue and finished the night with a movie.

The next day after breakfast and saying good-bye to my parents we traveled back home, but instead of zipping home like most trips, we took the back roads and stopped at Rancho Sisquoc (see top right picture) and visited a cute general store turned secondhand shop and found another great vintage find for our home. Then we went to the Rancho Sisquoc Winery, which was a fantastic destination which I will be writing about soon for Wine Wednesdays. Our last stop was in the town of Los Olivos and a delicious lunch at the Los Olivos Cafe, to have a Sideways moment and a couple salads. Sunday night, after unpacking and redecorating I sat at my computer to begin working on design and photo projects and I truly felt like one happy, lucky young hen.