Sunday, March 22, 2009

A Perfect Day

Have you ever had one of those days that was just fun from beginning to end? Saturday was that way for me. Cait was home, Sis had the day off and I had been invited to a Junque sale held by some of our fellow bloggers. It was the perfect spring day for a drive through Texas, so we loaded Lyle into the Ipod and headed South to start our adventure! The sale was held at Rio Star Ranch just south of Austin and north of San Antonio. This area of Central Texas has beautiful rivers that are "tubing" hot spots in the summer. When we arrived, we drove down a lovely winding drive to see tents and displays and a barn full of stuff! Oh happy day.
Here's a picture for all of you plate addicts out there. Is your heart racing? The prices were unbelievable. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was looking at. I confess that I lack the plate collecting gene. But this collection of blue was so pretty I just had to take a picture!
My loot! Eventually, I plan on cleaning out Cait's room and redoing it for our guests. I want to do the room in blues and creams and make it a restful, relaxing retreat. (Right now it has screaming purple walls!) I spied this quilt and thought it would be perfect. Cait saw the shear blue and white striped fabric and we thought it would make great pillow slips, or perhaps banding for white window panels. As we were looking around outside, Sis saw the white birdcages so I snatched those up too! You will never guess what I paid for all of this - drumroll please . . . $27.00! Can you believe it?
The best part of the sale was meeting some fellow bloggers! It's amazing how you can feel such a connection to people that you've only met in blogland. I first heard about this sale from Nancy at My Crafty Little Page. She and her posse, known far and wide as the "Valley Girls" rustled up some of their finds from estate sales, Craig's list, E-bay, etc and decided to clean house and have a huge sale. It was so exciting to meet some fellow bloggers in person. Darling Cait took this picture for us - in the front are Barbara from Rio Star Ranch and Nancy from My Crafty Little Page. In the back are Patty, Judy (Rio Star Ranch) Laverne (Riverside Studios) and moi! I apologize in advance if I mixed anyone up - I was so giddy, I forgot to write names down as Cait took the picture. You can visit Nancy at http://mycraftylittlepage.blogspot.com/; Barbara and Judy at http://www.riostarranch.blogspot.com/ and Laverne at http://www.riversidestudios.blogspot.com/ You might want to keep checking to see if they are going to have another sale - this one was a doozy!
Too soon, it was time to head down the road a piece. Gruene Market Days was being held this weekend, and I had always wanted to check it out. Gruene (pronounced "green") is a beautiful spot on the Guadalupe River. It has a strong German influence, and is full of wonderful inns, antique stores and great restaurants. Market Days is held on the third full weekend of each month, and has some beautiful and unique items for sale.


Just a very small portion of the vendor booths available for your shopping pleasure!
The Gruene Mansion Bed and Breakfast. Isn't she breathtaking?
We ended our time in Gruene with lunch at the Gruene River Grill. This is a beautiful restaurant with a section of windows overlooking the gorgeous Guadalupe River. We spied some brave souls tubing while we were there. The weather was beautiful and warm, but I bet that water was pretty darn cold! For more information on this lovely little town, visit
http://www.gruenetexas.com/ We had one more stop to make before going home. Let's head back north toward Austin and stop at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. My DH was participating in the weekend Artisan's Festival, so we thought we would stop in say hi. This center was founded by Lady Bird Johnson as a center for wildflower preservation and research, as well as to educate the public. It is an absolutely gorgeous facility. I'm going to share just a few pictures here because I'm saving some for Outdoor Wednesday!
This is one of many large plantings of bluebonnets. Lady Bird was instrumental in highway beautification, not just in her beloved Texas but for the whole country. The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas and can be seen growing all along the highways and backroads. The display this year will probably be light due to our ongoing drought, but I have seen them springing up.
A small stream that runs through the facility. The sound is so soothing.
I don't know about you, but all that walking has tired me out. Let's sit on this beautiful bench under the coral honeysuckle and relax for a bit.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour of Central Texas. If you would like more information on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, please visit their website at http://www.wildflower.org/

16 comments:

LuLo Designs/Blue Eyed Tango said...

Oh my you had a beautiful day didn't you! I think I see a Currier & Ives plate that my grandmother collected! Maybe some Flow Blue too? I have only been to Point Isabelle, TX, Galveston and Kingsville, TX to the King Ranch of course! Dallas/Ft. Worth airport but that's it! I want to go to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame and the American Paint Horse Museum. How neat that you got to go with fellow blogger buddies! What a fun day! Thanks for sharing it!

Lori said...

How wonderful! You found some great things, and I'm glad you got to meet some bloggy buddies, and I'm glad Cait was home. I know you enjoyed her the most! I loved all your outdoor photos and can't wait until Wednesday!

Blondie's Journal said...

I can see why you had such a wonderful day! Your weather is somethin I am only dreaming about and believe it or not, I never knew Texas was so pretty, (that's the cool thing about blogging! Oh the places you'll go!!). Beautiful Blue Bonnets, I had heard about Lady Bird Johnson and all of her wonderful work~just beautiful.

I love when you can see so many goodies in one place. I would need a truck to bring my stuff home! Love your quilt & fabric. I love what people are doing for their guest rooms. I am getting fabulous ideas for redoing my two at the lake.

Hope your feet recover!

xoxo
Jane
PS: How cool to meet all those bloggers!

Robin said...

It looks like you had a great time! Nothing like sharing time with girlfriends! I love the blanket and things for "Cait's" room!

Robin

Linda (Nina's Nest) said...

That looks like so much fun! And I love those bird cages. What a deal you got! And how much fun to be with some other bloggers! Linda

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

This day WAS just packed with fun and beauty! I enjoyed all of your pictures, and how wonderful that you got to meet other bloggers. I am so jealous of all of the good shopping. The flower pictures are gorgeous, and that bench is charming. I look forward to see more on Wed. laurie

Bo said...

Hi Kathy...I'm loving those blue bonnets in your header photo! What a fun, fun day you had...and the weather was perfect for it...you took some wonderful pics by the way... ;-) Bo

xinex said...

Hi Kathy! hOW wonderful to meet fellow bloggers! What a great deal on all your beautiful finds! What a fun day you all had!...Christine

Cyndi said...

Hi Kat,that did look like a perfect day,I sure enjoyed the pictures.
((hugs)))Cyndi

Silvia said...

i bet you had lots of fun!.love all the things you got,love all the blues i'm sure it'll look great when you are done, my fave the bird cages..have a great day....

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you had a good time and got to meet so many bloggers.Someday I wan to meet some.Awwwwwwwwwww.And those finds.Great deals there,huh?...Ann

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Kat, what a perfect day. All the great antiqueing and then to find fellow bloggers too. That's a real bonus. I love that whole area so much. I grew up outside Ft. Worth and we use to visit this area a lot. My best friend lives in San Antonio and so we've been there a lot and always take a ton of side trips. Great fun. Love it, wish I had been there. Hugs, Marty

Nancy said...

Kathy - I just can't tell you how much I loved meeting you and your Sis and Cait! I know we'll cross paths again and I love your blog post. We were all just thrilled to meet a fellow Texas blogger and thanks so much for coming to our Junque sale. I've just been too pooped to blog anything but Wordless Wednesday! Big, big hugs, Nancy

Rio Star Ranch said...

We had a wonderful day also just meeting you, sis, Cait, and all our new friends enjoying Chapter One of the JunQue Sale. We found so much joy in sharing our precious items with new people to love them. I'm so glad you filled your path home with beautiful Texas landscape, filled your car with Valley Girl JunQue, and your filled your hearts with new people to call your friends. We hope when you and your guests wrap youselves up in your new quilt you think of your new "emptynest" friends at Rio Star Ranch. We have a garage and loft full of boxes yet to go through. We hope to see you in the fall after we have had time to go through all our memories and have said good-bye to our "loved ones" found wrapped lovingly and stored away until Chapter Two - Holiday JunQue Sale.
Barbara and Judy at Rio Star Ranch

LaVerne said...

Kathy, thanks for your kind words about the Valley Girls JunQue Sale...we had so much fun sharing the day with so many lovely people. Sound like you girls made a full day of it! Wow! You did so much in such a short time. And it's wonderful that your darling daughter was able to enjoy the outing with you. Hope to see you in the fall and I look forwaed to keeping in touch via your blog.

Charlene said...

Love to go to Gruene! I stayed at the B&B you showed. And so love to eat at the Grist Mill. So neat you got to meet some other Bloggers. I know Candy/Rock Candy lives down that way. I wish I had been ther to get some of those plates. I think I got your dish gene.