Ms. VintageChristine Surfaces And The World Rejoices

(Sterling silver & marcasite leopard brooch with onyx disk)

Never one to not use a cliche . . . I'M BAAAAAAAACK!  I've dealt with Dad's passing last December, I've finished the three month office job, and I've gotten through the Slidell Antique Street Fair.  Now I can devote myself full-time to my costume jewelry business--I've gone from two display cases in a corner of Antiques & Art On First in Slidell to an entire ROOM for me to show off (and hopefully sell) some really, really excellent stuff.  I've found several wonderful eBay sellers who have helped me drastically increase the quality of my inventory and have also acquired several collectors, which is wonderful.

When I logged in to Blogger, it told me I had a few comments to moderate from old blogs.  The very first one (anonymously, of course) called me stupid, which just naturally starts things off with a bang.  Then Ms. VainGlorySinner wrote that she'd discovered she won something on my giveaway six months after.  And finally, a former corporate officer of the Caroline Emmons Company corrected a couple of booboos on a post I'd done about Sarah Coventry/Caroline Emmons.  THAT was cool, and I wish he/she hadn't been anonymous.

Needless to say that after 3 months of working in an office 5 days a week and then being the Saturday salesperson at the antique shop (and then, just like God, I rested on Sundays), I missed out on flea marketing and estate saleing and thrifting, which was awful, especially when I'd hear of great estate sales.  With a good estate sale, there's no point in going if you can't break down the doors and lock elbows with the pros at 7 a.m. on Friday--and around here, most of the sales don't go past Saturday.  So this past weekend I got up early on Saturday and drove straight to my local flea market, where unfortunately the pickings were slim, at least until I got to Mr. Roger's booth.  He sells real gold and silver jewelry, which I'm not interested in, but he also had a few pieces of costume jewelry that he'd had awhile since his customers don't want that.  That's how I picked up the incredible sterling/marcasite brooch pictured above, as well as a couple shell cameos (one Florenza) and a few other items.  I was so pleased that many of the vendors I'd become friends with last year (1) remembered me, and (2) wanted to know when I'm coming back as a vendor.  I'd really planned on starting this past weekend but as I was standing there talking to my friends and  trying not to pass out from the heat and 100% humidity I was pretty much ok with just being a buyer for the time being.  I mean, it's not even hurricane season yet and it's miserable!

Soooooo, yes, it's good to be back and I'm going to try to reconnect with those of you who I've grown to know through blogging.  I noticed that Ms. 1950's Ranch is back, too.  I think we just needed a breather!