Christmas in July Shop Hop in 'the Heights'

I've mentioned many times that Duane lives in one of the most fun parts of town to shop.  There are a number of small businesses and restaurants in Seminole Heights (or 'the Heights' as it is starting to be called) which is an older neighborhood filled with charming bungalows and mid-century modern homes. 

For the past several years, the neighborhood shops have had a Christmas Shop Hop in late November as part of the Shop Small Business Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Last summer, several of the shop owners decided to start a 'Christmas in July' shop hop and Duane, Linda, and I went.  It was fun and both Duane and Linda won prizes from the drawings held at some of the stores.  This year, the summer hop started yesterday (Friday) and continues through tomorrow (Sunday).  We always like to go on the first day of the hop -- Friday -- so we went yesterday.

It's fun to see the various stores with Christmas decor out and Christmas music playing when it's in the 90s outside.  They also offer sweets and drinks for their customers -- always a pleasure to partake.  We started with Cleanse Apothecary where I found a Christmas present for one of my sisters and Duane purchased handmade soap.  Linda bought some Bliss foot cream.  Then we headed next door to the Urban Bungalow which you literally just cross a doorway from Cleanse Apothecary to enter.  Urban Bungalow is another fun place to shop.  I bought a clever little two sided measuring cup and Duane picked up a Seminole Heights dishtowel and also special ordered a pillow with her zip code on it.

After we left Urban Bungalow, we headed down the street to Frolic Exchange where it's always fun to see what the owner has added to her shop.  Besides vintage clothing, jewelry, and home decor, there's also a plant section where I've purchased two century plants which are still thriving in my backyard.  I was tempted by a really cute handmade pillow with white and green stripes stamped with black cactuses (cacti?) but I couldn't make up my mind.  Our next stop was D & D Antiques and more where it's always fun to talk to the owner, Debra.  All three us ended up making purchases at D & D.  I bought a pale pink glass dessert plate in a pattern I hadn't come across before.  Linda bought a framed original watercolor along with some vintage glass Christmas ornaments.  (Her two kitties broke several last Christmas so she has to replace when necessary.)  Duane made the largest purchase but I don't have a picture.  She bought a Queen Anne display case table that has a painted distressed white finish.  She plans to put it in her living room to replace a large heavy coffee table that she'd like to sell or give to a new home.

After leaving Debra's place, we headed to our buddy David's store, A Modern Line.  David's place was actually pretty bare.  He's been in the process of having a big sale to move in more items.  Poor Linda missed out on a piece of art that she had been eyeing for some time.  David had just sold it earlier in the week.  Oh, well, we all know it happens in shops where everything is one of a kind.  I was very tempted to purchase a small hand drawn picture of a mid-century modern house.  I'll need to think about it since I would want to re-frame it and it would probably go in my guest room.  If I lose out, then that's the chance I'll take!

After A Modern Line, we were starving -- despite starting our day at Starbucks and imbibing at the various shops -- so we headed to one of our favorite places to eat, The Front Porch.  This is such a great place to eat.  It's in a very old house that dates to 1898 and it has a fun ambiance and great food.

We made it a leisurely lunch and then finally headed home.  Our purchases are below.  The wrapped item is a Christmas gift for someone in my family so it's a secret in case my sister reads this post.

Our purchases for the day.

     

Estate Sales and an update on Duane's home office

Duane, Linda, and I hit the road early this morning to get to three estate sales that were being held in the south part of town.  The first sale was a small house that had belonged to a 93 year old lady.  She had nice things but I was the only one who bought anything.  She had been a knitter and I bought a parcel of a mixture of vintage knitting needles and stitch holders.  I love knitting with plastic and bakelite needles so I'm keeping most of those and I'll be sending the extra needles to The Humble Stitch Project for other volunteers to use. 

Our second stop.

The next house was a pretty Spanish style one with lots of nice things.  We got there later since all three sales started at 8am and we couldn't be three places at one time.  This person had wonderful items.  Nice art and furniture and some Jonathan Adler ceramics!  Linda and I each bought an Adler vase.  They were the last two -- all of the other Adler items had been sold.  I've been collecting his pieces for years including just before he became really popular.  (I have one couture piece that he made himself and signed.  I don't think I could afford it now!)  I bought a green vase and Linda bought a goldish/brown one in the abacus pattern.  The prices were fantastic.  Really sorry we missed out on all of the white and lime green pieces.  The owner of this house also had beautiful box framed specimens of insects and butterflies, too.

House no.2 -- nice art.

By the time we got to the third house, which was actually a townhouse, the pickings were pretty slim.  However we felt pretty lucky with our finds from sale number 2.  Our only complaint was that the same company was handling the sales for houses 2 and 3.  This meant a LONG line to check out with only one person doing the work at the second house.  Not a good idea to stretch yourselves that thin, guys.  Lots of grumbling in the line.  Good thing the stuff was nice!

Our buys.

After we hit the third sale, we headed to the Starbucks near Duane for our usual refreshment and gabfest.  Then when we drove back to Duane's house, she showed us what she had purchased during the week from one of our favorite antique/vintage shops, D & D  Antiques.  Duane has been slowly but surely getting her home office/art studio into shape (see blog post here).  She found two shabby chic style chairs at D & D and they look great in her office.  She had also purchased an upholstered chair a few weeks ago from a local thrift store that she's using for a desk chair.  Now she's just looking for a rug to finish off the office.  She still has a lot of sorting and organizing to do in the art studio section but her office is now ready for the three of us to get together and knit, snack, and gab.  Some of the things we do best.

Duane's office desk chair.

Shabby chic chairs on opposite sides of the room.

A Shop Local Saturday Shop Hop!

As I've mentioned numerous times on this blog, Duane lives in one of the coolest parts of town when it comes to independent shops and restaurants.  Yesterday there was a 'Holiday Shop Hop' in her area so she and I set out early to take part.  Linda wasn't with us because she spent Thanksgiving in Michigan visiting family where we hope she's having a great time!

The first store we hit was one of our favorites that I've mentioned before.  A Modern Line is a furniture and accessories store that features mid-century modern items.  There are always new items when we visit and they're always pleasingly arranged in a decorative fashion.  I gave in to my white matte pottery obsession when I saw the tall piece pictured below.  A great way to start the day.

Into the heat!

Then we visited a shop I'd never been to before now.  I have a beautiful piece of glass that Duane gave me as a gift from The Phoenix Glass Studio but this was my first time as a customer.  The owner, Susan Gott, was there greeting people along with the most adorable little Yorkie named Ginger.  Susan's work is gorgeous.  Read more about her on her site.  Her work has been featured on PBS among many honors.  I bought a piece for myself and another piece I can't show because it's going to be a gift.  Duane found a lovely gourd with beautiful colors of blue wound through it.  We watched as one of the artisans created a glass ornament from beginning to end.  It's a fascinating process and we found out that you can sign up to make an ornament.  The glass furnace is a little scary due to  the intense heat but this guy certainly knew what he was doing.

Shaping the glass.

Duane and I were distracted at one point during the process when Ginger the Yorkie was dressed in her Santa outfit.  What a hoot.  She was an incredibly sweet dog who seemed to really like people.  

I should mention that every shop we visited had holiday treats and drinks for their customers.  We also carried cards given out at all of the shops where you could have the card 'stamped' after visiting each shop listed.  If you visited six you could then turn in your card for drawings held for special prizes.

Our next stop was D&D Antiques -- another of our favorite places to browse.  I found a darling little white bird for my home office.  

'Santa' Ginger!

At first I thought he was papier mache but realized that he was made of some type of resin after picking him up.  Great little find.

Duane and I both found ourselves using the day to scope out returning to some of the shops for items for others.  It was difficult to make a decision when we'd never visited a shop before but we both have ideas for going back before Christmas for purchases.  After D&D, we went to The Cleanse Apothecary.  This is another shop we've visited before.  It was very busy but Duane found a beautiful bamboo cutting board and some lovely handmade soap that she plans to give as a gift.

After The Cleanse Apothecary we headed to a store that neither of us had ever shopped before yesterday.  The Bali Bay Trading Company offers every possible color of beads and types of jewelry made from beads imaginable.  They actually have two sections to their store.  One is for retail (like Duane and me) and the other for wholesalers.  It was a bit overwhelming due to the sheer volume of pretty pieces.  Besides jewelry, they also offer women's clothing and household items.  I found a pretty woven mat to use to cover the top of a vintage desk that is in my guest room.  The desk belonged to George's father and the writing area is pretty worn from use.  This mat was perfect to cover up the distressed top.  Duane and I both can't wait to go back to this store.  Bali Bay will be enlarging to include furniture and homegoods in the near future.  We'll have to return when Linda can join us.

By this time our rear ends were starting to drag and we were getting really hungry.  We made one last stop at The Health Mutt.  A great store for shopping for and with your dog.  I found a Christmas present for my dog Sammy.  He loves anything with a squeaker in it.  Besides treats for their customers (the two-legged and four-legged kind), a local rescue group for Boston Terriers was there.  They had some cute little guys with them.  So sweet.  We wished we could rescue all of them.

After turning in our cards at The Health Mutt since it was the final place we visited, we were ready for lunch.  (There were actually nine shops participating so we chose six out of the nine for the day.)  We ate at Nicko's, one of our fave places for comfort food.  The 'Elvis' booth was occupied so we sat in a civilian booth and stuffed ourselves which included ordering dessert -- red velvet cake for me and chocolate cake for Duane.  We took our time eating but we were pretty well finished for the day.  Just about all of the stores we visited are going to have special days before Christmas for shopping so we plan to go back and buy for others.  I'm afraid we bought more for ourselves yesterday.  Oops!

My buys.

Duane's purchases.