Saturday, September 29, 2012

Antiquing: The Original Recycling


This weekend, despite the pouring rain and gloomy day, my BFF Jill (who came to visit from GA) and I ventured out to The Liberty Antique Festival. Liberty is held the last weekends of April and September and has taken place rain or shine for over 20 years.



The three founders, Vito and Mary Ellen Sico and Janet Hill met when the Sicos moved south from New Jersey and Hill was their Realtor. The Sicos enjoyed collecting and selling antiques and Hill had a family farm. The three came together and the festival began.  You can read more about their story here. http://www.ourstate.com/liberty-antiques-festival/

Here are some pics of the festival and some of the treasures we came home with!




Two "Paint by Numbers" I worked a deal on!

I collect jadeite and tea sets so this would have been a dream. Since it was not a complete set, I passed! I still have non-buyers remorse!

I found this great vintage tablecloth and...

after purchasing was invited to join a vintage tablecloth club!
 Who knew??!!! 

Jill picked up these great vintage bobblehead bookends! They are so cute in person!

We both have a collection of vintage Christmas decorations from the 50s. These will go great with my paper elf collection!

Despite the rain and mud we had a great time and met some really nice people! We will be back! Buzz!



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Summer Recap: Going Back to Cali


Shortly after my last post, three friends and I went on an eight-day coastal journey in California. I planned to blog along the way but for most of the trip we succumbed to ZERO service and I have to say, it was great! You really forget what it feels to like not to be completely accessible, 24 hrs a day.

There were several eco aspects of our trip that I am excited to share!!!

We flew into San Francisco on a Friday and made a quick touristy trip around the city hitting all the highlights (Pier 39, China Town, Lombard Street, and a trolley ride).


The next morning we headed to our first real destination, Wine County. After some research and advice from friends, we chose to go to Sonoma over Napa. We stayed in Healdsburg and visited the beautiful town square. Here we found amazing restaurants, shops and tasting rooms. The highlight was our fabulous day trip to Bella Winery and Caves. It was beautiful!!!  In 2002, the current owners, Scott and Lynn Adams, began digging out the hills under some of the 85 year old vineyards to create caves.




The ancient winemakers discovered long ago that caves are the perfect environment for the aging of fine wines. Most importantly, they provide a constant year-round average temperature of 61F and have a natural humidity of 55% which allows for less evaporation of wine from the barrels. Additionally, caves are environmentally friendly and enable us to store our wine without the use of big buildings and noisy air conditioners. www.bellawinery.com

The day included a vineyard tour on a vintage military vehicle; a cave tour and barrel tasting; and a private tasting in the cave dining room.








Bella and its staff were so amazing that we wanted to move in! (and practically did ;)) www.bellawinery.com

After leaving Sonoma we headed south to our next big stop, Treebones Resort in Big Sur. Treebones is an “off the grid” yurt resort that is absolutely amazing!!









We traveled through several temperature changes along the way down the coast and Big Sur was COLD!! The cold worked in our favor here. Upon arrival at Treebones, we fired up our Yurt’s very own fireplace and enjoyed the hot tub overlooking the cliffs of Big Sur before enjoying a dinner of organic greens and fresh caught sushi!!

The recycling theme has been prevalent since Treebones inception. Completely off the grid, Treebones uses two propane-fed (zero emissions) turbines to power the resort and employee housing community. The heat exhaust from the turbines, in return, is used to create radiant heat in the restrooms and lodge flooring as well as assist in heating the pool and hot tub.

All glass, aluminum, cork, plastic and cardboard is collected and sent to local recycling facilities. Wherever possible, local purveyors are used for restaurant, cleaning and hospitality supplies. We harvest a large portion of the salad greens and vegetables right from our own garden. Restaurant compost is enjoyed by the two dozen chickens. Guests enjoy the farm fresh chicken eggs baked into desserts and other entrees. www.Treebonesresort.com

Big Sur is an amazing place and we hiked a lot! We found breathtaking trails in every direction we traveled! It was beautiful to hike in mountains next to the ocean!






 Thanks to some locals we met, we found a few less traveled trails with little surprises along the way!






Our next stop was Santa Barbara. We stayed at an “oh so charming” renovated Spanish style hotel called the Oceana. It was beautiful. As with homes, I love when a property such as this is renovated, restored and kept true to tradition rather than being torn down and replaced by something bigger and better. This place was a GEM!! www.hoteloceanasantabarbara.com





We wrapped our trip in LA with the same sort of tourist day we had in San Fran.  


This was an amazing trip that flew by and I so miss the fun we had as I type! FROWNY FACE!!
Buzz!