Vacation {December 19, 2015 - January 3, 2016)

Our vacation was a combination of a staycation, a road trip and a day trip. We did some work on the house including the hallway. After all, a hallway is a room too. That will be a separate blog post.

{Most of the loot from road trip to Granbury, Texas}

On December 23, 2015, we went on a road trip to Granbury, Texas stopping along the way at a few old town squares. We first stopped at Georgetown, Texas. I absolutely loved this square and want to return in April for the Red Poppy Festival. There were several antique stores. And, I was pleasantly surprised to discovered that Thundercloud Subs popped up on the gluten free radar. So, we went there for lunch.

We also stopped by Salado, Texas. I am not going to lie. I was disappointed with the town. There didn't seem to be a legit square! However, we did find two antique stores and a quilt shop.

We took off from there going through some small towns along the way (not stopping). We went through Meridian because they supposedly had a courthouse. Let me tell you, they did have a courthouse; but, the town itself was depressing (dead). Maybe the atmosphere had something to do with my initial impression of the courthouse; but, as much as it is a nice old building, I was not impressed.

We stayed in Granbury, Texas over Christmas and shopped the square. I loved their town square. They had a variety of shops including a quilt store which I will not be returning to due to the fact they snip and tear their fabrics instead of cutting them. I know there is tons of debate (pros and cons) on this method of cutting fabrics. I am not going to argue or debate about it here; but, it always makes me cringe inside. And, I dislike all the little strings it leaves behind not to mention one of my fabrics is now skewed from the force of tearing. I just prefer cutting with scissors or rotary cutter.

Anyway, did you know that Granbury, Texas has a beach? Yes, a beach! I was shocked. I made Dan stop by on the way back to the hotel Christmas Eve. We walked along the shore for a few minutes and it was peaceful. There is just something about being by a body of water that brings peace to my soul. A beach is a plus!

We visited my brother and his family on Christmas day. I had an absolutely wonderful time and was so happy to see the young kids again. My oldest grand-niece (11-years old) gave me a lovely little candle she made herself.

We returned home on December 26, 2015 stopping along the way at a few places. We first stopped in Clifton. Texas. A town square was not present; but, old style town buildings existed along with a couple antique shops. I picked up a cheap bench that I plan to re-purpose for the cats. Once we put it in place, the cats immediately started getting on top of the bench and looking out the window. And no, it's not going to look like this when I'm done.

By the way, I love looking in storefront windows. One of the shops in Clifton. Texas had this humorous Snowman scene. It just made me laugh and I had to snap a picture.

We had lunch in Waco, Texas. While there, I went searching online for antique and quilt shops. I discovered there was a quilt shop called Tomorrow's Quilt nearby and their facebook page indicated they were having an after Christmas sale. So, I told Dan that we are going and I am so glad we did because I ended up purchasing fabrics for 50% off which included clearance fabrics!

And then, we went to McGregor, Texas. There is a store called Cedar Chest Antique Mall. Holy Moly! That place is HUGE!

I ended up grabbing a three legged table for $20 at a booth in "The Market" part of the antique mall. I plan to clean, strengthen and either paint/stain the table. In the meantime, Dan is using it for what I intended which makes me happy.

By the way, I found a mini lane chest that had an image by Patty Butters with a 1996 copyright by Lane. It was Dan who saw the tiny copyright and determined that was legit. I never seen anything like this before and assumed someone ruined the box. You can see a hint of the image on the box between the his and her signs in the top picture.

We arrived home real late but happy. At least, I was happy. Dan was just tired. Ha!

We took a day trip on January 2nd to Lockhart and New Braunfels on January 2nd. Again, the purpose was old town squares and antiquing.

I don't know how I ended up with six mini lane chests from our adventure of the day. But, both Dan and I were shocked! I often would never see one on trips like this one. And, all of them were reasonably priced!

There are subtle differences among them. Some have feet. Some have what I called a slightly raised bottom and others are extremely plain (no feet or ridges on the bottom).

I need to document what I have and share the history I have found on the chests in the near future.

We also purchased the above confusing item for $36. We cannot figure out if it is a nightstand or an end table because it has a weird cutout hole for electronics in the back of the item. but, we plan to replace the backing, sand everything down and paint the item re-purposing it in our house.

And on the last day (January 3) of our vacation which also happened to be Dan's birthday, we went to a RV Supersale Show. It was a fun adventure!