Party Up In Here!

Ok so actually neither of the people who's birthday party we'd be celebrating are here. But I'm just gonna pretend there is a party happening anyway! 

My family has two birthday months... January for myself and my Dad and April for my mom and brother. April 19th for my mom and April 20th for my brother! 

Strangely enough neither one will be home on their birthdays because my mom is on a women's church retreat and my brother had tryouts for next years cheerleading team up at JMU if he decided to stay up there after graduating in a few weeks. They'll both be home tomorrow though, so we'll just be celebrating a little belatedly. 

But I'm gonna celebrate them now, here! 

So Happy Birthday Mom and Phillip! I love you both sooooo much and can't wait to celebrate tomorrow with you! 

 My mom will probably hate that I'm posting these photos but I just think she is so darn cute!

This is with my Great Great Nana Coco and Great Nana Mary. 

 My parents on their wedding day... no wonder Phillip and I are so dang attractive!

 Me and mom... circa 1998 and present day... clearly I've shot up a few inches on her in the past 15 years :)

Looking good mom! I love all the fun adventures we go on together as mother and daughter! 

And then there's that brother of mine...

 Look at those cheeks! Perfect for pinching!

 Hello 90's... hello Denim OVERLOAD! We pulled it off well though.

 Always the goof ball... as pictured above with our cousins and below with Dad... clearly its a Hollji gene ;)

Can you believe the picture above and the one below are just 1 and 1/2 years difference!? He just keeps getting more and more muscular and more and more handsome! 

Love you Phill-bop! Thanks for making me laugh all the time, for being the best brother ever and for acting the protective "older" brother when needed... its two in one.. except I still get to claim being oldest! ;)

Happy Birthday to my amazing and beautiful Mommy and my charming and handsome younger brother... I may be a bit biased but really, they're the best!

Lynchburg Part 3: My Favorite Salvage Shop & The Stained Glass Shop on the 3rd Floor

There is a shop in Lynchburg... I never catch the name when I'm there, that has a stairwell far in the back. When you climb up those stairs you enter a world of salvaged beauty.  2 stories of great big rooms full of all things old and lovely and saved from homes that were going to be demolished or remodeled or who knows what else. 

 Big beautiful Mantels, some with mirrors, some mahogany. 

 Hundreds of doors. Solids door, doors with windows, screened doors. Doors with brass knobs, doors with glass knobs. 

 Wrought iron gates, wrought iron fencing, wrought iron grates. 

Also to be found are gorgeous old enamel stoves that need some fixing up, porcelain sinks and claw footed iron tubs. 

 And windows. Church windows with stained glass and arched shapes. Windows with chipped paint and unknown fates. 

 And at the very tippy top of this building, just around the corner from the 2nd flight of stairs to the 3rd floor is a teeny tiny studio that smells of cigarette smoke and not enough air. Slightly hazy. And full of stained glass. In this tiny shop is a friendly and slightly eccentric fellow who makes beautiful stained glass windows and custom pieces. 

 He always seems delighted to have guests and to show them around and let them see what he is working on.

This shop is my favorite place in Lynchburg. So far I've never bought anything while here.. but I love coming back every time to see whats new and imagine, just for a little while, all the ways I could revive and use these beautiful old forgotten things and have a chat with the stained glass maker. 

Thrifty Thursday

If someone were to ask me my favorite places to shop they may be surprised to hear me say Goodwill is at the top of my list. But really, its one of my favorites. I never fail to find something relevant and useful and for a steal! Plus, I know its going back into a good cause.  Its also our families favorite place to drop off things we no longer use but know might have another life in them for someone else. Also, if you live in Richmond, we have one of the distribution stores... on Midlothian heading towards Chippenham... its at least 2 times the size of a regular Goodwill!

I make a point of only going once or twice a month and never spending more than $20 in a visit. Often though I only spend $10 or less.. like on my most recent visit. Which came to a wopping $8.57!

I stopped by after my daily visit to the gym just to browse as I hadn't been in for almost 2 months. And of course, found a few things that needed to leave with me! Like the pretty green mugs from World Market that I got for $3.25! Yes, all four of them together were just $3.25! They are dishwasher and microwave safe and add the perfect touch of spring.

Some people might say, but Sarah, you are a ceramic artist, why not just make yourself some mugs? Well, I do.. but being a potter I also have a love for things not made by me that are ceramic and these mugs were so pretty. I especially was drawn by the way the glaze pooled and flowed over the details on the outside of the mug. And while these are commercially made and therefore nothing unique or special they are slip cast and low-fired both of which are techniques I don't use as an artist so for $3.25 I was more than happy to add some pretty detail to my collection without having to make it myself. 

If you follow me on instagram @shedesignswithgrace, then you'll know I've been on a flower kick of late. Specifically keeping fresh flowers on my bathroom vanity just to brighten my day every time I see them. So when I came across this pretty glass vase that was just the right size to hold only a few flowers  and the pretty ceramic china painted one below... for less that $3 each, I couldn't pass them up!

As you can see I brought them home and immediately put one to work with some pretty camellias from my mom's garden!

Lynchburg Part 2: Big Old Houses

The 2nd day I was visiting Lauren we drove into Lynchburg which is about 25 minutes away and did some exploring around the city. Lauren took me to one of the oldest parts of town where all the big old homes are. We had her adorable 4 year old niece with us that day and we got out and walked around the streets for a bit. 

This big place was dubbed "the Castle" by Lauren's niece. This is where my iPhone photos don't do justice to the houses.. because this one had so much detail in all the little nooks and crevices of the stone work. 

This house was my favorite.. I loved the oil stained glass windows and the detailing in the upper windows.. not to mention the periwinkle color!

 There was of course a lot of wrought iron with lovely detailing.

Lynchburg Part 1: Country Roads

One of my best friends lives up near Lynchburg. We try to take turns visiting one another with most visits including a lot of similar things regardless of whose home turf we're on... those would include thrifting, antiquing, movie watching and eating. While visits at my place also include visits to the VMFA for our mutual love of art... we did after all meet and become friends in Painting 1 & Photo 1 my fall semester Senior year... her Junior year while both majoring in Studio Art, along with eating out a few times at one of the many great eateries RVA offers. 

Visits to Lauren's include lots of driving... its kind of required to get anywhere when you live in the country (but I love it!) as well as exploring abandoned houses and taking photographs in open fields, of old farm houses and visits to Lynchburg and Appomattox.

So when I went to Lynchburg two weeks ago to visit Lauren during her school's spring break (She's an elementary school art teacher.) you can only imagine my deep frustration when I realized my camera bag which I had packed the night before was missing my camera. I had taken it out to download some photo's after packing and forgotten to put it back in my bag. Fortunately Lauren had a 35mm film camera I was able to borrow which was great because I love shooting on film. And then I forgot the roll of film when I left 3 days later... womp womp womp. So I don't have any amazing black and white photos to share from my most recent trip.. not yet anyway. Not til I see Lauren again and can get the film to develop. Instead all I have are the photos I shot with my phone, thank goodness for modern technology and my iPhone!

The 1st day I was there we went driving around where Lauren lives and came upon a very pretty old house with some outlying barns that was right by the road. 

 So we pulled over and got out to take some photographs after knocking on the door to see if anyone answered... no one lived there. 

 A few minutes later an older gentleman came driving up in his tractor and pulled over when he got to us. Turns out it was his house and he lived in the smaller more recently built home just next door. We explained that we just wanted to take some photographs and asked if that would be ok which fortunately he didn't mind. "So you like taken pictures of old stuff, huh? Well just be careful, some of the structures aren't so sturdy anymore." Awesome! 

 He told us about how he'd grown up in this house and that eventually they'd had to move out because the well (which is under or near on the left front side of the house) had started to fall in and part of the foundation was affected and even after filling in the well with stones it wasn't structurally sound. It was too much to fix up the place so now its just locked up and aging into a slow decay.. which I love for photographing sake but which made Lauren and I sad in talking about it later on our drive that such a pretty old place is just sitting there falling apart. 

If only we could have explored inside.. I'm sure she held lots of treasures and beautiful photo ops. Maybe next time.