Anticipating Spring Markets

Ground Hog day is just around the corner.  We all hope he ushers in Spring sooner rather than later.  This week Folk’s Journal agenda challenge:  In the near future, what are you looking forward to the most?

Upcoming Spring Markets!

I’m looking forward to spring markets, with Urban Market Houston kicking off the season February 9th & 10th.

Planning displays for the upcoming spring markets is much like the itch I used to get for spring gardening. Throughout the winter, I used to spend hours pouring over magazines looking for ideas for gardening projects in anticipation of spring.  February always made me anxious to get outside, get my hands dirty and do the projects that I’ve been designing.

The upcoming spring markets allow Flown The Coop to create anew. In January I begin dreaming about booth displays and spend hours on Pinterest looking for fresh ideas for the upcoming markets. I’ve learned a lot since Kristie Herlong and I set up at our first market in 2011 and am getting better at pulling ideas together with each new display. Thankfully, Jeff is always up for whatever crazy idea I want to try.

Flown The Coop loads of fun the past few years

I love the community!  The hours spent hunting unique Junque, transporting and refinishing the Junque, and then planning ways to display the Junque is rewarded by seeing all my friends in the field once we arrive to a market.  It is fun to be the first to see the treasures they’ve uncovered in the past months. Their creativity and talent sets trends and is inspiring. I look forward to catching up with them, as well as catching up with the many loyal Flown The Coop friends!

If you are itching to create new spaces in your home or garden, I invite you to come out to one of the upcoming markets!  You will either be inspired by the creative displays or find the items you’ve searching for to finish the project you’ve spent this winter designing.

Urban Market Houston February 9-10

A two day outdoor Antique Market held three times a year in Houston. A fabulous collection of dealers, designers, and shop owners with spectacular antiques, furniture, and home decor.

Cole’s Antique Show (Round Top & Warrenton Antique Weeks)  March 25 – April 6

This rambling flea market that originally started in Round Top now encompasses about 26 miles between Round Top and Warrenton.   Cole’s is located at the edge Warrenton where several halls and dozens of fields are filled twice a year.

Will the ground hog see his shadow?  Regardless, I am looking forward to spring and the upcoming markets.  What are you most looking forward to?

 Linked in 🙂  

~Tiffany

And the birds fluttered around her writing “YES” in the sky!

 

Lessons learned in 2012

Flown The Coop will take part in Folk Magazines year long Journaling Agenda, a community journaling/blogging project. Here’s to the first blog of the year!

Dear Tiffany,

It is safe to say, 2012 is over and you can move on.

Looking at your 2012 ~ Goals, Mantras and Dreams Board on Pinterest, the message is clearly the importance of pressing on. You are a dreamer. You always will believe that you can create the life you want.

2012 challenged that belief.

The year started with a move to Houston, Texas. This was not your choice. Leaving your two grown children in Ohio was difficult.  Fulfilling Jeff’s dream of living near his family, you made the move with the love of your life and was hoping for the best. You didn’t do so well.  You missed your family back in Ohio and the best friends in the world! You learned that you are a small town girl, who enjoys knowing your neighbors and walking around a historic downtown with lovely old homes. You missed The Depot, your favorite coffee shop, where the community gathers for their daily dose of Java and everyone knows your name.

With a wounded heart, but not a wounded spirit, you pressed on.  Not many people in your new home understood that you were having a crisis of belief.  You questioned, “Could you really be happy and fly free when you didn’t have the ability to choose your circumstances?”

Despite the Houston traffic, you managed to find your way around the “fourth largest city in the US.” Exploring a new city is always fun! You even managed to find a new coffee house to frequent, Boomtown. You enjoyed decorating your little flat in Rice Village, but parking tickets and loud college students made it clear that it wasn’t the ideal situation.  You longed for community and a feeling of place.  You and Jeff decided to end 2012 by placing a deposit on a rental house in the Heights.  The Heights is a neighborhood inside the loop that in many ways feels like your small town and is the only thing like it in Houston.  The cost of living is drastically higher than we are used to, but the decision felt like a leap towards creating the life that you wanted.  After your move in January, you will be able to make new friends, get involved in community and even walk to Boomtown!  You learned that given time, you can find what your heart longs for if you are willing to pay the price.

You hustled in 2012 and will need to hustle some more in 2013!

Flown The Coop made the move to Texas too. It was a scary move for you. How would you find ways to buy and sell, restore and repurpose wonderful Junque?  You rose to the challenge and Hustled.

You set up at several shows in Texas. You did Canton, Warrenton, Junk Salvation, Discovery Green Flea Market and the prestigious Urban Market Houston. In July you opened a booth at Chippendale Eastlake Antiques on 19th street in the Heights. Your were even invited to help out The Seed Box at the Dallas Market. All of these opportunities inspired you work harder at Flown The Coop. You learned a lot about merchandising from the pros in the business. You were encouraged to discover a niche, which is still a work in progress. The best part in stepping out in the various opportunities was making fabulous new friends! You have the best colleagues and customers who continually support your dream of flying free!

Creating a life on purpose is very important to you. In 2012 you learned that even when life isn’t zesty, you don’t have to be caged. You can fly free! The happiness you long for isn’t in a destination, but is in the way you travel. You’ve proved to yourself that you are strong, willing to persist and that you have the ability to start over!

Life is a journey, come travel with me!

 ~Tiffany

“And the birds fluttered around her writing “YES” in the sky!”