The Countdown Begins

I'll admit I've had a hard time focusing on our holiday show because fall is really kicking in around here. It's so beautiful. I keep taking pictures of brightly colored trees, tiny red Japanese maple leaves on my mossy sidewalk, flying geese. It's so distracting. But here it is Halloween night and my daughter is running around dressed as a ninja collecting candy. I told her 17 years old is way to old for this but she insists this is her last year. Anyway tomorrow is November 1 and a perfect time to start our countdown for our show. I promise to post new pictures everyday of previous sales, sneak peeks at some of our treasures, and we'll introduce you to some of our vendors. It's going to be another wonderful Girlfriends Holiday Market~Sharon

The Mountains

I have always loved looking at the mountains. Growing up in Mount Vernon our home had a view of the Olympic Mountain Range. As a young girl, I never got tired of looking at them from my bedroom window.


A few weeks ago, I went on a field trip with my 12 year old son to Mount St. Helens. It was a beautiful clear day. If you have not been to the mountain, take the time to go. The picture really doesn't do justice to the amazing site, I had never seen.



The following weekend, we went to the Columbia Gorge. We enjoy going to the Gorge. It's a quick trip and so much to see and do. Years ago, before my husband I had children, we would get in the car and drive the back roads. One of our road trips was to the Gorge. We came to a neat little town called Trout Lake. There wasn't much there ~ a General Store, a Country Inn and Mt. Adams. So we decided to visit that town again. It had been at least 18 years since we had been there and it was just as I had remembered it.

Mt. Adams

The Log Cabin

Some of our vendors so fondly refer to our show as the log cabin show. The first time I ever went into this building was way back in 1981. Bob and I went to an antique auction inside the main hall. We bought a wonderful old sofa with beautiful floral fabric. It was the first piece of furniture we ever bought together. He also bought me a ring with an onyx heart on it. We really couldn't afford it, so sweet. When I started the Flea Market in other buildings at the Fairgrounds, the Heritage Hall always beckoned me. I knew someday I'd have the opportunity to dress this wonderful old building up and do something really special in there.

As Shelly and I travel around dropping our flyers off, time and again we hear people say how this is one of their favorite shows of the year. The building is perfect for this event. The log walls, antique fixtures, and wood floors embrace you with it's warmth and history. It's a small and personal sale, the vendors are thoughtfully chosen for their offerings and because they are so good to work with. Yummy food is offered again by Kristi of Paprikas Catering. We also will set the tone with a few fiddlers playing Christmas music on Friday from 4-6pm. We hope to see you at our Holiday Market! ~Sharon

Pictures From Last Year

I was digging through my pictures and found these from last year. What a great show that was. I can't wait to see how beautiful the old log building will look again this year.

Country roads

What a wonderful day I had today. My daughter and I jumped in the van and headed south of Olympia to shop and leave stacks of our Girlfriend flyers everywhere we went. (Look for them~ they're bright green.) Roslyn navigated from the pile of autumn colored cards I had collected. Wow, what a busy weekend in Lewis County, and how convenient to hop from sale to sale on those country roads. Every show we approached was so delightful to see. Pumpkins, bittersweet and rosehips greeted us along with really great stuff that got my heart racing. You have no idea how badly I needed to feel that way again. This has been one of the toughest years I've had. I was afraid I'd lost my love of buying and selling, and nothing inspired me anymore. But hey, after today, that old feeling is coming back!

We ran into many friends and customers and met new people too. I'm excited about our Girlfriends Market because today I heard a lot of compliments on how special our show is. That's a good thing because it's exactly what we envisioned it to be five years ago.

Warm, festive, delightful to the eye, good music, yummy food, really great stuff to buy, and vendors who are fun and really care. And yes, we do have a reputation of spoiling our vendors, but hey they work hard.

Tomorrow I'm off to more sales, but first I need to unload my van, and that's a good feeling!