Who in the world is Annie Sloan?

I just finally had to google and find a picture of this wonderful Annie that has blogland in tissy to get a hold of some of her paint. I went to her site here.  

If you want a good look at some projects that Kim and Debbie have done with her stuff go here or here.  Debbies is one of her older posts.

Here is what the website says about the paint being so special....  go over and take a look.
Must be some really super duper stuff.  No plug asked for by Annie S.  Just curiosity got to me and now I can put a face with a paint.

Why our Paint is Special

Reasons Why it's Good! Chalk Paint is a very special paint for very many reasons 1. It's the BEST paint for painting furniture by a long way 2. You can use the paint by diluting it with water to make a wash to show the wood grain 3. You can use it as an impasto ( thickly) - leave the lid off to thicken 4. You can use it on any surface, indoors and out ( the outside of our shop was painted in it- perfect!) 5. No need to prime or prepare 6. The colours are mixed intelligently and the web site shows how you can adapt your colours for your use 7. It's a girls' paint, but boys can use it too. 8. It's flexible so you can be creative and change you mind 9. The paint can be washed off your brush even when you find your brush weeks later. [I never do that of course.] 10. It allows your walls to breathe so it is perfect for cottage walls 11. Extremely low VOCs so it is good for the environment 12. It doesn't form a skin on it when you leave the lid off - just add some water if it's too thick 13. Very little black is used in their manufacture so the colours are mixed with thought 14. You can paint it on walls for a soft matt effect or wax it for a polished plaster effect

Talk about fill your heart

I think some of you know I have a side biz.  My degree is in floral design and I have just started using it by doing florals for events.  Ooohlala Floral.  

After a recent wedding Ann Marie and I made a special delivery.

We re-purposed wedding flowers from the night before and gave them away on Sunday afternoon.

We caught this couple bringing Mom back from lunch.  Love how the guy has Mom's purse over his shoulder.  Also love the care they are showing for a parent.

This is the common "go cart" at all nursing homes.  Every time we deliver the halls are quite full of these.  Love how the flowers sit on top of her event options for the day.

Soory, not so great shot of flowers at the wedding.  The bride had a great modern eye and used tangerine roses,  lime green spider mums, white David Austin roses and succulents on a bed of moss.  She provided the potted succulents as party favors for her guests. 

We also loaded up the dining room tables with arrangements too.  One sweet lady even asked if she could have the more colorful arrangment.  (with a tangerine rose)  So cute, made us smile.

See more on both Ooohlala Floral and other Lagniappe projects.

sharing with
Funky Junk Interiors
Marty - Tabletop Tuesday
Miscellany Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Porch = Met Monday
Fresh Cut Friday - Rose Vignette

More Red Door shopping

More of our Red Door shopping day. You have to stop here if you are in Baton Rouge.  

Great florals, even better furniture and house accessories.

I spoke with the manager and Christmas is starting to arrive in the warehouse.  We did see some Halloween already peeking on some shelves.  There is a Shreveport location as well.

Look those cute salt and pepper shakers 9.95.

It is Louisiana so fleur de lis' abound. Great chair huh?

Have you been Red Doored?

Breaux Bridge and ghosts

Louisiana ya'll

We met at this corner, you had to be in line by 7:00 AM or you probably wouldn't get a table at this place.  We had a party of 15, so we were first in line.  Yes, we left Baton Rouge at 6 AM to get here.
Cafe Des Amis in Breaux Bridge, LA is known for their Saturday morning Zydeco bands and breakfast.

We ate and drank some of these.  I recommend the crawfish etoufee over a biscuit or with the boudin patty.  And don't forget the Andouille sausage grits, ya'll.  They were delicious.

The band let my brother play along, he is in the white tee shirt.  This place is tiny, the below picuture is front to back of the whole place.  We youtubed my brother,  check out Zydeco Chris, Cafe Des Amis.
Go here to see... Zydeco Chris, Cafe Des Amis

Then we shopped some

and headed over to St. Martinville, about fifteen minutes away.

Here is our Bed and Breakfast (built in 1828) in the background, right next to the Evangeline Oak.

I think this tree on the other side of the house may have been even older.  There are branches behind me in this picture, I'm standing under it.

We set up lunch for the bunch of us to honor my Mom's 75th birthday.

My favorite Aunt and Uncle came down from Minnesota.  Love you Aunt Carole and Uncle Walt.

Can you tell they are sisters? My Mom's on the right.

Every place we needed to go was within walking distance.  Here is the church we attended on Sunday, you could see it from our B&B.  Our dinner restaurant on Saturday was within one block from where we stayed.  We stayed on the main square in town.

See the clouds aren't they wonderful.  I think it rained on us three times over the weekend.  It was great because the entire state of Texas is in a drought and we hadn't seen rain in a while.  Wish we could have taken some home with us.

I love this picture of the guys after we arrived back in Baton Rouge to catch our flight home.  Nap time!

Oh the ghost story, I almost forgot.  As we were leaving the B&B we asked if they had any ghost sightings.  Yes, a vision in a bedroom of a victorian lady looking out the back window and in that same room a couple both thought the other one was pulling their toes during the night.  Neither one of them were, must have been a ghost.   I'm glad we didn't hear the stories till we were leaving, our room was just across the hall from that room.

sharing with
My Romantic Home - Favorite things

Baton Rouge, Red Door and Breaux Bridge

We traveled last weekend to Baton Rouge, Breaux Bridge and St. Martinville, Louisiana

They say everything is bigger in Texas, but not the trees!   Louisiana wins that contest.   The above was a tree lined street in my sister's neighborhood.

Our first stop was one of my favorite places to shop in Baton Rouge, The Red Door.  Rooms and rooms of great house stuff.  We spent our first day in town with my sister and her husband.

Then we ended up here, in Breaux Bridge.  Cafe Des Amis has Zydeco bands on Saturday morning and you have to be in line by 7AM to get a seat for breakfast, the band started at 8:30.  I will have a whole other post for that fun adventure.  See the clouds, it rained several times over the weekend, we loved it.  Texas is in a statewide drought. That tends to happen when you are over 20 days straight of over 100 degree weather. (and still counting by the way)

We went to church here on Sunday before we came home. More on Evangeline in my next post too. 

Sunday afternooon and the guys were doing what everybody wanted to do.

Wish were still there!

Peek at wedding flowers

I love when a bride thinks outside the box.

I used these succulents above.  I cut off the tops and placed them on a bed of moss, surrounding a mason jar filled with a tea light.  Next to that was placed a monochromatic fresh flower arrangement.  Her bridal colors where tangerine, lime green and white.

Above boutinierre, even the guys got to enjoy the twist on the designs.

These were placed by the guest sign in book at the church and then at the reception. Ooohlala. 

 I have asked the photographer to share their photographs, so I hope to share more.  The event was an old building in old downtown Plano, TX.  Event 1013. 

Fun weekend for me and the bride and groom are now enjoying their honeymoon.  

flowers used:

white Lisianthus

green spider mums

tangerine roses

Bells of Ireland

Lots of succulents

Grooms boots (I found their succulents at our Coppell Farmers Market)

Oh and I got to enjoy these at home, love leftovers.
Mango calla lilies, lisianthus and roses.

Sharing with:

Show and Tell Friday - My Romantic Home
Inspiration Friday - At the Picket Fence

Sugared Peaches and Vanilla Ice Cream

Simple pleasure, chopped peaches, sprinkled with sugar, let sit and enjoy.

Sorry bad lighting, but go here to see beautiful photography and the recipe, by Lissa at Keep it Simple, Keep it Fresh

It may not look it, but it was delicious.

Sharing with:
La at her ice cream party

I met a fellow blogger and her Mom

And we talked and visited and... I did not take a picture with her or of her booth. But luckily you can click here to meet Stephanie at Southern Charm Cottage.

Where did we meet up at Buchanan's Antique Market.  It was a once a month market at this location in Lewisville.  An old Best Buy location.

I wandered around out of the 100 degree heat in Texas.

Maybe these folks thought Christmas and Halloween would make me feel cooler.  It didn't.

This christening gown with matching bonnet, brought back memories of mine.

I want to buy these floral frog things, but not sure what I am supposed to pay.  Most were around $10.00.  I need to find those at a good garage sale I think.

The below huge letters were $38.00.  Even too much for the fleur de lis for me.

It was a fun way to spend some week-end time, out of the sun.

Go over to Stephanies site, if you are from this area she does a post each month of locations close to Dallas that have flea market sales going on.  Follow her for updates.