Keep on Dreaming

I have been a long time believer in the Secret, positive thoughts, thoughts become things,etc. I am here to tell you it is all true. I am living a life I have long dreamed of, but for years didn't really think I would ever get to. After my change of employment I really started focusing on those long held dreams. Without knowing how, where, or with whom, I just put it all out there and out of the blue it has all come true....Ok, ok enough with my deep ramblings, on to shopping for the Holidays!

Molly and I have been working day and night (ok not night, we are both early birds) getting La Bella Vita/Retromantics ready for the Holidays. If I say so myself it is looking outstanding. There are gift ideas for all of your lovers of fibres and fripperies, and looks we can help you replicate at home.

We are holding classes every Sunday afternoon, 1 to 4, starting the 28 and continuing until Dec 19 to help you have a Homespun Upcycled Holiday season. Think English styled crackers, felted ornaments, vintage paper wrapped ornaments, recycled cuffs; cute, easy to do in one afternoon, and will add that personal touch to your gifts and decorations, that we are all wanting to add at the Holidays.

We have also added a couple of great lines of bath indulgences and amazing smelling candles. Fabulous holiday presents or hostess gifts.

Not to forget...Dec 4 is Mineral Point's Candlelight shopping evening. Galleries and Shops are open late and will greet you with festive food and drink. The town is lined with luminaries, chestnuts roasting, carolers, and just an amazing feeling of history, holidays gone by, and good will to men,(and of course women;).

So in this season of magic, keep on dreaming.

Kath

Life after Corporations

Just a short post to catch up....After what was basically 3 months of watching TV, grieving, and healing, life just flung open a door, shut off the TV and said GET GOING!

So much has happened in the last 2 weeks my head is still spinning. I think most of you know about how the talented and lovely Molly invited me to grow the Vintage business with her at her shop and gave me her back room to play in; however with her help, and boundless enthusiasm I am now expanding to her next door neighbor.

Starting this weekend I am opening the doors of Arkiteks Salvage most weekends until the end of the year. The equally lovely Arlene (and Frank) have graciously asked me to join them in the operating of their Amazing architectural salvage business! Retromantic Antiques will moving there bit by bit over the next few months. We are still working out the details but the building will be a meld of all 3 businesses. A full roll out will happen in the spring.

We have been working our butts off this last couple of weeks to get ready for the Fall Art Tour this weekend so if you get a chance come on by and say hi. Pics and more details later.

My Surprise

So I am VERY happy to announce I now have a presence in Downtown Mineral Point! Lovely M0lly Walz from the always cool and fun La Bella Vita Fibre Gallery http://www.labellavitamp.com/ has invited me to join her. I will be in the back room with a some contributions from other Vintage lovers. Retromantic will be the main inventory there and I get to style/design the room to my hearts content.

I will still have my cozy little shop at my home and be open Thursdays through Sundays but I get to help Molly out down at her shop too! So there may be times that you will see a sign at my home that reads "at La Bella Vita". Head on down the hill if you do.

I am also adding some bath and beauty items so watch for those in the next week or so. I am really excited about all of this and hope to see all of you soon. Check out the pics from the space at La Bella Vita. I took them really quick not wanting to disturb all the customers so watch for more pics later.

kath

Renewel of Spirit

I don't know about you, but the summer here this year has been draining. The heat and humidity that we have had virtually all summer along with my extreme change of lifestyle has been challenging. I HATE heat and have never been home all day every day.....

While my time home has been healing it has still been, (and still is) a huge change. But...along with the cooler temperature, and beautiful fall light, comes a lightness of spirit I have been waiting for. I am ready to redecorate my home and of course my shop RETROMANTIC ANTIQUES.

I have been gradually editing my home. As I let go of the negative energy I had been inundated with for so long at work, I am finding I want to also let go of some of the fussiness in my home. It is becoming lighter, cleaner, more focused. Pics to come in the coming weeks. I have also been working on a HUGE project in my kitchen. I am now on floor excavation part II. It is slow going and very hard on my hands and arms. Again pics to come. I know the project and aching knuckles will be worth it.

But back to the shop. I have been refining some ideas I've had for the shop this morning and the pics are just the beginning. Ideas and great stuff to cosy up your nest are being designed and set up.

I know I have been open a little haphazardly the last couple of weeks and I apologize if you have stopped by only to find me closed. To tell the truth that will be happening again this weekend. I am spending time with family before everyone gets so busy with School, and life.

Sorry this has been so rambling but welcome to my brain! lol. Back to the shop and to enjoy this GREAT weather. I will be open all day today(friday) Saturday morning, Sunday by chance. Regular hours starting again next week.

kath

Our trip to Iowa

Yesterday BE and I took a day trip to Iowa.

It was our anniversary and we decided Iowa was the most romantic place we could go...we're crazy like that. lol Anywho, we drove to Kalona. A cute little Mennonite town with a great sophisticated bistro, Tuscan Moon. We sat outside and had amazing sandwiches on cibatta bread and really great wine. Their wine list was pages long. Sorry no link I was sure they would have a web site....but if you are in that part of the country go.

But what really took us to this sweet little part of Iowa was my long desire to visit Sister's Garden and Bloom http://sistersgardeniowa.blogspot.com/. It was worth waiting for and definitely worth the drive.

It is right on hwy 1, two old buildings that are charming on their own but filled with goodies! The garden has treasures everywhere too from chairs hanging on wire to great old motel chairs. All the poor husbands hung out out there.

I however wanted to wander the 2 buildings forever. Every kind of shabby, chippy, rusty, goodie you can think of was creatively and charmingly arranged in multiple floor displays. Mixed in were lots of great smelling candles and soaps.

Can you tell I LOVED it? I am so inspired! Sometimes having my little shop in my home can kind of feel like a vacuum so it was great to see such creativity in work.

I hope to get back yet this fall. I wish I could go visit every week!

After that we wandered around Iowa City. What a great little city. Cute shops and pubs. I'm sure in a couple of weeks when the students are all back it will be hopping.

Dinner was at CiboFusion http://www.cibofusion.com/ in Cedar Rapids. Again amazing fresh interesting menu and a great atmosphere. All in all a very enjoyable day. Day trips can be the most fun we find. Discover some new spots and still be home to sleep in your own bed. So goes another glamorous day in the life of Kath and Brad....Glamour is so over rated.

k

p.s. all images are from the Sisters Bloom blog.

And the Winner is......

On my last post I mentioned a give away for those coming to my shopping and cocktails night. It was a lot of fun and I had a great turn out. I just picked a winner for this great vintage picnic basket filled with melmac dishes and cute table cloth from the 50's. Really cute and "green" right?

So the moment you have all been waiting for (lol)......

The winner is SANDY JONES!

Sandy I will contact you today and we can schedule a time to get your goodies!

New goodies being put in the shop and new staging ideas. Check us out.

New Hours: Thurs-Sun 11-6

I realize I haven't shared any shots of the shop for a while. Here's a peak of what you will see when you stop by now.

I included a couple of shots of my hanging baskets on my porch. They started out as the stack of great rusty baskets you'll see in the shots. Just add moss and lots of flowers and Voila! a very impressive statement for your garden.

I will be closed this Friday at 4 and all day Saturday. Off to a work event with the Hubbs. Back open Sunday.

Please join me if you can this coming Wed night for an evening of Shopping and Cocktails! 5 - 7 July 14th.

Enjoy the Sunshine!

kath

Flower Deals for the Weekend

This weekend is Mineral Point's Garden Tour. http://www.shakeragalley.com/shake-rag-alley-classes/garden-workshops-madison-wi.html.

In honour of this everything FLORAL at Retromantic Antiques is 25 % off all weekend! The pics are just a very small amount of the pretties I have with flowers on them.

Check out some amazing gardens, hang in my (some day to be amazing lol) garden, and take home some of that Retromantic feel to your home and garden for a great price.

Remember Retromantic Antiques is now open every week Thursday - Sunday 11 - 6.

See you this weekend.

Kath

Shiny and Silver

Haven't done the linky thing before so home I am doing it right. My silver in my shop tends to mostly 1950's Aluminum. I love the patterns and variety of pieces and that I can pass them on at such a great price. Galvanized is always great too. The planter is from my yard. It's an old animal feeder bin. Enjoy and if anything is saying "take me home" let me know and I'll gladly send it on its way. kath

New Focus on Freedom and Fun

Well as of Today June 10th 2010 I am focusing on Antiques! Retromantic Antiques is now open at my Home, Thursday - Sunday; 11 - 6. I put in a new window display downtown Mineral Point, I'm letting all my Facebook Fans and the merchants know, and now all you. Is it all perfect? HELL NO! Does it look great? YUP. I want this to be fun. For me and definitely for YOU my customers! No more judgments, no more stress, no more working my ass off for someone else! YIPEE!!!

As you may have noticed I will be open 4 days a week. This is part of my new plan of working 4 days a week going forward. Jealous? I know I always was of anyone who worked less then I did and on top of it seemed to be having a good time. So come on over, check out the pretties, hang out in the garden and if it is the right time of day maybe have a cocktail...

I am not guaranteeing I will always be there those hours but pretty damn close, so if you are coming from a distance or just want to make sure give me a call. 987-3056.

Oh I was going to say sorry but I'm not....I get to swear when I want to now too...I promise to not do it in front of your little kids, but really who brings little kids to an Antique shop? ;)kath

Letting in Joy

I recently have realized that I have not been following my loves, my joys, and all that makes me feel like me. While I firmly believe a person only lets in what they want circumstances creeped up on me over the last year so insidiously that it took a strong shake up of part of my world for me to recognize what has been going on.

I am not trying to be mysterious, I just need to be protective right now.

But while to try and make sense of it all and figure out how I got to where I am I came to the realization that I have let joy and beauty go in my life. Not huge earth shattering projects but little things.

So starting today I am not only going to get it back (while working on the "big" problem) but I want to start sharing this experience with you all. I think too often we think it is all or nothing. That our homes, our bodies, our lives need to be like all the tv shows, magazine pages,catalogs, or even the beautiful blogs we see daily. While they are all aspirational, we need to take them for what they are. The best of the best and sometimes only an illusion. I have been in the fashion/catalog business for 25 years and let me tell you there is lots of illusion out there and often it is not nice or pretty how those images get to you.

But I digress. Lets try for moments of beauty and joy today and as many days as we can. I'll share mine and I would love for you to share yours. Starting today.

kath

I Delare a REDO

Please join me for a REDO of my first Open House of the Season. I agree with what I heard from many of you, it was just too yucky out to go shopping. Lets hope for better weather. Now I just have more time to refine my vignettes for you...

Today Saturday April 24

Sorry for the short post, but....


I'M OPEN TODAY 10- 4 at my shop 319 N CHESTNUT ST

Come on by and look at something pretty instead of the dreary day.

kath

Life in the Olden Days

I just read this quote on a beautiful blog.http://blissfulb.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-happy-place-quote.html. I had to re-post it. It says so well what I and many of my friends and family discuss often. It's a little long but read it please, shut off the electronics and go outside......

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even the early 80s, probably shouldn't have survived. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking).

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of wood scraps and fruit crates and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

Now one was able to reach us by cell phone. Unthinkable! We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no ninety-nine channels on cable, videotape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. We had neighborhood friends! We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We played other games such as Kick the Can and Capture the Flag. We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us.

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did worms live inside us forever. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Some of us weren't as smart as others, so we failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected, no one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.
-ANONYMOUS

An Irish Tea

I have done some rearranging after selling my cupboard. I have a cute little Irish tea and some Frenchie moments. Stop by for a visit, do some shopping and of course have one of Mark's amazing pastries and coffees. I'll be there from 9-12 but as usual if you need to satisfy your shopping appetite at another time just give me a call or pop me a note and I'll find a time that I can open just for you!

KATH

Good Weekend

I had such a nice weekend. My Daughter, her BF, my hubby and I went to Ikea and Woodfield mall and out to an AMAZING dinner at Rosebud http://www.rosebudrestaurants.com/. The best Italian food I have had in years. Sorry no pics, way to dark and romantic in there for that.

Then right before we went into the wildness that is IKEA on a Saturday afternoon I got a call from my friend Jen, who was watching my booth, that I sold a big piece of furniture and a great huge cherub lamp I had in my Saturday Flea space. YIPEE!!! I really didn't want to have to move all of those great pieces back home once the Flea is over at the end of March. All of my furniture is 15% off until the end of March so if you have had your eye on something now's the time!

It just feels like change is in the air doesn't it? Is it Spring coming, or the light changing, or even articles talking about the economy getting better? I don't know, or even really care, I just need a change, an oomph, a shot of adrenaline, a kick in the as# or something. It has been a looong February that's all I know.

I am still trying to decide on my calendar for the upcoming season and I know, I know, its time to figure it out. Soon I promise. What is that term the Victorians used, ennui? I think I caught it. Could it have been trapped in some of my Victorian goodies? I think some real live sunshine will kick it out and that seems to be appearing more and more every day, so I can only hope.

OK, so enough whining and rambling. Let's dream of flowers, creativity flowing from our fingertips, and lots of sales of antiques. I included some pics of flowers from my garden last year. I just need a weekend digging in the dirt and all will be well.

kath

What I've Been Up To

Finally a new post! Not sure why it has been so long. Busy at the paycheck job but long winter nights. Boredom,cabin fever...what ever,its over (I think) Ready to chat, play with my antiques and maybe even sell some!

So not sure if I have even shared what I do on Saturday mornings. Mineral Point has for the first time started an indoor Farmers Market and Flea. It is at the Old Royal Inn. Jennifer of the Royal has worked hard to get all natural and mostly local produce,meats,cheeses,fish, and of course ANTIQUES. There is a rotating collection of vendors and always Marks amazing pastries,cookies, great coffees and camaraderie. It has been so nice to get out and see friends and meet new people who are so glad to get out on these long winter weekends.

I have been having fun sharing my goodies for a few hours a week, knitting, and drinking lattes in between.

Come see us Saturday Mornings from 9-12 in beautiful downtown Mineral Point. Here's some pics of my lovelies and goodies from some vendors and Mark's pastries. Sorry Mark my food photography needs some work....

Kath