5th Annual One World One Heart

*Note to my blogging friends. My computer died after my last post "Blue or Bleu?" and I apologize that I was unable to respond in a timely fashion to all your wonderful comments or be able to stop by and visit with all my blogging friends. I lost all my documents, my clip art and all my photos! Can you say external hard-drive.... lesson learned. Thank you for your understanding of my MIA. Thank you*


5th ANNUAL ONE WORLD - ONE HEART

Hard to believe that another year has passed and that it is time once more for the Annual One World One Heart blogging extravaganza event. This year is the 5th Annual and sad to say the last One World One Heart, journey around the world. I just wanted to say thank you to the fabulous event creator and hostess, Lisa for doing such an amazing job.

One World One Heart is a worldwide event for bloggers only. It gives all those who blog a chance to meet and mingle and form connections with those they may not have otherwise met from all over the world. In the past 4 years this event has grown to over 1,000 participants with lasting friendships (and even one love connection) formed along the way. Think of it as a GIGANTIC open house allowing you to travel without ever leaving your home........going from blog to blog(in various countries) seeing the wonder each one has created and meeting all the fabulous people behind those blogs. As a bonus each blogger participant will offer up a "door prize or prizes"....just for dropping by, saying hello and seeing their world.

A year ago I had just started blogging and it was such a big world then, full of possibilities and unknowns. It is still a big world, but the blogging friends I have met along the way, have made it seem a friendlier, safer and smaller place. Because of these friends' support, in July, I opened my shop, 2nd fl Thriftiques (Please see the shop's button on my sidebar if you would like to visit). It has been so great to meet fellow bloggers that have stopped by to visit and become real friends along the way; people from out-of-town and out-of-state that knew of me only from my blog.

Last year I introduced myself and a little bit about my home State of Maine (Please click here to see). I am still a resident, a-Maine-born-and-raised gal and so I thought I would welcome my visiting guests by offering a few Maine-themed goodies. Here is just a sampling of "My Taste of Maine Bag" that some lucky visitor will receive when this party ends on February 17th. I have more photos to post of the rest of the prize package.


A Lobster cloth napkin and embroidered lobster canvas wine tote. These are paired with a "lobster tail" BBQ Fork (a conversation starter for sure at your next backyard BBQ) and vintage costume jewelry at its best, a painted lobster pin. There are also 2 wooden nautical decorations. For those of you who may not know, nothing is tastier than freshly caught Maine lobster ..... served hot with melted butter or cold in a Lobster Roll. Hard to believe that the Pilgrims used lobster as a natural fertilizer when planting their crops.

BBQ Lobster Tail Fork

As you can guess by the blog title, I love to shop at Goodwill, so everything you see here has come from the Goodwill store as new merchandise; except the lobster pin which is a vintage find.

Vintage Lobster pin.

All you have to do to win these goodies and more, is please leave me a Howdy, Hello, Good Morning, Good day and be sure to let me know what place you call home. Let's make the world a little smaller..... let's join Lisa in this wonderful and fun journey around the world. I look forward to visiting you. For your invitation, please click on the button at the top of my sidebar or click here. Thank you.

Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie

Thrifty Finds Maine Souvenirs

As you may know, I am doing a Maine Themed Giveaway to celebrate the opening of my shop as well as my birthday, yup, the big one, FIFTY! My Giveaway is a way to bring a little taste of Maine to one lucky fellow blogger. I have had a lot of out-of-staters visiting the shop. They have been enjoying my vintage Maine souvenir pieces. Honestly, if you are going to buy a souvenir, make it be vintage.

So today, I thought I would share some of my favorite souvenir pieces with you, just in time for Today's Thrifty Treasures with Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality, Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Selena @ Apron Thrift Girl for Thrift Share Monday and Vintage Thingie Thursdays with Suzanne @ Colorado Lady. (Please click on these links or their buttons on my sidebar to join the parties.) Each piece has been bought at a lawnsale, church sale or Goodwill. Nothing has been over $1.99 and most were $.50. Let's see what I am bringing to these parties. So welcome to the Pine Tree State, enjoy the fresh salt air, the lobsters, the blueberries, the baked bean suppers, and some Maine genuine hospitality.

This is a favorite piece, a copper lobster paperweight approx. 4 inches. In the photo it looks more like a red cooked lobster than copper. It simply states Maine, no printed words needed.

This little plaque is from way-up-north in Jackman, Maine. This is where we always stop to get a bite to eat before resuming any trip to Quebec City, Canada. I live way-down-south Maine. It is a "Wicked" long road trip, to use the Maine vernacular or even better, "It is up the road apiece".

This is a wooden postcard. On the back it is stamped as any postcard would appear. The post office would just love this postcard, definitely a hand-cancel only piece.

This wooden mail sorter is stamped on the bottom, "Made by an Inmate, Maine State Prison." The Prison that produced this is long gone, replaced by a super max prison, at a new location.

A copper souvenir spoon. I couldn't get a close-up of the design, but it comes from Acadia National Park, where our President and his family just visited. It is a beautiful place.

A little coaster showing the State of Maine. Do you see Portland down at the end tip of the State, I am 8 miles from Portland. By the way, this coaster is going in the Giveaway. Actually, also down at the end of the state, along the coast, is the home of President George H. Bush, at Walker's Point.

Love, love, love this piece. It is a note holder. The original pencil is still inside. You would hang this on your door and ....... Well here is the message. "If at home you do not find us, Leave a note that will remind us." Portland, Maine. Absolutely charming.

Another Portland, Maine piece, this cute little doggie.

Of course there are always the souvenir plates. This one is from Washington County, what is referred to as Down East, home of the most easterly point of the United States. The aqua and gold edging is beautiful. It shows lobsters, the West Quoddy Headlight (lighthouse), and Franklin D. Roosevelt's home at Campobello Island, which is actually in New Brunswick, Canada.

More plates showing the State Capitol, Lobsters, Lighthouses, Pine Cones and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's (the poet) birthplace.

I hope that you enjoyed your trip to Maine. Whether you prefer your lobster hot with butter, or cold with mayo in a lobster roll, it is all "wicked" good and eats of the "finest kind". Thank you for letting me share my Maine Souvenirs with you. Please be sure to check out all the other fun vintage, thrifty treasures with Rhoda, Suzanne, and Linda.

Also Please be sure to enter my Maine Celebration Giveaway. For all the details, please click here. I am going to extend the giveaway until Thursday night to give the folks at Vintage Thingie Thursdays a chance to enter.


Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie

Vintage, Thrifty & Birthday Party Time & Giveaway

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for all the kind comments I have been receiving about my new shop, 2nd fl Thriftiques. So many of you have written that if you were up in Maine, you would be stopping by for a visit. That gave me the idea, that since you all couldn't come to Maine, that I could bring Maine to you with a Maine Celebration Giveaway.

So before I tell you about the giveaway, just to let you know that I am joining in with Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Suzanne @ Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday and one other party that I haven't visited in awhile, Sue @ Its a Very Cherry World for Wednesday is Rednesday. (Please click on these links to visit or on their buttons in my sidebar.) Boy can these ladies party. Please be sure to see what treasures and great finds they have in store for you.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY: Nothing says Maine more than lobster and the lucky winner will receive a few of these red crustaceans, sorry not the edible ones. First for the thrifty finds, I will be giving away a lobster dish towel and a canvas wine tote with embroidered lobster. I found both, brand new, at Goodwill, each for $.99. I actually bought 4 of the wine totes and 6 of the towels. The Maine cookbook, brand new, was purchased at a bookstore going-out-of-business sale at 90% off the original price. The nautical coasters represent the vintage side of things, they are marked made in Yarmouth, Maine 1981.

Every window needs a glass lobster sun catcher. This was a lawnsale beauty for $1.00. There will be a few more Maine items going into the give away, but I want the rest to be a surprise. You all know how a give away works, please leave a comment and say howdy for one chance to enter, become a follower or let me know you are already a follower for a second chance. Giveaway ends August 10th.

I love this lobster plate that was used in my giveaway button. It is huge and would easily hold 3 lobsters. You won't find it marked McCoy, Haeger, or even Hull, but rather it is a "Dee" original, whomever Dee is. The date of this Maine Masterpiece is 1969.

Now in 1969, I was 9 years old, Yes, you do the math, that means I am 50. Actually, I am officially 50 today. I was going to write a more poetic piece of prose, an actual volume of my life's history than just the Cliff's Notes version, a retrospective of my life and times, looking back over the years, and concluding with asking myself the million dollar question, what does the future hold and am I ready? Then I thought .......... Nah! I am ready for the future, whatever awaits me. I am eager to begin a new adventure. After all, isn't 50 the new 40? The past is just that, it can't be changed and my regrets are few. There is very little I would do over if given the chance. So as the french say C'est La Vie.

I will say that from day one, I was ready to start living. In fact, I was due in October and decided that I couldn't wait the extra 3 months, tired of just sitting around. There were things to do, places to go and people to see. So under 3 pounds I came into this world full of energy and confidence. The doctors were skeptical, it was after all 1960 and hospitals were not equipped with state of the art neo-natal equipment as they are today. Needless to say, I proved them wrong.

It's my birthday! So let the party begin. Pull up a Red chair from my fabulous vintage table. (Bought the table and chairs at an Auction 10 years ago for $50.)

Put on your Red party Hat, $1.99 Goodwill find (Just yesterday).

What looks like a gray stripe is actually a see-through band. It is a fun piece of French Fashion befitting a birthday girl. I gotta look ooh-la-la and tres chic for Fifty.

Then pour yourself a drink, vintage Coke, how refreshing. Yes, that would be me, white gloves, daintily holding my drink, with extended pinkie. Remember, I am going for tres chic, elegance, and all that stuff for turning 50.

I will leave you with this one last piece of vintage-red-thriftiness. Here I am pictured below, the dress is red and thrifty, bought at JC Penny at the end of the season for $12.00 and the vintage is me at 50. Oh no, I am what we say in the business as MID-CENTURY!!! I guess it means I just got more valuable.

So please be sure to stop over and visit with Sue, Suzanne and Linda for all their great parties and then visit Maine with my Maine Celebration Giveaway. I look forward to seeing you. If any of you are ever up in Maine, lobster dinner is on me (along with the cornbread, steamed clams and blueberry pie). Have a great day.

I am off to go Goodwill shopping. With your Goodwill discount card you get 25% off your purchases on your birthday. I will have gone to 5 Goodwill stores by lunchtime when I am due back in the office. What treasures await. Don't worry, I will show you.

Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie

Ticket Holder to the Magic Carpet Ride

Come Ride the Magic Carpet Ride!

It is time for One World One Heart, an international blogging event created and hosted by Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian, to officially begin. How appropriate it is to respond to this global call to join together, to talk and to share, especially as the crisis in Haiti continues to be in our daily lives, our hearts and prayers. Let us all take this time to reach across the countries to say Hello, it is nice to meet you, how are you, and glad that we met. It makes the world a smaller and friendlier place. So I bid you all a hearty welcome to my post, allow me to introduce myself.

I am a 40 something mom of one (now college age) daughter, self employed with 2 businesses, avid gardener (is it Spring yet?), cook and artist. I was born and raised in Maine and still reside here. Mainers take great pride in our State. The sun rises first upon this most eastern part of the United States, along our rocky coastline. May I also mention that a cooked Maine lobster dipped in melted butter, is pure heaven .... "wicked good". To understand what a true "Mainer" is consider this: Two men each in their 80's are sitting on the front porch talking about a third man, a friend of theirs. An argument had been ensuing about the residential status of this absent friend. The first gentleman says "I have known John all my life as my next door neighbor, right here in Maine, and I am 82. Of course he is a Mainer! To which the other gentleman adamantly responded "No he isn't....he is 83 and moved to Maine when he was one."

I have been to Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, and many other places that perhaps I will hear comments from in the next few weeks, unfortunately these visits were not real, but from the pages of books. Each page read, was another personal carpet ride to a new adventure. I made countless safari trips to Africa (with my imaginary pet lion), had tea with the Mad Hatter and was a princess, cowgirl, astronaut, famous dancer, singer and detective. I couldn't wait until I was finally old enough to receive my very own library card. No passport or train/airline ticket could ever take me to the places visited through books. It was indeed a magic carpet ride!

For those visiting today, please share with me what it is like where you live, what is a favorite food for you, are you down the road apiece as they say, or around the corner, across the miles or across the pond? For all those who leave a comment on this post, you will be eligible to win my give-away, my first one. From now until February 15th, please leave a comment with a link back to yourself or an e-mail address to be contacted if the winner. One will be randomly chosen and announced at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern Time, on the 15th. After leaving your comment, please click on the One World One Heart logo on my sidebar to start your journey to all the other ticket holders for this carpet ride.


By the way, this is my give-away. As I love all things vintage, here is a hand-made lingerie pouch, 2 vintage floral handkerchiefs, a hand-made roses barrette, and a lovely pink bracelet, marked Coro, a US jewelry manufacturer in the 1950's. I hope that you like them. I look forward to meeting you all. Thank you for visiting.