Vegan Date Bars

The past 3 days with Lieutenant Dan here at home with us have been a dream. He already feels like Family...with a capital F. It feels like he's always been with us. We can't believe how much the little guy has already adapted to our daily routine. Carlos is loving having him around, and we couldn't be more happy about that. Zero aggression at the food bowl, and there doesn't seem to be any territory issues. We actually feel like Carlos has a sense of just how small and delicate Dan is.

But jeez, with all this dog stuff the week has flown by! We are doing our best to work on orders without being distracted by that cute little guy staring longingly at us. We want to just eat him up all day! We could go on and on...but this post is actually about baking! We were in the mood for something sweet, crumbly, and wholesome tasting. Something sweet that's mostly nuts, oats, and fruit. We had just picked up some dates on our last shopping trip and wanted them to be the base of whatever dessert we'd decide to bake. So we found this recipe for Vegan Date Bars and just had to give them a try!

We really didn't veer too far off course from the original recipe. Just slight adjustments. In the end they turned out to be exactly what we were craving. Sweet but not too sweet, crumbly, crusty, filling...and easy!

Here is what you will need:

lightly greased or sprayed 9" x 13" baking pan

Date filling:

2 cups pitted chopped dates

1/2 cup coconut sugar (we used light brown sugar instead)

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 cup almonds finely ground

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Crust:

3/4 cup vegan butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups Quick cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

First, we prepared our filling. We chopped our dates into fine pieces in the food processor.

Then, in a skillet we added the chopped dates, the water, and the 1/2 cup of light brown sugar (again, feel free to use coconut sugar instead) Next, we stirred and cooked it over medium high heat. Then we turned the heat down a bit and cooked it until it thickened. Once thickened we added the vanilla and almond extracts, and the finely ground almonds. We stirred it until it looked like the pic above. Next, you'll transfer it to a bowl to cool for a bit.

Now for the crust. We creamed the vegan butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. We used our Kitchen Aid, but you can always use a hand mixer.

Next we added the flour, baking soda, and salt...and mixed it some more.

Then we added the oats and mixed well. Don't expect it to turn out like dough...it will be crumbly.

But the crumbly texture is exactly what you're looking for. Next you'll sprinkle half of the crust into your prepared pan. Then press it down with your fingers.

The next layer is the filling. It's pretty thick and sticky, so your best bet is to drop spoonfuls of it all around. Then you can use a spoon to smooth it out in an even layer over the entire bottom crust. Press and spread carefully so that you don't pull up the bottom crust. 

Then cover the filling with the remaining crust mixture and press down. You'll pop this in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove and let cool for about 5 minutes. Then cut into squares while still warm.

They really turned out great. We think there is a perfect ratio of sweet filling to nutty/oaty, just-ever-so-slightly salted crust. We have them stored in an air tight container in the fridge. We each ate one first at room temperature and then today had one straight from the fridge...and both of us liked the chilled version even better. The original recipe says they freeze well, and can thaw on the counter for an hour. Aaron's mom had one with coffee and said it was perfect. 

We highly recommend these! I was just about to try to formulate some terrible pun/joke about not having to go out to a Bar for a Date...that you could stay home and have the Date in the Bar or whatever...terrible idea...but too late now! Anyway...enjoy some Vegan Date Bars! They are no joke! derp.

xo, Jenny & Aaron

and Carlos and Lieutenant Dan 

Meet the newest member of the family...Lieutentant Dan!

 

 

Ladies and Gentleman...introducing Lieutenant Dan! I'm really going to try to keep this introduction brief since I know that Lieutenant Dan will probably pop up on your screens way more than you can tolerate in the future. I know we will be OVERSHARING on all social media platforms when it comes to this little guy.

He came to us the way all very special things should come to you...sprinkled with a bit of fate, chance, and magic.

As chronic dog lovers, me and Aaron always keep tabs on and donate to A Place To Bark, which is an animal rescue founded by our friend Bernie Berlin. We know Bernie through the art community. She's a great artist, instructor, and published author, but lately A Place To Bark has taken up nearly every minute of her time. She's located outside of Nashville TN, and her rescue is responsible for saving thousands of lives in that area...yes, thousands. On a weekly basis she will go to four different animal control shelters and take as many dogs as she can that are mere hours away from being euthanized. These are regular ol' lovable pups who were unwanted, abused, abandoned, etc... And she tries to take the ones who may be the hardest to adopt. Big dogs, black dogs, bully breeds, and pups with issues that are easily solved with a little bit of tlc. She takes them all to A Place To Bark, and there they get vet care, they get cleaned up, trained, socialized, and in the end they are 100% ADOPTABLE. Seriously, check out any number of videos on A Place To Bark's Facebook page and you'll see dozens of super well behaved pups, sharing food, playing, tails wagging like crazy. No aggression, no fear, just lovey dovey dogs. And many of these dogs were once cowering in a corner somewhere. 

 

Ok, just after the loss of our Little Jack, me and Aaron were probably looking at the A Place To Bark facebook page a little more often than usual. We weren't looking for a new dog. We were just finding comfort in looking at these dogs who were given a second chance at life. So, we then came across the above pic with the insanely smiling tiny Chihuahua. It stopped us in our tracks because we weren't used to seeing Chihuahuas at A Place To Bark. They rarely come through, but lately Bernie has been taking in a lot more of them (maybe inspired by this duo of Chi fanatics?!) Ok, so the next day, I got a message from Bernie. She had heard about our little Jack and said that she had someone there at A Place To Bark that we should meet. I was sorta overcome with emotion because I wasn't ready yet to consider getting a new pup. I told her as much, and when she wrote back she indicated exactly which pup she'd like us to meet. It was that crazy smiling one we had seen the day before!

 

 

She said his name was Lieutenant Dan and that he smiled like that whenever you fooled around with him. Bernie has a way of talking to Dan that makes him smile like that instantly! Right away we loved the name Lt. Dan. We are not even big Forrest Gump fans...we just thought the name was perfect for the little guy. We couldn't figure out exactly why he had the name though. Unlike the real Lt. Dan, this pup has all of his legs. But then I did come across this shot of Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan, and the smiles definitely look similar! ha!

Ok, so at this point, the smiling pic was the only one we saw, and we were totally in love. Oh sure, he looks crazy in the pic...but we love crazy looking things.



And then...Bernie followed up with this pic. Total opposite personality. He looks so calm and docile in his pink cowboy hat! Me and Aar swooned. I then told Bernie that we would want him but we had no idea how and when we'd get to Tennessee. Bernie said not to worry, she loves the little guy, and she'll hold onto him until we figure it out somehow.

Two months go by and we are frequently messaging with Bernie. She sent us a few videos of Dan, which we watched over and over. And then we get word from Bernie that she has a meeting in New Jersey...of all places! She says she's taking Dan on the plane so that he can come meet us! And then, at the last minute we find out that Bernie's meeting is in Red Bank, which is like 15 minutes away, we used to live there and we had a retail shop there. Crazy! 



Like I said, everything felt fateful and magic. It was almost four years ago to the day that we first met our little Jack. We picked him up on 4th of July weekend. And now here we were, picking up Lt. Dan.

 Here's the thing...you can't ever replace your beloved pup that passed. But you can fill the hole in your heart...or to say it better...you can take that surplus of love that you had for your departed pup, and give it to another pup who really really needs it. And who needs love more than a rescue dog?

Here's the brief background on Lt. Dan. He was a stray, found wandering in some parking lot, nearly starved, bad ear infections that made all of the skin and hair shed from those adorable ears. But then he was taken to A Place To Bark, got nourished, had his ear infections treated, and he was shown love. Bernie regularly rubbed coconut oil on his ears to heal them and promote hair regrowth. Dan now has a nice gingery peach fuzz and zero health issues. Every night at A Place To Bark he got to snuggle with his girlfriend Mouse, who you can see in the above smile :) pic. She still needs a home, but needs special circumstances...she has lingering trust issues with humans. Make sure to check out A Place To Bark to see all the pups needing a good home. 



 

So, we went to Red Bank and finally met Lt. Dan! He was every bit as sweet as we had expected...even more so actually. Bernie got him to smile for us right away! Aaron held him for at least a couple hours while we hung out with Bernie and her man...who is an awesome guy. Non stop joking with Jeff.

Seriously, within no time at all Lt. Dan was bonded with Aaron. We put Dan down to pee on a tree and right away he ran back to Aaron to be held again. Our time hanging out with Bernie was definitely too brief...but we will make sure to get together lots more so that she can keep in touch with Dan. 

 

When we got him home Carlos went nuts. Even though we had Carlos for a long time before we got Jack and it was just the three of us, he became very used to having a brother, and had missed Jack terribly when he passed. So with a new little guy showing up here Carlos was pretty much overcome with excitement. He just kept circling the little guy and whining and panting, and leading him around outside. They were instantly sharing treats, and laying in the same doggy bed together.

Carlos sleeps down at the foot of our bed, and when we had Jack we figured out right away that he and Carlos couldn't both sleep with us in the bed. There was a weird territorial thing and they'd growl at each other. So Jack slept in a doggy bed on the floor right next to Aar's side of the bed. It worked no problem. They both seemed comforted by the separation. So last night we were going to do the same with Lt. Dan. We set him up with some blankets in a little doggy bed beside the bed, and he was nestled in there contently. But as soon as we switched off the light, he shot like a rocket into our bed! And it's a fairly high jump to make for the little guy! He wormed right under the blankets and curled up next to Aaron. Carlos came over for a brief sniff, but then went to sleep in his own spot. No problems all night. We hope it stays that way. The behavior that pups have in the initial days together does not always remain the same.

 In the morning, we woke up, peeled back the blankets and revealed this adorable face. Enough to melt our hearts. He went out for his morning pee easy peasey...got a long drink when he came in, and he and Carlos settled down in their respective beds as we sat in the livingroom like we do every morning...Aaron with his coffee, me with my water with lemon, (coffee might give me a heart attack...fo' real) A little later he stood around with Carlos in the kitchen to watch Aaron make us a smoothie. He seriously is acting right at home.

 

By midday Aaron needed to shut his eyes for a while. Neither of us slept because we were checking on the little guy all night long. The two pups seemed to need a nap too as you can see. Yeah, and by the way...Aaron can nap anywhere, anyhow...he'd lay on concrete and not have problem catching some winks. 

 





 

We are so thankful for Lieutenant Dan. We're thankful to Bernie Berlin for being the patron saint of recued animals, we're thankful that she thought of us in our time of grief, we're thankful for her having business to take care of in Jersey, and we're thankful to our little Jack for smiling down over the whole process. A little note on that...my brother Walt picked us up from Red Bank after we got Lt. Dan...on the drive home Walt says "I have to make a stop...I need to pick up something for Bruno. (his dog)" So he pulls into the vet parking lot but they're closed. We just pause in front briefly, but the brief pause is enough. This is the same vet where we said goodbye to our little Jack. And now, nearly two months to the day we're here in the same exact spot holding Lt. Dan in our arms for the first time. Lives may pass, but the love never does. We get to give it all to another life who needs it. 

 

We urge anyone who is able, to rescue a pup...or to rescue many many pups by donating to A Place To Bark. Bernie works tirelessly with two employees and a couple volunteers. Their resources are meager, but their love is huge and should be celebrated.

Adopt don't shop.

Love you guys,

xoxo, Jenny, Aaron, Carlos, & Lieutenant Dan

Art Is You Art Retreat (Memphis TN)

 

This is another long long overdue post. But despite the passage of time we still feel plenty of excitement about our trip to Memphis for the Art Is You Retreat. Above you can see a couple examples of the classes we taught. We spent one day painting girls, and another day painting abstracts. Every student did an amazing job!

We've been a part of the faculty for a few years now, and as far as retreats go Art Is You feels way more like a giant family reunion than an art retreat. We get to see so many people who are our longtime friends, and every new person we meet fits right into the Art Is family seamlessly. It's definitely an event that welcomes every person equally. Beginners work side by side with masters and it seems like there's never a moment when a person feels out of their depth. Me and Aaron can't say enough good things about Art Is You.

Jeez, I never expected to wait this long to recap our amazing time. I originally planned on doing a recap as soon as we got back, but within 24 hrs of being home we lost our little Jack. We were so crushed, but also so thankful that we had just come back from such a positive experience. It definitely worked as a dose of medicine to pull us through such a hard time.

 

 

Here we are on our way to Memphis, waiting for an early morning connecting flight in North Carolina. The NC airport is great, and huge, but not intimidatingly so. There's a bit of southern charm with white rocking chairs all throughout the terminal.

 

 

 

So here you have Aaron kinda looking creepy, but what he's really doing is praising the breakfast that Ellen is serving us on a silver platter. It was a little inside joke. Leading up to the event it seemed like we were emailing Sal & Ellen (founders of Art Is You) with way too many questions. We know that Sal & Ellen are waaaaay way busy in the weeks before the event, getting everything organized with the attendees, instructors, and hotel. Aaron felt guilty about bothering them with so many trivial questions, so he self deprecatingly sent an email sorta illustrating this point. He jokingly requested a south facing window in our room, and asked about the pile of the carpet, and the exact thread count of the sheets. So, as a rebuttal, Ellen brought us a fancy breakfast on a silver platter.

 

 

In the above little Instagram video you'll see a typical sight...us in our hotel room prepping for class. We're filling little treat bags with some Salt Water Taffy. Our way of bringing a little Jersey Shore to Memphis. And yes, as a tribute to our locale the soundtrack is Paul Simon singing Graceland. When I was a kid my dad played that album constantly.

 

 

When you attend Art retreats your hotel room serves as your makeshift studio. And it's not just the teachers doing their last minute preparations...so many students continue working on their class projects back in their rooms. 

 

This is what our hotel bed usually looks like at Art Is You.

 



 

We seriously love setting up for class. We're filled with nervous excitement. Getting ready to welcome our students...some we've never met before...some may be facebook or Instagram friends...some are longtime blog readers whom we have never met in person. And the students all possess different levels of experience. Some have never ever painted...but there ready to learn, practice, try new things, make new friends, and have fun!

 

Our first class was Expressive Abstracts, being that is was a full day class we decided to split the day into two parts. In the morning session we worked mainly with a palette knife on small canvases that featured a vintage photo portrait. We'll be teaching another version of this in October at the Connecticut Art Is You! It will be a shorter evening class. This was so much fun, and everyone loved how their canvas turned out.

 

 By lunchtime everyone had developed some favorite techniques and strokes, using the palette knife.

 

 

The second part of the day was about loosening up and using brushes. Above are some of our class samples. Can you tell which are mine and which are Aaron's? 

 

Brit was working large! And we loved watching her layer on more paint and more textures. She definitely did well because she remained cool as a cucumber. Staying loose is key when working in abstracts. We met her at a previous Art Is in Connecticut. And we've now been at three events with her mom Deb...who we absolutely Love!

 

It's always a thrill to see how easily our students take to something that they've never even tried before. So great to know that they're going back home with so much brand new art experience under their belts. 

 

 

 

Our Second class was paintings girls and so much more. We once again did two separate projects. In the morning we did a smaller portrait that focused on the basics of step by step face painting. Cute, cartoonish girls with candy colored hair.

 

 

 

I really just have to mention Becky and her husband John. Becky is a great artist with years of experience doing a lot of the things me and Aaron have done over the years...decorative painted crafts, furniture, gifts. But she's got one up on us because she can do it all without full function in her hands. She's fully capable of rendering whatever she wants, but it might take a little longer. So being that the classes are time sensitive. her husband John sits in and helps her out with the more mundane parts of the process. like tracing the lines of the portrait onto tracing paper. 

 

 

I think she's telling John to hurry it up a bit in this pic! ha! They are the sweetest couple. Like us, they're high school sweethearts. We got to spend some off time with them and shared so many great life stories with each other.

 

 

 

Would you look at these?! And this was just the progress before lunch break!

 

 

The second part of the day we worked on larger mixed media canvases using our techniques learned earlier in the day, but we incorporated paper piecing, collage, using mists, stencils, textured mediums etc.

 

Art Is You is definitely not only about the classes. I feel like it's the little moments in between and all the extras that leave such a lasting impression on everyone. Even just running into someone in the hall and striking up a conversation can spark a lasting friendship. We love peeking into other classrooms and seeing what everyone else is working on. And doing that is a great way to pregame for the next event, and decide who's classes you'd like to attend in the future.

On one of our quick trips through the lobby I decided to do a little Art Abandonment in the seating area where lots of people would gather. Michael DeMeng started the trend. The idea is to make some art and leave it for someone else to find...just make sure to sign it. attach a note letting the finder know that it's theirs to keep...and include your contact info so that they finder can get in touch if they want. 

 

 

 

 

At every Art Is event there is the Art Trunk...a vendor fair where you can get some artwork, vintage stuff, clothing, sculpture, jewelry, books, art supplies, etc. In the above video we're getting our table set up, and we also got a couple shots of our neighbors, including our friends Kecia and Sarah. Being that we had to ship so much class stuff down to the event we had to go light with our Art Trunk offerings. We mainly brought our supplies, sticker packs, paper collection, and books. We plan on bringing lots more art and jewelry to the next event in October in CT.

 

 

 On our flight home, just as we were landing in Jersey we passed through a rainbow. At the time we had no idea that this was little Jack's rainbow.

 

 

In the latest issue of Mingle there's a story on Art Is You, written by the fabulous Rice Freeman-Zachery. This is so exciting for our art community...for all the instructors, attendees, future attendees, and especially Sal & Ellen. Art Is You is their baby and it's so great to see it get the exposure and accolades that it deserves!

 

None of the amazing experiences and lasting friendships would be possible without the tireless efforts of Sal & Ellen. They work so hard and keep everyone smiling. They have giant hearts and me and Aar are thankful every day for knowing them. They host Art Is You retreats pretty much all year round that span the globe. From our fun down in Dixie, to way out in Petaluma CA, then down under to Australia, and then very near to us on the east coast in Connecticut! 

 

 

 

 

If you can...we promise you'll have a great time and so much more! Join us this October! We are teaching a Friday night class! Which will be Ancestral Abstracts. Think vintage photos, lots of abstract paint techniques, some stamping, color washing, layering, glazing. By all means, if you're thinking about it, we've still got room in class for you! We'd love to see you there!

Ok, I'm so thrilled that I finally got to share all this. Hope you enjoyed! Stay Cool on this fantastic Holiday weekend! 

xo, Jenny & Aaron

Our Day at the Country Living Fair Rhinebeck NY

It's a few weeks ago now that we went to the Country Living Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. And I know it might be strange to blog about it this far after the fact, but I have to be honest...we've been so busy and I just haven't been able to find the time to get the photos downloaded and all the rest. So I vowed that I'd at least blog about our adventure before the month of June came to an end! 

We drove up with our friend Marlene, who is always a ton of fun. We hit a couple traffic snares but the three of us talk a lot and have a ton of fun stories to tell, so the ride flew by. It's the best when Marlene gets on one of her unstoppable laughing jags! She really cannot stop herself from laughing! a whole lot of shoulder shaking going on. 

 It's a weekend long event, but we only did Friday...which was the best weather day all weekend. But one day is barely enough time to really experience the whole fair. 

As you walk through the entrance into the fair you're greeted with the most adorable festive oil cloth bunting, criss crossing above all the pathways. The buntings were made by Modern June, who also had her own booth full of all sorts of oil cloth goodies. I know Marlene grabbed at least a couple yards of oil cloth for some home projects. 

Also, you can see some adorable trailers real tiny in the background in the pic above, and one behind Aaron in the below pic. They place the trailers mostly up front at the show, which is such a great mood setter. The CL Fair in Atlanta was also full of cute old trailers.

The very first thing we came upon was the cutest minty green vintage tin toy oven. As you can see in the pic, it matched the neighboring trailer perfectly. The price for the oven was a little high for us, but maybe the neighbor gal who owned that trailer ended up taking it home.

I wish I could convey just how HUGE this show was! We were there all day and there is no way we saw everything. I feel like there was a dozen or more of these buildings lined up one after another. Each was packed with stalls filled with art, antiques, vintage, fabrics, paintings, dolls, jewelry, you name it! The floors were covered in wood chips. And due to the super warm weather a whole lot of us gals were in flip flips or sandals of some sort. And since the wood chips are really just oversized sawdust, your feet get very dusty. But it's "Country" Living right? Dust is required.

Earth Angels is always one of our very first stops. They've always got the best looking set up, a prime location, and SO MUCH good stuff. The following group of artists are all part of the Earth Angels collective, which is headed up by the awesome Jen O'Connor. 

I adore the work of Caramia Visick. This is some of her Hot Cakes jewelry!

And then we have our talented friend Laurie Meseroll's mudcakes pieces! She paints so so much, and every piece is amazing. We love her art so much.

It was so good to see and talk to our friend Letty Worley. She is so incredibly talented. Her soft sculptures and purses are all so magical. Bears and porcelain doll heads, glittery party hats...all in the best vintage color palette. 

Oh hey! Derp! 

Jennifer Lanne is another of our fave Earth Angels artists. I showed some of her paintings in our Atlanta CL Fair post. Her paintings make such a bold statement, and the colors are gorgeous.

I cannot handle the cuteness of these Nicole Bowen plush pieces! They're almost pastel...but then they're given a time worn feel. The soft  glow of color that she gives to the cheeks is perfect.

Seriously, can you even handle this little cutie?!

Humpty up above, and the two pics below show the work of Nancy Wiley. It was our first time meeting her and we were blown away by the intricacy of her dolls. 

Here she is holding one of her story books. It's an Alice in Wonderland picture book, but instead of illustrations, every image throughout the book is a photograph of her handmade dolls posed in elaborate set pieces.

Here are some more of her pieces.

Right after Earth Angels we hit some other nearby vintage booths.

There is such an amazing selection of vendors at the show. Besides being able to shop for art and decor, there is just lots of great old stuff that you can use for your own creative projects. 

 We loved this booth called Outdated. They have a brick & mortar shop as well, located in Kingston NY, that has antiques, coffee, and food. 

Like I said, they do antiques and food. Aaron had to grab one of their vanilla fig scones. Deeelish.

So great seeing Cari Cucksey, who we met for the first time at the Atlanta show and have been Instagram friends since. Her booth was fantastic and huge. She was debuting her brand new paint collection.

It all looked so so good! Marlene actually took home a quart. 

Also so so great to finally meet our long time online friend Crystal of Vintage by Crystal, and her sweet husband, and baby Olive. We have been collecting Crystal's pieces for years.

Her offerings were amazing! Sooo many! Hundreds of unique one of a kind pieces for every holiday and occasion. When I look at her pieces I can imagine the tiny world they inhabit.  

The goods also spill to the spaces outside of the buildings. There are stacks and piles of overflow pieces right outside each big pavilion...great old tables, benches, stools, garden decor....

And there are full outdoor set ups like this one above. We loved this giant painted photographer chap.

This booth really spoke to me...lots of of my type of collections...namely, vintage wrapping paper.

I loved this vignette...all creams, greys, pale pinks, and bits of black. I love the little black lamb, and the vintage crepe paper nut cup.

Here's a pulled back shot in that same booth. Check out the jewelry sign and those grey drawers!! swoon!

All of the vignettes followed color themes.

One thing you saw lots and lots of  throughout the show were vintage flashcards. We flipped through hundreds. It can get overwhelming. Which is a reason why getting a weekend pass and a hotel room would definitely be worth it next time around. Then we could take our time.

This booth was really great. Besides so many fab vintage goodies, they had their own paintings and prints on canvases. Look at those chicks on the old farmers almanac pages! 

There were sooo many options for food! Even for us health concious folks. Aaron got a great hummus wrap at the Juice Caboose...super tasty, I tried a bite. They had all of these massive bags of carrots for their smoothies. Marlene and I got really delicious falafels. So fresh and with delicious toppings. 

After lunch Marlene grabbed a healthy smoothie while Aaron walked on the wild side at the Leslie's Hot Cakes airstream. He saw "Home of the Maple Milk Shake" and couldn't resist. I had a sip. It was amazing!! so buttery! 

It was great seeing the girls at Findings, who are from here in Jersey. They once had a shop down the shore in Pt. Pleasant that we blogged about a few years ago. And we also saw them at the CL Christmas Bazaar in Tarrytown this past winter. They always have great stuff.

These old military letters...tied up with pink ribbon in bundles.

They've got beautiful jewelry, tons of old photos and vintage findings galore.

So we met this really sweet couple, and their booth was called  La Bonne Vie . As we walked into the space we were taken aback by this piece. It was playing a Dean Martin record...it's a combination record player, bar, and faux fireplace. It is so Graceland! So Hugh Hefner! It was amazing. It was in great condition, and I never saw anything like it. The label inside said 'made in West Germany'...where I suppose they know how to party in style.

La Bonne Vie also had fab necklaces for wedding day or wedding party gifts. They were packaged adorably. 

Not my colors, but this sunny happy piece was so inviting.

I am a lover of pink tin kitchen sets. I have a few pieces here at home.

Loved this booth! They go by Tin Hearts, by Carol Mataruso. We spent quite a while smiling at each piece and trying to decide which one to take home. 

This girl stole my heart! Her face is perfect! She happened to be quite large, and everything we own is on the smaller scale. If the entire assemblage was the size seen here, from the coffee pot up, she could have worked for us.

But she was quite tall as you can see in this pic, and she has the big red sugar tin...which don't get me wrong...looked amazing!! But we just don't have red in our kitchen. We are all neutral tones with bits of pink and aqua and black. But we spoke to Carol about a future custom piece or two. 

The lamps were incredible. So BIG! And almost all had sold signs on them.

This sign is so good. It was hanging in one of our fave booths, South Porch Antiques. We met them in Tarrytown as well, and purchased a few things from them including our favorite shredded vintage book page wreath.

The thing we fell in love with this time was their handmade niches. Made from wire, wood, and old book pages. It was so hard to decide on the perfect one for us. If there was only one we would have grabbed it. But given the choice of a dozen and it is impossible. I am the worst when it comes to choosing the one fave out of a dozen similar objects. 

I loved this old floral painting. And you can see some tiny niches in the cubbies. They were super cute too!

These were fantastastic and so clever! Vintage honey boxes, with vintage photos slipped inside, so they can be used as a picture frame. They'd be so adorable in a vignette on a shelf. Marlene aka Mizz Bee, was thrilled and bought a few.

Everything about their space was perfectly curated. Great mixes of textures and elements.

Our friends Shannon and Elton at Stash Style were killing it as always with a fantastic set up. 

We love these guys. So much style under one roof...or tent.

They really really know how to set the mood with their displays. They now carry one of Aaron's fave brands of boots and shoes.

Loved this sweatshirt...the back had a panel of vintage lace on it. I should have bought it! They've got so much great vintage clothing that they adorn and dye...and then there are t-shirts, art pieces, and decor.

And this was maybe my favorite booth of the day as far as new-to-me vendors go. Curated by Peg & Jon Van Dyne of French Vanilla. There was SO MUCH I would have taken home if I had money to throw around. Such a great eye! This dresser was incredible! It had an old marble top...so so up my alley. And the little cabinet on top...ahhh!! 

This chair killed me...I LOVED it! Cream and black is mostly what we live with at home. 

We got a big kick out of this bottle. Yes, that says Pre Digested Beef. What in the world?! We showed it to Peg & Jon and they had no idea that they owned a Pre Digested Beef bottle. It was in a bin with many others types of old bottles...they never thought to read each one. Jon googled it on his phone...way back when they used it as a dietary supplement for underweight babies and ill malnourished people. Beef in a bottle???! I'll stop talking about this topic RIGHT NOW.

This is the piece I wanted most from the fair. But I had already nearly hit my budget for the day and it was $90.00. If it was $45 it would have been mine. I just couldn't spend double. But man I loved it a LOT! One of my all time fave fave things to collect are vintage medicine cabinets and other odd shaped cabinets. This was a perfect little cube with glass shelves. 

Such a fabulous mix...wood, zinc, canvas, porcelain...all in the most gorgeous aged tones.

I walked by this booth had to stop. This metal awning is so Jersey shore. Lots of houses here on shore had them. Wouldn't it be fab over a bed?

Jenny Bowlin's booth is always fab! Lots of great displays. We loved the juxtaposition of elements...those books, the alligator head, the military photo, glass, and crystal clusters.

This booth, though not our color scheme at home, was so fun and kitchsy. Another little tin toy stove. Those are a big fave of mine. 

It was so hard to get a pic without glare. These framed photos are all from the same family...maybe from the 30's or early 40's. The same kid is in a lot of the pics, and you can see him grow up. 

Loved these little Marquee letters and numbers in the Jillibean Soup booth. We came home with our fave number...9

The drive home was traffic free and the views were great...such a gorgeous sky. A very nice area of NY state to drive through. 

So here is part of our haul from the day.  The pink topped rusty stool was only $22.00.  Also pictured is our niche from South Porch Antiques, a crystal cluster from Jenny Bowlin, and a bunny from Vintage by Crystal.

We had such a great time! We're so glad we went, and we're lucky to have a friend like Marlene who is into the same things we are. Shopping together was awesome, and we had great conversations on the ride to and from. 

If you have the chance to go to this or any other Country Living Fair...GO! Make a weekend of it! Early June in Rhinebeck, NY is a pretty time of year. And you will be blown away by how much good stuff you can come home with for great prices. 

Ok, success...I blogged it before June ended. Hope you enjoyed!

Back soon,

xoxo, Jenny...and Aaron