Mackinac Island Thrifty Shopping

Hello.
Can you believe it?  Yes, the title is correct! YOU can go THRIFT shopping on the Mackinac Island.


See!

We stayed at the Grand Hotel on the Island for two nights.  Very Pretty! 


ANY HOO!  While we were walking around with our two new BFF from Maine.  Peggy, from Maine, wanted to go to the Grand Hotel Attic Shop.  This shop is located in an area of little shops directly below the hotel.  When the four of us walked in, lo and behold, there were two more women from our tour, who were also shopping!


Here is a photo of our crowd (except myself and Jane) looking around in the shop.

You can see there are a lot of goodies to view!

Here are a few shots of the merchandise available.  (Lucky you... to get to see it, because the sales lady wanted to know why would I be taking photos....No, I did not explain about the blog... only  that I was practicing with my new "used" camera). I can see how it would be scary wondering why I was taken pictures, you never know what people have on their mind.

I like the plant pots, and they were reasonable priced.  Sorry, I can't remember how much.  I remember thinking if I buy the two green ones, I will have to shipped them home.

Table cloths from the Grand Hotel. 

Sheets were available, along with comfort tops. 

I liked these candle holders.  I can think of so many ways to use these throughout the year.

The shop had various items for sale such as magazines, plates, glasses, placemats, lamp, etc. at different price points.

Sooo, remember when you go to the Macinac Island, you can go thrift shopping at the Grand Hotel Attic.

Once again, thank you for following my adventures!  I know several of you like to thrift shop when vacationing!! Please share any of your great finds you have purchased while on vacation.

Wishing you a great day!

Wanda

Container Gardens

Hello Friends,


It is always sooo nice to get away and it is always sooo nice to return home! This year my Aunt Carolyn and I traveled on the Collette Vacations Mackinac Island Tour.  The tour started in the Windy City, Chicago Illinois.  Our hotel was a short block from Michigan Avenue, the famous Magnificent Mile of shopping.


While we were walking along Michigan Avenue, it was very HOT and HUMID! I was inspired by the beautiful container gardens along the way which seemed to reflect coolness in temperature and looks.


What is the definition of a container garden?  Well, I (brilliant me) looked it up. According to Dictionary.com, it is a noun and "a collection of pots or other receptacles containing soil for growing plants out of doors".  Well "other receptacles" sure do describe the lovely sites I saw on our walk.  I am inspired to do something with my shade area under a cluster of trees in my back yard.


In my mind's eye, I see container gardening not only small but large as the following examples will show.

I love the green grass surrounding the colored flowers and the round containers within the larger container.

I like how the vines drape over the concrete container with the tall plants mixed with the different colored flowers.

Look how lush the red plants are surrounded by the soothing greenery and the pink petal flowers blanket.

I think kids would love to see the dragon on the Mile!

This is my favorite!  I love the total layout of the garden with the brilliant colors, the elephant ear plants, with the small blue container with the pop of yellow.  I want this under the cluster of trees in my back yard!


Thank you for following my adventure, today.  Hope you were inspired as much as I was by the LARGE container gardens as I was.  Do you have a container garden?  Is it located in the sun or shade?


Have a great week!


Wanda

Chicago!

Hi Everyone,
My annual tour with my Aunt Carolyn has started in the Windy City!  Here is a brief look at a few sights we have visited. 

What a great place to eat!  You can write all over the walls!  I wrote a special message to Mr. C. on the wall near our booth.

Love the bean!

Sue is beautiful!

What a beautiful skyline!

More details to follow when I return home.  I am taking photos with my new camera.  I wish I could tell you my learning curve with the camera is going smoothly.  NOT! Today, we are heading to Wisconsin.

The tour bus will be here soon.

Love your comments!  Thank you for following my adventures!

Wanda

My Favorite Five Top Tips From Haven Conference

WOW, I had the most wonderful time traveling with my neighbor, Allison Griffith, owner of Refunk My Junk to the Haven Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in June.  She was a great roomie!


We met the most interesting women and men from all over the nation, we took great classes, and we returned home with a wealth of information.  The problem for me is where to start implementing all the information.


These Ladies worked really hard to give us a great time with quality information!



(L to R) Kate, Sarah, Beth, Rhoda, Traci, Chris, Marion
(Photo from Rhoda's blog)



Kristi
(Photo from the Haven Conference Site)

The first evening at the conference reception, we all had a great time meeting each other.  I am sending out a Big Thank You to Cindy Miller for sharing her photo showing several of us standing with Rhoda.  Cindy has a wonderful blog and is owner of Bliss Designs, please check out her website and blog by clicking on her link.

I am the one holding the green fan standing by Rhoda.

.

I missed the Keynote Speakers, John and Sherry of Young House Love the next morning, because I was finishing a real estate offer for an adorable couple I am working with.  I completed my work before the Keynote Speakers had finished and I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Goodwill Hunting

 He is so wonderful! His personality in his session shines!

Yes, the photo was taken with my iPhone.

Also, I met Donna from Texas of Doozies Corner and her fantastic husband, Wesley. She and Allison are retailers for the CeCe Cardwells Paints and both of them will be retailers for the Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint. They met while at a CeCe Cardwells' painting workshop.  I had a great time with these two wonderful women.  Donna's husband,Wesley, was our chauffeur around town.


Here we are having dinner on Friday night.

(L to R)  Wesley, Donna, Myself, and Allison

On Friday night, I was a guest at the CeCe Retailer's dinner.  It was a wonderful dinner and I met the owner of  CeCe Cardwells Paints. What an exciting business opportunity for the CeCe Cardwells' Retailers.

I can not make Allison's iPhone Photo larger. (too grainy)

The owner of CeCe Cardwells paint has her face covered.  She prefers to have the retailers out front.


There really was Sooo Much More that happened, however I want to get to my Favorite Five Top Tips.


Drum Roll Please:


My Favorite Five Top Tips from The Haven Conference are:


#1. BLOG CONTENT!

Content is king!  It drives people and advertisers to your blogs. People want a reason to read your blog.  As my minister, Mitch Miller, says each Sunday, "Oh, its just that easy and it will be just that hard".


#2. BLOG CONSISTENCY!


It does not matter how many times you blog, whether everyday, three times a week, or twice a week, Consistency is big because the readers and advertisers will learn your blogging schedule and know when to expect something from you!


#3. BLOG LAYOUT!


Readers read left to right!  Duh, how does this help?  Keeps the contents of the blog, the advertisers and sponsors out front to the readers/friends.


#4. LAYERING ADVERTISING!


Oh, my! I had no idea!  {Silly Me!}

I am trying to figure this one out, and what steps to take first. I think blogging consistently would be a great first step for me.  This is not a game, you must love sharing your life!




#5. LIGHT IS EVERYTHING IN PHOTOGRAPHY!

I knew light was very important, however not HOW IMPORTANT to use light to the best advantage with your photos to get the desire look you want to achieve.  The right light can be perfected by being outside or with the shutter speed and the aggregator on the camera. A DSLR camera can be purchased at a reasonable price with a set of beginner lenses.  After attending Haven, I purchased my camera at a Pawn Shop.  Yes I repeat P-A-W-N S-H-O-P! (no need to break the bank)


Now, if you visit with any of the attendees at the conference, each one will have their own favorite five top tips from the conference.  There truely was so much information, that there is no way you could leave without learning something either from the classes or the attendees.  I think meeting new friends at the conference was the best!


Yes, I am planning on attending the Haven Conference in 2013, and I encourage You to attend, too.


Once again, thank you for following my adventures!  Saturday, I am leaving on a trip, andI plan to share my trip with you as I travel (wish me luck attempting to share my adventure with my new "used" camera from hotels).

I love your comments on Facebook and on the blog post! I would love to have you follow me on my adventures!


 Have a great week!

Wanda

Visiting the OKC Junk Hippie Roadshow

My friend, Marie, and I headed to the "Junk Hippie Roadshow" at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds last Saturday.  I took my new "used" camera to see how it would work.

The show started at 9:00 am and lasted til 6:00 pm.  Marie and I arrived around 10:00 am and we did not know quite where to go, so we started following different women, who were walking with a clear sense of purpose.   While walking to a building, a lady walking behind us, asked us if we knew where we were going?  We informed her "no, we were just following the other women."

Once we reached the building, (the other woman led us to it) this sign greeted us at the door.  Cute!  Don't you think?

The "Junk Hippy Roadshow" highlights local small businesses and their inventory. 

My neighbor, Allison, who was my roommate at the Haven Conference in Atlanta, owns "Refunk My Junk" and was one of the vendors. 

Here is a photo of Allison and her mother, Carla.

Allison is a retailer for CeCe Cardwell's paint and will soon be a retailer for Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in the Oklahoma City Area.

Alison is quite busy with booths at two different locations  in Oklahomc City, one at the Feathered Nest Market and at the Showplace Market.  Also, She offers painting workshops at the Edmond Art Institute, too.  Allison is one very busy woman!

Here is a wine cork plague she had for sale, at Junk Hippie Roadshow.

Another vendor created this adorable "Time Out" chair!  Who knew being in trouble could be sooo stylish for a beautiful Princess!

I loved these oversized embellished cloths pins! Any style or design was available! (My favorite is the one with the"peace" sign)

The clothes pins were designed by Debi Gorman and Rachelle O'Brien of AmoreDecor.

I fell in love with this chest! I could see this chest in a lake house that I want to go with Mr. C's new boat and truck that he wants to buy.  The chest was created by Heather Brady with Vintage Betty.

I thought this was a great eclectic collection.

 RED is my favorite color!!! This chair and its mate, almost made it to my house.

Then my eyes went to this beautiful girl and her bow! This vendor offered all varities of bows!

 I am an OKC Thunder basketball team fan

and love James Hardin, our "Fear the Beard"  player. How could I not resist taking a picture of this pillow! The Beard pillow was being sold by Brittini Flowers of "Oh Honey Child".

Finally, I loved this concrete "&". Plus the table caught my eye, too! Tim and Kara will soon be offering DIY Conrete Classes. You can find out more regarding Tim and Kara on her wonderful blog by checking out Kara Paslay Designs.

These are only a few samples of the great items available from the Junk Hippy Roadshow.

After walking the show, my friend Marie took a brief break, while I took a few more photos. 

After the Junk Hippie Roadshow, Marie and I headed to another shopping gallery with a variety of booths.

We had lunch and called it a day!

As for my camera and photos, I am on a steep learning curve, however for a first day out with the camera and my limited photography skills, I think I did okay.  My photos appeared to be better than they were with my old authomatic camera or my iPHONE.  Hopefully, My photography skills will improve with more practice.  You know what they say, "Practice makes Perfect".  Ha!

I love sharing my adventures with you!  Thank you for all your comments on Facebook and here at Wandaful Wonders!  Enjoy your week!

Wanda

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Wishing you a Wonderful Day with your family and friends!

A NEW "USED" CAMERA

Hello Everyone!


After going to the Haven Conference and taking the "Basic Photography/Photo Styling" session presented by Kevin and Layla Palmer (The lettered Cottage), Josh Moates (Kim Box Photography), and Shaunna West (Perfectly Imperfect Blog)  Shaunna was upstairs ill at the conference - Boo Hoo!.  There was no doubt I needed to upgrade my camera. 


I had been using a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC (a point and shoot fellow)

 and sometimes my iphone.

My last post photos were soooo blurrry from the iphone at a super great laua, that I knew without delay the purchase of a camera was what my little heart desired.  Now, I did not want to break the bank.


SOOOO! What's a girl to do?


Well, I hurried over to the local Pawn Shop.  Yes, you read correctly P-A-W-N S-H-O-P!


I found me a SWEET and I mean SWEET little starter camera just right for me!  I purchased a 2004 Nikon D70.

I looked up reviews for the Nikon D70 while standing in the Pawn Shop and I looked up what the camera without lenses were going for on different sites.  The gentlman at the Pawn Shop offered me a deal I could not pass on. 


So, I bought the Sweet Thing at a Sweet Price! (I hate to pay retail, if I can avoid it!)


Please remember, we had purchased an electric and an acoustic guitar for our exchange student at the same local pawn shop.  Our oldest son, Tom did check out the guitars before we purchased them.  He plays guitars, so he knew what to look for with a guitar.  Besides, Mr C and I have been scouting garage sales, estate sales, and pawn shops for years, now. 

After buying the camera, Mr C and I headed over to a famous camera store in the metro.  I did purchase a brand new Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 xr LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens.  (I really do not know what all the abbreviations mean, however I bet I will know soon).

I took my new and used equipment out on Saturday to the "Junk Hippy Road Show" at the Oklahoma State Fair Grounds.  Wait til you see my photos, not bad for a first day outing with my little heart's desire!


I love your comments and I love how you continue to follow me in my WandaFul Wonders Adventures!

Wanda