Antique Show Hunting

This past Saturday was the Christie Antiques Show in Dundas, ON.  This event is a semi-annual event (May and September), with over 300 dealers and almost 10 acres of antiques.  This is probably Canada's largest show, and the funny thing is that it is literally a stone's throw away from my parent's place (well, if you have a really really good arm).  Point being, it is an easy commute for me, and this was my fourth show as an attendee.  I usually go to the spring show however, so I was interested in seeing how the fall counterpart compared.

I was excited to bring a bit of a crowd with me this time:  my mom and sister, my aunt and cousin, and my cousin's husband (and new baby!).  We usually have a few items we are looking for, but we (my mom and I) are always intentional in scouring the tea cup selection.  We love our tea cups, and a good number of my collection has come from this show.  I've even started pin-pointing my favourite vendors!  Sadly, my go-to vendor wasn't at the fall show this year, but we did find a vendor with great prices and selection - and we learned a thing or two from another shopper who knew her tea cups!

Leanne (my cousin) was looking for a ewer, which I found out is a larger water pitcher, usually accompanied by a basin.  It's what people used to wash up with before there was running water in the house! And she found one she loved.

An antique show (or store) can be a bit intimidating if you don't know what you are doing.  I'm not an expert, but below are some tips from my experiences.

ANITQUE SHOW TIPS:

1. Go early if you want the best picks, to beat the crowds.  Go late if you are hoping for end of the day deals.
2. If you see something you love, don't expect that it will still be there if you leave it.
3. Know your stuff:  if you are looking for something in particular, do some research ahead of time so that you will know what to look for, and if the price being asked is fair.
4. Negotiation is possible.  The best thing to do is to ask: "Is this your best price?" or "Can you do better on this price?" or something similar.
5. Don't insult the vendor by commenting loudly if you think something is overpriced.  It could be that it is overpriced, or it could be that you aren't as knowledgeable on the item as you suspected.  If they won't come down on it, say thank you and walk away.

(This isn't one of mine - I grabbed it from Google images.  I will post my tea cups soon!)

Hot Chocolate

 I am not a fan of email forwards.  Who is?  They are often cheesy at best and threatening at worst ("If you don't resend this to 10 people...").  When my mom first signed up for email, she for some reason thought that we all wanted to watch slideshows of cute puppies and read jokes likely first published in Readers Digest. After some online etiquette advice and threats of blocking her emails, she hasn't really sent as many.

There was one email she forwarded to me that I have saved though. It is a story that was packaged in a powerpoint presentation, but the moral at the end is one that I always want to remember, and that I want to share with you! .

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.  During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.  Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.  

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:  "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.  While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.  The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of hot chocolate.  In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.  What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups.  And then you began eyeing each other's cups.  

"Now consider this:  Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups.  They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have.  Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.  God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups.  The happiest people don't have the best of everything.  They just make the best of everything that they have.  Live simply.  Love generously.  Care deeply.  Speak kindly.  And enjoy your hot chocolate!"

HELLO FRIEND. I REMEMBER YOU WELL.

It's been a long while since I have posted.  To cut the story short, I think I felt too much pressure to post only great blogs: the haunting challenge of avoiding mediocre writing, or heaven forbid, a rambling of thoughts that range between poor and "why did I even open my computer today?"  Maybe I didn't have enough to say, or perhaps I was all too eager to please my (potential) audience, knowing my real audience was myself.  Too deep?  Probably.

Yet my love for writing I cannot run from for (too) long.  And here I am again, ready to write about anything and everything.  Except for the really really personal stuff, because hey - I'm a private person, and this isn't Hello! magazine.  I'm sorry.  It's not.

For the rest of you that have decided to keep reading now that that has all been cleared up, welcome!  Let's have fun with life together; let's observe and comment on the comings and the goings of the day; let's share what makes us smile and what we are passionate about.  And by "let's", I mean me.  And I hope you come along for the ride!