Discovering US.

I know I'm way overdue in sharing pictures of our 3 year anniversary, it's been a tad bit busy around here!  I was explaining to my kids this morning that life is going back to normal now (whatever normal is), and we're going to stay on top of the laundry, the house will be clean on a regular basis now, meals will be ready at their appropriate time, my paintbrushes will be hung to hibernate for the winter and our days will be gloriously filled with school, Cub Scouts, the occasional Girl's Night Out at the shop, or a Barn Chicks blogger party, baseball, field trips and Geography Club.

So our 3 year celebration went well. We didn't have the crowds that we did last year, but the wonderful people that celebrated the day with us were magnificent. To be surrounded by such a great group of vendors that have such willing hearts to take the gamble of an outdoor market, and share their happy spirit with us, despite a little liquid sunshine, was such a BLESSING!  Take a gander at the pictures, and you'll see what I mean.

This is looking at the back of the shop, not so pretty...

Ahhh, transformation! Kimberly of Truly Scrumptious graced us all with fabulous scones, cupcakes, whoopie pies, donuts, coffee, monster cookies.....I'd never had a whoopie pie in my life before, so I got a chocolate one with peanut butter filling that was about an inch thick. Armed with a half gallon of milk, all I have left to say is, oooooh myyyyyy...(yummy!).

This is looking towards the road from the back of the shop. Still setting up.

VOILA!! Or however you spell that word..such a cool sight to have vendors ALL up and down our parking lot. And no your eyes don't deceive you, it was sunny and gloriously blue skies in the morning! Karen to the left, was there with her booth, The King's Closet. Her adorable daughter Carina was down from Seattle spending the day with her and experiencing the whole event.

Our FAB.U.LOUS music guy, Lucas, blessed us with his music and voice. And yes, if you were asking for his cd, we're selling them in the shop for $10!

What a duo...soooo many people just wanted to sit and listen to them..a little free concert happenin' right there in our parking lot!

Music, music everywhere! Greg here on his mandolin. He and Sandy made the best wraps, smoothies, deep fried ravioli, garlic fries, sweet potato fries.... And yes, I had a Sante Fe chicken wrap, deep fried ravioli and a chocolate mocha shake from them. Top that with my whoopie pie and everything else... I didn't really need to eat again for a week. The deep fried ravioli was the bomb by the way (does the bomb date me?..at any rate, it was really, really good, so gooey and cheesy with marinara sauce, mmm I'm getting hungry). They had deep friend cheesecake too, but I had to draw the line somewhere, self control you know.

In between bites, I was running into the shop to help Sally with sales. We made these faux fleur de lis 'cupcakes' for our treasured customers, don't they look cool all lined up?

And of course what's an anniversary party without cake? Our trademark fleur de lis adorns this treat. I should have saved room for cake, but I really just didn't want to deprive anybody else of cake. I'm kind of thoughtful that way ;-).

Now, a tour of some of the fabulous finds that were out our back door...

This is Denise (right) who owns Arts & Scraps, an awesome shop downtown, with her partner in crime, Lisa (good name).

Another lovely duo, Kim (left) of Shabby-tique and Raylene of  Collected Vintage Charm.  I know that Kim also has a space at the Camas Antique Mall, another great place to find her treasures.

We always try to provide free entertainment for all ages.

These orange slipper shoes were so cute. They kind of remind of the wicked witch that the house landed on in the Wizard of Oz, her feet sticking out I mean, not her personally. Not sure why...anybody else see that too?

 Our voonderbar (think French accent), Cher of Voondi was there, not sure why I didn't get her in the picture.

She made some aprons and bags, aren't they voonderful? (sorry, I couldn't resist)

I'm a sucker for plants, especially edible ones. I love, love, love to buy plants, even though my husband ends up watering them (thank goodness too, or else they wouldn't survive our home). This is my dear friend Melissa who owns Century Farms and Nursery. I don't get to see her often enough, but when we do see each other it's like we just pick up where we left off. She's been such a great wealth of information for me over the years...plants, homeschooling, chickens...

...look at that adorable smile, I'm so blessed to call her friend.

 

Another sweet friend, whom I love, her and her mama both! Kristin here....

...and Karen (mama) here of The Old Quincy Schoolhouse. We met through blogging, and she and her daughter have become fast friends near and dear to my heart also. Karen's Finnish Cardamom bread is always a huge hit, it ought to be famous!

Farm fresh eggs were sold out first thing...

And yet another sweet friend, Sandy......

..and our very precious Heidi of Fritzie's Finds.

This lovely lady is Karen's mom (from the beginning of this story), her smile and umbrella brightened up the cloudy skies that had moved in.

And this happy camper is Chris who won our biggest giveaway. We called her at the end of the day and she wasted no time in coming back to claim her prize..those are the best, when you know you've made someones day!

Obviously I didn't get each vendor's picture, I wish I had. What better way to celebrate than to be surrounded by friends, old and new, that have helped make Uncovered Ruby a discovered gem.

Happy 3 years dear Sally, let's shoot for another 3, shall we? Lisa ;-)