Then came Raphael.....

Hello fellow flea friends!  So this weekend the hubs and I took a weekend trip to Eureka Springs.  We needed a quiet get away for a while and this was an awesome, local trip.

If you have ever been to Eureka Springs, AR the best word to describe it…. Eclectic. (and hilly..wow is it hilly).  You will see everything from hippies to bikers to yuppies. Lots of hemp...oh, so much hemp and for some reason, apparently wearing a bra is optional.  Yea, I don't get it either.  Eureka is full of small stores that sell all kinds of items.  Jewelry, flea markets, socks, art, food, and everything in between. 

The bed and breakfasts are beautiful.   Old architecture and antiques are stunning.  The food is always amazing.  And two of their hotels are haunted. TWO!  Which is totally awesome, except I went in one of them four times and didn’t see a ghost one. Not even a floating  partial body apparition. I won’t lie, I was a tad disappointed.

So as you know, I have a love of metal animals.  See my Ricky post.  This was the beginning of my flea market habit.  Next came Raphael.  I fell in love with his little mustache.

And so far there have been NO metal mice in the house.  Just sayin'

I recently bought Raphael at a flea market in Warsaw.  Now.  To be honest, I do think the quirky animals are super fun.  But part of my love of them is that my family doesn’t like them.  They find them weird.  While this would deter most mortals, me… it only makes me want more. 

So.  Back in Eureka Springs.  The Hub is probably the biggest non-fan of my metal animals.  And one of the shops we went into had absolutely gorgeous artwork…. And a ton of metal animals.  Of which, I wanted all of them. I was even a bit dizzy trying to see all the metal marvels.  The Hub finally stopped looking at where I was pointing like a kid in a candy store and just said “no”. 

Because of his horrible attitude toward such awesome finds, I started a photo file on my phone entitled “Things Kevin won’t let me buy.”  Below are just a few items:

 Why yes, that is a dog and a pink pig with blue wings, thank you for asking.

And here.. we have an armadillo and some red, AR hogs.  Whooooaaaaa PIG SUEY!!!!

 

Then when I didn’t have my phone (of course), I saw the BEST. THING. EVER.  So I found a similar one online because greatness like this MUST be shared. 

This, my friends, is an 6 foot pink flamingo.  I would call him Pedro, and he would reside in my living room for all to see.  I might even put a light on him to display his pinky awesomness.  Yet, that is a dream that shall not come true this day my friends.  Because before I could even tell the Hub to come see, he threatened to get the duct tape.  He has NO taste in funky amazing metal fun.

 

Just wait.  Pedro will be mine one day... oh yes.  He will be mine.

 

HOW IT ALL BEGAN...

Last summer my friend Paula forced encouraged me to visit a flea market with her.  I had never thought much about them, but one metal parrot later, and I was hooked.  Now I love them more than a fat kid loves pie and can smell out a flea market three miles away.

At the time, I was looking for a piece of furniture for my bedroom, but I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for.  Since I love to look at antiques and I’m super cheap thrifty, flea markets seemed like a good idea.  I mean, who doesn’t love the smell of dust, depression and dying dreams? (or so I imagined).  Then I saw him.  Staring at me with his big metal eyes asking –no beckoning me to take him home with me.  And that, my friends is how this hobby was born.

This is Ricky. AND  I. LOVE. HIM

But I really didn’t have an answer when asked “So, what do you like to do”? People tend to look at you funny when you say “Me?  I fill up my garage, haul around junk, and spray paint things until my garage floor is sticky, my toes are purple and I leave purple prints in the bathtub.”
So I thought I would research some definitions for you:

Posh - Adv.
    •    Smart, elegant or fashionable; exclusive  
    •    Upper-class or genteel
    •    In a manner associated with the upper class
I like this definition.  Plus I secretly like Victoria Beckham.  Not because she was Posh Spice, but I kinda like her “I’m awesome, look at my awesomness because it’s so awesome” style.

Flea Market - 1917, especially in reference to the Fr. marche aux puces in Paris, so-called "because there are so many second-hand articles sold of all kinds that they are believed to gather fleas."

I don’t like that definition, and since I’ve never found a flea in the flea market, I’m gonna make up my own definition.  (It’s my blog, I can do what I want).

Flea Market - a magical place (not unlike Never, Never land or that planet in Avatar where the mountains were in the sky) where hidden treasures abound.  Where old things to  become reborn as new, useful, colorful, non-smelly cute things at a fair and reasonable price.

So.  That’s what I do.  That and write incomplete, run-on sentences with incorrect grammar on a blog.

**Incidentally, Dictionary.com is so helpful, that it gives you other words that are similar:

 Poshest is always a great word to know.  So is ninnyhammer: a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

I'm not sure, but I think Dictionary.com just insulted me. Or they have seen me after a marathon spray paint session.