Just warning you, this is a lengthy one. Perfect days call for long 2-day documentation. (See tomorrow’s post for second half of the day)

Woke up bright and early on a Saturday, which is pretty rare. I must have been excited about what we had planned for the day. Promptly at 10:00 I woke the boy up to get ready to go to our neighborhood’s 42th annual home and garden tour /”Antique Fair” being held in our neighborhood square. Several booths were calling my name and I was anxious to get out there before everyone else, hoping to find a treasure. It was steamy hot, even at 10am in the morning, but the boy and I parked the car and started to peruse the square. Lots of great booths, lots of great items, but unfortunately everything was over priced. (why didn’t I buy one of those plastic mouse figures above…I’m hating myself for passing one of those up) I’ve learned to not be disappointed if I don’t find something worth while, so we got back in the car and drove to the farmers market in the next neighborhood over.   TO BE CONTINUED…..(tomorrow)

Wanted to get my readers opinion. First, what kind of blog post do you like to read on a Sunday? Do you like my Sunday Portrait series, or would you rather see something different. Let me know…

1^ There is really nothing better than a 4 day week and getting to leave 1.5 hours early from work on Friday afternoon. Perfect.
2^ I was determined to start some sort of workout routine this week. On thursday I went to a yoga class over lunch and the gym at night. Saturday was Power90. I think that’s a good start.
3^ I’m in photo editing mode for market203. It’s kinda like robot mode and kinda like zombie mode.
4^ I’ve been doing a lot o reflecting on what I’ve accomplished in my 24th year. I’ll share later. It’s a pretty useful tool to put things in perspective.
5^ Started watching Shameless, a TV series on Showtime. We’re addicted and almost done with all the episodes in on weekend. True dedication or couch potato?

Hope everyone had a great week. Anyone looking forward to this coming week for some particular reason??

Oh golly am I excited to share with you the most recent gift from my parents, a mint green typewriter. Typewriters seem to be one of those items in an antique/thrift store that stop me in my tracks. Its impossibly hard to obey the “DO NOT TOUCH” signs posted on the historic beauties and have always wanted one to call my own. There have been many opportunities to buy one, but knowing that they are somewhat large, take up lots of shelf space, and are uber heavy…I needed to find one that fit perfectly within my decor. Over the years I haven’t been able to locate the perfect one at a perfect price.

Leave it to my dad to scope one out quickly. I got a text message one afternoon saying I bought this for you and there he was, the mint green beauty. It would be a perfect addition to my vintage collection of goodies. The only downside was that my dad had it with him back in Indiana, and I was in St.Louis. I waited and wait, and then this past holiday weekend we were united! If they weren’t so big, bulky and heavy, I’d own a gazillion of them.

This weekend is going to be spent at home, getting at-home things done. Last weekend was a really productive weekend for makerket203, but not the domestic diva type stuff.

With most of my product bought for the initial launch at the end of June, I am now on the hunt for those little extras (props) that will make my photos unique to my shop and add a little personality to my items. I have a lot of personal items laying around the loft that will most likely make an appearance in the shop, but I’ve been collecting some imagery as a resource for me to reference. I bring all my image references with me the thrift/antique malls, so I now what to grab if I come across something and how much is a fair price to pay. Here’s my Etsy prop reference list. Doncha just love old crap!

Any photographing product secrets I should know about before I get started. Let me know!

This past Saturday, the boy and I went to a small town across the “big river” to experience their town-wide garage sale event. I was ecstatic to check out what was there because garage sales have the potential to be jackpots for the kinds of product in my shop (market203). I’m still in the phase of stocking my store for the launch and gathering items from a small farming town sounded like a winner idea.

Off we went. We drove through East St. Louis to get there (thanks GPS for risking our lives) and once we were there I had high hopes. There were over 100 homes that were participating and you would think with that amount of garage sales you’d find something. Nope. Most homes were filled with discarded piles of baby clothes or stuff that wasn’t even fit for Goodwill.

Oh well… I’m learning to live with the fact that this adventure of collecting items for my shop is going to be challenging. The hunt is just that…a hunt. You’ll have very successful days and others not so successful. I’m just glad the rain stayed away and the boy and I were able to enjoy our weekend out and about.

I was doing my daily browse run through Pinterest and came across this springtime beverage that was screaming my name. It contains two of my favorite things, ginger ale and strawberries.

When I first saw the image I was like, YESSSS, I’m making those! It’s sooo incredible simple and the combination was something I didn’t expect. Perfect for a toasty day.

*thanks Town Above Water for the inspirational blog post and original photo by Tina Crespo.

On friday, my team at work took the entire afternoon off to celebrate then end of a really long project. We got approval from the big boys and were given a large sum of money to spend on the afternoon. We had reservations at The Boat House and money burning a hole in our pockets, so off we went.

The restaurant is in one of St. Louis’ most popular parks, Forest Park. This park is so big it has it’s own zip code and is situated smack dab in the center of the city. There are little  streams running through the park that open up into larger ponds. On one of these ponds is The Boat House and it’s fleet of paddle boats. Not to mention the really good food. Marine products, particularly marine electronics are the specialized items which cannot be found easily. To buy these specialized items, one needs to look for reputable supplier. While hunting for the boat supplies, you need a professional supplier who has been associated with this business from quite a long time and holds good knowledge about each and every marine product that you may require. You can navigate to this web-site for one stop source for top quality marine supplies. Look for a reputable supplier who provides an extensive variety of marine electronics, equipment, marine stainless fasteners, and accessories to give you a better chance to choose from various option For instance, if you are searching for boat seats, then they should be able to provide you good variety of options for all types of boat seats such as leaning posts, helm seats, captain’s chair etc. Besides the wide product range, they should be able to provide you good customer assistance and services. The supplier should offer you with excellent after sale services because most of the time you may not have a good knowledge and expertise about the products and equipments that you choose for the boat. Moreover, they should guide you well about the functioning and maintenance of the marine products that you choose. Excellent customer support and services must ensure that the supplier not only help you while shopping, but also help you in explaining the proper functioning and maintenance of the product in future. Another significant factor to consider is that the supplier must have a fairly good information and experience in this specific field. This is important to seize a good grip about the marine products and equipments that he / she sell. A good knowledge about the products will help them to comprehend the basic functions and other important aspects of the equipments in a better way. This would help you to buy a well-matched product for your boat that presents optimum utility along with the affordable price. It is better to browse through the internet to look for those marine products that can best suit you needs. Folding boat seats are available in both hard mount and good looking designs. High back seats can also be folded when not in use to improve its visibility. Other boat seats are designed to be lean, but yet have some body support to balance. Some fishing boat seats are constructed with cushion like plastic material encoded in it. These seats can be positioned any where or any place in the boats. Folding chairs are also very common and popular in the same way like Folding Seats. They can also be adjusted and moved in any direction and placed in any direction in the boats. These Folding chairs are popular for exterior deck areas. A common folding chair known as High Back Fold Down chair, is used commonly in boats which is very useful for traveling. Folding boat seats are of many types and are discussed as follows. Wise Low-back Economy chair, Wise folding chair, Wise High-back Economy, Wise Premium High-back Folding, Action Fold-Down Padded seat and so on. Seat covers are also available along with Boat seats. They look very pleasant and very attractive too. Wise premium folding chair feature of the art, high impact metal fabrication frames, the same quality is needed by the manufacturers. High back provides extra back and shoulder support for all day fishing. For a good comfort position some plastic like seal is mounted on it that protects it from dust. Economy folding seats are available with different attractable colors and designs. Usually grey and white colors are available. The Deluxe Folding boat seat is built around a strong high impact material. These seats are fully filled with cushion like components which will be very useful for the travelers and tress passers. High back plastic frame folding seat features high impact plastic frames and marine grade. Maximum 5 years and Minimum 1 year warranty is given. Wise high back boat seats feature high impact plastic frames and mildew resistant. Premium folding seats are high quality, marine seats, captain chairs and so on. Molded plastic frames and premium grade marine over extra thick cushions. Door delivery of those seats are also available. Marine enthusiasts can be most effective if they have a complete set of all their marine supplies, boating needs and other important needed equipments. Everything you need for boating, repair and maintenance can be easy to handle if you know where to find all types of products and boating services. People, who engaged themselves in boating experience and sports, are expert in finding what they really wanted in certain water equipment. But not all can be expert in such things. There are neophyte marine enthusiasts who, basically in all probability, do not have that knowledge in looking for the best service and products. Since they are neophyte, they are still striving for information regarding the best marine supplies they can find in the nearest store located in their place. Since every one else in town or putting it in a global sphere is already tightening their belts and doing every thing just to save every single money they can get every time they do a purchase, you might as well know how to save great amount when you already decided to buy. Bear in mind your budget. Allot a specific amount for it. Be strict to follow your budget so as not to experience debt the first time you wanted to have it, leaving you to scramble for how to make 100 dollars fast for another part later. One of the best ways of acquiring your boating needs is through surfing the internet. The worldwide web is one of the most powerful tools nowadays in providing and letting consumers make a purchase of specific material which they needed, whenever time they badly wanted to have it. Given the set up at the present time where every thing else is modern, every one else is always on the go and busy. It eventually leads to conclusions that people do have less time in going store to store shopping for the various necessary things they wanted the most. Definitely, shopping online saves time, effort and making you buy and pay for the marine supplies you really want to have. There is a vast list of online shops for you to visit to, after that you can decide on which store can give you products and services at a very reasonable price. In this way, you can be sure that the amount you are paying for is equivalent to its value. The best way to evaluate the website, which you are planning to acquire specific materials, is through reading the customer reviews and product description. Through this, you have a cool way of comparing things, making you decide on what is better, what will give you long lasting materials and better results from the moment you involve yourself in water sport or any other boating experience.

Over the course of 4 hours, we ordered a ton of appetizers, a ton of drinks, entire meals, a round of root beer floats, some more drinks and we still hadn’t reached our allotted money quota!!! Let’s just say it was a much needed, well deserved outing and I hope to experience more of these.

Things I’ve realized on this outing:
– the white skin of mid westerners can get pretty fried in a short amount of time.
– I wasn’t the only one that remembered the entire lyrics of the Thong Song by Sisqo and Pony by Ginuwine. (sad sad story)
– agroup of adults can laugh at fat kids on YouTube and not feel like horrible people
– root beer floats in St. Louis might be among the best of the best
– bees are frightening
– 4 hours of sitting around and doing nothing can be extremely tiring
– we are having a pony come into our office next Friday during our Kentucky Derby party, but unfortunately the dwarf mini horse named Thumbelina will not be joining us…she has other plans.

One of my favorite things to do is to find an old item and completely transform it into something useful for my home. While out and about collecting inventory for market203 I stumbled across this aluminum round container with a lid and thought it would make the perfect home for my succulents. If you have read THIS post you know I can’t keep plants alive, so lets hope the succulents love the new planter enough to stay with us.

What you’ll need: All I did was buy 5 small succulent plants ($3-$5 each) at varying heights and some cactus soil mix because succulents tend to grow better in this soil mixture. I had a few stones laying around that I would use as drainage and a vintage/old metal container. These tins come in a bunch of different shapes, sizes and colors, so have some fun with it. I chose to only have one container because of limited space, but I could see a few containers being clustered together for a more dramatic effect.

How to assemble: Start by placing a few of the flatter stones at the bottom of the container. This will act as a drainage method so you don’t have to drill holes in the bottom of your pretty container. Next, add a layer of the cactus soil mixture. Then take all the little plants out of their store containers and loosen the roots a bit. Group the plants in the planter in a way you desire and then add another layer of soil on top to hold everything in place. ( I choose the tallest plants to be in the middle) If you have a few extra smaller stones you can scatter these on top to add a little “something something”. Wahla. You have a unique, one of a kind planter.

*succulents don’t need a ton of water and prefer to be completely dry between waterings.

Today was the first Saturday thrift/antique mall run where I felt like I could start making product purchases for market203. Up until now I had been doing my research and collecting resource imagery of the items I wish to find. I took that list with me with prices written on them, prices I’d be willing to pay and the price I’d be selling it for. This image resource was extremely useful and make me feel like I was purchasing things smart and I walked out feeling like the trip was a success.

I’ll always remember this day. The day that market203 stock started to pile up in my loft, room 203.

I love old things, items from other decades, items with a deep history and great story. Items that could be refinished or repurposed into something perfect and reused into something functional. I have a great passion for tracking down previously loved items and turning them into something I could use in my home or in my wardrobe, specifically items I can use for organizational purposes. I love spending my weekends perusing the antique malls, local thrifts and garage sales, hunting down the item that is dying to be brought back to life. The thrill of the hunt is addicting and I’m in love.

So what does this mean? It means that I am finally able to share with you the news I’ve been keeping under wraps for months. I’ve been researching, designing and dreaming up big things, things that I am now able to make a reality. I’m now able to execute a well thought out plan and hopefully inspire a few along the way.

I’m opening up an online shop to share with you the items I find on my weekend trips. market203 will be launching in June, 2011!! I’ll be selling containers, anything that holds something else. Anything that could be reused, refinished or repurposed into something that could make you a better organized person. Old soda crates to hold your tennis shoes, glass mason jars to hold your art supplies, letterpress trays to hold little knick knacks, or even a super groovy thermos to hold you morning tea. Let’s get organized people and let’s be GREEN about it.

I’ll be using my blog as the face to the brand. The blog is where I will share with you fun DIY projects on how to turn “junk” into a useful and unique item for your home or studio. I also thought it would be fun to share with you the process on how I started market203 and all the steps I’ve been taking to make this dream a reality. Everything from how I chose a name, to how I source items, to setting up the actual online shop. Leading up to the launch in June I will be sharing with you all the little branded items I’ve been designing. My goal is to inspire others to take a leap of faith, because it never hurts to give it a try.

So if you are into previously-loved items, weekend thrift trips, home goods, DIY projects,  I would love to invite you to join me on this adventure. It’s going to be one of the best things I’ve done creatively and  having you guys along for the ride makes things that much better.