Summit View Bazaar

This past weekend I drove up to Vancouver, WA with all my Ruby Willow stuff and participated in the Summit View Church Handmade for the Holidays bazaar.  I stayed with my good friend, Grace (who I totally stole this photo from) and her sweet family.  Let me tell you what to expect if you ever stay with Grace:

• A super comfortable guest bed.  I've now slept on this bed three times and every night I've slept like a rock.  
• Excellent food.  Grace and her husband, Q are both great cooks.  My tummy and taste buds were very happy in their house. 
• A comfortable, warm, welcoming atmosphere.  You guys, the love of Jesus invades this house.  You instantly feel at home, safe, loved...they are excellent hosts.
• Snack bags!  This year and last year Grace sent me off to the bazaar with a bag full of little snacks and treats.  It's no big deal to her but as the recipient, it makes you feel so loved and cared for.
• Home shopping!  Grace is an expert coupon-er and she keeps a modest stockpile of all the stuff she gets for free or extremely discounted.  And she insists on sharing it with anyone who enters her home. I came home with razors, face wash, pain reliever, and a host of other items. 
• Time with one of the smartest, cutest, funniest boys on earth.  Their son, C.J. is brilliant.  I'm a big fan.  And I love watching Grace and Q parent.  They are both so patient as they gently guide C.J. toward good decisions.  
• Soul food.  Grace is so fun to talk to.  We stayed up late the first night just talking and sharing.  The conversation moved effortlessly and was filled with both depth and laughter.  Grace has a great sense of humor. She's straightforward and honest and an excellent resource for bouncing ideas off of.

I could go on and on.  I love spending time with Grace and her family.  

Since I'm on a bullet point kick here are some highlights from my day at the bazaar:

• Parsley Forest.  My friend, Melissa, is the amazing artist behind this shop.  I'm pretty much in love with everything Melissa makes.  She is a creator of beauty.  I got to have the booth right next to hers and it was such a blessing!  Not only did we get to catch up but being near friends allowed me to get food, use the restroom, and have a chance to look around at the other bazaar booths.  Jed and Melissa also shared their credit card taking technology with me so I didn't have to turn away a few sales.  (Do I have generous friends, or what?)  Also, Melissa's children spent part of the day at the bazaar and her youngest son kept calling us "bizarre neighbors" which filled me with endless delight.  He also gave me about 5 spontaneous hugs which pretty much sealed my extreme affection for him.
• Krista W.  Another friend of mine from college was in the booth right behind mine.  Krista makes adorable baby boots, flower hair clips, jewelry, beanie baby sized sleeping bags, and is just all around crafty.  Plus she has an amazing sugar free food blog.  Krista also watched my booth for me and she shared some incredible butternut squash soup with me for lunch.  It was so good to catch up with her. She's planning on opening an etsy shop soon so I'll be sure to link to to it when the time comes.  
• More friends!  I got to see another good friend, Steph, who looked beautiful and glowing in her 5th pregnancy.  Charity, with her beautiful new baby, Zoe.  And Anna, one of the girls in my small group from SPU, surprised me by driving down from the Seattle area.  It was so great to see her again and totally made my day!
• My Beautiful Mess.  My booth was directly across from Heidi's booth.  I had kind of met her last year at this bazaar but as I looked at her stuff from across the aisle all day I fell more and more in love with her hand painted wooden signs and her quirky welcome mats.  What a sweet treat it was to find out that she was interested in a couple of my things and so we traded!  I'll take a picture of what I picked out once I decide where they'll end up in my house.  
• Bartering.  Heidi wasn't the only vendor I was able to trade with.  Melissa and I made a couple trades and she and her bags ended up modeling some of my stuff, which resulted in more sales for me.  Plus, I met a super sweet lady from Costa Rica who was selling homemade tamales (delicious!) and chocolate sauce to raise money for a missions trip.  We traded a jar of chocolate sauce for a pair of earrings.  Even though I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal, her husband found my booth later and said, "Thank you for trading with my wife.  You made her really happy."  That made me really happy.  Bartering is really happy.
• Ikea.  I totally stopped there on my way home :)  What?  I had a little money to spend!

I'm planning on working at two more bazaars in December so I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, I've got a bunch of new necklaces, scarves, bloom brooches, rings, and earrings to photograph and list in my shop.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my husband and children, who were gracious with me as I prepped for this weekend.  Super, huge, thank you to my BFF Becky, who came over three days in a row and helped with bazaar prep and my children's Halloween costumes (which I still need to show pictures of, yikes!), I couldn't have done it without you.  <3

And now...sleep.   Precious sleep.  And laundry.