The Project

I shot bolt up right in bed this morning and spouted my favorite expletive. My husband jumped and offered his sympathy for my newly acquired, extra-crispy, sunburned body parts. He mistakenly took my profanity as an indication that my "4th-of-July-can't-get-no-sunscreen" sunburn was paining me, when in reality, the matter was more like "anticipation-excitement-holy-crap-Stan's-visit-is-only-a-week-away" sort of realization punctuated with a mild stream of four-letter words.

If you've been reading my posts lately, you're aware that my friend, Stan Williams, and author of The Find, is coming to Austin to see friends and attend a book signing at my other friend, Jean Heath's store, Uptown Modern on July 14th beginning at 7 p.m. Since this whole deal was my idea, I get to host this affair, and I'm so appreciative to Stan and Jean for playing along.

So, as the "hostess-with-the-most-est", I began to prepare. At first I thought that I would just cook lots of great dessert-y type things and serve on paper plates, along with wine and punch in plastic cups. Stan, it seems to me, is not a man of pretense, but then I realized that this would be the perfect occasion to demonstrate the idea of a party produced with thrifted, vintage, mix-matched pieces. Taking a cue from the book and stylist Joe Maer, I decided to run with cobalt blue glassware and linen cocktail napkins, giving a sort of French ruff-hewn feel to this shindig.

I began by taking an accounting of the glassware, pottery, silver plate and linens I already had. From there, I became giddy with anticipation with the notion that I would need to supplement my existing collection with a few trips to my favorite thrift stores - and for a degenerate thrift-aholic like me, this was a dream come true - not just a shopping opportunity but a divinely sanctioned mandate. I could actually indulge my addiction without the bitter aftertaste of shame and guilt, which to be honest, I can't really even muster up much anymore.

My thought was that I would need containers for some lovely flowers that would accent the goody tables. I would also need some more glasses and flatware plus a few other serving pieces. Well, BINGO!, as they say, I hit the jackpot. I happened upon 15 cobalt, blue jelly jar type glasses, 2 huge turquoise mason jars (sans the lids,) 20 or so silver plated forks, a heavy apothecary jar and a great English Ironstone transfer ware platter, along with a great black and turquoise tole tray - all vintage, all thrifted and all for the grand total of twelve dollars and twenty cents!

I made my way home, the whole time my mind reeling with ideas on what and how to set up the tables with the goodies and drink. Thinking also that the only thing that could make this day any better was to return home with my haul and be greeted by the delivery of Stan's books and the event poster that his publicist, Courtney, had sent me. And again, this wonderful day kept getting better, because there on my stoop between the Geraniums and the Hydrangea was one slender, poster-shaped box leaning against two other "had-to-be-Stan's-books" boxes. It was like Christmas, only hotter and the fellow I was expecting weighed a lot less and his affinity for elves was not as pronounced!

So, I think in closing, I will warn you that the week's posts will probably be more like, "hey look what I found", instead of hey check out Stan's book The Find. Posts will be me thinking out loud, more like one woman's self-imposed quest to create a fun, beautiful, budget conscious event for her new found friend and kindred spirit, Stan.

7 days. Lots of vintage stuff. One woman with a nasty shopaholic issue. Vintage boutique owner by day, irreverent blogger by night. Too cheap for catering, too vain to use paper plates, and too excited for anything else!

Can I do it?

The "Holy-Crap-Stan's-Party-Is-Only-A-Week-Away" Project. Coming soon to a computer near you.