Our friend Kristin had moved to Peoria and we hadn't been to to see her new home .
Plus we were going celebrate Rhonda and Kristin's birthday's .
She had had a hard time with her builder and we were anxious to see how it came out.
Kristin KNOWS what she wants ( this is her 3rd build ) and no builder was going to tell her that was not how they did it in Peoria . Really , who was paying this bill ! Needless to say they won't be best friends ... EVER
Her home was beautiful , as we expected .
She has excellent taste .
Custom painted cabinets , hickory floors , granite counter tops .
What I love most is the mix of trendy , personal , vintage and art .
She loves antiques , pastels ,comfort.
So did we .
She ( and her husband ) spoiled us all weekend !
Kristin wanted to give us the Peoria tour.
First she took us to this great old Sunbeam bread factory that had been turned into a center for antique shops and artists.
It had a glass blower , jewelry makers , fiber artists and more.
L*O*V*E*D IT !
I love it when a city has the fore thought to save and repurpose old buildings like this .
Can you tell I was more interested in the antique shops than the art ....
We had lunch at a fun, quirky place down the street .
Then more shopping .
She took us to an antique store that she really liked , but all of his antiques ( or most of them anyway ) were stacked in an over flow building ...
Why ?
Because he had the whole store filled ( and I mean FILLED ) with Christmas trees !
He had taken many down ( it was, after all , mid January ) . But there we SO MANY LEFT . Even the ceilings were covered with garland and lights . Julie and Rhonda had to leave , they said all the lights made them sick ....
Of course , I had to snap a picture of his wine bottle tree !
I had never seen one that held more bottles than mine before !
IT*WAS*AWESOME !
Kristin had made dinner reservations for us at a local winery .
All I really wanted to do, was take a nap !
We got all fancied up and out we went .
I would love to see this place in the summertime !
The wine was good , the food was OK , and the music was AWESOME !
Even though we were celebrating Rhonda and Kristin , for some reason ( I am blessed ) I got a gift too ! Lucky me !
Kristin's husband travels frequently to Japan for work . She rarely goes with him, but last summer she decided to go with him .
Personally, I think she needed to get away from her contractor ... STAT !
Anyway.....
Lucky us !
We were given these adorable Kokeshi dolls .
I just love her . She makes me smile whenever I look at her .
I have long admired Kristin's collection of Kokeshi. Even though I had never heard of them until I saw hers :)
Sweet . Yes ?
Kokeshi are Japanese dolls hand crafted from wood. They don't have arms or legs and they are beautifully hand painted .
Kokeshi have been made since the early 19th century to sell to tourists visiting the hot springs in the northern region of Japan .
There is another story ( unsubstantiated ) that the Kokeshi were given to a wife by her husband when a female child died .
We all decided to go with the story that they are chotskies made for tourists .
We had a fabulous and much needed girl's weekend away .
I don't know what I would do without these chicas in my life .
P.S. Kristin made that beautiful quilt behind us !
Yes...
I am blessed .
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