Done Deal.

Last week when I looked ahead to this weekend's weather and saw sunny and 50 degrees for Saturday, I struck a deal with Louis. I would join him for a bike ride on Saturday, if he'd join me at two recently-discovered occasional markets slightly south of the cities. Louis agreed, and a deal was struck!

Saturday morning proved to be a near-perfect spring day. Don't mind all of that snow still on the ground (where are we now? day 127, 128 of snow cover? but who's counting?).

The falls are falling!

And to the markets we went on this grey/drizzly/foggy Sunday. First stop was Haupt Antiek Market in Apple Valley. I was most in love with all of the spring colors. Turns out, after this long winter, I need more pastel in my life. I was drawn to it like a kid to candy (or me to candy, for that matter).

Louis was the first to make a find (I've trained him well)!

Another paint-chipped, dirty old screen. Yeah! As you can see from it's line-up to the green one, Louis' eye for the actual size of our lights was much better than mine. Now we'll just need to acquire some anchor hooks to attach it to the ceiling and some chain/ribbon/rope...whatever. Oh, and something fun to cover the actual screen part.

Yes, this might be one of the ugliest photos taken, but here's the fluorescent light. At least it's built in to the ceiling unlike most other lights of this type.

After another shopping win, we made our way about 5 miles south (okay, I don't really know which direction we were going. i was only driving.) to A Cat and the Fiddle in Rosemount!

Yet again I was entranced by all things pastel. We had our eyes on a few prizes and even a few gift ideas in mind, so I can't yet show two of the things we bought. But when I set my eyes on this pedestal plate I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I've seen a blogger with a plate like this and admired it's versatility to adapt to each season just by swapping out the ribbon. For $19, I had to bring it home.

The blue polka-dot ribbon almost looks like Easter eggs. This will be the perfect pedestal for cookies.

By this point, I clearly had given myself permission for once to snatch up some of the smaller items that won't add to the function of our house, but add some fun.

It's true that I don't really like birds, yet I find myself constantly drawn to decorating with them. These birds on a wire were too cute! I didn't like the candle color in the store and knew I'd switch them out for a more subtle spring color, but now that it blends perfectly in our placement/table runner flower color, there's no need.

I like this early spring table layout. And bonus: it forced me to clean the table to take this photo. The place mats were a wedding present sent from our friend Katie who is currently living in Korea!

All in all, it was a successful trip. And it's a good thing the markets only come around once a month. Our bank account needs a rest for a while.

P.S. Louis pointed out while on our bike ride yesterday that it was our 9-month wedding anniversary! When we got back home we headed to the backyard to check on the wedding tree. (Technically the tree has been in the ground for 6 months due to procrastination/finding it a permanent home.)

See it?

No?

How about now?



Nope, no visible tree yet, but we can see the "cookie" rock on top of the styrofoam hut the little guy has been living under all winter. I thought about digging it out. Then realized how dumb shoveling my back yard sounded. Plus there's a 70% chance of snow on Wednesday (never mind today is the first day of spring). It doesn't seem right to open his warm cocoon until winter decides to pack it's bags for good.