West Texas+Waxahachie=Wow!!

We are back and (somewhat) rested up from our very first show on the road in Waxahachie!! So many wonderful people made this trip and show possible. First of all, we could not have done this without all the help and encouragement from this incredible lady and head Cowgirl...Cindy Mayfield!

Photo courtesy of Beth Leintz

Cindy contacted us about teaming up for an event with her gals, The Paper Cowgirls, and we JUMPED at the chance! Cindy lined up fabulous teachers, and held classes at the Crafty Scrapper for 2 days leading up to our big show at the Chautauqua. Cindy was a treasure trove of information about the town, who the go-to people where and how to advertise. A big thanks to Miss Cindy for distributing our posters too. We could NOT have done this without your input and assistance!

We were also blown away by the support and encouragement from Anita Williamson, the Downtown Development Director. Anita went to work finding us food vendors and making lots of important contacts that were crucial to the success of the show. Also a big thank you to the Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce for sending out the email blast to all of their members.

We were so very lucky to find this beautiful and historical building to hold our show in at Waxahachie..the Chautauqua Auditorium! John Williams, Director of Parks and Recreation, was indispensable! The open air auditorium was built in 1902, and did present some unique challenges for our vendors, but we know the ambience was worth it! This is the same amazing venue where Will Rogers once performed.

The Historical Chautauqua Auditorium!

"Under the Big Top" was the theme for our first-ever roadshow, and the fun started at the door, with our fabulous "Mr. Magical Monkey" chandelier, as he greeted our shoppers. He presided over the ticket booth and set the stage for the magic inside!! It was so much fun to see the line of folks outside the ticket booth, anxious to get in shopping!!

Our Preview Party was a huge success and a ton of fun! Goodie bags and our custom POTP totes awaited the early-bird shoppers, along with yummy cupcakes from Busy Bee Bakery in Midlothian.

Jewel, aka Leopard Lady, positioned herself behind the reception table and has now found a new home in Georgia! As soon as she was posted on our Facebook page in a preview, we had a buyer contact us and snap her up!!

We were thrilled to have the lovely Lisa Love Harris not only as a vendor, but as an author signing her first book, First Monday Murder!! You can purchase her book on Amazon, also at Barnes and Noble and through her Facebook page...thanks for joining us Lisa!

Author Lisa Love Harris takes a moment to pose with Tracy Smith, of Rusted Gingham. Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith.

We also did something new this show, we held a Top Hat contest for our vendors and the Paper Cowgirls!! We were floored by the creativity! Special thanks to the gracious and talented Amy Boland for judging the entrees..it was such a hard decision!

The winners were, left to right, Jennifer Guzman, taking 3rd place, Susan Hahaj's creation taking 1st place and Malisa Hargrove's Bingo hat took 2nd place!

We had such an amazing time, and now to share a few photos from the show!




We truly have the BEST vendors in Texas!! Plans are already underway for next Spring in beautiful Waxahachie and we are "over the moon" with how the party turned out!!

Getting caught up?!

Whew! We have been busy since we got home from the Waxahachie show!! Stay tuned for a recap of the show, also tales from our adventures in Round Top!! In the meantime, mark those calendars for our big fall show, coming up on October 19th and 20th in Colorado City Texas!!

Waxahachie..Under the Big Top!!

Less Than Two Weeks!

Time is ticking slowly but consistently till the next Petticoats on the Prairie Road Show in Waxahachie, Texas. Are you prepared to come have some fun under the Big Top at Chautauqua Auditorium?

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NO, not that Petticoat!! You know the Petticoats with all the Rodeo Queens and their helpful husbands...

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Oops, wrong prairie. Although Michael Landon was definitely one hunky prairie husband.

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Quanah Parker! NO! Although he was a husband to many prairie Comanche wives, and they roamed the West Texas prairies. Let's try again.

Now we're getting somewhere. Don't you have somewhere to "get" on Saturday, March 17th? Wear some green, and come on out to The Petticoats on the Prairie Antiques Under the Big Top Show in Waxahachie!

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So don't be a Nellie and miss out on all the fun! See you in Waxahachie!

"Under the Big Top" Vintage Market in Waxahachie!

Time is flying by too fast!! Just a little over a month from now, we will be in beautiful Waxahachie for our very first Roadshow!! The idea had been floating around for awhile, but then one day I recieved a Facebook message from Cindy Mayfield of the Paper Cowgirls. She was wanting to team up with us for a creative event!! We knew right then it was meant to be, and we got busy planning all the details. A quick roadtrip was made up to Waxahachie.....

We made plans with Cindy to meet up at the Dove's Nest...a magical store and fabulous restaurant in downtown Waxahachie....

And over a yummy lunch, plans were made for "Cowgirls and Petticoats" A Creative Round-up and Shopping Extravagaza!

We could not have done this without the help of Cindy Mayfield, her enthusiasm and networking skills are unrivaled! She made us feel right at home and it felt like we had known her for years. She has an incredible 2 days of classes lined up on March 15th and 16th. Please check out her website for all the details and to sign up at www.papercowgirl.blogspot.com. Here is just one of the classes, taught by Dawn Edmondson!

Cindy hooked us up with Anita Williamson also, who is the Director of Downtown Development. Thanks so much Anita for making time for us and helping with marketing and advertising options for the show! Then it was time to check out our venue...the Historical Chautauqua Auditorium in Getzendaner Park. John Smith, Director of Parks and Recreation took us on a tour of the beautiful building.

We are so blessed to have made these connections with these people, and are so excited to be a part of this incredible event! We do hope you will mark your calendar and come on out to see all of us at the show. Thank you to Lara Blair for taking our new official Rodeo Queens portrait!

So..come one, come all to "Under the Big Top" A Premier Vintage Market, coming up March 17th in Waxahachie!!

What are the connecting fibers between women?

What are the connecting fibers between women?

In a study on friendships among women conducted a few years ago by UCLA, it was confirmed that the friendships between women are indeed special. Those friendships were described by Gale Berkowitz: “They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are.” The purpose of the study was to understand stress in women since decades of stress research was conducted on men. These researchers set out to better understand stress in women. And among their findings, was the discovery that women respond to stress with a release of oxytocin as part of the stress response that differs from men and “ it [oxytocin] buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect.” Furthermore women’s estrogen enhances the effects of the oxytocin. (and I contend that our artistic indulgences in color, fabrics, paint, glitter, and bling even further enhance oxytocin)

How many of us find peace and rejuvenation when we connect with our “sisters”?

In my teen years, I was truly blessed to have a sisterhood with a close group of girlfriends. We giggled during all-night slumber parties, drove the “drag” in our cars, went to the movies together, and all around excelled in school and extra-curricular activities. We dated and often double-dated, but our girlfriends were the closest bond that helped us get through adolescence.

Then in college, I was privileged to have dorm-mates and room-mates that continued to fill a sisterhood of similar-minded values and goals. We studied together, played dorm-pranks, planned weddings, and cried through the drama of young adulthood.

Later, as a young mother living in suburbia, I again found a sisterhood of other young women, most of us stay-at-home-moms. We had a baby-sitting co-op, a book club, and our own neighborhood garden club. We went to craft classes together, shared favorite recipes, compared growth charts, and worked together to develop a neighborhood playground. Slowly, we returned to school or the workplace as our children entered school and our sisterhoods took a new form.

In my fifties, I became divorced through no design of my own (which was emotionally processed through deep conversations with my closest women friends). Later I moved 2000 miles back to my home state and to Dallas. I called up one of my dearest of friends from the high school group; we reconnected immediately and over the next few months we organized a Great Girlfriend Get-Together--- where 15 of those high school friends held annual girlfriend weekends.

Then just this year, I organized a mini-reunion of my old dorm-mates; we had not been together since 43 years ago! Yet, as in the high school group, we fell into that immediate “sisterhood”. Over three days, we talked non-stop (including one night until 5 a.m.) just trying to cover the years. It could be compared to four planets in a common orbit for a small period of time, then they spun into their own individual orbits for 4 decades before coming back into a fleeting alignment. What is the fiber that connects us after so many years?

What is the fiber that connects my sisterhood of junkin’ friends, my sister Rodeo Queens, those great students with kindred spirits who participated in Lara Blair’s Photography Retreat , my friendships with our vendors and our friends that come to our shows? Yes, we share similar values, tastes, hobbies or talents. But I think it is more: we need each other. We have our tumultuous inner AND outer world soothed by the time we spend together.

My goal for this month is to reach out and connect with some more of those important women in my life --- where time and distance have put us into individual orbits—but for whom I need to thank for being part of the fibers that have woven into the fabric of my life. I will reach out to my professor/mentor from my university days who literally helped me find my life's career, my administrative assistant from years ago who just lost an adult daughter to a tragic case of domestic violence, and my dear friend from the stay-home-mom days who has suffered debilitating health issues over the past seven years. And I will cherish my 94 year old mother that I have the honor of sharing my home with. I will make a special point of telling my adult daughter (and the mother of one of my granddaughters) just how proud I am of the woman that she has become.

I will take long pauses to remember those influential girls and women of my life who have passed away and with whom I long to spend just one more day: my best-friend from high school who died in a car wreck, my laughter-filled friend of 25 years of adulthood who lost a long battle to breast cancer, my beloved professor who is living in the world of the "long-goodbye" Alzheimer's", my precious aunt who died at 101, and my grandmother-- the hardy pioneer woman whose house I have the privilege of living in today (see Mulberry Hill on Facebook).

Women who have contributed to shaping me into who I was, who I am and who I am going to be.

Who is it that could benefit from your contact?

Top Secret in Texas

Thanks to Rodeo Queen Cecilia Scott, we had the good fortune to meet and host photographer Lara Blair as our special guest back at the Spring Show in Ira. We are thrilled to welcome Lara back to Texas for an incredible Photography Retreat, entitled "Top Secret in Texas!" It's coming up January 26-28 2012 at the Windmill Ranch Preserve in Snyder, Texas. We invite you to check out Lara's blog for all the details! http://modernprairiegirl.com/?p=11145