Bad News, Good News and Changes

Sometimes, you come to a crossroads in your life. Some decisions are easy to make, others are not.

Dear blogger friends, I am sorry I have been amiss these days. I have a lot of exciting things happening in my life and those are going to take me away from Jazz for a while, if not indefinitely. I am definitely taking a road that I am very happy about, although for a while it means change and upheaval.

For starters- I am relocating! With this move comes a lot of packing and reorganizing, which leaves little time for blogging. Or for shop projects, for that matter.

As my new home will be several hours (even further than it is now) from our current Jazz shop, it will just not be convenient to commit to the level I want. So, I will be moving my merchandise out of the Centralia location sometime this summer.

The clubhouse. The former site of many good card games and potlucks at our annual summer family reunion. This year will be the first year in over 30  years that we have not had it at this location!

 me, summer of 2008

I am not sure what I am going to do. I have some leads on some vendor spaces in my new town. This is exciting, but I need to work on some other things first (like finding a job.) Also, the range of my hunting and pecking grounds will be shrinking immensely in my new location. I might eventually just open an Etsy shop instead. I am still trying to find my niche.

Tara and my dear family will keep the All That Jazz Vintage shop and blog open and full of beautiful treasures and ideas. I am sad to be leaving the partnership we created a year ago, but I am hoping we can meet up and do some flea markets together in the coming future!

I will continue to post on this blog from time to time and let you know when I open my new shop, site, or blog.

Change is hard, but it is time for me to focus on some other things. While bittersweet for now, one of my true passions is creating and I know in time I will be back, jazzier then ever!

my sister, summer of 2008

On another note, if you can send some well-wishes my sister's way, I'd love it. She has had a continual stroke of bad luck as of late and I know the power of some positive vibes and prayers out there will help!! Thanks bunches!

~xo/michelle~

The Old Blue Chair

Before we opened our Jazz booth last Spring, we had to seriously stock up on merchandise and this chair was one of the first things we bought. It was originally wood and my Aunt painted it turquoise. The poor little chair hung around a while. Possibly because a certain Aunt priced it a bit high because she loved it so and wasn't going to be devastated if it didn't sell.

It made the move with us when we went downstairs, got stashed on dressers, in nooks, featured front and center, went back home with my Aunt because she thought she might want to keep it. Then it went BACK to Jazz was finally sold to a good home a couple months ago. Or so I thought...

I was trolling the blogging airwaves, I do that from time to time, and to what do my wandering eyes should appear, the old blue chair. Someone bought it to put in their space at Monticello Marketplace in Portland. There is no mistaking it's the same chair although they shabbied up the paint job a bit.

Can you find the old blue chair?

So for now the old blue chair haunts the hall of Monticello, awaiting a real home.

Can you spot the old blue chair now?

If you have never been to Monticello Marketplace and live within driving distance, you should go, it's chalk full of the most fabulous stuff. They have a good variety of merchandise and best of all...
no tax!

I am also having a "Cottage Giveaway" on my blog if you would like to enter.
Click HERE to put your name in the hat!

Have a great weekend!

~Tara

Monday Eye Candy

Hello! I feel like I haven't been in here in ages but Blogger ate my last post when they were down and out last week!

Just in case you missed it, I had to add the photo of my new chair~

I thought I would share a few "Things that I am loving" these days!  (Photos will be credited when appropriate, some of these I do not know where I got them, they were just in my favorites file. Sorry.)

Here goes~

This dining room!

 {photo: unknown source}

Flowers and blue mason jars and crocheted doilies~ be still my heart.

 {photo: Pinterest}

McDonald's frozen strawberry lemonade will do in a pinch, but I am hoping to whip up the real deal this summer!

 {photo: Pinterest}



Pillow from vintage fabrics that my mom and cousin made. I decided I wanted one and was unloading merchandise into the shop one Saturday when a customer picked it up and bought it! She said "Happy Mother's Day to me" as she paid for it. So cute, I'm glad she loved it! Luckily there was another smaller one still available that I got for myself.


 I do not know what these purple flowers are that sprout up around my yard every spring. Are they weeds? They color is delightful!



Have a happy week everyone!

~michelle~



A Mother's Advice

I remember my mom telling me several years ago that when I bought flowers for my home, to buy carnations because they last.

You might remember this post on April 20th where I featured that interesting wire stand with the carnations in the Coke bottles?

I'd gotten those carnations a week before that at a local grocery store. They were 3.99 for a small bundle.

I put some in my bathroom.

 And the rest in a burlap-wrapped mason jar in my living room.

It has been nearly 17 days and the flowers are still fresh, smelling strong, and blooming. I am so happy I opted for these carnations. Until the farmer's markets open later this month, getting anything fancier is just too expensive for how long they last.

Thank you mom, for the great advice. Happy mother's day to you! xoxo

And to all the mothers out there. I hope your weekend is as fabulous as you are!!

~michelle~

A makeover and a BIG buy!

Hi y'all! Tara here again. You get the pleasure of my company today as Michelle has been busy, but will be back in a couple of days to post for you. I needed to show you my end table makeover I teased you with last week anyway. So this was the BEFORE...

and the AFTER

I had some serious painting difficulties with these. A weird glaze color and a lack of patience on my part created a bit more work for myself than intended but I like the end result. I realize the picture is not that great and the lighting wasn't the best, blame it on this dreary NW weather.

I know this painting technique isn't for everyone, as is the color. I think it may be a love it or leave it kind of thing. I hope I'm not hauling them home in a few months to repaint! I hope SOMEONE out there loves them enough to smack down some cash! I  think they have a fun beachy/summery vibe. They have yet to make it to the shop as I am waiting for someone to pick up a layaway purchase so I have the room for them.

This little vintage art deco table went in last week. It's a cute little piece. I know it's hard to tell but the color is a light aqua. Darn rotten lighting again.

And here is my BIG buy of the weekend. This dreamy, chippy old shelf. I went on the prowl at some local events and I knew I had a pretty good shot at finding a big display piece that would work with my budget. If you remember a few weeks ago I was bemoaning the fact that we were selling furniture left and right and I was wishing we had just ONE piece we didn't have to worry about losing, as we have a lot of smalls that need to be transferred each time a big piece sells. It's a bit of a hassle.

So, on the hunt I went and just as I had hoped, I found this piece at the exact place I was hoping to find something. It was a bit of a challenge because the place was packed and stuff was flying out of there left and right. I told the gal I wanted it so she would put a sold sticker on it before I had QUITE made up my mind. It was the most expensive thing I've bought for Jazz. It took me 20 minutes to make up my mind and go for it. I loved it and was pretty sure it was an excellent price.

It got moved into the Jazz booth on Saturday and we already had 2 people interested while we were setting it up. Call me crazy but I am not ready to let it go yet. Unless someone is willing to offer me a very very steep price!

So for now she sits, looking pretty and making our stuff look great, marked NFS. She can stick around for a bit and observe all our customers, the comings and goings!

The center vignette after we moved things around last weekend.

Hope you all have a super week, with some sunshine sprinkled in there SOMEWHERE!

~Tara