Category: can I have it for nothing? shopping frenzy

Summer in New York City

Zipping along 5th Avenue in NYC

Yesterday was my last day on the job. The babysitting job that is. Gorgeous is a teacher and she’s finished for the year. To celebrate we took a ride into NYC to shop at Bergdorf-Goodman on 5th Avenue. Manhattan is always a treat. Something or other is happening at every turn so you just never know what kind of adventure you might have on a visit.

Gorgeous, with Mushy in her stroller, my sister and I enjoyed a lovely day. Window shopping, real shopping, browsing, people watching, eating, laughing, and being stuck in the usual traffic was all fun.

 Central Park

Rats near the Plaza Hotel

Watching tourists on a bus at 57th Street and 6th Avenue
while we had dinner outside

Do you know what they sell at Bergdorf’s? All kinds of high end designer duds. Name your shoe designer, they have it. You want Christian Louboutin? Got it. Manolo Blahnik? Yup. Dior, Chanel, any others? Yessirree. Can you say “butterrr”? Uh huh. Say it the NY way-Buttttaaaaa. Can you recall “Sex and the City”? Yeah.

This time only one of us bit. Last time we all bit and hard. But let me tell you, there’s nothing like putting on a shoe that feels like butter. This is going to be an annual thing, I can tell! It was too much fun to skip.
What a way to teach the little one about retail therapy, right? At least there were sales.

To top it all off, today is the third wedding anniversary of Son#1 and Gorgeous. May they have many years of wedded bliss ahead, with health, happiness and love.

My Pop always liked to sing us the appropriate Frank Sinatra song at various events so here’s his favorite at such times: The Best is Yet to Come.

The Long Weekend is Finally Over

Finally, the big, fat Greek festival is over and my job is done. Now I can breathe. Can you just pinch these little kids’ cheeks? These are my Greek dance students. They were so amazing, cute and worked really hard to pull off their year end performance of traditional Greek dancing. Look how proud they are. It is really hard to remember which foot is left and which is right!

The flea market was a success and all the people who worked with me and my co-chair really knocked themselves out trying to hawk our wares. Customers would ask us for a price and if they didn’t like it some would just walk away, others would look at me in disbelief (at .50!) and others didn’t mind a fun haggle.

If I had the idea they really wanted a thing, but would jump at a haggle I would say “Make me an offer and if I like your number I could say OK.” Then we would play a back and forth with numbers and when I’d say Yes! we’d all laugh and smile. Then I’d say “Wasn’t that a lot of fun?” Smiles all around!

Believe it or not, we have yearly customers. Some have purchased from us and we had fun in the sale, they return year after year like old friends. Then we have the crazy customers that return year after year. Those people want to take home bags of items for .10. Give me a break already. And they tell us their tales of woe. Hey, we all have a story, just pay the $1.00 and get going!

Late on Sunday we hold a bag sale. Whatever anyone can fit in the paper supermarket bag is $5.00. You’d be amazed at what people put in that bag and are thrilled to pay at the checkout. All manner of item is in that bag and it’s fun to watch the customers swarming with their bags.

I had my fun and now the weekend is over, thank goodness. Now I can get back to painting.

Photos for Friday

Day 1 of the big, fat Greek festival in the mad-house which is our flea market. People were lined up outside the door, waiting for first dibs on the treasures. Once allowed in they flooded the flea market space like the tsunami you watch on the news, rolling in slow and strong and knocks out everything in it’s path. The flea market is like that.

When it’s over all you’re left with is the devastation, the clean-up, and some breathing space to regroup. It’s going to be a long weekend.

The Long Weekend Begins, Again

Today begins the longest weekend in history, for me at least. A year has passed and it’s time once again for our church to host their big Greek festival. That means I will be spending my free time, that which it is, setting up the huge flea market. For that I am extending to all of you my apologies for possible spotty posts, posts of all the items both next to new, vintage, and junk, posts about the ensuing madness, posts devoid of art. Mea culpa.

Actually, the madness began yesterday. Every year we sell so much stuff parishioners donate and now there’s more stuff. Where does it all come from? Where do people keep it all? What constitutes a valuable item or garbage? One’s garbage is another one’s treasure as they say.

Amid the junk we have found beautiful and valuable items. It’s fun to see people light up with glee when they find a thing they love in all that heap. People have fought over the stuff, I’m not kidding.

We who work the flea market look at it like a task on Donald Trump’s TV show The Apprenctice. We have a task and we see how well we execute it, solve problems, manage the workers. Last year we managed to bring in big numbers and we are planning to do the same or, hopefully, surpass last year.

It’s a big job, but somebody has to do. Watch for updates from the junk heap right here.
(If I can I will post a photo of the gym-sized room of stuff later.)