So our first (and last) blog post was way back in September when we had received all those boxes. My goodness that was so overwhelming, we are still feeling residual panic. When we moved out in January, we actually found a couple boxes we had misplaced and some that had never been opened. Great. Well, it'll be new to you this year. Ha. Speaking of this year, we have some plans in place, but more on that later. Let's discuss what has happened between September and the Present.
Our first holiday of the 2012 Fall/Winter Season... Halloween. We filled the store windows with vampires, owls, skulls, and spiders. Each year, we try to have a bit that is more kid friendly. Sticking with cute pumpkins and owls and staying away from anything too creepy. But we celebrate with some creepy too (because we must!).
Halloween is really the start to an awesome party season. We really like to have a main focus in anything we do, Halloween is no different. The vampires and Dr. Dementia by Katherine's Collection are two ideas we focused on for 2012. The Doctor is a bit of a mad scientist complete with skull lined lab coat and I.V. tubes. Though he's been on the retired list for some time, we love to keep him around. We think he is the perfect centerpiece to a crazy, creepy cocktail party. The Doc is an expert at mixing toxins, why not deliciously, devilish drinks? Add in some wicked wine glasses from Top Shelf or Grasslands Road, and you've got yourself a a party your guests will be talking about.
For something more sinister we love Vampiro and Vampira Vosner as the focus of our costume party. Reds and blacks, spiders and flames... webs and lace. Sinister? Yes. But fabulous too!
Then we switched gears ever so slightly into Fall/Thanksgiving. Everything we choose feels warm and friendly with scents of pumpkin and deep spices filling the air around the imagery of harvested pumpkins and fallen leaves. We know when family comes to town, you want them to feel the joy of the holiday from the moment they step onto your porch to the moment they sit down for dinner. We were obsessed with these large hammered metal pumpkins. They made such a strong statement, giving a real kick to your Fall decor.
And then there's Christmas. If you've been in our store, you know we love Christmas. With a love of Christmas, we have a love of exploration. For this past season, we had 30+ themes. You get four of those in the image above (Russian Nutcracker, Nutcracker Sweets, The Grinch, & Scrooge). Throughout the rest of the store we had themes like, Winter Snow Storm, Western, Religious, Fairy Garden, Black & Silver Bling, Woodland, Old Traditional and New, Caribbean, Collegiate, etc.
And then the New Year came and it was time for us to pack and go. With much help and many many trips with trailers, we moved into our warehouse space... took about 3 weeks. Lots to bubble, and lots of trash to throw away. We really accumulated some stuff over our years at Vista Ridge.
Really... we owe a big thanks to those who help pack and haul. And haul. And lift. And haul. And load. And unload.
And then it was done. Wall paper down. Most of the glitter swept from the floor. And the next few days in bed.
Stay Tuned... we are getting ready to start all over again!
