Jorjah-Invite {Guest Blogger, Karen}

Georgia has been so kind to ask me to write a guest post here on her blog. I lurk around on her blog and have seen that she has quite a readership. I hope that my guest post won't disappoint and that I can become friends with some of her readers as well.   So, why did Georgia ask me to be a guest blogger here? Well, I'm still trying to figure that out. Ha! No, she felt the kindred spirit with me that I feel with her and felt that I might be able to churn out a bit of something interesting for you all. It is an honor!   I wear many hats in life. I have a 9 - 5 job as a Program Director at a Tourism Council. I have an online vintage store. I sit on several committees and am thinking about teaching yoga classes. I am in the process of buying a 100-year-old Craftsman bungalow. I am a cat-Mother. I have aspiration upon aspiration of things I want to do. As you can tell, 'spread thin' is a term I could employ!   So then, I've determined that this year I'm going to take a bit of time out to really take care of me. R&R as some would call it.  I go-go-go and never sit to think that I might be burning both ends of my proverbial candle. However, the recent sinus and respitory funk that I've acquired tells me that I might actually be burned out.   So, what does one in my position, with my interests and backgroud do for much-needed R&R?  A long hot bath, you say. Nope. A vacation, you suggest. No again. Meditation. My monkey-mind won't allow it. So, what then?   Hardcore thrifting.   Yes, folks, hardcore thrift store shopping is R&R defined to me. Yes, you have to dig and rummage and be exposed to some dust and even more body odor but the rewards are amazing. One man's trash is definitely this woman's treasure.   I got started thrifting back when I started college at Ole Miss. I met a guy there, of all things, who loved to thrift and his Mother loved it even more than he did. I credit his lovely Cajun Mother for teaching me how to properly thrift and although the guy has moved along his way (long ago, thank goodness), my love of thrifting has remained and I am quite good at it, if I might say myself.   What all have I found over the years?  Wow... Let's see: A 1960's Marimekko shift dress A Pucci scarf A gorgeous paint-splattered oil painting that now hangs above my couch An Eames-style child's chair that my cat now uses A Dutch armoire that I painted and turned into a  computer desk A mirrored bed-foot bench that is total Elvis (nod to the King) with its chartreuse damask cushioning ... This list could get long.   I've bought even MORE things that I've turned around and sold. I won't get into profit margins but I will say that my vintage business is my investment strategy. Other people are out buying stock in GE and AT&T and I'm buying "stock" in the gorgeous vintage white eyelet dress that I found on the floor at the Salvation Army for fifty-cents. That's a ticker symbol I can understand.   I buy vintage both for myself and to resell. The vintage I buy for myself, oddly enough, has no rhyme or reason to it; there is no uniform pattern to what I'm drawn to and what I'll buy. My house is a wonderful, eclectic, mish-mash of things that only go together because I love them and have determined that they WILL go together, whether ElleDecor would approve or not. And go together they do, for some odd reason. I've had many requests for decor advice and was even once told that my house looked like a museum. I think that was a compliment. (Or, maybe not.  I'm not sure.) Living somewhere that was devoid of my favorite things would be a real drag, methinks, so I endeavor not to do that.    This all really has little to do with what I'm leading up to and using far too many words to introduce. I'm going to do a little giveaway here on Georgia's happy blog!  Hooray for giveaways!    Here's how it will work. Go to my Etsy vintage store and leave a comment here on this post telling what your favorite item in my store is. That's all! If you leave a comment with this info, you will be entered to win the giveaway. We'll leave it open for one week and the choose a winner with a random number selector online.    Easy-peasy.   OH! I almost forgot to tell what you will win! That is the best part, no? If selected, you will win a lot of fifty vintage photos, like the lot shown here: The photos you receive will be selected from amongst my unlisted vintage photo inventory. How's that?    And... if you see something you like in my store, you can have 25% off just by mentioning that you are a Jorjah-B reader. This deal will be good for the duration of the blog giveaway.    Don't miss out!   Here is my Etsy store link, just to make it super-easy for you.   Remember... you MUST leave a comment here telling what your favorite item in the store is.    When will I commence my R&R hardcore thrift shopping? I don't know. I did some of it last weekend with my sister in Nashville, Tennessee. Lots of treasures up that way! I suppose my special form of R&R is a bit of an ongoing thing.  It started way back when and continues on now whenever I get the chance to go. It is good for my soul and makes me feel just a bit like I'm helping the environment. I like giving life to things that are already on this planet as opposed to using things that have to be produced in non-eco-friendly ways.   So, that is that, folks. Let me know what wonderful treasures you've come across and maybe we will meet someday, in a thrift store, some place. I'll be the one head-down in a dig bin.    Cheers!