AM~Erica Introduces a New Found Happy Place

So anyway...

Things have been so insane with end of the school year events...I haven't been able to concentrate on blog posts! Whew! It's really been insane around here.

However, hubby & I have discovered a new place in the meantime. I have decided it's our new happy place. You cannot go there without being truly enchanted!

A couple of weeks ago, my hubby found a wine shop in our area. We didn't know where it was exactly & went searching for it, since he found out the shop got a shipment of a wine we were looking for. Now, I had seen this store online, but didn't think much of it. Shame on me...I know. But we took one of our date-Fridays to search out this wine place.

The store is located in a historic-looking, yet rundown, part of town. I'd heard of this area, but had no idea where it was hidden. It looked like they were doing work on the buildings & trying to revive the area. We have truly been on a nostalgic kick in the last few months, and this place had a sort of muffled magic to it.  We found the wine shop. It appeared to be a hole-in-the-wall type place, but wanted to get our wine while getting a bottle for a gift, too. And we entered...

This shop wasn't big, but was really adorable. We started chatting with the owner, and she wasn't a snooty wine snob at all! She was super willing to help, gave us tips...and even introduced us to a couple of wines with an impromptu wine tasting! She told us about her shop a bit, her fun cork wall art, and then about the area. She also told us about another shop that caught my attention for sure! She said one of her friends does steampunk art! STEAMPUNK ART, people!! That is one of the coolest things EVER!!! He also has a floral shop, too...and a garden of sorts that sounded amazing. We got our bottles, happy we made a new aquaintence, and went on the hunt for this other place. We found a small brick outing of the strip shopping center that had black awnings. It looked like another hole-in-the-wall joint, but wanted to check it out...

People...I cannot express the magic we came across. There was a gift shop up front if you enter to the right. The steampunk art "gallery" is if you enter to the left. On the gift shop side, if you continue to the back, you will come across the counter that reads, "There are no customers...just FRIENDS." Behind that counter is the floral arrangement center that you can see thru an opening. There is a room off to the left of the floral area that houses wedding portraits. If you walk passed that room & head passed the counter...you will enter a garden courtyard that is so amazing. Folks, if I didn't point out that it's back there...you would never know.

A tiny cottage, a small greenhouse, a mini waterfall, a koi pond, things growing & blooming everywhere, a hidden garden, an outdoor movie theater...a place where weddings & beautiful events can take place. Oh...and a fabulous chandelier lit & hanging from a light-wrapped tree. Pure. Magic. There's also a couple of fountains, as well as other works in progress.

The lighted tree chandelier & the waterfall...gorgeous! And magical!

Fairy garden is a work in progress...oh...and there's gnomes

Treasures of all sorts from every which direction! And we were enjoying the steampunk portion when we asked the owner, being he had a floral area, about getting hold of a tiger lily. I don't see them very often, and had really been wanting to get some for my grandmother. When I was a kid, I remembered those being her favorite flowers. Not sure why I remember that...but I do. Then the owner said, "Like the traditional orange ones? Sure! How many do you want? I can get you as many as you'd like." WOW! We were stoked! But my hubby picked up on the wording & said that they would probably need to be ordered. Which was fine...I was really excited to know we could finally get a hold of any! He did ask if we wanted ones cut or if we wanted it in a pot to be a house plant. Being my grandmother can't get outside & I would love for her to enjoy them for quite some time...I opted for one in a planter.

And...as he offered for us to look around some more while getting in our order, we came across an amazing choker! And...it was WAY more affordable than I'd even ever imagined! So...my hubby got it for me!

Amazing Steampunk choker...*swoon*

We checked out the beautiful cottage garden...that just seemed to delightfully keep going...and when we were done...we went to pay for the fabulous choker...and the potted tiger lily waiting for us to come for it at the counter! While we were being so enchanted...the owner went & dug up a tiger lily plant from the garden! I cried. It was so beautiful & emotional. I found out later that the tiger lily was his mother's. And I cried some more...

It was a beautiful, enchanting, satisfying & energizing morning that day. It was a day we made new friends, found some delightful finds, and came across our new happy place that we look forward to visiting more often.

And trust me...we had plans for Teen Girl...

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

What's Goin on with AM~Erica?

So, anyway...

I have a few things to put into this post. So, just bear with me.

Let me jump back a few nights ago to our church's annual auction (formerly MUMC Youth Auction, now Missions Auction which still helps the youth PLUS missions). This is an insane, fancy event! My hubby & I went to our first one last year, and we couldn't believe the amount of $$$ being put out there for items. There was a silent auction for a TON of stuff, then there's a oral auction with an auctioneer - a REAL one! We were so out of our league last year, we mostly went for the food & hoped we could participate in the silent auction. We did win a pair of tickets to see High School Musical at the Muny for my daughter's b-day...that was it. We spent the rest of the time eating and smiling & nodding (plus we enjoyed the company of the people at our table).

This year was different...very different. First, it was VERY scaled down & low-key. We are in a recession, so I know that had to hurt this fabulous even quite a bit. Plus there was a lot of other things going on during the weekend, so even the attendance was much less than in the past. No silent auction this year (WHAT...that's how we got to participate last year!), but still an oral auction with the same auctioneer - who, btw, has done the MUMC auction all 16 years it's been in existance. But there was a great change! People actually got to BUY for missions! The 4 major organizations our church supports had booths set up with displays of what they needed - then people could buy one of those things, or give toward it. Wow - it was so much more meaningful to actually see what you were doing for the organizations first hand. In return, you could get tickets, depending on what you spent, to go toward a donation RAFFLE. There was a few neat things we were deciding what to put our tickets toward - including the unbelievable safari package that contained jungle games, books, toys, stuffed animals, A YEAR'S MEMBERSHIP TO THE ST. LOUIS ZOO & BEHIND THE SCENES PASSES TO GO WITH IT. Amazing. We definately wanted to try for that one...especially with the kids. We put in a couple of tix for the "Girls Night Out" package that included 2 tickets to Hairspray at the Fox Theatre. I would take Liz, of course. Then, God Bless Betsy. Betsy is a wonderful woman of God with a GIANT heart. She & her hubby bought several items for the organizations & had more tickets than they knew what to do with...they were GIVING THE TICKETS AWAY!! She gave us about 12 more. So...we put a BUNCH more into the zoo bucket, another in the Hairspray bucket, and then a couple more into one called "All About Me" - a spa package. Why not...

We had a pretty good meal, the oral auction didn't have the money flowing as abundantly (it was all still too much for us), but we still had a fun table & glad we got to participate & get all dressed up. You will love to know that I wore a gorgeous dress that is bright turquoise with a touch of sequin & beading detail - an $8 find at Goodwill. I got more compliments in that crowd than I would have imagined. Glad I wore it! OH...and I, of course, had a scarf for my hair that happened to match.

As for the raffles, I won the "All About Me" package...you know - the "afterthought" one! YEA! Oh, darn - now I have to find sometime to USE it! OK - I have a year. There's bound to be a little time in there somewhere to get a pedicure & a spa treatment of sorts, right? We didn't get the others we were really pulling for, though. Oh well. It was a fun night! And, don't worry, I did thank Betsy for the spa package since it was her ticket that got it for me.

Today is Earth Day & also Administrative Professionals Day. Since I'm an "administrative professional", the guys at work got me flowers (which happend to match my outfit today - FUNNY) & they are taking me to lunch at the Brickhouse. YUM! I love my job!

And, I have caught a bug...the Twitter-bug! Seriously...you can follow @ http://twitter.com/iTweetAM_Erica. And it's connected to my FaceBook status updates.

This is what I have for now. I am trying to work up the courage for a much harder post. Pray for God to give me strength for that post to help with my healing. You will understand once I can get it posted...next time...

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

PS ~ you can follow me on my blog & on Twitter! Just hit the "Follow" button on either if you have an account or after you set one up. It's easy to do on BOTH! See you there!