feelin' official :)

We went from this...



to this! (feels so much more "official"
looks like a real store!)



what do you think?

Happy friday!

mudroom [before & after]

A couple of weeks ago I decided we needed a mudroom.
I wanted a better (and more organized)place
for the kids' backpacks, jackets, hats and gloves,
and all of their sports stuff.

So we took this spot in the garage:
(embarrassing picture alert!)



The door to the house is on the right,
and the workbench on the left that is covered in aluminum foil
is where I used to solder...
Ryan and I have a running joke
that our neighbors would see me in there
with my crockpots and my torch
and call the cops thinking we had a meth lab going on in there.
Thankfully, it never happened :)

So we moved the fishing stuff
painted
hung up closet shelving from Lowe's
and a calendar for keeping track of games and practices,
and now we have this:



The kids backpacks and jackets go on the hooks on the right,
(picture was taken while the older kids were at school
so all that is up is Eden's)
The sports stuff is hung up or on the shelf on the left,
a hamper for their dirty sports stuff after games and practices,
(so I know what needs washing
without mixing in with our regular laundry)
in the middle are baskets for gloves, hats, etc.
and shoes go down below,
and we have lots of room for more baskets
or whatever we end up needing in the future!

Much better :)

number 4.

For some reason I had it in my head that Eden
(being child number 4)
was going to be super easy going and
go with the flow type of personality.

I was so wrong.

She is sweet and cuddly one second,
then fiesty and opinionated the next.
She's bossy, she's loud, she's very strong willed...
she really threw us for a loop!

She keeps me on my toes :)

She also HATES loud noises...
she was terrified at Veggie Tales Live the other night!
(which is so funny for such a strong personality!)

Oh Eden, we love your fiesty,
unpredictable ways...
you make life so much more interesting!

winners x two.

Wow, loved reading all of those comments from
Nie Nie's giveaway!
Seeing new friends,
old friends (aka "vintage" friends)
and medium friends :)


(large layers necklace)

TOTALLY blown away by all of the comments!
we feel SO:



Since there were SO MANY comments
we decided to pick 10 winners (instead of 5),
and here they are (randomly picked):

1.mary.ruth, 2.Anna, 3.Valley Girl, 4.SaRaH, 5.Summer, 6.Erin, 7.Bennett Family, 8.Chase and Leah, 9.Lindsey, and 10.Becky Joh!

Please email us at customerservice@thevintagepearl.com to receive your $50 gift certificate!

***

And the randomly picked winner of the rustic bloom necklace is:

Mom of Two! (she loved the copper)

Congrats! Please email us!

***

My long time *vintage* friend from the eBay days
Megan [aka Brassy Apple]
took some fun shots of her Vintage Lovebirds necklace



and is even giving something away...
check it our here!

happy birthday Tessa!

We're celebrating with
birthday waffles with sprinkles for breakfast
a few special presents
chocolate cupcakes with pink icing at school
lunch with daddy
her favorite spaghetti with meatballs for dinner
and a surprise show tonight (Veggie Tales Live!)

***

It was a surprise when we found out we were pregnant with Tessa,
and I cried a bit- Caleb was 2 1/2 and Jonah wasn't even 1 year yet- and
then cried tears of joy when the ultrasound tech said she was a girl :)

And then I purged on PINK.

***

So my Dad took Tessa shopping for a gift
and to my disbelief
they returned with...
DRUMS!!!

Pink drums, actually...


So you can imagine what my house sounds like these days.

Um, thanks Dad.

;)

nie nie and friends [ a giveaway! ]

Nie Nie and I are having a little fun together this weekend-
we are giving away 5 $50 gift certificates
to her readers and mine!

(If you are a new friend to this blog, WELCOME!)

Nie Nie ordered one of these necklaces with each of her families initials...


(photo from Nie Nie)

Wanna win $50 to TVP?

Simply leave us a comment---
tell us if you are a new friend or an old friend to be entered!

Blog it, tweet it (@thevintagepearl) and facebook it for extra entries.
(please leave extra comments for each).

Thank you Nie Nie for playing along with us today!

***

P.S.
Today we are at
the All About Me Women's Expo
in the Mabee Center
from 12-8pm,
with some new designs!
Tulsans, come say hi!

***

P.P.S.
Scroll down a couple of posts for our other giveaway!

This giveaway is now CLOSED, thank you!

rockin' out!

I snapped these pics of Jonah
while he was "rockin' out"
in our backyard
using a badminton racket as a guitar
and watching how he looked
in his shadow!



He's got some good moves...

we may have a future rockstar on our hands :)

[NEW!] rustic bloom necklace (a giveaway!)

We are getting ready for a show this week
(the All About Me women's expo this friday and saturday,
Tulsa peeps, come say hi!)
so sunday I spent the afternoon creating some new
things for the show.
It was much needed creative time.

This is one of them and I loved it so much we are adding it to the website...

Rustic Bloom Necklace



It's a 1 1/4" sterling circle
that is layered with your choice of either
the copper flower...



or the sterling silver flower...



The charm is antiqued,
slightly hammered and
brushed to a rustic finish (perfect!)

You can find them here.

***

Let's give one away!

Just leave us a comment, which one is your fave?
(copper or sterling?)

Blog it, tweet it (@thevintagepearl) and facebook it for extra entries!
(be sure to come back and leave separate comments for each).

***

Thank you so much for helping us spread the word :)

This giveaway is now CLOSED, thank you!

boss's day (I'm so blessed!)

A little tidbit that I never knew before-
October 16th is National Boss's Day.

The girls at work with surprised me with a fun gift...
I LOVE peppermint from Starbuck's
(particularly in hot chocolate),
and a gift certficate to get a spa pedicure,
plus a sweet card they all signed...



Thank you ladies, I am so blessed to have such an amazing team!

*****

p.s. check back tomorrow for something new (and we may need to give one away!)

some lovin' for our men!

I LOVED reading through the tweets
and blog comments about all of the amazing husbands
out there!

We are some pretty blessed women!

The 3 randomly picked winners from twitter are:

@thatsmyboymatt
Michelle Colasante who said
"When I was on bedrest, he shaved my legs and painted my toes, just so I could feel human."

@sarahviz
Sarahviz, who said:
"My husband can make a MEAN cheesecake from SCRATCH!"

@heatherlee323
Heather Boydstun, who said:
"Hubs works 3 jobs and STILL working hard to finish his degree. Keeps a good attitude about it too!"

and 3 randomly picked winners from the blog:

ERay, Hannah, and Ashley.

Email us ladies- customerservice@thevintagepearl.com

***

And since we are in the mood for love,
take a peek at our new "vintage lovebirds" necklace...



It's on sale today for $58, normally $68.00!

***

p.s. Let's all tell our hubbies
something we LOVE about him today :)

brag about HIM (a giveaway!)

This morning on twitter I was bragging
how my sweet hubbie Ryan
has scheduled for a company to come to OUR house
and professionally clean and detail the suburban for me...

(we have 4 kids and there are 6 months of crumbs
and other whatnots and "stuff" kids can to to a car...
it's pretty scary back there!)

and it inspired an idea for us to BRAG about our hubbies...




So why should YOUR husband should win the best hubbie award?

Tell us something sweet he did or just why he's a great guy.

Enter by:

1. ON TWITTER- use the hashtag #besthubbieawardnominee so we see your entry--
(the entries are FUN to read, find them here!)

and/or

2. BLOG COMMENT- enter your comment here on this blog!


and be entered to win one of 3 $50 gift certs to TVP!

We will choose 3 winners tomorrow morning!

Let's uplift our husbands and have fun with this :)

there's an app (coming) for that.

We are working on an app for
thevintagepearl.com,
to make it easier to shop and see what's new
while on the go!

This is such a fun project and I can't wait to see the finished product :)

*****

I'd love to know,

What would YOU like to see on a tvp smart phone app?

weekend highlights (in pics)

Friday night Ryan and I had a much needed date night!


Saturday night the boys had away football games and Tessa cheered.
So fun to play under the lights!
Grandpa and Uncle Tad came :)


Sunday we headed to the pumkin patch.
Eden surprised us by feeding the animals in the petting zoo,
hopefully she's getting braver!


This week we are carving our pumpkins (so exciting!)

*****

Share your highlights!?!

on the air.

This morning we were the "deal of the day"
for 3 local radio stations,
it was a great opportunity to tell Tulsa about the new store.

So I got all gussied up this morning...
spent extra time on my hair,
(not in a ponytail!)
cute clothes,
I even put on lipstick
(I never wear lipstick!)
and then on the way I realized...

it's radio.
No one can see me or my lipstick!

So I took a pic of myself and sent it to Ryan :)



I was nervous
(I'm sure I rambled)
one was live (yikes!)
and 2 were taped...
but it was fun!

the good from the bad

My mother passing away this summer was a horrible thing.

But since then, we have gotten to see alot more of them...



My mom's passing shook our family and made us closer.

My brothers and I now text each other
and we are facebook friends.
There is even talk of getting Dad on facebook :)
We all try harder to see each other regularly.
They come to football games,
we have gone to basketball games,
or we just meet for dinner.

(We live 1 1/2 hours away from each other,
so this all takes a bit of planning and effort).

My brother Tad moved back home from Virginia last month
to be closer to the family. He's been helping Dad with home projects
and has been a great distraction :)

We have planned a family vacation over Thanksgiving
and we are ALL going-
(my Dad, my 3 brothers and their families)
to Disney for the week,
so no one is thinking about Mom not being there
to make her famous homemade noodles.
We are staying in a rent home all together,
swimming, playing cards, visiting Disney World
and just having fun together,
making memories,
and growing even closer.

And for that, Mom would be so happy :)

pink ribbons

As most of you know, October is breast cancer awareness month,
and pink is everywhere...

I sure get a kick out of the grown men NFL football players
with their pretty pink chin straps :)

We have a sweet ribbon necklace in honor of breast cancer awareness...
simple, fun and meaningful!



A handsculpted silver ribbon charm in bubblegum pink, hung on a sterling silver chain.

Perfect for a fighter or a survivor!

Each charm comes out different and totally unique.

$5 of each necklace sold will be donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure fund.

Find them here.

the fair and a winner.

Sunday we took the kids to the fair,
played games
won a few little prizes,
rode a mechanical bull
and roller coasters,
ate funnel cakes
and corn dogs
and fudge,
shopped the booths,
people watched
and just soaked up the fair!



We had so much fun together :)

*****

The randomly picked winner of the tvp logo tee is:

angela, who said: If you give a girl a t-shirt, she'll want a necklace to go with it. If you give a girl a necklace she'll want a bracelet to match. If you give the girl a bracelet to match, she'll admire it on her wrist, then see her bare arm and realize that she's wearing an awesome t-shirt. I love the navy one! Again, congrats on the store opening!

Email us Angela- customerservice@thevintagepearl.com

*****

We don't have the tees on the site yet but if you are interested in one (they are $18 plus shipping) please email us (customerservice@thevintagepearl.com) with the color and size you are interested in. They fit snug (except the gray) so I would suggest getting a size larger than normal. (Gray you can get your normal size)

pink or blue? (heavy topic)

Child sex trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world,
making $32 billion dollars a year.

Predators seek out vulnerable victims
(OUR BABIES & CHILDREN)
and either steal them,
or lure them under false pretenses
into situations they cannot escape from.
Innocent children have become sexual commodities to be bought and sold
for the pleasure of exploiters.
These children are scarred for life and need help
– our help.

Sorry for the heavy topic (it's friday!),
but this horror has really touched my heart.
Imagining my child going through the torture
that these children go through everyday
really makes my heart hurt.

So we have partnered up with
Stop Child Tracking Now
to help raise money.
We are close to the people that run the Tulsa chapter,
and they are going after the predators!

$15 from each necklace sold goes straight to SCTN.

They will also be sold at the
Jenks RiverWalk tomorrow,
so if you are participating in the walk look for us there!

Thanks for helping us make a difference!