Monday, April 4, 2011

Welcome to My Faux French Chateau!

Hello there!
So, this is my first blog post.  I don’t know what I’m doing but that’s o.k. - lack of expertise has never stopped me before.  If you are reading this, chances are you are already a friend and I’ve “guilted”, begged or tricked you into following me.  Or, the rest of you are probably part of my family and I’ve mentioned that you might get a Christmas gift from France this year, IF you follow my blog!  Regardless, welcome and thanks for being here! 
If you already know me, you know that I’m a lover of everything French.  So that makes me special, right?  There must be only a bazillion of us out there and only a half a bazillion blogging about their French love. What makes me special? Well I’m not, really.  I just know that my love for French design is strong and I feel the need to share it with others.  I’ve often told my friends that if I’ve ever lived before, it had to have been in France.  The first time I went to Provence I felt that I was finally home.  It was an odd realization that I felt a comfort and a familiarity there that was as easy as opening my eyes in the morning.
I’ve always known that my heart beats faster when I see the graceful curve of a French chair, the happiness of a familiar red and white French toile, the aged patina of a French armoire, and a linen hand towel monogrammed with the initials of its owner of long ago.  Gilded wood, creamy white stoneware, sunburst mirrors, crystal chandeliers, and any French thing that is chipped, slightly aged but well loved- these are the images that fill my mind when it is free to wander. To call my relationship with everything French a passion is too controlled.  French brocante, antiquities and “junk” are objects of a love affair for me. 
Working as a professional selling medical equipment into hospitals for nine years, antiquing and starting a French antique business was a dream that I was going to focus on later in life.  This dream was constantly in my mind but I always kept it in the area that was designated for those dreams that I would focus on later, later, always later.  It has taken the almost unbearable loss of my mother, a move to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and the subsequent loss of my job, the loss of my eldest brother after the failure of his second lung transplant, and the loss of my beloved dog of 11 years, all happening in less than 12 months, to wake me up to the fact that later is certainly not a guarantee.  This moment is the only moment that I am guaranteed.  I don’t want to waste one more moment. 
So today I’m making a grab for my dream.  This dream is for you Mom, Larry and Riley.  I am jumping into this business that I have loved from afar and envied others for having the courage to pursue.  I am starting an on-line French Brocante store!  For now you can follow me as I work through the details – decoding the rules and legalities of starting an on-line business, figuring  out my schedule for my first buying trip to Provence, working  on locating companies that can ship my purchases home, and all of the details that I still have to work through.  As I go through the process, I’ll share what I learn.  Maybe you too will decide to follow your dream and do today what you have always wanted to do someday way off in the future.   
Wish me luck or as the French say, “Bonne chance!”    
Au revoir, Mitty

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