Saint Louis Gypsy Caravan 2015

Yesterday morning I went to one of the biggest vintage market attractions in Saint Louis. The Gypsy Caravan is an annual event that helps supports the St. Louis Symphony. I had heard about the event last year and was interested in going, but unfortunately I heard about the disastrous parking situation and that alone kept me from going. Fortunately this year, the event learned from its mistakes and did a better job this year in regards to dealing with the parking and traffic.

I arrived around 9:40am and I must say I was even impressed with the turnout of vendors and buyers. Yet a friend of mine who had been to last year's event informed me she thought there were not as many vendors as last year. So I can only imagine how big it was compared to this year.

So I decided to just start at the very end of one side of the vendors and just work my way up and down each isle. I saw some really great home made crafts and unique ideas, and other vendors had items that really sent you back in time. There were also food vendors as well but I just bought a hotdog and a soda while in the Arena. Thankfully the AC was going full blast.

As if outside wasn't enough, apparently they had also opened up the inside of the Saint Charles Family Arena to vendors as well. The main ground floor had tons of vendors and then there more vendors even on the second floor. So I wrapped up looking around about 11:40am and decided to head back home. I actually was able to make my way through the whole caravan and only purchase 2 items, necklaces. One was fancy with a high heel shoes in black and gold, the other a black leather necklace that had a beautiful brass centerpiece.

The weather was just really hot and I needed to get home to recharge myself for our family gathering held at a relative's house that afternoon to celebrate Memorial Day.

Of course I took more pictures than the ones you see here. To see the rest of my collection click on the link below.

Saint Louis Gypsy Caravan 2015

Saint Louis Greek Fest 2015

There are a lot of events going on this weekend in Saint Louis, you have the African Arts Festival out in Forest Park that I visited yesterday, Comic Con is downtown, The Greek Fest going on out in Des Peres, and don't forget The Gypsy Caravan tomorrow in Saint Charles.

I wasn't even aware of the Greek Fest until a friend told me about it yesterday. So this evening I decided to check it out. I decided to bring my camera again and hope to take some great pictures, but what happens within 5 minutes of being at my destination? Rain, good ole rain starts pouring down. I park my car in one of the designated parking lots and wait for a shuttle to come through to pick me up and take me to the church where the event is being held.

Upon disembarking the shuttle van, I make my way to a tent where they have jewelry and paintings. This was the only tent where they were selling goods. I eventually ended up buying a belly dancing belt and an All-Seeing Eye bracelet.

Belly dancing belts

The All-Seeing Eye -- a single human eye surrounded by radiating beams of light -- is found in many eras and cultures. It is generally a symbol of the watchful and protective power of the Supreme Being, especially when that entity is considered in a solar or heavenly context.

After leaving this tent, I went to check out the dancers and music that was in another tent. Everyone was having a great time and the atmosphere was just charged with singing and dancing.

I don't know why the video is sideways but I don't see a way to rotate the video via Youtube so either tilt your head or your screen.

After enjoying a few minutes of the entertainment I made my way to stand in line to check out the food. I will tell you I was NOT disappointed!! I was in line waiting to get inside of the church where the food was being sold. I first saw a room that held nothing but the desserts. I made a note to come back through to make a purchase.

Eventually after a 15 minute wait I was in the cafeteria of the church and saw the main food options.

So I decided on the Half Chicken and Gyro, but I ate the Gyro in the cafeteria with plans on taking the Half Chicken home for my parents to try out. Let me just say the gyro was FANTASTIC! It was seasoned to perfection I just wished there had been some feta cheese as an option to add. They had other toppings but I wasn't interested in them.

My plain gyro, bu it was damn good

Half-baked chicken

After I enjoyed my Gyro I went back in line and decided to also buy a Lamb Shank and a Greek Salad for the parental units as well.

Greek Salad

Lamb Shank

I made sure to make my way back by the desserts and picked up a few items. I noticed that walnuts were the central ingredient in majority of the desserts on display.

Baklava- It is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey.

Loukoumades - pastries made of deep fried dough soaked in sugar syrup or honey with cinnamon and sometimes sprinkled with sesame.

Theples - The dough is rolled into long, thin strips, fried and folded in hot oil and then dipped in syrup. Traditionally, warm honey is used in place of syrup, and then they are sprinkled with chopped nuts and cinnamon.

Overall I had a great time. My mom tried some of the food and she thought they were both great dishes. She really enjoyed the Lamb Shank and the buttered rice that came along with it. If you haven't been to the Greekfest I highly recommend checking them out tomorrow.

More pics that I took via my smartphone.

Saint Louis Greekfest 2015

Saint Louis African Arts Festival 2015 - May 23rd

Yesterday I had a wonderful time spending the morning with two of my best friends enjoying breakfast at an amazing place called The Pancake House off of Ladue road. The breakfast there is AMAZING, I highly recommend if you have never been there before. Afterwards we went to the STL Galleria and walked around. I really enjoyed myself and look forward to hanging out with more girls more in the future.

Later on that day around 2:30pm I went down to Forest Park to enjoy the first day of the Saint Louis African Arts Festival. It only took around a hour to find parking but hey, when there is a will there is a way. As I made my way to the World's Pavilion where it was being held I could hear the drums beating and was evening dancing a little as I made my way up a hill of grass. I went through the pavilion and checked out the wares before making my way to the main stage where I heard the drums.

An elder was being honored by drummers who had connections with Katherine Dunham the great dancer and choregrapher who has ties to Saint Louis. The drumming was so amazing you couldn't help but be moved and dancing where you stood. After the performance and dedication I went back through the pavilion to really check out all the vendors and their products. There were some vendors I knew and spoke with. Last year's festival I found amazing jewelry. This year's festival my mission was to find some african cloths to up my headwrap game with. Eventually I found seven beautiful cloths to add to my collection. I found out from one vendor that I bought cloth from that the ideal length for a standard wrap is around 2 yards of fabric. He was selling the $5 a yard, which is a great price compared to some stores.

four of my head wrap cloths

After making my purchases I took them to my car and went back so I could focus on taking pictures. While going through again and taking pictures I could hear another performance going on. When I went back to the stage I could see a wonderful dancing performance going on with some young ladies and when I say they could dance I'm telling you they could DANCE! I was so enthralled with their performance that I forgot to take pictures! Ugh, I'm learning though. Overall I had a wonderful time and might even go back there the other two days. The weather was simply perfect. No rain like last year, the breeze was cool and delightful. Oh and the Afros, dreads, hi-tops and low-fades were in full effect. My people are so beautiful :)


Link to my pictures below since Flickr whats to be a bunch of asses and disable the embed option.

Saint Louis African Arts Festival 2015

Saint Louis Vintage Market - Spring 2015

 
 This past weekend the Saint Louis Vintage Market was in town and I had the opportunity to enjoy myself along with two of my coworkers. I found some great items that I will use in my product photography of my whipped shea butters. I saw some pretty colorful mason jars and a vintage looking clipboard (which I forgot to take pictures of!!!!). Also throughout my wondering I found a BEAUTIFUL frame that I wish I could have used someplace, the price on it was a steal. I kept envisioning if I owned a business it would have been perfect to showcase my pricing and fragrance options on my items.

The beauty of Vintage Fairs is that you never know what you might find and I definitely did find some other unique items.

After we did our walk through we enjoyed lunch and then made our way to one more tent before we left and had someone take our picture. I'm already looking forward to the Gypsy Caravan on May 25th.

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

Find a Vintage Market, find a piece of Heaven!!

Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go to a vintage fair out in Highland, Illinois. Even thought I found it to be VERY strange that they named it the Saint Louis Vintage Market Days, but hey it is what it is. So I heard about this market from a family member who went out there Saturday afternoon. She had taken a picture of some vintage cameras. Recently I had been obsessed with getting my hands on a TLR camera and in her picture there were around 4 different options. 

Photo credit: Amy Hopper-Davis

I immediately zeroed in on the black one that was at the bottom. I figured it had to be a Yashica or even maybe a Rolliflex or Rollicord. So I decided Saturday night that I was going to go check out this market to see if maybe the camera was still available, for $50 it was a huge steal. Yet my biggest issue was waiting on AT&T to come out Sunday morning and fix a TV issue. Thankfully they came through and were done by 10:30am.

After mapping my route to get out to fair I realized that this was going to be a bit of a trek. Almost an hour to get to the Madison County Fairgrounds. So I made my way there and I couldn't believe how many corn fields are in the area. I eventually made it to my destination and ended up parking on a baseball field along with numerous other cars.

I start making my way over to the fair grounds and there didn't seem to be that much activity but when I eventually did make it to the main entrance to pay my $5 admission fee, holy crap.....this place was BUSY. I was absolutely amazed at all the people there and all the different items that were up for sale. I saw vintage clothes, furniture, accessories, jewelry, you name it was probably there. 



Yet the biggest surprise was seeing a former coworker also out there with her wares.  Kathleen Berhman owns Buddha, Body and Bath. She makes wonderful handmade soaps, candles, lotions, and lip balms.

 There was also 2 huge barns that had vendors in them as well as two warehouse buildings also with vendors. I walked around and took in the sites. I actually made more than one trip of the whole place just to make sure I saw everything. I did eventually buy a few things.

Soaps for my mom from Buddha Body and Bath

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Wine Caddy from Reclaim Renew

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Homemade leather bracelets with hammered brass designs from Barn Trash

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There were a few food trucks as well and I decided to try the pizza truck and I must say it was pretty good!

Slice of the Hill

I also made sure to take plenty of pictures so I could remember the event. I definitely plan on coming back again.  In regards to the camera I was originally interested in, I did find the seller and her booth. Unfortunately she had sold the camera (it was a Yashica) Saturday evening but I did get her business card so I might look her up in a few months to see if she was able to find any more TLR cameras. 

Villa Design

The Vintage Market will be back in Saint Louis during the Christmas Holidays.

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz