sebastopol | Crazy4Me - The Modern Bombshell Lifestyle by: Yasmina Greco

For the last couple weeks I have been super excited about the local multi-dealer antique mall here in Sebastopol, CA ‘Antique Society’ for their 24^th anniversary sale where everything is 20% off. The sale started yesterday and goes through Sunday. We stopped by yesterday at practically the end of the day with only 45 mins till they closed. We walked inside, the display was awesome and welcomed you to ‘California in the Spring’ with lots of vintage metal and wicker patio furniture, plants and antique plant stands, lovely metal and intricate birdcages. The mall was ultra clean and the dealers really cleaned up their booths.

Once you got going and started walking through the booths it quickly became apparent that the dealers didn’t feel the need to fill their booths with new merchandise. A lot of booths have so much space and not much in them. I mean, this was the mall’s 24^th anniversary sale and they had been advertising it for a while so people from all over San Francisco, Silicon Valley and wine country were going to drive up to shop. But, maybe that was the point……the sale would bring in ‘new shoppers’ that wouldn’t normally stop in so they wouldn’t know that the merchandise they were looking at had been sitting there for the past 2 years and that really nothing new had been added to the booths. But, us regulars know.

I am still so disappointed, I just so badly wanted to see some ‘new’ vintage and antique collectibles, not the same stuff I have been seeing for the past 2 years and go home with some new treasures after waiting and anticipating this sale for weeks.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend! Circumstances brought us to beautiful Sebastopol in Sonoma County with lush vineyards and gorgeous landscapes in Northern California. Once “business” was handled, we were able to drive around a little and enjoy the quaint town of Sebastopol. There must have been 5-7 Antique shops in this little town!! The locals are so friendly and you see many signs that say “natural”, “organic”, and “farm fresh”. We ate more whole wheat, grains, and organic veggies in one weekend then we have the entire time we have been in Texas! Texas is full of steak, Tex-Mex , and fried foods and you need to go and search for organic and healthy foods as they are not readily served in restaurants.

It was rather early in the morning as we were heading out and saw a “Flea Market” sign so I had my husband turn a sharp right into the parking lot. The flea market was just getting setup so there were not many vendors ready for business yet. We did see lots of fresh herbs and plants being sold as well as the usual flea market items of socks, shirts, and toys. It appeared the flea market was year-round and it looked like there was room for a lot of vendor booths/tables so it probably gets busy later in the morning.

As we were leaving Sebastopol to head into San Francisco we noticed one of the antique shops was just opening so we pulled into Windmill Antiques. The owner was such a friendly lady from Louisiana and had been living in Sebastopol for 16 years. Her shop was cute; she had lots of collectibles, teacups, kitchen goodies, Pyrex, and miniature dollhouse furniture. She was so nice and let us go inside and shop early as her shop was not open for another hour. I bought a super cute vintage 1950s Norcrest poodle dog cotton ball holder that will look fabulous as part of a vintage vanity set.