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One Man's Junk, Another Man's Treasure...

Mr. Urban totally swept me off my feet this past weekend and treated me to a date by the ocean, with a clear backdrop of the City (San Francisco), that involved plenty of time alone with him, great gourmet food, shopping and yummy deserts too!

That, and pushing a shopping cart and a flat bed full of someone else's junk for hours on end...

Before dawn on Sunday morning we headed up to the Alameda Antiques Faire, the biggest monthly market for "Antiques" and Old Beat-Up Country Looking Stuff in Northern California. 


Although we moved to the country months and months ago, our home is far from being ready and done.  Even I, who love empty surfaces and clutter free spaces, have to agree with Mr. Urban that we are in need of more Stuff to fill in the many blanks around our home to make it usable at the very least...  besides the many, many empty walls, missing coffee tables and end tables to hold lamps, there is a lack of a je ne sais quoi to make our home more cozy. 

What is referred to as the premier "Antique Show" in our area is actually an endless sea of chipped and battered and some times, down right ugly, dirty junk... but  it was fun and exciting (at least for the first couple of hours) to rummage through them for some beautiful jems with my partner in crime.   And I must admit that I savored every bit of my time alone with my Mr. Urban.
 
Flee markets (as "Antique Shows" really are) are a little tough to take in if you have a tendency toward loving Order and Perfection.  Talk about expanding your horizons!  To soften the blow and entice you to stay, the Faire invites local food artisans to also display their goods.  So we got to enjoy a Mint Chocolate Popsicle from Pop Nation (I had read about them last summer in a two page spread in Sunset magazine), which are hard to get your hands on, locally sourced, all natural Popsicles with flavors like Coconut Curry and Strawberries with Cream n' Basil. 


And later in the afternoon we had the most delicious Reuben tacos at an ultra swanky food truck, Scolari's.  I would recommend a trip to Alameda just to stand in the long line and enjoy some of Scolari's delicious food.  And judging by the long lines of trendy San Franciscans at all the other 20 or so funky food trucks, I would guess that there is a lot more great food to sample at this Faire.  


Mr. Urban and I even left with some vintage wine bottles and lovely 100 year old grain sack french laundry, which have fallen in love with their new home. 


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