Category — life in the country

for thanksgiving, we did what we always do. we did what is tradition in the sikes family. we went to our 3rd-generation family farm in arkansas.

{crossing the state line...smokey & the bandit-style}

it’s kind of like a redneck prenup…when you marry a sikes, thanksgiving at the farm is non-negotiable. and this is why.

{on the banks of the little river...where heaven meets earth}

{the road to the cabin}

{early morning fog on the farm}

it’s where the gypsy met the cowboy…

and in true gypsy fashion, we took several days to get there…because truly, the best roadtrips have no destination.

we realllllly got held up in good ole east texas…our old stomping grounds. where majestic pines reach into the heavens and the fall colors are pictureseque…amazingly beautiful this time of year.

let’s just say it took us 2 nights & 3 days on the road to travel about 320 miles…

to us, roadtrips are measured by the number of griswald-esque moments.

including but not limited to…

football stadiums…

{stopping to admire possibly the coolest high school football stadium ever. jacksonville, texas}

museums…

{the east texas oil museum. seriously cool}

thrift shops,

{the kids scored some goodies...camo, old wranglers, homemade angels, and magic tree house books}

and fried catfish…

{oh good lawdy...fried goodness. come to mama.}

and of course a trip to east texas wouldn’t be complete without a stop here…

{not that we made any purchases here or anything...}

and then…we all got a little teary when we stepped through these doors…

{the restaurant that built us.}

OK…that’s a bit of an understatement…we bawled like babies.

“people used to take roadtrips to have a good time, not to make good time.” -sally the car, cars movie

and finally…we were off to arkansas for a little nature therapy…bald eagle watching, hunting, hiking, river wading, 4-wheelin’, and priceless family fellowship…

{the cabin. oh, the stories it could tell...}

{cabin decor. years of shirttails cut-off from missed shots}

it’s what you might call a downright good ole time.

and lest i forget the food…

aunt alice’s homemade rolls (honey  hush), our cousin robert o’s (he’s so cute it oughta be illegal) caramel apples & fudge…

and more food than you can shake a stick at…(although i pretty much go straight for the rolls and commence upon challenging myself to eat at least half a dozen at one sitting)

here’s to my granny…mama to 7 boys, nurse, farmer, wife, cinnamon roll baker extraordinaire…

and although i have many years of practice before i can proudly carry on her bread kneading prowess, her legacy of love is alive and well at sikes farms.

here’s to long roadtrips and taking the realllllly long way to get there. here’s to family. and bread. and knick knacks from the crisis center. here’s to east texas and arkansas. and biscuits. and pink liquor stores. and pine trees. and oil wells. and rolls. and lone star beer. here’s to the stars at night that shine extra bright in arkansas. and to unknown destinations. here’s to god’s great amazing beautiful world.

about a year and a half ago, we did this…

{gives a whole new meaning to the lyrics..."our house, in the middle of our street."

typically our trailers are loaded with home decor. but this time, the trailer was loaded with a HOME. there’s a first time for everything…and this was a first for us.

{all in a day's work}

but let me start at the beginning…

there once was a farm house. an early 1900′s farm house with no indoor plumbing. no electricity. and no people. this turn-of-the-century cottage, although small (800 square feet!), had great bones and irresistible charm and was just begging for junk gypsy salvation. it was begging for love. it was begging for a family.

it was begging to be the perfect home for amie and indie…

{amie and indie doing the new house happy dance}

{amie, indie, & dad test-driving the porch}

so we did what we had to do. we bought it.

{sitting in it's original location...awaiting JG rescue}

thus began our first ever haulin house experience…

and thanks to KANA brothers house moving and their biggo trucks…

john, rodney, and their motley crew…

{it was a VERY solemn group of guys}

this was more than a house movin’…it was like dinner and a movie texas style - house movin’ and entertainment.

{rodney kana...work hard. play hard.}

making room for our wide load to hit the road….

{trimming a few dead branches for clearance}

watching the action…

documenting the action…

{because 1 camera just wasn't enough...}

annnnddddddd she’s road-worthy…let ‘er rip, tater chip.

{the journey.}

{causing a bonafide traffic jam in the big city of round top}

amie back-seat driving…

{because she is a PROFESSIONAL}

arriving in gypsyville…

{home sweet gypsy home}

…

and although we give these guys serious kudos for already having a tricked out grill…

{superheroes and army men...boys will be boys...}

we decided it needed a little JG touch…

{from the sistas to the bruthas...}

after finding a new home and family, this old texas farmhouse got a fresh coat of paint and became amie and indie’s little pink house (cue john mellencamp)…

we added a porch made of salvaged table legs and gargantuan architectural fleamarket corbels…and as all junk gypsy projects, it’s still a work in progress. a labor of love.

in case you missed the HGTV episode of us making over amie’s living room…watch a sneak peek here…just click on the little pink house picture above!

OR you can get the entire episode on itunes for $1.99!

little pink houses for you and me….

there are some things you just can’t rush. pops’ buttermilk biscuits, sanding before the paint is dry, & constructing our junk headquarters. as junk conservationists, (that’s right, we’re not hoarders…we’re junk conservationists…it’s highly scientific. google it.) we consider it a duty of epic importance…it’s our duty to build a preserve for wild junk. an amiable habitat in which all junk can coexist with one another … a habitat in which all junk can live harmoniously and symbiotically in peace.

the entrance to this wild habitat is finally complete.

a sacred entrance to our sanctuary of junk.

complete with texas harbor salvage tin for the ceiling, chippy peely beadboard salvaged from old farmhouses across the county, and a spanish 6′ in diameter chandelier we scored from richard hargrove at zapp hall. the doors were custom made….we spent hours designing the perfect entry doors…dad scoured the country and had these made from our sketch out of old reclaimed cypress.

heres the before shot…

and just last week, this pink sink arrived on the pony express straight from jersey.

reclaimed and re-loved.

and this little piece of heaven…

{you were meant for me, & i was meant for you}

salvaged victorian ceiling tin from kwaku (featured in dierks bentley’s episode), chippy peely beadboard that our friend matt hager salvaged from a farmhouse in carmine, texas, a beyond awesome glass-with-giant-crystals chandelier we scored years ago from hector the collector, and even awesome-er (yep, it’s a word, google it) doors… (a moment of silence for these amazing doors with an even amazing-er story)… THE. DOORS. chippy peely PINK & white doors salvaged from an old man named HOOTIE (that’s right, y’all…you can’t make this stuff up) in asheville, nc. hootie had a long white beard and a creek running right through the middle of his shop. hootie’s in heaven now and we thank our southern stars that our good friend, nita, bought these from him about 15 years ago…and then we bought them from her at zapp hall. unfortunately, we never knew him, but may the legend of hootie and his white beard be forever immortalized at our junk gypsy headquarters. our sanctuary of junk. and lest i forget, the CRAZY huge giant corbels from our friend matt white at recycling the past (who also hooked us up with the PINK sink).

more giant corbels…

because bigger is better when it comes to architectural salvage.

annnnd more fleamarket lighting…

greeting all who enter our sanctuary of junk. stay tuned y’all…there’s waaaaay more junk making it’s way to our gypsyville world headquarters! we hope to open sometime this summmmmmer!!!

“a rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

-antoine de saint exupery

there’s something about a photoshoot that i love. that we all love. it’s exciting. it’s new.

for this shoot we were inspired by roadside stops and old merle haggard songs. dusty, crusty ole codgers and all things americana. we were born free and we were born to dream.

we get seriously EXCITED every day around 4:45pm when nacho our UPS driver shows up with new goods. new jewelry. decor. threads. goods that we’ve scoured near and far, high and low in search of…goods that we LOVE and hope you do too.

it’s like christmas morning every time a new tee design rolls in the door.

and i LOVE that we still LOVE our new stuff. and since we only do a big photoshoot 3-4 times a year, it’s always fun to pull out all the new goods and play dress up.

for this photoshoot, our supermodel is a local mom. we met ranell while shooting our HGTV series…watch for her in an upcoming episode! but until then, she’s our cat-walkin’, super-vogue, supermodel.

the scene of the crime:

the merry christmas bar…right here in round top. originally known as M.E. SCHULZE grocery. but here’s the story….way back when, mr. schulze wasn’t very festive around christmas time so one year the local townspeople decided to decorate for him by mounting a giant sign atop the store. christmas came and went. and the sign remained. eventually, the market/watering hole/local gathering spot became known as the merry christmas bar. and to this day, the sign remains and so does the name. mr. schulze just left that ole sign there to be ornery…and now, it just adds to the awesome-ness. and y’all, this is the stuff that makes little old towns so cool…the fact that places like the merry christmas bar still remain…and they have a history. a story. and now we can keep the legend going. (and by the way…watch for the ole merry christmas bar in an upcoming HGTV episode too!)

and while we were doing this outside…

{"despite all my sunday learning...towards the bad i kept on turning" - merle haggard}

here’s what was going on inside…

{the stories these walls could tell...}

about 500 more shots outside…

{amen. and amen.}

{native american inspired}

{love this shot. and hell yes, these boots are beyond bad to the bone}

these thelma & louise style shots had little purpose for showin the goods but we couldn’t resist…

{dashboard therapy. daydreamin through the windshield}

they’re some of my faves…

{catchin' dreams}

 meanwhile…back at the ranch…

{archie gettin vogue in her fave new tee}

 and we outfitted ranell with more newwww stuff…

{dreamcatcher.}

and yes…we were each doubling as photographer, stylist, supermodel & moms…kids were in tow…

{ranell's daughter gettin some camera time}

{turquoise love.}

 annnnd another wardrobe…

{kiss my biscuits.}

 see no evil…

{one of my fave new bracelets...the harlow. vintage glam.}

day 2 was a rainy, rainy day…we took refuge in our new under-construction building…

and day 3 was fast & furious…

with only 1 tee to shoot…our new exclusive for miranda lambert design…

{fastest girl in town.}

that’s it for now…hope y’all dig the new goods!! check em out hErE!! and let us know what y’all think!!!

**P.S. we’ve been having a few technical issues in gypsyville…y’all please bear with us as we are working hard to get ‘em fixed! we’ve begged and pleaded with our web company…i wonder if they’ve met duke? :)

grit.

amie and i were taught many things as kids…how to ride a bike, always say thank you, don’t skip school (oh wait, wrong family)…anywho, you get the point.

but probably definitely (you like that? “probably definitely”…yes, it is a correct form of speech…i just made it up..because i’m indecisive. probably definitely.) one of the most important things we were taught is how to work. we were taught the value of physical labor.

gettin’ down and dirty.

{loading trailers in the rain at BiG stATE fest.}

sweat-on-your-brow and dirt-under-your-fingernails type of work. muscles achin’, back-breakin’, baby-needs-a-new-pair-of-shoes kind of work.

GRIT.

we were raised with no gender limitations. in fact, my favorite shirt when i was a little girl said: “anything boys can do, girls can do better.”

{sportin my FAVE said glitter tee}

we were taught how to build fence, use power tools, how to properly go muddin’ on a 4-wheeler (i think we actually probably definitely figured that one out on our own)…

{amie rockin' the rotary sander at antiques week}

{yep, that's me...using an air nibbler}

we didn’t learn how to work by being FORCED….to do chores. to work in the restaurant. to ‘earn our keep’.

{preparing for JuNK-a-PaLOOZa...yes, it was about 1098 degrees that day}

{because this chandelier was just begggggging to be pink}

we learned from watching them. mom and dad, side by side. working. and laughing. and keeping the family together through those 2 things.

{mom and amie makin' on-location rustic chandeliers for miranda's wedding}

{mom, amie, t-smitty, dad...workin' hard to pull off miranda's reception}

which i believe now is the reason we love hard work. we appreciate and respect it. dare i say, we revere it.

{loading trailers in the rain (again) at FriDAY NiGHT LiGHTS episode}

and yes, we enjoy it.

{yep...loadin in the mud....again. GoD bless mother nature.}

there’s something about being out of your office. away from your desk. disconnected. and reconnecting with the value of manual labor. working with your hands. your head. and your muscles. there’s something great about accomplishing something concrete. something you can feel and see. and pat yourself on the back for.

{anything boys can do....}

and through hard work, all things seem to have more intrinsic value.

which i guess is why they call it sweat equity.

get out there. get some sweat equity in something. and be a real rebel….leave your cell phone in the car. it’ll make the sweat even sweeter.