Spring Bazaar Smash N Grab

'Tis that time of year where the Bazaar's start poppin' up again! Here's my post from the Fall Bazaar I attended. 

So, since Eric wasn't able to attend the last Bazaar, he told me he wanted to go to the Spring one (we got a heads up a few weeks ago about one coming up). Fine and dandy because I was interested in getting some more of those cool shopping bags like I snagged last time. We left early in the morning and made our way over to Germany, got there right when it opened and the parking situation was LOADS better than last time! I mean, literally..it was a total 180*. Great parking, friendly volunteers and plenty of areas where you can sit in the outdoor food court. They definitely get a "thumbs up" from me!

We get inside and it seemed like there were less vendors this time around (several booths I was specifically looking for weren't there), so that was a little disappointing. Like I was expecting, the Polish Pottery guys were there, so, we looked through all of their goodies to see if they had anything we couldn't live without. Eric's comment made me laugh when he saw all the different patterns..."Oh my gosh, it's like patterns were thrown up onto the pottery". Yeah, pretty much. Nothing screamed "take me", so we moved onto various other vendors. I kept passing by all of the antique guys because they had really cool things, but, the cool things were very expensive. It made me chuckle a little bit when I know I bought a speculoos cookie press of a windmill for 10 euros (at the time, it cost me roughly $13) , while these guys were wanting $95 for the same thing. NO THANKS!

There were even vendors from Italy (how cool is that?) and they were selling some really pretty carnival masks. Thing is, Eric and I are going to Venice this year for our wedding anniversary and I plan on getting a mask from there. I think it's a lil more "special" to get it from that actual country than getting it at a shopping event. Besides, I always get something from a country I visit, so might as well get a bitchin' mask with a cool story :) 

Oh yeah...did I forget to mention that they have funnel cakes at these events? Eric definitely took advantage of our "cheat day", that's for sure since he hasn't had any since the California Mid-State fair back in..uhhhh....2008! He had a funnel cake, brisket sandwich and a few hot dogs, lol. I just had a funnel cake since that's all I could honestly handle...during the time I had my 1 cake, he ate everything that I had listed for him. Piggy!

Here's all the stuff we ended up with..not to shabby!

These are the two grocery bags I picked up. I LOVE that the white one has little fruits and snacks all over it!

Then we came across a couple from Bavaria that made their own teas..AND they're caffeine free!! They smelled amazing in the tins, and they actually had some brewing for you to sample (we tried the tropical cocktail)..it was awesome! So, I got the Strawberry & Kiwi for myself, Eric got the Peach and we got the Tropical Cocktail to share :) The wife was really sweet and said if we ended up ever wanting to order more, we can just send her an email and she'd gladly ship it over to Belgium (yay!)

One of the German vendors was having a sale on linens, so I snatched this damask fabric so I can turn it into a table runner:

About a year or so ago, I bought some cast iron keys for decoration, but I was wanting a few more sets to add to my "key holder" that I have near the back entry of the house. Well, I managed to find two other sets at the Bazaar! The gal who had them was VERY nice cause I was a few bucks short, so she did a mini euro conversion for me (the vendors were only allowed to take Dollars) so she could make a sale and  I could give 'em a new home:

Last, but not least, are the Italian roof tile paintings. I glanced at the vendors stuff real fast, but nothing caught my eye because the majority of his paintings were very Tuscan. Well, as I was walking away, Eric says "Hey, they have Fleur Di Leis". That sealed his fate:

Yes, they have a website: here you go

"Hand painted roof tiles obtained from centuries old tiles. The tiles are taken from aged houses in the area of Venice, that are going to be renovated. Using the same technique as for the ceramics, we obtain a nice object ready to hand on a wall, with a vetrified surface that assures a lifetime product. All the decorations are made by master craftsmen in our factory in Nove. Thanks to this, we can personalize them for you."

Truth be told, these buggers are HEAVY! Combined, they gotta weigh about 15lbs..no joke. I gotta figure out how I'm gonna hang 'em! Otherwise, they'll be decoration in my office by sitting on my desk, lol. Yes, they're different heights..it's rather fitting that Eric picked the purple one (tall) and I picked the blue one (the short pudgy one). Oh, and it made me giggle that they're from the Venice area. I can get away with bringing a carnival mask on the plane since it'd be within my weight limit, but one of these guys would DEFINITELY cost me extra money for the flight!!

All in all, it was a good day! :)