What in the Ballyhoo?

Ballyhoo Girl is born!  Every once in awhile, someone will come into your life that you instantly have a huge connection with and it will stir fresh breathe into your life.  From my earliest of memories I have been a Hollie-Hobbie girl.  My sweet little granny made me dresses and dolls to match my favorite 1970’s icon, and my mother spent every Monday evening watching my favorite Hollie-Hobbie-like star, Laura Ingalls Wilder on the hit show Little House on the Prairie.  Today, I am still a huge fan, in fact, you will find several recorded (ti-vo) episodes programmed for later enjoyment at our house.  Recently I came across an amazing book, the Prairie Girl's Guide to Life by Jennifer Worick.  As I reviewed each of her pages with intensity and, well, love-crush, I realized I found what I was in search of.

  

For the past couple of years, through the loss of many family members to cancer, I've become...well, addicted to memories of my past.  It started very innocently with a passion to paper crafting; pictures, scrapbooking, and card making became more than a hobby.  Then as we cleaned out the homes of my grandparents and auntie, a collection ensued.  I found being around things of the family past, my past, made me feel as though my lost loved ones were still here, physically present with me. While purging our grannies worldly possessions, I must have made 25 trips to the donation centers...I-kid-you-not!!  Our grieving family found much warmth in knowing items we cherished would be reused by someone with less.   Then I brought truck-loads home (and I DO mean trck-loads!!).  Quickly, I realized I could not keep everything granny ever touched or enjoyed, so I began to carefully select items I cherished that I thought meant most to her (them).  

Then a dear friend of mine suggested I hold a booth at her local antique show.  With much trepidation if did.  I was so nervous my first show, not knowing if anyone would love granny's stuff like me...well, they did!!  My first show was absolutely back-breaking hard work, but it rewarded me with a huge sense of connection and satisfaction.  I was completely awestruck by the pleasure my customers (new friends) had on their faces when they found ‘that certain something’ they were looking for in granny’s collection.  

This was my ‘ah-ha’ moment that was only solidified by the works of Jennifer Worick and others like her.  To recapture the past, even small pieces slowly in time, has helped get me through some of the hardest of grieving moments. 

So why the Ballyhoo Girl?  It was a name that came to me and fit almost immediately.  With my first passion being paper-crafting and certainly a close second being vintage collecting, I wanted a name that could represent both loves.  If you are a entrepenuer type, I know you’ll agree, picking a name and sticking with it may be the most difficult decision you make.  So I took the easy why out and let Webster dictionary make my selection.  I skipped the “A’s” and went to “B’s”, I got only a couple pages in to find the name that stuck:

bal·ly·hoo  (bl-h)

n. pl. bal·ly·hoos

1. Sensational or clamorous advertising or publicity.

2. Noisy shouting or uproar.

tr.v. bal·ly·hooed, bal·ly·hoo·ing, bal·ly·hoos

To advertise or publicize by sensational methods

And then add 'Girl', that’s me.  A little bit of City, a little bit of Country and a whole lot of Ballyhoo!

Thank you for visiting...Happy Trails Friends!