Love and Chocolate - February 9

The merchants At the Warehouse always love what we do, but we love it even more when there’s plenty of chocolate around. Stop by Saturday, February 9 between 10am - 3 pm to see what we have to offer for Valentine’s Day gifts:

• Red Thread Confections handcrafted artisan chocolate – Local chocolatier Annika Pfluger uses organic, fair trade or local ingredients where ever possible to make her beautiful chocolates. A portion of their profits go to help children in need. http://redthreadconfections.com
• The Good Leaf will be showcasing chocolate and floral teas, as well as hot chocolate. Owner Michelle Marks can help you put together beautiful wedding and shower favors too. www.goodleaftea.com
• Scruff will have a chocolate and bake sale to help feral and unowned cats – Scruff (Spaying Capital Region’s Unowned Feral Felines) is a feral-cat rescue group made up entirely of dedicated volunteers who support trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs that help save the lives of homeless cats and reduce feral colonies.
• A Bun in the Oven will offer chocolate-dipped strawberries and extra chocolate all-natural and organic baked goods, as well as fair trade coffee
• Apothecary Rose Shed is featuring Hudson River Hot Spots BBQ Mole sauce in addition to their organic bulk herbs and spices
• Sistah’s of Albany has Valentine’s Day-inspired vintage-style aprons that will heat things up in the kitchen
• A Candle Station & More has created special themed items for the occasion http://www.acandlestation.com/
• The FamiLee Jewels will work with you to create custom-designed pieces for weddings, proms and special occasions http://www.thefamileejewels.com/
• Bring the kids by Bluebird Books, gently used children’s books, to make an old-fashioned Valentine www.bluebirdbookshop.blogspot.com
• gemmesduterre will have lovely chocolate truffles and Valentine’s Day jewelry
• Carol Kovler has handmade paper cards and pressed flower picture frames

“At the Warehouse” is an eclectic community of small businesses that share one thing in common – we have a passion for what we do. Our winter market also includes delicious local foods from Cascade Mountain Winery, Four Brothers Goat Dairy, Center Square Honey (http://centersqhoney.livejournal.com/) and Dines Farms, as well as unique home décor from Silver Fox Architectural Salvage, Lars Turin’s Fine art pottery and sculpture, and wooden home accessories by KG Concepts.

At the Warehouse is located at:
20 Learned St. in North Albany
(behind Miss Albany Diner)
431-0606
www.atthewarehouse.net

Birds are Beautiful ...and so are Leah's new hats!

If you stop by Bluebird Books, you'll see some new items, including a line of sweet postcards, totebags and magnets by local artist Laura Glazer called Birds are Beautiful. I'm really glad she's joined us at the shop.

Also, Leah has been very busy designing new hats for children. Many feature lovely vintage buttons. She also created delectable hand-sewn felt "bacon and eggs", "BLTs" and "strawberries." They'd make great stocking stuffers for the pre-school set. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Speaking of stockings, I recently made felted wool stockings, which are available at the shop as well. Plus there are delicate paper ornaments that can be filled with treats to hang on the tree.

As you can see, we are decked out for the holidays! I've been doing most of my Christmas shopping At the Warehouse and it looks like many others are too. Last Saturday, which was "Buy Local Day", we had a great crowd of people enjoying not being at the mall.

Looking for a Mallternative?

Leave the cookie cutters for the holiday baking - find unique, locally-crafted gifts at the Warehouse's Holiday Gift Expo from noon until 5 pm on Friday, November 23 - also known as Black Friday.

Leisurely stroll around fascinating finds of antiques and architectural salvage and browse gently used children’s books while enjoying live music. You’ll also find:
· Beautiful and original pottery, artwork, woodcrafts and jewelry
· Funky hats for the kids and spunky aprons for the chefs
· Specialty teas and local wines, cheese, and honey for your holiday meals
· Holiday wreaths and ornaments, and lovely soaps and candles for the home

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas many merchants will have extended hours on Thursday evenings. The weekend market’s regular hours are Saturdays from 9 am until 3 pm and Sundays from 10 am until 3 pm. The architectural salvage business also has hours during the week.

Halloween Fest

The Halloween Fest was a lot of fun on Sunday. There were lots of really cute costumes on both the kids and adults.

Some of the vendors are talking about extending our hours during the holidays to be open Thursday evenings. The salvage business is already open late that night and the salsa class keeps things lively too.

Also, I'll be offering gift certificates soon - hopefully next week.

Banned Books Week September 29 - October 6

The American Library Association's "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 - 2000" looks like a great reading list - Judy Blume, Jean Craighead George, Shel Silverstein, Maurice Sendak, Mark Twain... http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm

"When the regime ordered
Books with dangerous knowledge
To be burned in public and everywhere
Oxen were forced to pull carts with books
to the bonfires, one of the persecuted poets
discovered one of the best
studying the list of the burned
disconcerted, that his books were forgotten.
He rushed to his desk, flying on wings of rage
and wrote a letter to the the authorities.
Burn me! he wrote with a quick stroke
Burn me! don't do this to me! Do not spare me!
Have I not always reported the truth in my books?
Yet now you treat me as were I a liar!
I command you: Burn me! "
Bertolt BRECHT
Poem titled "The Bookburning" (Die Bücherverbrennung)
German dramatist and poet (1898-1956)
(from http://www.ifla.org/faife/litter/subject/bookfire.htm)

Looking for books

Even though I have thousands of books at the shop already, I'm still looking for more, specifically books by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials series), Terry Pratchett (children's books), Christopher Paolini (Eragon series), Cornelia Funke, JK Rowling (Harry potter series,) and the Lemony Snicket series. These are some of our favorites at home.

I'd love to hear some recommendations, so if anyone has a favorite book they'd like to share, please post it.

I'm still working on the procedure for buying books. The amount I pay for them and whether I'll buy them will be based on quality and if I think I'll be able to sell them. Bring them down to the shop during business hours (Sat 9-3 and Sun 10-3) and I'll take a look at them. Please limit the quantity to 20 books for now.

Opening Day

The first day went well- I'm very happy with how the space is turning out. Fred and Camille added a really great mirror at the back of the room to add a little more light. Thanks for all the great photos Sheryl!