Home Is Where The Haggis Is

Recently, I heard that one of my yoga instructors, Joe had opened a new store called The Outpost with his wife, Caroline in Wayne, IL which is not that far from where we live.  Actually, I had no idea where Wayne was located until I looked it up.  Talk about a little town with a big personality; there are all kinds of horse farms along the main road (Army Trail Road for you locals) and the town itself feels as if you have stepped back in time.  There is a small post office and police station -kind of like the towns in the two movies Funny Farm and Baby Boom, but without any of the crazies.

The first time I went there was with my mom who is my all-time favorite shopping partner.  We were in heaven looking at all of the items in the store.

There was an equestrian theme throughout because Caroline loves to ride horses.  I was eyeing a set of placecards with a horse bit design and went back recently to buy them because I kept thinking how perfect they would be when my husband and I host Christmas dinner this year.  “Oh Lisa,” I can already hear my mother-in-law saying, “wherever did you find these?”  Both her and my parents grew up riding horses so I am positive these will elicit rave reviews.

This store is a gold mine for gift shopping or for a little something for yourself and, might I add, that everything is so reasonable!

My mom bought these adorable Matryoshka doll lip glosses that would make perfect stocking stuffers for my girls.  I also found an owl-shaped lip gloss for my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher because she has an affinity for them.

Let’s go inside.

It is pretty apparent that Caroline has some decorating experience.  This vignette was beckoning me to sink into one of the high-back leather chairs with a glass of wine and good book.

I am pining for this hair on hide stool.  Here are also their hours of operation.

Another cozy corner.  The bowl of clementines is so simple, yet very chic with the pop of color.  Maybe switch to a bowl of chestnuts for winter?  With little ones in my house this would have to suffice as a centerpiece on our kitchen table, but I love the idea nonetheless.

There is an adorable kids corner filled with wonderful books.  The Tiffany’s Table Manners book  is a must for my girls in the not-too-distant future.  They also have lots of penny candy that is priced around 5 cents.

There is a bakery section as well.  On this particular day they were sampling brownies, cookies and pies.  The sawdust pie has me intrigued as well as the black bottom bourbon.

Pumpkin cookies.  So sweet.

Some incredibly beautiful coffee table books are placed about as well.

They also have a wonderful assortment of wines and spirits.

These bottles of gin scream ‘focal point’ for a bar at home.  Seriously though, wouldn’t they make a great gift for the man in your life?

Maybe whiskey is more his style?  They have that too.  I would love a set of antlers like this one pictured.  Gotta love the humorous pieces such as the sign too.  Seriously, I could spend a lot of time in this store taking in all of the details.

Check out that rack.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.

You can even grab a bundle of locally chopped firewood tied in twine on your way out.

Go check it out!