White Wednesday on Thursday

Just didn't get my act together to post yesterday. Kids were off of school and my #1 girl and I took a field trip to Portland to do a little shopping on Hawthorne Blvd. We had a great time and both of us found some cute things. I'll show you what I got on another post.

On Monday I headed out to one of my favorite thrift stores that I haven't been to in awhile. The Goodwill Outlet aka "The Bins." It's usually hit or miss at the bins and you can't be afraid to dig. In fact, I think it should be call "The Dig" because that is exactly what you do. It was a great day for me as I found lots of cool stuff including a rusty metal bucket with wood handles, an extra large metal "in" basket, wire basket, cute chalkboard that will only need a little makeover, and a whole lot of whites.

This little chippy cake container was one of my first finds that day. Love it!

In this messy white pile is a chenille bedspread, several sheer tab top panels, a pair of grungy but cool quilted shams, lace runner, and lace tablecloth. Most of this is headed to the washing machine for a good oxy soak. BTW, I know I've mentioned this before, but I absolutely love OXY CLEAN. If you haven't tried it before, what are you waiting for? It is awesome!

I also found several cute tops including these.



The one on the far left is one I got at Expo for $3.00. I love it, but unfortunately I need to lose a few pounds before I can wear it. Wouldn't it be adorable with jeans? Anyway, the other tops in this picture were all found at the Bins. They need a little soak too but will be great after a little tlc.

I also got this sweet, not vintage, nightgown and cute little crinoline slip at the bins.

You would hate me if I told you how much I paid for all of the goodies I got that day, but believe me, it was a steal.

Here are a couple more white cuties.

Sweet vintage double doily.

This is a linen runner that I found at Monticello a couple weeks ago. It has this embroidered picture at both ends. It is unhemmed and my thought was to cut it in half and make two hand towels for my powder room, but now I'm thinking I might make one towel and one pillow. The embroidery on this is just lovely.

That's it for me. Wow! Three posts in one week. What has gotten into me? Hope you are having a fabulous Thursday and thanks for stopping by.

Dreaming of Paris-Part Trois

This is part three in a series of posts from my trip to Paris three years ago with my Dad. Each night I wrote down what we did that day so I could remember all the things we did, saw and ate. Most nights I was too tired to go into much detail but you can get the general idea. Also, this trip was pre-blog and I didn't take as many pictures as I would if I took the trip today. If you want to read parts one and two you can do so here and here.

"Woke to clowdy skies and took bus #69 to the Marais area. Grabbed a chocolate/almond croissant and oj at a bakery once we got there. Found Avenue St. Paul which was suppose to have a flea market, but we didn't see one. Shops in the area not opened yet so we strolled around the area a bit and visited Place de Vosges, a neat former Palace with a park in front.

Went back to St. Paul and a couple of the shops were open. Very expensive stuff. Did not buy one thing. Decided we would head to Montmartre (the area in the movie "Amelie") so we took bus #65 to bus #30 to the base of Montmartre and went to the top to Sacre Coeur.

Great view of Paris, but couldn't see Eiffel Tower from there, too cloudy. Walked down some really quaint cobbled streets to this square with lots of painters selling their works of art. Lots of people there to paint portraits too. Such a neat atmosphere. We stopped in the square at a restaurant to have lunch. Escargot and a croche monseur for me. Very tasty, but too much food. Surprised by the large portions here in Paris. Oh yes, I forgot to say, I paid .50 euro to pee in pub in Montmartre.

After lunch we made out way to the Moulin Rouge on a very seedy, X-rated, touristy, street. After that we had a hard time finding a bus back to our hotel. Ultimately we took a cab back to the Marais area and then caught the #69 bus back to Rue Grenelle right by our hotel. Rested and cleaned up for dinner.

Spotted a fancy restaurant called the "Cafe de l'Esplanade" on Rue Grenelle. Very posh. Valet parking on a busy street. Hard to read menu. Had some kind of fish with Bearnaise sauce and yummy mashed potatoes. Keith (my Dad) had steak again which ordered medium well and it came pretty red. He sent it back after he had eaten most of it and it came back okay looking on the outside and raw on the inside. He wasn't too happy. I guess he should have said "well done." He had fancy cookies for desert and I had some kind of pastry with strawberries and cream. Walked back to the hotel on St. Dominque and passed out."

Hope you are enjoying my little trip down memory lane. Part four will be be about meeting up with Isabel and her family for a little site seeing.

Sweet Friends

The other day I got a little package in the mail. I was curious because I wasn't expecting anything. It was from Amy. Here's what she sent.

Adorable little vintage embroidered guest towel, lavender heart sachet, vintage fabric covered notebook and adorable fabric covered magnets. All with my favorite, pink roses! She sure has me pegged.

These little gifties were a thank you from Amy. Awhile back I sent her a little package in the mail with some vintage fabrics I knew she would like and would use in her projects. If you haven't already visited Amy's new blog. Please do so and say hi. She has an etsy shop too. I noticed on her last post some adorable little towels she has embellished with crochet pieces. I know she was planning on taking them to the All Saints Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, which unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go to, but I'm hoping she has at least one left for me to buy.

On another note Sheila from Tattered Goods who I have never met, but consider her a friend, gave me a sweet blog award. This one says I have to tell ten things about myself. I have done this before and always have a hard time coming up with things to say but here goes.

1. I am a movie freak and now a Netflix addict. Watching movies online is my number one time waster these days. Probably the reason I can't motivate myself to work on projects.

2. While I love shopping thrift stores, antique shops, garage sales, etc. I am not a big fan of estate sales. I just don't like the competitive, pushy people there so you won't find me at an estate sale unless I just accidentally drive by one. Most of my good friends already know about this one.

3. When I was a little girl I took lots of dance classes. Ballet, tap and jazz and was convinced that I would grow up someday to be a professional dancer. Then I got into cheerleading and did that for six years. I also played softball and did track in High School. My kids hate sports.

4. I graduated from Oregon State University (Go Beavs!) with a degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management. Worked for 6 years as a Hotel Sales Manager for Hilton, Red Lion and Embassy Suites Hotels.

5. I decided to be a stay-at-home Mom when my daughter was born almost 16 years ago. I have never once regretted that decision.

6. I am absolutely crazy in love with my husband of 18 years and my kids. They would just say I'm crazy.

7. I can't believe I am a parent to two teenagers. Wasn't I just a teenager myself a few years ago?

8. I'm loving Facebook and all the friends I have become reacquainted with. Will be going to a mini reunion/sleepover with some friends from High School next weekend and recently met up with a friend from college for lunch which was so much fun.

9. If I could, I would move to France for a year. I wouldn't want to live there permanently, just long enough to become fluent and become completely absorbed in the culture.

and finally

10. I never could have imagined how blogging would change my life and open my world to new friends, inspiring ideas and touching stories. It has been such a great almost 2 1/2 years since I started this silly thing called blogging.

That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. If you want to see my other posts with things about me, you can go to the bottom of my sidebar and click on the "About Me" category.

I'll be back soon with another installment of "Dreaming of Paris." Happy Monday!

Finds

Wow, I have really been a blogging slacker. It has been a week since I last posted and I wish I could show you some fabulous projects I have been working on, (there aren't any) but you will have to just settle for some pictures of the stuff I found over the last week.

As I mentioned on my last post, I took my #1 girl and my Mom with me over to the Tarte barn. Cindy was so cute decked out in her pink afro and mile long eye lashes. The barn wasn't bad either. Just kidding. It was awesome, as always. Got to visit with Joe a little bit too, which is always fun. He was nice enough to snap this picture of me and my posse.
I didn't buy much, but I did get another "O" (for "ROSES", remember?), a cute little metal cabinet with drawers (not shown) which my daughter confiscated, and this lovely feather ticking pillow which I bought out of Joe's truck at the last minute. I love the fabric on this oneOn Friday at the Portland Antique Expo, I found this adorable aqua blue crinoline. So much prettier in person. It has been pretty clowdy and gloomy around here lately, making it hard to take decent pictures.Found these goodies on a day out thrifting. The decanters, I think, are crystal. Very heavy, but so lovely. I love these for bath salts or bubble bath. I am using the cute jar in front with the spout for dish soap in my kitchen.
I got not one, but two vintage beveled mirrors on the same day. One at Goodwill and one at Value Village. Don't need to do much with these as they are great as is.
More small finds at Expo. Little glass and brass box, diamond chip watch, little rhinestone pin, blue rhinestone pin and tiny rick rack.
I did find a couple other vintage slips at Expo, but can't find them right now. My favorite find of the day has to be this adorable pink lace dress. This one is so, so much prettier in person. I love all the lace from the top to the bottom.
Here's a close up of the lace.
And finally, for some reason I decided I had to have a cute square dance dress. So, I looked on etsy (one of my most favorite websites) and found this.
Cute, simple and cheap brown and white checked vintage square dance dress. I had my son take this picture of me with my head cut off. I love that I found this dress and that it actually fits me perfectly. Now I need to decide if I gussy it up with lace and/or rick rack or leave it as is. What do you think? This may be a potential Farm Chicks outfit for next year. Okay, I know it's a long way off, but it's never too soon to start planning your wardrobe for such a special event.

Speaking of Farm Chicks, we got our contract in the mail this week! Yippee! So excited to be doing this fabulous show again next year. Already thinking about how I'll do things differently next year.

So, that's it for me for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

Home Again and a Birthday Boy

Back from my trip to Southern California. I had such a great time visiting with family, shopping and eating. My most favorite things. Here is where I admit that I was awful about taking photos. Really, I was. I only took my camera out of my bag once. Here is the shot I got.

This lovely headboard was in my most favorite antique shop in Temecula. Isn't it gorgeous? I know Isabel would love it.

My Dad and I did manage to hit the Long Beach Flea Market on Sunday. I wasn't sure it was going to work out to go, but am I ever glad I did. We spent several hours walking and looking, looking and walking. I heard from one dealer that she sold something to Simon Baker that day. I told my Dad that I would most likely never see a celebrity at a flea market because I hardly ever look up. I'm always looking at the stuff.

While I didn't take any pictures of my trip, here are a few pictures of the things I bought.

A chocolate brown crinoline and white fluffy crinoline.

Calling cards, rhinestone hair clip, rhinestone pin and two old watch faces.

Old picture frame, pair of old crusty electric sconces, pair of wood and porcelain lamps, metal architectural pieces, black metal hooks, sweet cotton slip with lace, crochet sachet, bag of glass knobs (not shown ) and three velvet hangers.

Sunday was also the day of my step-Mom, Thetis' retirement party. She retired two weeks ago after spending 40 years working for the US Postal Service. You wouldn't believe how excited she is to be retired. They had Romano's Macaroni Grill cater the party (yummy!) and it was just so nice to visit with my So. Cal family.

Remember I mentioned that when my Dad and I were in Paris we went to three movies? Well, a visit with my Dad just isn't complete without going to see a show. This time we saw "The Boys are Back" with Clive Owen. Great movie! I highly recommend it. Wonderful acting, gorgeous photography, touching story.

I not only ate at my favorite breakfast place, Swing Inn, once, but twice. Biscuits and Gravy the first time, Giant Cinnamon Roll the second time. And as far as beating my Dad at tennis, let's just say that I started off strong, (lost first set 5-6) and then fell apart (lost second set 0-6). I was too exhausted to play a third. Okay, my Dad may be almost 70, but he plays every week, while I only played twice since I last visited him in February. I guess I need to practice more or maybe take some lessons.

So basically that was my trip. It is so good to be home. Today is my son's 14th birthday. I can hardly believe it. It seems as if it was only yesterday when he looked like this.

Look what we found at Costco.

In kindergarten with his red-headed mom who was parent-helping that day.

Camping cutie

Now he looks like this.


He's awesome! Gets straight A's and plays a mean electric guitar.

Yesterday I was at the Portland Expo helping Isabel set up and doing a little shopping. I found a few cute things which I will show in my next post. This morning I am taking my Mom and my blue haired girl to the Tarte Barn Sale. Family birthday party tomorrow so a busy, but fun weekend! I hope you are having a fun weekend too!

Finally, I thought I would show you a picture of my "love." I finally found an "e." Right now it's on my mantel, but it may end up somewhere else. I love letters. I think I'm going to try to find "Pink" next or maybe "Roses." Wish me luck!

I'm Off

Leaving early tomorrow morning for my trip South. I'll be back next week with some pictures and stories of my trip. Until then, have a fun weekend!

Nothing Much

Hi there! I can't believe that I have been back from Kauai for two weeks now. After a summer of busy-ness with shows, moving into a new antique mall, and family activities, I am finally slowing down. I haven't been a good blogger lately. Partly due to the fact that there are four people in my family and only one computer. Partly because I haven't really done anything blog-worthy these last two weeks.

I could tell you about the fun new cowboy boots I found at Monticello last week

(can't wait to wear these with some dresses/skirts and tights this season)

or the cute pair of mary janes I got yesterday at TJ Maxx.

(I love Mary Jane's-they make me smile just looking at them and these are really comfy!)

Or I could tell you about the fabulous cast iron casserole I bought at Macy's. It's the 5 quart Martha Stewart one in a nice bone color. So far I have made meatballs and beef stew in it and I'm looking forward to making many more soups, stews and casseroles in it this fall/winter.

(A special thanks to Timi for posting the link to these casseroles on her blog)

I did find a few things at a couple garage sales this weekend and last. Some of them have already landed at Monticello and Splendid. But others, like this trunk and little side table are waiting for some elbow grease.

( The little table will get some sanding and paint, the trunk some sanding and a little bit of my special stained wax)

Speaking of Splendid, my booth there is packed to overflowing. Most of the stuff (cool junk) that was left over from the Monticello Fall Sale went there. Wish I had taken a picture of it, but I was in a hurry to meet up with some friends for lunch and forgot.

Not a lot planned for this weekend, but it is Onion Festival today in my little town and there is Fireman Chicken to be had. It is so yummy!

As an added note, I also wanted to tell you about my friend Amy who finally started her blog, Into Vintage. Amy is an incredibly creative and sweet gal and has been selling her lovely creations on ebay for years and is also selling on etsy. I first met Amy at Expo a few years ago when I was selling with Isabel. I haven't seen her since last November when we were neighbors at a Christmas bazaar. Amy is super sweet so stop by and give her a warm bloggy welcome. I'm sure she would love it.

Next weekend I'll be making that trip to So. Cal that I mentioned on my last post. I'm really looking forward to visiting with family down there and hopefully doing a little shopping. I'll also get to have breakfast at my favorite place (Swing Inn in Temecula) and try to beat my dad at tennis for once. Should be a good time and I think the weather will be nice too! Hope you all have a fun and relaxing weekend!