Thrift Report: West Coast Edition

I went to Washington for work earlier this month and was able to hang out with some dear, dear friends - Jake and Amy and their two daughters. I actually met their family for the first time at our wedding. Jake and Andy have been best friends for years but since they live so far away, I was never able to meet them until they came to town for the wedding. I am so thankful for them and their wonderful, amazing daughters who are like nieces to me!

Amy is one of the kindest, most generous people I've ever met. She handed me this owl plaque and said she had had it for me for awhile! She's the best. It's going on my office gallery wall whenever I get around to doing that! 



I squeezed in some thrifting in my downtime and found...



A cute ceramic owl, a kinda crazy whale bank, and some poorly-painted owls.

I put the brown owl in my booth yesterday. I'm keeping the whale - I just need to work on it. The flowery design is done in puffy paint so I need to figure out how best to remove that. Then I'm going to paint it a solid color - those lips and huge eyes freak me out!

I also want to paint over the owl duo and put those in my booth.



I found these fun souvenir plates - Hawaii, Ireland, San Francisco, California, and a mother's day plate.



Ughhhhhh I still want to quilt. It's been a goal for years but I'm scared and so I haven't started. I picked up these fabric pieces because they were cute, pre-cut, and didn't smell awful like the ones I bought last year in Gatlinburg.

And I found some cute, never-used retro potholders!




I have felt such a surge of nostalgia for little golden books lately, so I picked out some favorite stories to bring home.



I keep thinking about starting a stationery shop on etsy since I love buying/selling vintage stationery but it doesn't do well in my booth. Sooo, these would go in there if I ever do that! (I'm thinking maybe labor day weekend I could get some work done on it? We'll seee....!!)



Love aghans! Love finding cool patterns and colors.



These will both go to my booth soon, although I have 3 afghans there that have been there for a loooong time. Do people not love them as much as me? (She types while snuggled up under a teal afghan she bought at Goodwill and kept!)

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TCM's Star of the Month - Doris Day

My mom sent me an adorable video of Doris Day talking about her career and her co-stars. The video is all clips from her movies that mimic/match what she's saying about her life. It's REALLY cute...check it out below!


I love, love, love Doris Day and this video just further cements my love of her.

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Whale Really!

Melissa from Andromeda Vintage posted her recent finds lately and I fell in love with one of her items in particular! I don't know why I'm so obsessed with animal things right now, but I saw this whale and immediately emailed her to buy it!


He was so cute, but a little scuffed and worn. I broke out my Brasso and cleaned him up and now he's shiny!


I'm not sure where he'll live yet...I've been working on getting my upstairs office organized, so he might head up there...or he might hang out on a bookshelf in the living room. I'll post a photo once I figure that out!

And a note about Whale Really--"owl really" is a play on "oh really."

Well, now that I'm obsessed with whales, I have joked that I could re-brand to "whale really" as a play on "well really!" ha!

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New Fawns Paint By Number

Be still my heart! Vanessa from Thrift Core was having a sale a few weeks ago and just happened to be selling the most adorable pair of paint-by-number fawns. I fell in love with them and happily, I had a $25 etsy gift card (a Christmas gift from my mom) I hadn't redeemed yet. Woohoo!

So, they came and they are wonderful! (I am in a MAJOR fawn phase right now!)


I am working on my office (in our little finished attic) and Andy mounted a tv/monitor at my desk (I've gotten used to doing my day/real job with an extra monitor, so it's nice to have if I work at home) and I'm planning to do a gallery wall around the monitor...these will be the stars of the gallery wall. :)

Vanessa has such great stuff - be sure to shop her store!

And, I love the personal touches she includes! She drew this cartoon on my package:

Owl and fawn friends!!! So cute!

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My Future Favorite Movie: Saving Mr. Banks

This is probably the best news I've heard all week. :)

This December, Disney is releasing a movie about the MAKING of MARY POPPINS. I love love love love love Mary Poppins, I have a newfound love of Disneyland (via those youtube videos), I love all things 60s, and Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks are two of my favorite actors.

B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman as the Sherman Brothers!

This is the perfect combination of a lot of amazing things and I am FREAKING OUT. The trailer is delightful and made me cry. This looks so amazing. I am so, so, so happy and excited!!

Find out more and watch the trailer here!

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The Best Find Ever

I've collected a few random vintage things for a future kid but I think this takes the cake as the best find EVER. 

Monday, I was at a pre-estate sale (our friend is running a sale this weekend and let us come check it out as they were still preparing it) and I was checking out some old windows for my mom when I heard Andy say, "I want to find something like this, but for Opryland." I looked over and he had a HUGE, pristine, vintage map of the Magic Kingdom!


My eyes teared up - it was a crazy, instant emotional reaction. I couldn't believe how cute it was and how special it was! He found it in the bottom of a stereo, strangely enough!

It's wonderful and I think it will be amazing framed and in a kid's room someday!


I'm not one of those major Disney fans that trades pins and such, but I have a healthy appreciation for Disney that's been growing over the past few years. I think this map is so amazing and I love it SO much!

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Owl Really Featured on Thrift Core

I am so excited to announce that my little booth was featured on Thrift Core! I have been faithfully reading Thrift Core for over a year - Van is such a great communicator and she has so many helpful tips on selling vintage! She is very inspirational and I was so honored when she asked if she could feature my booth and some tips from ME!


You can read the post here - be sure to add Thrift Core to your daily reads. It is GREAT!

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Friday Fun: Vintage Family Photos - My Baby Nursery

Next Wednesday is my birthday, so I thought it'd be fun to take a look at my nursery from when I was a baby!

That's me!


I am not sure what this is!! Baby toys used to be kinda scary, am I right??


I am definitely right. Giant teddy bear with some GIANT EYES. But check out that Dumbo lamp! I bet someone made that for me in ceramics! :)


Sweet little crib.


Close up...I definitely remember that blanket from my childhood!


One more bear shot. :)

Maybe my mom will comment with some more details!! :)

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Did You Know The Dick Van Dyke Show Theme Has Lyrics?

We all know I'm totally obsessed with the Dick Van Dyke show and so of course I follow the show page (run by TV Land) on Facebook. This week, they shared an old clip of Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on the Rachael Ray show. He is so incredibly charming and wonderful that this clip almost made me cry! I so wish there was a way to see him (or better yet, them!) in person somehow before it's too late. (Sorry for the slightly morbid sentiment - I would just love to see them somehow!)

The Rachael Ray video player won't let me embed the video, so click below to see him sing the lyrics to the theme song and to hear who he and Mary Tyler Moore would cast to play Rob and Laura if they could cast from actors today. I like Mary's answer for Rob!

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How To Catalog Your Vinyl Collection

If you love vintage, chances are you have a record collection, am I right?? If you have an extensive vinyl collection, it can be hard to keep track of what you have.

A fraction of our records, all spread out 2 years ago when Andy moved in after our wedding

A backstory: years before I met him, Andy lived in a house with an extra apartment upstairs. He and his roommates used the extra space for a recording studio and Andy stored his records in the kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, the cabinets weren't strong enough to hold the weight of the records and they eventually fell off the wall. Andy lost the majority of his record collection in that accident and since then, he has had a hard time remembering what records he currently owns.

For part of his anniversary gift, I decided to catalog his collection so he would always know what he owns! I did a bit of research and discovered Discogs.com, a site that allows you to keep track of all music you own (vinyl, CDs, cassettes, etc) and even syncs to an app called Crate Digger. Find out more below!

Start by creating a free account on Discogs.com. People can see your collections, so if you want to remain anonymous, don't choose a username that is associated with you. Andy is a turntablist and goes by DJ Fat Andy, so I created "djfatandy" as his username.

There is an option for barcode scanning to add to your collection, but the majority of our vintage vinyl isn't going to have a barcode, unless you're a big 80s and 90s fan! The easiest way to input your records is to input the catalog code you find on the record jacket or actually on the record label.

I love Jim Croce and my obsession has resurfaced as I'm reading his biography (more on that later!), so let's take a Jim Croce record as an example.


On the label on the record, you will see a code that is made up of letters and numbers that represent the edition of the album. This number is what you can search for on Discogs.com to find the exact edition you have.


Once you search and find your edition, click on it:


A page will open with ALL the information about the album. Now that you've clicked through to your edition, you can add it to your collection:


Before I realized you had to click ALL the way through to your exact edition, I couldn't figure out why I couldn't add a record to the collection. Make sure you search the album, then click your edition, then add to collection!

Once you've added all your records to your collection, you can download Crate Digger for the iPhone. You don't have to log into Crate Digger with your Discogs.com username and password--all you have to do is navigate to "Collections" and type in your username. Your entire collection loads to your phone so you can browse!

You can even create a "wantlist" on Discogs.com and keep that loaded into Crate Digger! Andy had the great idea of consulting charts/lists of the top records to add to a wantlist. Discogs.com even lets you buy and sell vinyl! I'm really pleased with the site and app and I think it will work pretty well for Andy to consult to see what he does and doesn't have.

If you're wondering if it's a time-consuming process, I will let you know that it took me about 6 hours to process his 434 records. Luckily, there was a night where he was away for HOURS (DJing Promocalypse, the Nashville "zombie prom") and I got them all done in one night. It was quite a project, but so worth it for his reaction when I showed him his record collection on my iPhone! :)

Good luck! Let me know if you decide to set up a Discogs.com account!

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Shabby Apple $50 Gift Card Giveaway

Oooh, so fun! Shabby Apple contacted me and wanted to know if I'd be interested in doing a $50 gift card giveaway on my blog. ABSOLUTELY!

I love vintage style dresses and chances are good that you do too! :)

Check out their inspired vintage clothing and leave a comment below (before noon central on Sunday, May 5) with the name of your favorite Shabby Apple item to enter to win! Edited to add: You need to leave a valid email address so that you can be contacted if you win.

Edited to add: There have been some highly suspicious entries so far. You must be a real person and use a real name or leave your email address to be entered to win. I am very suspicious of names that are plays on things like "Very Cool" and "Really Amazing."

US Residents are eligible only and one entry per person, please.

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The Kindness of Bloggers

I've been faithfully blogging for almost 2 years now and I have met and corresponded with some amazing people! I want to share just a few of those people because I've been the recipient of some awesome kindness from bloggers lately!

First up, I won this awesome giveaway from Betty Crafter! She has a love for crewelwork (like me!) and she even developed her OWN crewel pattern inspired by some of the most popular vintage patterns. I am so impressed by her talent! She held a giveaway on her blog and I was so ecstatic to win! I am completely intimidated by the project but I hope to work up the gumption to start it soon.


Secondly, through my mom, I was introduced to Robelyn of Redneck Chic. She is SO crafty - I don't think there's anything she can't do! She recently visited Nashville and she stopped by my booth at the antique mall and LEFT ME A PRESENT! What! She is so kind and thoughtful!!! Check out this awesome messenger bag she made!!


And finally, the oh-so-wonderful Eartha Kitsch opened up her garage to me, Lisa, and Rae and let us raid a stash of amazing vintage items that she was getting rid of. We could take as much as we wanted! It was like a vintage-lover's dream come true! I came home with 4 boxes full of awesome things, some of which you can sorta spy in this photo. I was running out of daylight and wanted to pack everything safely, so I was working like a madwoman to transfer and wrap the breakables into rubbermaid tubs.


Amazing, right????

I feel so thankful to be in such a kind and generous community!

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Friday Fun: Vintage Family Photos + Dream House

My mom scanned all the photos from my childhood several years ago and these were included. They went to look at a dream house in '84 but didn't get it. Here it is!












 

Looks a little rough, but it WAS built in 1899!

According to Google Maps, this is what the house looks like now! It really IS a dream house!!


It's beautiful! Looks like it's been lovingly restored... I love the white paint!

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The Dick Van Dyke Show--Buddy Sorrell: Man & Boy

Confession: I fall asleep to The Dick Van Dyke Show on my iPhone every night. I love it so much.

Several weeks ago, I was surprised by an episode in Season 5 called Buddy Sorrell: Man and Boy. In this episode, Buddy begins acting very strangely and Rob and Sally suspect him of cheating on his wife! What!!!!

So, I won't spoil it for you, but Buddy isn't being shady. He has a very good and heartfelt reason for his suspicious behavior and I've read that this episode actually marks the first bar mitzvah ever shown on TV! I'm not Jewish, but I think that's really cool.

If you haven't given The Dick Van Dyke Show a chance, you should! Check out this groundbreaking episode (click here!) or browse other episodes here!

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Friday Fun: Vintage Family Photos + The Muppets Live

Every Friday, I'm posting vintage photos from my childhood!

Ohhhh, look at this little face!! Does she know what she's about to experience????



THIS!!


 We are definitely Muppet fans in our household and I wish I had memories of this show, but I definitely don't! It looks like a total blast though - check out the mid-dance shot below!

 What is Gonzo doing?! :)



 Totally enthralled!





 The whole gang!

I found the commercial for the tour on youtube!

So fun!!!

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