Frecklewonder

doozy doozers

I hate to be a downer, but I tell ya: I'm pooped! I don't know if I'm coming or going lately. I hinted at it a bit in the homepage message, and I'll get into it a little bit more here, hopefully without sounding like too much of a whiner...

Seems like there's never enough time in the day, and right now I'm just finding myself in a state of blah. I'm probably just super tired and I know I could really benefit from a few good mental health days! It's funny how I usually find myself the most frazzled when a little vacation is on the horizon. Coincidence? Who knows. Who cares, really. I've got next week off and I plan on spending every day at home with Henry, who will be on Spring Break from school. We're going to start our vegetable garden, which has become a little Spring Break ritual for our family, and put a whole box of tulip bulbs (given to us by a neighbor) into the ground. We're going to take little nature walks and have lunch (including milkshakes) at the diner, and maybe even do a day trip or two to the zoo or the aquarium or something fun and different like that. What I do not plan on doing is watching TV or staying up super late working, commuting into town, or staring at the computer screen for hours on end. I'm not even going to hit the thrift stores, and you know I have to be a little out of sorts if I'm not even doing that! I just feel like I want a break from the entire routine. The weather is nice now, and I want to sit out on my back patio outside my bedroom and read a book, and maybe have a little night time fire in our chiminea and lay in the yard and look at the stars. That's what I'm talkin' about, folks. I've got two more days, and I'm there.

we have fun together

we're off from school and work today, so we'll catchas back here on monday.
hope ya'll have a good weekend!

good things

ah, antique malls, how i love you. full of different vendors, stocked with everything from 1950s Life magazines to 40s tablecloths, funny ceramic animals and vintage pyrex. I've been going to antique malls since I was a kid, I guess it's in my blood a bit. My mom is into it too, and I can remember all the ooh-ing and ahh-ing we used to do as we'd cruise up the aisles, in search of a surprise.

I have a handful of regular haunts here in good ol' VA, but I love nothing more than discovering a new one when I'm out on the road. In fact, if you're in the Sioux Falls area, I highly recommend The Proud Panda... I have no idea what street it's on, but it's one that I have made a point to visit each time we've driven out west to visit Matt's family. Yes, it's *that* good (they probably have a website). I also found the city of Tallahassee to be quite juicy in the vintage/antique department. I was there a couple years ago with a friend, and we fell in love with a place, Funky Junky (I think). I know I have a little yellow Funky Junky button that was given to me by the girl that owned it.

On a thrifty note: if you are a visitor of the Goodwill, you might see a handsome, smiling face on their posters... well, he works at MY Goodwill! (yes, I call it MY Goodwill, ok?) His name is David, and he is so friendly and always smiling, so it's no wonder that he was chosen to be THE FACE.

And, speaking of the Goodwill, here's a recent score that is really making me happy:

I just love this. I really am going to get my groove thing on with Bonnie Prudden. And I am totally keeping my eyes peeled for more of these. Great stuff, I tell you. Happy Wednesday!

happy spring!

it's official. welcome, spring!

we've got 70 degrees and sunshine here in central virginia, and it's so nice. great to drive around with the windows down and the sun on your skin. i could deal with weather like this every day, no problem.

so, for those curious few: the JT show was great. i don't really want to gush about him too much, cause i start feeling a bit like a teenager, so i'll just say this: the whole thing was an amazingly choreographed event, with 10 dancers and a huge band, and whether or not you actually *like* JT and his music, you probably would have still been impressed by the show itself. i'm not sure if it was a somewhat special thing this time, but timbaland was there... JT mentioned that he was a virginia boy, and it seemed like it was a bit of a surprise when he surfaced on stage. he did a whole dj thing in the middle of the show.
i attempted to take some photos with my cell, but i'm pretty sure they fall into the category of the world's worst pictures ever...? i gave up after taking about 5 pics, cause it just seemed like a lost cause. anyhow, justin timberlake is one talented hottie, and i'll leave it at that.

in other news, i got an email a couple weeks ago from nicole, who just so happens to be an actress on guiding light!!! she delivered me some pretty bad news:(  my favorite soap *ever* has been canceled, with it's final episode airing in early september. huh? seems that nbc is making room for a 4th hour of the today show. do we really need FOUR hours of the today show? i haven't even watched it since katie left. color me confused! i have tuned in to passions for years now--- not EVERY day, mind you--- but sometimes as often as once or twice a week, sometimes maybe just once a month. and it never really matters cause the stories drag on for ever. you passions watchers know what i'm talking about---> teresa has been after ethan for 5 years (6 maybe?) and only now are they finally (seeming) to get together. i am guessing that the stories will accelerate here in the 11th hour. and there seems to be an effort to get the show picked up somewhere else. how can you not like a show that has witches and wacky supernatural stuff on top of all the normal soap opera stuff?!? hmph!

nicole: i will check you out on guiding light, i promise.

and  while i'm on the topic of tv, i'll go ahead and confess that i watched dancing with the stars last night. i always have to give myself a couch project when i sit down for these things, otherwise i kind of feel like... like... like, surely i could find something better to do with my time. i make myself feel a little less guilty with some hand sewing or flipping through old magazines looking for interesting papers to use in magnets or something like that... anyhow. anyone else watching? any predictions for this season's winner? did anyone feel like kym calling joey fatone "joey FAT ONE" was kind of awful and totally humiliating!??!?

that's all i got. i have to get myself back to work now. the rest of the afternoon involves a trip to the post, a little bit of thrifting, and house cleaning. i switched around some rooms in my house this weekend and i didn't get it finished, and now, there is a gigantic pile of clothing right in the middle of the living room floor just staring me down, and kind of mocking me that it'll be the end of the week before i actually get it all put away. i wish there were more hours in a day. 

the day is here

Wow, I feel like I haven't had two seconds this week to think about blogging! It's been really busy here, things are happening, I'm really busy working on some outside projects, and even though Spring seemed to be in the air...we had back to back days of upper 70s, and then SNOW. That kind of threw my brain for a loop. So thank goodness this day has finally rolled around. I ask you: what better way to end an ultra-hectic week than with this guy?

My sister and I nabbed tickets to this show right after they went on sale. I must admit, I am not a huge arena show kinda girl, I much prefer my 500 person-small-club-indie rock situations, but I will make an exception here for mister JT. Pricey tickets be damned! (And dayum, that's the most I've *ever* spent to see some music.)

I'll be back in action tomorrow, with a full report (for those of you who are interested). The shop will get another big update sometime this week, so look out for that too.

shop update

I'm here chipping away at this next shop update: LOTS of new items going up later on tonight! vintage stuff for spring, fun housewares, shoes, and some handmade too.

We will be sending out a mailer, so if you want to get on the list, just shoot me an email.

five

1. I hate cords. Lamp cords, cords around the entertainment center. The cord on the coffee pot. Any exposed cord. THey're such an eye sore and I dream of ways that I can hide them.

2. My maternal Grandmother is from Panama, which might seem odd, being that I am red headed and freckled. But, really- it's true. The rest of the fam is brown haired and tans in two seconds.

3. I was once on a billboard, posing for a classic rock radio station. I think I must have been 17, maybe 18 years old at the time.

4. I still check on Henry many times after he's gone to bed. I can't help it! Call me obsessive, call me a worry wart. But I still go in his room and watch his chest rise + fall, and put little kisses in his palms and whisper in his ear how much I love him.

5. I started drinking coffee when I was 12. Back then, it was this very weak stuff from my Grandparents percolator, with a good spoonful of white sugar and cream. Now, it's a rich, dark french pressed cup with a little brown sugar and milk.

collections::random things

I'm a crazy collector of vintage things. I have so many collections happening, that I think this sort of thing deserves it's own category. Pyrex, matchbooks, harlequin romance novels, enid collins bags, fabric (linens, tablecloths, tea towels + napkins), kids books, bird themed things, deer themed things, coffee mugs (especially those great ones made in japan), costume jewelry, juice glasses, mccoy planters, buttons, stamps and other vintage ephemera, and so on. I'm really not too picky. What can I say, I love old things.

dream home

If you've been around a while, you probably know that we bought a house last fall. It was an amazing, life changing event. Totally by chance, it was more like this house found us.

One day last summer we were over at my Mom's house beating the heat in the pool. At the end of the day, we cruised over the mountain to the new hot grocery store in my Mom's neck of the woods. I can remember it exactly: my Mom was all, "oooh, have you been to Martin's yet?! Oh, it's such a great grocery store, they have hardwood floors and organic health foodie stuff and a kid play area and you can ring your stuff in *at your cart* as you go along..." and so on. Then she remembered that she had a listing right in the area (she's a real estate superwoman) and thought it would be fun for us to see it.

So we head on over, and as we're entering the neighborhood, I'm in the back seat (Matt was in the front) yapping to my Mom that I just melt over mid-century homes, and she tells me to quickly prepare for the meltdown.

As we walked up the steps, I almost thought I shouldn't go in. It was too good. The neighborhood. The yard. The sunny day and all the green grass and trees and landscaping and the huge community garden across the street full of sunflowers and zinnias and vegetables and the HOUSE. The whole thing was so insane. Like, how did we get here? How do we make this place ours? Who do we need to sell our souls to to make this happen?!?!

The house was built in 1960, and it is an absolute stunner. So well loved + cared for. So well designed and planned. Never before on the market, and for some reason, unbeknownst to me, it had been on the market for 3 months with not a single offer. No garage? So what, I say. No central air? I don't care! The place is a dream come true! If we find ourselves really sweating it out in the dog days of summer, um... we'll add central air down the road. If we really don't like our cars being exposed to the elements, well... actually we don't give a rat's patootie about that.

We love it. If it's possible to be in love with a building, then that's it. We're in love. We are still in a total state of shock and it's been six months.

These pictures are from the second time we viewed the house, before we even placed an offer.

and here are a few lived in shots:

Heading into our very first Spring here, it should be a real treat to see what pops up in the yard. We're already seeing some little sneak peeks at flowers and little buds on trees + bushes. Without a doubt, the buzz has not worn off.