Throwback Tuesday: Discovery by ELO

I think I scored this gem for a whopping dollar, I broke it out and listened to it yesterday as I was snowed in and doing some photography for The Furnace Room. ELO is one of my favorite bands, orchestral themes mixed with rock and disco, what's not to love. Jeff Lynne is the man. This album is probably best known for "Don't Bring Me Down" which immediately slows my work flow as I cannot help but start dancing. "Need Her Love" is extremely sweet and "Midnight Blue" is probably one of my favorites as well,

I see you standing there far out along the way,
I want to touch you but the night becomes the day,
I count the words that I am never gonna say
And I see you midnight blue.

I wish more people would cover these songs because the lyrics are really beautiful. Although no one could ever outdue "Mr. Blue Sky", that song is pretty much perfect as is and will always be one of my favorites. So what is your throwback record for today? Leave a comment and maybe I'll give it a listen! 

Impromptu Life and Luna Moth Wings

 

Lately I've been taking a breather and planning my work schedule as I see fit, which has been a bit nice to say the least. I went for a short nature walk on my parents' farm and found this tattered luna moth wing. A luna moth features prominently in one of my stories and they seem so other worldly to me.

 

While working at home my mom showed up on my doorstep and offered to take me to get a haircut, lunch and a little impromptu thrifting. How could I refuse, we went to two of our usual jaunts and they did not disappoint. All in all I think I spent under $12. You can see all my wears in my Etsy shop! coleblk.etsy.com

 

I even found this, its from the 40s or 50s, the backing is a butterfly wing and the the glass is painted on the inside with an island scene.

Thrift Stores Are the Bacon of Shopping...

Sorry for my absence, my cousin Carrie and I went on a thrifting road trip and it did not disappoint. We laughed our way through Springfield, the Quad Cities, and Galesburg, IL. We were led on some wild goose chases and experienced lots of bargains, screaming babies, chatty hotel neighbors, one man motorcycle wheelie popping fist pumping shows, PMS ice cream outings, Gumbo Ya-Ya, would-be yogurt bandits, singing horrible 90s music, Bad Girl Video and Fat Cat's Tattoo lounge, a license plate that said WHO AM U, drive-in movies, paying in pennies, forgetting to eat lunch, and Willy Wonka saying "tell me how you're going to try and eat a salad." It was a magical journey.

  

The Sangamon Antique Mall in Springfield, lotsa junking fun.

The Route 66 Drive-In, I highly recommend this!! We saw Fast & Furious 6 (bleh) and Star Trek Into Darkness (woohoo!!!!)

 

Coasting through small towns scouting out garage sales, that is the best way to get deals.

 

Totally misleading, don't always trust the signs, they had a wooden tv table painted like a watermelon for $20. No thank you! Where's the quarter table?!? 

 

Oh heck yeah, ice cream, cures everything...except diabetes.

 

My haul! Lots of fun treasures! I've already listed some in my shop, coleblk.etsy.com. If you want to check out some of Carrie's treasures, check out swankyladyvintage.etsy.com. 

Always remember: "Thrift stores are the BACON of shopping, antique stores are the STEAK!"

Oh man. Siamese Cats and Peanut Noodles

"Oh man." Those were the only words that came out of my mouth in between stuffing it with this dish. Spicy Chinese Peanut noodles. This recipe is super easy and amazingly delicious (another recipe from the orange book, thank you Renee). I ended up making this for dinner because I saw a bottle of cider vinegar in my cabinet and couldn't remember what I bought it for. Then I saw the peanut butter and pasta and my memory miraculously returned. And it contains garlic and cilantro, any argument against this dish is invalid...if you have a peanut allergy just skip this post. Also if you are distracted by the two felines, you should be because they are cute. But don't get too attached, they just sold this week and are destined to become a Mother's Day gift for someone in North Dakota! Happy Friday.

In the land of quirk and Batman

For those of you who aren't aware, I run an Etsy store. I have for the past 4 years. Not the kind of venture to quit my day job over but a fun side business. I sell a little bit of everything, mostly things that my mom has parted with. She is the notorious jewelry collector of our family, she used to buy junk bags of jewelry, take the few good pieces and give me the rest. I started selling it and little things that I would pick up at garage sales, estate sales, flea markets and hand-me-downs. One of the coolest things I sold recently was a Batman ring from 1966, I sold it to one of the biggest Batman collectors in the nation and he had the matching bracelet but had not acquired the ring. I was thrilled! Also the Danish modern vase that I picked up at a garage sale years ago sold to a boutique called NEST in New York. Everything has a story and it is so neat to see where they go from here. And yes that is a thermometer tie clip, I picked that up in California at the end of last year and it was about 90 degrees outside. Whew, one hot deal!

Stocking the Shop

My mom recently unloaded some new treasures to put in our Etsy shop. I'm kind of a sucker for collecting jewelry, it's small, and sparkly. Need I say more? My vast collection can be confined to a few shoeboxes without completely overrunning my house. Jewelry is so interesting to me, because rather than something that someone owned and had in their house, they wore it. It lived on them, went with them to glamourous parties, remained with them day-to-day to commemorate a loved one, celebrated a special occasion, perfectly completed an outfit, or left them aghast after receiving it from an eccentric aunt. Jewelry boils down the essence of an age and tells a story. And I collect it all, from Victorian lockets to art nouveau lavalieres, kitschy pins to garish clip on earrings, Rosaries to cocktail rings.

I love my Mother...

I love my Mother, she is the epitome of generosity and she has the finder power to boot. She can't resist picking up things or giving people oddities from her own personal collections. Almost every time I visit home or she stops by she drops something off. Yes. The big-eyed cat, owls, locket and bracelet were left on my counter just the other night. The chair, well she took me to Teen Challenge, this hole in the wall thrift locale where if nothing is priced then you name it. I got this awesomely ugly chair for $5 and I've been nearly unable to bring myself to sit in it but I couldn't help but like the form. It's my fixer upper project of the month, and it's nearly done, just wait until you see the transformation!!!! I will definitely be sitting in it now :) Let's turn this Ethel into Edna Mode.

The Mother of All Estate Sales

Growing up, I was obsessed with pirates and buried treasure, Pippi Longstocking, Peter Pan, and The Goonies were no doubt my roll models, and I'm sure my jewelry collecting mother had a lot to do with it as well. At 26, that pesky obsession has never really disappeared, it has simply taken on a different form. I now deal in vintage goods and jewelry in my shop and striking "gold" has a different meaning. My cousin will concur that many people give us strange looks for our unusual picks we define as treasure. Last weekend we happened upon the mother of all estate sales, the kind that come around every few years that are unbelievable. These people saved everything! 17 rooms chock full of "treasure"! My cousin and I shook with excitement and I began filling our arms with amazing bits of bric-a-brac that either we "had" to have or stuff that we knew others would take into their own collections. It was like something out of a dream, and no joke, I dream about estate sales-probably latent memories of all of the ones that my mom took me to as a toddler. All in all, I obtained a Polaroid camera with film still in box, a bag of antique baseballs, a piece of Victorian mourning jewelry, a fire popcorn popper, a clear dome umbrella, a plaid umbrella, a 1958 home design magazine, 7 vintage books, a Bakelite cake cutter, a Vietnam War ammo pouch, stackable German drinking glasses, a wind-up Pac-Man toy, and the "gold" a bag of vintage Halloween masks including original C-3PO and Chewbacca masks from 1977. One man's trash is this girl's treasure.