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!"

Dang it, another estate sale

I know, it's a sickness sometimes. In celebration of my birthday my mom, aunt and cousin met up at an estate sale. Needless to say I bought more than I should have but it was very useful stuff. My loot included an entire box of vintage pyrex for $6 (most of which I will be keeping because I actually cook with it), a vintage globe, a bar mixing set, another bag of weathered baseballs!, and a cocktail book. My cousin and I broke out in a fit of giggles as we postulated the fact that one day someone will be rummaging through all of our treasures/junk and taking it home with them. We then proceeded next door only to find more treasures, particularly in The Junk Room, it was dirty and full of miscellaneous debri which one was forced to dig through. My buy of the day had to be this little bag of random Star Wars ephemera, which included 3 original figures from the first movies. The child inside leapt with excitement. I GOT ADMIRAL ACKBAR!!! IT'S A TRAP! Yes Admiral, thrifting is a trap indeed.

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.