Stormville Flea Market Treasure Hunt!

In the words of Bill (words I never thought would come out of his mouth, although I detected a hint of sarcasm), "Let the treasure hunting begin!"

To celebrate Labor Day weekend, the family headed to Stormville, New York for some bargain hunting galore! Lauren only looks crabby in this picture because Bill was living up to the picture on his shirt. But I know she was secretly excited inside...

Especially about these $35 EACH seltzer bottles. We would have loved them to adorn our kitchen counter tops but they were way out of our price range!

I loved the McCoy pottery. I tried to convince James and Bill that I could use the Shawnee globe as a candy dish but they just said it looked broken. Men!


Of course there were plenty of salt and pepper shakers for me to dream about adding to my kitchen and dining room shelves. I think that the key is for me to just take pictures of all of them from now on since I have absolutely no space to put them!

Bill is not smiling on the inside. James was being a good sport though!


Maybe because he was excited about the $10 Otis Anderson (does the name ring a bell Dad?) signed Sports Illustrated that he bought within the first 5 minutes of the morning.

Daddy and I liked the HO scale Monopoly trains. How cool!?! But again, we weren't big fans of the price!

While my family finished shopping, we stopped to rest so I could take a picture of our purchases:

Vintage postcards to use for scrapbooking $2
Winnie the Pooh salt and pepper shakers $5
White Owl cigar box to go with our snowy owl collection $4
Morton pink peacock wall pocket $15 - now I have a girl peacock and a boy since I already have the green one at home!

We ended our family day with a trip to Stew Leonard's for lunch and a trip to the petting zoo. Lauren is happier here because Bill isn't nagging her about spending money at the flea market anymore. Despite some newlywed turmoil (okay I'm exaggerating a little), it was definitely a successful trip!

Antiques Capital of the U.S.A.

Also known as Adamstown, Pennsylvania. We went to a wedding for one of James' college friends this weekend. The four hour drive wasn't so bad, considering that it gave me time to crochet 8 baby hats, and I had something to look forward to...antiques! We started our journey in a magical carriage...















Not really, but I thought it was really cool so I took a picture. It was a little out of my price range. Going to Adamstown is sort of like going to wine country with sprawling vineyards as far as the eye can see. There is a street full of miles and miles of antique shops and flea markets everywhere you look. Lot of fun kitchen collectibles...















And, of course, salt and pepper shakers. I took home the cute little mouse sitting on the clock in the top center of the picture. Hickory, dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock. Cute, right?






























Here is a hot picture of our legs in the mirror of a fishy display. What you can't see is the scowl on James' face. Which is not fair because he spent more money than I did! He found a Star Wars Jeff Gordon car - now what are the chances of that?

Putnam Antiques Road Trip

My mom and I decided to do some exploring last week and what better way than to drive two hours (ugh) to Putnam, CT for some antiquing. Although it wasn't as exciting as the first time we came across the town last year, we definitely found some treasures!















First, we stopped at the Boxcar Children Museum. Putnam is the birthplace of Gertrude Chandler Warner, one of my favorite childhood authors. Of course it was closed, but we still got to see the boxcar that started it all.















Then we headed to the antique shops. Here are some cool vintage packages. I think that I'm going to start saving empty Goldfish boxes so that after I die, my grandchildren can sell them for a fortune. I mean, really!















And of course, salt and pepper shakers were in abundance. I stayed strong and didn't add any to my collection on this trip though.















I did, however, become weak in the knees when I spotted these buttons. They were only $6 and I know they will look amazing on my crocheted flower hair clips.















And I also got this cute Lefton girl with apples. She is sitting on my shelf at home reminding me of fall - I can't wait! Although I can wait for school to start back up again signaling the end of my summer exploring days...so sad!

Winter Scrapbooking

In an attempt to stay cool in the 100 degree weather, I decided to break out some winter pictures to scrapbook inside. Unfortunately, the craft room has the worst temperature control in the house. And our air conditioner won't go lower than 81 degrees due to the beaming afternoon sun. So I only got two pages done. But that's definitely more scrapbooking than I've done in months, so I'll take it!






























I'm so lame that I even scrapbooked a page with my Christmas salt and pepper shakers! Ohhhh man...

The Epic Estate Sale

Also known as the estate sale of the century.

Or the reason I feared for my marriage today.

It was difficult enough convincing James to go to the beach today. But when I saw the estate sale sign I knew I had to go. I asked him to turn around at least 20 times in 30 seconds before he finally turned onto a side street and decided to submit to my pleading. I knew that I hit the jackpot when we walked in the house and found a shelf with salt and pepper shakers. "There are more in the dining room," said the estate sale lady. James just rolled his eyes and complained about how he was suffocating from the old person smell and went to go wait in the car. He seriously left me alone in 93 year old woman's house full of salt and pepper shakers. And to make matters worse (or better for me!), they were only $1 per pair. I picked out a few and started a pile. Then I toured through the house as quickly as possible so that James wouldn't have enough time to file for divorce while I was shopping. There were beautiful crocheted doilies and embroidered linens that I have absolutely no use for but wanted to buy so badly. Old sewing supplies, vintage Christmas decorations, antique teacups and kitchen accessories. I could have stayed there for hours. But I tried to be good and only spent $7.















First was this Dickson Christmas Angel planter. Not that I'm going to plant anything in it. Because we all know it will just die.















The pigs with the flowers in their hair were absolutely adorable to begin with. But then I spotted the ones in the little Scottie dog sweaters. With diamond eyes. Are you freaking kidding me?















Aren't these deer adorable? They have glue spots where their hair used to be on their heads and tails. And I already have like 3 sets of deer salt and pepper shakers at home. Oh well. Too bad I bought them anyways.















These two definitely are definitely reminiscent of James and me in the future. He's already really pumped up to sit on the front porch (don't have one yet) in his rocking chair (need one of those too) and yell at those darn neighborhood kids.















I bet you can't wait to find out what's in this container....















And last but not least...when I showed these to James in the car I knew he still loved me. Phew! Catastrophe avoided. They're almost the same as my original salt and pepper young lovers! Reunited at last. No more broken pieces or broken hearts anymore!

Stormville Flea Market Trip

Best idea ever. The last few times I went to the Stormville Flea Market with my mom, we had absolutely no luck. Last year we decided not to go because we didn't think it would be worth the trip. I am so glad that we decided to go this morning. My mom got two lily of the valley cups to go with her collection. And I bought way too much. As in - I don't deserve any birthday presents - too much. Maybe I felt like I had to get all the flea marketing out of my system before the winter. And there was so much to choose from! To start with, how cute are these anthropomorphic salt and pepper shakers? For $5! And Jasper Giraffe for $1. And please ignore my dusty windows. Gross.















I had to take a picture of the owl lantern for James. Apparently it is about 100 years old. Which means I could not afford it. But way cool anyways!






























Beautiful vintage ribbon and sewing accessories.






























Colorful vintage glasses that I sadly have no room for in my cabinets.















See that wire crate? All mine for $28. More than I wanted to spend, but I fell in love. And a $5 frame. James hates them both. Big surprise.















I also got a vintage glass iced tea pitcher with 6 glasses. It has a strawberry print on it and I can't wait to use it for Mother's Day brunch and Father's Day lunch next year. See how practical I am? The price was not so practical ($45), but it matches the 6 glasses I already have at home perfectly! I couldn't pass up the chance to have a full set, could I?

Remind me not to go antiquing for a long time.

Bluebird Salt and Pepper Shakers

October is my favorite month. Mainly because it's my birthday month. And I guess because James and I got engaged 5 years ago at Blue Jay Orchards on October 14th. So I guess I have a thing for birds that are blue and the fall.

The Puppies in the Football!

These are James' favorite salt and pepper shakers. He bought them for me because I made my adorable face when I found them online...that face can work wonders!















They are marked with the number 3004 on the bottom.

California Dreamin'

Here are some pictures from our trip to San Diego this summer. The Antique District in Ocean Beach was so amazing that I had to document it in film - even though James thought I was crazy! I was a little bummed that Vignettes, one of Rachel Ashwell's favorite "shabby chic" resources, was closed at the time of our visit. But I still took plenty of "shabby chic" pictures elsewhere to bring home to show my mom. There was plenty of vintage kitchen eye candy (salt and pepper shakers galore) to suit my tastes as well!

Little Salt and Pepper

I promised myself I would start a blog this summer. And now here I am, the day before I go back to school for professional development, finally taking the leap. I'm really not usually a procrastinator. So to start with, here's my all-time favorite salt and pepper shaker:















I know, I know, she's missing her pepper. The story goes like this: One day I shut the front door too hard. Little pepper fell off of his bench and onto the floor. I was so upset about it at the time. Even the thought of my two hundred plus other sets of salt and pepper shakers could not ease the sorrow that I felt over the loss of little pepper. I sadly brushed the pieces into my dust pan. Not feeling ready to part with him completely, I left to run some errands. And boy did I fall in love all over again when I returned to find my husband, super glue in hand, putting the pieces of little pepper together again. He returned to his shelf with some definite "crazing" apparent, only to experience another disastrous fall a few months later. This time the damage was irreparable. James and I brushed the pieces up and sadly disposed of little pepper's remains. But I always smile when I see little salt sitting by herself on that dilapidated green park bench. Because I know that my little pepper will always be there to return my kiss and to pick up the pieces when I fall apart. Plus, he puts up with my ridiculous collection which is displayed all over our home, even though I confined his NASCAR diecast car collection to a single shelf in the second bedroom...