Deluxe, Delish, Delovely!

This Portland junk emporium is only open on Saturdays. Today my son had a make-up piano lesson right across the street from the shop. Lucky me! Let's have a little tour together, shall we?

Soft, white, frilly girl shares display table with hard, cold, steel girl. Awesome.
What would Michelangelo think if he knew David loved to wear sky blue rhinestones?

Grapes, anyone?

Christmas lights in a punch bowl. On a gold pedestal. Breathtaking.
I'll have one of these...and a couple of those...and....

Check out Rancho Deluxe at 1 N. Killingsworth in Portland.

Aye Aye Captain!

I should never, ever be left alone with a box of Cap'n Crunch. This was my third bowl within a time span of about 4 minutes. At least the milk was reduced fat.

My Sassy Valentine

The polka dot skirt! The bouquet of valentine flowers! Her hand on her hip!
This gorgeous gal was hand delivered to me yesterday by Laurie from Magpie Ethel. Laurie creates whimsical and charming friends, all crafted from vintage goodies. She has the estate sale thing down to a science. If I see her car on my approach to a sale, I always sigh a little because I know she is throwing the best stuff in her basket. You can check out her Etsy shop here. Thanks Magpie Ethel!

My favorite vintage hat

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."

~ Coco Chanel

All Hail Valentine's Day!

The little gal in the heart skirt is a bell. I think I'll ring her whenever I desire one of these. Maybe I can train the kids to fetch me the box when they hear her. You know, Pavlov's children. Here's a tip: at the next estate sale, grab a metal filigree hair spray holder like the one in the photo. Wait until dark, put a votive inside, light it, and see what happens on the wall. It's freaking gorgeous.

Love this dancing couple. Love that his jacket is raspberry. Love that she is dancing with such style. Love the LOVE ME plate that my sister Kathy sent to me.

Great vintage display sign. Here is my question: Gifts that say what with love exactly? No copy editor at this department store, apparently.

My personal Holy Grail

We had a storage room in the house where I grew up. It was basically a long windowless closet that ran along the wall behind the family room. My parents kept everything in there from tools to wrapping paper to cans of paint. It also had a pretty high creepy factor; but was a great place to hide when Mom was calling us to help fold laundry. My dad decided it was a good place to install a pencil sharpener. And it was a PENCIL SHARPENER. A rounded, heavy, old metal thing that looked like a small zeppelin. I still remember the grinding sound and what it smelled like when I sharpened my yellow #2's. As we all know, there is nothing more satisfying than writing or drawing (!) with a perfectly sharpened pencil. I am now on a quest to find one of my very own. I think I'll put it up on the wall in the kitchen so I can sharpen pencils all day long.

Bunnies and Chickies and Eggs, Oh My!

I am heading towards Easter at ninety miles an hour. Sometimes a gal just needs to have her hands in pastels. So I gathered together some small baskets....

brought out a box of furry and feathered friends...

opened up my tin of vintage millinery flowers...

and put them all together to make these....

Don't you just want to eat them?

It is a new day! It is a new world!

Mommy, why does she have all your Fire King?

I read that Alexis Stewart is about to publish a book about what it was like growing up as Martha's daughter. Alexis apparently doesn't present her Mommie Dearest in a particularly flattering manner. She tells tales about Ms. Domestic Perfection's nasty bathroom habits and hiding from Halloween trick or treaters because she's too cheap to buy them candy. But I digress. Here's a post I published back in 2009. I think the story is worth telling again.

One fine day, years ago, when my now 18 year old daughter was about 5, I received my Martha Stewart Living magazine in the mail. I plopped down on the couch and began to leaf through it.

I came upon an article about Martha's daughter Alexis,
who had recently taken a road trip across the U.S. on a quest to buy Jadite Fire King dishes.
The photos told the whole story. This woman had floor to ceiling shelves stacked FULL of my beloved glassware. And not just plates and coffee cups. Oh no; there were serving pieces, batter bowls, egg cups, dessert plates...it was like a nightmare. I started to hyperventilate and with each turn of the page, my gut wrenching cries grew louder. My darling child rushed over, looked down at the photos, and asked: "Mommy, why does she have all your Fire King?" I tossed down the wretched magazine, held her in my arms and whispered in her ear..."Because she is a BITCH!"


Here's my collection:

P.S. There's more in the garage.

Where oh where is Arizona?

There are few things in life as sad as a gorgeous vintage jigsaw puzzle with ONE piece missing!

My Booty...as a pirate would define it.

Okay girls, here is a tour of my haul from Friday:

2 handmade decal girls, a Home Sweet Home cross stich, 3 flower potholders, a cigar box, a vintage puzzle with really BIG pieces called "America the Wonderland", an empty Christmas card box with dancing snowmen wearing top hats, a Famous Authors card game and vintage kelly green plastic salad servers.

3 Glad bags packed with vintage greeting cards ~ one features a choir girl who looks exactly like our friend Laurie from Magpie Ethel! 2 colorful maps of Boston, a fishing pamplet ("Spinning is Dangerous for Fish ~ a booklet written for fish who can read").

A vintage garden fork with a very long handle (which is under) the green sheer St. Patrick's Day apron. A set of 4 clover cups and saucers, a black velvet purse, an empty card box decorated with sweet peas, a Pixie bow maker in the box, a wooden spice shelf and an Accent shaker with red top.

This item was far and away the find of the day. My family has a one room hut at Rockaway Beach. Built in 1940, no foundation, leaky roof, carpenter ant invasion; you get the picture. This vintage banner will be hung above the mantel. Wait...we don't have a mantel. How about above the front door?

P.S. I just love that the town used to be called "Rock-A-Way".

Scenes from an estate sale on NE Mallory Street

The first of the season turned out to be a DOOOOZY!

Ooooo....Shiny!

A table full of fabulous, totally worthless tchotchkes

I had so much stuff in my arms at this point, I couldn't hold the camera steady to properly shoot the boxes of vintage recipe books.

Okay, this I cannot explain. Gail got here after me, dumped the wiener on the grimy countertop and put the bowls in her stash.

Next posting I will show you what I got...

And my heart went pitter patter...

All of us gals have something we swoon over. For some, its the spring line of Jimmy Choo's; others desire a diamond trifle from Tiffany. For me, its a gallon size plastic Glad bag stuffed with vintage wrapping paper.

The fact that it was priced at sixty cents made it even better. Not fifty cents mind you, or even a whole dollar, no, sixty cents. Here is what was inside:

A swell variety of 1960's paper...florals, kids, babies and a tiny vintage wedding card. But the real treasure had been concealed deep inside the stack. I almost had a heart attack when these came tumbling out:

Yes, dear reader, a fistful of old floral stickers. Poppies! Roses! Daffodils! Daisies! Forget me nots!!!

Think Pink & A Milestone

So the new year coincides with this, my 1ooth post!

It seemed like a good time to freshen up my look, along with my attitude. First, I considered a new header image for my blog, but removing the photo of Joan the Patron Saint of Garage Sales felt so....wrong. So instead, I changed the color scheme. I chose pink. I can't explain why. I am normally not a pink person. What do you think? Too perky?

I decided my space at Vestiges Storefront needed a facelift as well. And guess what...PINK! The gigantic shelf now looks like a bowl of Dreyer's Peppermint ice cream. Other people's throwaways just look better on pink.

So there.

Must run and go find other stuff to paint...pink, of course.

Experienced feline seeks mouse catching position...

Even our cat knows that times are hard. We saw him on the dining room table the other day, checking out the employment postings on Craig's List.

Happy New Year!

I recently saw this truck parked next to the Goodwill, of course. The bumper sticker filled me with a sense of glee. However, I like to think that after a day of junking, the back of my car is stuffed full of items that are a little more interesting than bags of wet sand. Here's to a happy, healthy and junky 2009!