exploring and thrifting

We ventured out early yesterday and went to two estate sales. Neither of them proved to be very interesting or profitable for me. I was disappointed, but I suppose I can only keep trying! One day I'll find a good sale that actually has vintage clothes.

Oh, but I did get this purse!

The day went on to get pretty exciting, however. We went exploring in an area of town we hadn't been to before. Someone at Trader Joe's had recommended we go there to find the things (like certain spices, tahini paste, and also some cheeses) that we can't find at regular grocery stores here. Regional differences in grocery stores are odd! Being in Texas, we were so accustomed to super cheap peppers and other things from Mexico; here, they're less common.

Mexican sweet bread! And... that stuff! That stuff made from peanuts! I love it!

I'm really glad we went! Not only did we get to visit the most amazing Mexican supermarket (and get snacks), along with some Indian stores, but I found my new favorite place... Music City Thrift. I was rushing to look at everything (because Robert was super bored), but I still came away with 3 great things!

Outfit details:
dress - Gloria Swanson Forever Young // vintage from etsy
slip - vintage // flea market?
socks - Sock Dreams
boots - Justin // Music City Thrift

I'm not really into that type of boots, but I grabbed them because they were cheap and I've seen some other bloggers drooooling over them. :) They'll be in my Etsy shop fairly soon (along with the other shoes and purse shown here). They do fit me perfectly, though.

And these!

I bought a dress as well, but I washed it and it's hanging up to dry. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with what I got, and now I know where to go thrift shopping... This place is right near a Goodwill, too! I'm excited about it.

spools of thread

Until I was packing up my craft stuff before the move, I didn't realize how many different sewing boxes and organizers I have. This one is specifically for thread. Let's get tiny and go inside it.





Here's a bird I made this morning. I think I got this awesome fabric from my grandma's ex-quilting-scrap-supply. I only have a little of it. I backed him with red felt so he has a tummy to show off. I'm considering sewing a little bit every day and putting together a little forest of sorts. We'll see!

cookie party

I feel so incredibly accomplished. After close to 12 hours of editing today, I finally finished going through my husband's book and helping him get it ready to send out! My brain is completely fried. But it wasn't a bad way to spend a day - listening to The Breeders and reading a good book. I never made it out of my pajamas, and now it's nearly bedtime.

Here are some sugar cookies we made last night!

This one was mine.

Sleep is going to be so good tonight. I barely slept at all last night, but my insomnia did lead to some incredibly creative ideas. I'm excited about having tomorrow to myself to work on making things. I'm so appreciative that we're in a position to be unemployed by choice for a while. I do look for jobs everyday, but I've stopped clicking on anything secretarial or even vaguely corporate/office related. I keep finding things that I KNOW I'm qualified for (with nearly 3 years of experience working for a lawyer), but the job descriptions alone already have me bored to tears. I need to work on my real goals. Keep making dreams to run toward.

little bits

I haven't been great about taking nice photos or doing creative projects lately, but I promise I'm getting some stuff done! This morning my husband received an amazing response from a literary agent who wants to see the full manuscript of his book. I'm helping him review the whole thing and polish it up. It's a little tiring because this is probably the 5th or 6th time I've read it, but it's changed drastically since the first draft. He says he can't tell if it's good anymore, but I think it is.

That's a little sewing box, floating above my sewing machine!

That's my excuse for not being inspired to make lovely things. However, I'm very excited because on Friday I'm going to a couple of estate sales to see what I can see... Being unemployed gives me the opportunity to be the first person there, and perhaps I'll find some treasures!

I know it's kind of morbid... but also fascinating.

enid collins

Photo by glumpire

I just found my new favorite designer: Enid Collins. Turns out I'm a little late, since she was making purses from 1959 to 1970, but I can still be in love. Check out this post on Painfully Hip about her handbags.

Some of them are a bit kitschy for me, but I think they're all wonderful and adorable. I want one! I need one! I am watching a few of them on Ebay! I need Robert to work his magic and surprise me with a present. Do you think this is a big enough hint?

mini etsy update

My Etsy shop is open again and I added a couple of items! Hopefully I'll be adding more soon, but I need to find a good setup for taking pictures - I only like using natural light, and that's not often available around here lately. Probably if I finished unpacking there would be more photogenic areas around the house, but right now my options are limited.


I made a new banner last night using picnik.com - it was highly frustrating! Actually, I made that big picture at the top first; that part was simple and fun. It was just hard trying to size everything correctly to upload to Etsy as a banner. It made me so mad that I'm trying not to use the computer very much today. I think we're having a friend over for dinner! That's exciting.

hanging lights and things

Here are some pictures to prove that I haven't been entirely lazy lately. I have been entirely distracted, though - we just have so many boxes and things sitting around that I will start one project, go into another room to get something, and end up starting an entirely new project.

Paper lantern in the bedroom.

Clock and some wall decoration over my computer (not done there, but I need more nails for hanging things!)

Bird lights in the kitchen. Those are from IKEA - they always have good lights.

We've set up the record player, and I finally got my sewing machine out of its box this morning. Things don't look too bad, considering we've only been here a week. There's a dissassembled bike in the middle of the living room. Not sure where that's going to go - we don't have any sort of fence around our patio or a place to chain it, either. I guess we could chain it to one of those cute little bushes outside, but that seems so rude.

Here are a couple of things that should be going into my Etsy shop today or tomorrow! I need to stop lurking around in my pajamas (which has become a daily occurrence) and get busy!

Hat! And that coat too, but not just yet... How white can I get?

Shoes! I'd keep them but they're too tight.

Also-- I did sell my darkroom stuff! I left it with my mom in case I ever wanted to use it again, but after we moved my friend Max asked about buying it. He just picked it up from my mom's house this morning! I'm really glad it's going to a good home. I figure by the time I have the right space / desire to develop photos again, I can always buy new stuff; mine wasn't all that great anyway!

husband appreciation

I was bragging earlier about how new people are finding my blog*, and my husband said sadly, "No one ever looks at my blog. It's boring." That's not true! But... he's writing about writing-- and there are no pictures. I think people like to see pictures. So I decided I will do a promotional blog entry for him.

He's my best friend and we do a lot of silly things together!

You should visit his blog. Just take a peek for me! He is a very clever man. He is tall like a giraffe (sometimes I have to run to keep up with his walking) and he is so strong that he breaks things all the time. I like him a lot.

I think he makes that face every time we kiss. "Kisses are gross," he tells me.

We're a pretty good team! He cooks and I do the dishes. He writes and I do the visual stuff (we were even talking about collaborating for a children's book way before we were dating!). He loses things and I remember where I last saw them. I am pretty crazy and he's pretty rational (though sometimes it's reversed)!

Anyway, I just thought I would talk about how much I like him.

* Speaking of how people have been finding my blog, I find it very amusing that most of the searches that lead to it are directly related to baby sloths. Below is a list of the most popular search phrases:

- baby sloths for sale
- how big is a baby sloth
- sloth decorations
- sloth fabric pattern
- sloth valentines day card

I wish I could tell you where to buy a baby sloth or how big they are, but I am clueless! And oh how I wish I had some sloth decorations or fabrics... Maybe I can make some.

dress up time!

Since I went without the majority of my wardrobe for nearly a week, it was a luxury to be able to pick out whatever I wanted to wear today! That sounds silly, but you know it's true- you can only wash and re wear the same 4 t-shirts so many times. Here's what I wore (+ coat) when we first encountered the outdoors around 5 p.m. I was going to give outfit details, but I just realized the whole ensemble is from Target... aside from the white underskirt, which you can't really see much of anyway. Ha ha.

I was really feeling pastels.

And below is an outfit I was just trying out-- every once in a while you have to see what works together, for future reference. This is something I was seeing about for a possible job interview next week (let's pretend!).

No, it's not a vest. And the necklace is too busy.

I was trying to find a good way to use this navy dress from my great-aunt. The bottom needs to be hemmed (or discreetly pinned), and it's missing a button in the front. But I still love it and I'm going to wear it. The other dress I have from her needs some major renovations - we'll see about that one later!

Outfit details:
navy dress: "Misses Dresses by Nelson-Caine New York"
over dress: Young Essence // Buffalo Exchange
shoes: American Eagle // Payless

I think I may be growing my hair out due to laziness/lack of wanting to pay for a haircut. That could be exciting!

donut love

Today was fairly productive! All of our furniture arrived, we unpacked it in about 2 hours, and we've been organizing since then. Things are looking pretty good! I will get around to posting some pictures when it starts looking lovely.

My father-in-law and his brother came by today to help us with some of the bigger furniture. I think we could have done it alone, except I am somewhat wimpy and I like other people to do things like that for me! It was very nice of them, and afterward we bought them some treats at Fox's Donut Den. This donut place is amazing... it's right down the street from us and I am in love.

Look at this napkin!!

After we got home, I checked the mail and there was a surprise! It was a little card from my sister (a late Valentine, I suppose!).

I want to send out mail! I owe people letters and surprises! I think tomorrow will almost be a normal day; my husband is planning to get started with his writing routine (we're taking time off work to do creative things: he's writing and I'm going to be maybe-sewing and maybe-vintage-reselling). I really want to get into a regular schedule with our endeavors and be very productive!

century girl

My husband was sweet and got me something I wanted for Valentine's Day: a book! This book, specifically.

Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfield Follies

I had mentioned it a while back, and he was super thoughtful to get it for me! I haven't honestly seen that many silent films, but I did go through a stage a few years ago where I was obsessed with silent film stars. However, I'd never heard of Doris Eaton until a few other bloggers mentioned this book. It's absolutely amazing.

The layout is sort of a scrapbook or collage style, and it's so fun to look at!

I think it's very inspirational fashion-wise and creatively.

Is there anything more adorable? She still dances, at age 104.

It's very interesting to read, as well! Oh, and I just remembered something exciting! The day before we moved, I went over to my parents' house to get a few more of my things. Two of those things were dresses that belonged to my great-great-aunt; I think they're from the 30s. And yes, they fit me. But they need a little work. I will let you know what I decide to do with them!

my parents

The other day when my mom came over to help us pack up, she brought some pictures that she'd found at my grandma's house recently. I was quick to take my own photos of them so she could have them back. [Just the first two - the last two are scans I did a while back... my parents have tons of photographic evidence of the fun they had in the 70s]

This one was damaged in a flood, but I think it looks amazing.

I've never seen color photos from my parents' wedding- they only had black and white. But this one resurfaced, and I think it's really neat. My mom got married when she was 17 (in 1972), and her mom made the wedding dress - you can't tell in this photo, but it's a mini dress.

Side braid?!

My parents waited about 10 years to have kids. So we missed out on the 70s and got to enjoy part of the 80s - especially the part where my mom did great things with her hair. I think she eventually cut it because when I was little I would intentionally grab it and tangle my hands up in it so she couldn't leave me alone (I was totally afraid of the dark). The above picture is of my mom and my sister.

Parents with my half-brother.

Let's not leave out my dad- he was pretty stylin' as well. Check him out. I got his nose.

I like them pretty good. I took a ton of pictures today, but none of them really seemed relevant to life right now, and I don't feel like talking about Valentine's Day. I'm tired!

new home!

Well, we're here. This has been such a LONG week! But honestly it has been much better and less stressful than I had imagined. So far everything is great and I hope it stays that way! We're in our new place and it's pretty good. Super good considering the fact that we didn't see it until we moved in. (Huge risk, I know- but when we went apartment scouting here last September, they didn't have anything available for us to tour... we made our decision based on apartment ratings we found online [and price, of course] and the area.)

Mailbox, right outside our door! At our last apartment we had to walk forever to get the mail.

It's an older apartment complex, which is good and bad. Advantages: adorable cabinets and window frames, we can paint or change anything we want [the walls are POWDER BLUE - I am amazed... but I will be looking for new light fixtures because the ones here are tacky and gold], and (of course), much more character than a newer apartment. Disadvantages: no pantry or microwave (which really shouldn't be a problem), very small kitchen and bathrooms, questionable plumbing. But it's clean and we have seen no bugs at all, which is more than I can say for some of the apartments I've lived in before.

Check out the vent in the bathroom! And can you tell the wall is blue?

This blue paint is really blowing my mind. At times (depending on the lighting), it has appeared to be white, blue, green, and grey - sometimes all I have to do is close my eyes and check again. Maybe I'm just being sleepy.

Anyway! We're here with whatever fit in my car, and the furniture won't be delivered until Monday (or maybe Tuesday...). It's exciting! We went out exploring earlier. Just down the road, about a 5 minute walk from our place, is a Trader Joe's! It has become my favorite grocery store in the world with just one visit. Now I know why people obsess over it.

Dinner on a box: artichoke ravioli and sparkling blueberry juice!

We're having a pretty neat time! I don't have anything set up so there's not much to show off yet, but I'm sure there will be more to come. I can't wait until we're settled in!

moving!

Since my husband has officially quit his job, he's home now and we're going crazy with cleaning and packing. I have a feeling I won't be around for a few days...


That's a map of what we'll be doing! We will be in Nashville on Friday. And hopefully we can settle in and start some sort of normal routine fairly quickly. See you later!

packing and goodbyes

We're staying busy! I can't believe we'll be living in another state by the end of this week... It's been interesting trying to organize and pack everything up. I've found a few boxes full of stuff that is purely mine, which translates to "pretty junk and antiques that I never unpacked and decorated with once I got married." I definitely plan to use this stuff at the new place, though! Here are some peeks.

I like old clocks, especially if they still work.

I like old telephones, too...

And creepy things?

In between packing up and cleaning, we've been filling our time with hanging out with people. We had lunch with my family today because this is the last day I'll see my dad- he's going out of town this week. I'm sure I'll be seeing my mom up until the minute we drive away; she's been spending every second with me that she can. And yesterday my sister and her boyfriend came up to visit us. Since we live nearly 40 miles north of downtown Houston, it was a big event for them to come here-- and this is the second time they've done that in the last couple of weeks... THEY LIKE US!

It was a pretty big day. We spent most of it walking around The Woodlands, which is the silly town we live in. (It's not even officially a town- I think it might be a "township.") It was absolutely beautiful outside, and we took advantage of that. Here are pictures of my favorite tunnel!

My sister and my brother (the elusive turtle).

i should be packing

Yesterday morning I realized I needed to make a birthday card for my grandma because I was going to lunch with her and some of my aunts. What ensued was about 20 minutes of panic because all of my craft supplies are packed up, and then over an hour of sewing (because my sewing stuff was easily accessible). I made her card entirely of felt. Here are some of the details!



I was really proud of it and I thought she'd like it because she used to sew and quilt a lot. She liked it, but... she didn't really pay attention to it as much as I thought she would- I was sure she'd want to examine the stitches because she was always so precise with hers! She thinks it's 1997, by the way. :(


The above picture is just to show you evidence that I do wear jeans sometimes. Not a whole lot lately - I mostly stay in my pajamas unless I have to go somewhere, and then I prefer to get really dressed up. Is there anything wrong with that? And look at my mess - I swear I didn't put those photo prints there on purpose... they're really just all over the living room. I need to keep packing!


And so you know, that's not just a plain white t-shirt - the sunshine was hiding the design! It has a deer on it. $1 at Buffalo Exchange, thank you. Yes, I pulled it out of the laundry so I could take a detailed picture for you.