Are we there yet?

After many conversations in the car regarding things neither Laurie/Ethel nor I could recall about our previous road trip to Alameda Point Antiques Faire (Did we stop here last time? Does Roseburg come before or after Ashland? Where was that place with the great cupcakes?), I decided to take some notes this time around.

FRIDAY

As planned, we left Laurie’s house in Portland, OR at 8 a.m. to head to Alameda Antiques Faire in the San Francisco Bay area. Woo-hoo! So excited!

One scheduled stop on the way out of Portland at a church rummage sale was quickly followed by two unscheduled stops at estate sales.

 Which resulted in another unscheduled stop back at Laurie’s house to unload her car which was now completely full. Four hours and 16 miles later we are still in Portland.  

Yay us!

New plan!  Leave for Alameda at noon.  The goal is to reach Redding, CA, about 420 miles away, where we’ll stop for the night.

That afternoon we went to three antique malls, a thrift store and a vintage shop before eating dinner and eventually keeling over.

It is weird that it took us 9-1/2 hours to travel 420 miles? The junkin’ just can’t be rushed.

SATURDAY

Laurie/Ethel admires a combo stove/refrigerator. 

We hit the road at 8:45 a.m., eventually ending up in Emeryville, CA, about 200 miles away (an *easy* 3 hour drive) and just a short distance from Alameda Point Antiques Faire, our Sunday early morning destination / reason for living.

We managed to turn a 3 hour drive into 10 hours and here’s why: 3 vintage shops, 1 flea market, 3 yard sales, 2 rummage sales, 1 thrift store, 2 huge antique malls, 2 random shops and 1 estate sale. In 4 cities.

SUNDAY (aka The Really Big Day)

 Got up painfully early at 5 a.m. and the reward was attending heaven-on-Earth, Alameda Antiques Faire, for 7 hours of some mighty fine vintage shopping from (not a typo!) 1,000 vendors.

Eventually I had to rent a shopping cart (as in the type used at a grocery store) to collect the items I’d purchased and left behind with the vendors. I kept it all straight with my Patented System for Remembering© by writing the vendors’ booth numbers on my arm.

In sharpie.

Tired, happy, sunburned and loaded down with vintage junk, we left Alameda at 1:30 p.m. to begin our drive back to Oregon, stopping in Yreka, CA for the night.

MONDAY

Random antique mall vendor in Medford, OR? It's all a blur to me now.

We left Yreka around 8:45 a.m., thinking we’d be back in Portland by 4 p.m., only 325 miles/5 hours away.

After stopping at 8 more antique malls (and one ice cream shop) in 2 cities, we rolled into Portland at 8:15 p.m., taking almost 12 hours to travel 300-ish miles.

 To recap: 4 days / 1400 miles / 3 estate sales, 3 rummage sales, 13 antique malls, 2 thrift stores, 4 vintage shops, 1 flea market, 3 yard sales, 2 random shops and 1 Alameda Antiques Faire (because there’s only one Alameda!).

Thanks for traveling along!

Click the photo above to read Laurie’s version of events.

You Are Getting Very Sleepy.

…and when I count to three, you will awaken, open your eyes and remember nothing of the past three months.

Which ought to be pretty easy to do because there hasn’t been anything here to remember.

Hello! How are you?

I. Am. Fine.  Just wandered a little too close to the edge of the internet and fell off for a bit.

Here’s how I’ve been spending my internet summer vacation:

Feeling rustic for Fall. 

Keeping my space at Monticello Antique Marketplace filled and fluffed while looking ahead to the vintage Christmas holidays. Still waiting/hoping to find that big vintage Christmas score out there, somewhere.  An abandoned Shiny Brite ornament factory filled with long forgotten inventory would be ideal.

Which brings us to…

Fortunately I didn't spend an arm and a leg on these.

Yard sale-ing with mixed results.  Is it just me or does it seem as though yard sales are getting less awesome by the minute? Out here in the country, they’re my main source of vintage treasure during the summer months so every weekend I head out with my fingers crossed.

…and then head home with not nearly as much vintage treasure as I had hoped. Where has it all gone? I double-checked and it’s not in my garage.

Well, maybe a little is in there.

Heaven on earth in Alameda, CA

Junking with Ethel.  Earlier this month, she and I made a speedy trip down to the Alameda Antiques Faire (aka The Vintage Mother Ship) in the San Francisco bay area, with many, many stops along the way at antique malls, thrift stores, junk shops and anyplace else that caught our eye.

Currently obsessing over these mini diorama vintage ornaments

Have a wonderful holiday weekend. Missed you!

Because it’s my week (end).

For my birthday this year, I gave myself the gift of junking.

An entire weekend spent puttering around thrift shops, antique malls and junk shops on the Oregon coast (and a little on the Washington coast as well).

(I think she accidentally left the price tag on it – 50? Fifty? Must be her lucky number ... or something.)

It all began at Monticello Antique Marketplace with some foofing of my space there and coffee with Laurie who brought me this lovely bit of Springtime-in-January, a la Magpie Ethel (her alter ego).

Friended, fortified and foofed, off I went!

A vendor at an antique mall had hundreds of these for sale!

I made it through 4 huge antique malls, 7 8 thrift stores, 3 charming vintage shops and one *awesome* junk stop and saw lots of inspiration along the way.

in the basement at Phog Bounders Antique Mall, Astoria OR

Inspiring antique mall displays 

(I think I need to pack in more in my mall space – I really like this full-to-the-brim look. What do you think? Too much?)

Astoria Vintage Hardware, Astoria OR

Inspiring painted furniture. (Love the black)

Sewing inspiration. 

Bright ideas. (sorry)

Hobo Junction, 105 SW 13th St., Long Beach WA (click photo to enlarge and go nuts!)

And some good old-fashioned junking. This was my last stop and the most fun.

The owner was more than happy to climb over his mountains of treasures and pull out rusty, chippy things he thought I might be interested in while I pretty much wandered around in a daze and tried to take it all in.

The inside of his shop is as fascinating as the outside.

And his prices were more than fair.

You can see more photos of his shop here.

Happy Tuesday to you!

This week’s Moments-in-Vintage brought to you by the camera on my phone

 

 

I came across these books, organized by color, in the same local shop where I bought the gigantic typewriter.

 

That lone red book mixed in with the blue ones cracks me up for some reason. Either it’s a deliberate part of the design or some shopper was really not paying attention to what was happening on these bookshelves.

Wouldn’t an entire bookcase filled with hundreds of red & green books be amazing at Christmastime? Will someone please get on that and report back? Much appreciated.

 

 

This piece of big, heavy mid century awesomeness was a mere $20 at a yard sale this morning and the sellers delivered it, in a truck, to my garage.  I marvel at $20 furniture.

And motivated sellers.

Which brings us to something I have been dreading to share with you but in the interest of full disclosure, I feel I must.

 

The cow has been nicknamed 'van Gogh.'

This photo was snapped out in the Garage Where Cars Can’t Park while waiting for my yard sale furniture to be delivered.

Blow mold central.

And possibly future additions to the "What was I thinking?" pile.

 

 

Concluding these moments in vintage, a view from a walk.

On the Old Highway.

Hope this weekend brings you some vintage moments.