Can I get your autograph?

I wrote a lame title for this post and I just couldn’t bring myself to use it but it’s dorky enough that it seemed a shame not to share.  Ready?

Vintage Junk Rocks!  

Random junk photo taken on the same day as the other photos in this post... 

Ok, I’ve probably written worse but if you knew how much over-thinking I put into things, you’d understand why I consider that kind of cringe-worthy and once/if you read this post (unless that last sentence was enough to make you turn off your computer or put down your phone or abandon your tablet and leave the area) you’ll understand how lacking-in-subtlety (yet easy) that title would have been.  For me.

Did I mention the over-thinking? Good.

So.

Ditto on this photo. 

There’s been a series of totally random yet very delightful emails showing up around The Land of Into Vintage lately and here’s one example:

Hello,

I was wondering if you would be interested in letting us use the attached photo on an album cover for a small up and coming band called Surviving Allison. It will be used in good taste, and we would give you full credit for the photo on the album.

What?!

You may recall a post from back in the olden days when I took myself out for some birthday junking and snapped these photos while in an antique mall in Astoria, OR (Hi there, Phog Bounders Antique Mall).

 Then that random-yet-delightful email arrived and before I responded, mad googling commenced in order to check out the band, Surviving Allison.  I just wanted to make sure they don't sacrifice unicorns or anything like that.

They don't.

And so my response to the email was a big, ol’ YES.

Days later, this appeared in my inbox.

The designer told me each object with a sales tag represents a member of the band.

No words except maybe “Vintage junk rocks!”

Click here to go to  Surviving Allison's website. 

Or follow them on Instagram here.

------------------------------------

P.S. a HUMONGOUS thank you to everyone who took the time to wish my dear Auntie a happy birthday on my previous post. You are the best. xo  

Painting a picture while asking you questions

Imagine if you will…

It’s summer – possibly June or July. The weather is warm if not downright hot.  The gardens are planted, flowers are blooming, tomatoes are ripening and there’s a song in your heart and a smile on your face because you’re planning to attend an amazing vintage event over the weekend to shop for something specific or perhaps for everything in general (my preferred method).

With that in mind, let me ask you this:  How would you feel if you turned a corner at this hypothetical summertime vintage event and came across something like this?

Please do not attempt to adjust your eyeballs. This photo is blurry.

Or this?

 Or this?

I brake for Shiny Brites. 

Would you stop and shop? In July?

Would you need to put your head between your knees and count to 10 to avoid passing out? (No, wait, that’s not you. That’s me).

I’m curious to know if anyone else shops for vintage Christmas year round like I do?  

I did mention there would be questions, didn’t I? See, there’s another one. 

I know if I came across a vendor in a middle-of-the-summer vintage event (or even during a regular non-holiday-season visit to a vintage mall), who was dedicated solely to vintage Christmas, regardless of what might be on my shopping list, I would stop dead in my tracks.

More blurriness shiny-ness.

But maybe that’s just me. Shopping year round for vintage Christmas is one of those things that feels perfectly normal.*

OR… maybe it’s not just me.  Maybe it’s you too. 

Maybe we’re all in the same secret, sparkly, shiny club and don’t realize it!  

And so because I know how I feel about the topic of vintage Christmas year round, I wonder how you might feel about it and would greatly appreciate any enabling feedback you’d like to provide.

Thank you and Merry Vintage Christmas.

-------------------------

* Disclaimer: I acknowledge that it’s entirely possible I may have lost my grip on “normal” some time ago.

PS I took the Christmas photos shown here in late 2013 when Magpie Ethel and I combined our vintage Christmas hoards at Monticello Antique Marketplace.  She wrote a fun post about it and you can CLICK HERE to read it. Lots of eye candy. 

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.

Things I’d be okay with seeing a lot less of in ‘antique’ malls

On several occasions recently, I’ve had the same conversation with a variety of vintage-loving friends regarding the influx of non-antique, non-vintage items being sold in some antique malls.

That’s right. Here comes a rant. Yippee!

Lately I seem to be finding myself in antique malls that are a combination of a small percentage of vintage vendors mixed in with a large percentage of new gifts, toys, collectibles, hardware, crafts, food, and dollar store merchandise. 

 While I’m not opposed to any of those items, I am opposed to them being sold in a shop that calls itself an antique mall.

It would be like going to grocery store for milk and finding the refrigerator section filled with vintage linens.

Or something terrible like that.

My antique mall criteria is pretty flexible -- I’m usually willing to overlook dirt, digging, poor lighting and piles if the price is right. ( And the stuff is old. )

And I also get it when things are beautifully displayed and perhaps a little higher in price because a vendor has taken the time to present their unique finds in an inspiring way. ( And the stuff is old. )

But this? Not so much.

I will now climb down from my (vintage) soapbox and thank you for letting me get that off my chest.

PS Everything you see here I came across in one ‘antique mall’ earlier this week. 

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!

Retired.

What started out as a perky update about my antique mall space has somehow morphed into an odd little tribute to one of the items currently for sale there.

Please pardon me while I reminisce about an old friend who was faithful, sturdy and strong, not to mention pretty nice to look at.

We worked well together and even had some banner years.

As they will do, this good friend always supported my projects.

Lots and lots of projects.

And now it’s time for this friend to relax, take it easy and perhaps simply sit in someone's garden. 

I heart funky vintage furniture.