Scenes from the Weekend

I love visiting Hershey and spending time with Will's family.  Here are a few pictures from our trip last weekend.  Good food, great company and new thrift stores for me to explore!  

How did you spend your weekend?

Yellow dress from Good Will, hecho en Mexico, with the most amazing cutouts

Vintage fish mold, one of many

Yummy strawberries, freshly washed in a handmade ceramic berry bowl

A tree too pretty to put away for the summer

Winky

Vintage folk art sculpture, wine cooler and a quick game of Mancala

Charmed, I'm Sure

Want to hear a story about a magic charm bracelet that appeared out of nowhere? Ok, here's how it goes: 

On a recent trip to Hershey to visit my boyfriend's family, I was talking with his mom about my love of vintage items (I talk a lot about my love of vintage items).  We jumped in the car and spent the afternoon "thrift-store-hopping." I didn't find any jewelry, but did score a 1960's Coach bag, Totes scarf and crystal ring holder.  

On the way home,  I mentioned that one thing I was really looking for was a vintage charm bracelet.  When we got inside the house, she disappeared upstairs and emerged a few minutes later with the most amazing sterling silver nautical bracelet.  *Poof!*

Turns out, she used to sell antiques and pulled this bracelet from some of her old inventory.  And, she wanted me to have it! I was blown away by her generosity.  

Ok, so it's not really magic, and it didn't appear out of nowhere, but let's not be a spoil sport. I can assure you that the bracelet is magical, right down to the jingle it makes when I wear it.  

You can find vintage charm bracelets at estate sales and, if you're lucky, occasionally at thrift stores.  Otherwise the internet is your friend and can offer you a plethora of choices:

From Charm Chatter

from Vintage Retrievers

From Fine Estate Liquidation

from ReRuns

from shoprhubard

from LilahBelleVintage

p.s. I just finished reading a copy of The 19th Wife (you can see the cover in the background of one of the photos at the top). I highly recommend it for your summer reading list. Especially if you are like me and love Big Love and Sister Wives. Yep, I said it.  Sister Wives.

Hats Off

On a day like today you need a good straw hat. Well, I do at least. When did it get so hot?!

Straw hats are the best because 1) they go with everything, 2) they have little tiny holes that let the breeze in, and 3) you can find them just about everywhere. I found mine at a thrift store by my parents' house and paid $3.50.

Turns out, I'm not alone in my love for straw hats.  The blogosphere is brimming with fashionable ladies topping off their looks with these classic accessories. (Get it, brimming? Topping off?). C'mon, I worked hard to fit them both into the same sentence. But I digress...

Here are just a few of my recent favorites:

via Like Fresh Laundry

via Blooming Leopold

via A Distinct Style

via On the Racks

via Sterling Style

via Chictopia

via Fiction Living

via Brooklyn Blonde

via Her Waise Choice

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Knock Knock

Who's there? It's me, your delinquent blogger.  

I know I have been less than exciting over the last few weeks but I have been studying hard for the GMAT, which I took yesterday and now never have to think about ever again!  Whoo hoo!

Okay, enough about me.  How have you been?  Rummaging through someone's closet or your favorite thrift store, I hope.  Find anything good?  I'd love to hear about it!  Send me a photo of something you've borrowed and tell me its story, and I'll feature it here!  

Now on to the earrings...

I titled this post "Knock Knock" because these earrings remind me of mini door knockers.  They belonged to my great aunt and when I found them I feel in love immediately. Only they were clip-ons. Ugh. My earlobes turn bright red and cringe at the thought.  

I can't tell you how many pairs of clip-on earrings I have stumbled upon over the years looking so cute and retro and taunting me from behind the jewelry counter. Until now.  

I took these earrings to a local jeweler and had the clips replaced with posts.  $10 and I had myself a new favorite pair of earrings!  This may seem obvious to some of you, but I had honestly never even considered the possibility.  Just like the first time I went to a cobbler (please tell me you use a cobbler) and felt like I had finally been let in on the biggest secret.  

Now, I don't suggest you turn every pair of clip-on earrings into posts, but if you just have to have them or find some that have sentimental value like I did, it's totally worth the investment. I'm also sure you can shop around and find a better price, or try bundling a few repairs together and ask for a multiple-piece discount.  

Don't you just love a good secret? It's okay, you can pass this one on. Earlobes everywhere will thank you. 

Lifelong Friends

In honor of Mother's Day, my friend Jen hosted a group of us and our mothers for a belated brunch celebration.  It's hard to believe that I've known these women and their mothers for almost 20 years. And I now consider my friends' mothers good friends themselves.  It was the perfect afternoon of mimosas and sticky buns and countless memories two decades in the making. 

Coincidentally, my mother is in the final stages of planning for her 50th high school reunion.  Lately, she always seems to be on the other line or out running errands with a handful of her lifelong friends. 

Like mother, like daughter, I guess.   

Cheers to delicious food, a gracious host and 20 years of friendship. To many more!

Mother's Day

Me, my mom, my grandmother and my great grandmother

Wishing mothers everywhere a very happy Mother's Day!

Something for My Mantel

I really like saying "mantel." It makes me feel fancy.  Do you know what makes me feel even fancier?  "Mantel vignette." 

See, fancy.   

I'd like to say that that this collection was the result of a well thought out plan, but really these items congregated on their own over a period of time and I grew to love them.  A true Bob Ross "happy accident."

I found the artwork in an antiques co-op outside of Hershey, Pennsylvania and the bookends at a local Philadelphia community flea market.  The silhouette is my mom, taken during a girlhood trip to Disneyland and the turquoise lotus bowl belonged to my grandmother.  

A motley crew mantel, if you will. 

I know a lot of people change their decorations with the seasons.  I haven't graduated to seasonal vignettes just yet. Have you? 

Here are a few of my favorite mantel inspirations.  Tell me about yours! 

Family Photos

Vintage whites

Apothecary Bottles

Illuminated

Pinned

I'd Like to Buy a Vowel