Life Lately

Hello Lovelies!! Happy Monday. I apologize I have been MIA and might be until the end of this week. I have been busy creating Black Friday ads, rummaging estate sales, and seeing my brothers show (twice this weekend) - IT WAS FANTASTIC BY THE WAY!! I am continually blown away by how much he is improving in his music, dancing, and acting. I know I am his sister and all...but seriously, the kid is going to make it big. Haha. Seriously though! I wish I had some video to prove it. I feel a vlog coming on...

I have Thursday and Friday off this week and I am beyond excited about it. I have so many of your lives to seriously catch up on! Is it weird that my blogging friends come up in my every day convo's with people who don't even know them? I really just miss you all. I am so thankful for Instagram because at least I can stay semi up to date when I have been away from my computer.

Good things are happening this four day weekend:
1. Family, friends, and food - of course!!
2. Staying in my pj's and catching up on all of your lives in the blogging world!
3. Black Friday - mainly excited for the thrift sales.
4. Seeing Breaking Dawn pt. 2 &&&&& the new Abe Lincoln movie.

Abrahammy is equally excited about his namesake's movie - trust me! Tehehe.

5. Starting research and branding for my online store!
6. Creating an inventory of my pyrex....yeah, it has gotten that bad. On the plus side - it will help me figure out what is heading to etsy ;]

Pretty darn excited. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have some fun things in store for the up coming week. Take care!

Thrifted Thursday - Feelin' Goovy

Hi everyone! How's it going? Have any fun plans for the weekend? I am looking forward to half off sales at my favorite thrift spots for the holiday :] Other than that I have no major plans. I can't wait for the following weekend because my brother will be starring in his fall play - Lysistrata Jones - a smart pop musical comedy loosely based on Aristophanes' ancient Greek antiwar comedy. The title characters, Lysistrata Jones, is a modern-day cheerleader who convinces her squad to stop "giving it up" to their boyfriends on the Athens University basketball team until the team ends their long losing streak and wins a game, Librettist Douglas Carter Beane was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for best book of a musical for Lysistrata Jones, "a musical about Faith, Hoops and Chastity." - Henry is playing the lead basketball player and love interest. I am assuming it will be pretty similar to High School Musical, haha.

Anywhooo... let's get back on track. It is Thrifted Thursday, and I have been up to a lot of thrifting. As I announced earlier in the week - I have decided to open up a vintage shop at the beginning of next year - I am pretty excited about it. I will have a legitimate reason to keep up my bad thrifting habits, haha. Here is a mini glimpse at some of my recent finds -



I found these groovy dresses on Sunday. They were half off since they had been sold as "Halloween Costumes", which meant I picked them up for $2 & $5. I really want to go to some ball with the Brady Bunch in the yellow dress, haha.



If you follow me on Instagram these books will look familiar to you. I scooped up copies of the 1957 edition of Oliver Twist, 1958 edition of Vanity fair, and 1960's editions of Little Men and Best in Children's Books set. They were all in beautiful condition aaaand I am totally a sucker when it comes to judging a (literal) book by it's cover.



I had to save the best for last (in my opinion). I added a huuuge chunk to my pyrex collection over the weekend. I found pyrex cups for 50 cents each aaand had a $20 coupon to use at one of my favorite thrift stores. This = mega pyrex haul (plus the two pieces of fireking and glassbake). I can't wait to make all of my Thanksgiving dishes with all of my new pyrex. It is going to be on pretty Thanksgiving. Tehehe.

Do any of you collect pyrex? It is quite addicting. Anywho. I hope you have a beautiful day.

Toy Army Tuesday - Restored.

Hi all! Another Toy Army Tuesday post here. This is the second part of my Kenner Blythe post from last week. I found Juniper (my 1972 Kenner Bltyhe) last weekend for $3 dollars at a flea market!! Basically, my dreams came true that night. Anywho, Juniper was a hot mess. Her hair was frizzy and tangled, her feet and face were dirty, and her dress was covered in dust. Juniper was in some serious need of some TLC. That night I went home and immediately researched how to fix her hair. These are some shots of her mid and post-makeover.



Before



Having her hair done.



Looking good...



Did I mention that her pull string works along with her eyes? Score!



She is the perfect addition to my collection. I am still in shock about finding her. Minor flaws and all - she is perfect to me.

I am completely aware that I am wayyyy too nerdy about my Blythe dolls, but when you search for a doll for that long it is bound to happen. Haha. Have any of you found anything exciting lately? I would love to hear about it and your collections :]

Give a hoot

Hi lovelies! How was your weekend? Mine was nice and relaxing. I had a fun date night with Brian, went to a drive-in, and got my thrift on - nothing to complain about over here. Life has been really good lately, just busy beyond belief. I can't believe we are already in to November. My one year blogaversary is coming up at the end of the month! Oh my. I am hoping to put together a special giveaway for you all. I am excited for this week - I have a weeks worth of posts! It has been far too long. I am finally getting in to the groove of my long commute and balancing life. Wahoo. Anywho... here is a mini glimpse in to my life lately.



For my instagram buds - you have seen this (sorry), but for those of you who do not follow me on IG - this is what I have been up to. Basically, a whole lot of thrifting. Something about the cold weather makes me want to rummage through old things. I have found a lot of goodies though! I have added quite a bit to my pyrex collection (I will show you more on Thursday) and I have been putting my thrift finds to good use - I absolutely adore the dress I am wearing in the photo above. I wore this dress out on my date with Brian. It is a silk number from an estate sale down the street from me.

I need to cut down on my thrifting. I have officially decided though that I am going to open up shop at the beginning of next year (so I guess disregard that first statement - haha). Why not put my thrifting obsession to good use and share my finds with everyone? I am pretty excited about it.

I hope you all are having a beautiful Monday :]

Dreams Really Do Come True!

Hi all! I have a very special Toy Army Tuesday to share with you all. It is the mother of all my Toy Army Tuesday posts honestly. Many of you who have followed my blog for awhile know that I LOVE Blythe dolls. I had two dolls (I even picked one of them up in Japan!). Ever since I fell in love with those big eyes I have been on the search for a 1972 Kenner Blythe doll at thrift stores and flea markets, mainly since they are far too expensive on ebay ($600-$2,500). For those of you who don't know - Blythe dolls were created and sold (originally) for only one year - 1972. Needless to say the originals are VERY DIFFICULT to find. I made it my quest however. I have been dreaming of finding Juniper for over a year now...and now she is mine!!!



Yep, that is right! I found my dream Blythe. A blonde 1972 Kenner!! Saturday night I attended the all night halloween fleamarket. It was freezing and half the size of the fleamarket in August, I was pretty bummed. I picked up some Pyrex and wandered inside to check out some stalls. I was drawn to a pile of old musty dolls. Running through my head was small hope that Juniper would be there. This time I saw some teeny feet and started to get excited. Next I saw a paisley patterned dress - WHAT?? And then I flipped her over and saw her eyes. It was her. I started shaking. OH MY GOODNESS!!! This is happening. I told myself I had to try to act as calm as I could and ask the man how much she was - I didn't want him to become suspicious. "Sir, how much is this doll?" I asked, "$3 dollars" he promptly responded unfazed by the situation, "Oh, ok." - AHHHHHHH. I unbuttoned her original dress and there it was written - 1972 Kenner. I kept checking her in my bag every 5 minutes just to make sure.

Phew. I could go on and on about that night. I won't though. Here she is as I found her. Next week I will show you her cleaned and restored look :]



Not a scratch, mark, or crack (aside from on her face where it looks like someone attempted to open it). She even still had her original polka dot panties on aaaaand proof that she is a 1972 Kenner stamped across her back. Oh - and guess what!!! Her eyes change effortlessly to all four colors!! Her pull string works better than on my other two Blythes, which is insane considering she is 40 years old.



This crack and her missing 5 tracts of hair are her only quirks.



This is proof that if you dream about and search for something long enough it is bound to find you.

Have a beautiful day everyone! Next week I will show you what she looks like after her makeover.

Duh nuh....Dun nuh....Duhnuhduhnuhduhnuh

Hi guys!! How's it goin? I am not much of a DIY'er, except when it comes to Halloween. I am not sure why I don't craft more in the every day...more stuff to put on the to-do list I suppose. Anywho - I thought it might be fun to share with you guys a quick little tutorial on how to make an awesome shark/shark attack costume (in case you are still looking for something to wear). I made this costume the day of last year and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Let's get started! Warning: If you need precise measurements or more in-depth directions please refer to Ashnola's shark tutorial - her tutorial inspired me last year. I am not one for precise directions and just went with the flow. If this is more your style follow the following steps...

Jaws Costume Tutorial


Materials:
- Grey fabric as tall as you are and twice as wide as your body.
- Black felt - a sheet or two to make eyes the size you want.
- White fabric - half a yard - yard.
- Red fabric - half a yard - yard.
- A bag of stuffing or foam to add to the nose and fins.
- Glue gun or sewing machine.


I simply purchased scrap pieces of fabric for this costume and lucked out. I have no clue what the measurements were - I just held up the fabric and could tell it would work. This is my approach to a lot of things....cooking, thirfting... Anywho! I also used a glue gun to put this costume together since I was down at school and sans my sewing machine. It worked out just fine! I hope this helped you out or gave you some Halloween costume inspiration.

Have a beautiful day everyone :]