estate sale date...pt.3...

Edna...

So...part 3 of our little estate sale adventure is by far my favorite. Save the best for last right? We were in the sun room of this adorable little house and after i had gotten up off the floor from looking through a stack of vintage children's books and some old coloring books...i turned around and did a quick scan to see if there might be anything else to tickle my fancy... Then... it happened. My eyes caught sight of a decent sized cardboard box laying beneath a table, shoved almost completely out of sight. I about peed my pants when i realized what was in that box...

Oh dear god...an unbelievable collection of vintage photos all of this beautiful artist named...Edna and her adorable family.

Mixed in this box were a few letters, some Christmas cards, and a few hundred photos...most black and white with a few colored ones. Everything was in perfect condition, and more than half the photos had their negatives and original envelopes from the developers.

My hubby just happened to few a few feet away from me when i shrieked out of excitement upon noticing this treasure trove. I'm pretty sure my exact words were "oh my god, oh my god...i'm in heaven...i have just hit my dream jackpot...((at least my dream "photos and findings" jackpot...there more than a few different kinds of treasure hunting jackpots that i'm always on the prowl for winning))

Well...you can imagine the feeling that came next when i realized there was no price on anything ((i'm not even sure they knew it was there...)) "oh, dear lord...this is going to be sooooo expensive." 

Whenever i come across a situation like this where i am so giddy about something i might just puke...and spend all the money in my pocket to get it...i stop. take a deep breath. and set myself a price limit that i can't allow myself to go over.

Sooo... i told my hubby i would spend $50 on this box, but not to let me go over that (i probably would have bumped that up to $60 if seemingly appropriate)

So...now was the time...i followed him as he carried the box up to the head honcho of the estate sale business and asked him for a price for the entire box...

(I had him do it because i was afraid the head honcho might just hear the squeak of excitement in my voice if i asked..i have a horrible...horrible poker face when it comes to thrifting and estate sale-ing...i'm working on the flea market poker face and i've almost got that one down. Hehe!

So anyway...the h.h. (we will call him) looked through the box, opening envelopes and shuffling through some obviously stunning photos...he was so thorough about it that i thought for sure it was going to be waaaayy out of my price range. Then, he looked up at me and said these four BeAuTiFuL words... "How about fourteen dollars?"

GASP! 

Ummmmm....I'll take it. 

I can't even begin to explain how fast i payed for the rest of my things and shuffled my little toosh right on outta there...in fear that he might just change his mind.

I would like to add that i haven't even gone through half of that box yet...but when i do, i would like to share some more of the stunning Mrs. Edna Branch, her husband Bob and their adorable 2 sons...Billy and Bobby.

So...there you have it folks...one of my favorite estate adventures to date!

Whadya' Think?

I would love to hear of some of your favorite findings...

Hope you are having a fabulous day!

Xo

Ash*

//P.S.// Top Photo--> Gorgeous!....//Christmas Santa photo//--> Classic! //and...Batman and Zorro!?!// Are you kidding!?! I almost died....just sayin.

estate sale date...pt.2...

Wife-Swapping, Love Hungry Teenagers, and Crime... 

Oh My!

So...back to this amazing estate sale day with the hubby...
See these babies up top?....Ohhhh Mama!
This is how it happened...
We were in one of the houses on our estate adventure, and walking into the basement i overhear a lady saying "well...look at this! wife swapping! and...its from the 50's!"
Screeeeeech! Hold on...put on the brakes for a second! There are a few major things in this world that will catch my attention...and some of them happen to be older ((beautifully aged, i might add)) women saying off-the-wall random things ((Wife-swapping)) and totally catching me off guard...AND...any type of mention of the years 40's 50's or 60's...whoa mama! So you can imagine the kind of whiplash i got when all of that combined came chiming in my ears! I did that sort of quick side of the eye kind of glance and saw this woman flipping through some amazing looking vintage pulp. ((almost died))
I quickly scurried around the corner so she couldn't see my reaction...and gave my hubby the crazy person eyes and silently mouthed the words...i WANT that!!!
So...keeping a close and probably creepy watch of her from the corner of my eyes...i watched her set them back down. SHE SET THEM BACK DOWN! Whaaaaa?
I ran over to them so fast i almost passed out.
So as i was giggling like a little school girl and practically drooling over them, flipping through to see which one seemed the most interesting...two ladies walked up and were leaning so far over my shoulders i got a little claustrophobic...i might add that they also started murmuring things like "Janice...do you really think she's buying them all?...ooooooh they are soooo interesting...geeee i would really like to maybe grab a few of them." Back off ladies...back off...So then... regrettably for some odd reason, I started to feel a little guilty and grabbed the ones i was drooling over the most and walked away to let them have a peek for themselves... why...why did i do that? I think it was a little bit of the fact that i really and i mean really enjoy my own little bubble when i'm treasure hunting...and maybe a little bit of wanting to receive some good future thrifting karma? Who knows...but i will say that yes...i do now regret not being just plain greedy...i really wish i would have just grabbed them all and not looked back. Is that awful? Ahhhh well...lesson learned...just be greedy when it comes to stuff like that. Hehehe.

estate sale date...pt.1...

Holy estate sales Batman!

I cannot begin to explain how obsessed i am with estate sales...i mean...obsessed!
My husband and i rarely get date days together but when we do...we spend them estate sale-ing... and he loves them almost as much as i do. Some people may think it a little odd that we choose to go to estate sales on a day off together but they don't know what they are missing out on...really!


We stopped at about 5 or 6 different houses and let me just say...the estate treasure gods were with us all day!
Just check out some of the amazing stuff we found...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

//1.//vintage mixer, salt-n-pepper, tea infuser, pancake flipper, measuring spoons//2.//vintage cigar smoking man//3.//super-cute vintage records//4.//vintage Brownie Hawkeye, Pride Creation's pop-up-kitty, vintage GE Luminous alarm clock//5.//*Brownie*//6.//silly bowling towel from Las Vegas//7.//Handy Hannah Hairdryer//8.//little girls robin's egg blue cord dress//9.//super soft and sweet infants nighty//10.//Saxe Made toddlers cord suit (overalls and hat not pictured), Peggy Ware sleeper set//11.//vintage bow-ties galore!//12.//vintage pillowcase set, towels, gorgeous vintage jewelry//13.//vintage tablecloth, bar coaster, gag-gift drink lights, sassy little kitchen sign//14.//adorable vintage children's books//15.//vintage Detroit Tigers drinking glass...gotta show some vintage Detroit pride :) //

and...there's more!

stay tuned to see part 2 and 3 of this awesome estate adventure!

Enjoy!

Ash*

retro diner lovin'...

One morning during our honeymoon, i decided to surprise the hubby with a little mini roadtrip to this amazing place. As I've said before, I love discovering random places especially when they are vintage/vintage inspired. I'm a big ol' sucker for little mom n pop diners...especially retro 50's ones :)

The breakfast was excellent, the service was awesome dressed in sock-hop type threads and the decor...oh lord the decor...amazing. Reds and creams...incredible vinyl seating...gorgeous neon signage...big ol' jukebox smack dab in the middle of the place...and table-top mini juke boxes at every table...

*sigh...


**there are a few of these around...maybe there is one in your neck of the woods? Check here.

Have a super-retro lovely day!

xoxo

Ash*

When was the last time you had fun like this...?

Some people like to spend their honeymoons laying on the beach, soaking up the rays and sleeping all day....not us.

We went full force. Park hopping between Universal Studios and Disney World...riding rides, taking pictures, eating uncontrollably, and basically being 2 grown up kids with no responsibilities for a whole week!

 It. was. Awesome.

We decided to go this route as opposed to some tropical resort type thing because of our little one... I mean this is the only time in the next 18 or so years that we can go to Disney World without taking her and not be complete jerks. Ha! On the other hand, all we talked about the whole time was how we couldn't wait to bring her!

So, anyway...after all that running around, we decided to have a somewhat lazy day...no parks. So...we ventured off to this amazing little place called Old Town in Kissimmee, FL. 

This place was amazing. Soooo cheese-tastic. (which is right up our alley) Its a privately owned lot consisting of totally bizarre shops, a few "hole-in-the-wall" feel bars (where we met a super cute man named Phil from the Bronx...who moved to FL in the 70's and is now a bartender.), a rinky-dink general store, an arcade (one obsession of mine), and a few off-the-wall restaurants. 

Needless to say....it was the perfect kind of stop for us. One of my favorite things is to be somewhere totally random and look at eachother with this distinct face and say "where the *%# are we???" Those times are always memorable and always keep me giggling. :)

***Above are some photos of the super cute shop signs, hanging down the strip of randomness.***

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Xoxo

Ash*

tea time...

So, I went on a quick run to the local thrift today to see if I could find some kind of shelving something to help better organize my shop room... I actually got really lucky and found something perfect to fit just where I need it! I was just at this thrift shop a few days ago, but if you know me at all... I would probably have one of those crazy-person anxiety attacks if I didn't at LEAST do a quick browse through. (You never know what gems might have shown up in the past few days...) There wasn't a ton of new stuff to peak my interest, but my heart did do a little pitter-pat when I spotted these babies. I believe them to be mid-century but I can't be positive. They are all un-marked so I wouldn't even know where to begin to research them. I just think they are darling. As soon as I got home, I washed them up and made a little tea party for the little pumpkin and I. They are perfect and have offcially been crowned our favorite little tea party set.

Happy Monday x 2!

xoxo

Ash*

thrifty thrifting...

Hello friends!

As promised, here is a little bit of my recent thrfting adventure!
Thrifted at two stores and spent a grand total of $18!
Can't beat that!
I love these pictures so much because they really express what I have an eye for, and what I'm always on the hunt for...
I would describe my taste as very mid-century kitsch with a few sprinkles of complete kook ;)

The shop...is still on pause for now. I'm eagerly trying to come of with some master plan on how to turn my teensy little work room into an organized and productive work station! Wish me luck! The sooner I figure out how to make my happy little work station...the sooner the shop will be ready to rock and roll!

Happy Monday everyone!

xoxo

Ash*