Lone Wolf Estate Saling... Sort Of

As with most school years, we had one staff-only conference day before students return. With a shocking disregard for my estate saling needs, my school district scheduled it for the Friday before Labor Day. Which meant that Sarah (@thesnugbungalowshop) would be going to estate sales alone. Fortunately for me, our favorite estate sale company often opens their sales on Thursday, and they had one listed that looked very interesting.

I was eager and a little nervous (I don't go to these things alone! And on the first day!). Because there were a lot of dresses pictured and I had a list of things to check out for Sarah, I decided to go earlier than usually to get a good number. I turned onto the street and saw this:

A feeling of foreboding came over me. 

Yup. 31. THIRTY. ONE. I got there at an early hour for me and THIRTY people beat me there! Still, I rarely have competition for dresses so I wasn't really worried.

Like nearly every day this past summer, it was a chilly one, so I headed back to my car to wait. I passed this beauty on the way and stopped to give her some love. Her name turned out to be Daisy, which is the name of the estate sale company. I couldn't decide if this was a good or a bad omen.

Lucky for me, two friends turned up at the sale too! I was so happy to not be waiting alone. Andrew was decidedly less excited about the mandatory selfie.

I finally got in and the lady who runs the sale (actually named Andrea but I enjoy calling her Daisy) said "oh, you'll want to go upstairs". Because they know me here. Apparently I am memorable. I'm not sure if it's the piles of dresses I tend to carry out, or the noises I make while discovering them. Best not to speculate.

I went into the first bedroom to find that it had been relieved of all of the good dresses. There was one in particular that I wanted and I recognized the spot from the picture, but it was gone. I was surprised and disappointed. I moved into another room and saw a pile of dresses. I started to go through them and a lady standing nearby said "Oh sorry, that's mine!" 

I did not recognize this lady, but she was clearly getting in between me and my God-given right to all vintage dresses at all sales I'm at. If you haven't heard, I WIN AT DRESSES. And this woman had BEATEN ME. I wanted to hate her. But darn it, she was so nice. She offered me things she was deciding against and pointed out that one skirt that I was holding had some fading. Stupid nice lady, not letting me hate her! I took a picture of them to send Sarah. You can see how I felt about the situation in my expression (and my frazzled hair).

I kept inspecting closets for treasures they may have left behind, and I was rewarded. I got just enough lovely things to make me happy, and not feel overwhelmed. So they honestly did me a favor. I started to feel less cranky and resented my lack of dislike towards them a little less.

I also felt more relaxed and spent some time investigating things for Sarah.

This was a pile of Christmas (among other things) that someone was hoarding. I felt sure that all the stuff on my list was in there somewhere. (It wasn't. More on that in a couple of pics).

She sent me after one creepy plastic faced animal. Don't know why she wouldn't want another! She didn't, though.

I found this! It wasn't on her list and I KNEW she would want it! I was SO damn proud of myself for this. If they gave out awards for finally figuring our your friend's taste in Christmas, I would have won it. I earned it.

You might recognize these from her blog post about her trip to the same sale the next day! They were priced higher than she wanted to pay, so she gambled and waited and won! 

She was over the moon about this one. 

I went back upstairs, determined to check all the fabric piles that I'd passed over in case they contained cute clothes. I found a lot of vintage lingerie and took home a few pieces. There were 2 other ladies (not the ones from earlier) who were going through the same room and were such happy, friendly ladies. They were showing each other items, commenting on things the other was looking at and started to include me in the fun. They offered me things I might like. They banished what was left of my earlier crankiness and agreed to pose for a selfie with me!

I was in such an improved mood, in fact, that when I ran into one of the two ladies from earlier, I struck up a conversation with her. She told me that they were from Toronto and were under a time  crunch for a vintage show of some sort so they had come all the way to Rochester (*cough cough* to invade my territory and steal my treasures but it'sOKIforgiveyoubecauseyou'reawesome *cough*). 

I finally got out of there (and I'm telling you, that was no small feat as I had a million things to carry and it was CROWDED in there) and headed to Sarah's work to give her the things I'd grabbed for her and to show off my hard-won treasures.

It's not the same as adventuring together, but it will do! *Not pictured: the stuff Sarah got for me the next day when she went, because I haven't seen it IRL yet!*

Here's a little video of my finds! Some of these will be staying with me (the gray beaded top, the red top, and we'll see about some of the others) but the rest will be showing up in my Etsy shop. If I ever manage to get caught up! I'm drowning in vintage at the moment.

I'll see you all after my next Friday off!

Salvo Wednesday: Last Hurrah

I can't believe it, but I've missed two whole weeks in a row of Salvo Wednesdays! The first one was intentional. I'd just had my "one to beat" estate sale and I was feeling overwhelmed and overloaded a bit. I took the week off and was feeling better and prepared for the next week.... but my car, alas, was not. It needed a major repair (under warranty, thank the light) so I was without wheels. 

It was therefore with some relief that I planned my last Salvo Wednesday of the summer. I headed to two nearby Salvos to get a little extra in. I started at my favorite in Henrietta. Like always at this Salvo, I hit the jewelry first, and came up with nothing. Not one thing. Sigh.

So I moved on to the dresses, which is obviously the most important section to me. This summer I've been finding a lot of vintage for my shop but not much for me personally. This trip fixed that!

Super cute shirt dress with pockets! It is impossible not to be super happy about this!

I love the colors and the print on this dress, and I bought it in hopes that summer will be warmer next year than this year. I hope to wear this lounging in my back yard, sweating, with a dog on my lap. Yes please.

Nothing beats a dress you can wear to school that also has pockets! Even if it does look a tinch like the fabric was modeled after playing cards. I love the color scheme though! Blues and greens are my favorite!

Again, already planning ahead to next year! We're planning to go back to Cape Cod next summer and I can not WAIT to wear this to brunch or to Provincetown or .... I don't care, I just want it to be hot and sunny. I love the print!!

This color combination is killer. I have a love/hate relationship with stripes, so I hope I actually love this as much in practice as I do in theory. I have a tendency to buy stripes and then never ever wear them, and they wind up in an Ann-me-down pile without ever having seen the light of day. I think that will not be the case with this one... but then, I always think that, or I wouldn't buy them in the first place!

I'd like to pause here for a second to discuss modern clothing sizes (and vintage ones while we're at it, since they use the same arbitrary numbering system that has no correlation to modern numbering systems). Can we just all agree that these letter and numeric sizing systems are stupid and we should stop using them? The above striped dress is a juniors size S and fits me comfortably. The playing-cards-pattern dress two photos above is a women's size 8 and it is snug. This is idiocy.

Since starting my vintage-reselling activities, I have gotten much more comfortable with determining if an item is going to fit me based on measurements. I am much more likely to buy a vintage item from an Etsy shop based on its measurements (and my own) and have it fit correctly than I am to buy a modern item off a website and have it fit. Modern sizes are a crapshoot at best. And then you have to decide if the sizing is US, UK, women's or junior's, or that completely inexplicable H&M sizing which fits no one. Dear fashion designers, start just measuring your clothes and get everybody on board with that. We can all fit into our clothes and go merrily on our way. End of rant.

Moving on...

I almost bought this one, because the print is amazing, wraps are amazing, and I love Banana Republic. However, despite this being a size small, it was really weirdly loose in the armpits and it felt weird. Plus, there were these:

Nobody wants ornamental, random brass buttons. Sorry, BR.

I found a couple of vintage items too (pictured at the end) so I felt really good about this trip! I decided to go to the last area Salvo that I hadn't been to yet this summer. Sometimes I find a ton at this store, sometimes I find almost nothing. I was lucky to find a few things that made the trip worthwhile, but not an overwhelming amount. Perfect!

I found just one thing for me, but it was a really good thing!

This is a swim coverup. I love its asymmetry, and I love the little tie at the front skirt hem. And obviously I love the tropical floral pattern and the color scheme! Yes!

I really made out with 70s stuff for my shop! Most of this is from that era, with the exception of the green dress in the middle (60s) and the pink dress next to it (early 80s). If the green skirt with the pink belt had been my size, I would never have parted with it. But it and all the rest will be coming to my Etsy shop in the near future!

And that's it for the summer, friends! I'll see you again after the next Wednesday on a school vacation! 

That's What She Said: #10 It Only Hurts A Little

In case you haven't picked up on it, summer is my very favorite thing. First, there's the weather. Sun and warmth is what (my) dreams are made of. The outfits that go with sun and the warmth are equally beloved. I love all the things you get to eat in summer (fresh veggies! grilled food! ice cream!) and all the things you get to do in summer (back yard breakfast! swimming! kayaking!). Being a teacher, I love all the things I have the time to do, like sleep and read books and go to thrift stores and to estate sales with my friend Sarah (and then blog about it). 

Every year I have mixed emotions about summer's end. There's a lot I love about fall. A crisp, sunny fall day is the next best thing to a steamy summer one. I love squash and pumpkins and apples (all plentiful in our neck of the woods). I love sitting in our yard with a mug of tea by the fire while my husband makes chili on a grill. I love heels and dressing up for work. And I'm one of the few lucky people who sincerely loves what I do, mostly because I happen to teach the best kids - no, the best people on the planet. On the other hand, I will never not be sorry to see summer go. I will never be happy to think of the days getting shorter, winter approaching, and having to set an alarm. I'll be disappointed to have my estate-saling partner-in-crime go to estate sales without me.

So it was a little painful to go to our last joint estate sale of the summer last week. We were looking forward to it and a bit bummed all at once.

I wore my rainbow dress one more time as a fitting bookend to the summer!

We got in on the first round with these numbers.... but then again, literally every person who was waiting got in on the first round!

This was the first thing I saw upon walking into the room. I'd seen the one on the right in the pictures, and I wasn't that excited. I have been hoping to find some vintage Genesee beer (it's brewed here in Rochester and my husband is a big fan) stuff to give to my husband for Christmas, so I was really excited to find the one on the left! Sssshhh, don't tell. (Good thing he doesn't read my blog).

I have this exact one at home! In retrospect, I kind of wish I'd bought it. I have a feeling I'm going to be getting more, not less earrings in the future.

This closet seemed promising, but was filled with mostly nightgowns. Now, I love a good vintage nightgown, but some of them bore me. This had ones that bored me.... all exactly the same, but in different colors.

Light blue/pink....

Deeper blue...

...medium blue.

We've moved on to a blue with a collar...

...pink with a collar...

....buttercup yellow with a collar. I guess if you find something that works, you stick with it.

This lady really liked faux angora, too.

Fuzzy heeled slippers!

And fuzzy...whatever these are. Although that might be real angora, now you mention it.

Sarah decided to get this after going back to look at it multiple times. Spiffy!

There were a lot of glasses at this sale. I saw these and kept saying "Harry Potter glasses! Harry Potter!" Because, well. They're Harry Potter's glasses.

I don't know who exactly wore these glasses, but they were CRUSHING IT in the 80s.

I thought I rocked these cat eye glasses. Someone disagreed.

If I hadn't bought a sweet rainbow tomato pincushion earlier this summer, I'd have been really tempted by this guy.

I hemmed and hawed over a bracelet that may or may not have been Bakelite. I really, really want to start a Bakelite collection, but it was $20, not my favorite color, and not confirmed. If any of those 3 things had been different, I'd probably have done it. But as it was, I resolved to go back at 1 when everything was going to be half off to see if it was still there. After a LOT of hemming. And also hawing.

We moved on to a church sale.

The tent and the sign seemed to bode well! Lots of stuff!

I was really tempted by this. My husband would have been SO tough using this to boogie board next year. But we already both have boogie boards, and you don't really need multiples.

I wasn't really tempted by this, but I was amused.

You'd think a music teacher would be excited to find these vintage games, but I promise you I am the worst at Encore. I've played it. I'm the worst. Not only can I not remember lyrics (bad vocal music teacher!) I often think lyrics are different than they actually are.

Hooray for more glasses!

A little bonus pic... zoom in and you can see my rainbow dress reflecting in her glasses!

We killed a little time and went to AmVets until a restaurant opened. We didn't buy much but I did get this 70s number. I love the color scheme!

We got one last lunch in, and I forgot to take pictures. Mostly because I was starting to get a nasty migraine and couldn't think straight. I did go back to the first sale, and the probably-Bakelite bangle was gone. A little bit of an underwhelming end!

I did find some good stuff at the estate sale, though!

A sweet little mini nightie, a purse with a fun clasp, a lucite 60s belt, and a bunch of jewelry!

Most of this was in a bag with a bunch of other stuff I didn't want, but it was worth it for these and especially for these:

They're Laurel Burch! While the back tells me they're peonies, I can't help seeing butterflies when I look at them!

A side note: I'd started accumulating vintage jewelry over the last year. I bought a standing mirror that opens up to hold most of my jewelry, but the bracelets just weren't fitting. So I followed Sarah's lead and bought a bracelet rack. Here it is at the beginning of the summer:

A few bracelets and a few earrings on my earring holder (look familiar?).

And now... well, I may have bought a few bracelets and pair of earrings this summer. Just maybe. 

Don't forget to read Sarah's partner blog at the Snug Bungalow here!

Our days of joint estate sales are over for the summer, but never fear! There will be holidays and vacations! Keep an eye on our Instagram accounts to catch the next ones!

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow

And find us on Etsy!

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow