That's What She Said: I've Had Better

Every week during the summer months, Sarah of @thesnugbungalowshop and I venture out to see what treasures we can unearth. Sometimes this means estate sales, but it can also include neighborhood sales and church sales. This summer has contained disappointingly few exciting estate sales, but at least there have been church sales galore.... when we go to them on the right day.

This week held a church sale for us that we'd been to in the past. Unfortunately for me, past experience had told me that it was unlikely to have any clothing at all, so I wasn't terribly excited. Still, there was jewelry to inspect and a crafts room (and I do love a good knitting pattern, so Dumbledore and I have that in common). 

With SO much stuff (and this is just what's outdoors! so much more indoors!) you'd think I'd find quite a lot, wouldn't you? Alas. This was my first purchase (found for me by Sarah):

Bahahaha! Who doesn't??! I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this. Display it in my room? Give it away as a reward.... or maybe a punishment? I just can't decide. I did find some jewelry but in all honesty I didn't take pictures and I can't remember what it was! Sarah and I parted ways after the jewelry room and I headed to the crafting room in search of good vintage patterns.

Which this was not. But I have to say... is this a 60s crochet pattern that is promoting a family with gay parents? Because that's what it looks like to me. I feel like that must not be the intent (because God forbid a soup company portray a gay couple as a happy family unit in an ad in this decade, so what are the odds this crochet company got away with it 50ish years ago?) but it still makes my heart happy. Not happy enough to buy it, though, because while love is love is love, crocheted men's vests are not.

I did buy this, because who doesn't need a chunky knit sweater dress? I am currently knitting a lace dress and after 20+ hours of knitting, I pretty much just have a hem.

It's going to be gorgeous eventually, I promise you!

I left the craft room in search of Sarah, who I assumed was in the holiday room. I didn't see her, but I still couldn't swear she wasn't in there somewhere.

It's like Where's Waldo, only with Christmas and a short treasure hunter.

At this point, I was pretty much done, so I blindly followed Sarah about. We walked past a room with a sign that said "Collectibles" and she said "what do you suppose is in there?" I said "probably Precious Moments."

Boy, when I'm right, I'm right.

We moved on to the much more exciting portion of the day. I had done a long run in the morning before meeting Sarah, and was about ready to eat my shoe. To spare me that indignity, we went to Rohrbach's.

Decidedly better than my shoe.

On my long run that morning, I had discovered that there was another church sale near me.

It was opening just as we finished up, so off I went. I'd gone on my own last year too, and found quite a bit of awesome jewelry. So it seemed worth it!

Felt like I was heading into the Pit of Despair.

The sight of the crowd around the jewelry table was almost enough to make me turn around and go home. But I figured I'd come all this way, so I might as well look. I squeezed my way in, which most people were really nice about. However, one person to my right was not. She was all elbows. I turned and looked and guess who it was!

You may remember Eastern European Woman from (I called her lady but I like woman better because then it abbreviates to EEW, which feels appropriate) the day during which we introduced my cousin Kristin to estate sales. She's the one who grabbed Bakelite out from under my nose. She and I are not friends. I'm not sure if I would call her an arch-nemesis, but I'm getting there.

Anyway, that was the end of the line for me. I got out. I went home to my back yard and puppies. 

The end of my Magic Summer is starting to loom, and I still haven't had The One To Beat yet. Come on, fate! 

While you wait to see if it ever happens for me this year, head over to Sarah's blog and read her version of events! And of course, check us out on social media!

Find us on Instagram:

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow

And if you love our finds, shop our online stores!

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow on Etsy

The Snug Bungalow on eBay

That's What She Said: What the Hell is a Hufflepuff?

If you have been following my blog since at least the beginning of the summer, you will know that I am a Harry Potter fan. You will also know that I am a proud member of the Hufflepuff House, the house that is considered the lamest House, but even J.K. Rowling said it's her favorite House and that everyone should want to be a Hufflepuff (because we are kind and good and loyal and accepting of everyone and that's totally awesome). 

You have also probably heard of Slytherin House, and have heard that it is the House where the Sorting Hat puts all the bad guys. But they get a bad rap, see, because they're really just very resourceful, ambitious, and determined. These are all good things, too. And it seems that I am really drawn to Slytherins as well as to fellow Hufflepuffs, as many of my closest friends fit into those two Houses, including my partner-in-crime over at The Snug Bungalow. In fact, we made cousin Kristin take the Sorting Quiz on our trip to Syracuse, and I was correct in guessing that she would be sorted into Slytherin, and Sarah was really happy to have a new Housemate. Sarah and I are both very proud of our respective Houses, and you could really tell on Friday as we hit up a couple of church sales!

I was so excited to find this purse at Target, and was extra happy to hear Sarah had found hers! Go team!

If the most exciting part of my day was our twin purses, you can see how the treasure hunting portion went for me. So well, in fact, that my Slytherin friend rubbed off on me and I totally forgot to take pictures at the first sale. I found a fun mod 60s dress and a nice loud maxi skirt, and that was it. Sarah bought us both cookies and I didn't even take a picture of that. Blogger fail!

After consuming our cookies, we went off in search of an estate sale that didn't show up on the listing website, but I'd seen a sign on my way to the church. Turns out it wasn't on the website for a good reason.

First, this isn't an estate sale, it's a barn sale. This was a woman selling off inventory, not someone's estate. And nothing was priced and we heard her say "just make me an offer". Nope nope nope. That was enough for us and we headed off to church sale #2.

Well. There was clothing there.

The piles of clothing should not be as tall as me. There may have been some good gems in there. And I tried, I really did. But we'll never really know what might have been hidden further down in that pile, because I did not fancy being buried in an avalanche of clothes. Sarah did find me this gem:

She found me another similar one this winter at The Bins, but it has a general stank to it. Which actually hasn't prevented me from using it, but still. It's all plastic-y, and this one is only lined in plastic. It had some water marks so I washed it when I got home and that helped, but the green dye absolutely jumped out of the fabric when wet. It's fine now that it's dry again, but what if I have a knitting project in there and I'm carrying it and it sprinkles out or something? I'm really nervous about using it now. Sad.

I didn't buy this, but it was cute and reminded me of my Aunt Lorraine, who loved owls.

On to the really important stuff! Lunch and cocktails at Murphy's Law on Webster Bay! Yum!

We worked really hard to get this photo to work out and show the water and everything. And then gave up and this is what you get instead.

For a lovely symmetry to my day, I arrived home to find my new Always bracelet from Alex & Ani had arrived. I don't think I could possibly be nerdier, and I love it.

Since I've been listening to the Potterless podcast on the recommendation of a former beloved (Ravenclaw) student, I'll just end by saying: Wizard On!

Be sure to read Sarah's events of our day at her partner blog!

Find us on Instagram:

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow

And if you love our finds, shop our online stores!

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow on Etsy

The Snug Bungalow on eBay

Salvo Wednesday: Just Can't Get Enough

After a few weeks of Salvo road trips, I decided this week would be a good time to stay home. Less driving, a shorter day, more time with the dogs at home in my back yard. All good things. I'd been to Henrietta on the 4th of July, even if only briefly, so I started at Greece.

Greece can be hit or miss for me. Sometimes I find good things, sometimes I get there and there's a power outage (that actually happened), and sometimes I start looking and there's a fire and we have to be evacuated (that happened too). It's a little fun to see which one it will be! 

One of my least favorite things about the Greece Salvo is their apparent need to constantly reorganize. When I walk into Henrietta, the dresses are always in the same place. They have always, always been in the same place from the first time I visited the store. At Greece almost the exact opposite is true. I never know where the damn things are going to be. The swimsuits were at the immediate front, so I checked them out, and that was a bust. I started wandering the store trying to locate the dresses and finally found them in the middle. That's a new one.

At first glance I thought this was a 90s slip dress. Nope! It's a 60s slip-style dress with crepe fabric and a metal zipper. It's amazing, so I broke my current no-more-black rule. 

I wanted to love this one so much. I love a good velvet and those sleeves are to die for. But I just couldn't. Maybe if it had been a mini. But in maxi dress, that is a lot of green velvet. A bit too much.

I did not get this dress but I thought you would enjoy seeing that I found yet another of the Old Navy dresses that I have many times over. I think it's time to stop. Are they taking over the world??!

I couldn't pass this one up, even if it does fall into the kawaii category. The metallic hot pink fabric was just so Jem, and I can't resist anything Jem. And the lace has a little bow pattern, and the waist is asymmetrical, and I can't pick which thing I love the most. It's coming to my Etsy shop soon!

I've recently started to love vintage tops, especially bohemian 70s tops. I realized that to find this kind of shirt, I will need to start actually looking through the shirts. Ugh. It's a struggle when it means most of the shirts are like the above, or worse. Shoot me.

But at least it paid off! It's 90s instead of 70s but so so fun!

I ran into these guys while checking out. I literally jumped. Yiye.

I headed off next to what I have dubbed the Hidden City Salvo. I call it this because many times in the past I have put it into Google maps only to wind up at a dead end, or at a Salvation Army church, or really anything but the actual thrift store. Two years ago I was smart enough to add a star for it to my Google maps and was able to successfully navigate there without major issues, Last year I got even smarter and added a name to the star, so that this year I just said 'Hey Google, navigate to the Hidden City Salvo" and BOOM. Done. 

The dresses were in the same spot, where they always are (I'm looking at you, Greece Salvo), so I dove right in.

Only to get waylaid by this adorable Whiting & Davis purse. I already have a very similar one in my Etsy shop already and didn't feel like having two, so you'll be able to find this on Sarah's site soon!

 

This super-summery bag (#teamsummer) is my new makeup bag!

Finally I made it to the dresses. This guy was decidedly vintage, and I just couldn't do it. Not only does a dress have to "give me the feels" for me to buy it, I'm really trying to go for a very wearable style for my shop. This is something that I wouldn't have judged Goodwill for putting on their questionable Halloween rack, so I passed it up.

This is non-vintage but yes-awesome. I don't care if it's light-washed denim. I love it. If I could have squeezed into it I SO would have bought it, and subjected my poor students to seeing their teacher in it this fall. Sigh.

Now this one my students WILL see me in. It's my size and it's gorgeous. It's a 50s dress with a full skirt. For our fall and winter concerts, we wear all black, but in the spring I let everyone wear a solid, bright colored top or dress, and I like to add a pop of color to mine if I can. Done and done! Check it out on the dress form (since I haven't tried it on yet but I measured it and I swear it will fit)!

It will not be the first time I wear a petticoat to conduct a concert!

I had some more success with fun vintage tops! I love the colorful paisley print on this Peck & Peck blouse. 

And the weird bubbly things on this one!

Oh man. I just couldn't. It sure fit the bill but screamed a little too "bowling league" for me.

I did find some things for myself this time, besides the 50s dress! This is a super-soft, super-stretchy and therefore comfortable dress!

Oh boy! Sailboats! If I'm not careful I'm going to one one bajillion sailboat dresses. But who cares? They're amazing. And this one has pockets so you know I'm in love.

It's going to need a little TLC (what IS going on with that hem?) but I don't even care. Gimme sailboats.

And seashells! These are earrings and so cute!

I was having fun, and as it was pouring outside, the siren song of my back yard did not hold its usual allure. So I went on to my unplanned third stop! I figured that even though I'd been to Henrietta recently, I hadn't stayed long, so probably I'd missed stuff. Right?

Nope. Not unless you count this.

Look, I know jumpsuits are all the rage right now, but I just couldn't do it. Don't judge me.

I did get a slip for myself but that was all she wrote, folks. Still, I'm pleased with my finds from the day!

Since I have exhausted all my local Salvos, I'm going to have to decide whether I want to take another road trip (ungh) or take a week off (sniff) next week. Stay tuned!

That's What She Said: Salvo Wednesday

This week you're getting a 2-for-1 special! Initially Sarah was planning to go to the Syracuse Salvos with me, which has been a big hit in the past. As we were perusing the estate sale listings, we saw that our usual Friday scene didn't look very exciting, but there was one on Wednesday that did. So we revised our plan to involve going to the estate sale first, and then to Syracuse for their Salvos.

But wait! There's more! After posting about the sale we went to a couple of weeks ago, my cousin Kristin read Sarah's version of events and fell madly in love with the glassware set she posted about but neither of us actually bought. She decided that she needed to come with us to make sure such a travesty didn't happen again, and she happened to be off work last week, so our usual party of two became a party of three!

I'm sure you're going to hear all about Sarah's shirt and the inherent problem with it in her blog, so I won't say anything else about that.

We had told Kristin all about our usual cast of characters that we see regularly while waiting for sales, and I was glad that she got to see at least Eastern European lady. More on that later.

Once inside, I set out to find closets. Unfortunately for me, this person maybe went naked all the time? based on the complete and total lack of clothing, anyway. But did enjoy a good raincoat!

I left most behind, but this beauty is already live in my Etsy shop!

There were purses in the bedroom, and a lot of them. I saw this one and grabbed it immediately!

A wicker and lucite box purse! With the cutest pink interior! It is also available in my Etsy shop!

So so cute!

Kristin was gaga over these lamps, but about 2 seconds after I took this picture, some guy came and started unplugging them. Alas!

I spotted this and knew that Sarah would want it (if she didn't have it already, because let's be real. There was a good chance she did). 

It always makes me happy/sad to see cool stuff still in the package. It's so neat to see how it was brand new, but so sad to realize it was never loved by its owner! I think on the whole I prefer the loved stuff.

They looked ready for a movie party in the yard!

If you're not aware, my husband has declared our yard a "gnome sanctuary". I bought him several last year, and a few other creatures have crept their way in. This cutie will be making his home among our copious amounts of hot peppers! We'll see if he can hold his own with a bunch of gnomes!

While Sarah was elbow-deep in a box of stuffed animals, Kristin and I were taking selfies with Santa Claus! 

In a creepiest-clown contest, who do you think would win?

Sarah was in holiday heaven. There were rooms of it. It's a lot like what I imagine the estate sale for Sarah's stuff will look like some day, at least a little bit. Apparently this "tissue" ghost is pretty much the same as honeycomb. She loves a good tissue ghost, I guess!

The very pinkest bathroom!

And the very prettiest glassware, and I'm pretty sure that Kristin took home the blue dish in the right lower corner!

While I was wandering around making sure I hadn't missed anything before leaving, I wondered aloud why there was no jewelry. One of the women in charge heard me and said it was because they'd had so much stuff at this sale that they didn't have enough room, so the jewelry had moved to their second sale a few streets over. So....

Yup, estate sale #2. And guys, I'm sorry to tell you that this part of the tale does not have a happy ending. EEL (Eastern European Lady) beat us in and.... 

Well. There was Bakelite on that table. I did not get the Bakelite. Let's all take a minute to mourn.

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Anyway, I got nothing there except sadness. So after a quick stop at Dunkin, we moved on to Syracuse for the Salvos!

Only to experience sadness, round 2. I had checked all the locations again and had our route mapped out. Unfortunately, I checked late at night so the fact that this location was marked as closed didn't strike me as significant in the way it might have if I had checked during business hours. Permanently closed! Noooooo!

So we moved on to the second Salvo, where I promise you I found good stuff. I did. But the two back-to-back disappointments seem to have thrown me off my game, because the only pictures I took were these:

Kristin was very excited about this shirt. I don't know why she didn't go for it. It's totally her.

And I guess you all needed to see this winged unicorn-rainbow-cat. I think the whole world needed to see it, honestly.

Since the best part of any road trip is eating food in fun new places, we tried The Mission. It's a Mexican restaurant in an old church! fun! and delicious!

The whole day had taken a lot longer than we had expected, so by this point we were ready to be done. But it seemed crazy to drive all the way to Syracuse for just one of 3 Salvos, and Kristin and Sarah were good sports, so we went to the other one where I usually do the most damage.

And speaking of damage.... yikes. It was a situation. I found one dress and one skirt and then I wanted to get the hell out of there. Syracuse, you've done so well for me in the past. What happened this year?!?

Since I completely lost my mind and took no real Salvo pictures, and already started the process of cleaning/photographing/storing the stuff I did get, here's a little taste of what I found! Click on each picture to view the Etsy listing!

The buttons! Adorable!

I'm working on remembering to lookzs at tops as well as dresses and skirts, because vintage ones are amazing. Sarah found this one for me!

I think I'm obsessed with vintage swimsuits. Look at it! Who can blame me?

There's a beautiful peach lace 50s dress, too, but until my new garment steamer arrives (my old one died that same day), you will just have to wait to see that beauty! 

Don't forget to read about our adventures from Sarah's perspective at her partner blog! And as always, check us out on our various shops and social media!

Follow more of our adventures on Instagram!

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow

And if you love our finds, shop our online stores!

Magic Summer Vintage

The Snug Bungalow on Etsy

The Snug Bungalow on eBay