Hello? Remember Me?

I'm doubting no one remembers me because I've certainly not had any comments asking where I was or if I'd fallen off of the face of the earth!! Haha I've taken a very long blogging break - from posting and reading - and I'm hoping that I can start doing both again. 

So, I've got some important news to share with you all. I kind of eluded to it back in May but I wasn't comfortable sharing anything at that point but now that it's been over 3 months, I'm sure that my decision was the right one. Will and I are separated. Well, as separated as you can be when you're forced to still cohabitate with each other. I've been looking very hard for full-time employment, sent out dozens of resumes and nothing has panned out yet. I did have an interview this past Wednesday and the lady was super nice and seemed interested but she did let me know that she wasn't hiring until the third or fourth week of August. Please, please keep your fingers, toes, eyes crossed that I'll get the job. It's one that will actually pay me enough to live on. 


So, aside from that bit of news, I thought I'd also share with you all this bit of happiness - I've lost 36.5 pounds since April!!! Isn't that amazing?? I take a new picture every week right before I go dancing and I can really see the difference in my face. Here are a few pictures from the middle of May through this month.












Things have been stressful as all hell here at home, as I'm sure you can imagine, but I'm making do as best as possible. My family has offered to come help me pack up and to move me back down to SC but I just really don't want to do that. I mean I like Maryland, this is my home now. I guess if I can't find any permanent full-time work that I'll have to move back but I'm praying it doesn't come to that. 

So, remember the earlier this spring when I was absolutely panicking about turning 30? Well, as it turns out, this has been a fabulous year so far! Turning 30 left me feeling so empowered - the changes have been amazing. I finally felt like I could leave a bad situation, with no regrets, knowing I'd done my absolute best to work it out and that it just wasn't going to happen. I've focused - really focused - on losing weight and getting in shape. I work out several times a week, I've given up beer (replaced it with rum & diet coke!) and I still haven't had chocolate since I gave it up for Lent!! As I said in my last blog post, I go dancing every single Saturday night. I love dancing and that's something I'm never giving up again. I've realized that giving up parts of who I am and what I like, really sucked the life out of me. I'm only sorry that it took me 7 long years to realize that!! 


I was home alone last night and I was feeling a bit down (surprisingly!) so instead of sitting here and allowing myself to wallow in my own misery, I decided I'd do something I hadn't done in way too long - I got crafty!! I started digging through boxes of craft crap, I mean supplies, and I found this:





An old composition notebook I scored at the thrift store for 45 cents. Actually, there are two of them and this is the second one. I kind of forgot to take a picture of the other one before I started altering it! Anyway, the pages are numbered, slightly yellowed and it's perfect for recording all of the new changes in my life. I really found the inspiration for even doing this kind of journal by reading this blog: Thrifty Miss Priss. Robin is so crafty & creative and I just love the journals she makes. They're always crammed full of vintage goodness so I hope mine turns out half as good as hers! 


So, the ugly gray comp notebook went from plain & boring to this:





I used the word bliss as a reminder of what I'm looking for. A life that's happy and stress-free. One that's full of love and peace and serenity. One that's filled with things I truly treasure. Of course, I had to use my favorite colors for the cover and some of the inside pages but I also went through my stacks of magazines from the 30s and 40s and found hilarious pictures that are so applicable to my current situation so I had to rip those out & put them throughout the journal. This one cracks me up:





Bwaaaaaaaahahaha Notice how I had to add in the word "not". And that's just the reality of the situation. It wasn't forever. I mean sure, if I'd felt like spending the rest of my life being constantly betrayed and lied to, it probably could've lasted forever, but I deserve so much more than that!! 


My journal-ish notebook thingie is definitely going to be a work in progress, which is how it should be - I'll add to it here & there, tweak it into what I want it to be and I'll treasure it always! It's a permanent reminder of my life as it is now! 


Anyway, I should get going. I need to clean the house, package an Etsy order, get dressed and go to my second favorite store on earth - Target!! Hope you all are having great summers. I'll try to stop by soon & catch up with everyone!!

 

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hey guys - today is my 30th birthday. You know, the one I've been dreading for the last year. I thought for sure that I would spontaneously combust at midnight but so far, so good!! Unfortunately, I'm spending my birthday quite depressed. You guys, so much has happened in the last month & I just can't get into it right now but I'm dealing with lots of life changes & it sucks spending your birthday all sad and confused.

 Some random pictures from last week while the family visited - like this one from the air show on Friday!

The whole month hasn't been completely terrible though. My sister, mom and niece came to visit me last week. We had a great time together and it was so nice for them to come here instead of me having to go there!! We went to the big air show down at Andrews AFB, to Pennsylvania Dutch country, thrifting! My sister and I went out dancing last Saturday night & had a great time. We used to go out dancing 2-3 days a week when we were younger but after we both got married and I moved away, things changed.

Aren't we cute? I don't think we look anything alike though! No one ever believes that we're sisters!!

Will started his new job on Wednesday - the drive from here in Baltimore to down to the Pentagon is proving to be even longer & more ridiculous than his previous commute to Andrews. He starts his crazy shifts on Monday so that will take some getting used to I'm sure. He did have the first 18 days of May off though and he spent them finishing off some projects around the house, traveling to VA Beach to see his mom and to WV to see the rest of his family. I'm glad he was able to go & visit everyone before starting his new job since he won't have any vacation time for the next year!! Still no follow-on orders but he may decide to try to stay in the DC area. I don't know how that's going to work out yet.

 (I love the Blue Angels - it's my favorite part of any air show. Shhh! I like them even more than I like the Thunderbirds - sorry AF,  but the Navy's show is so much better!!)

Oh, and I've been trying to find a "real" job for the last few weeks. I've thoroughly enjoyed being the stay-at-home wife over the last 7 years but it's time to get a j.o.b. that will allow me to support myself. The whole Etsy business isn't going to provide that so I have to get serious & find something that will afford me to actually live and not just provide some fun money

My silly niece looking out my sunroof while watching the Blue Angels

So, I'm going out dancing tonight to celebrate my birthday. Well, that's kind of a lie because for the last few months, I've gone out every Saturday night. I don't know what happened but one weekend while I was sitting at home - again - I decided that I felt like the life was just being sucked right out of me. I'm not a homebody by any stretch of the imagination and for the last few years, I've just been I dunno, complacent?! and given up all of the things I enjoy doing (besides thrifting!) and I just felt this urge to make some changes. So, I started to go out on Saturday nights. And you know what?? It's done amazing things for my self-esteem!!

 

Aren't goats adorable? We visited this Petting Zoo while in PA and the goats were so friendly!

I'm really hoping that this funk I've been in the last few weeks passes quickly and that this year will be amazing. I'm sure it will be. I've lost over 20 lbs in the last 3 weeks from being all depressed (yay!!) and I want to join a gym & start getting back into working out on a regular basis. I know once I start doing things to improve myself, my depression will go away. I guess I could just as easily go to the dr & get some medication for this but I don't think I need that. I just had to have the courage to do some really difficult things and realize that it's going to suck for a while because change is always hard but in the end, I'll be so much happier!! Right?! Hope you all have been doing well - I need to go around & visit my bloggy friends soon!! Maybe tomorrow while I'm recovering from a well-deserved hangover! haha

VTT - Games

Good Morning my favorite vintage peeps!! I'm actually going to participate in VTT today. Woohoo! I've been slacking for the last few weeks even though I have tons of ideas of things to share on VTT. Anyhow, I'm here today & I'm sharing with you all some of my favorite vintage boards games. I mostly buy these for the awesome graphics but on occasion, we do play them too!

First up, this Educational Play Set. Counting, phonics, telling time - it's all included! Yay!

Here are some of the game pieces - love the graphics!

A couple of years ago I found this plastic puzzle of America. I think I'll repurpose it & use the states in my scrapbook. You know, the scrapbook I'm going to eventually make of my cross-country drive in 2008. lol Yeah, one day!!

I always check the game section at the thrift stores for vintage games and usually I don't find anything worth purchasing but the other week, I totally scored!! I bought all three of these games for less than $5 (total, not each!!) but I found stickers on the sides of the boxes with prices ranging for $4 - $10 which leads me to believe someone either had these in some sort of overpriced yard sale or maybe in a booth. Either way, they were cheap at the thrift & they came home with me!!

There was a game-ish type thing to teach Bridge. I looked in the box when I got home and realized I'm never going to play bridge, even with this very helpful tool. It looks so confusing. And boring. The only time I can foresee myself wanting to play bridge will be when I'm 75 and sitting in my retirement village on the coast of Florida. So, yeah, I have a few years to worry about learning!

Maybe I'll sell this since I'm not planning on using it! Any takers?

And I bought this game in case my mother-in-law comes to visit. Shes' a self-confessed Bingo freak! lol I'm kidding about the buying it for her part but not about the bingo addiction! I bought this because it was a good price. And it has wooden numbers! None of that crappy plastic junk they have out today!

And finally, my absolute favorite vintage game I've ever found - this amazing 1960s version of Go To The Head Of The Class! I almost squealed right there in the game aisle of the thrift store. I cut through the tape holding the box shut, made sure all of the pieces were accounted for & almost had to throw an elbow up in the face of the person getting ready to take it out of my hands! What is it with people in thrift stores? RUDE!!

This boy cracks me up. He looks terrified...like he's about to get his azz whooped for saying a dirty word or something. Wait, is he shooting the bird?!

And how about Dad over here with his smirky little smile. Yeah, you know what's on his mind! And then there's Sister, pointing and taunting. Get these kids some therapy, for real!

Anyhow, back to the actual game! The very same day I bought this, I tortured Will for 3 hours one night by making him play this with me! It was hard!! The question book was, obviously, from the 1960s and some of those questions were so irrelevant to today. I'll have to go through the  booklet again and post some of the questions sometime. lol They were hilarious and I eventually won, which you know I just had to brag about for the following 48 hours. He's used to me bragging because I do it every night when we watch Jeopardy! lol

Aren't the graphics adorable? There is no way I'm ever parting with this game. In fact, I think I'm going to make Will suffer through another 3 hours tonight!!

I mean this game is perfect for us - see, there is even a Cowboy Joe and sometimes Will thinks he's a cowboy! And I always envision myself looking exactly like Mommy, pearls and all. hahaha Not!

Thanks for joining me for VTT!

My Trip to SC - Pictures from Charleston

Hey vintage peeps - it's been a while, eh? I had a perfectly good excuse for my absence the first couple of weeks, but the last two? Nah, just haven't felt like blogging! I had an amazing time in SC though! Will and I went down there back in March for 9 days and we ate tons of great food, went on some day trips, renovated my parent's bathroom. It was great seeing my family & visiting some of my favorite places in SC!

One day, Will and I went to Charleston. I love Charleston & hadn't been there since the summer before we moved here I guess. That was 4 years ago and for as much as things change in that amount of time, it's nice to go back to somewhere that hasn't changed in centuries!! The weather was great - sunny and warm - and Will and I spent several hours just walking through the city & parks and pretending we were tourists.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

Our view from the parking garage. We could've easily parked on a lower level, but what fun would that have been when we could drive to the top & take in this outstanding view of the new bridges?!



After we ate lunch at Wild Wing Cafe, we walked down to the Waterfront Park. I was hoping we'd see some dolphins but no such luck. I took a ton of pictures of other things though - like this one of Will. He's holding my Vera Bradley bag. lol



And then there was this guy. His eyes totally creep me out!!



This single, sandy ladybug was nice enough to sit there while I took a picture.



Will and I toured this boat one day while we still lived in Charleston. It was, uh, interesting. And I was quite thankful to get off! I have this issue with claustrophobia and those tiny little hallways weren't helping things. I was happy enough to just take a picture of the Yorktown from across the river - no need to go on another tour!



While we were sitting in one of the swings down at the waterfront park, we heard the familiar roar of a C-17, the planes Will used to fly on before we moved here. Those things are huge!! Funny story - Monday, Will and I went grocery shopping and he picked up a package of brats and was like "these are the kind we used to fix on the c-17s when we'd fly back home from Europe. We'd start cooking them in the oven on the plane when we'd take off and they'd be ready halfway home". I was like "isn't that a 9 hour flight??" and he said "yeah, it took about 5 hours to cook them in the oven." Hahaha Can you imagine?! Five hours to warm up a brat?!



Here's the famous Pineapple Fountain. I don't know why I didn't have some of my wedding pictures done around this thing. We saw a bride getting her pictures made here and it made me really regret my choice of photographer for my own wedding.



One of my favorite things to do in Charleston is to walk around looking at all of the historic houses. I love seeing the old bricks, the old iron fences, all of the details. This house had amazing window boxes.



Aren't the tiles on this roof amazing? I love them. It reminds me of the tile floors in bathrooms.



Here's another picture of my favorite steeple in Charleston.



Our wedding reception was held in this building. It's the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon.



Wow, this turned out to be kind of long so I will come back (hopefully tomorrow) with pictures from our day in Myrtle Beach!!

Floods and Family

Hey guys! I haven't been around much lately - did you notice? haha Things have been kind of busy this month so I haven't had much time for blogging. So, the snow has melted and a few weekends ago, the great Monsoon season started. It was a lot of fun. NOT! Once again, our basement flooded. You know, I'm not sure why we don't just go ahead & fill it up with water and have our own little indoor swimming pool. lol But seriously, this is what the backyard looked like on Saturday, 13 March. Will didn't get home from that week long overseas trip until 5:00 that morning and then we slept for a few hours and woke up to this:



So, we had the pleasure of spending the entire day cleaning out the basement and trying to get the water out. The ground was just so soggy from all of the snow melting that water started seeping up through these hairline cracks in the basement floor. I hate our house. HATE IT. It's a piece of poo. I wish we had known there would be all of these issues because there's no way in hell we'd have bought it. Obviously. I don't know if I'm more pissed that the home inspector didn't see any of these things when he did his inspection or that the person that sold us this house did such a shoddy job with his "repairs". Either way, I just want to sell this dump & get the heck away from this money pit.

The only good thing that came out of the flooded basement was the forced spring cleaning! I took a truck load of stuff to the thrift store to donate. That felt great!!

Last weekend, Will's aunt and uncle came into town & stayed with us for a few days. His aunt wanted to go to a concert so we went & it wasn't really my style but it was nice to get out of the house. As you can see in the photos below, I was feeling pretty good by the time the concert started!



I promise Will wasn't nearly as intoxicated as he looks in this picture. He just doesn't take very good pictures - he always looks drunk!! I, on the other hand, was as intoxicated as it appears. Hey, I had to do what I had to do to get through that concert. Don't judge me!!



Will had to fly again on Friday so I had to entertain his aunt and uncle - we had lunch together and then did a little shopping at the Home Depot to finish buying supplies to finish off the deck. I took them to my favorite local restaurant for dinner that night and had a deelish meal of crab legs.



Will and his uncle worked all day Saturday on the deck and then we all went out dancing on Saturday night. It was on Sunday morning that I started to realize that I'm not as young as I used to be. I felt like crap all day Sunday - too much beer on Saturday night, I guess. Considering I go out *maybe* 3 times a year, I guess my once-in-a-while night of imbibing too much is okay. Thank goodness I didn't have to really function on Sunday though. lol

And while we're talking about families, I'm heading to SC this weekend to see MY family!! Yaaay! I'm so excited. I haven't seen them since last September, which may not seem like too long ago, but we usually see each other every couple of months. This is probably the longest I've gone without seeing them since I moved to MD back in 2006. Will and I have been trying to figure out a time when we could go down there but his schedule at work has been insane since December. He told me on Monday afternoon that he was finally able to take some leave for next week so we're off to SC on Saturday.

I cannot wait - I'm definitely going to take a day trip to Charleston since we haven't been back there since 2007, and I want to go to Myrtle Beach too. I haven't been there since 2004 which is crazy to me seeing how I grew up only 60 miles away from there. I probably won't even recognize the place.

My favorite steeple in Charleston:



My favorite Charleston picture ever - us on our wedding day sitting on a limb of a several hundred year old oak tree. Awww!



So, we're heading to SC in a few days but in May we're going to Tennessee!! Will and myself, the two doggies and my mom & dad are renting a cabin somewhere in eastern TN. It's a little getaway for my 30th birthday. Will is probably going to be working on my actual birthday so we're going a few weeks early and we're spending a week there. Aside from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the mountains of Tennessee & NC are probably my favorite place on earth. I just love it there. Marty likes it there too. This was in 2004 when my mom & I went for a few days. Well, Marty went too! This was before we had Scarlett. Anyhow, Marty so enjoyed riding in my Mustang. He was such a good boy and look at how handsome he is!



That picture just cracks me up every time I see it! I miss my Mustang too. It would've been great to have convertible this past weekend when it was 75 degrees outside.

Anyhoo, I need to finish packaging up an order & printing postage so I can drop it off at the Post Office. Then I get to come home and start packing for my trip to SC! I hope you all are doing well - I haven't had time to stop by any of my favorite blogs lately but I will try to do that later today!!

Fleas, Spring & Productivity

Hello my favorite vintage people. How was your weekend? Mine was fab-u-lous! Friday, my sweet husband told me that since the weather was going to be so nice on Saturday, he wanted us to get out of the house & do something! Now, you guys don't really know Will, but let me assure you that he is quite possibly the biggest homebody ever. I mean he seems perfectly content to stay at home all.the.time, which came as quite the shock shortly after we were married because he wasn't like that at all when we were dating. I digress....

Anyhow, Will asked me on Friday if there was anything I wanted to do on Saturday and I mentioned to him that I'd LOVE to go to the DC Big Flea, if I was feeling better. That stupid cold/sinus thing knocked me flat on my youknowwhat last week. Luckily, I felt a bit better Saturday morning and we made the very long drive over to Chantilly, VA to the Big Flea.



Lemme just say that I was completely overwhelmed by all of the vintage goodness inside those two buildings. I'm one of those people that has to look at everything before I will buy anything, which doesn't bode well for this sort of place. lol Aside from the fact that someone else may snatch up whatever it is that I didn't buy right away, the place is so freakin huge that simply remembering where I saw something that I might be interested in buying is not very likely. Did I mention it was two huge buildings?

It took us 3 hours just to walk through the first building. Then we spent another 3 in the second building. Crazy. I was still not feeling 100% so by hour 5 I was just ready to go home. It's that point in my sickness where I have that annoying tickle in my throat that starts me on a coughing frenzy that lasts for 10 minutes unless I have something to drink. Ugh. Annoying. And that's what happened for the entire 6 hours we were at the Big Flea so yeah, that kind of sucked!

Oh, and I didn't know it until yesterday morning, but I was in Sue's booth twice! I didn't see her though so I wasn't sure it was even her booth but I saw the circus sign she blogged about here & it made me think of her & wonder if it was her booth. It was. I wish I had met her! Maybe next time though!!

The only things I purchased while at the big flea were 4 vintage cards from Patrice's adorable booth. I found the perfect card for my sister's birthday! I can't wait to send it to her. Patrice's booth was filled with tons of vintage linens & cards & all sorts of goodies.

I was hoping to go back to the Flea yesterday so I could do some more shopping but Will had to leave for a week long trip at 3:00 and I didn't have enough time to drive the 60+ miles to get to back to Chantilly. I'm definitely making plans to go again this summer though. Cannot wait!

And, last week while out picking up more cold medicine, I found this amazing magazine at Wal-Mart. I'd been looking for it & couldn't find it anywhere so when I saw 10 copies on the shelf at WM, I was quite tempted to buy them all! lol



I resisted that urge and only bought one copy and it was totally worth the $10 I paid for it! Love!!

So, today, I did something completely unusual for me - I stayed home. All. Day. No Value Village 25% off shopping. No errands. I just stayed home. And worked. And by work I mean sorting through a crapload of linens I've accumulated in the last 2 months & have neglected to list in the Etsy shop. Let's face it: February was a very gray, very cold month. It was impossible to get any decent pictures of the linens. So, I just kept accumulating stuff through the month and hoped that one day I'd have some decent sunlight in which to photograph my new goodies.

And that day was today. I woke up to the sun shining & birds chirping & knew what I had to do - I had to get busy playing catch up!! I'm sad to say that I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. But, there's always tomorrow. I'm home alone again this week so that means I'll have plenty of time to do work. And clean. And organize. It's time for Spring Cleaning, ya know. And lemme tell ya, I have plenty of cleaning and organizing to keep me busy for probably THREE weeks. Hahaha

It's going to be an extra early night tonight. I was up until 3:00 this morning emailing back and forth with Will as he flew across the ocean! I love technology!! I was so sad about him leaving yesterday (stupid hormones!) so it was great being able to email all night long. I'm so looking forward to his new job in May. I'm thankful for his gainful employment but this lifestyle is just so taxing on me. I've held up quite well for the last 7 years but I'm definitely ready for a change of pace, which will include having him home every day and not having to spend weeks at a time worrying about his safety! Yay!!

And with that, it's time for me to force myself to go to sleep! lol As I mentioned, I have a ton of stuff I need to get done tomorrow so I can't pull another all-nighter. I'm too old for that nonsense! Goodnight, friends!

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Books

Hey guys! I'm participating again in VTT. I know, two weeks in a row?? Shocking, isn't it?! I have been racking my brain this week trying to think of something to share that didn't require too much effort in the way of staging pictures or anything because I've been sick with a horrible cold & sinus infection and I just didn't have it in me to do anymore than the bare minimum. Luckily, this weeks pictures were easy enough to take, seeing how these books sit on the shelf behind my desk. All I had to do was turn around & snap a few pictures! Yay for simplicity!!



Anyhow, as previously stated, this week I'm sharing some of my favorite vintage books. I'm not sure how I decided that I needed to start collecting vintage Better Homes & Gardens books. I think it started out with wanting one of the old red & white checkered cookbooks and then just sort of escalated from there. Next was one of the gardening books, followed by a decorating book, a handyman book, a few more cookbooks. Soon, I had a collection!!



I think my favorite is the decorating book from 1961. A pink kitchen? LOVE!!



Pink bathrooms?? Really LOVE!!



I would LOVE to find a house with a pink bathroom. As a matter of fact, a few years ago when Will & I were looking for homes, the biggest thing on my wish list was a pink bathroom! Our realtor though I was insane when we'd find a house with vintage bathrooms and I'd squeal in delight! I mean pink bathrooms are my absolute fave, but I'd settle for a minty green or blue too.



I think when Will & I find our dream house & we stop moving all over the place, I'm going to insist on having a pink & aqua kitchen. And in my pink & aqua kitchen, I'll house all of my vintage cookbooks, like these fabulous Betty Crocker cookbooks.



This one is my favorite - the Cooky book. Cooky. LOL I remember buying this shortly after Will & I were married. My momma had come down to Charleston to spend the weekend with us & she & I went antiquing on Saturday. I actually paid $5.00 for this book, which is about $4.00 more than I'll pay for vintage cookbooks now. I was young & naive and just didn't know any better.



And while those cookies look delicious, there's a lot of nastiness in those old cookbooks. Take for example this most disgusting picture:



Yeah, I know what y'all are thinking. Y'all are thinking what the hell is that thing?!?! Well, that's what I was thinking when I first saw it. I dunno. Maybe you are thinking "wow, a party loaf. I haven't seen one of those since Jane's baby shower back in 1972.". Yeah, thankfully, I've never, ever seen one of those before and I hope I never do. So, while I enjoy collecting vintage cookbooks, I don't do a lot of actual cooking from them. Well, at least not party loaves!! Ewww!!

Here, for you all, a recipe for the Party Loaf. Three layers of disgusting fillings, *PLUS* a cream cheese frosting, all on white bread. GAG!



Thanks for visiting me for VTT. Stop in at Colorado Lady & see everyone else that's participating!