The Goods

Finally, enough of this stalling crap!  I've talked a lot about how cool Junk Bonanza was and how much fun The Mom and I had but I haven't shared my haul yet, and I have a few decent reasons for that.
 1. It takes time to get everything cleaned up and put away and displayed just right.  Can't just put stuff away in any old place!  : )
2. Driving for four days is exhausting and I was pooped!  So really, The Mom drove most of the way, but sitting makes my bum sore!
3. And finally I just had so much fun that I wanted to draw the experience out as long as I could!
And now without further lollygagging and dithering, here are my fabulous new goods from our trip to Minneaplois.

Happy Earth Day(,a week too late...)  I came back with four globes, three of them from The Bonanza and one from a thrift.  My favorite is this one with the astrological signs on the base.  Everyone has given me a good bit of crap for my new collection, but I don't care because I love them!   I will NEVER be lost again!  : )

The The Little Dude turned 1 in January and we asked party guests to bring him a letter for his playroom wall.  We had a few missing so it became my mission to find them, which I thought would be difficult.  Yeah, not so much.  Letters were everywhere so I had plenty of choices.  I brought home the L, M, Q, and Y.  What do you guys think?  

Like I said, letters were everywhere so this giant "B" came home with me too.  It's huuuge!

Sneak peak at our new bathroom.

This golf club toilet paper holder was one of the first things I bought (The Husband is a golfer) and it is now living in our new bathroom.  The artist had some of the coolest handmade furniture there.  He took old tailgates and made tables and benches.  He had the neatest bars too.  I really would have loved to come home with a big Studebaker table, but he was priced way out of my budget, and rightly so.  I'm glad I was able to come home with a little piece.














A few pennants to go with my little collection.  I love how they add so much color to my entry way for such little money!











This fabulous bracelet was my only jewelry purchase.  There were a lot of really great jewelry artists and they were all different from each other.  The Mom bought a great necklace made with a flattened spoon from one vendor and a pendant with a map of Boston from another.  I could have spent so much on jewelry, but I refrained.  The Little Dude makes it hard to wear much anymore, what with the pulling, the tugging and the yanking...

There were quite a few Paint By Numbers, but this one was my favorite.  They look a little crazy and I like it!

I recently gussied up that table with some maps and white paint.  It was my Grandma's and she had it for forever, so when she tried to get rid of it years ago, I saved it out of nostalgia.  It's super cool now, I'm so glad I saved it!

And last but not certainly not least... Look, LOOK LOOOOOK at what I found!  Can you tell I'm excited?!  I don't know if you remember, but in this post I talked about these biology charts that I really wanted a few of one day.  Well now I have one and that's a good start!

It's French, hand painted and fabulous!  The animal is a very primitive fish called a Lamprey and I now get to look at that handsome mug every day because I hung it in my bedroom!  I freaking love it!!!
So that's pretty much it.  I got a few small things like buttons for jewelry making and a cool giant safety pin, but that was it for small items.  I could have lost the farm there for sure, but I was trying to behave.  Everything was marked too high for me to resell, so what I bought I'm keeping and I'm trying really hard not to have too much.  It's a struggle for sure, but I think I'm succeeding.  I know it doesn't seem like I came back with much, and you might be wondering if it was worth the 13 hour drive and expense.  HELL YES it was!  It was awesome and I'm beyond excited to go next year!  You should come too!  : )
I'm joining the parties at Apron Thrift Girl, Sir Thrift A Lot, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Remnant, The Thrifty Groove and A Living Space.

A Few Misc. Pictures From Our Trip

You know what bugs me about me?  I have two nice cameras and pride myself on my photography skills, yet I insist on using my stupid phone!  Bah!  I took all of the pictures from our trip on my phone so they pretty much suck.  I'm going to work harder to use a real dang camera in the future, but until then, here are some bad phone pictures from our trip to Junk Bonanza.

This is what the roads looked like when we left.  It was a little dicey and slow going, but we just took our time and made it to North Platte Nebraska safe and sound.

This is The Mom and all the new snow we woke up to in North Platte.  Thankfully it didn't stick and didn't slow us down.

This is a museum that spans the interstate.  Has anyone ever been here?  It looks super cool! 

 

 In Colorado we mostly have creeks and small rivers so big rivers are exciting to us.  This was next to a gas station we stopped at and I didn't see a sign naming it.  

Another big river.  And if I hadn't known a bit of the geography of the area, I would have thought it was the freaking Mississippi!  Huge!  But it obviously wasn't that, it is The Missouri or Mighty Moe  as The Mom's Iowa native boss calls it.  We liked the name so that is what we started calling the GPS who yelled at us a lot. Recalculating... recalculating!

A very cool atomic style sign at a bowling ally in south Minnesota. 

The Mall of America wasn't far from us so we had to visit.  Lego Transformer...Awesome!!!

Here kitty kitty kitty...

We stopped in Omaha on the way home and were pleasantly surprised.  I expected a small town and was wrong wrong wrong!  It is a pretty big city with a very cool Old Market District. This is one of the store fronts.  It's a weird candy/antique shop/museum.  

The candy part of the store.  They had chocolate covered potato chips that I would have destroyed if I could eat chocolate.  Probably a good thing I'm allergic...

The antique shop/museum part of the store was hard to figure out but cool.  Some parts of it had specific booths and other parts had cases that looked like displays but could have had retail merchandise in them.  Either way it was fun to poke around in there.  

Next post...the goods!  (For real this time) : )

Back to Reality...Kind Of

So we got back home Sunday afternoon, and while I had a great time, I sure missed The Hubsand and The Little Dude.  The Husband asked me if it was worth the long drive and I didn't hesitate to quickly say yes.  Check out a few of these booths and you'll see why I will do my best to make this an annual trip till I die!  (I don't have a lot of booth pics because I asked vendors permission before I took a picture and some of them were too busy for me to bug.)

This Jadite display was just absolutely stunning and I loved her chalkboard sign.  These were some of the most creative and elaborate temporary booths I have ever seen.  I have been totally inspired to revamp my booth Junk Love style!  

This was another super eye catching display.   Look at all those vintage cameras!  Imagine how many pictures those things have taken....

 I really wanted the awesome planter and The Mom wanted the cart, but I'm afraid of loosing another plant to ravenous gnats and she didn't have a home for it.  Isn't the whole set up cool though?

This was one of my favorite booth signs.  I love the use of the turquoise tail gate.   

This booth was fabulous, full of all kinds of goodies, but they were priced a bit a lot out of my league.














The little chalk board was part of a wedding inspiration booth they had.  They had a lot of really cool ideas, and I love the use of all the globes. Maybe the Husband and I should renew our vows...  ; )

Huge architectural stuff was every where.  I've never seen anything like it.  This booth took old arched window frames and strapped them to the support columns of the building.  I'll say it again, I've never seen anything like this, it was nuts!

The Mom and I were so excited the first few days that we didn't stop to get a picture together, so we rushed over there before our trip home and got someone to help us out.

This was an awesome trip and totally worth the drive and the expense.  I'm so happy we went and I'm glad we are home, but I'm going to live in the glow of it for a while if you don't mind.  Next post...the goods but until then, check out the Junk Bonanza blog for more fun stuff!

 I'll stop talking about this soon, I promise!

Creepy Bunny

This totally made me think of you Danavee!   Creepy ass bunny!

Bonanza Indeed

This is one view of the venue.  I didn't take as many as I should have during the "Early Bird" hour because I was hauling ass frankly.  I had to get to the stuff!  And after they let the regular crowds in it was so packed I could hardly stop for a second to get a picture. 

This was the craziest booth there.  It's called Hunt and Gather.  We liked it so much we went to the store they have in Southern Minneapolis after we left the Bonanza.  

Over stimulating doesn't even begin to describe it.  

 

We found some really great treasure today, I'm so excited!  You'll have to wait to see those, they deserve good pictures and I can't really do that here.  Hint:  one of them is something I have wanted to get for a while and posted about here before.  Yeah, it's freakin awesome!!!!

Day Drinking at Junk Bonanza

Minnesota Thrifts

We hit at least 12 different thrifts today and saw a really big chunk of the suburbs of Minneapolis.   Two quick observations: water water everywhere and every three miles it seemed we were in a different town.  
Anyway,  I found a great USSR globe and a brass shrimp.   My favorite thing is this cookbook from the 50's.  I didn't know this, but the best buddy said that Minnesota people enjoy their casseroles and warm dishes.   This handy little book is full of recipes for us to try!

Cross your fingers for us in hopes that we do better at Junk Bonanza than we did at the thrifts today!  

We Made It!

Woohoo!  It was a little dicey with the weather at first,  but we pushed through it and avoided the!  worst of it.   Thank goodness we left early!
We hit the Mall of America when we arrived a little after 6pm yesterday,  because come on!   It is the freaking Mall of AMERICA!

I love that little wierdo!

More little cell phone posts to come.

Junk Bonanza tomorrow!!!!!  Thrift shopping today! If anyone has any suggestions please let me know

A Few Goodies and Booth Update

Junk Bonanza in 9 days!!!!!! (those exclamation points can certainly be interpreted as jazz hands, we're that excited)  I have been day dreaming about it all month and can't seem to focus on much because of it.  Not only am I excited about the prospects of glorious stuff packed booths, I am beyond excited for a bit of adventure.  It's going to be awesome!!!

I'm still trying to take it easy on the thrifting to save my pennies so I don't have much to share. 

I found two adorable earring holders at two different places.  This elephant was a scratched up pink when I found it, and because pink just isn't my color, I spray painted it.  

This mischievous little kitty is so stinking cute!  I tend to find like items at different stores on the same day.  It's weird, but welcome.  Does this happen to anyone else?

This paint by number has a label on the back that shows it was made in 1957 for Richard.  It's cool, but horses aren't my thing so I took it to the booth.  Speaking of the booth...

Look at what is missing...the beast of a typewriter!  Someone has finally taken the typewriter home with them.  I hope the new owner loves it!  Now if I could just get that dang globe to sell...Any suggestions?

Plus I found these fabulous Franciscan mugs.  Aren't they awesome!  If I had the room, I would collect this pattern in a heartbeat.  How cool would that be?!  I currently have one nice china set that we never use, plus another at my mother-in-laws house.  So to Etsy these will go.  I hope they go to a good home...sniff sniff sniff. :(

We also had a little visitor the other morning.  I know they are pests, but they are so ridiculously cute I don't mind them.   I'm joining the parties at Apron Thrift Girl, Sir Thrift A Lot, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Remnant, The Thrifty Groove and A Living Space.  Have a great week everyone!

New Computer and a New Old Skirt

This is my first post on my new computer, so if it is stranger than usual, it just means I am still trying to figure this thing out.  My other one was acting sassy and slow, and since I have a computer nerd husband, I didn't have to whine to much before I was able to get a new one.  : )  Thanks Husband!!!  It is an Ultrabook with Windows 8 and a sexy aluminum casing.  For the most part I really like it, but I'm having a hard time adjusting to a few things.  The touch pad is super touchy (bazinga!) and has all these new functions that I'm working on figuring out.  And the freaking space bar is making me nuts!  I feel like I have to slam it to make it work.  Other than that it is fabulous.  The screen is big and clear and I have 10 key.  I also really think I will learn to like Windows 8 because it has a lot of neat functions and capabilities.  Okay, that's enough nerding it up for now!
A few weeks ago I won a drawing over at this lovely blog called Veranellies for a super cute vintage skirt.  I'm just a slacker and pretty much hate hate hate pictures of myself, so I have been putting off this post.  But here it is. Can you tell how awkward I am even though you can't see my face?  Ridiculous.

My parents house.  My brother and I plan to build a mini golf course here...

In my defense it was wicked windy out!  Anyway, this came from an Etsy shop called Stranger Bird Vintage and I love it!  I love the pear on the pocket and the shape of this simple wrap skirt.  It is a bit too long for me, so I had to roll it a few times on my waist (hence the funny bunching of my shirt).  Maybe The Grandma can help me hem it when she gets back from snow birding in Arizona.

Let the Countdown Begin

In less than 16 days The Mom and I will be leaving the comforts of our little city to go on a long journey north (like waaaay far north) in search of fabulous treasures.  I'm talking about Junk Bonanza people!!!  It's coming up so soon and we couldn't be more excited!  I'm working on getting things to the booth and listed on Etsy so that I will have storage space for whatever trinkets I come back with.  I'm not even sure what I'm hoping to find in Minneapolis.  I guess I'll know it when I see it.  I did find a few things this past week even though I have been slowing down on the thrifting to save my pennies for our big adventure.

These mid century German stainless steel serving trays are crazy cool!  Sell or keep?!  I don't know, I can't decide!  I love the look but don't have much of a use for them.

I had the same conflict with this fancy butter dish but decided to put it in my Etsy shop.  Can't keep everything...dangit.

Unmarked Primary blue bowl!  Woohoo, my very first 1940's piece.  This little liquid measuring cup is going to stay with me, at least for a little bit.  It's so cute!  

Then just below it I found these two.  Another unmarked Primary.  I know!  Two in one day is crazy!  It and the Lime Green pan were used pretty hard so they required an enormous amount of elbow grease and Bar Keepers friend but came out pretty good.  All three pieces went directly to the booth.  

This turquoise hand mixer is so fifties it's almost unreal.  One day I will do my entire kitchen in this color but again, I can't keep everything (grumble grumble) so I listed it in the Etsy shop.  

While I live in the city, we are close enough to the plains and the farms and real cowboys that we see a lot of different cool belt buckles.  These are two neat ones I found recently.  I like to wear mine with my Grandpa's old work shirts.  It makes me feel like I've been working hard all day doing something productive, when 9 times our of 10 that is sooooo not the case!

So I would love to be sharing pictures of my fabulous new bathroom too, but we had a little setback with some broken glass tile.  It's not a big deal but it has to be fixed, so we have to wait a little longer for the project to be completed.  I almost let it go because I just wanted my house back, but thanks to a good talking to from The Mom (basically I just had to put my big girl britches on and get over it) it is getting fixed.

So how did everyone else do?

Also, thanks everyone for your advice last week as far as shipping and stuff!  You guys are awesome!  I'm joining the parties at Apron Thrift Girl, Sir Thrift A Lot, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Remnant, The Thrifty Groove and A Living Space.  Have a great week everyone!