Take your daughter to work day....VINTAGE STYLE

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It's been a long hot summer here in good ol' Boonsboro, MD.  Our schedule was jam packed with trips, vacations, camps, work, blah blah blah.  You get the picture!  I'm sure it looked pretty much the same in your neck of the woods.  (Gotta love a little Al Roker reference, baby!) 

When my little birdies are out of school I find it difficult to focus on my vintage business.  I just want to hang out and spend as much time as possible with them.  My oldest birdy is 26 and my youngest is 13.  I know their time in the "nest" is coming to an end.  This being said...when I do have to work in the summer I try to include a birdy or two whenever I can.  (Sometimes bribery comes into play.)  This is the topic of this blog post.


Take your daughter to work day.....Vintage Style!

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I've mentioned my good friend Kelly from Madison & Mabel many times who is my vintage road trip partner in crime. Well, she has a daughter, Paige, about the same age as my little birdie, Bella. Get two crazy gals to thinkin' and voila, a plan to bring our girls with us on a flea market shopping day up in PA. 

 

 

 

Lunches/snacks packed, check! Clothes laid out the night before, check!  Alarm set for o dark thirty, check!

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My sleepy-eyed birdy moaned and groaned as we hit the road to meet up with the M & M girls.  Kelly and I looked at each other with a mixture of fear and amusement as we listened to our daughters complain in the back seat.  Although the trip had just begun and both of us had packed all our food for the day, a little bribery was certainly in order. 

 

Moms:  "Girls...hang in there!  There's a Dunkin' Donuts just off the exit before we get to the flea market."

Girls:  "How long is it gonna take to get there?"

Moms:  "About two hours....just go to sleep."

Girls:  "Are we there yet?"

Girls:  "Are we there yet?"

Girls:  "Are we there yet?"

 

Well.....true to our word our first stop was for donuts.  By the time we got to Dunkin' Donuts they were crabby, lazy, sleepy and hungry.  This did not bode well for the rest of this vintage shopping trip. 

 

 

Insert 24 donut holes....YES 24, between the two and presto chango they were riding the sugar train!  Really hopped up on the "junk"!  Like Energizer bunnies, Bella and Paige were ready to shop!  If you know me you know that I'm a bit of a tree hugger when it comes to food.  No fast food, whole foods, organic, you get the idea.  But shopping is shopping, I figured that one donut frenzy is not gonna kill her.

 

Shop, shop, shop......blah blah blah

 

The four of us shopped our way through PA and were on our way home.  Lo and behold, what do we find?  A bakery that creates custom donuts!!  Really..... 

 

Girls:  "please, please, please....let us get some!!!"

Moms: "You already had donuts this morning!"

Girls: "Pah leeeeeze.........these are custom made!!!!!!"

Moms: "What the heck, you only live once!"

 

 

 

How was the vintage haul for this trip????  It S-U-C-K-E-D! Neither Kelly or I found any treasures, and quite frankly, hardly bought a thing.  And yet, for me, this was one of the best shopping trips I've ever been on.  It was a blast watching the girls act silly and just being girls.  At the end of the day, I work for myself so that I can spend time with my family.  And that's just what I did!!

 

Have a good one,

Robin

 

 

 



Worlds Longest Yard Sale, and the verdict is.........Part 2

Ok, fresh eyed and ready to start day 2 of the World's Longest Yard Sale. Now I just have to figure out what time it is.......I left off at Crossville, TN in the central time zone.  I stayed in Harriman, TN in the Eastern time zone.  It took me about an hour on day 1 to figure out what was wrong with Penelope (my GPS). I wanted to get to Crossville around 8:30am so after a few mental calculations I figured out what time to leave my hotel.  I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door.  I was instantly greeted by an old dude in the parking lot loading his trunk.  No big deal right?  Well, he had no shirt on and a big suntanned silver haired belly was staring at me when he shouted, "howdy". All I could do was say...."hi".  I tried my best not to giggle until I got to the truck.

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Not the guy but you get the idea......

 

 

Shopping day 2 proved to be much more productive than day 1.  Instead of giving you a long narrative I thought I would just post a few pics to let you see what I saw/bought.

 

Need a 15ft. giraffe anyone???

 

A little pricey...but I can see it now. 

 Food warmers into amazing sconces.

 

I will only make 1 trip to the car!!!

 

This vintage beauty will be so hard to part with.  Patina to die for!

 

CRAP....won't fit in the trailer!

 

Some of these beauties headed to the shop!

 

 

Ahhhhhh....perfect way to end a long, hot, sweaty, dirty shopping day.

 

 

I woke up the next morning still longing for sleep, but gathered my stuff /loaded up and headed home.  I still had money to spend so I was ready to shop my way home.  I hit several small little flea markets with no success then set my sites on Black Dog Salvage in Roanoke, VA.  HGTV show...thought it was worth a stop.

 

 

 

I hate to be a "hater", but I was really disappointed at Black Dog.  Maybe I had built up it's greatness so much in my mind...not sure, but not impressed.  One whole side of the huge building was filled with vintage/not vintage/interior designer dealers.  I expected an amazing mess of salvage treasure, not wholesale products and new rugs....ok, I'm off tangent, sorry.

 

I did hit a couple of amazing Virginia flea markets that finished off my trip with a bang.

 

Now $64,000,000 question???  Would I go to the World's Longest Yard Sale again? Yes and No. 

Yes... I would absolutely go if someone else went with me.  No...I would not go by myself again.  It's such a long drive so you're tired to begin with.  Top it off with sensory overload seeing so much stuff for sell.  I'm sure I passed on some great pieces because I had lost my marbles in the heat and crowds. 

 

All in all, I had a great time.  I'm so glad I did it.  If I hadn't, I'd have always wondered what the hub bub was all about.  Who knows....might have some takers for next year's sale.

 

Have a good one,

Robin

 









Worlds Longest Yard Sale, and the verdict is.........Part 1

Well as you all know I took a little trip last week.  Little is not the word I really mean. Headed down to Chattanooga, TN for the World's Longest Yard Sale, aka the 127 Corridor Sale. I drove 1360.2 miles in 4 days.  Needless to say, I was P-O-O-P-E-D when I got home. 

The drive was long, but entertaining due to hubby's audio book.  It really was/is (30 hours, folks! Still listening!) a great Steven King!  Being by myself I decided not to shop on the way down just to make sure I'd not get too tired and feel like I had to stop for the night. Chattanooga here I am!!  Hotel was fine, but I left my pillow.  I woke up super early so I could get the best goodies.

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It actually took me about 45min. to get on the Yard Sale route.  You can't actually plug in.....Rt. 127 Corridor Yard Sale Route into your GPS.  Believe me, I tried!  Finally I stopped at a gas station and asked the "Coke" distributor guy. (I figured he know for sure). Problem was, he had a thick southern accent.  I was in the valley, you see, I needed to go up onto the mountain!! What???  Can't plug that into Penelope (my GPS) either.  Go to Signal Mountain Rd. off Rt. 27,  finally I can plug in! (btw...a for "real" mountain, I'm just sayin')

 

 





Don't know if it's a regional thing, but yard sales up North start EARLY!  Not so in the South....where is everybody???

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It was going on 8:00am and people were just pulling off plastic from tables and setting up.  Heading straight up a winding mountain road I made my first stop...Guess what I saw?

 



A lawn jockey and a peeing boy fountain.  Really???  The sell did offer a few goodies, suit cases, mirrors, frame and the shelving from a vintage Frigidaire ...not sure what I'm gonna do with that.



Tally ho...off to the next sale.  I hit several then came upon a big sign for a barn sale a few miles off the route.  Longest 3 miles ever, but the signs every few 100 yds were so intriguing!  "Don't You Turn Around", "Best Barn Sale Ever"...you get the picture.  Weelllllll......not the best barn sale ever, crochet toilet paper cover....but certainly the most strange and beautiful.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

Fluffy chickens for sale...Really????

 

 

 

I know freaky...truth be told, kinda wanted to buy this. Text to friend....."You are a freak!" OK, no to this fine specimen of taxidermy.

 

 

I ended day 1 of the Worlds Longest Yard Sale with an eye full, but most of it did not end up in my car.  Head 35 miles to the east to hotel #2. Check in, get to room.  I take a long shower and get into my jammies.  Try to turn on bedside lamp, nothing! Try to turn on tv, nothing! Try to call front desk, nothing! No wireless so no Netflix.  I don't know about you, but I gotta have a little media to wind down before bed.  OK...throw on some clothes and head to front desk.  I got 2 guys climbing all over my bed/room to get everything running.  I just wanna go to sleep.........

 

Maybe tomorrow will bring better results!

 

 

Have a good one,

Robin