Tuesday Travels - Adventures in Bicycle Thrift Shopping

Riding past a thrift store the other day, I was drawn in to see if there were any treasures to be found. I ended up finding more treasures than 1. I have the money for and 2. arms to carry them home.

It didn't stop me from pushing the limits. I had to do some major rearranging to fit everything. I actually sat outside the store and ate a snack that went from being carried in my backpack to being carried in my belly. It took quite a bit of concentration to balance the very full suitcase on the handlebars and my backpack not only couldn't zip closed, but I'm pretty sure this was the cause of one of the straps tearing.



Aaaah. it was worth it. I and my treasures made it home in one piece. (Funny Fact: Someone sitting on their porch saw me riding by and asked if I wanted to take a break and have a glass of water. I politely declined. I wonder how far they thought I was traveling.)

If I get reincarnated as a children's book character, it will likely be The Cat in the Hat.


Among the treasures were...







matching green vintage luggage





with this rad Bahamas sticker





cool vintage glasses and a brand new donut shaped stone (that I have used to warm up tortilla chips and then sat the salsa in the middle...the best part, the stone stays warm and therefore keeps the chips warm longer!!)





and it looks like I'm going to be painting some more mushrooms (don't tell me you forget about the mushroom shoes). Check out this line up!



Treasures I drooled over, but did not take home...

This very colorful throw





A whole row of super sweet vintage chairs in pristine condition

And this amazing ?game? that had all my favorite retro colors and beautiful illustrations.

I should have just bought it. Really it was a steal for $80 because to me, its a piece of art. If I was driving a car, it probably would have come home with me.

thrifty finds

On sales days, I'm the one waiting by the door before they open.

I just can't resist a good buy when they're this darn colorful.

Moon Boots in the Desert

free stuff or thrifting?
Well, both of course!

Ok, so I've been a craigslist user for quite a few years now, but hadn't taken advantage of the free section until this week. I found a listing that stated there was going to be a whole house free of stuff (tenants moved out and left basically everything behind). The free-for-all was to take place from 8-9am, so yesterday morning we got up early and arrived 30 minutes before we were suppose to be there. We were actually 2nd to arrive. By 5 mins til 8, 20 other people had arrived. Finally the guys in charge showed up, but told us that we'd have to wait 15 mins while they took pictures of everything. We were all waiting like hungry vultures. I was envisioning this getting ugly. Are people going to fight over things? Finally we were allowed in. Nick and I strategically went straight for the couch. Yay, there's a couch! And it's not too bad. Does it smell? No, it's good. Pick it up, lets go. So the two of us picked of the couch and headed out the door. It didn't fit out the first 2 doors we tried so we had to go around back out the sliding glass door... wasting a lot of precious time we could have used to pick out a few other prime items. But we got a free couch! We drove it home on the roof of the Subaru Outback.

Oh yeah... so we did make it back inside the 'free-for-all' to snag a couple things. Nothing big. There seriously wasn't much left after about 15 mins. On the way out the door I found these rainbow boots. Too bad they are too big for me. We're guessing men's size 10.

Yep, rainbow moon boots in the desert.

And then today, we found the 2 thrift stores in our nearest town. And they had lots of good stuff. Here's a pile I really wanted to take home, however the prices were 2-3 times more than I am use to paying. So I just walked away.

And found more fun stuff.

I might just have to go back and see if this vintage yellow chair and cute picnic basket are still there on a sale day. I can just image a colorful liner waiting to brighten up your day as you reach in for your lunch.

ok. ok. I did walk away with 2 things I found at the 2nd thrift store. An aqua pyrex (in need of a special lid) and an olive cake-saver tupperware. I have wanted a vintage cake saver for years. I love that it's olive. It suits me perfect. =)


fun fact. I also considered calling this post... Thrift & Boots.

Thrift finds

Last week, I treated myself to some thrift shopping in Carson City. Just look at all the bright and sunny things I found!



A variety of vintage sheets. My faves being the yellow floral sheet in the back and the rainbow pillowcase in the foreground to the left. I am really into rainbows consisting of untraditional colors. (My etsy banner is an example of one.)

A better look at the rainbow pillowcase, with pyrex and square frames.

The large pyrex dish is divided into 2 sections making it great for baking multiple side dishes together. It also came with a lid (which is sometimes hard to come by), but it's chipped and rough on some of the edges. I'm thinking I might be able to 'sand' it down with my dremel. Does anyone have suggestions or experience with doing this?

These 2 little yellow glass pyrex bowls are my other favorite find! I am just so drawn to yellow right now. I think yellow and orange might just be my favorite colors right now. HaHa. I just remembered that Rainbow Brite's favorite color kid was Yellow. haha.


Yep, that's me and my friend Kristen from Halloween 2007. She humored me and went as Yellow. =)

Wishing you all rainbows and sunshine.

jessie b

September Favorites

Ah, September. How I love thee. No hard feelings October, you're pretty nice too. But I love September. After seeing all the pictures I've taken in the last month that never got posted, I've decided to share them here collectively now so they don't get filed away and never shared at all.

September 2010 Favorites

a new yummy, healthy place.... Green Acres



garage saling goodness...





fun nights of PICTIONARY!!!


Some Lego 'art'



walking in the sunflowers with my nephew





bike rides in pretty neighborhoods...



discovering new favorite artists at Final Friday



and Thrifting!!

picture time

Yes, I've been playing.
Enjoying my time in Kansas this week. here are a few pics from my trip so far.

Final Friday

String Break

Thrifty Finds

(i really think this would make a cute night stand, but id just be crammin' it into storage for now, so i resisted and didnt buy it)

what I did take home was some fun vintage sheets!