It feels like summer. Happy warm (or hot) days. Outrageous clouds, popsicles, mangos, pineapple, oranges, thin clothing, flip flops, wild hair. Last night I crawled into bed, my windows open, and the sound of crickets and frogs and night brought me such peace…
My private lil' boudoir in the country feels so fresh without all those books in that huge bookcase right by my bed. I moved all the books and the bookcase to a new space. Took them all out, put them all back in. Then took them out again, and put them in a half bookcase that was at my in town office. I am like a little creature, repeating the same tasks over and over.
Soooo, as you heard over the weekend, I visited a super fab yard sale right down my street…
Thank goodness there are still people out there who see no value in the things I love, like peeling paint handles on old tools…
"Oh Lovee look, I squeal." The yard sale keeper says, you like those? Oh yes, I say. She looks at me perplexed.
I leave happy with good priced items to add to my blue glass…
I return the next day, because the yard sale lady tells me she will be adding items to the sale on Sunday.
You see, I didn't realize she was having this yard sale for someone else. For a very very very old woman who lives in California. Like 104 years old.
Hence, the reason I got the fab trunk for 5 bucks on Saturday. I saw it, I said I must have it, and her son put it in my car. I never opened it or anything. But, on Saturday night, before Mister and I went to my office to pack a few things I wanted for my almost finished office in the country, I had to take the trunk out of my car.
That is when I realized, I had been graced by fairy thriftventure magic.
You see…
The trunk was more than half full, of treasures! Literally. Who knew???
Can you imagine my surprise?
Wooden spools, letters, old wrapping paper, vintage linens! Fainting…
I am so in love with these sweets I found in this trunk. I wish I could tell the owner how much I will love and cherish her trunk filled with precious junk. Not junk to me at all…
Ruby's trunk…
I was smitten. Then I curled up with a little catalog that amused me to no end, so I took lots of pictures for you. Although, I am sure you have run across lots of these catalogs before. I just love them. And actually, I adore the Vermont Country Store for their catalogs that you can still order wonderful vintage like stuff from…
Anyhow, here is the catalog that was in my treasure trunk.
Boy did I laugh…
Tiny ice-cube maker ( I want that!) and better than a husband zipper thingie…
Bouffant Tease Brush!! Woo hoo! 😉
Extra Eyes for rear vision! We need those!
Disposable party aprons! Because washing them is so hard? Oh and, we have sooo many parties, you know, mixers to mingle (not really)… My parents used to have tons of those. Remember those tumblers with the gold edge, men holding them, clanking scotch on the rocks? Ice Buckets… Hors d'oeuvre trays?? Oh the memories…
A corselette! Makes you 4 inches thinner at your waist. Never mind that you can't breathe, who needs to breathe? 😉
A mirror for your bird to preen himself??? Can birds use mirrors? I had no clue – oh and it plays music too???
Oh this could go on for days. A remote control, a super add-a-matic, a perfect meat ball maker - but just look at those prices…
As you can tell, I was entertained by this catalog ;) After which I played with the treasures in the little aqua box I brought home from the same sale…
I am a happy girl!!
I got more treasures from the same sale the next day too… It was a lucky sale to find right in my neighborhood.
Summerish long weekend days also bring things like Mister Lovee seeing me taking cloud pictures and racing over to bring me a ladder for better shots to the west… See that little radio, it is always with him on mornings and weekends. NPR 24/7 all the time. It is usually in his shirt pocket, so he can never hear you. I had gotten one for him and one for me 7 years ago, but he owns both of them now…
Anyhow, I was able to take my cloud photos… (from the most wobbly ladder on planet earth)
The sun began to set quickly after I took these cloud photos, and thanks to Mister Lovee's little radio, we got to dance to a little Bix tune as the sun was setting… We compared our best flapper moves 😉
Just in time to say goodbye to a beautiful summer day…
Mister Lovee and I don't really drink, ever, but after the lovely sunset, we wanted to sip our Sofia minis. We still have not 😉
In Mexico it is custom to give "recuerdos" after an event like a baptism, or a graduation of any kind, or a wedding or a confirmation, etc. Which is a little memory/memento of the event, with an engraved metal/or embossed fine paper tag with the name of the person and date. People go all out with outrageous "recuerdos" in my town (the town I grew up in, but do not live in now).
My sister wanted to give a simple spunky little recuerdo to her friends at her graduation dinner, so she gave everyone a Sofia mini. We have been meaning to try ours. I know, I am behind in the times. We might never get around to it though ;) Maybe next weekend…
I have a project to finish for tomorrow, and I am working on a painting for a special gal, and a super fun project with my friend Roo, who I met through the blogosphere, who is starting her blog. She is so clever, you will love her!!
More about all of this fun stuff next time ;)
Did you have a delightful weekend??? Are you getting excited for the Mad Tea Party?? The list is full of fun people, and like I said, I disabled my regular blog roll while the Mad Tea Partier list is up. After the party, I will bring it back. It was just getting a little confusing in my sidebar 😉
I feel like I am forgetting something. But, since I already have a super long blog post going here, I am going to duck out for now before you give me the boot, xoxo
So much more, sooooooooooon!
🖤 ,V
Oh, what a wonderful trunk! Sometimes I think you’re a fairy, Miss V, because there’s no other explanation for how such magical things happen to you.
How grand it must have been to have peered into that trunk and discovered all those treasures. Did it take your breath away when you discovered what you had?
It’s kind of like a whole pile of recuerdos left just for you from an unknown person, don’t you think? Since the word recuerdo is new to me, I am perhaps using it incorrectly here (living in So. CA, it would have been much more practical for me to take Spanish in school rather than French … but I have never been known for my practicality). Nonetheless, it just seems to me that the trunk was a box full of mementos left waiting for just the right person to come along.
It’s lovely to know that the trunk found its right person. 🙂
How exciting! I love it when those things happen-it is your reward for keeping the thrifting faith! Love the old weathered handles too. The catalogue is great-my two favourites were the man who had ‘morning after regrets’ and the ‘toss away apron’! The weekend was good-lovely weather. Now we are having rain, lots of it, great for my grass which Andy cut at the weekend, hurray!
Oh Vanessa, I am exceedingly entertained by your blog posts especially this one! So happy you purchased that magical trunk full of sweet, secret treasures. Hooray for you! You deserve the sweetest, most beautiful things. )
the very first time i read your blog i think you had some wonderful pictures of clouds…that was about a year ago 🙂 your blog always makes me feel good. thanks.
%*_*%
oh wow, a treasure chest!!!! I’m really, really starting to believe what you said about good things coming…
I love the trunk. My grandmother gave me a HUGE antique steamer trunk last weekend. It is covered in the dust of ages and fascinating/weathered leather straps & buckles.
She used to have old photo’s of our family in it…but those were “sorted through”. I can’t wait to start officially using it – going to buy a piece of glass and turn it into a coffee table.
Vanessa, what a terrific post…I feel as if I were at the yard sale, too!
Terrific find in the trunk. Doesn’t that one linen (the embroidered bonnet lady) look like one that you embroidered and posted a picture of a while back?) Is it a match?
A good yard sale is a terrific find!
Vanessa,
That trunk is pure magic. Me thinks that angels led you there, because your showers of blessing continue to fall. I love vintage letters and old books and catalogs. Your blue sky photographs are stunning. Have a beautiful day.
Karen
Even the clouds danced for your day! Blessings and congratulations on the treasures!
Oh what luck! A trunk FULL of treasures. I am in love with your catalog…I think I need a pair of the extra eyes for sure!
We’re gearing up for the tea party at my house. My eldest daughter was just singsonging yesterday about needing to have a tea party, and lo and behold, I got to give her the news that we are…
oh, what a wonderful surprise to find all those lovely things inside the trunk! i can’t even imagine the delight!
You are soooo lucky!!! 🙂
You found a true treasure indeed!!
V~
Those cloud pictures above are wonderful. My hubby says that’s where my mind stays most of time..in the clouds..haha
I too am enjoying the spring like summer weather. I cut off my long hair…(yikes) and brought out the flip flops and shorts… This is my favorite time of the year.
I think your yard sale finds are awesome!! I love love love the trunk! And I must say that Mr. Lovee and I have something in common..NPR..which is always on in my car. That pocket radio is GENIUS 🙂
Have a lovely wonderful week!!
Kylee
Oh V. What a lovely sale indeed! The trunk was a lovely find in itself, but all the good embroidery things? His and Hers towels?? How perfectly grand! I also adore the old catalog, but those things are always fascinating to me. My mother and I once ran across a box of vintage finds like paint and linoleum catalogs from the 40’s and 50’s…we were totally enchanted! Not to mention the BOX of old family pictures we poured over for hours one night…wondering what happened to the family and who they were? I think that’s why we love vintage fabrics and linens…those threads and connections to the past are so strong.
Lots of great little treasure!
How fun!
I especially enjoyed the ads from the magazine.
Oh, what a wonderful find!! And those old catalog ads are a HOOT, hehe!
Oh, and vintage linens….Love them….
We spent the weekend moving books and bookcases too – or I should day my daughter did, as I painted. YAY for newly organized spaces!
Can’t wait for the Tea Party!
~ Carolee
~ Carolee
Love those cloud photos V! And what wonderful finds and a great surprise to see the trunk was full of treasures, I might have passed out too, tee hee. Isn’t Roo wonderful!?! We had a grand Memorial Day weekend, full of fun and laughter…yay! Glad you did too.
Jamie 🙂
Oh I love! What a happy surprise for you. Your photos brought to mind all the wonderful tablecloths and other linens my grandmother, Lillian Vail Luckey, had stitched over the years. Lillian Vail married Hamlet Luckey. I thought you would love those names. **blows kisses** Deborah
You got a bounty full of treasures there. Made me think of saying one woman’s trash is another one’s treasure.
Look at those cloud pictures. Made me feel all swoony and enchanted looking at them.
I can’t wait for the party. Did I tell you I’m going to read Alice in Wonderland for the first time to help with the party? I already have ideas bubbling up with beautiful china, cookies and teddy bears.
I remember those add-o-matics! The second cloud picture looks like a flying bird. What great treasures you got at the yard sale, and how fun to go thru them and find all the wonderful things!
Have a great week,
Tracy M.
This made me actually cry with happiness, Ms. V.!
Oh how I love old catalogs and books like that. I was born in the wrong time period.
I just adore the picture of you and Mr.Levees hands together.
I just enjoy your blog so much. It always makes me want to be more creative. Thank you! Hugs, Bobbi Jo
Holy crow it’s the clicky thingy!
The most solemn grown up responsibility that could be bestowed upon one of us Hutton sisters back in the day was to be The One Who Worked the Clicky Thingy at the grocery store-after all, for a minute, you were in Charge Of the Family Budget!! Better than calling shotgun, even!
Well, thank goodness Ms. Ruby’s things have fallen into just the right hands. I am sure she would be honored-
as am I! Eeps! It’s like being famous! My name’s in the post! Yikes! I hope I can live up to clever! Either way, at least I know my blog will look good! 🙂
sigh…could those clouds be any more scrumptious???
xoxox Roo
You are a lucky girl…in sooo many ways!!!
I used to have pair of those scissors. I bought them new from Habitat, 20 – 30 years ago – red handles, exactly the same. They were lovely, the handles flaked and they eventually got to blunt to cut anything. Lovely to see them again.
Words fail~~magical find, magical clouds!
Muy buen post….linda sorpresa para vos.
Buena semana.
Where was that catalog back in the day when I could have used a ZING!!! LOL Beauty Full Clouds and O! what glorious FINDS!!! Isn’t it amazing what some peeps throw away or sale for sooOOOoo little as $5.00??!!!!I had an older lady embroider me some pillowcases that say “HIS” and “HERS” as a gift!!She was soOOOOOo cute, she used to live down the road from me and was kind of poor! I used to lug her juices and fruits! That must have been popular back in the 30’s and 40’s!! hehe I’ll email a pic when I have time dear girly!
Oh, I just love the trunk and was amazed that you could find such a beauty for $5, but when I saw what was inside of it…I swooned. The letters are my favorite. I love beautiful handwritten letters and they are slowly becoming extinct due to email. It made me think about my Grandmother’s land cedar chest. In my family they are called hope chests. I think I will have to take some photos and blog about it when my son returns my camera tomorrow. Your photos are all lovely all of the time. I’ve always dreamed of visiting Arizona and your blog has made me want to visit NOW. I am very excited about the Mad Tea Party because it is my first tea party ever. I love your posts, each one more than the one before. I agree with Kate, I think you are a magical fairy. I must start finding yard sales.
Lucky girl! I LOVE yard sales, and have found lots of treasures, but nothing like your trunk! Yay!
And I can’t wait until the Mad Tea Party!!
Wow! Fine thrifting indeed! The shops have been a bit sparse around here, you must be hogging all the goodies!
haha.. we are guilty of purchasing several musical bird perches over the years…
What wonderful memories in that trunk! I love imagining someone else’s life! You found some real treasures, my friend!
I am absolutely green with envy over your trunk!! Don’t you just LOVE discovering treasures like that?! Simply the best, I must say. You were an inspiration to me this weekend. Planted flowers and did my front porch and yard in an Alice in Wonderland theme! I planted teacups and saucers in amongst the flowers. I have a bunny with a top hat and tails along with frolicking stone hedgehogs. Then – I painted the Cheshire Cat planter a wild psychedelic pink. He is now a lovely boring green. My daughter said the pink cat made it look as if “the 60’s were waaaay to good for me”. Harumph….. At your place a pink Cheshire pussycat would’ve been devine. – Kathy in Chicago
What a splendid and unexpected gathering of treasures you have come across. I adore all things with chipped paint.
Your cloud photos take me away. Oh to be a butterfly or bird, soaring up…up…up…into those soft and stirring clouds.
Kim
Garden Painter Art
Totally jealous of your finds!! I think I live in some sort of thrifting black hole 🙂
Oh my. That is such an exciting surprise! Um, and the tea party… pretty sure I’m going MAD from all the excitement.
OH my that trunk is filled with amazing treasures…how lucky are you to be the recipient…
Gotta love those old catalogs… too funny the things they sold what seems like eons ago…
The photos of the clounds …. stunning!! Ghost like images of angels and faeries floating by…
As for Mr. Lovee …he is a peach…
HAVE A GREAT DAY
LOTS OF HUGS
JO
What an amazingly wonderful surprise! To find all of those goodies in that trunk!
I’d never imagine that would happen in real life! a half-full trunk of treasures- wow! Love the photos!
xo natalea
What a lucky girl. I love finding treasures. Isn’t it special to find little momentoes from a person you’ve never met. It certainly lends to your curiosity. The clouds are so dreamy and the catalog was a hoot.
xo-jj
The yard sale fairies were certainly with you. What treasures!
What wonderful goodies you found. I wish we had sales like that around here. We traveled to the Nashville Flea Market this past weekend (we live in St. Louis) and it wasn’t nearly as good as your yard sale!
Hello V!
What a lovely treasures to share! I could think of know one who could appreciate such a gift than yourself. We would all like to be as lucky as so thank you so kindly for sharing them with us. I think the meatball thingy is a hoot! LOL! I had a lovely magical weekend myself! We just purchased an airstream and I am sooo sooo excited.
The party is all I am thinking of. I have book galore from the library, and old school movie and a little pile of rubbish for the photo-shoot. I can hardly contain my excitement! Thank you darling friend for being such an inspiration! I wish you and Mr. Love a grand ol’ week and LOL my own Mr. listens to such things as well. But a portable radio? Oh that is a charming idea!
Hugs~
Chelsea Ann
You lucky ducky! But how nice that these treasures are with somebody who appreciates them! And those adverts…precious…particularly taken with the eyes in the back of the head….
What a lovely blog you have. Just stumbled upon it. Made me happy! (and a bit envious of your finds!)
You are a lucky girl / I may go with you each time I go to ” vide greniers” too bad you live too far away.
I love these little treasures from poeple’s life , they tell a beautiful story.
Oh, how exciting! I love old letters. Have you read them yet? That alone would be a treasure, not to mention all the other things.
Congratulations on your wonderful finds.
20 years ago I started cleaning out my Mother-in-law’s houses. She moved in with us after a stroke.
I found boxes and boxes of treasures like your described. I gave away and threw away…gasp…lot’s of things. I still have many treasurers that I kept and look at now and then.
Several years later I did the same thing after my Husband’s Aunt died. I wish blogs had been around then…I could have given a lot of things away on line.
Love the cloud photos.
Mr. Loveee would drive me crazy with that radio…I like silence…don’t get me wrong I love music but only now and then.
I must admit that impromptu dancing is nice and something I would like to do.
oh my goodness! what treasures you found! and actual treasure trunk!~
Summer is here too…Im loving it…the bright light and blue skies. I’m also looking forward to getting on over to Arizona in a couple of months. Lovely bright sun…
Oh, here’s to GOOD FINDS in unexpected places (like down the street.. inside trunks, and the looks on FRIENDS faces when they share in the excitement with you)!!!
I’m ultra EXCITED to know these lovelies found their way to your heart.. wouldn’t it be something to learn they were ALWAYS held on to JUST FOR YOU!!!
Happy collecting!
xo, monica 🙂
Hi Vanessa, Its so much fun when we find so many treasures that it takes a while to go through them! The excitement! Can’t wait to see what you create with them! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome find!!!
oh my goodness – what a great trunk…from ruby! how good that it went to you and not to the goodwill or elsewhere to be divvied up. the sofia minis are so good, perhaps you could split one tiny can. how sweet that miss sofia’s dad did a champers in her honor. and he has 3 cool island getaways too! http://www.blancaneaux.com/desk/
wow, wow, wow. Some many treasures. I’d love to go yard sale-ing with you!
What great treasures! I’m jealous!
Hola Preciosa! Love the tools w/ peeling paint and the trunk – THE TRUNK! What a treasure! That’s fantastic! And the cloud photos – and dancing w/ Lovee – well, a fabulous weekend, all around! xoxox
I languish; I drift! I am afloat on dreams and yearnings. What joy you have discovered. Simply scumptious!! Back to my drifting now.
Hugs
SueAnn
oh…I am laughing…that catalog!! soooo funny, the pink and yellow pills…hmmmmm I need some of those.
What a treat to slowly dig through these treasures!
I went to an antique tool auction, got auction fever and came home with a few goodies.
x…x
s
What an incredible treasure. All my favourite things. I love old spools of thread and vintage handkerchiefs. Little momentos of a time when beauty lived in the tiniest details of our lives. Thanks for the incredible photos.
Hey Missy Vee,
I had the most horrible week (I will forever refer to last week as The Week That Sucked) and I came over here to cheer myself up. You know what? It worked! Thank you, marvelous girl, for sharing your yard sale finds with us. What a treat for you, and us. 🙂
I love the idea of cloud dancing at the end of a beautiful day. If I were you, I’d make that a tradition between you and your Mister.
xoxo,
Kate
Those are some treasures in that trunk! It is a lovely old trunk and the items in it look delightful! I’m glad someone’s once beloved items are gone to a good home. Those bits of embroidery are so pretty! I can’t wait to see what you do with some of it! 🙂
lovely post! I love all! amazing pics!
xoxoxoxooxoxooxo
Oh, my goodness–those treasures! It is so much fun to see someone get as excited over these things as I do! I especially love the morning after “Zing” pills! In fact, I JUST sold this week a little gold pill box with the words “Morning After” engraved on top. I sure giggled imagining the scenarios which would require one to carry around Morning After pills!
I do not really drink, either, although every once in awhile I do like a bit of sparkling wine (even though one glass sends me to bed for a whole day!), and I must insist you drink from those little cans with one of those swirly straws. It’s the only way to go! XO
I am in love with your surprise trunk! And I love old adverts as well. I have these HUGE books, one for each decade, with all kinds of old ones. Some are frightening, but all are hilarious.