Something you won't want to miss

I'm excited for October, you guys!  I've always loved October.  When I was a little girl that was largely because of my Birthday, and Halloween.  I suppose those are still two of the main events, but the attractions are numerous:  cool crisp weather that allows for layers and sweaters; Fall leaves that look beautiful, smell kinda spicy, and swish and crunch underfoot; apples, apple cider and apple pie (more on that soon!); the return of my favorite earthy colors to clothes and home decor; the smell of wood smoke on the air; snuggling under blankets; unexplained bouts of nostalgia... need I go on?

But now there's one more thing to add to your list:  The Kenrick Antique Mall-sponsored Fall Flea Market, next Saturday, October 6th! 

Now, I've been to a few flea markets in my day, and I want to be clear.  Sometimes, when people say flea market, I've gotten all excited and shown up and it looks like this:

Or like this:

On the other hand I've also, in my days in Brussels in the 90s, had the great privilege to go to the Saturday market in the Place du Petit Sablon, which was like this:

Unfortunately, I can't promise you that next weekend will be like the Antiques Market in Brussels, but I can promise you it's not going to be just knockoff handbags and sunglasses, or three guys with some books spread out on blankets. There will be tons of vendors, this much I know.  And last time (in the Spring), they had food, so there's probably that to look forward to again.

I, unfortunately, will be stuck at work the day of the sale, but I've seen it twice now, and it's prety big, with lots of variety (Kenrick Plaza's parking lot is super huge, and much of it will be taken over by vendors.  I think the last I heard it was 80+, and the smallest vendor space is the size of a parking space.  Not bad!  And don't forget, the antique mall itself is open, and practically every booth inside will have a sale going for the weekend.  The 2ndhand Moon booth (78, as if you didn't know, 2/3 down the 3rd aisle, on the right!) will have 25% off every single item, no exceptions, so it's a good time to snatch up something vintage for Halloween, or a Treasure Craft candy dish or planter,or some cool vintage luggage, or a bit of Pyrex, or even the gorgeous Mad Men-esque chair, seen here if you missed it!  And as if the flea market and the antique mall weren't enough, don't forget there's also the huge Shrewsbury Value Village right there - literally next door to the mall, in the same plaza!

So if you go, let me know how it went?  I'll be stuck indoors away from the nice Fall air and all the treasures, so I need someone to give me the scoop!

The rest of the Chicago thrifting

Hi guys!  Can you believe this?  Three days in a row I'm posting!  Aren't you proud?  So Wednesday I told you all about this past Saturday's tourist-thrifting in a few nifty neighborhoods around Chicago.  Last night I gave you a cheapskate's review of an adorably decorated but decidedly cheap hotel.  

Now it's time to show off Sunday's haul, for yes, the thrifting did continue!

We started our day from the cheap hotel far, far from the city, and, as breakfast was not included in our thrifty accommodations, we found this fabulous establishment:

That's right, we had Spunky Dunkers Donuts for breakfast!

We took our sugary bounty to go, found the Starbucks at the local train station, and ate at a picnic table in the little park nearby while wondering whether very small aliens created the lawn-circles there, or whether perhaps someone spilled weed killer.

After downing two donuts and an iced chai I was ready for some more exploring.  We had hoped to visit some vintage shops we had scoped out online in the Wicker Park/Bucktown/Humbolt Park neighborhoods, but every place we found was either closed on Sunday or closed this particular Sunday because of the holiday weekend.  Todd and I did press our noses longingly to the glass at An Orange Moon, but nobody materialized from the back to let us in for an exclusive peek and huge discounts like in my daydreams.  Still, so much to covet there!  And a wander around that nifty area was by no means a bust.  There were fabulous old businesses and lovely residential streets to wander:

And lo and behold, the lovely residential street depicted above sported an "estate sale" sign - bonus!  In a converted carriage house, I apparently learned the importance of coasters, for here is what I purchased:

A set of 6 vintage coasters with Parisian street scenes. 

My very own Stonesters!  Sorry about the lousy pic quality - I guess I was excited.

I posted here about a set of cut stone coasters I got my Dad for his birthday at a craft fair this summer.  These are by the same guy - they have the same sticker underneath, and are just as awesomely Andy Goldsworthy-esque as those, but I got these for about 1/5 the price - yay!

After the estate sale we felt the need to appease the youngster in the group who had very patiently wandered neighborhoods and waded through junk with us for so long, so we headed for Michigan Avenue so he could do some coveting of his own at the Apple Store.  As sleek technology is nice but not necessarily covet-worthy to me, I took that time to stop and smell the... well, not roses:

Flower beds on Michigan Ave.

I'm sure this is a famous building.  I just call it cool                                                     

More from the flower beds 

I so want to go to the Tip Top Tap!

After Michigan Avenue we went looking for the Randolph Street Market, but again struck out, either because we were thrown off by the North Coast Music Festival that kept getting in our way, or because it was closed that day, I'm not sure which.  We did, however, find a real live nitty gritty old-tools-and-cheap-sunglasses flea market:

And look - the sky was clearing up!

I didn't find any vintage treasures there, but, as the clouds all blew away and the sun came out full force, I did buy a pair of the above-mentioned cheap sunglasses, and this most excellent concoction:

Mango con chile - sooooo yum!

Later, without realizing we were doing it, we found our way to another amazing comfort food spot that's apparantly been there for over 70 years, never closes, has been featured on the Food Network, and (this part's just my own personal opinion based on the super nice people who waited on us) appears to be a really great workplace.  The White Palace Grill boasted really, really good food, even if you weren't impressed by all that other stuff.  The soup was amazing (they really like to feed you soup in Chicago, I think).

So after a relative bust in terms of thrifty finds up to that point in the day, we managed to find one of the many Unique Thrift stores in the area, where they were having an awesome sale, and where I found quite a few treasures:

A green vintage lampshade (stitchery bit needs redone, and
I should've turned the seam side around, but oh well!).

A really nice mid-century magazine rack.

An adorable matched pair of crewelwork kite-flying kids.

A cheaply made but awesomely printed vintage bedspread
that doesn't appear to have ever been used.

A small blue and red monogrammed overnight bag.

An old TOMY owl clock-toy.

A beautiful vintage tablecloth in bright autumn tones.

I think I picked up more at this one medium sized strip-mall thrift store than I bought anywhere else all weekend!  We went back to the big amazing warehouse I mentioned in Wednesday's post after that, so Todd could do some wheelie-dealing (he totally scored a Lane Acclaim coffee table for $40!), but what I picked up there I included in what I showed you from there yesterday.  So this concludes the thrift haulage from the weekend, and my energy for continued typing.  I suppose that means I'll spare you my thoughts on Ikea as an analogy for the road to hell.  You don't have to thank me!

If you haven't had enough of thrifted treasures yet, check out these link-ups full of folks who are lucky in thrift:  

Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt it Friday and The Thrifty Groove's Thrifty Things Friday. 

And what about you?  Thrift anything good lately?

Don't forget the sale Saturday!

Hey all, just wanted to toss out a quick reminder that this Saturday (technically, tomorrow!) there will be a huge flea market in the parking lot of Kenrick Plaza, hosted by Kenrick Antique Mall, home of booth 78, 2ndhand Moon!  So by all means, check out an estate sale or two, but whatever you do, don't miss out on all the flea market deals outside, and the 25% off sale on every single item in my booth inside!

You can buy awesome stuff, like this (as of my last visit, all of the below was still available in the booth)!:

Kenrick Antique Mall is located in Kenrick Plaza at 7435 Watson Rd # 104  St. Louis, MO 63119.  Map here!

Fuller and fuller!

I have a confession to make...

I have now crammed so much stuff into my booth that I can't even tell when something sells.  Even something big and obvious.  I only today realized that the disco ball:

is gone, and wasn't there last week, either.  At some point prior to last Monday, someone walked out of Kenrick Antique Mall with a disco ball in tow, and that, my friends, gives me warm fuzzies!  How often do you get to see somebody walking around with a disco ball under their arm?  I really hope somebody got to see that, when the buyer left, and it gave them a chuckle.  I can't believe I didn't even notice it was gone!

And yet, I have packed the booth even further still.  Today I added all of my accumulated crewelwork pictures, a great three-piece set of blue vintage luggage, a bunch of mugs, and tons of other bits and bobs.  Wanna see a few?  Here you go!:

This one's 3-D; the fern has fronds that pop off the canvas!
Also, it's signed.  Who wouldn't want to
hang an original Betty Buda on their wall?

I wish this showed off the italian pottery candle-holder on the front right better - it's mid-century fabulous!

3-piece set - priced separately or as a set.  Super cute, and the big one has wheels and a pull-strap.

I am a little obsessed with pale blue.  I added the little kettle to this vignette last week.  This week the S&P set is new!

I've added so much great stuff, but I'm a little afraid I've hit eyeball overload in the booth.  If I've filled it so full that I can't even tell what sells from week to week, is it too full for a customer to take in and enjoy?  Here's the full-booth view.  What do you think?

To make room for all the fabulous crewel work I took down the suitcases - you can see them sticking out from the wire cube on the bottom left there.  The new 3-piece set is basically just in the middle of the floor in front of the leather suitcase that's on the stand back there.  You can still walk around in there, but just barely.  And looking at it now, I'm more impressed than ever with how cool the blue and yellow genie-bottle looking one is.  Sorta funkadellic for arts-and-crafts, isn't it?  Fun!

And FYI, the 20% off clothing and accessories will come down tomorrow, but will be replaced with 20% off EVERYTHING in the whole booth this coming weekend only - special sale for a special event.  Kenrick Antique Mall is hosting a flea market outside, so be sure to stop by, check out the fleas outside (kidding - there will be great stuff! and food! and adoptable pets, too!), and come in out of the heat to check out the awesome bargains inside.  Don't forget, I'm booth 78.  Clear out some of this great stuff, so I can put in a whole bunch more!

And above all, enjoy the gorgeous Spring.  God's artwork is on full display lately; have fun and take it in!

I missed you so!

Hello blogland, I've missed you!

It's been an insane last little while for me, and unfortunately it has kept me from this, the very therapy that often helps me embrace the crazy of my life.  This thrifty girl had to make a decision recently involving spending a large sum of money, a thing which makes me queasy under the best of circumstances.  So when trouble started popping up within hours of handing over the green, I won't lie: tears have been shed, and my stomach has not sat still for a couple of days.  At this point, I'm still feeling very attatched to my best metal friend Chester, and wishing I could just keep him and we could grow old together.  Unfortunately, he's kind of beaten me to it.  In car years he's nearly 70 already (hence the decision-making time when he started making scary noises).  But I am a willfully optimistic person.  I am still hopeful that everything will work out fine, so for now I won't be sharing the details of the large, silver purchase I made because I'm hoping when I do, I will be able to report that all is well and my new metal friend and I are getting along like peaches and cream. 

In the mean time, I thought I'd share with you a dirty little secret.  For the first time since I opened up shop at Kenrick Antique Mall on February 11 of this year, I let a week go by without adding any inventory to my booth.  This was not in any way by design.  I planned (and still do!) to add items every week forever, but life kind of crowded out the possibility this past weekend, and there's been no time since.  I managed to get into the booth for about 5 minutes this past Saturday morning right as they were opening up shop, though, to set up a sale:

I have tried everything I can think of to get this image to display right-side-down, but for some reason Blogger, in all its wisdom, insists on turning it on its site.  Still, you get the gist.  It hangs right-side-down in the booth at least!

That's right!  For nearly an entire week already, booth 78 at Kenrick Antique Mall has been having a 20% off sale on every fabulous piece of vintage clothing and accessories!  And I have no idea how it's been going, because I've been dealing with the tummy-flipping issues mentioned above, working 12-hour days, and generally stressing out.  By the time I get up there (Sunday afternoon if I'm lucky, but more likely some time on Monday), it will have been nearly 2 full weeks since I added anything, which I feel terrible about.  So the sale will continue another full week or more, and when I do finally get there, I will be adding more clothing, shoes, bags, etc., and whatever else I can get sorted and priced and ready in time.  I will also be looking at some ways to rearrange the booth in order to fit more in and show it off better, although that might remain in the planning stages one more week.  I will, however, have the rearranging and re-staging done (as well as lots more items added!) by May 19.  Why May 19th, you may ask?  Simple!  On May 19, Kenrick Antique Mall, home to the lovely booth 78 (otherwise known as 2ndhand Moon's retail home;) will be holding a huge flea market, covering acres of the Kenrick Plaza parking lot.  Vendors rent parking spaces and set up tables to sell their vastly varied wares.  There will be barbeque, and a pet rescue adoption center, and inside out of the heat, there will be aisle after aisle of lovely antique booths, most of which will be having sales.  On that weekend, tucked in the far reaches of aisle 3, you will be able to buy anything in booth 78 (not just clothing and accessories) at 20% off!  So mark your calendars and don't miss out, ok?


And for the sellers (or anybody else with an opinion) among you out there, a request for some advice:  would you recommend, for the weekend of the sale and/or in general, that I cram the booth as full as I can so people will have as much as possible to choose from, like this:

Photo borrowed from Tumblr

 or keep it a little more calm like usual:

 For example, do you think people should have a whole bunch of paintings and things stacked together they can/have to flip through to see properly, or if it can't be displayed, should it wait until something else sells before it goes into the booth?