Oh Canada.

I love finding unique little vintage oil paintings - and sharing them :)

I want to go to Canada. Last year, I wanted to go to Bolivia, or maybe that was the year before. I love traveling. Not the sightseeing though. I like to go far away and stay in one spot. Maybe I'll walk around a lot, but I'm not a schedule-the-whole-trip kind of girl. I get so tired. Mostly, I just want to see people that I love, and when they live in another country, I want to go to that other country to see them. Also, I like to eat. So yeah, you can feed me if I visit. I won't argue.

I haven't been shopping a ton lately. I mean, in comparison to other times, I feel pretty light right now, even though my shop is full. Maybe I'm hitting some sort of thrifting stride. Or maybe I'm hitting a life stride. I dunno.

My real job ends for a while in several weeks, and then I'll have the summer to thrift and lounge by imaginary pools, and probably eat a lot of frozen yogurt. Last night, I finally traveled to a far away place to find the one-and-only place in town that has soy fro-yo. The flavor yesterday was peanut butter, so I had that with chocolate cookie crumbles on top and watched men with ZZ Top beards walk by looking rugged and manly.

That's it. It's Saturday, and I'm exhausted.

Sifting through junk :)

Autumn-themed Vera tablecloth :)

So I'm in this weird selling rut, where my professional wheels-and-heels job is cutting into my getting-my-hands-dirty job. So this afternoon, on a long lunch, I went to a warehouse downtown where I've heard that there is a lot of junk. Well, it didn't look like they were open, but the door was ajar, so I timidly walked in. They were closed, but I looked so professional and out-of-place that they felt sorry for me and let me walk around anyway, and referred to me as "this nice lady". I really needed to sift through a bunch of junk today. I needed a good day.

Next time I go in, I will go on a day when they are actually open, and I will wear overalls or something equally unattractive, so I can really dig and get gross. They said not to pay attention to prices, so I imagine I can get a bunch of stuff and make 'em a deal, which I love to do. Also, I found some old PETA cards that encouraged vegetarianism, and a homemade mug that said "Pappy" with a naked woman as the handle (like at a ship's prow).

I finally got my bike cleaned and photographed and almost listed. I am making progress, painfully slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

Peace out mofos :)

My weekend :)

1. The restaurant Lyfe, with a veggie burger and vegan chocolate chip cookie
2. So many pregnant women in form-fitting stretchy dresses
3. My brother taught me how to breathe for a didgeridoo
4. I ate a lot of green vegetables
5. I walked all over the Stanford campus and felt inferior
6. A lot of antibacterial handwashing, and then some more
7. Hours of good thinking time in my car
8. Twelve hours of sleep last night on a friend's lovely hide-a-bed
9. Canada Day :)
10. A crazy evening of Magic Mike (at least I didn't cry this time) and a new-found personal commitment to support Matthew McConaughey for the supporting actor Academy Award (the Academy is typically very welcoming of my many educated and varied opinions)

Ack! I had a good night's sleep!

I swear these look mint green in person, but now I'm unsure.

Omg. My psyche was on OVERLOAD last night. I had this dream about massive flea markets and past and future selves meeting eachother. It was super cool. Andy from Weeds and Liam Neeson were there, along with massive mafia/drug gang action. My brain is a cool place.

I have been living without Earth Balance for a couple weeks, and it is not a happy place to be. I miss it so much. But I still have my Daiya cheese, so that makes it somewhat better. I am such a vegan. What can I say?

So there's been an unplanted pot of tomatoes in our backyard, just waiting to be planted, and it's been so stinkin hot, that I've just been watering them a lot. I figured that heat + relocation wasn't a good plan. Anyhow, finally, this morning wasn't crazy hot, and I feel like a tornado with the amount of energy that I have, so I just dug a big hole, coated it with compost, and stuck that darn thing in the ground. I'm a rock star.

Someone commented on yesterday's post requesting an eBay button for my store. A suggestion is one thing. A request is another. I respond to requests. I ponder suggestions. Just a friendly tip. If you want something from me, I guess the trick is to just ask for it.

I did something yesterday that makes me feel like the best version of myself. If I remember, I'll write about it tomorrow :)

Hyphy.

A wonderful vintage quilting book with really great ideas :)

I'm a little hyper right now. When I don't get enough sleep, that tends to happen. Whatever. I finally started cleaning out my clothes, so I'm using it to my benefit. Maybe I'll put this energy to good use and walk to the grocery store later (two birds baby).

An ongoing conversation I'm having has hit a road marker for me. I've had to state very bluntly my position on drugs, and I don't know that I've ever had to do that before with anyone. It's interesting what becomes a part of one's internal identity mapping. I imagine that some people feel this way about other things, very different things. Maybe some vegans put veganism on the line for a person they love; maybe some vegans put love on the line for the cows. I believe in compromise, and shared results, and it is my hope that someday my crazy will be just spunky enough to be attractive without being overwhelming. I think I may be hitting my stride right about now.

Flea market pricing?

Starbucks mugs are always a find :)

What a productive day! I edited a paper (did you know I'm a professional editor?) and listed several things on eBay. It feels good to get things done. I always feel better overall when I get things done.

Later in the day, I ate a vegan tiramisu cupcake. It had cream all over the top and on the inside. There was a single coffee bean on top too. Yum :) I had my friend tell me how good the cupcake was before I told him it was vegan.

I am almost ready for the flea market on Saturday. I am borrowing an e-z-up and a couple long tables. I started packaging my vintage sewing patterns so they can be easily handled (some of them are somewhat tattered). I need to start pricing things. I've been thinking and planning a lot about prices. I want to move inventory, and I don't know if I'll make any money if I don't price the exact right way. If anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I'm going to go do some research now about flea market pricing, and I'll get back to you about what I find.

What's the beef?

Note: This is all in response to the pink slime craziness of the past week.

I don't eat meat. However, I'm not AT ALL opposed to people who do. I like to think of myself as a non-dogmatic vegan, someone willing to participate in the conversation about food without letting my own personal biases come into play. I'm vegan for various reasons, and you don't have those same reasons, so I'm not going to preach to you about the wonders of veganism. It's not for everyone.

Here's the thing: food is for everyone, and everyone deserves to eat real food that doesn't make them sick. We deserve to eat food that hasn't been fertilized with E-coli, and we deserve to continue to live our lives without all becoming organic farmers. I truly believe that.

There should be room in the world for everyone to participate in whatever way they choose. I'm terrible with food production, and I make use of my foraging skills when necessary. Now that I write that, I realize that there are probably edible plants on my lawn. I should go check that out -- dandelion salad anyone?

You deserve better than what you're being given, and you deserve to have your voice heard. Vote with your dollar. Buy real food. And while you're at it, bring in other people. Don't let the message get segregated to those who are able to hear it because they have the time and education.

Thrift Share Monday :)

Pretty much, as a rule, I always buy Vogue patterns when I see them. What a fun idea for a kid's room or a classroom-fake animal skin rugs. Also, I just realized that these are vegan-friendly animal skin rugs! All the pleasure-none of the pain.

There was no publishing date on this book, just a copyright date of 1918. But then I got home and did some research-the book was not printed in 1918. What can I say? I just got it on a whim. It was early and I hadn't eaten breakfast (it was also dark and rainy). In general, I'm just not good at buying books. No matter what, I don't do it well.

Toner cartridges. These were also purchased on a whim. I think I've lost a bit of mojo in the past couple weeks. I've been buying and selling a lot, but no big ticket items. Sometimes I go through phases where I just want to get rid of stuff. I get tired of seeing the same things for longer than a week. I want movement! But then I start selling, and I get tired of low prices, and I settle down a bit. It comes and goes, I suppose. Right now, I'm definitely in an impatient period.

This was a pretty boring thrift share, in my opinion. I apologize. I will try to do better next week.

Linked with Apron Thrift Girl.

A Magical Moment

 

I just ate three pieces of pie. They were tiny pieces, but there were three of them. I enjoyed every bite. They were delicious. I also ate a big pile of mashed potatoes, and a big pile of stuffing with cranberry dressing. There were a lot of greens on the plate, and I ate them, but they were less exciting. Now I'm so full and tired and happy, I can't think of anything but those three things.

After work today, I went thrifting in search of a coffee mug for a friend. I swear, at two separate stores, the guys behind the counter lit up when I walked in. It was 5 o'clock in the evening, the end of the work day, and they lit up. They wanted to know if they could help me...know what I was looking for...what I was doing for Thanksgiving... What a weird day. I was feeling strangely happy today though. Maybe it was infectious.

Sometimes I just adore thrift store employees. Sometimes they are grumpy as all get out, but sometimes we really connect. I think tonight was one of those magical times.

Another miracle of the evening was that I went to four different stores and only bought one single coffee mug. Nothing else. I didn't even get stuck staring at shoes, which often happens.

Go me!

Labradors are a pain in the butt

I've taken a lovely weekend off, to watch a Law & Order marathon and celebrate Rosh Hashanah. I haven't done much else, although for the first time in years I went bar hopping last night with my mom and her friend. Wow. I have not been missing a single thing. I did get some sweet potato fries and a nice bruise on my knee, but I left too early in the evening to witness the lovely bar fight that later transpired at the final location. No lessons learned really, just a reminder of a life I have no intention of leading.

I believe that this evening's meal will be vegan, or at least vegan enough for me, so I am looking forward to some sort of tofu matzo ball. I've been ridiculously hungry the past 24 hours. Is it possible that my body recognizes when food is available and turns on the hunger switch? It's possible I suppose, evolutionarily speaking.

Finally, I've been taking a lot of walks with a certain dog who will remain nameless. She's a five-year-old black lab who was never really trained, and doesn't quite know how to live in the world. She also just lost her only canine friend, so she still might be grieving. I look forward to the day when I can have dogs again, but right now I've got enough on my plate. I do not have room in my life to spend my time looking for leaves to wipe up dog poo on the sidewalk, not enough room.