A Little Silver For You

Well, heck. I found some more silver at my last estate sale. I was sort of doing well at keeping the silver addiction at bay until that point.


They had a whole box of it for sale with probably 25 pieces in it. So I could have gone totally off the wagon, but I just picked out the one piece that I thought was unique. And left the other more common looking plates and platters for someone else to find.

I think it will look cute with some flowers placed in it.

Typewriter Love

Is it wrong to love an inanimate object?


I found Kate at an estate sale last weekend. According to her serial number, she was born in 1925.

She's a little dusty and needs some cosmetic work, but for an 86 year old she's in pretty good shape.

Dreams

I have heard a lot of my fellow bloggers talking about their dreams and thoughts for their futures lately. And it has me thinking.

Sometimes I feel that blogging can be a detriment to following your dreams if you let it.

Yes, you are constantly inspired by other bloggers' creativity. You can spend hours and hours just hopping from one totally awe inspiring blog to another. Whether it is decorating, crafting or whatever floats your boat.

But the key word is "other". If you are being inspired by others are you going down their path of creativity? Being influenced by their style? Following their dream?

I have found that my dreams for the future have changed quite a bit since I began blogging. I see all sorts of new opportunities out there. But are they my dreams or someone else's?

I need to figure this out. Because, if you don't follow and nurture your own dreams you are living someone else's life.


(roll mouse over photo to see original photo SOOC)
I used Yesteryear texture at blending mode of Soft Light 100% Opacity and Yesteryear texture again at blending mode of Multiply 38% Opacity. Adjusted Saturation, adjusted Levels and removed some of the texture from the hydrangea. Yesteryear texture is from Kim Klassen Cafe

This totally awe inspiring post was influenced by Kim Klassen Cafe's Texture Tuesday :-)

Pink Is The New Black

I have been holding out on you. Well, sort of.

This whole blogging just a few times a week thing has me a little disorganized and when looking through some photos last night it occurred to me that I hadn't shown this batch of garage sale finds.

From two weeks ago!


When I pulled into the driveway of this garage sale, my eye was immediately drawn to Miss Pinky. In a sea of 1980's furniture sitting on the lawn, she stood out.

I sauntered over to the cabinet (don't want to look too interested in it) and from five feet away saw the $5.00 price tag on it. So I darted over to the homeowner (so much for not being too interested in it) and paid for it without even opening a drawer on her.

It was one of those items that on a quick glance looked like the kind of cabinet I like. You know, vintage!

Swamp Land

My son Max and I have been trying to discover new places this summer. So a few weeks ago we spent an evening at a lake that is part of the local park system.


We were the only people at the lake at that time. It was very peaceful.

The lighting was somewhat ethereal.

Tippecanoe And Tyler Too

On Saturday, a few of us Ohio bloggers met up in Tipp City, Ohio for a day of shopping, food and chatting. I don't get out a lot without my husband and son in tow, so it's like a vacation to be out with just the girls!

Sue from Sullivan and Murphy, Pam from Frippery, Debby from Cozy Blanket, Susie Q from Rabbit Run Cottage and Jo from That's My Story were my shopping companions. It's always great to meet fellow bloggers and I had a wonderful time with the group.

I had never been to that part of Ohio before (more of a Northeastern and Central Ohio kind of gal), so it was interesting to check out this town in Western Ohio.

Tipp City has some great historic buildings. One of which was an old hotel which now houses a bunch of shops and businesses under the name The Hotel Gallery.

Petticoat Junction In My Backyard

Do you remember Petticoat Junction? It was a quaint TV program from the 1960's about a widow and her three daughters (Betty Jo, Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo) running a hotel outside of Hooterville. Hooterville was also the town in Green Acres.

Wonder if that is where they get the name for Hooters Restaurant? If you remember, the girls of Petticoat Junction were all pretty buxom. I don't recall them ever wearing skin-tight, orange, polyester shorts with their butt cheeks hanging out though. But just saying, there could be a connection there.

Back when my son was a tiny baby and I was home alone with him most of the day, I was addicted to Petticoat Junction reruns on TVLand. Totally addicted. Mesmerized. Captivated. Whatever you call it, I loved that program!

Anyhow, in the opening title scenes they show the girls swimming in the town's water tower. (Sorry for the fuzzy photo).


Well, we have a fun backyard feature here at the House of Hawthornes. The similarities are uncanny.

Vintage Travel Postcards

Holy cow, it was hot today.

Max and I stayed inside and watched kids movies all day and scrapped our previous library plans (would have involved leaving the air conditioned house to walk to the garage).

So while he was watching Cars for the bazillionth time, I rearranged my entry hall table and put some summery items on it.

Craigslist or Bust

Normally I go through Craigslist every Wednesday to scout out garage sales happening in my town, plus a few towns east or west of me. For the most part, that's how I find my garage sales.

Sure, there's Garage Sale Finder, but they really are just taking garage sales listed on Craigslist or in the local papers and putting it on their site. Plus I find it a little hard to navigate through their jumble of sales.

I basically disregard the garage sales that advertise lots of kids stuff or the garage sales in newer neighborhoods. Not to discriminate against people with small kids or people in fancy brand new houses, but those people rarely have the vintage items I am looking for.

It's a good day when I see people on Craigslist mention those magic words "antiques and collectibles" in their ad. Those are my kind of people.

Now sometimes you get to said "antiques and collectibles" garage sales and they are a bust. The antiques they have are of the Mayor McCheese collector glasses type. Or their antiques are totally overpriced even for the most exclusive antique store.

But this weekend I hit a sale that lived up to the ad. And to top it off it was run by the nicest mother-daughter team that were into much of the same kind of decor that you currently see in blogland right now. They could have set up a booth at the local antique mall with all their stuff.

I liked the garage sale so much that I went once on Friday and went back for a second look on Saturday.

On Friday I bought this stuff.

Come Sail Away

I made a sailboat last week.


Out of a branch and a twig,

Happy Fourth Of July Weekend

This is where I'll be hanging out for the holiday weekend.