To Market We Go!

Hello friends! It is I, daughter. It’s been a little while, I know. I'm sure it was tricky for you since we did two posts in one week (about the same thing no less), and then not again for almost a week. A full week! We’re neglectful, terrible bloggers and we're sorry. But we’ve been busy. I was in town for sadly, a rare visit to the cottage so I was super busy drinking Riesling in the backyard adirondacks and eating chocolate covered cherries. It was taxing, and appeared to have taken take precedence over the blog. But no more! I've returned to NYC and have I’ve been spending some time doing one of my favorite things – sifting through old well-worn clothes and piles of costume jewelry, sorting through the trash to find the treasures, generally getting my hands dusty and eyes squinty at various flea markets throughout the city. It was divine. Fortunately, for me there are several to choose from – the Brooklyn Flea, Chelsea Flea Market (those dolls are creepy, right? right?) and Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market are few of the regular ones. And there's usually a few other sprinkled in there for various events and causes. They tend to overlap forcing me to prioritize the ones I love most. Sigh. It's hard. 

These are some elfin-type critters intertwined upon what looks to be glowing tree branch...but it's actually part of antique lamp. Tricky, tricky...

These are for the Cottage Guy, my dad and cigar aficionado who at one point was collecting vintage cigar boxes...or my mom was. One or the other. Either way there was a treasure trove of them at the Brooklyn Flea.

Choices of the visually impaired or those trying to look more intelligent. Secret: I sometimes wear a pair of faux glasses...they make me feel silly. Mom say wearing the faux glasses - "I don't get it!"

Vintage pin cushions perhaps? Mom, can you tell me? Mother: I can. You can tell I never taught her to sew, but I tried, daughter these are hat pins!

The clothes. The sweet, dusty clothes. And one of my best friends who may or may not kill me for posting a photo of her. It's ok. We just won't mention it to her.

Crazy cool African beaded chairs and sculptures, maybe? Located at the Chelsea Flea Market on the hottest day of the summer thus far. I tried not to sweat on the furniture.

The whole kit and caboodle at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market.

I sort of wish the shoe rack in my closet was made of fence. The pink pumps really pop. Hee hee. Alliteration!

Costume jewelry is probably one of my favorite things to fawn over at the flea. How awesome do those brooches look on that blouse/jacket/dress thing? Awesome possum.

For the toddler remake of Grease.

Ok, so these were taken about a year ago at the Atlantic Antic (a street fair in Brooklyn) and these guys definitely one of the highlights. Look how much fun their having! And how pretty their instruments (I want to call them drums, but they look fancier) are! Mom says notice the beadwork on the drums - the stitch is right angle weave.

Back at the Cottage......

When daughter was visiting the Cottage (for five painfully short days) we did other things beside swilling Riesling  and eating chocolate covered cherries! Of course we grilled on the 4th of July, rode bikes (still trying to work those brownies off), Andrea went swimming in Lake Michigan which was a balmy 55 degrees water temperature and we went to an antique show! Antiquing is one of our favorite things to do!

Love the old glass bottles! The purple ones happen to be a favorite of ours right now!

We found a couple that were from New York! One said Major's Cement, why would cement be in a cute little bottle?

Why oh why didn't I buy some of these bottles? They are sooo pretty.

Nightcrawlers, a canoe or a horse, which was every little girl's dream? The horse of course! Actually daughter wanted a rabbit!

On many of the lakes up here there is always the debate power boats or not? Wouldn't is old engine look cool on vintage wooden boat?

Or how about paddle power? I was lusting after this Charlevoix paddle but it was a little pricey. I'm keeping my eye open of an old paddle so I can stencil it myself.

Did we mention we like old jewelry? So many pretty things, so little money left!

Hmm, I've hooked wool rugs before (and not those kit ones from the 70's) I briefly wondered if I could weave my own rag rugs! Look Cottage Guy it was marked down to only $450! He is letting out a sigh of relief, I passed on that one.

A few purchases, purple bottles, a vintage necklace and Italian millefiorai mosaic broaches. Is this mother or daughter's? I guess I already gave it away with the New York purple bottles! But I'd love to share those broaches, so sad we are in different states.

Simply beautiful!

I can not resist crocheted hot pads, they are usually only a few dollars and I know some woman spent a lot of time making them. Who could give those away!

Daughter wanted to know what was that pointy thing and why did I want it? It is a flower frog of course and I like to stick vintage post cards in them for display.

Cottage guy..."what are you going to to with those knobs?" Hmm, I'll think of something! 


Tell us some of your favorite things to collect!

Check out our festive Fourth table!

Just wanted to share a few photos from our 4th of July celebration.

The appetizer table all set and ready to go. We mixed a new tablecloth on the bottom with a vintage on the top. Many of the pretty vintage tablecloths are small so layers is always a good idea. Inexpensive chair cushions snagged last year on sale for $5.00 each.

Since daughter was visiting the Cottage for the 4th we were able to collaborate on another project.... the Outrageous Brownies! Don't you wish you could have had one? But I won't tell you how much butter and chocolate are in these, we will have to walk miles and miles to burn these calories off.

Hope your July 4th was just as special as ours. Want to let us know what you did for the Fourth? We'd love to hear. Tell us in the comments.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July from the cottage! We (I, mother) like to celebrate by gathering family and friends together, cooking out, decking out the table and hanging our flags.  Tomorrow, I will set the outdoor dinner table with blue glass dishes gathered from garage sales and big box stores, and will lay out my few red, white and blue vintage table cloths (most of my other vintage table clothes are flowered and pink, you will undoubtedly being seeing those at a later date).  Cottage guy (husband, father) will be grilling chicken and ribs, I will be baking Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies. Here are a few shots of our pre-holiday festivities!

Backyard flags flying.

One of the few flags I have hanging on my star-filled fence. 

My collection of vintage flag stamps that I like to use for collage or mail art. 

Every 4th of July needs sparklers!

I looooooove pink Geraniums. I often stick flags in my potted plants for an extra splash of color.

One of our favorite places to go for sweet treats is Kilwin's in Charlevoix. These are Oreo cookies dipped in chocolate and covered in red, white and blue sprinkles. Don't they look yummy?

More yummy treats. Fudge cones! Wouldn't all your little people like these?

It is always fun to craft your own folk-arty items, this was an old, wooden flag I had from many years ago that faded and had pieces missing. I filled in the missing pieces in true folk art tradition with what I had on hand - a piece of drift wood. I repainted the flag, gave a white wash to one of my rusty stars and now it's a focal point for this year's holiday celebration!

Ta-da! The finished product! Let the celebration begin!

So. The Fourth of July is a holiday near and dear to my dear mother's heart for unknown reasons. I've asked her to explain and she cannot. Flags, Americana and the Founding Fathers just seem to speak to her. But we all have unexplained things we are drawn to. I happen to have an affinity for all things army green and camo(uflage).  I'm currently coveting an oversized camo clutch with gold studs from J.Crew.  Why? Who knows. It looks silly tucked under my arm but I love it anyway. The Fourth of July belongs to my mother, although in her case it suits her as she decorates for and celebrates it beautifully. But friends, this week...I struggled. I struggled with storefronts, glass reflections, lighting and unhappy Chinatown shop owners. It became evident to me this week that I do not have the same flair for the Fourth as mom. I found little inspiration this week and came away with even less images. But, I tried. I tried for my mom and for America. Below are my efforts. Please don't stop reading our blog because of them.  

A plain white box! Just kidding. That's not it. What's inside is more exciting. The box happens to come from a bakery called Eleni's in Chelsea Market that sells adorable holiday-themed cookies and cakes. At Thanksgiving I got a turkey cookie. And an acorn. 

Wa-la! Star-spangled cookies on lucite cake plates! This is technically inside the bakery and not inside the box, but whatever. I told you it was better.

Now it's American flags on lucite cake plates! Ah!

 More.

Oooookay. As promised we're getting to the inside of the box. In my opinion these are more of display cookies than devouring cookies but devour I did. They were still mighty tasty.

Good God, I took a lot of these photos.

I did manage to snap one or two photos of non-food related items. This is the window front of a cool kids' toys shop in Nolita called Lilli's. I spied it on my way to work. 

The windows at Catherine Malandrino's space in the Meatpacking District. I would very much like to own the dress on the right. It's gorgeous, and I'm curious as to how many people would ask if I'm wearing a silk tablecloth. 

Skyscrapers, American flags and traffic signs - things there are no shortage of in NY. Happy Fourth!