Vintage/Visits

As part of the new year cleaning - out with the old, in with the new, I took a sweep at my blog bookmarks. Yes, I’m old fashioned and haven’t figured out how to consolidate them and so just jump from one to the next. I used to only read blogs of friends, but that number went down with all the new social media out there. Blogs seem a bit dated these days which only dates me more than ever. But I like reading more than a sentence or two and there’s something about them that I still love. So now, my blog roll includes the old favorites and friends, but I’ve been adding a few about interior design/vintage thrift shopping. That combined with my love (addiction) of Pinterest (the only social media that I’ve been able to get into) and my new acquisition of my home has me on a decorating kick. Up until now, it’s just been window shopping, but this weekend I finally broke down and bought a few things. Granted, I’m on a really really tight budget, so nothing big yet. The highlights of what I bought are:



Whimsical shower curtain. I’ve been looking for a patterned shower curtain for about 8 years now. Nothing tickled my fancy until I saw this one on Pinterest. I pinned it and have been going back and drooling over it for several months now. So as a late Christmas/early Birthday present, I splurged. My favorite art medium are etchings and lithographs which this curtain reminds me of.


On the more practical side, I bought this toilet paper holder. I’ve been sketching up and picking out new fixtures/finishes of what I would do if I redid my bathroom. Pulling all the pieces together. The bathroom is quite small and the current toilet roll holder is this old cheap plastic thing I don’t like, dominantly positioned and not tucked away. This was an inexpensive alternative that tucked the TP a bit out of the general site line and provided a back up roll. And something I can try out without having to wait for the remodel! This also was something on Pinterest that I realized I kept coming back to.


And lastly, but not leastly, this cute piggy bank. I like the idea of having a collection. I’ve been trying to figure out what that collection could be for me - something that wasn’t forced, just because I had a need to have a collection. It’s been about a decade and I think I finally stumbled upon it - piggy banks. I was about to write, in the form of pigs, and then realized I didn’t keep with the theme (these being elephants - stating the obvious). I love my current piggy bank (in the form of a white pig) that I got at the Boston Children’s Museum ( I was looking quickly for a birthday present for a kid and walked out with the pig for me - opps).


It seems like I bought more, but I now realize I was looking at a lot more and my self restraint was quite amazing and I didn’t purchase much. I was looking at new sofas (mine is nice but the cats took it over as a scratching post years ago - it’s hemorrhaging innards now), and lamps, and vintage Danish dressers and new paint color, curtain rods and curtains. All the stuff I’ve been eyeing for years. So, good for me for not going hog wild.

In completely different news, my brother was visiting/staying with me for a few weeks. He was interviewing for a job in the area and waiting to hear back so he could move on to getting his visa work (for India) straightened out. I’m still surprised that I enjoy having my younger brother stay with me for long chunks of time (this last visit was two weeks). Usually, house guests get old within a 3-4 day window. Of course, he’s learned how to lay low and be a low key house guest. It was nice cooking for two as a change of pace (not so many left-overs) and we established ground rules ages ago (he keeps his gigantic shoes and suitcase in the little guest room, and uses a bath mat during showers).

We had one last adventure before he left Saturday. He was looking for a nice winter wool jacket (like a top coat over suits). He was thinking of getting one made in India but I mentioned now was the time to buy one state side since they were all on sale. We ended up meeting up after work Friday night and heading up to Burlington mall to check out the stores before grabbing a bite to eat out. After an hour of searching various stores, we went back to Macy’s which had the best collection and focused in on finding the right one. He was starting to realize that it might be easier just to buy one here and be done. He looked better in the fitted cut with a dark gray wool. After trying on a dozen jackets, we narrowed it down to this one brand in a 40L. Except they only had it in black in his size. I ended up calling the Macy’s up in Peabody and after a few false starts, they were able to find it - 40L, dark gray, right brand! Thank goodness for smart phones. I had them put it on hold and we dashed off to the car. By now it was a bit after 9 pm and raining. Nick was the navigator with my iphone and we arrive in Peabody at the address and we’re in a residential area - no Macy’s, no mall. Darn smartphone. After a little recon, we realize the map is wrong and 10 minutes later we’re at the mall, making a dash for the Macy’s entrance. Except the men’s section is a different store in the mall. We run through Macy’s, into the mall, just as they were closing the gates of the store (by now it was five minutes before closing). The mall is deserted, empty and closed down. We round the corner and there is the men’s Macy’s with the doors still open. We make a dash for the last 100 meters and sigh a relief when we cross the threshold. Then over to the jacket counter and there is the jacket waiting for us. Nick tries it on - fits perfect and well worth the extra journey. The fellow who rings us up is this older gentleman who is very talkative and amiable. The jacket was even more on sale at this store (strange) and he was able to give us an extra discount (some coupon he had). In the end, we walk out very happy (but still very hungry) and Nick saved something like $90 on the jacket (on top of the original discount we saw at the first store which was already 50%). In the end, our last night out, shopping and a nice meal out, was a success with Nick finding the jacket and us eating mac and cheese at home at 11 at night!

*No pictures - I've tried multiple times and the feature to upload pictures isn't working on this blog all of a sudden.  Very strange.  So it's not you, it's the blog.