Love for Frankston and for my Mum

Today I went out Frankston way to visit Mum.
This is what I wore...



"It’s impossible to be unhappy in a poncho."

My matching accessory is Mums dog 'Bella'. Though not a fan of small dogs, she is an exception. I have never met a more human dog. She has to have been here in another life. She's crazy smart.

My Mum is Queen of opshopping. She's taught me lots. Like me, her whole house is made up completely of opshop finds.
Every time I visit she runs around pointing out all her new stuff, and then when I say I like it, she's guaranteed to say "oppy!" as if I didn't know.
Opshopping is in our blood. Nan, Mum and I.
Mum says its because her family was poor when they lived in Scotland so they found best ways to get by. "Oxo cubes in water with bread to dip" was their dinners, and "sugar sandwiches for lunch".

It's great having two sets of eyes working for you! I love going to her house as she always has a pile of goodies waiting for me, and some home cooked meals too!
She has a sharp eye and knows my taste so its great having two people buying for one!
I was delighted to receive the message the other day saying "you can have pot"



I've wanted it for SO long.

Mum's not up with the technology. She's the kind of person who you can write a whole 2 page message to, and you will get this back... "ok"
Since mum discovered the beauty of picture messaging, I am forever getting them with items Mum's found to tease me, and also items that she's found for me.
I wanted to die when I got a picture of three watches that one person only just donated.
A genuine Chanel, Gucci, and CARTIER! So not impressed. $4 each.


This is what she had for me today.



Two Staffordshire tea cup sets.



A 50's tin Ashtray



Two egg cups, 'japan'



Fur hat


And this is what I bought.



Tablecloth





Two pair of sweeeet flares. And they fit! Yee.



Apron



2 x Pillowcases



A macrame book. Don't gag yet, there's a pattern for these cute bags that I want to make.



See cute right?



Rad knitted tee! Currently being washed for immediate wear.



AMAZING crocheted poncho.



West Germany ceramic vase



And last of all this cute kettle.


My mum got hold of my camera and was loving taking photos and seeing them straight away.
She was running everywhere saying "Here, put my garden on your blog, put this on your blog, look how cute Bella is here etc." I have heaps of pics from mums house. I think a camera is on her Christmas list now. Then next is a computer. Wait till she discovers the world of eBay.

Here are a couple of pics from her house.



The view from mums front garden.



Cute frog



Drool. And that's only some.


The last thing Mum said to me as I hopped on the train was "Patricia turn your bag around, people can see that horrible macrame book"

I love my Mum.

Funniest Home Videos

Does anyone recognise this image?



It's a screen shot from Funniest home videos.

The poor distressed girl on the left is me, and on the right is my sister.

When we were little my Nan sent in a video of me being smashed by my little sister to Funniest Home Videos.

Anyway, last night when I was on the train, I get a call from Mum all excited, letting me know that she was watching the show and our video came on again.
It's also been played the previous two weeks too, so there's a chance it could be on next week.

FANTASTIC!! haha.

Definitely my claim to fame, or perhaps shame?

Check out my face!! I'm such a pretty crier.
I'm sure you would be the same if your sister threw your tea set that you had just neatly laid out off the cubby veranda. Poor Trish haha.

Masquerade Ball

Yesterday was another lovely day. Second chance to ditch the jacket and tights and opt for something summery. Loving the warmth, and loving not having to stress about heating bills.
This is what I wore...





This dress I bought last year. It's a lovely Laura Ashley Maxi cut short. Please don't abuse me for doing so. I was young and stupid back then haha.
I kept the cutoff as its so pretty and ruffly so I'm going to look into attaching it somehow. Hmm.
I got to use my new massive bag today to lug all my stuff to Shannons. Very handy yet heavy/too large/awkward, especially when people are struggling to fit around it during peak football grandfinal train times.


Last night was my friend Lauren's 21st birthday.
I haven't been to a 21st in ages, never mind a party with a theme so was looking forward to it.

My favorite part of going out is the getting ready process, I'm so glad I'm a girl.
Makeup, hair, dresses, shoes, bags, the whole lot.
This is how I turned out...



I'm wearing a dress that I bought from a friend when we shared a garage sale. I ended up spending all my profits on her clothes haha. The dress was $5
Also wearing my favorite heals $4
My bag is a patent black 80's bag that was $2
The gloves are Shannons that were $2.50



Shannon made her mask, she's very good at life.



Lauren, the Birthday girl :)



I stumbled accross / stole someones moustache at some stage haha.



And last of all, this is how one turns out by the end of the night when someone who rarely drinks... drinks. haha.
All class.

It was a great night.
Happy Birthday Lauren :)





I'd also like to leave with a word from the wise.
If you bring home a pair of shoes and the sole is coming away, superglue can hold it together quite well. I've done it to a pair and it's still holding strong.
However, when it says 'apply weight' don't use your foot as the weight. There is a chance you will glue your foot to the shoe.
A lesson I wish I knew earlier.

Let's go fly a kite!

Today I took a risk. I trusted the weather.
25 degrees, A fine spring day. So they said.
I was very hesitant. a 25 degree fine spring day could mean thunderstorms and 14 degrees in Melbourne. You can never tell. But today I ditched the backup jacket and went to work in a very vulnerable state, weather wise.
I kept having those quick heart jumps thinking I may have left my jacket somewhere. Its unusual I feel so light. No tights, no jacket. Just my florescent white legs and bare arms. Scary really.

This is what I wore.





This is the Kaftan I bought the other day. Thankfully the very worn material of this kaftan was so thin it dried in two seconds and I could wear it straight away. I'm well and truly over hand washing. I want a washing machine already!! arrrgh

Anyway, as I waited for the bus to work, I saw this family flying kites down at the park and I got that weird memory feeling and got a desperate urge to make or just find a kite to fly. Very excited.



This is what I bought today.



Some more patterns I will eventually get to sewing (unlikely)



Bargain brooch for $1. Bone china made in England. Very romantic.





This flight attendant style dress. It appears very 60's however the tag confuses me. It's very 80's so I'm unsure.







This is an item I've been hanging out for. A brown classy jacket. Yey. It shows that waiting is worthwhile. This jacket is to die for. I think the brand is a cheap foreign brand, but I don't mind. It's tie and some of its lining is in a lovely velvet. It's quality and fits like a glove. I got it from savers, but as I tried it on and put my hands in its pockets, I felt two things. I pulled out a pack of chewy, and one of its applettes. Easily fixed but still broken. So I asked for a discount. I was really nervous as I never ask at savers but I'm glad I did as they gave me 50% off. Yipee.



How amazing is this dress? I truly have an addiction to crazy sleeves. I had to put it on to show it better as the old coathanger trick wasn't doing it justice. It's a bit jelly belly, but other than that it's gorgeous.

It reminded me that I've been meaning to take a photo of another dress I bought a few weeks ago but have been putting it off because I couldn't be bothered putting it on. But today I bothered and thought I'd show it here.



Isn't it beautiful? Metal zip, fabulous sleeves. I'm thinking 1950's? I'm also assuming the sleeves were made for dancing with. It's by Lorraine Joans on Collins St. $2.50. WEW.



Also scored another cute apron

And thats all!

Luckily the weather was reasonably accurate. I heard on the radio it was 27 degrees at some stage? Wew summers coming quick!

Tipster Trish

It's great going through the Carters guides and finding things you have.
I've found quite a bit so far.
My Bessemer plate set that I bought for $1 is worth $60



My Garfield telephone is up to $110 now!



The retro curtains similar to mine are also $110, and I have 3 sets! Yey.







The list keeps going. From canisters, to pots, to figurines, to badges, to furniture, to bikes, to radios, to cameras, to salt and pepper shakers. Definitely telling me I'm on the right track and that my eye is on target.
I'm far from being a millionaire, but its really exciting!
It's also really (not sure of word) when you flick through and see things that you've ummed and arred about but ended up putting back.
There were quite a few of those too.
Oh well que sera sera!

I picked up a couple of things this morning as I raced around the store next to work.

This is what I wore, and looking rather haggard haha..



And this is what I bought.



Pretty foul 70's shirt. But its in my colour so I'm a fan.



You all know my tan bag to shoe ratio is very off, so this addition leveled it ever so slightly. Unfortunately the buckle on one of the shoes crumbled in my hands, but they only cost me $2, so I'm hoping somewhere will fix them because they're SO comfy.

I was "I'll put this in a bag for you behind the counter for when you've finished looking" close to buying a 70's blender today for $1.
Orange and white staring at me from high up at the Opshop on Main road.
But I was very proud of myself for changing my mind.
Little tips that I pick up here and there glue themselves to the back of my head for times like this and I'm glad they do.
See it didn't have a lid, and I thought "oh well, I'll just find another one off another blender"

Here are some of the rules I go by when buying.

- Don't bother buying things if its not a complete set. The value won't be close to if it were a full set.

- Just because somethings by a good maker / designer etc, doesn't mean its worth much just because of that. It has to be visually appealing. That is what will sell to people.

- If you aren't sure, its a no. 95% of the time when you end up putting something back and leaving, you feel good about it. The other 5% of the time you regret it horribly and find it in the collectors book the next day. :(

- Don't buy something for the sake of buying something. I do it all the time and it ends up just going in the meh pile. And again, if you come across an amazing stash of goodies buy them all. Stuff caring about feeling greedy. Just because its all at once the chances of finding something like it again is small. I made this mistake at Frankston savers where someone had donated their WHOLE COLLECTION of S&P shakers. I grabbed 5 sets because I thought 5 at one time was heaps. I was really stupid. There were some fantastic ones I left but for some reason figured I had enough. :(

And today's tip, - Don't buy shit. If there's a part missing, or it's chipped, needing restoration, or you don't actually like it but are just buying it because it 'could' be valuable, then just leave it. You'll never get around to fixing it, replacing it, or reselling it.

At the time I was thinking 'yeahh i'll find another lid' but I'm not urgently wanting a blender. I'd rather wait until I found the complete thing because I won't be happy having an odd lid and will probably just end up tossing it anyway.

Go me and my realistic brain.

Carters Everything Vintage

Today I went Western Suburb shopping.
The area most well known for vintage / retro goodness, however I left with not all that much. It seems that because its so well known that, it brings everyone there to raid when I can't.
There's no disappointment though as I'm very happy with my finds.

This is what I wore.




And this is what I bought.



Can't stop buying crochet goodies.
I've been on the hunt for a crochet dress for what seems forever, so I'm considering ditching the sleeves on this but not sure if it's possible. I'll investigate further.



My newest additions.


And then.. I went into one of my all time favorite places. Borders.
I sat down with a coffee and browsed through some fashion books and collector books. There was one Carters 'Everything Vintage' left. As I flicked through I could already see items I owned and I couldn't put it down, so I BOUGHT IT!!!
Now that's my dream coffee table book. Ah. So happy.




Lifes good.