Recent-ish Thrifting Scores

I have had this photo sitting on my desktop for a while now and I realized I never blogged about my luckiest thrifting trip of all. :)

Clockwise from the upper left:

UNWORN brown maryjane VERA WANG heels (best. score. ever.)

Nikon mug :)

Danish style saucepan

Colorful vintage tulip bag

Brown leather breifcase-ish vintage bag

Wooden leaf bracelet

Brown brazilian leather wedge sandals

Unworn black Nine West flats

That was one of my best thrifting days to say the least. I haven't gone thrifting in a while since then because I've been so busy, and my funds have been tied up with other things. But I would like to go again soon. I miss sharing my finds with everyone.

What has been your best/favorite thrifting find?

-Angela

Tree Tapestry.

I love this new tapestry added onto the Urban Outfitters site yesterday. 

As you may or may not know. I have a thing for tree silhouettes and textures. 

I think this might go really well in my bedroom behind my bed or on my bed. 

What do you guys think of tapestries? Do you have any in your place?

-Angela

Self Portrait.

Sometimes you don't even need to be in the picture to take a self portrait. 

Been reallllyyy busy the past couple days. But wanted to drop in and read a few posts from my fellow bloggers. Hope you guys are having a lovely week. 

-Angela

Testing out the 1.4 50mm Lens

While I have been waiting for my new 1.4 50mm lens to come in the mail from B&H, 

my very kind friend Joel is letting me borrow his. 

I have been loving experimenting with it. Sunday was a lazy day of editing

 photos and snapping a few pictures from the comfort of my fluffy bed. 

This lens captures light sooo well! And the depth of field is to die for. 

Only thing that has been difficult getting used to is the focal length. 

I have to stand back a lot farther from objects than normal with this lens. 

But it is so worth it. 

Have you guys gotten any new toys that help you explore your creativity lately?

-Angela

Vintage Window Shopping

Sunday I went to a little place in Bethany, Oklahoma called "The Rink" It is a HUGE Anitique mall/vintage store that used to be a hockey rink... but is now taken over by vintage/antique enthusiasts and the dreams of addicts like me. 

Since I have been working on purging things from my place though, it was SO HARD not to buy anything. But I made a pact with myself.........which I soon broke by purchasing two postcards and a vintage scarf. BUT HEY! I didn't lug home a piece of furniture so.. progress!

Anyway...Here are a few of the things I was drooling over but decided not to buy *tear. 

Sorry for the iPhone quality pics. I didn't bring my camera that day but then once I got there I decided I couldn't go without snapping a few low quality pics. 

Mid-Century Modern Vanity. Swwwooonnnn.

Mid-Century Modern side table. 

Vintage housewares.

Adorable Mid-century tins and bowls.

Pitcher/cup sets

Annddd The most painful find of the day. $45 perfect condition white leather Mid-Century Modern Chair. This thing is going to haunt my dreams. So cute. Chairs are my weakness.

You guys ever go thrifting and just... look? It was almost impossible for me. Find any good stuff? Let me live vicariously through your thrifting! :)

-Angela

Housewarming. Handmade Herbal Bath Blend.

Another housewarming gift I received this weekend.

Handmade Herbal Bath Blend. I loveee the adorable handmade label. But thennnn... Check out that ingredients list! First Ingredient...Cayenne! I am going to try it out tonight and see how it goes.

Looks like it could warm up more than just my house! :0

-Angela

Sunday Thrifting Finds.

Man this weekend was a blast. Went to an awesome Christmas party last night and Chenoa and I had a lil sleepover. Woke up this morning and made some breakfast, listened to some tunes, and then we decided we wanted to go thrifting.

Best find of the day. A little Mid Century Table. Got it at Community Thrift for $15. Love.

Died when I found this print. I have a few other very similar prints. And if you know me you know I love "tree stuff" • Beautiful cream and gold vintage bag. with long shoulder strap.

Vanity tray. Been searching for one for a while and couldnt find one I really liked until today. • Pretty dish I found that I thought would be perfect for holding all my spare change laying around my house.

More "tree stuff". ;) Silver candle with tree bark texture. A great find for me. • Cute throw I found that perfectly matched my stuff. Bluegreen and Taupy color.

This was a hilarious find because I had been getting crap from my friends this weekend for my love of cheap Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Sorry frins but I think it tastes better than Starbucks charred roast. Anyway this was a perfect find to end a weekend. Love the cute 1970s style mug.

The little box was the new find. Bought it because it perfectly matched two other tins I had. I think it's going to hold recipes or tea. The taller one is currently being used for coffee filters. • Pressed flower decoration. If you havent noticed, I love having little elements of nature around my place.

Last but not least. This wasnt a thrifting find, but a housewarming gift from my friend Chenoa. A bottle of Fat Bastard Merlot with a cute little Kimono style holder. Loveeee it. :)

-Angela

Reading Corner turned Christmas Corner.

Remember that reading corner I showed you in the previous post? It has now been the home of my new xmas tree here for a while now. 

I got the LAST white xmas tree at a Kohl's Black Friday sale marked down to $15 bucks. :) (originally priced $50) 

A few people have brought that to my attention that this photo makes my tree look HUGE. So I need to point out that this tree is only 4 feet. It's my lil babytree. 

The thing that makes this tree so special to me is that my grandfather, who is now in his mid-eighties, allowed me to inherit my grandmother's beautiful christmas ornaments this year. So based on when my grandparents were married, had children, and when my grandmother would have bought these; I am guessing these ornaments are from the 50s or 60s. Plus the look of them would tell me no different. 

I've always hated Christmas for as long as I can remember working retail (since I was about 16 until just about a year and a half ago). Now that I actually have time off from work to enjoy family, giving gifts to the kiddos, and not having to fight off rude customers blaming me for ruining their christmas (because they waited until christmas eve to shop).... now Christmas is slowly starting to grow on me. 

-Angela

For Shame! An update about the new place. Finally.

Ok so I found a cute tapestry for Kathleen over at jeremyandkathleen and she told me she was going to link me in her next entry in order to shame me into updating. And ok ok I surrender. The shame has worked. I must update. ;)

Ok so some of you may have already seen this if you are friends with me on my flickr page. But for those 5 readers who arent.. I shall share the UNedited UNartdirected UNfinished pictures of my new place. 

I have actually done quite a bit since these pics were taken and plan on taking some "after" photos once I am all done... or well.. finished enough to be ok with taking more pictures. (because if i waited till i was ALL DONE...it might not ever happen).

So here is the living room. I got rid of those ugly pillows that came with my sofa and the couch looks much better without them. Also got that picture hung and another tree picture above the tv. Dvd player is all hooked up and rearranged. All thats left is to look for some new pillows and a throw to go on the sofa. Probably will take inspiration from a color in that painting most likely. ;) After rearranging this room a zillion times. This just seemed to be the best arrangement for the living room. It is kind of an awkward space. 

View from the sofa. Got some new pics hung on both sides of that mirror. Still can't get the pesky mirror to hang. Tree pic is moved above the tv.  

  

Office clutter is all cleaned up now so I have a clear desk with my orange chair there. And that is an OUTBOX in that tupperware container. A huge one. That self portrait needs to be hung too. In the pic on the right, that little stand there is going to be painted teal and used to hold purses and shoes. Coathooks will be going on that wall. And ive now got a little bowl on that table for mail and keys. Landing strip is almoosstt there. 

Love this little reading corner.  And my dining room now has a giant paper lantern above the table. The bookshelves and the tinyness of my dining area makes my place pretty cozy. 

I love my new kitchen. Its small but it gets the job done so well. If you saw my old one, you would know what a vast improvement this one is. And its so great to have a dishwasher again. You take for granted the little things. And yes. That door leads to a backyard. 

 

It's the little things like wine, fresh flowers, and a welcome mat that make a place feel like home. Private fenced in backyard helps too. I've never had that before and I think its gonna be really nice in the summer. 

 

Of course two of those boxes are still yet to be unpacked.. but wait.. ignore the boxes and look past to the pretty scarf collection...divert divert! :) To the right is my bathroom. The white curtain hides the stackable washer and dryer. I hate seeing washer and dryer sets. I must hide them. Those curtains have been used at my last 3 or 4 places for that very use. 

And THIS is where all the action happens! (or lack thereof..ha) I definitely want to paint or put something on that wall behind my bed but i havent decided what yet. We will see. Would love to put some curtains up to so long as they dont interfere with the natural light. 

Here is my rescued dresser. When I found it, it was completely scratched up and water damaged. Thats when I decided to paint it teal. I still have a whole gallon of that paint left so that is what the little shoe holder I mentioned earlier in the post is going to be painted. Anyone need some teal paint? The other pic is my closet and argyle obsession. The rest of my place has pretty big walk in closets but that closet happens to be kind of awkward. Still working on the most organized arrangement for everything in there. Decorative boxes/bins holding stuff? Shoe racks? All stuff to think about...

Of course there were pics of the unpacked clutter. If you MUST see the rest of my place you can click any of the photos to go to my flickr cause sorry but im not posting the embarrassing clutter piles that have yet to be unpacked.

But it seems there are always new things to be doing to a place. It is never finished. It is constantly an evolution of changing taste and needs. Then those little visions you have itching at the back of your brain just dying to manifest themselves. We will see how It comes along in the following weeks. 

And despite my blogger lazyness. I will even try to update this thing once in a while. 

-Angela

Gratitude Mondays - Approved!

The Duplex I am moving to in November!

Picture from the county assessor's website. 

My place is the porch on the far side, better pictures to come later.

It's been a week since my last post being thankful for having a home. I think it brought me luck because 7 days later, today,  I just found out I was approved for a much much nicer place. So this is just a short lil post to be thankful that I got approved for the place I wanted. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but for some reason the application to get it was unusually long and comprehensive. Not really sure why. I was kinda nervous about it all because the new landlord was being so probing. Well anyway I found out today I was approved. Yay! Gratitude abounds! :)

-Angela

Gratitude Mondays - Home.

Me at my current apartment. I love the layout of the place. It was built in the 1920s and has tons of charm, faux fireplace, beautiful hardwood floors, tons of 1920s touches. But the constant need for repairs, my upstairs neighbors, and a slew of other potentially disastrous things that have me currently staying at friend's houses much of the time. It has all finally caused me to turn in my 30 days notice. 

It has been a while since I actively did a post on being grateful. I've learned that Friday isn't the most convenient of a day for me to do this sort of post. Fridays are always crazy. So I am going to try Sundays or Mondays for a while. And since right now I am stressed out and frustrated about my apartment falling apart. I think now is the best time to take a step back and be grateful for some things. 

Can't wait to be doing this again. Ahh the joys of living alone. 

I've noticed that during stressful times, being grateful is one of the only things I can do to bring me back to sanity and rationality. I've been through a lot of crappy situations, and gratitude is always a fail proof way to remain Z e n during a storm. 

While looking through endless ads for duplexes and houses in the OKC area, preparing myself for another move. I put up my own ad in the housing wanted section, marketing myself as a good tenant (which was surprisingly successful)... But I learned while looking through the other housing wanted ads, that my situation could be so much worse. 

An essential of being a bachelorette. A proper floordrobe. And an unmade bed. (this isn't my room, just a funny pic)

I do have a place right now. I am inconvenienced but not completely homeless. I am not running away from an abusive spouse or made homeless by a hurricane. I have not gone through a fire and lost all of my belongings. I have money for a first months rent and deposit and am not having to negotiate my way into having more time or relying on the generosity of someone to let me pay it off. 

The favorite of my coffee table books. Best 50 cents I've ever spent. 

Just a book of photos and biographies of people that live alone in various cities. 

I have some control over my situation, although it is annoying. I do not have children that are relying on me to provide a safe place to go. I have a great job. And although getting a roommate would save me a ton of money, I can afford to live by myself modestly. And I don't mind handing over the extra cash in order to save me the headache. 

I am grateful for the potential places I have found that are adorable and surprisingly affordable. I am grateful to be moving into a better neighborhood. I am grateful for finding landlords who seem much more sane. Grateful for soon no longer having to share a porch with anyone. Not having to worry about noises outside of my house. Soon I will not have upstairs neighbors. 

Definitely will be making yet another trip here very soon. I go here every time I have to move.

Another essential for a cheapo bachelorette living alone. Or for cheapos in general.

There aren't a lot of situations that are much more frustrating than to have something go wrong at the place you call home. The place you are supposed to go to retreat from the stresses of the world. No one wants to have a stressful day at work only to come home to more stresses. But I am grateful for the fact that this situation is manageable and temporary. 

I am grateful that I have something to be excited about. and not just frustrated about. 

-Angela