I bought a big container of blackberries at the grocery store tonight to eat with the fresh whipped cream I have frozen in the freezer. They taste as delightful as they look.

What a fantastic way to end a long weekend.

I love them! I wore the new shoes to brunch this afternoon and they are perfection. Also, the bottoms state that they are made in Brazil with genuine leather. Score! What an 80's dream.

Look at this darling bathroom! Yvonne can do no wrong in my eyes. She has this style that just permeates EVERYTHING around her, and I could spend hours perusing her blog.

The toilet seat in our bathroom has been broken pretty much ever since we moved in here (a little over a year ago). If you shift your weight the wrong way, the seat slips off it's hinges and bucks you over. It makes a really terrible sound, especially at three in the morning when your eyes are swollen shut and you're just trying to empty your bladder to get back under the warm sheets. It's on the list of things we've been meaning to bug our landlords about, but I'm getting so frustrated that I'm thinking about going out and buying it ourselves. Would I be crazy to get a wooden seat like Yvonne's? I'm half afraid it would look tacky in our bathroom. Perhaps if I had robin egg blue tile too it would look purposeful.

I almost never thrift for clothes and shoes, but my luck yesterday was off the charts, because I found THREE pairs of really fantastic shoes that fit me perfectly. I don't know what it is, but my feet have the most insane super-power ability to fit into shoes. I never have to ask the sales lady to grab me a size at shoe stores, because the display almost always fits. It's like I have Cinderella feet.

If Converse made sandals, I think they would look like that first photo. They are crazy cute.

The green shoes are such a brilliant color green. A mix between fresh cut grass and sea foam green.

And aren't those red cross bows adorable?

They are going to make really great additions to the shop as soon as I get around to it. I have a long weekend due to the holiday, and I'm planning to take a few photographs to hopefully open up shop here within the next couple of weeks.

Captain Avey has a new friend.

We managed to hit two thrift stores, Target, AND Great Harvest for a BLT before the wedding, and I'm SO happy we did. Another incredible haul home.

It's funny because there are some days when I go thrifting and I'm just not feeling it. I'm tired, kids are screaming around me, and all I can see is dirty junk everywhere. Today was not one of those days. I felt alert, focused, and ready to get dirty. Sugarhouse was fairly crowded and full of young hipsters, but I still managed to take away the wooden drawer, my friend the polar bear, a 'Boats For Sale' Wooden poster, a lovely little mirror with potted plant decals (If you've ever managed to take a decent photograph of a mirror, I applaud you), and a strange framed puzzle.

A little later, after we had lunch and bought our wedding gift for the nuptials, we headed downtown to my favorite thrift store in the industrial section of Salt Lake City. The isles are roomy, people are less pushy, and I almost always find good stuff. Sure enough, I found a load of dishes, including a large pyrex dish, animal shaped alphabet letters (I cannot wait to show these off), a jack in the box (!?), and three pairs of shoes.

I plan to write and photograph more tomorrow, as I have officially run out of daylight.

My high waisted pants and new shoes! I think this is my new favorite outfit.

I'm selling it!

It's been sitting on our dresser for the last few months with no use whatsoever, as we have zero room for it. A part of me really wanted to keep it as sort of a trophy to such an incredible find, but when I was honest with myself, I realized that it really isn't my style. I started the listing off really cheap in hopes that it'll attract attention, but I really have no idea how this will go. I'm definitely crossing my fingers it sells for what it is worth, but if my other listing taught me anything, it's that anything is possible.

Etsy definitely crossed my mind, but I love the thrill of the steady bid increase and eventual sale at the end of a set date.

Wish me luck.

My new dress shoes. They called to me from among the mass of shoes and I tried to resist their frilly temptations, but I eventually gave in. I am so weak. They make me feel one step closer to J-Crew style, and I love them to death. They are going to look great with my high waisted pants tomorrow evening.

Trent actually bought them for me as part of his portion of our car payment. The woman at the register had the impression that he was buying them for me, and commented that her boyfriend, who owns a health store, told her that if she sold $350 worth of his merchandise he would buy her a new pair of shoes. What I wanted to say was "Girl, that's not a good deal. You should probably dump his ass."

What I did say was nothing.

I love these pastel colored sunglasses. My glasses from last year are the same shape with white frames, and I love them, but they're badly scratched from tossing them carelessly into my purse. I should probably keep them in something to protect the lenses. I find vintage eye-wear cases at the thrift store constantly that would be great for the job, and they're always in fun colors and patterns.

The ebay auction ended today! It went unbelievably well with a surprise bid at four seconds left. I'm shipping the letters all the way to Australia tomorrow morning where I hope they will be given a loving home.

I'm celebrating with some 06' Camera Obscura and pan fried garlic and asparagus and a strawberry milkshake.

When I'm at work, I browse through les composantes and think A.) I'm going to take more risks with my wardrobe, and B.) I'm buying a bronzing lotion for my legs so that I too can wear khaki shorts this summer.

Also, I am officially on the hunt for vintage bags.

I so badly wish I could hire Morgan to be my personal stylist. I would wear anything she put on me.

I bought a pair of high waisted linen pants for the summer, and I can't wait to try them out. It may be slightly faux pas, but I'm planning to wear them to the wedding this weekend with a nice blouse and high heels. I'm not involved in it in any way other than eating cake and presenting a gift, so it should be forgivable.

We took a trip to Ikea over the weekend to pick up a few small things. The stepping stool for reaching our ridiculously high cabinets, frames for our newly assembled art wall, a couple of glass bottles to make kombucha this summer, and a mortar and pestle that proved itself by making me an excellent batch of pesto.

This weekend Trent and I are attending his good friend's wedding, so I am choosing this opportunity to buy myself a new pair of dress shoes, something I have not done in years.

I'm inspired to take more everyday photographs.

It's Avey the fishmonger! He was calling to me among silly knick knacks at the thrift store, and I couldn't say no to the Captain. He's missing his pipe, but man oh man does he bring personality to our computer area.

Last week I bought a box of old marquee letter and number signs off of Ebay and I've decided to put a few of them back up on Ebay. Lately I've been buying a lot of things with the intent to sell. It's been a little dream of mine to open up my own Etsy vintage shop for years, and I think I finally have the merchandise to do it. Now it's all a matter of photographing it, which will require that I build a light box or set of some sort. It's an exciting venture for me, but also slightly daunting. I suppose it really is the practical thing to do with all of the things I've gathered at thrift shops over the past year or so-- my house isn't big enough to house all of it! I'd love to see it go to people who would really put some love into some of my finds.

In the meantime, I'm watching my listing and crossing my fingers I get a good bid!

Another thrifting manifestation! I went in looking for some old maps today and searched diligently in the large frames area and found nothing, so I gave up and browsed other sections for a while. When I was about done, I did one last walk around and found a pair of rolled up school room style maps on a cart that had just been wheeled out. One was unopened, and I was unsure what it even looked like, but I took a leap and bought it along with the United States map. It ended up being a world map, and it is so pretty that I put it above our couch in the living room. That wall space has been begging for some decoration for some time now, and I'm really loving the colors.

I've decided that this will be my official summer outfit. Minus the hat. I'm not really a hat girl, but they look really fantastic on other people, so I had to include it. It just looks like something you'd romp around in near the river Seine with a frosty glass of spiked lemonade and a damp braid. Maybe this will be the year that I am brave enough to bare my legs.

They belonged to an old vintage word game I found while thrifting. Perhaps this game?

One of last week's thrift finds. He's rather tall and worn down with age, and he has a lame leg that almost prevents him from standing at all. I'm calling him Geoffrey.

Here's Spook guarding the pirate ship. I cleaned our windows this past weekend and all I have to say is WOW. You have no idea how much light isn't coming through your windows until you wipe off 6 months worth of dust and dirt. I never want to close our shades anymore because it looks like there isn't even any glass between us and all the Spring green.

Our new clock! It was much bigger than I had anticipated, but it's really cute. It's got a very retro 50's diner vibe, but I think it fits in really nicely. I especially like the style of the numbers. The pop of red is a fun change against the whiteness of our kitchen. It makes me want to go all out and buy this Orla Kiely wallpaper.

We moved the chic wooden clock to the living room, and it looks like it's always been there.

We could barely carry all of our thrift store purchases to the car in one trip, and I'm not complaining! SO much good stuff today. A couple of vintage suitcases, a yellow lamp, a giant wooden pirate ship with striped sails, a plastic giraffe, a few wooden children's toys, and my favorite-- the $2 sky blue Knoll tulip look-alike chair.

We went out and bought a round cushion for it so that we can use it as our new computer chair. I'm not 100% in love with the cushion, but the chair looks so fantastic. I'm debating whether or not to sell it. We'll see how it works out as an office chair... otherwise we definitely do not have room for it.

Building up a really lovely home and finding great thrift store treasures and posting pictures of things I want to buy is a lot of my primary focus-- it's my creative passion. Next is learning. My goals in school, and working hard in a job I don't necessarily love, but provides me with a steady income and works around my school schedule. It's so easy to fall into a routine and lose track of what we have to be grateful for.

Lately things have been a little more difficult than normal for Trent and I, some things that we took for granted may have been taken away from us this weekend, and it's still up in the air. We're doing our best to stay positive, and the experience has really made our relationship stronger. We've had to be there for each other in ways that we've never experienced before, and I can literally feel us maturing together. It's been a very amazing and traumatizing experience.

I'd really like to take a moment to step away from things that can be taken away from us, like things, and show you something that really stirred me up inside. It's a really great reminder that no matter what your situation, there will ALWAYS be something to be happy about.

It feels really strange not being in school. I thought I would really enjoy it because missing school in favor of sleeping in was the best feeling in the world. Those few extra hours before work were so precious.

"I'll get to experience that feeling every day this summer!" I thought to myself.

But the truth is, I feel like I should be in school right now learning the language. I feel more determined than ever to be full steam ahead in my studies so that I can have a grasp on the language sooner rather than later.

I wish I had the self-determination to learn at home, but the reality is that I need structure, assignments, and the learning atmosphere.

Trent and I are going to investigate some free ASL classes this Summer so that we can retain what we've learned so far.

It's so easy to think that you'll be happier when you've gained something or left behind another, but the truth is that your feelings follow you in whatever you are doing.

An ebay bid that got away. It totally reminded me of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and now I think I need to buy that movie. I can't believe I don't own any of Wes Anderson's movies...

I've been really noticing clocks lately because we need one in our living room. My mom bought me an amazingly chic wooden clock for our kitchen that I love to death, but I'm moving it to the living room in favor of something bright and kitschy. I really wanted something in the same realm as the amazing blue clock above, but massive internet searches turned up nothing in my price range. I finally settled on an Ashton Sutton clock from Ebay, and I think I'm really going to like it.

This is epic. I can only imagine the excitement of finding this treasure amid stacks of junky shelves. I love the 70's-esque postcard style of the picture, the colors, and those cleverly shaped puzzle pieces. I'm so jealous of the person who snagged it from backgarages' shop.

Do you ever wonder who is buying this sort of stuff? I wish I could see their homes-- though I'm sure it's much more romantic in my head.

What a beautiful light-filled room. I love homes that can pull of the nonchalantness that makes it look elegant, yet lived in. I used to really love pictures of grand homes in Magazines like Dwell and Elle Decor, but now I look for real homes with style and livability. And great light.

I couldn't pass up this sweet sailboat key hook I found on Etsy. I've got big dreams for it. I can't wait to show it off.

An ebay auction that I so badly want to be a part of!

Adorable enamel from Terrain. Definitely something you'd want to display in your kitchen,

Someday I hope to get lucky and find some vintage enamel at the thrift store, otherwise I'm out a hundred bucks. Thank you, Liza, for the great find!