Found some pretty spectacular things today at the thrift store. The paymaster above was one of the luckiest things I've ever found next to the hangitall. It was in a display case with a sold sticker on it, and my heart sunk when I saw it. I hadn't found anything else at that particular thrift store, so to have been so close to getting it was painful. On our way out, I took Trent to look at it, and I noticed that the sale date was a few days ago. I asked a worker how long they usually kept sold items, and she said that it was usually only for a few hours. On a leap of hope, I asked if I could buy it, and she wrote up the ticket for me. My luck is off the charts.

Trent and I stayed with my brother and his wife in downtown Portland, Oregon for five days, and the trip changed our lives. I know it's wrong to judge the city when you're being hosted for free and have $600 to blow on whatever the hell you want... but honestly. We've been joking that it's hard to feel normal after finding out how much more is out there! The amount of restaurants and entertainment was mind-blowing. The atmosphere is just so... relaxed. I keep getting these flashbacks of tree-filled skylines and ocean that stretched out forever, and I wilt a little bit under this hot, staunch republican heat. Also, it was so refreshing to go outside and be surrounded by laid-back young people. Here in Utah, it's mostly middle-aged conservatives toting small armies of children.

We've decided to move there.

But not until we finish school.

I bought this bag a few months ago as an indulgence, but alas, I have not used it once. I'm selling it in hopes that someone will love the hell out of it instead of displaying it on a doorknob as I have done. As luck would have it, Urban Outfitters is selling the exact same bag for eight times the price I started the bid at, so get over to the Ebay listing and indulge.

Trent and I just got back from Portland. We almost didn't come back home, but you know, our responsibilities were in the way.

The epitome of summer.

I want to own that top postcard so, so badly, but $26 for a postcard?! Riiiight.

Is it unethical to take the image to a printer and have a high quality print made?

We had a very busy, fun weekend. So fun and busy, in fact, that I did not get around to writing a post. I'll be honest with you, internet, this heat is making me lethargic, and the last thing on my mind at the end of the day is sitting down at the computer and uploading photos. Also, I've started to use film again, which means a lot less digital photos to upload. It's destined to wipe out my wallet, but I'm excited to see the results. It's a big, fat Pentax with a half-decent lens that I found at the D.I. for $15. It takes very pretty photos. I felt awkward at farmers market, trying to snap photos while people bustled around me. There's a constant flow that needs to happen around the stalls, and I find that even I grumble at people who stop that flow for one reason or another. It's just too hot to stand in one place for too long.

While thrifting, I came across the most fantastic yellow metal frame projector screen for $7. The latch that holds the scroll screen was broken and I couldn't argue with the simple logic that one- we absolutely have no place for it in our home, and two- it would be nearly impossible to ship were I to sell it. I had a dream about it the following night because I was so sad I had to leave it behind. These are the rare moments that I have when I wish that our home were bigger and more accommodating of my love of rare, useless decor. We did find a really, really amazing picnic basket that stands upright with leather straps and a lining with snap closures to hold plates, cups, and silverware. It's perfectly portable for bike rides/picnics.

Trent and I also stumbled upon the Abode Flea, which is a small gathering of vintage sellers in the parking lot of a vintage decor store. I wound up with two sunny yellow lamps for $5 total. I snatched them up without a second thought, and at home discovered that one of them does not work. Alas-- when something seems too good to be true, it is. I set up the working lamp in our bedroom, which has ended up being the most amazing decision. Before, we either had our overhead light on or no light at all. Now our room is cast with a soft orangey glow while we get ready for bed and the mood is severely sexier.

We'll be leaving for our trip Thursday morning, which has me incredibly giddy. The 12 hour drive to Portland will be so incredibly beautiful, and I've already mapped out where we'll be eating in Boise in the afternoon. I plan to take a gazillion photos and just relax like I've never relaxed before.

Strawberries are unbelievably cheap right now, so I snagged a couple of quarts at the grocery store. There's a vendor at farmer's market who makes these incredible mini fruit pies, which is what I had in mind when I made this. It turned out a little too sweet, in my opinion, but the cinnamon vanilla whipped cream really mellowed it out.

My first sale.

It's on its way to Virginia tomorrow where I hope they'll be staked into some kind of very delicious cake and blown out with with a gusto of wishful breath.

A few photos of recent thrift store finds. The last one of the deer was a brass figurine. I was so impatient that I forgot to take a 'before' picture before I sprayed him with plasti-dip. I was hoping for a smoother finish, but the speckles make him look like a stony figure, which has really grown on me. The painting of the flowers is not original, but it is old. I couldn't find out who the artist was by the name Claudessa, which is the name it is signed with in the bottom right corner. I can't wait to put it into an Ikea frame and hang it up.

I want these in my size!

Found via Bird and Banner.

Spook kept following me around the house and into our little photo session. I think he was extra love-hungry today. I know that everyone will say this about their pets, but I'm going to go ahead and say that Spook is the coolest cat. Ever.

At 9:30, I woke up to alarm and forced myself to open my eyes. I had the pleasure of taking the day off from work yesterday, which was sorely needed, but resulted in me sleeping in until noon. I've found that it's really difficult to wake up at such varied times, which makes me think that my body has a very strict time-clock. I'm sure a gigantic beer at Juniors last night with an old friend didn't help my morning haziness. It took me 20 minutes to get Trent out of bed. Every few minutes I would poke my head out of the bathroom and just like a nagging mother say, "Trent... it's time to get up. Come on!"

Each time I said something, he inched a little closer to my side of the bed and eventually rolled out of it in a groggy slump.

We arrived downtown just after ten, which is the earliest that we've ever been to farmers market, if I'm not mistaken. We ended up parking much further away than we needed thinking that the noon crowds may be similar to 10 am crowds. We were wrong. It was sickeningly hot. The heat danced in waves above the sidewalks and stung my toes, but I enjoyed the three block walk hand in hand with Trent .

I really took my time in the stalls and meandered from tent to tent, taking pictures and ogling fresh produce. So many different kinds of people gather here for so many different reasons, and I soak it all up like nobody's business.

I had my heart set on a BLT this weekend, so I picked out two incredibly plump, red tomatoes and a small head of lettuce and happily carried them around the park. Other than a bag of disappointing cherries and our usual bowl of barbecued pulled pork , we didn't buy much else.

The rest of the day was spent running around doing errands and trying to ward off the suffocating heat. We hit two thrift stores later on in the day, which did result in some very delightful finds. A vintage painting of flowers, a small retro-looking alarm clock, another pyrex, TWO avocado green fondu pots, and a family of brass knick-knacks. Trent was elated when he found an original Legend of Zelda video game, Super Mario Brothers 2 and 3, and Bubble Bobble for $12 total. This delighted me to no end because Trent hasn't always been super enthused about our thrifting trips and normally hangs out on the smelly couches reading a book while I sort through the isles. I think I may have just introduced him to the magic that is buying other people's unwanted junk.

Altogether a very sweaty, albeit happy day.

I'm not quite sure what happened, but all of a sudden I'm in to food again. Does that ever happen to you?

Food had become an insignificant part of my life for a little while, the highlights being when someone else would cook it. I like good food. I really do, but it's expensive, and when I buy ingredients for meals, I rarely get around to them after a long day at work and they end up rotting in my crisper drawer.

I started to realize that I have been eating like crap lately, and most of my cooking took place in the microwave. I've begun reading a few of my favorite food bloggers again, and all of a sudden I'm getting these crazy urges to combine ingredients and eat all healthy. I wanted to kick a little life back into my eating habits.

One of my favorite food blogs is written by a woman name Tricia called Eating is Art. I like her holistic approach to life and the whole "soul" of ingredients thing she's all about. Her recipes are fairly simple (meaning I have most of the ingredients in some form or another), and they make me feel clever and fulfilled.

It's like "Take THAT takeout! I'm making it myself and its going to be EDIBLE."

While Trent went for a run, I boiled potatoes, sautéed some garlic, and took a sprig of basil. I made my own variation of her potato salad which called for olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but to me reads "Newman's Own vinaigrette" (I'm a college student...). I'll admit, I had some serious doubts, but it turned out surprisingly... edible. Delicious even. Like, taking-bites-right-out-of-the-serving-dish-while-Trent's-still-showering delicious. It was so crazy easy too.

I feel like I just conquered my appetite-- and that (and a full belly) is a good feeling.

Also, For the first time in ages, we ate on our couch without the aid of the television or laptop and talked about our day. It was surprisingly relaxing, and I've mentally taken note how wonderful it can be to enjoy a meal together and just be together.

I'm not positive what it is that I did, but every last plant you see above is now dead and in my garbage bin. It makes me incredibly sad, because I was SO excited about harvesting my own parsley and cilantro. It may have been that I kept them indoors, and not quite near enough to a light source. I actually have another basil plant growing on my window sill outside that is doing pretty good. And by pretty good, I mean it's still alive. I bought it from a woman at farmers market who uses organic fertilizer and fish fertilizer, so I knew it would be good stuff. I harvested some of the leaves this morning and made scrambled eggs, which yielded the most amazing basil-y taste I've ever experienced. I may have been a little confused about where I'm supposed to prune the leaves, and even after an hours worth of internet searching, I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to harvest the tops because for every clean pick you make, twice as many leaves will grow in its place. I hope that this works for leaves lower on the stalk as well, because that's where I did the majority of the picking-- focusing mostly on the most developed basil leaves.

Also, I've been nurturing the idea of starting a worm compost bin. I've always liked the idea of getting rid of waste in a more economical way, and even now, I don't like to throw food away. I'm sure my boyfriend thinks I'm crazy, but I throw food scraps into our yard in hopes that nature will do its thing and I'm less of a monster for wasting food.

Apparently, the soil that is created from worm waste is extremely fertile, so my dream of eventually starting a garden in our backyard would be oh-so closer to reality. Also, the runoff that is created makes a very nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer, which my basil needs every couple of months.

Re-nest has a few great articles about how to start one and keep it up. Also, I used this article for how to get a good idea of how to make the liquid fertilizer that I'll need. I only wish I had read up on this earlier so that I wasn't doing this near the end of the summer!

Lately I've felt so incredibly tired. It's been difficult to find the energy just to keep up with my blog and my shop, and even things like photographing thrift store finds is exhausting. I'm sure it's just a temporary funk, but I can't help but feel like I'm not getting enough done. The house is dusty, and there's dishes and laundry to be done, but instead I'm going to go watch The Graduate and eat ice cream.