King of Clubs at Barona

I spent this last Saturday with Dave's car club, The Helldivers, soaking up the hot hot sun in Barona for the King of Clubs car show.  It was a hot day but nothing like the heat I've endured summer after summer living in the central valley of California.

We arrived there around 11:45a, just in time for the mini motorcycle race in which Dave was competing.  I almost made him late taking the picture above, my bad.

Unfortunately he lost twice, but did win the last race.....against himself! :)  I think his top speed was 30mph.  Below are the cars represented by the Helldivers.  They just recently finished putting together James' hot rod (silver) earlier this year.  Very impressive hunk of metal!

James' 29' Ford.

Jimmy's 51' Ford.

Guy's 53' Chevy truck.

James was the only one that raced his car that day.  Below are some pictures from his race.  The pin-ups just happened to line up right as he was approaching the starting line.

I had such a blast with the crew and look forward to getting together again soon.  More blogs to follow soon.  Unfortunately I was lazy with my camera and didn't get a group shot or any pictures of Dave and I throughout the day.  Below is a picture we all took at a beach bonfire BBQ we had in early July. 

Till' next time,

-Suz

Cute Hot Rod Toy

I found this for $4 , on clearance of course, at a local Target recently and wanted to share.  Too cute!  Will make a great gift for a hot rod loving dad to give to his kiddies; or keep for himself!  Love the side burns on the driver.

Hope you all are having a great week!  Had a great thrifting weekend with Dave.  Blog to follow soon.

Till' next time,

Suz

The Princess and the Thrift Stores

Last weekend I ventured up to Long Beach with my friend Natalie to check out the Diana Legacy exhibit on the Queen Mary located in Long Beach.  They had many wonderful items on display and it was even more special to view the exhibit on the piece of history itself being the Queen Mary.  Besides having six Diana dress on display, they had wedding gifts to Charles and Diana, letters written by Diana (including some very funny risque birthday cards hand picked by her for her staff), two of Diana's tiaras, sketches for her dressing planning, 4 Kate Middleton dresses, a negligee and many needlepoint pug pillows that once belonged to Wallis Simpson, and many many more.  We were not permitted to take pictures of the exhibit and I unfortunately did not get any pictures of Natalie and I outside of the exhibit (I need to get better at pulling my camera out).  So the only evidence I have that I went are these two souvenir cards I purchased.

After taking in the exhibit we then proceeded to the Long Beach Cafe' for a late lunch.  Dave took me here for Ink-n-Iron.  I recommend it if you are ever in the area as they have a great diner atmosphere and their menu is huge!  Any restaurant that serves breakfast all day is a big thumbs up in my books!  After lunch we drove a few blocks up to the vintage store district (Cherry and 4th street to be exact) to visit a couple shops in the area. 

They had some amazing stores!  I loved the displays in the store called "Meow" (not to mention the cute store name).  The dressing room doors were too cute! Aqua blue and pink vintage refrigerator doors.  Such a good idea!

I find that I love the thrill of the hunt and I find I get more joy in shopping thrift stores then I do shopping at vintage stores.  I did however find a deco set of salt and pepper shakers that Dave had eyed in an Orange antique store a few months back.  It was a good price and he was plenty grateful for my purchase.  I thought the store with the best priced items was The Feed Store.  I purchased a glove box, anchor hocking mug, and teak pineapple salt and pepper shakers all under $25.  After talking to the shop clerks they informed us that all of the store's contents were donated!  That's why they were able to stay cheaper than their vintage store neighbors.  Don't pass this store up if you are in the area.

6pm (closing time) rolled around quickly and we decided to hit up the local Good Will that was open until 8p.  I found some great dresses and some excellent glasses (50's or 60's) to add to my ever growing dishware collection.  I need to buy a new camera soon as these pictures do not capture how cute the dresses are in person.  The beige dress has a union label in it and still had the price tag from the previous store it came from intact.  It was originally sold from The Vintage Vault for $89.  It's funny as there it was marked "FIRM".  Well, I bought it at Good Will for $7.99!!!  Firm my arse :)  It fits me like a glove and I'm excited to wear it someday soon, however it is a very delicate piece and will be saved for very special occasions.

My favorite item from the weekend is actually this lovely hair piece that my friend Natalie made for me.  I got to pick out the beautiful vintage jewelry from her amazing stash to add to the piece.  Can't wait to wear it.

I'm currently hosting family that are in town for my sister's wedding and have been super busy showing them San Diego.  Last night my parents Dave and I had dinner at Dublin Square to watch one of my favorite local Irish rock groups The Fooks.  We stumbled upon The Stilettos on our way back to my apartment.  My parents had a blast and my dad loved seeing a rockabilly band live.  So many more fun plans ahead for the rest of the weekend and Jack of Clubs at Barona is fast approaching just two weeks out.  What am I going to wear?!

Till' next time,

Suz

July 4th Finds

Since Dave and I both had July 4th off, and because it was a holiday, we partook in some thrifting before heading to a friend's house to celebrate Independence Day.  We first stopped by the Goodwill and Antique Mall in La Mesa, but surprisingly left empty handed.  We are getting pickier in our thrifting finds.  We then moved onto AmVets  and McAllister Thrift in El Cajon and found some fantastic finds.  Here are the goods.

My first find and purchase for the day was from AmVets and is not vintage but is something I have been looking for a while now.  I have been wanting to add a good pair of black leather cowboy boots to my wardrobe for some time and was thrilled to find these Tony Lama boots for just $13. I found the exact same pair selling for $179 online.  They are a slightly bigger size then I wear but I can easily solve that by wearing thicker socks and maybe stuffing the feet of the boots with some tissue.  I cannot wait to wear them!

This is a diet cook book Dave spotted at McAllister Thrift.  It's from the 1950's and had this hilarious cartoon at the front of the book.  Being a big girl myself I could definitely find the humor in it!

I was thrilled to find when I got home that the blue gingham dress fits me like a T even though it was marked as being a size or two smaller than I usually wear.  I tried it on with a crinoline slip and red belt and viola; I had an fantastic match!  If I didn't already have my July 4th outfit picked out I would have surely worn that. 

I know I had seen this next item at the store before but hadn't realized what it was or how special it is.  It's a hand made swim robe from the 50's.  I believe this is a men's robe but that won't stop me from sporting it.  It has a terry cloth lining and label that reads "Specially Fashioned by Demetrius".  How could I possibly pass on the red, white, and blue anchor pattern any how!

The mid-century style table was the first thing Dave spotted when we walked up to the store.  It was priced at $10 which is already a deal but we bought it for $5 as everything was marked off 50% store wide for the holiday.  I am using it as my tiki mug display overflow at the moment.

Dave also spotted this NOS yellow hairband from the 60's.  I love the label alone!

The tiki mugs were the jackpot find for the day.  There were about 20 or so tiki mugs on sale all from Harvey's in Lake Tahoe.  I purchased 10 of the 20 having bought the ones that only had the artists name inscribed on the bottom of the mugs.  I have passed out 8 of them to friends and kept a pair for myself.  I was kicking myself later as I should have bought them all.  The remaining mugs would have been perfect for our room party mugs at Tiki Oasis in August.  We went back a few days ago and they were long gone.  I'm grateful I was able to buy the 10 that I did and share the tiki love.

I had a fantastic weekend with my friend Natalie, visiting the Queen Mary to attend the Diana Legacy exhibit and do some vintage shopping on Cherry and 4th street.  Keep posted for the blog later in the week.

Till' next time,

Suz

Weekend Thrifting

Dave and I are both cutting back on our thrifting outings and have both agreed that we will only partake in our obsession on the weekends (excluding holidays of course).  We ventured back to the Koby swap meet on Sunday morning.  Our trip, however, was short as I had no attention span having locked my keys in my apartment upon leaving.  I wasn't able to contact my landlord, so after an agonizing four hours, I broke down, contacted AAA and got a recommendation for a lock smith in my area.  $95 later I was back in my home.  However, I was able to focus at the swap meet for a few minutes enough to take notice of these few treasures that I purchased.

It was actually Dave who spotted this teak kitty to add to my growing "family" of the mid century decorations.  At $3, it was a quick and easy purchase.

I have learned after doing this for a while that you always ask for the price! I have been shocked to find how cheaply things are sold for despite my high pricing expectations.  The gold lame' purse was priced at $2.  SOLD!!

We later hit up a Salvation Army in Chula Vista and walked away, yet again, with some lovely goodies.  Dave spotted the Tex Ritter 78" set and I spotted the vintage Japanese children's record set. Unfortunately I made the grave error of not examining the records and two of the three children's records were broken.  Lesson learned.



I fell instantly for these Oklahoma and Texas cowboy and Indian themed glasses.  



I have been needing a good set of mixing bowls and these vintage bowls were the perfect match.  Great buy at just $5 for all of them.  They show no wear and look practically brand new.

I bought this off the shoulder navy Mexican styled dress at AmVets and couldn't be happier with the find.  I will be sure to include photos of me wearing the outfit in the near future.

Here are some jewelry finds.  I could have sworn the bracelet was Bakelite but the simichrome test assured me it is in fact not.  It has no mold seams and has the heavy weight of a Bakelite bracelet.  I still love the piece regardless.

Dave and I had a great July 4th.  We did thrift for a little bit (finding some fantastic finds) and spent the remainder of the day relaxing at a friend's house having some yummy burgers, pie, mojitos, and watched some quick but epic fireworks (Google Big Bay Boom 2012 Fail in San Diego if you are interested).  I will post that blog sometime later in the week.

Till next time,

Suz