My mom and I went out to a local antique shop and thrift shop on Thursday and it felt so good to be hanging out with her in some of my old haunts.  Before we get into thrifting and what I bought, I wanted to clear something up.   When I shared my shopping adventures on Instagram, a few people were deterring me from buying anything.  “You just downsized!”  “Wait until you have a house!” Very valid points except for two things. One – I didn’t downsize our belongings because we are planning to downsize our house (although we might.)  I was downsizing because of the cost of moving and storage.  I didn’t want to pay to move and store something that would be more cost-effective to sell and replace on the other end of the country.  We wanted to move pieces that we really loved, that were easy to pack

Yesterday, I scored two amazing finds – a pair of antique architecture portfolios by Wulliam & Farge of Paris.  Here’s how that came about…  As we were planning some afternoon outing options while visiting my parents we talked about hitting our favorite ice cream shop, visiting a couple of antique shops, going to the battlefield, and, of course, the topic of bookstores came up.  My mom shared that there is a used bookstore in an old house in Cashtown, PA that I might want to check out.  I looked up their website because used bookstores can be a total bust for me depending on what kind of books the shop owner curates.  If he/she curates a bunch of paperback novels, that’s not going to appeal to me.  But, I saw on their website that Rock Top Bookshop & Bindery specializes in books on history, war, cooking, gardening, design, architecture, art,

Going on a day trip while hobbling around with a broken foot isn’t what I would normally plan, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to check out the antique stores and my favorite used book store in Stillwater, MN while spending some good time with my dear friend and antiquing buddy, Cheri.  Cheri was also dealing with a bum knee, so we limped around the town together and really had a wonderful time browsing.  The weather was perfect and we even scored a nice parking spot. We hit Blackletter books first.  I first went to this bookstore when Jeff took me to Stillwater last October.  This store is just wonderful for the kind of books I like because the art book section is huge!  In the past, I would camp out on the floor and look through each book until I was satisfied that I had all of the

If you get it, you get it.  One of the most exciting things about moving for people like me is anticipating what the next house will be.  I’ve been this way since I was in 6th grade when we moved back to the states and I was going to live in an actual house (not a military-issued apartment), I began to draw out plans for a room I hadn’t even seen yet.  I thought about wall colors, curtains, furniture arrangement possibilities, and how I would want to style my shelves.  I did this with every single move since… dreaming, planning, and sketching.  I do this even when I don’t know what the room or house looks like, yet!  It’s just an intuitive process based on gut-instinct and intangible wishes. In thinking about what our future home might look like, I have that gut instinct.  I don’t know what the house

I’ve received the same question a few times on my blog and Instagram, so I thought I would answer the question for everyone in a post.  The question is, “What is the pot/jar holding your brushes by the sink?”  It is an antique sugar bowl/jar that I found years ago at an antique store.  I don’t remember how much I paid for it, but I think it was around $10 due to the fact that it was missing a lid and had a broken handle.  But, as with most old things, I didn’t mind the imperfections it was bringing to the table. I put it next to the sink to hold my dish brushes and it has been there ever since – in our previous house in PA and in our current house in MN.  It’s one of those decorating decisions I don’t even think about.  Well, the broken sugar