Yesteryear Revival

Here are a few pictures from my holiday break! I had a wonderful time with family and friends, ate tons of delicious food, and got lots of vintage goodies for Christmas. (I know I ate tons of good food because I was told by my doctor today that I gained three pounds since last month :S) Sort of embarrassing, but oh well- time to hit the gym. Now I'm back in Michigan for the new year, and my mama is visiting for a week! We have been having lotsa fun these past couple of days. Yesterday we went thrifting nearly all day, then today we went out for sushi and hit up a few more thrift stores. We've also spent our time together listening to records, dancing, laughing, reading and relaxing. I love having my mama here. It will be a sad day when she goes home on Monday, but I'm trying not to think about it for now.

Tonight I scored a whole croquet set for $4.99 at Goodwill! I can't wait to play when the weather gets warmer. My mama has been acquiring a whole new wardrobe since she's been here including two pairs of shoes, a purse, some sweaters, jewelry and a funky tracksuit the color of a pickle. ALL thrifted! I love it that she loves to thrift with me. I also love it that my parents & aunt thrifted most of my Christmas presents this year. I can't wait to post some pictures of my amazing vintage coats, purses, jewelry and linens they got for me! Well, it's time to go as my mama and I are busy watching Storage Wars and snacking. (I just discovered this show and I'm obsessed. Anyone else love this show?!) Be back soon with another post!

Here's a little weekend recap via my phone's camera (once again). On Saturday the mister and I decided to check out Ann Arbor's thrift scene; however, we got a late start on the day and were only able to hit up a few thrift stores. We stopped at the St. Vincent De Paul Thrift store, Value World and The Treasure Mart (pictured above). The Treasure Mart is a really neat place situated right in the middle of a neighborhood basically. It has three jam-packed floors full of treasures (as the name implies). Definitely a place worth revisiting as we weren't able to see everything due to limited time. Value World is a chain thrift store (I think?) and I found quite a few things there including a super cute shower curtain and vintage blue glass salt n pepper shakers. We only had 10 minutes to look at St. Vincent before they closed, but I managed to pick up a few finds there as well. Ann Arbor is just a short drive from where we live, so we definitely plan on going back. Next time we'll get an earlier start or maybe even make a whole weekend trip out of it. Best part of the trip (and majority of the photos above)- Cupcake Station! I loooove cupcakes, and this little gem did not disappoint. I had three cupcakes- a peanut butter chocolate, lemon, and party time. Yeah, I know, that sounds bad. And I did eat all three Saturday night. Oops. What can I say? I love sweets. I'll make sure to workout extra hard this week. :-) I'm also looking forward to going home and spending the holidays with family over the next week. Wishing everyone happy holidays!!

Sorry, more phone photos. The black and white application on my phone's camera actually takes decent pictures in low lighting as opposed to Aaron's fancy Nikon. And since it's getting dark so much earlier these days...camera phone photos may become the norm around here. Anyway, I thought I'd post a couple more pictures of my holiday decorations, which seem to be lacking this year. I started to get really excited about decorating while I was away, and now that I'm home it just doesn't seem worth it to put everything up and then only get to enjoy it for a couple weeks. Not to mention the fact that we won't even be here for Christmas, AND mister kitty has already completely demolished the bottom half of my tree (hence the reason only the top half is pictured above). I kept the tree decorations at a minimum as well for the same reason mentioned prior- beast cat. I only put on a few lights, some crocheted garland and a few strands of pearl garland. I don't even have a tree topper! So sad. I think next year I will work on putting up decorations a little earlier so that I have longer to enjoy them.

Hmm also...it has been snowing here ALL day. Tonight Aaron and I went adventuring in the snow for a few minutes (only a few because he was tired and cold, party pooper!). We walked a couple movies back to the video store and then went in search of some snacks and wine for me. I scored a bottle of wine for $2.75! It was definitely the cheapest bottle of wine I've ever purchased, and it's actually pretty good. I also bought some Andes mints for my advent calendar which I am just now starting...in the middle of the month. I guess I'm just overall a little behind on the holidays this year. I still have a ton of shopping to do and Christmas is only two weeks away! I have filled out my Christmas cards however, now let's see if I actually remember to mail them. Phew, this is like the longest post ever! That's all for now!

I had a ton of fun in the Chicago-land area over the past few days with Amanda and Tanner while Aaron attended his conference. Here's a little photo recap of our adventures. From top left: Maggie enjoying the car ride, Renegade Holiday Craft Fair at Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, Amanda trying to keep warm, a little Starbucks trip to wake up & warm up, a pretty church, my amazing wooden heart earrings from Renegade via Isette, delicious b'fast @ the Pancake Cafe, giant Christmas tree @ Daly Plaza, Sprinkles red velvet cupcake!, German Christmas market, late night wine & sushi adventures, chocolate crepes!!! Phew, I have so many more pictures I want to post, but this is pretty photo heavy already. Anyway, I had a great time and can't wait to go back! Thanks again to Tanner & Amanda for their hospitality. :)

Side note: Sorry for the poor picture quality...they were all taken with my phone.

Phew, much needed blog update! I was away for almost two weeks and didn't have much internet access. Now I'm back but only for a few more days, then I'm off to Chicago for five days. Aaron is attending a conference in the city, and I'm tagging along and spending some time with my cousins Tanner & Amanda. It should be a fun time! While I was away all I could think about was wanting to decorate for the holidays when I got back. So yesterday, December 1st, I decided to put up the Christmas tree! It snowed here in MI all day which really put me in the holiday mood. I also may have been rockin' out to some Christmas records. :) I have a lot more decorating to do, but the above pictures are just a little glimpse at what I've started. I crocheted an enormously long strand of garland for the tree which turned out really well. And as one can see from the last picture, the cat has not left the tree alone at all since it's been up! Ugh, I don't really know what to do about that. Any suggestions? Once the tree is fully decorated I'll post more pictures; it's pretty bare bones right now. Also, I've got some other holiday crafts in the works like handmade ornaments and Christmas cards that I can't wait to share. I'm going to try and update the blog while I'm in Chicago as I plan to document Amanda and I's exciting adventures.

Side note: I did some serious thrifting while I was away spanning multiple cities. I will take pictures of my finds and post them soon!