Skull & Tendah

My friend Candra closed her beautifully curated vintage shop, Skull & Tendah, last year.  Traverse City doesn't have many lovers/wearers of good vintage, and her shop folded within its first year.  She is liquidating her inventory for next to nothing, and this weekend I scored the following:

Brazilian leather sandals that need a small repair

A collection of amazing cloth patches

And a lovely pile of my very favorite thing - perfect vintage dresses.  They all fit, and are so pretty to me.  Also a pair of men's denim "utility pant" that are cut and fit like high end, high-waisted sailor style jeans - L O V E !

goodnight mouse mask

Vivienne fell asleep wearing it

and new brother Gus!

Hillside Homestead

My friend Susan owns Hillside Homestead, an historic inn where she hosts farm stays and traditional meals.  She is a fascinating woman who learned her old school skills during the several years she dressed in colonial costume and worked at Greenfield Village in Detroit, cooking over a wood burning stove, etc. 

Farm cat Bina

The centerpiece of the kitchen, an enormous wood fired stove - it heated the whole first floor of the house

vintage cook books

Decorated risers of the stairs to the second floor, Susan said she has a love/hate relationship with this detail as it is not authentic or original, but nonetheless unique and pretty - I loved it

front parlor

Susan is a master canner - this is just one shelf of her work

little brown myotis

Found a dead, dried up little brown bat (that is their actual proper name) down in the big barn - it looks like a mini buffalo

Cadillac, MI thrift day

I had an appointment in Cadillac, Michigan about 20 miles South of my farm.  I hit up three of the several thrift stores that are there.  I have always loved to thrift shop, far more than economy I enjoy the treasure hunt.  I love the radio stations they play in those places too, always either Classic Rock or Christian music - the perfect soundtrack for the hunt!

Cadillac is a little bit trashy

Stop #1 was at the Second Chance Oasis Resale Shop.  Vintage quilt block embroidery transfers of all of the state birds, a storage jar with fruit motif and a wooden lid, and a package of kelly green No 10 envelopes - these items totaled about $3

Goodwill Cadillac had a classic children's book that has great old photographs of New York City and  a 'discarded' stamp from the Interlochen Library inside, a perfect glass bowl and a little Pennsylvania Dutch motif canister, that will be used as a pencil holder/  Grand total $4.18

Last stop was the Salvation Army, where I found a trio of books I felt were waiting just for me.  The Apartment Book is an interior decorating book copyright 1979; The Doubleday Book of Interior Decorating from 1965, and The Quilts of the British Isles from 1989.  $1 each, details below

The Apartment Book is an amazing book of 1970s apartments and decorating.  It includes some interiors of celebrities homes (Ali McGraw and Richard Dreyfuss, for example) and is bright and happy and super inspirational

I love quilts and the British Quilts book has beautiful photographs of British quilts and their history

And finally the Doubleday Decorating book has page after page of early 60s home decor

LOVE!

throwing it out

Criteria for cleaning out your pantry:

1. Is it expired?  Some expired things are still OK (spices, for example) but if it is several years past the BEST BY date, goodbye

2. If you don't know what it is, goodbye

3. Home canned goods that you are unable to open, are discolored, separated, or you cannot read the label, goodbye

the special gift of -9 degrees

Beautiful SUNDOG to the East this morning

more masks

Jack, farm dog at Little Falls

neighbor Nathan

New Year's Day dinner

stuffed acorn squash

I did up the squash seeds like you would do pumpkin seeds - delicious!