Belated Surprise

 
My Fairy Hat-Mother sent me a belated holiday package the other week.  She (like me) loves to go thrifting, and - because she lives in Seattle - has the ability to partake of the glory of the Goodwill "bins."  Anyone who has ever lived in or visited a large city and gone thrifting there will understand what I mean.  Large cities have the high population density and "old money" to support fabulous thrifting scores.  Now, turn that into an entire warehouse filled with undiscovered gems at below-thrift-store-prices, and there you have "The Bins."  I went once with her when we visited in October, and found many a fabulous vintage hat, as well as vintage purses and gloves.  In any event, my wonderful friend sent me a gift box filled with 1940s tilt hats, a lovely mink- & sequin-trimmed 1950s cocktail hat (I was super excited about this one, as I had sold a similar hat a couple of years ago and have since come to regret that action), a stack of hat-lust-inspiring vintage wool & velour felts, a lovely "Links-of-Minks" stole, and bow ties and suspenders for Ryan!  Talk about a box sure to make a vintage-lover swoon!



I am wearing one of my favorites of the tilt hats she sent, along with another belated-Yule-present-to-myself gift!  I have always wanted a vintage spotted fur cape (and coat!).  I kept losing out on one on Ebay, as they always went far higher than I could afford to pay.  But I finally found a cape on Etsy in my price range, and it is PURRRRFECT!  Now I just need a matching coat...

The Holidays Are Approaching (Can You Believe it?)

It's difficult for me to believe that the winter holidays are nearly upon us! Where has the time gone???...I looked at my husband this past weekend and said to him, "Can you believe that THANKSGIVING is less than two weeks away??!!? And Christmas and Yule just a month after that?!" It boggles my tired little mind...

After an insanely busy Friday & Sunday involving hazardous tree removal, wood stove installations, chimney cleanings, kitchen oven repairs, and animal wrangling/worming/hoof-trimming/etc., Ryan and I decided to take Saturday (and Sunday afternoon) off. We made a pact this year that, instead of buying what we thought the other wanted and surprising them with it on Christmas Day, we would go on a series of shopping dates together. Yes, we will for the most part know what we are getting this holiday season, BUT we get the joy of many happy outings together (something we are in desperate need of with our busy schedules) and the added bonus of getting exactly what we want (this more applies to Ryan than myself - the man is nearly impossible to shop for when his wife can't distinguish one Stanley plane from another). There will still be a bit of mystery to the holiday, because the stocking stuffers and Yule gifts will be surprises (as we are not going shopping together for those). In any event, on Saturday (and again on Sunday afternoon) we visited several local antique stores to begin the holiday shopping together. Ryan found three hand planes that he wanted (one of which is a very fascinating Civil War era piece!), and I found a lovely 1940's fur coat with big bakelite buttons (and those Joan Crawford shoulders) and (my real score & joy) a 1950's squirrel fur stole that had the original sales tag and carbon copy purchase receipt. I love finding old items with a documented history!! Ryan and I plan to go on several more dates in the coming weekends. It was SO nice to be out together and doing something fun for a change, and this new pact is the perfect excuse for us to spend more (needed!) time together. I believe that, more than any gift, is the true Christmas blessing. Speaking of spending time together, I am so looking forward to his upcoming three and four day weekends (thanks to the winter holidays)! I miss him so much during the week, and we've been so ridiculously busy on the weekends lately that we have not had much time for ourselves. Now that we have managed to get the big cold weather-related projects finished in one final go (as mentioned above), and are nearly done with the fall livestock maintenance, we will be free (at least for a few months) to spend some more time with each other.

Thank Goodness for miracles...