Friends & a Flea

Yay for Sunday fun day - Friends & a Flea Market (2 of my other true loves). This Sunday, my sweet hubby watched the kiddos while I headed with my sis and some friends to a local flea market. It did NOT disappoint, let me tell ya! Here's some back-story for you. My twin sis and I have some flea market lingo. Ok, not really lingo, just a code word we use when we think something is overpriced (which is very often the case). Our word is "precious." Often times, we will ask the price of an item that isn't already marked. We usually have a price in our head of what it is worth to us. When the vendor throws out a price that is WAY higher than we were thinking it would be, we don't bother to haggle. We simply tell them thank you and move on (while mumbling.."way-too-precious" to each other as we walk away). Ha ha! We're no experts (like Frank or Mike from American Pickers), but we generally can tell when something is valuable. Often times flea market booths are filled with old items that have great sentimental value to the seller, but they're not really worth much money. Last time we were at a flea market, my sister actually used the word "precious" when talking to a vendor and I had to quickly walk away before I started busting up laughing. We are not meaning it to be rude in any way, it's just a funny thing we do to keep us entertained, and to soften the blow that we will not get to purchase that particular item. Sorry for the rambling ;)

This painting was my first purchase of the day and I have named it "Serendipity." Why, you ask? Well I saw this painting the last time we were there, but I passed it up. I really really liked it, but it was in the first row and I got nervous about purchasing something so early in the day. When I realized my mistake and went back to buy it, I couldn't find it. But, the fates wanted me to have it this time, and when I saw it, I"popped" on it right away. AND, I got it for the bargain price of $10 marked down from $20. Oh yeah! That's my pretty friend Alana in the pic with me. She just got back from her honeymoon in Bali (jealous) so we spent the day catching up and hearing stories of how a monkey bit her in the jungle while she was there - ouch. Ha ha. Classic!

My sweet sister decided she was going to collect fruit reamers (juicers) and made her first official purchase. She read a story about them in a magazine once and has had a fondness for them ever since. We tied a sweet little tag on it and labeled it with the date, location of purchase, and the #1.

It was a VERY successful day - look at all that loot piled in my hubby's truck. Ooh La la!!

This was my favorite find of the day. Back story: I saw a cool claw foot stool in a home decor magazine about 5 years ago. It was so awesome. It was painted bright orange and the people were using it as a small table beside a cool chair. Ever since then, whenever I'm at a flea market or thrift shop, I look for them. In the past, they have all been WAY too "precious" for me to buy. $65 was the cheapest one I ever saw and there was no way I was gonna p-o-p (btw, if you don't watch American Pickers on the History Channel, you definitely should). I tucked it in the back of my mind and said to myself that one day I would own one. Well folks, that day has come. Drum Roll Please..................................... I know what you're thinking. Yikes. It's rough. Really rough! BUT, it was $5!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG. I about died when the guy told me. I yelled to my sis across the aisle so loud, everyone turned to look. Ha ha. I was so so so so happy (& still am). I'm definitely going to paint it (not sure what color), and I have to bust out my E6000 glue to put the seat back on. It's going to be awesome when I'm done with it. I can't wait!!

This little shelf was a $1 impulse buy...that's my magic number at the flea market. If I'm remotely interested in something and it's only $1, I'll take it! Not sure if it will get a paint job, or where it will go, but still. $1 people!

And lastly, another $1 treasure. This tiny little wall hanging with these sweet little birds on it. It's a sweet little poem exchanged from one friend to another:

"These Mean You"

A cheery word, a smiling face,

A helping hand when due,

A friendship spanning

time and space -

To me, these all mean you!

The handwritten label on the back reads:

To: Dot

From: Achie

Date: Christmas 1941

I don't know why, but it called out to me. I loved the sweet words and the names and date on the back sealed the deal. And the $1 price tag made it an easy deal to seal.

This post dragged on longer than I wanted it to, sorry for that. I just LOVE flea markets. I love love love them. Ahh, the thrill of the hunt... xo