Turbo Claw

I’ve got a guest post over at the Wattlebird blog today on DIYing a braided sailor’s bracelet using butcher’s twine and vintage wooden beads. Check it out here, and thanks to Annie for inspiring me to write my very first guest post!

Seriously, how old is this?!? Who donated this?!? Who put this out for sale?!? Who is gonna buy and use this now?!?

Also, MINT FLAVORED?!?

Back in the 1970s and 80s there was a push from many residents of the Upper Peninsula to separate from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and become it’s own state named Superior, after Lake Superior. I’m very glad that the movement didn’t succeed, but also very glad to have this shirt as a memento of it! It is subscripted 1983, and was a lucky find at a thrift store up north last year.

The Shirt: Superior…a State of Mind and Heart

The Tag: Screen Stars 50/50

Estimated Value: $30

This weekend I hit a few local thrift stores looking for some customer requests. It is always great when I can find something for Dan or Roy or myself on thrifting days. This time I found something for each of us!

First I found this for Dan. A travel bar! He has wanted one of these for a few years, but I never could find one in good shape that wasn’t an arm and a leg. This one is in really great shape, with the key in the little envelope still! It is missing a cup, but I bet I can find an extra one somewhere, and it was a crazy steal for just $6. We’ll love taking this on trips with a few whiskey bottles tucked in on the right side.

This vintage toy I found at the same store – each colored wooden nut spins and has different letters on it, so you can spell different words. Right now it will just go on a shelf in the nursery – perfect since it spells out Roy.

but I bet it will be more fun years from now when Roy is learning to read!

and I got this dress for myself! It is handmade, one of a kind! I  love that it is a little bit country, a little bit rock n roll.

Did you get any thrift scores this weekend?

I love it when other ladies write “whats in my bag” posts on their blog. I think a girl’s bag is always a good representation of who they really are.

For the record, mine is HUGE and contains just about everything in the world in it. Seriously, I have discovered full bottles of pop in there I didn’t know I had on multiple occasions. I clean it out every few weeks, but then it always returns back to Ally-Sheedy-in-Breakfast-Club condition quickly.

This “Four Bags” treasury is my dreaming of my perfect purse, and a few things that I would carry in each.

Loads more of guy’s shirts and T shirts! My favorite is a tie between the Stroh’s Gang Jersey and the Fringe T Shirt. What’s your favorite?

Roy is 7 1/2 months old now, and is crawling all over the house, quickly and with a mission in mind. Sometimes it is to see dad in the office, or to grab Kona’s tail, or to see mom in the kitchen. Sometimes it is just to check out a pair of mom’s shoes on the floor. It is a lot of fun watching him investigate and learn!

It took viking-like strength for me NOT to buy this.

Goal #10

Host a dinner party, and serve fondue.

Originally, when I wrote this, I thought that this would be combined into one night of serving dinner, and fondue. Well, it didn’t work out that way, but I still count my final goal of 2011 as done. I hosted a couple parties at our home over the year, and lots of smaller dinners, too. We LOVE having people over to our new home, and are so glad to have a great kitchen to cook in here!

We finished up the last part of this goal on New Year’s Eve. I made a fondue recipe I’ve been dreaming about for a long time – a Raspberry Cream Cheese fondue (taken from a vintage fondue cookbook and posted last year here), and we ate it with pound cake as a dessert after our NYE tradition dinner of steak and lobster tail. I substituted Chardonnay for brandy in the recipe, and we both agreed that it was DELICIOUS. Now I can’t wait to try other fondues!

And that was my final goal of 2011! Did you read them all? I’m excited to share all my goals for 2012 with you in a couple of days!

When I was a senior in high school, 7 Seconds came on tour and played at the Shelter, the tiny basement of St. Andrews Hall in Detroit. I was really excited to see them for the first time, and dragged a few of my friends to the show, although they weren’t fans at all. A couple weeks later, my friend Mike gave me this T shirt. He told me his uncle was having one of those “back when we were younger” kind of conversations with him and his mom, and mentioned 7 Seconds. Mike said “My friend Beth really likes them…she just went and saw them at a show a couple weeks ago!” and apparently his uncle thought that was really cool. So he gave his this shirt and told him to give it to me. I never did meet him or anything to thank him, but told Mike to tell him thanks and wore it a ton cause I thought it was awesome that someone I didn’t even know passed it down to me.

The Crew was 7 Seconds second album (and one of their best), and came out in 1984. I got the shirt in 1996, and still wear it (and Dan does too), but pretty rarely now since it is nearly 30 years old. And I still think it is awesome that Mike’s uncle gave it to a high school me!

The Shirt: 7 Seconds “The Crew”

The Tag: Mike’s uncle tore it out

Estimated Value: $350