Thrift Store Score!

So, my sister calls me up and says that she was looking for free boxes on Craigslist and that she ran across a listing for a thrift store that was going out of business and was GIVING everything away. Yeah, you read that right. Well, I was still putzing around the house and she gave me exactly 20 minutes to get ready… Do I need to tell you that I was showered, dressed, and ready when she got here?

Anyway, we drive to the Renton Highlands and it’s two store fronts away from a St. Vincent De Paul (which are my favorite thrift stores on earth) and one away from a smallish JoAnn Fabrics (my favorite fabric and craft store in earth) but I digress…

When we got there half the store had been cleared out but my sis was able to get two carts full of clothes for her and her three youngest kids, including enough name brand and designer jeans for my eleven year old niece to be able to render her recent mall purchase obsolete.

I was not doing as well… I scored a few pairs of shoes and two handfuls of CDs (including HS fave Bros., Recoil, Cesaria Evora, Underworld, 808state, Erasure, Tom Petty & The Heart breakers, The Verve, and Handel’s Messiah) but I wasn’t finding something that said TAKE ME HOME! Until…

This retails for $205 on Artaissance… and I got it for FREE!

I was wandering in the very back of the store and saw a print pinned up to the wall. It was from Artaissance. It said that it was Breakfast Treats II by Carolyn Biggio. It was absolutely gorgeous, vibrant, large (at least 2’x3′), and… FREE! So, I snagged it.

Then, I found this silver or pewter bowl-y thing with a hole in the center. It has Hotel Sorrento engraved into the outside surface. Maybe it was a dome to go over a plate and it’s missing a piece or something? I don’t know. I just think it’ll look good on my desk.

Pretty sure I’d found all that I was going to at the going out of business place, I stepped over to St. Vincent De Paul while my sister shopped for more stuff at the first place and found this:

Found at St. Vincent de Paul: a $5 lamp. You can’t beat that!

Isn’t it sweet? I couldn’t pass up the texture and color. I’m not sure where it will go yet as I kind of love the brown lamp (that still hasn’t been projected) on my desk but I’m thinking that it may end up on the desk at some point. We’ll see!

So, overall today ended up being kind of a good day for me on the thrifting front. I mean I spent five bucks! It doesn’t get much better than that… unless you count the time that I got a vintage Henredon sofa for $35. But that’s another story!

Until next time…

All Saints Spitalfields

The front window of the downtown Seattle All Saints Spitalfields.

I went to downtown Seattle yesterday to meet up with my good friend, Chauni, who recently moved into a cute little one bedroom near the Pike Place Market with her boyfriend, Desmond (THE music guy!) and their two cats. I hadn’t seen her in a while so we just walked around town enjoying the amazing weather and talking. While we were over on the Pine street shopping corridor, I spotted this amazing looking shop called All Saints Spitalfields where Coldwater Creek used to be. It was black and had a raft of vintage Singer sewing machines lining the 20′ windows. Good thing Chauni shares my love for all things punk/steampunk because NOT going in wasn’t an option!

These four mannequins were standing watch just inside the entry…

Chauni and I started oohing and ahhing as soon as we hit the front door. We both loved the ruched dress on the mannequin in the front of the store and we also fell in love with a super soft draped dress in a pretty dove gray color. We liked the buckle infested boots on the the other mannequin in the entry and were generally pretty much in love with all the edgy, I’m too cool for words vibe oozing out of every inch of the store.

Another bit we both really liked were the lights that lined the ceiling which you can see in the shot below:

The main floor of the store (there’s a men’s area downstairs).

And I was gaga over the table displays which had mannequins casually sitting on them like they were waiting for a friend to come out of the dressing room or something:

Don’t you love how Ms. Mannequin is just chillaxin’ in such a ladylike manner?

The aesthetic of both the store and the clothing is amazing! If you like your fashion with a little hard bad girl/punk edge but with high end fabrics and detailing this is the place for you. For me, the sizing is too small (they run US 0 – 10) and the pieces are on the pricey side (a tee was $65, the drapey dress was $295) but it would be an awesome place to pick out a special statement piece.

HomeGoods… At Last!

Well, if you’ve read any design blogs in that last decade you’ve heard of HomeGoods. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating slightly… but only slightly. Homegoods is the magical place where you can find great home decor items for awesome prices. It’s operated by the company that owns TJ Maxx and Marshall’s; if you’ve ever shopped the small selection of home decor you have an idea of what’s on offer at HomeGoods. Yesterday I had a chance to run in to the newly opened location in Federal Way (south of the metro Seattle area) for a few moments and check out the offerings. Here’s what I saw:

And that was just what I saw on a quick ten minute walk through! I’m so excited that I finally go to a HomeGoods store whenever the mood strikes. I’m looking forward to going in and taking longer look and maybe coming home with some treasures of my own. 🙂

The View From Here

We had a gloriously beautiful weekend here in Seattle! I was able to get out and enjoy a bit of it. But part of it was spent inside IKEA helping customers… Still, I didn’t have to sacrifice all the sunny days to the big blue box. I’m so grateful that we got that sunny break in the weather, it meant a world of good for my sun loving soul.

I’ll admit that all my pics aren’t postcards worthy but you can at least get the gist of how gorgeous it was.

Walking to work:

I also went down to the Des Moines marina to watch the sunset.

Beautiful, right? I totally enjoyed it! I hope, along with most of Seattle, I’m sure, that this means a really great summer ahead. It would be the nicest homecoming present to have my first summer back be as spectacular as these last few days were.

I hope your neck of the woods is as pleasant as mine has been lately and that all is well in your world! Until next time…

Sun In Shade

Walkway to Boeing from the commuter train in Renton, WA.

I woke up today and the sun was shining! Living in Seattle frequently means going without this natural source of vitamin D and I find myself yearning for the near constant sunshine (no matter the season) in Charlotte.

Still, I’m here in the Pacific Northwest and I’m trying to re-acclimate myself. This is my hometown after all. Days like today make me anxious for summer. I hope it is a good one: sunny, warm, and happy!

I hope you all are having an amazing Wednesday. I’ll catch you tomorrow!

PS I took the picture above while walking to work a while back… Didn’t get a chance to snap one today. 🙂

Totally Inspiring Room

This is one of the condos in a project called The Sanctuary. The units are in what used to be a church in the Seattle area. I love the architectural details that are left over from the original building. The units were open to the public but I missed that. What a sadness! It would’ve be great to see everything that’s been done to turn this old church into a functioning place again.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Please Stand By

There will be a slight break in our regularly scheduled programming. I Just got hit with a whammy and Now find myself back home in Seattle, WA. I’m going to try really hard to keep up with my posting in the next week or two but… I don’t want to make promises.

I hope this new year finds you doing well and setting the stage for a great year for yourself. I’ll have a totally inspiring room tomorrow. Until then…

New Moon Changes

OK, it isn’t really a ‘new moon’s! It is a catchy title though, right? I took these two pics on the way home from work. I just thought the clear sky and the mix of bare and evergreen trees with the moon hanging above them was a beautiful sight!

Speaking if beautiful sites… OK. Full disclosure (and slight change of subject): I’m combining my blogs together. So if you go back in the archives you’ll see a lot of posts on yarn crafts and sewing. You might see a few more pop up that are about books and their covers. I decided to just follow all my interests on As Is. I mean, really, they’re all integrated in my life so why seperate them when I’m blogging? I’ll be simplifying my categories and looking for a theme that makes all the subjects I have and will be covering look good. If you have any suggestions feel free to drop me a line!

Winter blahs…

I’m from Seattle originally but for the past 10 years I’ve lived in So Cal and the Southeast. Sun is now my “thing”. The turn in the weather this last week and a half is giving me SAD I think! So, to perk myself up I’m posting my favorite picture from this summer.

I was walking down Pac Hwy toward my local library and I saw the most amazing thing: a bush of fully blooming hydrangeas with a random rusty mailbox poking through the blooms… but what really made it strange was that the bush and mailbox are situated in front of a vacant lot with a fence around it. No house or building in sight.

I thought it was lovely and I snapped it on my camera phone so I could remember how sweet and random it was when I most needed it. Winter.

That time is upon us. I sometimes wish I could skip all this cold and dark and straight to the sweet spot of summer… but alas, I have no time warping capabilities. I guess I have to live through it and make lots of sweaters!