Linen and Ladybugs

I love these two shirts, maybe it's because they both harken back to days from a time that seemed more romantic and simple. I do know without a doubt the tea stained Irish linen had me at hello. I can't believe I'm putting these in my Etsy store, especially since lately I've been getting more and more back into my own personal wardrobe building as well as building the of other people's wardrobes, because up until recently I was more focused on the latter. Oh well.... my momentary lapse of judgement will be someone's awesome gain.

I think I need to disclose that while I was photographing the above garments today I had to stop briefly and pull ladybug parts out of Annabel's mouth( Andrew Zimmer watch out). So the shirts are most likely to be tainted with Negative ladybug juju, so I completely understand if no one wants to buy them;P

The Antiques Roadshow came to Atlantic City earlier this month, I managed to win the ticket lottery this year, I won tickets last year but I had just had just given birth to twins and well you try and find a sitter for newborn twins and even if I had a sitter I didn't feel much like leaving them alone with anyone just yet.

So we went and it turns out I won't be buying that island I've been eyeing and retiring early but I did almost stump a table full of appraisers which is always fun, played which Keno is which and got to see a lot of cool stuff, not to mention I did find out my knick knacks had some modest worth. Here are some shots from the day.

As we were entering

A Keno(second from left)!!

the other Keno!!

creepy lacquered Basset Hound

I just thought the old man driving around with his icons in a basket was neat.

Life should be read aloud

I haven't been on here for quite some time, I started getting jealous of all the blogs I've been reading and what a great way it is to chronicle your life with words and photos and I'm missing out on it and some of the blogs are just so prettily written, making one think that anyone's life can be perfect if you have a thesaurus and a minimal understanding of photoshop, you too can have an ideal life even if it is only limited to blogland, who doesn't wish their real lives can be so easily edited , so I'm back again motivated by jealousy and envy, no better reason if you ask me.

Today's to do list:

1...triumph over my PMS, right before ole' aunt flow comes to visit I get really mentally lethargic and unmotivated, like I'm depressed. It makes it really hard to get things done. If it wasn't for the fact I know why I feel the way I do, I might actually get depressed. Some women are endowed with bigger boobs after they give birth , I got a set of tire flaps and really bad PMS, pllllrrrrp!

2...finish organizing my kitchen pantry, I'm hiding all the ugly packaged food in the back where I can't see it or putting it in vintage containers. Note to self only buy visually appealing foods from now on, because...well, why not! I like filling as much of my space with inspiration and beauty as possible. You are what you eat after all.

3...stop being so obsessed with looks, so what if you have ugly food in your pantry, there are so many better things you can be doing with your time. Oy...I'm conflicted on this one, I just know the mess I made that's been sitting in the kitchen for the last 2 days needs to be squared away before my significant other comes home from work and breaks out into hives again.

4.....Give the babies a bath, I dare say I do believe single cell organisms are about to be birthed from the folds of their little necks.

5....take photos for my Etsy shop, poor little etsy shop is being stripped bare, who knew there are people out there willing to buy this stuff other than myself.

6....plant my little Kadota fig trees I bought last night, I'm obsessed with figs but that is a story for another time.

7....get over my intimidation of the window washer guy with the weird lump on his head(yet another story for another time) and get my store window displays done and finish filling the new display counter.

8....Bake oatmeal cookies....now I have all the ingredients and I know I can bake them much better than I can buy them, but for some reason I keep going next door to the coffee shop to buy them one at a time.

9.....this one is REALLY important, give MYSELF a bath/shower.... things we take for granted before baby or in my case babies. I do believe whatever filth is on me is now permanently bonding with my DNA, turning me into a real life Garbage Pail Kid. Just call me P.U. Polly.

If time were like rabbits

Then I would have time in excess. I realize that to blog is in fact a luxury which I can not afford at the moment it would seem. I'm not giving it up though, just going to stop beating myself up when I haven't posted in two weeks, I really do want to be able to say I am one of those women who can juggle everything, but alas I still have training wheels on my unicycle.



It has in fact been a whirlwind of work, changing inventory,mending, washing, house calls, babies, children in general, housework and work, work, work and more work. Being in business for yourself you are always working there is never a clock out time, not in the beginning at least and what's worse I never leave work either because I live right above it. Oops just remembered there i something I need to do instead of blogging, hopefully I'll be back in less than a month;)

Oh my goodness!!

I just got back from Atlantic City and while I was there I think I experienced the closest thing to a vintage induced orgasm I'm ever going to!

I'll post pictures tomorrow because right now I'm off to bed before my mister falls asleep so I can continue my climactic conquests;P

Yesterday afternoon I received a Tupperware bin full of lingerie, I've been overwhelmed by dusty knickers in the last week. I'm still working my way through the last batch, thankfully the new stuff is actually mint condition and doesn't require any work on my part other than sort it and maybe a I light press. I don't usually deal in a lot of the nylon peignoir sets, but I know there is a market and maybe I'll list those on Ebay just to move them. I really don't like selling on Ebay, but when it comes to the consignment stuff and things I really don't care to have in the store(usually the hard to store stuff like fur) I use it.

Last night I went to the Goodwill and had a pretty good haul, found great stuff for the little ones. Target bequeathed the store a bunch of closeout Baby Legs leg warmers new in the package for $2 a pop so I bought them out, it's one of those things I love but can't bring myself to pay $10-$12 a pair for. They also had other items for Target like Dwell nursery items, but I didn't really care for the patterns. Also found a Baby Einstein Caterpillar Rocker for $4, it's one of those ugly toys in my opinion that I usually abstain from buying, but I've been wanting to get the twins a rocker type toy and this is the closest I think I'm going to find one this cheap, in practically new condition and used. I also found a brand new "Young Thinkers" Mozart doll for $2(I have the Ghandi finger puppet) and this really adorable green knit wooden toggled sweater. Of course I found stuff for the store, an organic cotton dress/top for me and a vintage hot pink baby doll nightie(more lingerie!!) to sell. Believe it or not I did find 3 vintage dresses but I put them back because I really just want to get more things listed in Etsy before I buy more dresses. I grabbed the nightie because it was only $2 and I always buy something to sell to offset the expense for the things I keep and to write off the excursion as a business expense.

Note: Baby was not part of purchases, I actually made him from scratch:)

Have a heart colors bleed too

I am working to buy a huge pile of vintage lingerie, the problem is color transferred from a hot pink 40s dressing robe to pretty much all the champagney and white nightgowns, it was stored in a suitcase in a shed so safe bet moisture got into it, a real shame what happens to a lot of this stuff.

Now most buyers wouldn't even bother with this mess, but I personally feel that it's about preservation more than resale and if I can save these items from a dumpster then it's very satisfying and rewarding for me. Now most people will take stained gowns and dye them, which is something I'm willing to do if all else fails, but being a purist I like to try to bring them back to their original condition first before resorting to that.

Now RIT does sell a color extractor for when that pesky red sock finds it's way into the whites that might work on my white gowns, but I don't think I want to try it on the champagne and pink colored items.

What do you do when colors bleed in your laundry?

Yesterday was a busy day, I think I was possessed by the matriarchs (or at least servants) that lived in the house before me as well as all the Greek yayas that I'm descended from on my dad's side as well, as their domestic divinity took hold.

I found an unused pack of cranberries and decided to use them up and make scones, now a recipe that takes usually 15 min. to whip up and get in the oven, if I'm trying it for the first time, it turns into an hour because I can never stick to a recipe and the first batch is always practice. In the end, I still didn't like the end result, next time I'll cook the cranberries down slight in honey or sugar before I put them in, but still the hunt for a the perfect base recipe for scones
continues....


Jack and Annabel helped make the scones:)

I also had some draperies for the babies room that proved to be too white when hung along with the white cribs so a tea bath it was for them, but could you believe all I had was herbal, and herbal doesn't seem work as well, I used Twinings African Rooibos red tea, thinking that might be cool, we'll see I'm still waiting for them to come out of the washer. I think I might have to go out and buy regular tea anyway just to have it on hand (Red Rose Wade figure YES!!)

I also took a bunch of photos for Etsy and still only managed to get only one good listing out of them because no matter what I do I can't get my shutter speed and the lighting in the room to agree, it doesn't help that it's natural lighting which shifts constantly. I'm just going to have to figure out the lighting and find fake natural lighting so I can take pictures any time of the day.

Below is the pretty pink dress that was listed last night, hopefully I can get more listings done today while the shop is open.

Windows are the eyes to the souls of houses or (shoe stores)

The weekend was very hectic, went to a bunch of antique stores hunting for items for my shop as well as trying to figure out what to do with my window displays once the Valentine's thing has run it's course.

I've only been open Since November of '08, so it was a given it would be a Christmas themed window first time out. From there I moved straight into Valentine's, pretty early for it being only the beginning of January, but my brain was fried from all the fetes! And Valentine's was another no brainer, buying time so my brain can warm up to the idea of window display creativity. I use to be a creative person and then I had the twins rather recently and I think they stole my brain, would explain why I feel like the living dead daily, why sometimes I find myself staring blankly at the computer monitor wondering why I sat down in front of it in the first place or when people talk to me I just nod my head, "Uh-Huh" and then a second later I counter with , "wait a minute, what?"

Anyway, Mardi Gras is coming up, but instead of doing an obvious purple, green and yellow mask/bead thing, I thought I would go black and white, masquerade thing. OR just forgo Mardi Gras and do something with kites and umbrellas or maybe suitcases. I just know it has to be quick and easy to execute because it will only be up two weeks and then onto doing a Salvador Dali-esque window for Daylight Savings:)


Here are some photos of my Christmas windows, I was going for "unwrapped presents" theme, the red "dress" is actually made of ribbon, garland and a crinoline, sorry about the poor image quality.

Whatever happened to Bambi?

Why he's a seller on Etsy of course....


....I generally think taxidermy in general to sell clothing is kind of icky, I get grossed out even more so when baby animals are used and show obvious signs of decay(or having been chewed on?) I think it's a bad idea or maybe it's just me.

Snow Blows

I do like the snow, I like how it makes the whole town conform to one aesthetic, how even the most beat up of cars magically blends in with the Mercedes parked next to it, and a transitional neighborhood has magically transitioned overnight into a pristine winter village of now obviously beautiful homes. I do believe snow helps sell real estate.

Can you spot the meth lab?

Snow though becomes a pain in my butt when I have pictures to take, I rely heavily on natural light, otherwise no work gets done. Now I know there has to be a better limitless way to take photos without actually having to rely on mother nature for a sunny day but I haven't figured it out yet(I just barely know how to work the digital camera). Snow is also a pain because I do not open the store when it snows, because wet people and sidewalk salt is not good for the vintage, not to mention the silk. So not only can I not get photos taken for the website, I can't open the shop either, so I am doubley screwed and my poverty is prolonged, no shopping for me or road trip to NYC for the Mahattan Vintage Clothing Show this weekend, dag nabbit!

The weeks not over yet, I'm still holding out for a miracle.

Sacre Brrrrr!

It's snowed here yesterday and last night, it's the twin's first snow, so of course I had to take them outside and take photos. Even if it means taking an hour to bundle them up to only take them outside for five minutes to take pictures and bring them right back in and strip them down in less than 2 min....that is what I have to do.

Below is the reward of all my hard work, it was nap time, so they weren't going to ham it up for the camera this time. I have others that have obvious snow in it, but this is the only one where they do not look like their little heads aren't turning red with baby hulk rage.





Here is a view of the Cohansey river from our second story window...doesn't look like any bodies floating in it today, what can I say, you get the occasional suicidal vagrant or drunk that falls in from time to time(jk)

Cash for Trash?

Now the rage du jour is carrying earth friendly tote bags when you go to the grocer. Great! I'm all for altruistic trends or at the least the potential to produce a positive end result, like when Harry Potter brought back reading from the brink of extinction, that was awesome, so yeah we saved reading so lets save the planet too!

But I wonder how thought out this new trend is, is it REALLY making a difference? The reason I wonder is because I was in the supermarket the other day and there was a lady there with her eco friendly totes bagging her groceries and what was among her purchases? A 1oo-count box of Glad kitchen tall trash bags. So basically you replace your FREE supermarket bags, that by the way can be brought back to the store to be recycled, with canvas tote bags (or whatever they are made of) that were most probably purchased new, creating a demand for production, which I think goes against the whole idea of reducing waste, because to reduce is to reuse NOT make more. Anyway you replace the free market bags with reusable bags to just ultimately purchase plastic bags you are going to throw out!??! Just because we buy and use the reusable bags, does it really mean we're thinking about the planet when we shop? Do we think about what we buy to put in those bags?

I say take the free store bags home, audit the amount of items you bring home that have to go in the trash, like think about the items you are purchasing and try to buy items that have little or no packaging or how about indoor composting bin (I hear they don't smell). Then use the store bags as your trashbags... I already use them in the waste baskets in various spots throughout the home and becaue we do not have trash pick-up here in the business district ,I am paying more attention to the amount of trash we bring into the house in the first place so that I can hopefully minimize it to the point where I am only filling a small grocery bag full of trash a day if even that.

Using reusable bags is a noble idea, but it's what you carry in those bags(or choose not to) in the long run that make the most impact.

You might need to protect your eyes

Look what I found today!! And yes it is orange and it's even brighter in person! It's by 'The Custom Shop' of Vineland, a shop that use to outfit all the rich in a once burgeoning city. And what wonderful outfits indeed, I always love the things I find with this label, so unique and very stylish. I think the fur is fox on this, at first I thought rabbit, but the quality is much greater, now it just needs a hat to match!

Nuerosis and burning love

Since opening The Church of Vintage, brick and mortar style I have gotten one or two people making comments towards the prices,like "You're a bit pricey". So to those people who have a problem with my prices, YOU DON'T GET IT!! You are not my people, you are probably one of those fair weather vintage types, who disposes of things with the coming of the new trend/season. I don't sell disposable fashion, the opposite in fact. And I might have things that are I guess you can call it "pricey", but that is because I tend to price the things I love high, because if someone is willing to pay that price then I can agree to let it go, because I know it found a home where it will be loved and treasured and least likely to be thrown out. And that is the thing, I want these items to be around for the next generation to appreciate. First and foremost I am a collector/buyer, I don't want to sell anything..... so why have a store right?? Well because it is a sickness that needs to be fed, and so I sell to buy more and I guess every now and again pay a bill or two.

My business practices may be unorthodox, like I don't have set business hours,I like the idea of being Shrangri La, you never know when I'll pop up AND I like playing hard to get, I'm not selling loose vintage here. I have learned ignoring business 101 is the best thing I have done for my business.

So beyond the store, look what I got for the house part:

Isn't it beautiful?! Found it on Ebay, as well as the photo(that's not my floor!), we got it last week, and the best part it was FREE!!

How you ask, well we found it locally and when we went to pick it up the guy had loads of old stuff, one thing being a pedal car, well Michael(babies' daddy) mentioned how he had just restored one at his work(body shop) so the guy asked for an estimate and traded the stove for his pedal car to be restored....Aw yeah, I love bartering. And now for the first time since moving in we are able to cook, we made pancakes and tater tots the first day just because we could, things that just don't turn out right in a microwave.

Blog Neglect

Worse I forgot I even had one. I guess it is best to not start one right before the insanity of Christmas.

What has happened since the first post? Well the twins turned 8 months on Dec. 22nd

I have to say it's getting harder to take these monthly shots, I think for the next one I'm going to have to make t-shirts. Annabel is wearing one of my favorite outfits, I feel bad for Jack I just haven't found it as fun to dress-up boys yet. Everything Annabel is wearing came from Old Navy except for the leg warmers (which I highly recommend for babies) those came from Target, everything was on clearance and the entire outfit cost $18. More than I pay on even that many pieces because I'm a devout thrifter, but I couldn't resist the hat and tutu.

And then of course there was Christmas, it was Jack and Annabel's first, so that automatically makes it more significant than any other to come. The babies were old enough to participate and even open their own gifts. They didn't get much, because well they don't need to be overwhelmed and well babies just don't need that much and with twins well they can swap toys if they get bored with their own. My oldest, Madison was very pleased with her haul, even though it was less than previous years, but goes to show that when quality is present even a kid can overlook quantity.






the best gifts I got this year, they weren't easy to wrap!