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!