Mike & Joanie: our new best friends

Another weekend of hunting for the crystal squirrels. This time we ventured farther than ever before. It was a land called Eastern North Carolina. It was an adventure to say the least. It started with a trip through Rocky Mount onward to Williamston then Edenton and ending in Elizabeth City. Keels and I treated ourselves to a gourmet meal of Little Caesar's and Fruit by the Foot.

We found a few good finds at a local thrift store conveniently located next to the Little Caesar's. Then we headed home. Lucky for us, it was daytime and we got to see all of the things we missed in the dark the night before. We made a pit stop in Tarboro and thankfully it was September 26th, Historic Day in Tarboro. Not sure what the ship had to do with the Civil War, but maybe I'm just not up on my history.

We spent Saturday night like true businesswomen, sewing and planning our future endeavor. We decided one more trip to the flea market was necessary. It is going to be closed for a month while the State Fair takes over. I found this cute little metal UNC box that I managed to buy for $4 from a man with a missing tooth.We didn't buy anything else that day but we got some good ideas about our next step in the business plan. We made our weekly trip to Michael's to get some paint and inspiration. We got more than we could have dreamed of. We stumbled upon our new (possibly temporary, maybe permanent) logo. Say hello to the Crystal Squirrel.And here is one of the product offerings that the Crystal Squirrel has for you. One side is a men's shirt and the other is a t-shirt. holler!

Construction Paper Business Plans

The Crystal Squirrel is on it's way towards fruition! This week has been a huge leap for the squirrel in becoming more than a dream on a pink piece of construction paper. We are expanding our product line by the day and will be debuting our line at the Raleigh Flea Market in November! Get ready!

On the Edge of Edgecombe County

There is a special place in eastern North Carolina just past Rocky Mount and right before Tarborro where for a brief moment you are on the Edge of Edgecombe county. This weekend, Ging and I had the pleasure of passing through when took a spontaneous trip to country roads of the eastern part of the state. I was going to Williamston to volunteer Friday night and like the good friend and business partner she is, Gina came along for the adventure. After stopping in Williamston to do some good, we ventured on through Edenton and then on to our final destination Elizabeth City. After treating ourselves to the "fancy" hotel, we spent the day scrummaging around the metropolis of the king's daughter. We found the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughter thrift store like a moth to a flame. After purchasing four men's shirts and a cute little white chair, we found ourselves at the Colonial Restaurant, where apparently, roosters are in and crazy old ladies are even more in fad. A grill cheese and a mysterious pitcher of sugar later, we headed back west. 

On our drive back we were getting increasingly excited about passing through the Edge of Edgecombe county again, when alas, there was a sign on the highway warning us of "event traffic." Naturally, we went against the sign's advice and took the exit. And it is a good thing we did because it just so happens that it was "Historic Day" in Tarborro, NC and from what the owner of the antique store on Main Street said - it is a big deal. Imagine this - two girls in an old blue car named Linus talking about the Civil War and looking at beautiful old southern homes when suddenly they turn a corner and BAM there are children reenacting the Civil War. Yes, children dressed up like confederate soldiers chasing each other with guns (and my personal favorite, one rather large child wearing real camo, apparently no one was a stickler about historical accuracy).  

So thank you eastern NC because now we have a country music  department at the Crystal Squirrel and thanks to Edgecombe County - our first single is bound to be a huge hit.

i've spent an hour trying to think of a good title

My couch & chair were delivered today! Well, it's hanging out at Keels' place for a while but here it is!Thanks to Ben from the Bargain Barn, I have new furniture!

Project complete - sort of

I was finally inspired to finish my window pane art. I have turned it into a piece that could be changed easily. I attached the pictures to the wall instead of directly on the window because I could not find a way to put them on non-permanently. The pictures I used are of my parents on their wedding day as well as my grandparents on my dad's side on their wedding. I never met my grandpa because he died when my dad was a teenager so this picture is pretty special. I had never seen it before I found it mixed in with some photos at my parent's house. The other photo is me and my boyfriend in the airport when he came home on leave. I want to change it to a photo of my grandparents on my mom's side but I have not had a chance to get a picture of them.

It is going to look great with my new couch, which is being delivered tomorrow!

hang a left after the fake cow

It was another exciting weekend and another new adventure for Ging & Keels. This time there were no thrift stores or flea markets, no internet or tv, no air conditioning or electricity. Nope, this was some good ole fashioned campin'. Keels and I had been wanting to go camping all summer but this weekend, it finally came to fruition. We had an eclectic group of folks joining us at campsite 38.

Keels and I left work an hour early, hoping to get out to the campsite and set up before the others joined us. We got to her house after picking up the rest of the supplies and we embarked on our adventure.
Judging by this photo, you might think we were going camping for the week, but nay, we camped for just one night. I have been camping before but never in a tent so this was going to be a new experience. We decided not to venture to far away so we chose a campground about 15 miles from home. After a little misdirection, we managed to help everyone find their way to the campsite. We had already set up the tents when they arrived.Yeah, we did that! After the tents were set up, the firewood arrived and we started cooking. Thanks to Mark, we had a fabulous dinner. And then Will and Geoff did a little star gazing.
And then we made smores.And I dropped a marshmallow on the ground.
Then Keels fell over in a broken chair.
It was a good night. No rain, cool weather. I did wake up about 3 times in paralyzing fear that a bear was going to come into our campsite. I knew it was nearly impossible but I couldn't help but think about it. In the morning I woke up to Luke (who was in the small tent) in a bit of a panic because there was a huge spider on the outside of his tent and he said he had been staring at it for a couple hours. Finally Mark swatted the spider away as Luke hid inside of the tent. Unfortunately, it was not only a really big spider, but it had hundreds of baby spiders attached to it...it was pretty disgusting.Then we ate bagels. After everyone left that morning, Keels and I hung out for a few hours, enjoying nature. Can't wait to see what next weekend brings.

And then I ate a Turkey Sandwich in the Bathtub

So here it is. My first blog. I know you're excited. As previously stated, this blog revolves around the idea that everyone is on a hunt. Maybe you are on the hunt for success or maybe, like us, you are on the hunt for a crystal squirrel. But why a crystal squirrel? The question rather is why not. We are a society engrossed with new possesions, Ging and I, however, are fascinated with what already exists and what has already been owned by another. 

So why not start in our own backyard? We have so far traveled the great span of Hillsborough and Raleigh (and some nooks and crannys in between) with some admittedly great finds. Above I have added some of my most recent finds at the flea market in raleigh, but I must admit that most of our best finds were actually the characters we met along the way.

I honestly think you could find some of the answers to life at a flea market. The people who man the stands are there for more than the junk spread out before them. These people are family. Some going back years with those who inhabit the stands around them and some who are family in the way that they share their love of the hunt just as much as the 90-year-old carpenter two stands down. These are the people who want to find their items a good home. True craftsman if you ask me. 

Among the characters we found last saturday were as follows:

A man with gold trinkets

An overly eager mirror salesman

A vintage fabric aficionado

A texting loving/missing tooth sporting/haggling spirit of a woman

A talented old carpenter who could talk for days

A crazy old hippie man with a large umbrella

Each person we met makes me wonder, how the heck do these people start acquiring some of this crap? Yeah, that's right - I can call it crap because I eat that kind of shit up. My trinkets, for example, were set out amongst about 40 other gold imitators on a small little table. The man obviously inherited from a trinket loving spirit and was more that willing to give me three for the price of one highly coveted top banana. 

In a matter of ten minutes I had a conversation with a woman about my "fastest fingers in the east" when she witnessed my furious texting and one with a woman about how all of her purses in the '50s had mirrors included. Maybe that is what I like most about this new endeavor, the hunt lasts a person's entire life and therefore brings people of all ages together on a hot summer day. 

Jacks of all trades

Today I expanded my horizons even further. I can now add 'painting on canvas' to my repertoire of crafty skills. Keels and I decided to paint today because it was so nice outside. Keels paints so she had a lot of supplies. I supplied my creative genius and here is what came of it:I call it 82nd Airborne in the Desert.
It was my first attempt...I had a vision...it sort of came to fruition.
Here is my second attempt.

I call it Pink Moon over Tree on a Hill.
It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a Sunday. I also bought some hardware to hang my window pane..finally.
Next on the list: camping.

A little bit of trash and a little bit of treasure

Today was a very successful day of thrift shopping for Ging & Keels. We went out last night and were hoping to be up early enough to go back to the flea market. We haven't been there in months. We didn't have a vision in mind for the day. We didn't visualize anything. We just wanted to see what we could find. Before we left we wrote down the addresses of some thrift stores in the area so we could check them out while we were out. I didn't want to spend a lot of money. We only each took out $40 in cash at the flea market. We bought a $5 BBQ sandwhich...money well spent.
Our first purchase of the day was 3 brass trinkets. I will let Keels tell this story in her post because it will be much funnier coming from her. She bought the trinkets.
My first purchase was a vintage purse.
It was the one on the right. It came with an adorable little mirror and comb. The vendor lady who kept calling us honey and darling told us that in her day, almost all purses came with a mirror. The price was marked $22 but without us even asking, she said she would take $10 for it. Sold. It is labeled Bobbie Jerome and I think it's from the 50s or 60s.
The other purse is from a vintage store in town. Price: $24. I loved it enough that it was worth it. The best part of that purse is that inside there was a business card with a man's name on it. I googled him just because I'm curious and found out he was involved in some kind of money scandal in the 80s. Nothing serious, but interesting nonetheless.
My other purchase was this small pin.Keels and I were standing at this vendor space for quite a while because there were a lot of bins of random things. It was a beautiful day today with a lot of sun. The hippee vendor man who's space it was walked over to us with a HUGE umbrella and said 'it looks like some potential customers need some shade' so he stood by us as we shopped. He was a funny man who later sold us 2 buttons for the price of one only because 'we are girls' and commented that it must be nice to be able to go into any place and leave with a date, or something to that affect. Keels and I seem to have some effect on men at flea markets..it can get kind of awkward but mostly it is harmless and i guess flatterering.. Anyway, I bought this pin because of my boyfriend who is in the army and currently deployed in Iraq. The vendor said it was from the Vietnam era and then mentioned something about 'tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree'. I pretended that I recognized the reference but until just now I didn't know what he was talking about. According to Wikipedia, the vendor was incorrect in his reference:
It was the central theme of the popular song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree", Written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn among many others, as the sign a released convict requested from his wife or lover, to indicate that she still wanted him and that he would therefore be welcome to return home. He would be able to see it from the bus driving by their house, and would stay on the bus in the absence of the ribbon. He turned out to be very welcome: there were a hundred yellow ribbons.

It would have been a lot sweeter if it had been a solider returning home kind of thing...but regardless..the song lyrics are kind of cute.

So now, for the best purchase of the day. I don't have a picture because I forgot to take one but I will take one when I get it. Keels and I left the flea market in search of the thrift stores. We typed in the address of the first one on the list, hoping it was nearby. It happened to be 800 yards away. Perfect. We drove down the road, and unbeknownst to us, actually passed the shop and pulled into a parking lot for an antique furniture shop. We decided to go in, even though in the past we have found that antique furniture is a little out of our price range. We wandered around and then I saw it...this beautiful, perfect sofa. It was victorian style and in awesome condition and looked like it had been recently re-upholstered. There was a chair next to it that matched but had different fabric upholstery. The sticker on the sofa said $595 for sofa and two chairs. We only saw one chair and I wasn't prepared to pay that much. I went to talk to the lady, whose aunt calls her all the time, and she said that the other chair had been sold separately and that the sofa and one chair was now priced at $350 total! I immediately reconsidered. Keels and I sat on the couch, which was very comfy and springy, and fell in love...with the couch, not each other. I don't buy things impulsively so I hesitated a little bit but then decided I had to have it. The lady also said they would deliver it for free if I decided to buy it today. Sold. I will post a picture when it is delivered.

All in all, a successful day.

Favorite thrift store name so far: Everything but Granny Panties

Our first find

This blog was hatched from an idea that my partner in crime and I had. It was an idea to road trip around the country in an RV stopping at various vintage stores/thrift stores. That is only the tip of the iceberg of our plan but that's the basic idea. Until we venture on this trip, we have been making small trips locally in search of our crystal squirrel. We have found some interesting things on our journeys so far and will hopefully find more as time goes on.
Our first big find was window panes. Keels bought one too. I will try to get a picture of it.Usually our ideas start with a project and I had this idea to transform an old window pane into some kind of wall art. We got the idea from a local vintage store that is decorated with old windows and picture frames.
So we went on our hunt to the local flea market on a Saturday in June. It just so happened that there was a festival going on at the same fairgrounds as the flea market. Needless to say, it was pretty crowded. One our car ride to the grounds, which is usually the most entertaining part of our trips, we were talking about what we hoped to find that day. We were joking about how you have to visualize the objects and they will just find you somehow. So we visualized our window pane. We browsed some booths and didn't find much. We were walking down the path and at the end was a lot with what else? A cart full of window panes! After some hesitation we each purchased one after talking to the vendor man. Price: $25 Keels' cost: $65 but her's was cooler.

Lesson learned that day: I am a little possessive about my independence. The man who sold us the window was talking about how we could drill some hinges on the back so we could hang it on the wall. He said 'yeah, just get your dad or boyfriend to drill the hook in' and I snapped at him saying 'I can use a drill myself. I don't need a man to do it!'. Oops.
The window pane is still sitting in my living room, without hooks on the back, unfinished..BUT it is a work in progress. And we had a good time finding it.