A New Motto

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become."

All the new changes I have been experiencing this Summer have given me a new motto to live by. Changes, changes, changes...nothing boring happening here in my life lately! Exciting changes, melancholy changes, happy changes, sad changes, wanted changes, and some unwanted too. Lets face it, life is always changing and it's up to each of us to see what we can make out of our changes. I just keep reminding myself to keep my chin up, take risks, and remember that things happen for reasons.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

One of the exciting changes I've made recently was to finally open up a spot in a local antique shop to rid myself of all the crap-o-rama I have acquired over the years. Honestly, I have been wanting to do this for a long, long time. In fact, my dream is to someday have a little shop full of the things I find on my adventures, but mixed in with something else like coffee and pie-in-a-jar. hahaha Dreams are fun, they give us something to work towards. So I decided, since I've started over in a new life, why not take some small risks and see what happens!

DeluxeVille Vintage @ Sleepy Hollow Antiques Center

I have a small spot, but as you can see, I've crammed a lot of crap in there! I'm looking forward to decluttering and simplfying my life by getting rid of things. I'm seriously just trying to prove to myself that I'm not a hoarder of vintage things, but instead, now I'm a business woman! Plus, it also makes your husband happy when you finally get crap out of the garage... a win-win if you ask me! :)

Sleepy Hollow Antique Center

954 South Delaware Ave (Route 611) Mount Bethel PA 18343

610-588-7422

Meet Me At The Candy Store

The Carmelcorn Shop, Easton PA.....the original since 1931!

On Saturday, the Sgt and I headed over to Easton, PA to check out the local Farmer's Market held in the center square in downtown Easton. After grabbing some veggies and fresh baked bread, we headed into The Carmelcorn Shop, also located on the square. What a neat little blast from the past, I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures of the cute, colorful interior. I love the red and white stripped color scheme! The Carmelcorn Shop will be celebrating the big 80 years in business on Oct 8th and we will definitely be going back to enjoy the festivities.

You can read more about the history of The Carmelcorn Shop here!

Button Up and Fly Right

Some how, I've cultivated a small collection of vintage buttons. Geee, I wonder how that happened??? The other day I decided to snag an old printer tray from Sgt and try to organize them a bit better. I ran out of room in the tray and still have a tin of buttons yet to go through. Not all the buttons are bakelite, but they are all old! Now, what to do with all these buttons? Perhaps a little inspiration is in order!

An old printer drawer filled with vintage buttons.





Buttons aren't just for sewing anymore!


Source: Button Down Designs



Source: Etsy Bakelite Baby



Source: Lorimarsha



Source: Morning Glory

The Morning Milo Monster

I fight this guy every morning for sink space. I call him my bathroom buddy. He demands I turn the water on for him at the sink faucet first thing every morning. I'm not even allowed to pee first.

I've been working on the master bedroom bathroom this week. Hopefully I'll get around to finishing it up and posting some before and after photos. The challenge to this bathroom is the window in the room! I guess it's not a big deal if you don't mind people watching as you use the toilet/shower/have private time/etc. I personally don't like anyone being able to see me pee other than the cat so, I slapped up some cheap shelf contact paper over the glass. It gives privacy but doesn't block the light, which I love. It's a temporary solution until we get around to removing the current window and putting another window higher up the wall. I have a love affair with simple, cheap, creative, temporary fixes. You will probably see me using them a lot as I work on this old house.

Here's a great before picture!

Heeheehee...What the Hell, really? Who designed this house? Okay so the house is over 150 years old, but really, no one since then has ever thought "what a stupid place for a window" and moved it? Oh well old window, your days are so numbered!

Grand Slam Frocks of 1934

Grand Slam Frocks of 1934! Found at the local Bon-Ton Dept. Store York, PA. $1.69 each and unbeatable price with 12 models to choose from. I love the colors, the patterns, and the fact that the ladies are pictured on playing cards. Pretty cute advertising for 1934!

Which one is your favorite? I'm partial to the Ace of diamonds and the King of diamonds myself. I guess bows were a big thing in 1934?

A Day In Pictures

Ocean Grove, New Jersey

"Ocean Grove was founded in 1869 as a Victorian-era outgrowth of the camp meeting movement in the United States, when a group of Methodist clergymen, led by William B. Osborn and Ellwood H. Stokes, formed the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to develop and operate a summer camp meeting site on the New Jersey seashore. The community's land is still owned by the camp meeting association and leased to individual homeowners and businesses. Ocean Grove remains the longest-active camp meeting site in the United States and is known as, "the Jewel of the Jersey Shore." Ocean Grove has the highest concentration of authentic Victorian architecture in the country. This national historic treasure offers one square mile of natural beauty, including pristine beaches, tree-lined streets, serene boardwalk and parks, music & lecture programs, unique eateries, magnificent Inns, and a quaint shopping district."

Day's Ice Cream Shop


The Great Auditorium

Inside the auditorium


Some pictures of the tent colony

There were clusters of these really cute tent colonies all around the Great Auditorium....It's called camping in luxury!

About the Tent Colony

"One of the things that continues to make Ocean Grove a unique community is the colony of tents and the people who occupy them in the summer months. Many of today's "tenters" are fifth and sixth generation tent families who would not trade the summer life style for anything.

As the name implies, Camp Meetings were just that, camp grounds were visitors lived in tents during the summer months to attend the religious meetings held on the grounds. Because of its many groves of trees, especially pines, Ocean Grove, which got its name from the tree groves, was a perfect retreat. Visitors were able to escape the heat of the big cities in the summer and live a more simple life in the tents which surrounded the squares where the meetings were held. Originally Ocean Grove's meetings were open air, with the worshipers sitting on rough hewn pine benches in a semi circle around a "preacher's stand" capable of seating up to 75 ministers.

However, as Ocean Grove grew in size and popularity, permanent structures began replacing the tents and many of the groves of trees were cut down to provide room for the building. Of the original 600 tents only 114 exist today. The fully modernized tents today have a wooden back room, with modern facilities including bathrooms, kitchens and sleeping space. The structure provides a place to store the canvass tents in the winter as well as providing the tenters a place to store their personal belongings. Then in the spring the tents are taken out and placed over their wood frames on the front of the platform. When the summer residents return to their tents they bring out their rugs, furniture and personal items and begin the process of decorating their canvas parlors. Many of the tenters plant gardens and individualize and personalize their tents by painting the porch rails, adding furniture and also decorative elements. Although living in a canvass tent for three months of the year provides little privacy from their neighbors at times, the tenters relish their unique community and return year after year."

source

One of the wooden structure the tents are attached to....Yup CUTE!

Lots of amazing Victorian homes every where you looked.

I love a little history with my day at the shore!

Nom Nom Nom ....Zucchini

Milo Helping Us Preserve the Harvest
He loves chewing on the zucchini ends.

Off to the Jersey Shore today, where I will marvel in amazement at the bathing suits people are wearing...or perhaps shouldn't be wearing! I will be rocking my red mid century vintage one piece suit and reading my magazines. It's either enjoy the first sunny day we are having around here at the sea shore or stay home and start building an ark. I was never much for working on pleasant sunny days, so it's off to the shore with me!