A Daydream

The NY Times has two articles that I just read that made want to head to a flea market then a thrift store on the way home. I'm going to clean our apartment and daydream about it instead. Andrew's off today and planning to take Lois out on a walk for a while so I can clean and have mommy alone time, which makes me almost as excited as going to a flea market or thrift store. The first article is from a Paris flea market, which you can read here. I wish there were more pictures, but the article is good. (When I need a French flea market picture fix, I pull out this cute little book and think back to my memory of being at one, sans pictures.) The second is from the style section--a little cottage decorated with thrifty treasures on a tight budget. It's so cute. You can see it here. Happy daydreaming to you.

Holy Ferragamo!

I've mentioned before that I'm a Ferragamo magnet lately, and yesterday brought me some of the best Ferragamo finds, ever. If you're a thrifty shoe person, you might want to get out your smelling salts because you might faint from excitement like I almost did when I saw them. My sassy grandma schooled me on Ferragamo's when I was a wee one. I don't remember when I first heard of them from her, maybe in middle school. But to me, the modern equivalent might be something like Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin. Ferragamos are still made and still beautiful, but I think their heyday has past. It's the vintage ones I really like, especially when they fit me! Yesterday I wasn't planning a thrift stop, but Lois had a check-up and fell asleep in the stroller right when we left. She hadn't taken her afternoon nap yet, so I didn't want to wake her up, so I decided to go for a walk and pop into the Salvation Army. It was a great shoe n' sheet day, let me tell you! Where was my truck when I needed it? Ha!

Here are my 2 pairs of Ferragamos! I especially like the pair with the gunmetal metal heel--that's right, a METAL heel, not plastic meant to look like metal. Ah, I love them! But first the patent wedges, which are also great.



Sparkle and spin, the great name of a cute book, and what I'll do in these! Ha, either my foot looks tiny or my ankle huge! Bad angle I guess.

I did find a few other things--a dress and skirt, and a bundle of great sheets to use for dress making.


I didn't get this brown floral sheet, but I liked it.

This is just a huge piece of jersey knit. It has thin stripes and some wide stripes. I don't know what it will become, but I liked it.

Here are the shoes in their natural habitat. I spotted the glistening Ferragamo logo from a few isles over. They both needed some cleaning up, and now they really shine.


My heart is still a-flutter from my 30 minute detour. It was 50% off day to make it even better. Can't wait to go back!

Mmmm Figs

I love figs. Do you like figs? I had never had a fig until about three years ago. Can you believe that? We bought some really delicious ones earlier this week. Here they are about to be gobbled up with some Nancy's yogurt (my favorite yogurt) and a drizzle of maple syrup. They look extra sweet in this cute bowl I bought at a Goodwill during my last trip to Atlanta. And the pale chartreuse woven napkins that I bought at Portner in Zurich make me want to make a mess just so I can dab it up!

I realized I didn't post any pictures of some of the great things at Goodwill that day in Atlanta. I could have bought so many things! But the cost of shipping things home would have canceled out the bargains. I did get the brown floral bowls and this great set of ironstone pictured above. The ironstone is Kensington Staffords in a Queen Anne pattern. The price tag said it was a 19 piece set, but a lot of the pieces were missing. A nice employee even tried to help me find the missing pieces. Still, I bought was what there for less than $10. It's in my mom's garage for now, but during my next trip I'll bring them home.

Bottled Up

I love old pharmacy bottles and would like to start collecting them one day when we have more room. I found this great one below at the Salvation Army a few weeks ago. It's a citrate magnesia bottle with the text embossed and a great cork style closure on a hinge. I found an incredible amount of information about apothecary bottles here on the Society of Historical Archaeology's web site, including specific information on citrate magnesia bottles (scroll almost all the way down the page here to read that info). The site doesn't give any information on the possible value of the bottles, but I wonder what the value of mine might be, if it has any. I really just think it would be fun for holding bath salts or something like that, but I do wonder if it's valuable.


The image below is small, but you can see it larger when you click on it--from the Society of Historical Archaeology.

In the last issue of Country Living (June p.53), there was an article on vintage pharmacy bottles. Some of the most valuable ones are the ones with colored glass or painted labels, but the article doesn't mention anything about bottles like the one I found.

The two pictured below with painted labels are from ebay. The bidding for these ended, and it looks like someone snatched them up for $40. By Country Living's estimates, they're probably worth $150 - $200. Ebay has quite a few others listed as well. It's really fun looking at them, but I think I'd rather hunt for them at the flea market!


The top image is a painting by Holly Farrell. I love her paintings.

For Keeps

Last week Caroline told me about an estate sale she thought I'd like to check out. When I looked at the pictures advertising the sale, like the one above, I knew I had to go (later I emailed Lisa about it, and of course she had already been and made quite a dent in her own wallet). I really wanted to see that little dress hanging from the bedpost in person and hoped it was still there. It was even better in person, and I bought it! At first I thought I might want to sell it in my etsy shop, but it's a keeper for sure. I don't think I'd actually have Lois wear it, but I thought it would look pretty in her room one day. I picture a little girl's room in shades of pale pink and ivory. I'm not really a pastel gal--neutral, bold and dark colors appeal to me more, but I can just picture this dress hanging on pale pink walls. It's silk and a perfect champagne color with a hint of shimmer to it. The hem is out, but that can be fixed.


I just got a few other little things at the sale, but earlier in the week, I found this dress, pictured below, at the Salvation Army and it's a keeper too. A soon as I saw it I hoped it would fit me, and it did! It's a great shape and knee length. I love the colors and the print. A lucky find for sure. With thrifting, I only get this lucky every once in a while--something great is either the wrong size, has a spot or tear, or something else is wrong with it. This one's close to perfect.


I'm at my mom's now in Atlanta and sooooo excited! I already went to the Goodwill near my mom's with my grandma (this thrifting, it's a family affair). I know, I have a shopping addiction. At least it's thrift shopping. I only spent $11 this morning. Oh, and I'll post Lois' 7 month birthday pictures soon.

Good Thrift

Lately the Salvation Army near my house has had something, if not everything, on sale 50% off. They have a huge banner on the building that says "recession rollback" in gigantic letters. You know it's bad when the Salvation Army is having a seemingly endless sale because of the economy. Yesterday when I took Lois for a walk, I was just on my way to get a cookie but couldn't resist taking a peek on yet another sale day. I'm the kind of person who can always find something (usually way too many things) at any thrift store, but I think Bracki-Land in Zurich may have ruined me. My usual round of thrift stores here just don't compare (same goes for the flea market). It reminded me that I haven't shown the rest of my pictures from the housewares section at Bracki-Land. I have soooo many more pictures, but these are just a few. All these pictures were taken with my phone, so they're not the best, but you get the idea.

It wasn't until my last visit to Bracki-Land that I found this room. Can you believe that? There was what I would consider a normal size housewares section near the checkout area, which I thought was the housewares section, but on my last day, I noticed a few people wandering into what looked like a back room, or stock room, but they didn't look like they worked there. So, I followed them into the room. It started out as a little hallway, but opened to this! This room was huge and seemed to go on forever. It was great!


Amazing teacups and teapots galore!


Again, I felt like I wanted to fill a U-haul and bring it home.

I also went back to the insane picture bins to see if I could find more good stuff. There was so much there, but I really didn't have room to bring more home at that point.

A few more pictures from the handbag section.


These little corduroy shoes were so cute.

I loved this trench. It had what looked like a little raindrop motif stitched onto it around the neck. Nice hanger too!

Cute summer dress.

I wanted this painting for Lois, but with three suitcases (we bought a 3rd), two carry on bags, the stroller, the carseat, and the baby, I really couldn't bring home one more thing. The zippers on our bags were close to bursting as it was. Oh well. We will be back, maybe sooner than later. Maybe not so close to Bracki-Land, but close enough to visit. More news on that soon!

My (bad?) Taste

I went to the thrift store earlier this week and got a few great things. What's wrong with me that I like this lamb sweater and these lightning bolt style 80s shoes equally as much? I think I have strange taste. Or maybe just bad taste! The shoes went into my etsy shop, and I think they are really fun. But I'm keeping that goofy sweater, which to me runs into decorative Christmas sweater territory, but I just love those little sheep, baaaa. I also got this great bag, which has a really cool design and interior. The handles are coming apart though, so I have to see if I can get them repaired. I thought this one was worth trying to save. Hopefully I'll get it fixed soon and list it in my etsy shop.


PS. Just about everything at the Salvation Army on Valencia Street is 50% off tomorrow (Saturday 3/28), including all women's clothes (but not shoes or red tag clothes). So if your a thrifter and in SF you might want to go!

Bracki Bags

Yesterday on the way home from the grocery store Lois and I strolled into the Bracki just for a fun peek. It's conveniently right next to the grocery store, which is conveniently right down the street from us. Holy handbag heaven! I went to the purse section just to see if anything was new from last week and they must have unloaded a truck of just handbags. Me and two other girls were giggling in the bag isle for about 10 minutes. They speak German (or Swiss German, I guess) and I speak English, but yesterday we spoke the same language, mostly in giddy ooohhhs and ahhhhs over sassy handbags. I tend to use the same old, plain old purses for myself, but like fun costume jewelry that I don't really wear either, I just love handbags. Here are a few that I bought to sell in my etsy shop when I get back. I also took some more pictures at the Bracki with my phone. I just have to decide which of the 50 or so pictures to post.

I love this burgundy bag. I found a few bags of this same brand. I think the logo is pretty interesting--an "A" with a star. Does anyone know what this brand is? I can't find any info when trying to search for it online.

My friend Connie emailed me to suggest that it might be a vintage Etienne Aigner bag. It reminded me of just their bags when I saw it, but I don't know that they ever had a logo other than the big horseshoe looking "A" . . . hmm.

Zurich Thrifting: Bracki-Land!

I've officially decided that the thrift stores here in Zurich are the best I've ever been to. I base that more on the quality of what's in the thrift stores than the prices, though the prices aren't too bad either. Here I barely have to dig to find something great. Just look at my two new paintings above--a stern lady to add to the collection and a vase of pretty flowers. Thrifting culture appears different here than in the states as far as the clientele goes. Out of the handful of thrift stores I've been to, I'm usually only one of a few people under 65 years old (even on Saturdays when I've peeked into places), which means a lot of what a 20 or 30 something year old would be interested in is just sitting there on the rack. Wow, there's so much good stuff here! I had thriftuphoria today at Bracki-Land! But before we go there, lets go to the Salvation Army (Heilsarmee here).

Lets start with the ceramic plates above. I love them! I see these everywhere here in thrift stores. I don't think these would last 5 minutes at Thrift Town in San Francisco. I was looking around at people, thinking, you're not going to buy these?, and you--how about you? These didn't seem to interest anyone here. They're a dime a dozen from what I can tell by the thrift stores I've been to. I wanted to get a bunch of them to sell in my etsy shop, but they are heavy and I don't know if it's worth it to haul them home. Gotta give that one some more thought.

At this Brocki they even had a reading nook with a table and chairs. All it needed was a little barista stand so you could sip your espresso while flipping through books. And they had so many books!


The artwork was really impressive too. Little did I know at the time that the selection here pales in comparison to Bracki-Land.

Welcome to Bracki-Land!
I thought I was in thrift heaven at the Heilsarmee, but then I found the mothership. That's right, I found Bracki-Land (which happens to be two blocks away from our apartment)! I probably had the same look on my face that Sigourney Weaver did in Aliens when she finds that room where she sees all the alien eggs (cocoons?) and the look on her face says, OH MY GOD! That's how I felt, except I wasn't scared and didn't want to torch everything with my flame thrower gun. I just wanted to fill up my basket, though I was good and just got a few things. It also reminded me of how I felt when I went to Tomato in Tokyo then went to Yuzawaya. I thought the first couldn't be topped, but then I was totally surprised and overwhelmed by Yuzawaya. Anyway, that's how I felt here--completely excited and overwhelmed. Just look at this place!! I took these pictures with the camera on my phone, so they're not the best, but I was afraid someone would ask me not to take pictures if they saw my normal camera, which is pretty hard to hide. Covert missions call for covert photograpy action! Bracki-Land is in an old underground parking garage, and the ramp that curves its way down to the lower level is filled with artwork, and it goes around and around and around. Yes, you still have to dig a little to find the good stuff, but not much.




They also have tons of blankets and linens. Guess who I saw in here? (I said that to Andrew and he said, "uh, we don't know anyone here do we?") But it was the owner of Portner, that antique store here that I like. He was in the checkout line with a stack of linens. Now I know where he probably gets a lot of his stuff. The blanket I bought from him may have come from here too.


The scarves! They had hangers and hangers filled with great scarves. So hard to decide on a few, but I did.

And the vintage clothes. Where do I begin. Well lets just say that just about every other piece of clothing is something worth buying.


Great hat selection too.

Lets not forget the coats. No shortage of those in Switzerland.

How is it that almost every umbrella was great? I don't know. They have so much more--shoes, bags, housewares, kid's stuff, etc., but you probably get the idea.

I bought a few things there. My top favorites are the paintings at the top of this post and this scarf. It's about 2 feet wide, thin and with great colors too. Coming soon to an etsy shop near you.


I'll leave you with a close-up of the floral painting. I love it. It reminds me of all the pretty floral paintings Lisa has in her kitchen.