Tag Archives: family

weekend road trip

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This weekend, I took a drive to Wisconsin to visit my mom & thrift my fanny off in my hometown. With only a couple of weeks until the sale, I was a bit hesitant to go, since my to-do list is ultra scary, but occasionally, I crave a road trip like you would not believe. And this weekend was one of those times.

Sadly, much of the 14-hour round-trip drive looked a lot like this…Rainy, rainy, rainy. Gray, gray, gray.

Saturday, I got up and thrifted like crazy. I went to a bunch of my favorite spots from when I was in high school and had major luck. How hilarious is this sign at the register at the Salvation Army?

Here’s a pretty find from the morning…an extremely soft, creamy white, hand-tooled leather handbag from Mexico. I want to keep it, but am probably going to sell it. *sniff* It’s the nicest size and in impeccable shape. So lovely.

After thrifting north of town, I met my mom at home and she drove us to some more stores in northern Illinois (Gurnee, to be exact). On the way, we passed the reason for my crazy asthma…the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant, which generates 13 percent of all of Wisconsin’s electricity, but also puffs out 8.6 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Yucks.

The thrifts in Gurnee were all complete dumps. Imagine: diaper-y smell, dim lighting, hoards of kids, dirty merchandise. All around nasty and stupidly expensive.  After a couple of (discouraging) stops, we were shopped out. We headed home, I washed a bunch of my thrifted goodies, we ordered Chinese, watched “American Masters” and called it a day.

The drive home was uneventful, with just a couple pit stops for gas, one of these and some smoked string cheese for my honey. I did see this little guy, tied up in the rain outside a gas station, however. Random, right?

All in all, it was great (albeit quick) trip home, and I anticipate another one in my near future.

(All the pics for this post were taken with this app, btw.)

How was your weekend? Do anything fun? Hit up any thrifts? I hope it was a lovely one, whatever y’all were up to!

<3!

Meghan

family traditions: plate walls

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I’ve got home on the brain. Not my home for once, but my mom’s. I’m heading there for a quick visit next weekend, and I can’t wait. I always get a ton of fantastic ideas for decorating when I stay with her. Every wall is packed full of beautiful art—some by her, some by my aunt and grandma, some from her time living in Europe and more from her many years of thrifting.

One idea that was passed down to her by my Grandma Mary, is the plate wall in her bedroom. (Both my grannies had plate walls, now that I think of it!) I wish I had a picture of it, because it’s so pretty. Vintage blue & white plates, hung in a pyramid shape, look divine on her buttery yellow walls above her bed. Seriously dreamy, like this pic.

via on dressing up

Anyway, unlike my dear Marmee, I’ve still got primo wall real estate up for grabs in my humble little house. And the fact that I’ve been stumbling upon charming vintage plates at thrifts left and right, is getting me to think I should carry on the family plate wall tradition.

My first order of business? Beefing up my plate collection. You all remember this one I got during last week’s Savers adventure?

Well, I got it’s sweet little buddy, too, which also came ready to hang. How adorable is that little border made of hearts??

Lotsa truth on that plate there. This was $2.50 at the Savers on Lake Street. (Read my review of that shop here!)

I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from newly wed blogger Christina of Down and Out Chic, who documents her big-time obsession with plate walls. Browse the inspiring archives here.

via Down and Out Chic (original source)

Hanging a collection of these quirky altered vintage plates like those found in this Etsy shop is a cute idea.

This one is awesome.

Anyway, I’ll have to figure out which wall to start with. Once it comes time to start putting holes in the wall, I’ll be needing some help. It didn’t surprise me one bit that Design*Sponge has a DIY for hanging your own plate wall. Freakin’ geniuses over there, I’m telling you.

Anyway, it’s been a big week, and I’m fixin’ to hit the hay early. As in now.

Nighty night, lovelies.

Meghan

saturday scenes

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Happy Monday, all! Mind if I share a few scenes from Saturday? Really? Okay then….

I got up waaay too early and thrifted my little fanny OFF. As luck would have it, I found a ton of seriously adorable stuff. Armloads of pretty vintage dresses, some really stand-out housewares and a handful of vintage baby things I tried to resist, but couldn’t. I tried. I really did. Peeks of some of the finds to come later in the week. Whee!

Once I made it up north, I inhaled a burrito the size of Texas and Finnie got fawned over by at least a dozen hippies. (What’s up with all the hippies, Duluth?!) After stuffing myself proper, we made our way to an perfectly desolate beach in Superior. The water’s 20 degrees warmer than average this summer (!!), so swimming wasn’t nearly as jarring of an experience as it normally is.

Once I got to the lake, instant happy hour commencement. Sipping wine to the sound of the creek. Definitely enjoyable.

My Dad was kind enough to humor me with a stop at this amazing junk shop on our way to dinner. I wanted to live there, honestly I did. I am now the proud owner of a super old croquet set, and I’m predicting a Sunday filled with lawn games in my very near future.

After junking, we ate burgers at The Anchor Bar and hurled Trivial Pursuit questions at each other over the din while waiting for our food. Here’s a view from the front door of The Anchor. You can faintly see the lights of the John A. Blatnik Bridge. Love that bridge.

I hope the iPhone photo-heavy post isn’t too irritating. More posts, with “real” pictures coming real soon, promise.

Have you all had good days? Mine has been equally productive and positive, two amazing things considering it’s a Monday and all. I hope yours was equally happy!

xo,

Meghan

happy wedding, addie!

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Today, my dear cousin, Adrienne, and her fiance, Jeffrey, are getting married in Toronto. Sadly, my passport-less self will remain here in the States.

And in her, honor, here’s a little photo flashback.

Growing up, Addie was my favorite, best-friend-but-we’re-cousins cousin. Here we are up north at the lake. I was two. Addie was three. Seeing my grandma’s hand-written captions on these pics makes me sad…I miss her.

This is us, hand-in-hand (for cute!), at my favorite prairie back home in Wisconsin. It’s a happy place for me, and always will be. That’s her sister Heather behind us.

I’m more than a little sad to miss this very important day in her life. I’m sending so much love up to you both today, though.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Love you,

Meghan

ladies of the lake

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Happy Friday, pretties!

Today, I thought I’d share some pics of my beautiful, beautiful aunties, taken at my family’s cabin in the 1960s. From oldest to youngest, let me introduce you to….

Sharyn

Cheryl (right)

Cindie

Beth

Judie Sharyn

You can’t blame my Grandma for her boo-boo here. My mom, Judie, and her younger sister Sharyn, did look alike.

I sadly couldn’t find a black and white pic of my mom in this collection. But here’s a gem of her and my older brother, at the lake in the summer of 1982. I was born just a few months after this was taken.

Dreamy dress, right? I loves.

Well, I hope you all are having lovely mornings. I’m fully over-caffeinated, and am off to Duluth to pick up a vintage dress form, and then do some thrifting on the way back to the cabin. The afternoon holds lots and lots of swimming, sunning, reading and eating. Happy Friday, indeed.

xo,

Meghan

mama’s got some new toys

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Yesterday after work, I dashed over to my brother’s to pick up these cameras, both of which had been gathering dust in the back of my mom’s closet.

Holy giddiness!  These beauties were used by my mom in the late ’60s and ’70s. She’s an awesome photographer, and just holding them and thinking about all the cool sites and people she’s snapped with them makes me happy. After learning that both the Olympus 35 ED and the Canon Canonet QL17 G-III are comparable to Leicas, I’m even more eager to get them up and running ASAP.
Thanks for sharing, Marmee!

The slew of pretty Canonet shots in this Flickr group are inspiring.
This one is extra dreamy.


Do any of you shoot with film? Any tips for a brand-new beginner?

xo,

Meghan

memorial day

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This here’s my favorite veteran—my Grandpa Cy, pictured with my Grandma Mary on their wedding day.

My grandpa was barely 16 when his grandfather fronted him the money to take flying lessons. Just a few years later, Pearl Harbor happened, right in the middle of his senior year at Northwestern University. He immediately quit school and joined the Navy (this was before the Air Force) to become a flight instructor. Throughout World War II, he trained pilots all around the country—Grosse Ile, Michigan; Corpus Christi, Texas (where he & my grandmother were married), Great Lakes, Illinois and someplace out in California.

He always said the scariest thing was teaching his students how to take off and land on aircraft carriers. Since all the “real” carriers were being used in combat, the military turned regular ships (barges, ferries, whatever) into pseudo-landing strips by ripping everything off the top of the boats and covering the decks with wood planking. Landing on and taking off from these jalopy-esque ships seems precarious enough, and on top of that, they were practicing on Lake Michigan, a notoriously rocky body of water. If you failed, you were going to get wet. I wish I knew how many failed landings he had to bail on. His stomach was never the same, after doing that day after day, he said.

Eventually, enough pilots were ready for war, and my grandpa then went to the Pacific to help transport planes to real aircraft carriers. Once the war ended, he remained active in the Naval Reserves. He was never without a plane for the rest of his life. The man loved to fly.

Well, that’s my little Memorial Day story. I’m so incredibly grateful to everyone who has spent time serving in our military. If you have a spare minute, thank a veteran. Today is for them.

xo,

Meghan