Yard sales and giveways = good times.

After touring the country and walking away from the internets for a bit, I got right back on the horse this past weekend. After all, it’s finally yard sale season! (Do you hear the angels singing, too?) How better to start than with a private yard sale at Black Eyed Susan’s Kitchen (more on that in a special guest post coming soon!) and with a town wide yard sale in lovely (and moderately affluent) Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ? Then, capping it all off with a blog giveaway?

First, the Avon town wide yard sale…

I covered it all on my beloved 1957 Raleigh (the one that the divine Fifi Flowers immortalized in paint last summer). It was the perfect way to make sure I covered every nook and cranny of the town, and I promised myself to try and not buy more than would fill the wicker bike basket. But I also reminded myself that I could go home and fetch the car in a pinch.

First stop: Success. This gossip bench was marked $20, but before I was even close enough to touch it I was told I could have it for $15. Sold! So much for the bike basket theory.


I peddled around some more…there were a LOT of sales (at least 50) so it was a bit of sensory overload. There were the good (gossip bench!), the bad (used socks!) and the ugly (too many to list!). But I have to give a shout out to one house on Norwood Avenue, who not only in my humble opinion had the best sale (all vintage, all the time) but had yard sale-appropriate pricing and neatly laid out displays that grouped everything together in a sensible way. From there, I got…

A set of pressed glass dessert cups ($3):

A Fire King baking dish ($2, and after I took this photo it cleaned up like a charm):

And a whole bunch of spoons:

The fancy sugar spoon was $1, and all others were 50 cents each with the exception of the curled handle baby spoon. That was a budget busting $5, but in fairness was not from the Norwood house. I got that in Ocean Grove at a yard sale. I thought it would be great polished up and tied to a baby gift in lieu of a bow.

I already shined up the sugar spoon. Perfect!

At another stop I picked up a vintage Limoges tea cup ($3!) with interesting markings.

I’d never heard of Higgins & Seiter, but according to what I found on eBay they were on West 21st and West 22nd Street near Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. The gold is a little worn away but to me that's just part of the charm!

And here’s where you (insert your drum roll here) get to pretend like you were with me in Avon…

I’m participating in the 3rd Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway. Be sure to click the logo above to see all of the blogs participating…there’s a lot of great stuff (aprons and trinkets and silver, oh my!).

After I polished the sugar spoon, I paired it with the Limoges tea cup and added some fair trade tea. All you need to do is leave a comment and you’re entered for a chance to win the whole trio. Winner will be picked at random on May 30 (and friends abroad are always welcomed!).

Secondly, two of the spoons I picked up at my favorite yard sale have a “Y” monogram:

If you can prove to me that your (or a friend or loved one’s) first or last name starts with “Y,” they are yours. The first commenter who can positively ID the “Y” in their life gets the spoons.

Y? Because I like you.