At the auction.

Last weekend was the first of two auctions a year sponsored by the Ocean Grove Historical Society. I go just for a good chuckle. I mean, I'm a thrifty little diva...I don't pay buyers' premiums (10%) and sales tax (7%). Pshaw.

That said, no one ever seems to be in the market for furniture at the local auctions, so you can get some really good deals. I had to hold my own arm down to prevent from bidding on an antique mahogany rocker that went for $50, and a fantastic pair of Victorian-era cane chairs that went for $40 (for the pair). And a lovely full sized maple bed from the 1940s or 50s didn't even fetch the minimum bid of $5. It was in great shape as-is, but could easily be shabbified (beach speak for painting white) and would look adorable in a beach house bedroom. I forgot to bring my camera so you'll have to take my word for it. I mean, five bucks for a full size bed?!

I did manage to raise my #61 paddle a couple of times, for this vintage sign which I got for $10:


What can I say? I'm a sucker for old signs.

And this Victor Borge poster that went for the lowest of low $5! No one wanted poor Victor! I loved this guy. And I also love this line on the poster:

"A great Artist who can clown without offending music lovers...and reduce an audience to tears!"

How's that for copy writing?

I'm really surprised no one else was interested. Usually anything with Ocean Grove on it goes for more than it's worth given the local angle and all. We can see The Great Auditorium from our front porch so this purchase was a no brainer.

On Monday (love holidays off from work!), I went to Michael's with my 40% off coupon in hand to get a frame:

And then to Jo-Ann's to buy a yard of muslin (think "linen-look") for $1.39. I crafted a "faux matte" by covering the backing of the frame and pulling the edges (tightly!) out the back and around the wood:

Now Victor will be residing at the shore house, mere steps from where he reduced an audience to tears. Without offending them, naturally. And I'm certainly not offended by the finished product's price, which came in at under $30 for everything.

Speaking of auctions and vintage finds, look what I got in the mail:

Can you feel my excitement?

Guide to the Ocean Grove Flea Market

It's time (Saturday, May 30) for the first of two annual gigantic flea markets in Ocean Grove, NJ, ...so ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

I'll keep this post brief since it will only matter to those within travelling distance of Ocean Grove, NJ. You can click here, here, or here to see my posts from last spring's flea, with pictures. There are a few quick tips I can offer those of you making the journey:

THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM...AND THE PARKING SPOT

This is probably sensible advice for any flea market, but parking is horrendous in Ocean Grove on a normal day. There are no car park lots and very few homes have driveways. (Bad combo for a shore town.) So...

PARKING

I highly recommend parking on Lake Avenue which starts at the northwest end of Ocean Grove and heads into Asbury Park. Then simply walk across either of the two Wesley Lake foot bridges (see image below, and click to enlarge. Or head over to Google Maps so you can get a good bird's eye view, and zoom in). So easy, and you'll get out of town quicker, too. I've marked the image below with red dots where parking may be best. Some of the spots have parking meters, but it's like six hours for 25 cents so those are good. And as you get closer to the beach parking will be tougher, and the city of Asbury Park has installed annoying computerized municipal meters which you need a degree in parkology to figure out. My advice: Stay away from those spots (marked by a number painted on the street). Plus the City doesn't deserve to make money off of such a boneheaded move. Putting meters in a town in transition that no one's coming to yet. Duh! But I digress...

If you know Asbury well, there's also a beachfront parking lot by the old Carousel building. The parking lot is adjacent to one of the Ocean Grove foot bridges, and a five minute walk to the flea. Follow directions to the Empress Hotel to find that lot. It's no longer free, but a couple of bucks to park there may be worth it (it's also the closest lot to the flea, and you'll be able to pop in Bodega, my favorite shore shop, on your way home!).

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

If you go to the web site for Moonstruck Restaurant in Asbury Park, they're actually on Lake Avenue in Asbury Park -- follow their directions, as parking in front of their restaurant is ideal. Plus you can end your day at their first floor piano bar with a cold drink and their Mediterranean Antipasto Platter -- big enough for two or three to share. 517 Lake Avenue, Asbury Park.

TRAIN

New Jersey Transit services the Asbury Park train station from NYC's Penn Station and many other NJ points. Visit their web site for the schedule. The train station (circled in my picture in orange) is about a 10 minute walk from the Flea Market grounds. If anyone needs walking directions from the train, click here to email me.

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM...

While there's snacks a plenty at the flea, nothing beats an ice cream cone at Day's Ice Cream. Or better yet, stop mid-flea to cool off with one of their Italian Floats -- fresh iced tea with a lemon ice floater. 48 Pitman Avenue in Ocean Grove.

SO MANY VENDORS...

...so little time! Many, many homes in town have yard sales to capitalize on the added foot traffic, so if you get a chance do try to wander around. It's where I've found some of my best deals.

CAN'T CARRY WHAT YOU BOUGHT?

If you think you'd like to store your purchases for pick up on another day, I'm happy to let you stow your goods in the shore house attic. Or, just stop by at the end of the flea day for a cold drink and a rock on the porch. Email me...shorehousechic(at)gmail(dot)com...I'd love to meet up with other bloggers, and answer any questions you may have about le grand flea.

Good luck, and happy hunting!

Memorial Day weekend was a weekend filled with great sales and good times...I'll share my newest finds tomorrow. Tonight I'm off to my skirt class...Hopefully the sewing gods will smile upon my sorry self...

Oh, baby, I can't sew.

(I wanted to title this post, "'Sew' easy my big, fat rear!")

There's a great little sewing studio near our apartment ("shore house north") called M. Avery Design. I've gone to a couple of workshops there and made cute little handbags. The challenge for me is that, aside from the workshops, I've never touched a sewing machine so it's not exactly coming naturally to me. When the needle becomes un-threaded, I need to call in reinforcements. Ditto when the bobbin runs out of thread. Or when anything happens, really.

So why I signed up for a baby quilt workshop -- where you would be expected to COMPLETE A QUILT in two hours -- is beyond me. Even a baby-sized quilt is a challenge. For someone who can't sew.

Last Wednesday night I showed up a little early because I knew I'd need every, single, second. Here's the outside of the studio:


Adorable, right? It used to be a pharmacy and the inside is fabulous. But that is the last photo I was able to take. Because the next two (plus) hours were total bedlam for me.

First, there are many fabrics to choose from. Note to self: Pick fabrics *before* even stepping foot inside for the workshop. We had thirty minutes to pick the fabric, cut out 30-something squares AND lay them out in an attractive arrangement. I'm a little O.C.D. so that all could have easily taken me two hours.

Then pinning, stitching, pinning, stitching, muttering curse words, pinning, stitching. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race and I had stumbled on to the Road Block. And my Road Block was the thick, vintage chenille bedspread fabric that kept breaking the thread and jamming the bobbin. (Note: After my "stellar performance" with the chenille the instructor made an executive decision to remove it from the quilt fabric selection.)

In fairness, I did have an easier time with the non-chenille squares but my handicap made me the first in, last out. I literally closed the place down. Just like the good old days, but in those days it was bars that I would close down...And I really did need a cocktail, come to think of it...But I digress...

Here she is:




I backed it with the floral print:

A bold choice, but I think babies like that sharp contrast. Or something.

When I (finally) got home, my man suggested it would make a great bed for Maggie. Our DOG.

"Are you kidding me?" (Except I think I snuck another word in before kidding.).

He insists that he was indeed kidding, and he did have a smile on his face, but ha-ha-whatever. And while I love the babies, I'm inclined to also think there isn't one precious enough for this labor of love. I may have to sleep with it. (Ed. note: In fact I did nod off with it on my lap the other night.) And, in spite of myself, I really do enjoy these workshops.

I'm signed up for a wrap skirt workshop on May 27. I may try and lose 30 pounds just to have less sewing to do.

M. Avery Designs * 266 Seventh Street * Hoboken, NJ * Telephone: (201) 876-1198

Yard sales make my world go 'round.

Those two vintage blue globes are among the latest yard sale scores. They're joined by the beige one I bought last year at a town wide yard sale for $3. Which means all three of these gems cost me under $10 total. Good times.

The new additions came from the "private yard sale" I was lucky enough to be invited to by Susan from Black Eyed Susan's Kitchen. I was on vacation for her "real" year sale, so she invited me over for a solo romp through her garage. What a great day...and what great deals! (I got a very generous bloggy friends and family deal.)

I almost immediately thought of Sarah over at A Beach Cottage. She is one thrifty goddess and I bow to her ability to fill her Australian beach cottage with some of the most amazing (often FREE) treasures. She should really write a book. If you don't know her blog, you should! I sent pictures to Sarah of the treasures I scooped up at Susan's, and she invited me to blog about it over at her place. (I think that means I did a good job.) So it's become the yard sale heard 'round the world!

Click here to head over to A Beach Cottage to see all of the treasures I picked up at Susan's. (Spoiler alert: Vintage English picnic basket. Oh MY.) And thanks to both Susan and Sarah for making my world go 'round!

Now...I need a permanent home for the globes -- I'm thinking of putting a floating shelf (or three mini floating shelves) in the home office to display them. Thoughts?

Forgot to mention...if you haven't already, leave a comment on my May 14 post for a chance to win one of my yard sale treasures!

"How does your garden grow?'

Mistress Mary's garden may grow with silver bells and cockle shells but I'll tell you how mine grows: IT RAINS ALL THE TIME NOW! Every. Stinkin'. Weekend. Enough already.

On the bright side, the small front "yard" garden I started from scratch last year is looking pretty green and lush. With the exception of the red plum tree and the puffy wisteria vines, all of this was planted in May 2008. And if I do say so myself, it's not looking too shabby.


Of course there's no SUN, but you get the idea.

I complained about the wisteria quite a bit last year. We have to trim this sucker back substantially every other week. Or it may eat our dog. Or people will make it their home, like the bird family now squatting in its branches:


The neighbors say it has never bloomed, and I've read tons of books and advice on getting it to bloom ("Trim back often." Well, I've got no choice there...). So imagine my surprise when it managed to eek out two blooms, front and center, last week:

At this current rate of bloom production I should have a nice full vine of blooms...when I'm 87-years-old.

The Hydrangea I planted looked a little sad last summer but seems to have rebounded after a long winter's nap:

Not much is blooming yet but judging from the sizes of some of the greenery I'm in for some good Black Eyed Susans and Lillies. The Spider Wort is covered up by the spectacularly sized Iris that just finished blooming, so I have to get in there next weekend and reassign. I actually bought another Spider Wort plant last week. I was in the market for annuals to fill a large pot, but when I saw the Spider Wort for $6.99 I figured it would be a cheaper, easier way to do it...and since it's a perennial it should come back year after year (I planted some perennials in pots last year and they returned).

This Spider Wort is different from the others I have. The flowers are a bit darker, and the leaves are sort of blueish with a deep purple outline:

I potted herb seedlings early in the spring that are doing nicely. I'm especially proud of the mint I cultivated (there's not a word I'm able to use much!) from last year's plants.

The "sunflower incubators" are off to a good start. Here's one of them:

Look at the cute little seed hanging on:

In the next week or two they'll be ready to move into the garden. Judging by the number I've got this year (more than last) I'll be gifting neighbors. Spreading sunshine, if you will. BECAUSE IT RAINS HERE ALL THE TIME.

And...I won this amazing flower box this weekend!

I went on an absolutely fabulous kitchen tour in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ, on Saturday. The tour was insanely well organized and they had fabulous raffle prizes. I won the flowers and two gift certificates to local stores. Whoo hoo! I never win anything, so that was the icing on the cake of a wonderful day spent with my mom and aunt.

Then it started to rain again.

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.

My mom has a heart of gold.

But these are hearts of silver cake pans, and they're among the treasures I picked up (for 50 cents!) at the Avon (NJ) town wide yard sale yesterday.

Happy mothers' day to all you hot mommas out there, especially to my golden girl of a mom. I'm sending you all a big (virtual) bouquet of flowers, compliments of my friend Spence who whipped these up yesterday. He's working on his "red collection." I mean, can you stand it? So fabulous. If you're near the Jersey Shore or surrounding areas and need a florist he's your man. Reasonably priced, and happy to customize arrangements or bouquets to your heart's desire. Plus he's a great guy...which doesn't hurt!

Shore house on the road.

Not Paris. Not even close. Just a Vegasified facsimile.

Hoo boy, have I been absent. A vacation from internet (!!!) and life was actually much appreciated. But note to family et al: If both of our mothers wind up in the hospital and our dog is attacked while we are out of town, it's OK to call and give us the heads-up. Really. It's OK.

As a result of vacation and aforementioned "fun, good times," blogging was about as important to me as, say, wisdom tooth extraction and toilet bowel cleaning (though not necessarily in that order). But here I am again, be that as it may. (You lucky dogs.)

I'm hoping to visit/catch up with all of you over the weekend. I'm off to a town-wide yard sale this morning in Avon, NJ, and I hit a boom-boom of a "second chance" garage sale at Black Eyed Susan's yesterday (more on that soon, but what better than a private yard sale and a meet-up another fabulous local blogger wrapped into one nifty package?). It made me happy to be home, and back among "my people."

I thought I'd share some pictures from our holiday, if nothing else to prove I wasn't a total hermit during my time off from Shore House Chic.

The Napoleon House in New Orleans is one of my Best Places to Stop for a Cocktail (especially a Pimm's Cup) for sure:

And if I could spend every day at the New Orleans Jazz Fest (as in, 365 days a year), I just might. Especially when folks like Pete Seeger show up. I mean, he turned 90 this past week! Pete, this land is your land.


Colorful entertainment...

And my favorite band, The Avett Brothers (with a young fan). A more talented, passionate, polite (yes; I said polite!) group of musicians you'll be hard pressed to find.



Then it was off to Vegas, where our room (OK, our second room -- after we asked to be switched from the one that looked out onto a cinder block wall and HVAC units) overlooked a familiar skyline, mountains, and utter neon-fueled chaos.

I liked downtown, where everything was old school...

And it was hard to obey this sign...


...when we went here:

'Cause I kind of wanted to touch everything...

We also got to take our first (and hopefully not last!) helicopter ride, over the Hoover Dam...

Then on to the Grand Canyon, which...just left me speechless:

A flight back over the Vegas Strip at sunset:

And the happy couple returns from an unforgettable American road trip.