trash to treasure

yesterday at work our staff association sponsored a trash to treasure event. basically, we could bring in our "trash" and take home anyone else's that we deemed a "treasure."

um, hello, my name is sarah and i'm addicted to thrifting. add in the prospect of scoring some sweet finds for free?! well... you remember old yeller.

arrrr... here's my treasure, matey!

i laughed at myself after i got back because everything i picked up kind of all matched. blues and browns. two of my fav colors (:

a pretty mug ... candlesticks i'll sand and then maybe stain or spray paint ... wooden bangle bracelets

...oh yes, and a glass vase. [i'm convinced you can never have too many.]

and although it's nice to finally be getting some snow this winter, yard sale season can't come soon enough.

old yeller

we recently had tenants move out of the building i live in, and they left behind a chair. once i saw it i couldn't get it off my mind. a call to my landlord and the chair was sitting in my dining room. extra seating + sweet vintage find + all for free = an amazing day for this girl.

i knew the perfect spot for the chair... right where my christmas tree was ! i don't think i've ever been more excited to take down a tree after christmas.

say hello to old yeller!

and here it is close to its actual color...

it's old and yellow and i. love. it. i'm a fan of its straight lines and its cute little buttons. i may try sanding and restaining the legs and cleaning it up a bit. may. there's just something about its current condition that makes me like it more.

have you had any sweet finds recently?

from montezuma to homer

my parents came to visit a few weeks ago because they wanted to visit their oldest daughter they'd heard about a 50 mile garage sale held annually in the finger lakes region. a 50 mile stretch from montezuma to homer, new york! they said it was a practice one for another one that crosses state lines across the mississippi.

i was pretty excited about the idea. in the last few years, i've really come to enjoy seeing what other people have treasured and now consider trash. (:

we did a little bit of yard sale-ing around my neighborhood friday and stumbled upon a church rummage sale. and ohmygoodness were we starting out right! rows of tables lined with tons of stuff... and the deal of the day was to get a plastic bag, fit as much in as you can, and pay $2. here's what i came away with for $2!:

after that success, we were ready to do some serious damage in the finger lakes on saturday. an early start, a little bit of a drive, some starbucks and we took part in our first miles-long garage sale! i went with a budget and a list of things i was hoping to find, including burlap, vintage frames, wooden crates and ceramic animals. i came away with nearly everything on my list:

i got these scraps of fabric for free! can't wait to use them on some yarn wreaths!

these guys are just waiting to be spray painted! ;)

there was so much to take in, and some folks had some really amazing finds. if you were in the market for a vintage motorcycle, you would have had plenty to choose from! [i'd love to have gotten one for my stud, but my budget was a bit too small for that!]

and then there were the things that made you go... huh?!

but my favorite find of the day was something that wasn't on my list. and i was so excited when i saw that the prompt for this week's inspiration workshop was vintage. i fell in love with this piece of luggage the moment i saw it. it was marked make offer. i'm so terrible at that; luckily my mom is a pro! well, $7 later i came home with a piece of vintage hartmann luggage.

i love the leather and the pattern inside. it's in such good condition, too. and i think it's so fun that it has someone's name in it!

the whole day was, in a word, crazy. there were literally miles upon miles of homes, churches, etc. selling all kinds of things. what seemed like hundreds of cars moved in packs [herds?] along a road that had a very small shoulder on either side. oh, and restrooms? practically non-existent. we had to travel for about 45 mins and get off the yard sale road just to find a porta-potty! where we also saw this:

um, ew. however, from time to time, the road would open up, and we'd catch a glimpse of lake conesus.

with my success in finds and the gorgeous views, i'd say if this was a warm up for a cross country adventure,  i can't wait for summer 2012! [are you in, mom and dad? (: ]

a little update

it has been a crazy fun week [and then some!]. here's where i've been!

- the thursday before last my parents came into town for the weekend! it had been almost a year since they'd been up to visit and it was great to get some time with them and share a little more of life here. [it's my not-so-secret goal to get them to move to new york. they've visited in both summer and fall, the best times to convince them of this. unfortunately for some reason it's hard to get them to forget about all the snow winter brings. (: ]

- while they were here we explored a 50-mile garage sale from montezuma to homer. [how fun is that to say?!] i made some great finds [more to come on that soon!]

- last week was kingdom bound, the annual summer christian music festival here in western ny. i had the privilege of working there for my job. so. much. fun! we talked with people from all around the country and canada, helped put on youth ministry seminars, and saw a few shows! i saw skillet perform from 7 rows back [as in, close enough to feel the heat off the flames exploding from their stage!]. i finally saw the classic crime. they are one of my favorite bands and they played my two favorite songs. can i get a woot woot?! (: my friends' brothers mcclurg also played at the festival. tuesday was the release day for their super awesome album alive. if you want some new worship music, check them and their new album out here.

- friday night turned into an impromptu date night, which was absolutely lovely after a long week. dinner at moe's + a trip to borders to begin browsing their clearance sales + my stud = a very happy me.

ps moe's new taco stackers? delish!

and now here we are. things are much quieter this week. i like myself a bit of routine, so even though life has been super fun the last two weeks, i'm ok with getting rid of the crazy for a little while. (:

the busy-ness brought on a bit of a blog break, for which i'm also grateful. if i'm honest, i was getting too caught up in keeping up, looking left and right at what others were doing, and measuring myself against it all. i was losing the freedom to fully appreciate and encourage the incredible bloggers i've found in this journey. stepping away and living life outside of the internet brought the space i needed to allow God to breath His perspective on me. the best person i can be is the me He created, and the plan He has for my life is perfect for me. it's not going to look the same as anyone else's and that's a-okay. in fact it's beautiful. i'm blessed to share in His plan for so many other lovely women through their blogs. each journey looks different, but our destination is the same: Jesus Christ. how freeing! it reminds me of a song we sing [and act out] with our kids at sunday school. (:

i am free to run,

i am free to dance,

i am free to live for you,

i am free,

yes i am free!

we are free to be who we are... running, dancing or writing about our lives, encouraging one another, and building each other up. all in the freedom that He Himself paid the price for. thank you, Jesus!

hootylicious

home. i've been in my apartment for five months and i'm still working on making it feel like home. fortunately, i like the process. (: and there are so many wonderful bloggers out there who share their DIY tutorials for some fun projects. so this post will hopefully be the first of a few showing the decorations i've made!

i'm loving white ceramics. i have two pieces - a pear and a tree with two birds in it [partridges?!] in my dining room. i went yard sale-ing with my dad when i visited my family in june, and that's when i stumbled upon this owl for just [wait for it...] 50 cents! i'd been wanting to try my hand at spray painting and figured that was the perfect price to take my first try, regardless of whether it turned out ok or not!

the DIY part was really simple. a sunshine-y but not-so-breezy day + newspaper + $4 can of spray paint + $.50 ceramic owl.

i sprayed on one coat and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then sprayed on a second coat and let it dry for about an hour. because it was a little bug-gy outside, i did some touch ups inside. i let it sit overnight to dry completely. there's still over half the paint left in the bottle, so really the cost of this project was around $2.50. and here's the latest addition to my white ceramic collection!

i love him! and he makes a nice addition to my living room. i may be jumping the gun here but... i may be a spray paint addict! it's so easy and fun. there are a couple things in my apartment i'd like to paint, and i'm now on the lookout during this yard sale season for other hidden treasures. (:

happy sale-ing

it's monday, and i have today off work. woot woot! things have been a bit crazy the last couple of weeks, so i thought it was about time to play some catch up. the church next door to the school i work for had a huge garage sale a few fridays ago. we're talking mini flea market here. the best part about it was that the money they made was raised for several missions projects the church is involved in. so how could i not wander over there for an hour or so and help some good causes? (: 

$12.50 later i walked away with these:

i had recently come across this room in all my diy/room redesign travels and fallen in love with the shutters. for $8 my dining room windows are going to be a whole lot prettier. i'm planning on using the green one to hang pictures on.

seriously i'm in love with the detail on these babies!

and of course, my book collecting habit was in temptation island that day. $.50 for softcover and $1 for hardcover and well, i stopped myself at 7. mostly because my puny arms couldn't manage any more.

i'm so excited to have john get the shutters up. and to shop for curtains for the windows too. and to spend some warm summer or chilly, rainy spring (as the case is for us here) afternoons reading!

i'd say this garage sale season is off to a super start. (:

happy monday!