Thursday, January 27, 2011

vintage finds!

i decided since i go thrifting so much and find such awesome stuff i would share it with you :)
here are my vintage finds of the week


a cute sippie for zula.


ok i didnt actually find this, or get it this week. my bestie bought it for me for christmas. and i just got it resized (i know i know)  i've been wearing it nonstop ever since!


i found this blanket at goodwill for $6!


a vintage puzzle, which we are in the process of doing right now. its kinda hard though cuz its missing a few pieces.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

birthday treaties!

my birthday was this month! yeah i love birthdays, especially mine. in the lee household we celebrate birth weeks because one day is not long enough to celebrate! here are some pictures of my day and what i got!



first off we didnt get up until 11:30!! which was amazing, even the baby slept in.

i woke up to an awesome breakfast. coffee, omelet, potatoes and mimosas!





went to dinner with family and friends, this is the husby being entertaining as usual.


my cake, with lots of candles.


so i got lots of treats..... too many to share, so i will highlight ones that have to do with my new year's resolution or that are vintage.

ok this is not vintage lipstick, but....... it is from revlon's line of vintage remakes. super fun!


vintage fur pillow! that looks great on my couch


oops, these arent vintage either but i'm really excited about them!!


glass storage to help me not use plastic! yeah!






and i'm officially 24!!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

now and then house again and tips!!

when we first moved to yakima our house was EMPTY. in seattle we had a little one bedroom apartment. here we have a two bedroom house. when had moved everything in, sat down on the couch and started talking there was literally an echo! our living room was so sparse. i very much enjoyed having an excuse to buy furniture and have filled my house with things i love.
here is a list of my living room furniture:
couch: craiglist $15
carpet: antique store $40
green chair: yard sale $5
black chair: st. vincent back lot sale $5
shelving: restore $10
george washington portrait: thrift store $15
piano: free
lockers: restore $40
table and chairs: free

you do not need to break the bank to have the look you want in your home. here is a list of tips that i often use.

1.  be patient. the couch for example was exactly what i had been looking for. i made due with our old gray couch until i found what i really wanted. i just happened to find it at such a great price! i had been willing to pay much more for a chocolate brown vintage couch. but my patience paid off in the end.

2.  yard sales are where it's at! i find tons of treasures at yard sales. though it can be easy to just buy junk when yard sale-ing. i find its helpful to have a list of what you want exactly and not stray from it, unless you find something you cannot live without.

3.  try and try again. you know that the bookshelves are not my first try at organizing our books. my previous shelves were ok. but i wasn't happy with them. so i tried something else. dont be afraid to try something else if you are not quite happy with what you have. sometimes you have to do things a couple times to find out what works for you.

4.  if its free, why not? i accept things all the time from people who know i like old stuff. my table and chairs and the table under the bookshelves were all free, from the same person too actually. if u find you dont really like it or need it, just pass it on cuz you didnt pay anything for it :)

5. dont be afraid to barter. mr. george washington, whom i love, was $25. i offered $15 and i got it for $15. usually people will overprice when selling to you because they assume you will give a counter offer. start low so you can go up if they arent happy with your first offer. this takes some guts! but is well worth it. think of it this way, they have stuff they want to get rid of, you have the money that they want. their gonna sell to you high or low. so you might as well try for low.

6. take advantage of restore. i find tons of good stuff here. it is not usually just building supplies and if they do have furniture its usually very well priced.

7. go early. if you are looking for something specific its good to get to yard sales early. but if you just want some good deals go the last day. usually they give stuff away cuz they dont wanna haul it away.


here are some before and after pics. i know you've seen all the afters, but its fun to see them next to each other isnt it?
















arent we cute?? only 3 years ago. that is libby, my little sister.

after christmas decorations

isnt it always a bummer to take down christmas? your house was so cheery and awesome, its easy to be discouraged and just let it be ho-hum. here are my after christmas decorations, hopefully they inspire you.












organization!!!

hello there! so one of my new year's resolutions was to only buy/keep things i use. pretty easy right?
i pride myself on being organized. i also pride myself on being thrifty and saving money. sometimes my being thrifty overrides my being organized. the result: too much stuff in my house! i often hang on to things because "i could need it later" but then they sit in a closet for too long. not anymore! here are all the things i got rid of:

also my back seat and front seat had stuff in it!!!
i am feeling great! cleansed, free, light!


i also reorganized my kitchen. thought you might wanna see:



Tuesday, January 11, 2011

resolutions, for the new year, of course

it has been said that if you make your resolutions public you are more likely to keep them. so what better way to make them public than to blog about them.
the husby and i are pretty laid back people and we are really good at going with the flow. we have never really done new year's resolutions. i always felt it was silly to make extravagant resolutions just to quit them within the first month of the year. but this year i have realized that it is good to have goals. we make them rarely, and i think its good to be intentional about your time and your life.
so here they are in no particular order:
                     
                                                       1.   listen to the husby more/better.
                                             i tend to think that my way is the best way all the time :)

                                             2.   reduce my use of plastic. by buying more of these:

                                            3.   reduce my garbage. currently we take our can to the street
                                    (well alley) twice a month. my goal is to cut that down to once a month.

                                      4. only purchase/keep things that i use. this is resulting in a organizing frenzy.
                                                        i will share my progress in my next post.

                      5. play outside more. this picture is super old! but it makes my point :)



do you have any resolutions? i'd like to hear them.




Saturday, January 1, 2011

a very Horst-Lee Feast

over christmas we went to visit the husby's family in western washington. before we got there though, we made a little stop to visit our good friends bill and danae. danae is my business partner, best friend and shopping buddy. we celebrated christmas early with a horst-lee dinner. i thought you might want a peek.

 meet bill.

 meet danae
meet my tasty drink.

 my husby, excited to eat.

 me
 what we ate. steak frites with sweet potato fries

we laughed, we ate, we opened gifts. it was a very good time. and hopefully will become a new christmas tradition. be sure to check out danae's blog , she has pictures up of her christmas decorations that are all lovely lovely!