My mom has a tendency to hoard. Not newspapers and empty cans. More like, furniture and farm land. While furnishing my new apartment I found this crazy ornate frame in her storage space with what I thought was an ugly picture inside. The redo took about a minute with some blue spray paint that I had saved from a previous project and I found another use for those huge clothespins I love so much. Now, I was not blogging at the time so I did not take a “before” pic, but it turned out so pretty I am going to share it with you anyway. The supposedly ugly picture was reused and it turned out to be cool too.

After having major dental surgery earlier in the month (and paying full price because of lack of insurance) I’m broke.

X-mas gift giving became a problem because just my close family members number in the 30s. Yes, 30 people, and that is low-balling it. I dejectedly drug my sad ass into a local thrift store and moped about until I literally tripped over a box. The box read, “Free with each purchase”. I looked inside. And what did I find? There were brand new, individually boxed Martin Strings pint glasses with a sweet guitar design on each one! Whaaaat? AND, it was 1/2 price day at the store! So, I bought 2 boxes of 12 glasses for $1.50 each and they threw in 6 more for free. (which was all they had) Score.

Handy and beautiful pint glasses + Fresh baked cookies = 30 gifts for my music and cookie obsessed family! All for a total of $3 plus cost of cookie ingredients. Genius.

I’ve almost forgotten how to blog and I have forgotten my WordPress password. Thank the gods that my computer remembered! Okay ladies and gents. I’m back..again. My sincere apologies for being gone so long, but it is hard to write while living in a van down by the river. Now I am in a bungalow down by the river and ready to thrift my heart out. The most amazing thing is that I now have a workshop of sorts so maybe I’ll be able to do bigger and better projects.

I was browsing the internets (that’s not a typo, it’s what I say) and found this blog. It kinda inspired me to get to work. So, I must give credit where credit is due. Please give a warm Thrift Circus welcome to Things I found (at the thrift store)!

This guy is my horse even if he never wins another race which means: I like ‘em! He finds great stuff, posts both useful and informative videos and he is funny. A winner, so check out his circus!

Glad to be back!

I rarely write about clothing stores, but thrift is thrift..eh? While ambling around Carrboro, NC I stepped into a delightful store by the name of Roulette Vintage. Their goal is simple: to painstakingly pick vintage goods and make them available to us so that we do not have to go to the scary mall. The owners, Kara LaFleur and Rebecca Moore, have created an earnest little place to find vintage clothing, accessories and all types of neat stuff made by local designers. You can check out their blog HERE. Their Etsy shop HERE. And their website HERE. Or just stop by the store at 118 1/2 East Main Street, Carrboro, NC. They are very welcoming!

Look for this sign.

An example of Roulette’s vintage.

This nice lady greeted us at the door.

Bright fabric from jcaroline creative!

I love these kinda unearthly flowers.

Look what I discovered in my yard!

What will they be? Tulips?

Daffodils?

I had a great day yesterday. One of the great things that happened was that I found this fabulous blog called My House Party. It is a wife and husband team based in Portland. They have combined their considerable skills to create these tiny little houses and then they fill them with these crazy “air plants”. Now, I have heard of said air plants but have never owned one and cannot wait to order some from them. If you want more info on “Air Plants” click HERE. One of the reasons that Thrift Circus is so crazy over My House Party right now is that they have an “oops sale” at this time (buy a house, get a plant). Browse their greenhouse HERE.

Umm, rad.

Vicious Kitty guards the store

One of the many rooms full of stuffs!

You can exit that door to browse the backyard.

I find a lot of fun stuff within the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill areas that I would expect to find in a more rural area. I mean, this is still North Carolina, so everything is basically country. I recently visited Maple View Farm and Country Store. It is technically in it’s winter hours right now…but there is never a bad time for ice cream. The farm is a Holstein dairy farm where they produce fresh milk, butter, cheese and ice cream. Check out the Ice Cream Store HERE. And the site for their Agricultural Center HERE. The Ag Center offers hands-on labs, birthday parties, hayrides and oddly…yoga. It is a really neat place.

Trade in your glass bottles for fresh milk!

Rockers looking out over the farm.

Handmade Smell Goods

Hay Ride Trail

Plenty of room for a dog (Lily-Pig) to run.

]]> http://thriftcircus.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/country-in-the-city-maple-view-farm/feed/ 1 thriftcircus Look for this sign Fresh Milk Front Porch Homemade Soaps and Candles hayridetrail runlilyrun http://thriftcircus.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/white-and-cold/ http://thriftcircus.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/white-and-cold/#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:19:43 +0000 thriftcircus http://thriftcircus.wordpress.com/?p=839 ]]> Snow can be fun…and annoying while trying to move. This is the first day at my new home:

You will need this stuff and more.

Our expert egg-cracker.

The Fun-Director

A fine time with spray oil.

Our official Taste-Tester.

My blender is bigger than your blender.

Oh, I had gone to the woodpile earlier and decided I liked the look of the flashlight headpiece and kept it on.

Much fighting over licking the bowls.

Camera Woman Mary

Bulldogs can cook.

A third of the cupcakes were Nutella Swirl, a third had chocolate chips and the rest had fresh strawberries baked inside. We then topped them with Nutella buttercream and fresh, organic whipped cream, but we ate them too fast for the camera to capture! Sorry.