Super Cute!

I still haven't gotten back into the swing of things packing wise, but the contractor is coming tomorrow to do a run through on the current house of all the things we need to fix. That'll be a fun list I am sure... Once we have that list we'll sketch out the overall timeline for getting everything done including the overall plan for packing/staging. I am dying in anticipation of getting thing moving forward  (literally), and I am trying hard not to get ahead of myself thinking about what the new house could be like. It'd be nice if I could just twinkle my nose like Samantha and everything was done, course then I'd have less to blog about so I guess I'll just stick it out and entertain the masses... =)

In the meantime, I've been super good about shopping, and I haven't bought hardly a thing! I did allow myself to buy this super cute hair comb this past weekend while my sister was here (does this count as a fascinator or does it have to have feathers to be one??). We made the rounds including going up to Georgetown to visit a friend of mine and eat lunch up there and while we were there she took us to a consignment store that apparently used to have a whole backroom of vintage clothing. Unfortunately all they had vintage now is some aprons and a slew of hats. I couldn't resist this little number as it was super cute, super cheap and from Gimbels! How fun is that. I think I'll wear it on my up coming birthday.

Gimbels got me thinking about Christmas, my absolute favorite holiday other than Flag Day when I certain sister of mine arrived. Although I love Christmas, it's not in that every-day-is-like-Christmas-decorating way, I just love the smell and sparkle of it more than any other holiday. The food and decorations are a close second though to the excuse to sing Christmas carols at any moment. My husband and I have an agreement that between Thanksgiving and New Years I can sing as many carols as I want, but I am not allowed a single peep after New Years Day. Sigh... I do love to decorate, but this year I have a conundrum. I've put all my packed boxes thus far in the spot where my tree goes... So I guess I have to make some changes to get a real staging area for my boxes. Christmas is also the perfect excuse for creating tablescapes and no boxes are in the way for that endeavor! Here's the past couple of Christmas tablescapes. I have this year's all planned out already so I better get it started before I pack it all away! Stay tuned.

Snowglobe/Snowman Christmas - 2010
Love the excuse to buy net Christmas Tablecloths!

Poinsetta/Gold Glitter Tree Christmas - 2009

Collectorator Game Night 101

Well, I think I've officially entered into a new exciting era of life! Maybe it's because I am about to have one of those milestone birthdays (do not want to talk about that!), or maybe it's because I am on the brink of moving and it's becoming real as we are starting to plan out the early stages. Ultimately, though,  I think it's because we had an official game night the other night for the first time in a really long time and there are more such nights in our future! CollectoratorOne and I used to have infamously fun game nights but after boyfriends and friends came and went we were down to just two of us who love to play games. Not that playing games with just us two is no fun (trying to beat CollectoratorOne at any game is fun enough to make it last a lifetime), but games turn into a party when you have three or even four at the table. We recently lucked into finding our new third, a recent transplant to our fair city who I think may love games just as much as us (not to mention shoes.... you know you want to give me those shoes!!!!), and my sister visiting for said milestone birthday gave us a lucky fourth!  So of course I couldn't resist planning out a game night this week!

So what do you need to throw a Collectorator Game Night of your own? Funny you ask... Snacks (always good, and I forgot about that one!), party ware (would have been nice if I had remembered the snacks AND if it hadn't all been packed way!) Champagne (it is requisite and I remembered that), but really you just need one lovely hyphenated word... Skip-Bo!

Oh Skip-Bo, how do I love thee? Is it your velvety red box with the divided built in tray? Is it your sailboat-backed cards that seem to make no sense of why the sailboats are there? Or is it 30 plus year old memories of playing it with your grandmother... probably the latter although the sailboats on the back of the cards are pretty nifty. I don't know officially when I learned to play, but I remember playing it all the time when I was a kid with my great grandmother (whom we called mom), my grandmother and my auntie.  Later in life, when I met CollectoratorOne we discovered that we had the same Skip-Bo upbringing. How weird is that especially given we grew up on opposite poles of the united states (me in Texas and her in Illinois), and it was a game made in Texas! So you can only guess what ensued next. At the time though, I only had the new version of the game. And I tell you right now if you have that version from Uno, throw it out now and buy yourself the official 1967 version. You might pay a little more, but it's worth it as the new version does not have the right number of cards!

Because of our obsession we researched all we could about the game and found out it was produced by Skip and Hazel Bowman in Brownfield, TX in 1967, so you see where the Skip and Bo come from now! I don't know the reason for the sailboats other than maybe he liked to sail?  It's a super fun game modeled after Spite and Malice consisting of blocking, getting on a roll, and revenge. Of course CollectoratorOne beat us all at it the other night!  We also played another favorite game that we hadn't played in a really long time because you have to have three players at least. It's a German card game of bean bartering (yes beans) called Bohnanza. I won that one some how... =) Game night 1 of the new era is in the books! Let's schedule Game night 2!!!

Will You Believe More Sharkskin?

CollectoratorOne and I were out this past weekend for Phase I for the search for her wedding dress, and we went by a few places we hadn't been by in awhile to check their stock. There are still a few places in our fair city where you are guaranteed a good find, but you'll have to pay some $$ for it. One of our old favorites didn't fail to deliver and amazingly it wasn't expensive as we remember. Either they've come down in prices or having adult-jobs has made us realize that the prices weren't that bad after all. We didn't find the dress at the first stop, but we found a maybe dress, and I finally found a navy sweater.  I've been looking for a navy sweater small enough for me for so many years I can't even remember how many years it's been!

Then I came across this fab Dijon mustard yellow and blue sharkskin dress that was something so nifty I couldn't pass it up. We learned from the owner that it was brought in with a few other items by a lady who had some clothes made in Thailand while she was stationed with her husband during the war (Korean/Viet Nam??). He said all of the dresses she brought in were made with Thai silk. I always feel better about Collectoratoring when I know the backstory. 

Our second stop actually led to the DRESS for CollectoraorOne, but I am going to remain mute about it until it's been cleaned/altered for her as to not let it out there until it's time... BUT suffice to say it's a really stunningly beautiful dress, and she looked amazingly beautiful in it already and it hasn't even been altered! What made it better is we got it for a really good deal. Can't beat that.  I am so excited!!! I already had my dress for the wedding, which also I am not going to post for awhile, not because it's secret, but because it really needs to be pressed as it was wadded up in a barrel for a long while.... 

I also tried to get my hands on a really super cute plaid playsuit, but I was priced out of it pretty quickly. I should always be leery of things I want that don't have price tags on it! But given that it was just as much as the wedding dress (how is that even possible??) I knew it wasn't coming home with me...Later I learned the owner wanted to sell it on etsy so look out for a super cute red plaid playsuit on there soon!!! I could have shown you how cute the playsuit was, but I have to admit that I failed on my first chance for using my new phone on a Collectorating adventure. Sigh... Oh well, I'll get used to having that technology for the taking sooner than later. 

Sharkskin and Velvet

Hey y’all sorry I disappeared! It’s been super busy at the CollectoratorToo camp. First and foremost I broke my phone which caused all sorts of problems in and of itself, but I entered into the modern age and got a super smart phone. This phone has a PhD whereas my other phone had probably dropped out of elementary school! What I love about it most is I can blog from anywhere, post fun pics on the road because  I have a real camera on the phone now, and do just about anything I want to do when I want to do it. I am left wondering why I did not do this sooner.

I also got sucked up into the baseball playoff/World Series vortex. I am not a big sports fan at all, but I am a loyal fan to the Texas Longhorns and Texas Rangers.  See the Rangers were in the World Series this year and last year, which is a huge miracle if you grew up with them like I did (literally down the street). Because it was something I may only see once or twice (now) in my lifetime, like a chance to see a comet, I had to tune in. Never mind the fact that we lost, it was worth the pain of loss to see the experience. Baseball is one of those sports though I really do like in general. Something about it is still so old school and vintage America. I love that they have not modernized it too much other than the crazy ballparks. If only people would still dress up to go to games. You look at baseball crowd pictures back in the 1940s and they have suits and day dresses on. Heck yeah. Most people just seem to have lost the desire to look put together at all in public anymore…

Anyway, I digress. We also have had some our friends from overseas visit so we had a party. It was challenging in a fun way to figure out how to have a party with all my party-ware packed away, but I managed  through it although it wasn’t up to my usual par. We even played Skip-Bo as the party wound down (here’s my Skip-Bo card case by the way in all it's red velvet glory, I’ll write a whole blog on Skip-Bo soon because it totally deserves its own blog). Playing Skip-Bo made it close to my favorite kind of party. As I said before I always long to have the Dick Van Dyke style party where it breaks into a mini variety show or games ensue so this was pretty close!

Even with all this going on, I did manage to make it back to the flea market in town and once again my husband had better luck than me. No wonder he keeps agreeing to go with me to this flea market! We got this awesome sharkskin coat for his stage outfits for $3.  Course the lady also had this lambs wool wrap and muff I wanted, but it was $60. Hello. Not fair. In any case, we bought the jacket and the next day I found the tie to go along with it. He’s lucky he has me to design his outfits for his shows!! 

I’m back though now and I'll back to packing… more soon!