Hope Chest: Favorite Mug

Look at me go! Getting two "hope chest posts" done semi-closeish. Awesome. (Check out the others here and  here). 

The other day I talked about my favorite accessory  that was thrifted this summer, and today I'm going to talk about my favorite piece of house-ware item that was found during my "summer of thrift." 

And that would be this wonderful and amazing Les Misérables mug. There are so many things about this mug that make me want to smile with glee and do funny little dance. 

1.) It is Les Mis - one of the best musicals of all time. (Seriously, it is the second longest running musical ever.) I saw at the Fulton Theatre when I was in high school  and it is just SO. GOOD. If you ever get the chance, please see it. (And if you don't cry during "I Dreamed a Dream" or "On My Own", live you probably don't have a soul.) 

2. This mug was thrifted - on a fun trip with my roomie and gal pal, Amy- for 30 cents! Three measly dimes. That is it. 

 3. This mug has a copyright of 1986. My first thought was, "Awesome. It is still in good shape. I bet that is about the time it opened in NYC..." 

 4. ...I was wrong. Les Mis didn't open on Broadway until 1987. But, it DID however open in London's West End in 1985. (Thank you to Wikipedia.) I looked at the bottom of the mug when I got home and read "Made in England." 

5. I put it all together and FREAKED OUT. This mug was purchased during the first year of Les Misérables in London's West End -where it is the longest running musical - over 25 years ago. And I purchased it for 30 cents.  

And all those reasons are why I adore this mug. 

Thrifting rules. 

xoxo, 

Laura 

P.S. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I am indeed a choir/musical nerd. I embrace it. 

Melmac Monday: Simple

Just some favorites today: 

hearts

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur

gold medal

there were birds all around...

artsy fartsy.

"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me." -- Carl Sandburg 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Best Thrift Find of the Century

Hey everyone, 

I have been really looking forward to introducing to you one of my favorite thrift store finds of all time. 

It is this bag!

Isn't it just amazingly cute? I still can't get over it. 

And I found it by such a fluke. I ran into one of my favorite thrift stores with one of the high school interns this past summer, looking for jars to make butter in for when we were talking about the Butter Battle Book, at Day Camp. We went downstairs to the Bargain Basement and there it was...

for $1.60. 

Yeah. Just let that sink in a little bit.

$1.60!!

I grabbed it faster than a speeding bullet. I never heard of the brand, but I could tell it was good quality and it still had that new purse smell. (An even better scent than 'new car.') 

When I got home, and I spent about 20 minutes just staring at this purse and clutching it to my chest, I looked up the brand. 

I found their website and discovered a couple of things: a.) Their hands bags are gorgeous. Seriously. I am not getting anything out of this, they really are beauts. b.) I was right about being good quality - their bags are all leather - they even have a special line made of recycled skins. c.) THEIR BAGS AVERAGE AT ABOUT $300.

Yeah. Remember, how I paid $1.60?

Let's put this in perspective: 

For $300, I could buy all my college textbooks for a semester (*sigh*)

For $1.60, I couldn't even pay for shipping for one book. 

For $300, I would have about half what I needed to purchase these amazingly weird Christian Louboutins.

For $1.60,  I could get a pack of googly eyes to make my own. (That needs to happen, btdubbs. It is on the  Pinterest.) 

For $300, I could work for 30 hours.

For $1.60, I could work for 10 minutes. (Yeah, I did math right there.) 

Anyway, I'm sure you get my point...

I really love this bag. 

Bag - Thrifted - originally from Latico Leathers

Dress - Thrifted 

Necklace - Thrifted 

Shoes - Thrifted - originally from Payless

Have a great and thrifty weekend everyone - hope that you find a totally awesome deal, too! 

xoxo, 

Laura

My Summer Abode

Hey everyone, 

I finally got around to editing the pictures of the house that I was living in this past summer - I lived on the left side.  My face kind looks like this when I see these pictures, because I truly and deeply miss living there and working at the church. I'm glad to be back at school and I love our dorm room, but it is just different, I guess. 

Enjoy this little picture tour of some of my favorite parts of the house. 

This part of the house used to be an office building, so there was still somethings in there that they kept in that my housemate (who lives there full time) liked and kept. I'm such a fan of this vintage-y chair. 

The house is pretty old; I want to say early 1900's and still has a lot of its original fixtures - which is why the downstairs bathroom is kind of one of my favorite rooms. The old sink is to die for and it has the coolest window in it, that lets in a lot of light, but you can't actually see in - because that would be awkward. 

The kitchen was tiny, but so adorable. The cabinets are original and so lovely. They were my favorite part of the kitchen. 

Finally, my room! I had the bigger room, because they plan on making it two rooms sometime soon. (Please ignore the mess in this picture. Although my family would say differently, I am quite a neat freak; it sort of happened when I went to college. Therefore this picture is not usual. These pictures were taken when I was working on moving out, so I was trying to pack things up, but not actually move things because I did want to get the pictures in. I just wanted to share this to show the layout and general size of the room.) 

(clockwise): My jewelry box//my penguin, Herman, that my sister gave to me when I got baptized a year ago and my pewter sewing machine//making up for lack of closet space//my favorite thrifted heels (I wore them for my brother's wedding)

My Willow Tree statues and some mementos from the summer - graduation caps we made for the last week of Day Camp and the book the congregation gave me on my last Sunday.  

Shoes! My cousin gave me those two really awesome vintage shoe holders when she found out that I was moving. They really came in handy; I will definitely be using them when I live off campus next year. 

My lovely clothing rack due to my lack of closet. 

I knew I wanted to display my purses out in the open. It really helped me to change them up more often.

(clockwise): My fave pillows//the ever growing nail polish collection//clothing rack again//my favorite suitcases and Melmac

What a feeling! 

I love being surrounded by books. 

Sunnies and my paper weighted that I thrifted (for .30!) with the old Brethren symbol on it. 

My lovely collection of Jane Austen books that were a graduation gift from my cousin; I don't live anywhere without them. 

And finally, the little puppers, Miss Annie. I'm missing her and her owner (my housemate) so much! Can't wait to see them over Fall Break!

I'll be sure to post some dorm room photos soon (course I said that about these pictures back in June, so those may not appear until December.) 

xoxo, 

Laura

Melmac Monday: Great Plates

Happy Labor Day Monday everyone! For those who are off school and work - congrats! I only have the luxury of being off one of the two. (I have class, but I don't have to work today.) 

Remember a month or so ago, I confessed that I had a lot of cups, but not a lot of plates, because I couldn't seem to find any I liked? (Post here). Well, folks, that all has changed! My last thrift find of the summer included these wonderful Melmac plates. I purchased 5 large ones and 8 smaller ones at .30 a piece, coming to a wonderful total of $3.90. So, I finally have some plates! I was so excited about them, that I bought 4 of each with me to school - replacing my flimsy plastic plates from Target. Isn't the pattern just the cutest?

In other news, these are the first pictures that I took with the DSLR that the school is so kindly letting me rent out for the semester. I just love that thing - it is going to be so hard to give it back come December. 

Classes are going pretty well, I just have a bad of habit of being crazy stressed out or way too lazy. There seems like there is no in between with me. I really need to work on that. Other than that, things have been pretty boring on the home-front. Hope that everyone had a fantastic weekend and has a great Monday night! 

xoxo, 

Laura