I am excited to announce that Rhys and I bought our forever home. It's a lovely traditional style house built in 1964. I promise I will post some pictures soon once we've got all of our boxes unpacked and our art on the walls. My mom wanted to visit us to see the house in person and any reason for me is a good reason for a visit. Serendipitously, my mom was able to fly in from New York to Tulsa the same weekend as the 100 Mile Yard Sale in Oklahoma. I was ecstatic. I learned about the 100 mile yard sale last year on one of Rhys' Route 66 road trips and had earmarked it to check out this year.
I wasn't sure what to expect but we planned the weekend out well. My mom and I rented a cargo van, packed the cab with our favorite road trip snacks, hand wipes, water, and a few of our garage sale must-haves (basic tools, a notebook and pen, measuring tape, bubble wrap, boxes, plastic bags, a checkbook, and cash).
All that was left was to pick up our first map and be on our way.
I loved that the maps were printed in the local newspapers. I was happy to pay my 75 cents and be able to cross off garage sales as we went.
On the first day, we had an ambitious plan...to cover half of the towns on the route. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs so to speak. We took our time and the day flew by and before we knew it, it was evening and we only made it to 2 towns--Sand Springs and Cleveland.
We found a lot of "littles" and a couple pieces of furniture for the new house: a set of vintage metal ice cream chairs and a sewing desk for my studio.
My mom was over the moon because we'd only paid $4 for both chairs. They need a little TLC but are otherwise in crackerjack shape.
In Cleveland, there was one sale in a field that had a whole table full of large and small sized teapots. Some were kitschy, chintzy, and others were plain, sturdy standbys. I love tea and teapots so I spent a good deal of time perusing the table. I came away with a beautiful, fun teapot shaped like a sewing machine. (It's actually going to be a gift for my grams.)
Day Two of the 100 Mile Yard Sale was much more exciting. We got up really early and drove out to Pawnee where we started our day. Pawnee was by far our favorite stop on the 100 mile yard sale. It's where I'll begin every year from now on.
Everyone was friendly and in a good mood. With the Oklahoma Steam Show in town and the yard sale going on, everyone was full of pride and their beautiful town square was bustling with energy and visitors.
At the sidewalk sale outside Red Door Antiques (a fantastic little antique mall if you are in the area), I found a set of pineapple dishes. They are fabulous and summery.
My mom pulled a prank on me, when I went to put some of her purchases in the van, she purchased the dishes and when I came back I was crestfallen thinking that they had sold to someone else. She played it up like she didn't see who bought them...and I later found out that she did.
In Pawnee, we lucked upon a whole box of antique German mercury glass Christmas ornaments, some costume jewelry pieces, a few books, sewing notions--a favorite material of mine, silver thimbles, and some sweaters to upcycle into mittens.
We also found a beat up curio cabinet. The rehab has already begun and I promise a much-longer post on it later.
We stopped in at Click's for a bite to eat before heading down to road to Yale and Oilton where we found a cheesy record collection titled "Mood Dining" which was too tempting to pass up.
My favorite find of the whole weekend was this little picnic red and white gingham pouch filled with an old recipe for shortbread and these 3 handmade cookie stamps. The recipe card was well worn from being folded & unfolded so many times--a testament to how loved it was.
I can't wait to bake a batch of these cookies and stamp them with lots of love. No doubt I will be folding and unfolding this recipe for many years to come.
More than anything I found, what I'll treasure most is a weekend of memories made with my mom. We rode in the car singing loudly to the Golden Oldies, rummaged through house after house for treasures, and talked endlessly about our future shop together.
I am lucky to have such an inspiring, creative, kind and goofy mom. She's my best friend and my role model. Happy Mother's Day!