Three weeks ago, my favorite lifestyle blogger, Heather Bullard, posted THIS.

Image via HeatherBullard.com

I was inspired to create a packaging/wrapping tote of my own. I decided to wait the three weeks until the next Sweet Salvage event to see if I could find the perfect container.

As always, the ladies at Sweet Salvage did not disappoint! Not only did I find this fantastic tote and vintage Arizona Winter Sweet Orange crate, but two dozen-plus additional treasures too!

I’m not quite certain what I’ll do with the Blue Goose Growers, Inc. crate yet, but I couldn’t pass it up. Loved the imprint with Tempe, Ariz. on the sides. I found this 1950’s label for sale online. I’m tempted to purchase one and attach it to the front of the crate. I’ll have to sleep on that…

It was an especially good month at the once-monthly sale! I’ll show you my other purchases in the next post, but today I’m going to focus on what I’ve done with the wooden tote.

After stenciling on the front, I loaded that puppy up in no time!

Shipping labels, muslin, and flat glassine bags.

Vellum envelopes and mini corked bottles.

Clay kitchen tags for baked goods and other food gifts. Numbered clay tags and the entire alphabet for unique and personalized gift tags.

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Yesterday was once again the third Thursday of the month, which means that I made my monthly pilgrimage to Sweet Salvage.

The March theme is “Backroads & Blooms” – absolutely perfect for the first week of spring. But of course, it is, those Sweet Salvage women never disappoint!

Along with this basket full of little silver and glass trinkets, I purchased a super cool vintage industrial parts drawer chest.

The metal chest of drawers can be seen on the tabletop above, it is right there behind the glass pedestal dessert dome. And that’s all I bought. It may be a new record for the least amount of stuff I’ve hauled out of there at one time. This makes me think I should make a return visit before the weekend is over!

I loved this other industrial find, a set of gym locker cubbies, but it’s just too big, I’d have nowhere to put such a thing.

I absolutely adore this idea of using a clock as the base plate for a tall cloche. I’ll be stealing this look for sure!

The awesomeness of Sweet Salvage has not gone unnoticed. As I mentioned a couple of months back, my favorite lifestyle blogger and magazine editor, Heather Bullard, made the trip from California for a visit.

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At the January Sweet Salvage sale, I spotted something “fabulous” as I was standing in the checkout line. It was something very similar to a thing I’ve been dreaming about for months now. I looked at the price, looked at all the stuff I already planned to purchase, and knew I could not have it all. I let the “fabulous thing” slip away.

(Hint #1 – the “fabulous thing” is in the photo above. I swiped this image from the Sweet Salvage blog. Can you guess what it is?)

For the rest of the month, I regretted not putting everything else I had in my hands down and getting the “fabulous thing” instead. But I held on to a glimmer of hope that “fabulous thing” would not be sold and would still be there when I returned for the February sale.

Kim and I walked into the door on the Friday morning of the February sale, and I headed straight for where it had been the last month. And…

IT was still there!

(Hint #2 – the “fabulous thing” is also in the February Sweet Salvage photo above – this image is also swiped from their blog. Do you spot it yet?)

I was so relieved! After being filled with regret all month long, it was still there, a sure sign that I was meant to have it! At least that’s the ‘sign’ I read.

(Hint #3 – I’ve been dreaming of this fabulous thing ever since I first learned that such a thing even existed. I had seen something very similar to it on the blog of the talented person I love to stalk. A year and a half ago, I read THIS post on Heather Bullard’s blog and have been coveting the item ever since.)

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This photo was taken during summer cooking classes. Although the two students in the foreground are fabulous – what I want you to focus on is the background. The view through the window behind the kids.

It is the view I’ve looked at every day for the last four years … ever since we did a complete remodel on our backyard.

In 2008 we expanded our backyard, taking down the existing block fence and pushing out to the back and to the west. Putting up a new block fence. In the process, as my neighbors probably recall, there was the unfortunate incident of hitting a gas line and closing down the street for a couple of hours with the fire department on hand. (Good times!)

We dug out the existing kidney-shaped diving pool, filled it in, and put in a new play pool with a spa, waterfall, and a swim-up bar that has you eating and drinking while watching me cooking away in the new sunken outdoor kitchen.

We tore off the existing patio cover and deck, and boarded up the two upstairs doors so that one of us didn’t somehow forget there was no deck to step out onto and fall to our death! Making the back of the house look like a tornado had come through. Then we put up a new patio cover, more than triple in depth.

Oh, and by the way, one very important note here – when I say “we” – I mean that “we” hired FANTASTIC contractors to do all that. (if you need a general contractor, a plumber, a landscape designer, an electrician, or a painter… let me know because I love those guys!) We only lifted a finger to write out the checks. So many checks! I

Here’s a very fuzzy zoomed in shot of what I see out that window. And it’s not the pool I’m focusing on today, it the patio furniture.

This is a photo of the remodeled covered patio, just after it was completed in April 2008.

Dave and I received the patio table and four chairs (along with 2 chaise lounges and a side table) as a wedding shower gift, in 1985.

Yep, the set is 27 years old. I’ve had it repainted and re-strapped twice, so about every 9 years… making it again due for a makeover.

And although it has served us well, it is time for it to move on to another family… along with many other items from my home.

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Our trip to California last weekend wasn’t all that we expected it to be. Several of the vendors we hoped to see were not there, including “the boys” Dustin and Christian who own Uber Chic Home, and Martin and Trinidad of Atelier de Campagne. Turns out they were at the Three Speckled Hens Antiques Show in Paso Robles. In addition to that, it was HOT! You know how I hate to travel away from hot Arizona to where it should be cooler and end up still being HOT somewhere else!

Although the Rose Bowl Flea Market was a bit of a disappointment this time around, Sheila and I still came home with plenty of happy finds. Some were found at the Rose Bowl, others at various shops along Main Street in Ocean Beach. Where, by the way, you can also find this sketchy Hippy Hostel, just in case you are looking for lodging,

On to the Happy Finds… (plus a fun bonus at the end of the post)

Four seriously awesome antique English crocks. These things are all the rage and often very expensive. Mine was a steal. The vendor told me that he has a guy who digs them up out of the River Thames. Seriously, it’s common practice. Read THIS little blog post to learn more.

I purposely picked out the most aged and crackly ones he had.

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Today the plan was to post all about the fun things I found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday. Instead, I’m going to show you the super awesome things I bought at Sweet Salvage yesterday.  Yes, that’s right, I found more wonderful treasures right here in Phoenix than I found when we traveled 380 miles to California to treasure hunt. It just goes to show that you never know when and where the best stuff will be.

My #1 favorite find in all the time I’ve been shopping vintage?
The best thing ever?

By far, are these 10 sheets of vintage French ephemera!

I have been searching for such a thing for nearly two years, ever since I saw the same thing on Heather Bullard’s outstanding blog.

They are French receipts dating from 1909 to 1934.  I plan on framing several like THIS and creating an arrangement with framed vintage maps of France that I’ve been collecting.

So what are ephemera, you ask?

“Ephemera is any transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards,  bookmarks, catalogs, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, posters, prospectuses, stock certificates, tickets and receipts.”

These are all of the small items I purchased at Sweet Salvage this month. Well, not the plate of cheese and crackers or the glass of red wine.

Following are close-ups of a few of my finds…

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This day was all about spoiling my kids. After our world-class breakfast at Outerlands, we drove downtown for a day of shopping and luxurious spa treatments.

Check out Marissa glaring at me in the rear-view mirror. I guess I was irritating her from the back seat. Hmm, a mother irritating a daughter, now that’s new!

Be sure and stick with me through this rather lengthy post. It was a big day so there is a lot to share, but you have to read the end and check out our spa time and our dinner choice… even if you just scroll down and skip the shopping parts. :-

First, we ducked into the Apple store because I wanted Connor to see the awesome theater-style classroom. I know, how much Apple can one person do in a long weekend?! Even our newest store in Scottsdale has nothing like this.

As we walked by we noticed they were demonstrating exactly how to use iMovie. We sat in on the class and learned so much that the rest of the weekend I was taking videos so that I can test my newfound knowledge. And guess what? I’m working on it, and there will be an iMovie on this very blog, very soon.

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… in San Francisco. That’s how I always feel when I board the plane and leave my girl behind. It helps to have dates on the calendar marking when I’ll see her again… Labor Day weekend and Thanksgiving, but it still leaves a tiny little hole each time.

Then again, what a joy it is to be able to go to such a great city to visit her. So much better than if she lived in Podunk, Nowhere Special, USA! Plus there is the fact that she is adorable and sent Connor and I an itinerary, ahead of time, filled with fun things she had lined up for us to do. Love her!!!

We arrived at 7:30 PM on Thursday night. When we landed, I sent Marissa a text at work saying, “the eagle has landed,” and she pulled up just as we were walking out the doors from baggage claim, what timing! It helps that Connor and I travel extra-lite and had no baggage to claim, we shared one carry-on. As you’ve seen from my refrigerator, I am a super-duper packer!

We drove toward Marissa’s home and stopped at San Tung Chinese Restaurant, 1031 Irving Street, located in the Inner Sunset neighborhood. We went specifically for their famous dry fried chicken wings. Wow, they did not disappoint!

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I’ve only cooked one night, my dad’s birthday dinner, in over a week! That is so NOT like me, it’s such a rarity that it has probably been 3 or 4 years since it last happened. Well, if you exclude out-of-town vacations, that is.

What I’m trying to tell you is that I have nothing to share with you, recipe-wise. But I still have a few things to show you – Baseball. Gardening. Shopping! All of the photos were taken with my iPhone, the top two, were with a special camera app that I cannot recall the name of.  Marissa, will you please help me out with the answer?

I’ll begin with baseball. Dave and I went to our first Diamondbacks game of the season. We split season tickets with 8 or 9 other people. They are great seats in the third row behind the DBacks dugout. It was a total bust of a game though. Our guys lost to the Braves for the second night in a row. We left in the top of the 8th when the score was Braves – 7 and DBacks – a big fat ZERO. The final was 9 -1, Ouch! Let’s move on to something more pleasant, shall we? Shopping!

On Thursday, Peggy and I made our monthly trek to Sweet Salvage and I found several treasures. My favorite is this basket. I love the worn leather detail.

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As promised, and then re-promised, today I shall share with you what we bought at the Rose Bowl Flea Market on Sunday. See that Uncle Sam’s Register Bank above? My brothers, sister, and I all had banks just like that when we were kids, each a different color. I think mine was pink and I have no idea what happened to them. I’ve been searching for one for about a year. I’ve been on eBay and bid on them until they get up into the $40+ range, then I bail out. Come to think about it, I’m not sure why I keep bailing out of bids because eBay is there for you to buy items, so why would you get this close and then just forget it? Well, I should ask myself because this is what I keep doing.

I’d never seen the cute little leather-covered book banks before but fell in love as soon as I spotted them. One has the White House on it and the other has an Islam hat and is marked San Francisco, June 1922. I did a little research on these banks and found THIS uber-cool website that shows advertisements for these and a large variety of vintage and antique banks.

At the same booth where I found Uncle Sam’s bank, I found this vintage Stag Horn Handle Meat Carving Set with Sharpener. I especially like the little lever used to hold the fork up off the table and the intricate decorative metal embellishments.

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