I saw Woody Allen's new film, Midnight in Paris, last night. It's about a man living in present time, who is in love with the idea of 1920s Paris. He just thinks it was a better time to be alive. It's a great movie with lots of surprises and I highly recommend it.

It got me thinking about my love of vintage items. In general - if given a choice - I will always pick the clothing/book/movie/Pyrex bowl :) that's not 'of this time.' Why is that? Am I a hopeless romantic who thinks it was better in another era? I'm in my early 30s, but most of my kitchenware is circa 1950-70. My furniture is repro 1950s and 60s, or used 70s and 80s castoffs from my parents' friends and family. And I'm perfectly happy with that and not looking to upgrade to "new" pieces.

In university, I got my clothing almost exclusively at thrift shops and gravitated to stuff made in the 70s when I was barely born. And although I buy my clothes at the mall nowadays, I still prefer pieces with a vintage feel to them.

I don't even know if wanting to surround yourself with pieces that have history to them is a bad thing. It makes me feel like I'm part of something greater and on some kind of continuum, rather than just someone plopped down in a suburb of a big city with a new-ish house to furnish.

Anyways, those are some thoughts on my mind this morning after seeing Midnight in Paris. Check it out if you can, I think it's in wide release as of now.

And speaking of my slight obsession with all things vintage, I found these recently

A 2.5 qt Pyrex Hostess casserole, and 3 identical Hazel Atlas Ivy bowls. All in great shape.

The Pyrex was $8 at SA which I found a bit steep but it's got very few scratches and had the lid, so...  I think this bowl will be great for serving chips at parties.

The HA bowls were a buck each at VV. I can just see myself using them over Christmas as candy dishes, or maybe for garnishes. I know Ivy has nothing to do with Christmas but that's all I think about when I see them.

Thanks for listening friends, and I'll see you again soon :)

So thrilled with today's VV find! I've been looking for a 2.5 qt oval forever, but passed on a couple because they were patterns I don't collect. At last I was rewarded!

Snowflake?
Check.

Turquoise?
Check.

Chips or cracks?
Heck no!

He came home with me for $5 :) :)

Yesterday's thrifting theme was...the 70s!

The olive green Spring Blossom and the owl are pure disco era fun. Strangely, the casserole did not come with its original lid, but I found a clear one in the right size in the same store. Meant to be :)

Could these beauties be the cause of my recent non-thrifting? I found them a short while ago, all nestled together at VV for $10. And I honestly lost the urge to go out again because...what could top this?
Oh who am I kidding?!
It's probably just the crappy weather and even crappier (super high) gas prices! Hurrmph... I'm still thrifting close to home, but it's nothing compared to my crazy outings of just a short while ago where I'd visit 7 or more thrifts all over our big city in one day.  But I'll be back. Just biding my time till gas is reasonable again, and trying to get a few trades going with fellow Flickr members. Cheers and happy thrifting until next time :)

It's been a helluva Pyrex dry spell! In fact, I still don't have any new finds to show off. I did, however, find some lovely vintage pieces that more than compensated.

A couple weeks ago, I found a red Dansk frying pan (there's probably a better name for it, but I'm new to Dansk) at a nearby SA. I remembered seeing similar ones on jenib's blog. It was in good shape, had its lid, and they wanted around $5 for it, but on the inside of the lid was a loonie sized chip or scratch where the enamel came off. I passed on it, and thought 'that's that' since I've never run into these before and thought I wouldn't find one again.

A few days later, the red frying pan was gone (I was kicking myself). But, this blue fella showed up!

 I recognized it as another Dansk, but would you believe that I passed on this one too? I honestly couldn't figure out what it was - the bottom doesn't have the typical dark/matte cooking surface - and the price sticker was hiding the maker's mark. Was this a lid? Was it a pot that was missing a lid??  Who knew...  Like I said, I left it there and went home to do some research. I found out that this is a paella pan, and that it's not missing anything. I was kicking myself again! On top of that, I had to go out of town for work for a couple of days, so I couldn't run back to SA to pick it up. ... Long story short, when I finally went back to the shop it was still there. It had been bugging me that I didn't see the Dansk mark on it on my first trip, but I noticed it this time. It is really faint but definitely there. I thanked my lucky stars and took it home for $3. And another obsession begins!

The same day, I popped into a small local charity shop. They seem to only carry Old Orchard (which I don't collect), if they have any Pyrex at all. No Pyrex that day, but in a glass case near the front I spotted a cute pink box with an elephant on it. I just had to check it out.

 "A Guide to Pink Elephants"...huh? I looked inside and saw the cute square spiral bound booklet with 200 mixed drink recipes. The copyright says 1957, and the beautiful pink colour confirms its vintage heritage. The box and booklet are in fantastic shape considering the age. I took it home for $1.50 and I just love it! And in case you're wondering, a 'pink elephant' is gin with a splash of grenadine. (They use a lot of grenadine in this book!).

Finally, I've wanted to tell you about this next find for a while but there never seemed to be the time. I love, love, love books, so I always check out the book section when I'm in a thrift store. I almost passed over this copy of "The New Joy of Cooking" because I associate the white covers (with red and blue) with this title. The dustjacket has an almost lime green background and the design definitely looks vintage. According to the copyright page it's from 1954.

It describes the electric blender as a "newcomer to the kitchen"

 Here's what it looks like without the dustjacket

And it's full of these retro hand-drawn illustrations.
I can't remember how much I paid for it, but it was probably less than $5. It's in great shape.

So that's it that's all for this winding post. Cheers!

I've had some good Pyrex luck recently. I spotted a Craigslist ad for a Friendship oval divided dish. I responded as soon as I saw it, but the seller said they already had someone coming to get it. Too late! Well...a few days later the seller contacted me because the other person didn't show up, so it was now hold them for me. On the way to pick it up, I popped in to a GW and found these.

The two 501s from the refrigerator set for a mere $1 each (no lids). They are in absolutely pristine condition! I love fridgies, and want lots and lots and lots of them, but I've passed on them before because they either had dishwasher damage or were badly scratched up. Not the case here, these are beautiful and the colour is rich and glossy.

Next up was the Craigslist seller's house. The dish was advertised as being in 'mint condition' and the seller re-iterated that it was in top notch shape when I asked about it. Sooo...there is definitely some scratching on the lid including on the pattern, but I wanted it pretty bad so I took it for $15. I was kinda regretting it on the way home, but it looks a lot better and shinier after a good soapy wash. I'm happy I took it now :)

And so the Friendship family grows.

Ahhh :)

It makes me so happy when I find vintage-inspired things that are brand new. And, it makes me even happier when those items are vintage priced!

Exhibit A (please excuse the blurry dark photo)
I spotted these oven mitts at Dollarama in a different colour. I didn't really need new gloves so I debated it a bit. Then I noticed this brown and turquoise combo and that sealed the deal.

Of course the cute images of kitchen items like the ladle and chef hat and apron don't hurt either. They kind of remind me of the Pyrex Mod Kitchen casserole (which I got recently!) and the Hazel Atlast Kitchen Aids bowl. They were either one or two dollars for the pair.

Then, on a separate trip to the same store, I noticed this darling tablecloth.

I love the light blue background and the sugary pink cupcakes and teapots. It kind of looks like an illustration out of a childrens' book. It was $2.

There's room for both vintage and new in my home :)