freshvintage

The scream heard 'round the world

Did you happen to read the latest Country Home magazine (July/Aug)?  I certainly hope that you didn't skip over the Reader Letters page. You would have missed this...

I opened my mail today, and saw the new issue. I thought to myself, "If they were going to print the letter I sent them in April, then it would have to appear in this issue". I immediately opened to the Reader Letters page and SCREAMED! I screamed so loud that I wouldn't be surprised if my neighbors called 911 to report that a woman was being attacked by some large, rabid, sharp-toothed animal.

I had no idea that it would be printed. I sent the email & photo to the editors, using the email address on this page of the Country Home website. I received a nice reply from someone, with no indication that it would be included in the next issue.

You can't imagine how excited I am to be in Country Home magazine (or any magazine, for that matter). This has been a goal of mine since the day I started buying & selling antiques. Now, you know what my next goal is, right? A cover story, baby!

If you don't subscribe, go out and buy it right now! And do what my sister Erin did...open the magazine to the Reader Letters page and tell the cashier that your sister (or online friend) wrote that letter. And then the cashier can look at you all funny because he obviously prefers Hustler to Country Home.

Golden Nugget Girls

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a girls' weekend away with my three sisters and my mom. We are going to Lambertville, NJ and New Hope, PA (they are on opposite sides of the Delaware River).  New Hope is in Bucks County, PA, which is the setting for so many articles in Country Home and Country Living magazines. You may have heard of Lambertville if you watch Antiques Roadshow.  A few of the experts are from Rago Auctions in Lambertville. 

This tiny town was also mentioned in the February issue of Country Home in the Collect It section. Editor-at-Large Danny Seo visited the Golden Nugget Antique Market in Lambertville and had a hard time spending his $500. He's a man after my own heart...he loves a bargain. His cottage in Bucks County was also featured in Country Home's April issue. My sisters, mom and I will be visiting Golden Nugget bright and early on Saturday morning. If I'm not too hungover on Sunday morning, I might sneak out of the hotel for a quick return trip, too. Here's the article about Danny at the Golden Nugget, in case you missed it:

Danny is also an active blogger. I don't know how he finds the time to write a post nearly every day. If I did that, most of my posts would be totally lame. But he somehow manages to come up with lots of unique, funky, enviro-friendly ideas for home decorating, partying-throwing, gift-giving and so much more. 

Speaking of bloggers, I'd like to share a few new-to-me blogs who recently linked to freshvintage or stopped by my blog for a visit. Thanks!

Lucy Locket
Oh So Pretty
Modern Country (she has an English translation at the bottom of each post)
Vintage Flair
She Plants a Vineyard
Country Chick
Sadie Olive (and visit her store, too...great stuff!)
And Sew to Sleep
Design on Post
A Little Birdie Told Me
Petticoat Lane

I'll fill you in next week on all of our vintage finds from the weekend...

Covergirl

I did it! I'm on the cover of a magazine!

Well...not really. But I just might send out a press release anyway.

Addiction, Continued

I stopped at an estate sale in Wilmington, Delaware after work yesterday. The woman who owned the home (I don't know if she is dead or alive) kept ALL of the magazines she had ever bought. There were hundreds of old issues of Country Home, Country Living, 1001 Decorating Ideas, Martha Stewart Living, Antiques, and so many more. They were $.25 each. I only bought 6 of them, dating between 1955 and 1977.  I am planning to go back to the sale after work today to sift through some of the old Martha Stewarts...only because the very early issues sell for $15 each on ebay. I am going to be digging through those stacks looking for the motherload...the first issue of Living recently sold for $99 on ebay!  And a 1978 issue of Country Living featuring Martha & Andy Stewart sold for $42.  Of course, I didn't know all of this when I was at the sale yesterday.  I went straight home and searched for completed ebay auctions to find out if I should return to the sale today. I'll be there!

I also picked up the wooden toolbox with rope handles, a small milk glass pitcher and the tablecloth (it is in pretty bad condition, so I'll probably cut it up).  I bought all of this for $6.50.

From 'Decorating Your First Home", circa 1969. Lovely, isn't it?

Can you believe that a decorating magazine RECOMMENDED that you put fake paneling on your walls, and then put white moulding ON TOP of the fake paneling?

I also picked up this cute little wire-bound recipe book called "101 Cakes" from 1952:

This "hatchet cake" is decorated with sprinkles using a hatchet-shaped cookie cutter. This will really come in handy when my family celebrates the anniversary of Lizzie Borden's murder spree. I'm so glad I found this, too.

Has anyone tried Tomato Soup Spice Cake? I had never heard of it, but it seems to be very popular.

I ran into a thrift shop on Wednesday after work and picked up this fleece baby blanket:

It isn't old, but I love the colors, the image and the fact that it has a Japanese label with fabric content and washing instructions. (I'm assuming Japanese..correct me if I am wrong.) It also has the store tag still attached: Sun Circle. The price and everything on the paper tag is in Japanese.  The back of the blanket is peach-colored fleece.

      

I'm a magazine addict.

Along with my yard sale obsession, this is yet another trait handed down from my mother. She subscribed to no less than 20 magazines when I was a child.  We received a different magazine in the mail almost every day of the month. Vogue, Bon Appetit, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day, Harper's Bazaar. I learned about the birds and the bees from Cosmopolitan, and I saw my first set of non-mommy breasts in National Geographic.

The pièce de résistance is my parents' appearance in Woman's Day back in 1985.  They were featured in an article titled "Clothes You Both Can Love". The article had three couples dress up in outfits selected by the wife, the husband and a "compromise outfit" selected by the fashion editors.  Sadly, my parents never did reached an agreement on which of those outfits my mother should wear...they are divorced now. And I'm taking the express train straight to the top of my mom's shit list with the inclusion of this picture in my blog.

Anyway, back to my magazine addiction.  I currently subscribe to Country Home, Country Living, Cottage Living and Better Homes & Gardens (and Us Weekly, but we won't get into my other obession with celebrity gossip). They seem to have the best mix of vintage & new stuff in their articles. I occasionally pick up Domino, O at Home, Creative Home, Martha Stewart Living, and Romantic Homes (especially when Posie Gets Cozy was featured). My sister, Erin, buys the Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest magazines and gives them to me after she reads them (100 Decorating Ideas Under $100, Bargain Style, etc.).

Every few months (usually after Chris yells at me for having too many magazines laying around), I go through the stack and rip out all of the articles/pictures that I want to keep. I have them organized in about 10 overflowing categorized file folders.  But I would like to organize them a little better. Pam Garrison compiles all her favorite pictures in her "Home" binder. Momogram Mama recommends Cavallini file folders in her great post about organizing your home office and all those ripped-out pages.  Definitely worth a read.  I would like to buy those fancy file folders, but I can't justify it.  I can just as easily "borrow" some from the supply room at work for nothing.

What about you? Which magazines are your favorites? And how do you organize them?