I spent the weekend at my Grandma’s house and we did a little antique/boutique shop crawl! I didn’t go too crazy, but found a few great deals. The Golden books were $1 each. I seem to be collecting books with old cat illustrations now. I got the entire spool of heavy red pet leash-type material for $5.25. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but it seemed like such a good deal… The old blue canning jars were $2.50 each - I think I’ll be using them for craft supply storage! As for that bag of beads, when I first spied it, I immediately thought they were plastic due to the bright colors. I poked the bag, and was surprised to find that it was rather heavy. A big bag of Czech glass beads for $2!! The yellow depression glass sherbet glasses were $5 each. They are in a desirable parrot pattern, and I was informed by my father-in-law that they are worth $30 a piece. The pretty clear cut glasses were only $2 each.

Haven’t posted for a while, and here’s why!
June 6th - 8th, I did the MS150! It’s a 150-mile bike tour ridden in two days. 75 miles on Saturday and again on Sunday. It was definitely one of the most challenging physical endeavors I’ve ever undertaken. I didn’t do much training for the event - the longest ride I attempted beforehand was 40 miles. I was incredibly sore at the end, but I surprised myself by making pretty good time on both days. I averaged about 15mph on Saturday and 17mph on Sunday. And to top it off, I was riding a mountain bike! I’m really hoping to get a new road bike for next year. I signed up to do it again in ‘09!

In order to carry more stuff with me on the ride, I made this “box” that attaches to the top bar of my bike with velcro. The commercial version of this is called a “Bento Box” and it can be had very cheaply, but by the time I decided I wanted one, it was too near the date of the event to order and get it shipped in time. So I made my own! It is constructed from pieces of plastic canvas sandwiched between layers of heavy black canvas fabric. I added a vinyl top that attaches with Velcro for quick access. Once it’s all sewn together, it’s quite stiff and once attached to the bike, it can hold a slew of energy bars, a cell phone, tools… any small items you need on the road. Mine had a tendency to lean to the right a bit, so I think I need to adjust the way the Velcro is sewn on. Overall, it worked very well though!

After the MS150, my husband and I went on a trip to the Chicago area for the week! We visited family who live in the area, went to the science museum, ate tons of Chinese food and did a lot of shopping. One of my favorite shopping spots is Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights. There’s a great Japanese bookstore there that carries Japanese craft books. I bought a handful of crafty books and magazines that looked inspiring! I’ll definitely feature some of them here in the future.

Soooo, I’ve been busy, but I’m back in action now and should be posting regularly as before!

Yay! I finally got a new camera! After much comparing of features and prices, I decided on the Canon EOS Rebel XSi! It weighs in with a whoppin’ 12.2 megapixels! It has a 3in LCD screen! It’s lightweight and quick on the draw! I’m so excited to have so much more resolution to work with. My old camera was only 3.1mp, so this is a big leap for me! I can’t wait to get better acquainted with all its features.

I used to get kinda mad at my husband for “stealing” my old camera, but he can just hang on to it now. haha I’m hoping I’ll have some time to take nice outdoor photos soon.

In other news… my iPod died! It’s a 40gb 4th gen iPod, and it was giving me the “sad iPod” icon and a URL for Apple service. It wouldn’t connect to PC or play any songs. I sure as heck wasn’t going to send it in for service. I found a post somewhere about loose cables inside causing this problem, and that a proper slam could bring the iPod back to life. It couldn’t get any worse, so I bashed it on my desk a few times. Sure enough, it’s back to its old self again! So I saved a couple hundred bucks there by not getting a new iPod. haha More money for new camera lenses!

I had to take a quick break to share these adorable Matryoshka cards I found while browsing Japanese blogs. It’s available for purchase at Rakuten in different varieties including snow, silver, and gold.

Rakuten does ship internationally, so a person who doesn’t live in Japan could purchase them. But, I was thinking it would be fun to use this idea and try to make some in my own style. Isn’t the little “window” in the envelope the icing on the cake!? So cute!

BTW, this brand (Analo), has lots of other cool things at Rakuten such as printed tape and adorable cookware! Love printed tape. Their specialty is interior decor and zakka.

I spent a lovely day shopping with my mom and grandma. Our first stop was a favorite thrift store to do a little treasure hunting! I found this sweet little set of glasses for 60 cents a piece. They’re slightly iridescent and remind me of soap bubbles. Being quite diminutive (about 2.5 inches tall), I imagine they’re useful for dessert wine, liqueur or cordials.

Found a few retro kitties for my ever-growing collection of totally random kitty figurines. These were $1.60 each.

Picked up this slightly tarnished creamer. (Is it a creamer?? Too little to be a teapot!) It doesn’t have any markings at all so I am uncertain of the metal content. The construction is a little rough, so I don’t think it is a mass-produced thing… I’ll have to do a little research on this one. I just fell in love with the shape of it. So cute!

On the hunt for warm-weather shoes, I found these brand-spankin’ new GAP wedge espadrilles. The tag on them said $29.50, but I only paid $10! yay

I don’t really cook that much, yet I’m obsessed with all things kitchen-related. I picked up two different-sized Pyrex ring molds for $2.80 each, and a nice big Pyrex casserole dish for $12. My grandma insisted that the ring molds are for Jello, but I just don’t think they’re designed for that. I think it would be cumbersome to try and unmold Jello from a heavy glass dish. I think I’ll use them for some sort of shortcake and put berries and whipped cream in the indent. Yummy!

When we finished thrifting, we headed over to Marshalls where I snapped up this awesome hand-carved basket for a meager $20! I am in love with it. Super rustic!

Also while at Marshalls, my mummy bought me a great little black leather Dooney and Bourke purse for nearly half the standard retail cost. I also picked up a pedometer! I’m excited about that one! Really, just curious to see how much walkin’ I’m getting in during a typical day. Perhaps I can “step it up” a little! hehe