Vintage Stamp Catalogue

I don’t really plan on buying vintage books when I go thrift shopping (and I certainly don’t need them), but it tends to be one of the things that I inevitably get. I picked up United States Stamp Catalogue Specialized from 1948 that I took a cursory look at before I bought it (for a whopping $1); I took a closer look at it when I got home and was impressed by the wealth of images in it.

Growing on Gold

I went through many years of only wearing silver (or silver colored) jewelry. I avoided all gold jewelry because it often felt too bright or garish to me. But as time has passed gold has grown on me. Not all golds (like the ultra shiny or off-putting shades of gold that can be especially apparent in costume jewelry) but definitely more golds. I’ve slowly been incorporating gold into my (costume) jewelry collection.

I picked up some gold jewelry while I was thrift shopping and never thought twice about its goldness (as I would have perhaps a year or two ago). There were actually three broaches that I thought were cute, all small, slender and gold, but I chose this one because I really like the pearl as the focal point and the art nouveau style of the flowing lines. I can’t say that I’ve ever really been a broach person, but I think I could use it (at least I rationalized as such when I decided to buy it).

The second gold piece of jewelry I bought were a pair of geometric red earrings. There was another pair of gold guitar pick shaped earrings that used a lovely teal and cobalt blue color that I was tempted to get, but I decided on these earrings because I really like the icicle shape of them. They’re simple and bold and I think they’re really cute.

DIY: Straw Collar Necklace

I wanted to make a collar necklace using Tape Straw Beads that would be bold and graphic. In order to make all of the rows of beads stay together as one piece I used a strip of plastic canvas as a spacer bar.

DIY: Tape Straw Beads

I thought using colored tape would be an easy way to decorate “straw beads” that could be used in making costume jewelry.

Out with the Old and in with the New

With clothing love is often instant. You see a cute top in a store and try it on with much anticipation. If the fit is right (and it’s affordable) you buy it, excited to wear it as soon as possible. For a while you savor wearing your new favorite clothing item…until a new favorite overtakes its place. Because falling in love with new clothing is easy and happens fairly often (as my closet can attest to).

Clothing is one of those things that I easily accumulate and must therefore do a closet purge from time to time. There’s always something new and cute on the horizon to find and buy and wear. The new and cute pieces quickly replace the old and worn (even though some of it isn’t terribly old nor worn), and over time you forget that these older pieces even exist. Then one day you’re looking through your closet and you pull something out that you haven’t worn in ages and either your desire to wear it once more reappears and you reincorporate it back into your wardrobe, or that desire has long since been dead (and will remain that way).

If I haven’t worn something in over a year (okay, sometimes it’s longer) then I know I ought to get rid of it. It’s often easy to know which pieces have outlived their usefulness; they often feel too youthful or are made of cheap materials that I can no longer abide or I just don’t like the style any more. Most of the time I let go of that top or dress or pair of pants with little regret and once it’s gone I never think of it again. I don’t expect to wear the same clothing forever as my preferences change over time, so my closet is a constant revolving door of new clothing replacing the old.

Moss Stitch Scarf and Fingerless Gloves

I decided to use some white yarn (that had been sitting in a drawer for quite some time) to knit a scarf. I didn’t really need another scarf, but I felt like doing some mindless knitting and it’s one of the simplest things to make.

Current Cravings: Plum Potato Chips

While at the Asian supermarket I took a quick pass down the junk food aisle. I usually refrain from buying any junk food because it’s really easy for me to eat the entire bag or box or package of whatever goodies I get (in part because they tend not to be overly rich or sweet and in part because the serving sizes are much smaller than American junk food sizes).

However, as I swiftly walked down the junk food aisle, prepared to buy nothing, a pink bag caught my eye: plum potato chips. I stopped. I was intrigued. Plum potato chips were a seasonal item. When I think of Japan and plums I immediately think of pickled plums, and I happen to love pickled plums—so I impulsively bought the potato chips. And that evening I ate the entire bag of chips (although to be fair it only contained two servings worth of chips). They were delicious. They were salty and sour and sweet (although no where near as sour as actual pickled plums), they just had a hint of plum flavoring.

Pickled plums are an acquired taste. The first time I had them I didn’t like them at all. They were very sour, and I wasn’t really accustomed to sour foods. I wasn’t brought up with many sour food options (other than dill pickles and lemon desserts). But for whatever reason, I came to love pickled plums (with rice of course). I like the soft juicy ones that are about the size of a quarter; a little nibble of one of those wakes my taste buds up. [Pause.] And I should probably stick to eating the healthier pickled plums themselves rather than plum potato chips (that I can oh too easily polish off an entire bag of). [Sigh.]