Things I Didn’t Buy 9

Here are some more estate sale items that I thought were interesting to look at, but resisted in buying. I think teacups and saucers are very cute, but they’re not very useful to me. However, I really liked the design of this green leaf teacup.

These classic Christmas lights (in its original packaging), is pretty cute.

I like the art on this Lil Miss Teenager Train Case.

I find it a little odd when dishware is meant for a particular food (when I don’t see any real reason for its existence). Like these special bowls for avocado dip and chips just seems silly to me (because couldn’t any bowl be used?). While I like the shape of the dishes, I didn’t like the green color of them.

And finally, I really considered buying this ceramic container. I thought the gold design was nice. It had a retro feeling that I liked, but I couldn’t think of what I would do with it and therefore didn’t buy it.

Vintage Chinese Cookbook

I have a weakness for vintage cookbooks. I picked up this Chinese cookbook at an estate sale for $1. You can tell it was well-used, as the tape doesn’t even hold it together anymore. The cookbook was created by Benedictine nuns; this one is from 1960 (but the first printing was in 1956).

The book is divided by protein (so there’s beef, pork, chicken, seafood, vegetables, desserts and miscellaneous sections). I love the illustrations. They’re awesome—so cute and so many of them. Every page has as an illustration, and I can only imagine how much time it took to create these drawings.

As for the recipes themselves, I haven’t cooked any of them. Some are familiar recipes (like chow mien) and some I’ve never heard of before.

Another interesting thing is that some of the pages have Chinese proverbs relating to food and eating. Some are rather amusing.

Things I Didn’t Buy 8

Here are some interesting Japanese items that I didn’t buy. My favorites are these robots. Super cool.

Next are some kimonos and yukatas. I wouldn’t wear them, but I could use the fabric. I resisted the temptation.

I also didn’t get these small Japanese fabrics (probably mostly used for cloth wrapping). I liked the red and white pattern quite a bit…

These Japanese rice cracker tins were interesting.

And I liked the art on this record.

Three Dress Patterns

I got three more dress patterns. The first one I bought for 25 cents. It’s a reprint of a simple wrap dress from 1954.

The next two patterns my mom gave me. The first is an easy dress pattern that feels very summery with the cut out back.

The last one is a reprint of a 1940s dress pattern. It’s very cute; I like the buttons that go down the front of the dress.

Things I Didn’t Buy 7

I went to an estate sale and some shops and saw a few interesting things. First up, this cool scale.

Here are a lot of cute little bottles.

Remember Beanie Babies? This is where they end up: in boxes at an estate sale…no one wants them.

I just thought this mixer was interesting.

Chinese Checkers game.

This Kraft wood box I considered buying—it’s awesome. But I resisted…

And this just was sitting in a shop and it amused me: a paper shark attacking a boat.

Ann Taylor Jacket

My friend gave me this Ann Taylor short trench jacket. She had bought it at an estate sale a year ago and hadn’t really worn it (and didn’t think she would wear it in the future), so I was glad to take it off her hands. I haven’t had a tan jacket in a while (not since I accidentally got Indian food on the last one…which was incredibly sad).

At first I wasn’t too sure about this jacket, mostly because of the tie. Sometimes ties seem kind of clunky to me. If I tie it in a bow, then it may look too girly or take up too much space. I thought about tying it so there was one looped that showed, but it was taking too much effort for me. And just knotting it left two long tie ends that looked really awkward. So I decided to wrap the tie around me twice so I could give it a small knot. I liked this best so I didn’t have the floppy tie ends getting in my way.

In general, I have more difficulty with tans and browns because depending on the hue, it can look terrible with my skin tone. But I like this tan color; it’s a good neutral. And I like that this jacket has pockets. It should be a great jacket to wear as the weather becomes warmer.