shop update

we've been doing lots of selling at the Flea For All, so for a long time our little Etsy shop sat neglected... compound that with the fact that I've had a nasty head cold for DAYS... not a whole lot has been goin' on in there.  But today I finally got around to giving it some love! it's still not quite where it should be, but we're getting there!  here are a few of the new listings for this week. I kind of wish that I could be like those magical Etsy sellers who do their updates in a theme or a color... but that just never seems to happen.  Let's pretend it does, okay? This week's theme is awesome clothing!

amazingly gorgeous 1930s art deco dress - sequins! THE SEQUINS! - Edited to Add: this beauty actually sold before this post even went live... Goodbye, sweet dress! 

rad mod scooter dress! (larger size!)

Not gonna lie, I'm kind of in love with this dress. We've had it on the racks at the Flea for a week or two, but I didn't realize how sassy and amazing it was until I got it on a mannequin. So fly! see it on Etsy here

Adorable 1950s day dress with buttons! and rickrack! and a giant pocket!

crazy beautiful Floral Skirt by Tel Art

everyone needs a nautical necklace, right? (i secretly want to keep this one but i won't! willpower!)

ridiculously amazing Margaret Smith bag with peacocks and flowers and lots of beautifullness (that's not a word, but if it was, I feel like it would accurately describe what this bag has)

hope you're all doing well this week, lovelies!

xoxo,

Jess

love it, hate it

One of the great things about having a partner in this crazy business is that we balance each other out really well. We each like different things, but when you combine everything together, it makes for a pretty cohesive vision. If one of us is feeling really pouty and like a major Negative Nancy, the other one is around to be a little more positive, or at least to sing songs about how everything is going to be okay (we sing songs about everything) until the other one's bad mood cracks.  It's very yin and yang.

In honor of that, we've come up with a weekly feature for this here blog called "love it, hate it".  Every week, one of us will take the time to tell you about whatever we love this week.  And the other one will spout off about things she hates.  Because people spend too much time trying to like everything sometimes.  Let's keep it real.  We hate stuff.  We know you do too.  Let's discuss.

Firstly, with the dose of sunshine for this week... 

Things Jess LOVES this week:

I'm really in love with 1950s peach lace dress that we have in the shop:

i mean, COME ON! it's old. it's lacy. it's lace looks like bicycle wheels or parasols.  IT HAS RHINESTONE BROOCHES! and a tulle neckline.  

like, seriously. it makes me super happy. I hope some fabulous lady snatches this beauty up and wears it to some fabulous party and makes everyone else in the room jealous. See it on Etsy

also:

-Giant Pretzel Pool Floats 

(this will be MINE)

-Finding new, adorable shops in my area.  I just went into Classy Elegance & Secondhand Treasures yesterday, and it rocked my world. Yay for new places to shop!

-And spaghetti.  Always spaghetti.

Things Caiti HATES this week:


-Chicken from Walmart. texturally, it's gross. It's sliminess is uncalled for. And sometimes I don't believe it's real chicken.
-Maryland for making that stupid law about pitbulls. DAMN YOU, MARYLAND! (don't get Jess started on this either, because she has a lot to say about the matter)

oh, the horror.

-Crocs. Why? Why do you need to wear Crocs? Are you going to the garden? That's okay. Do you wear them with socks? Because that's the worst. Mario Batali, I'm looking at you.

-Cosmopolitan Magazine. I don't need to know what to do if I don't have a tampon.  I'm a smart girl, I'll figure it out.  I also don't need to know the 99 Ways to Drive Him Wild.  I'm not going to paint myself in honey and wait by the door (Sorry, Steve). 

 What have you been loving and hating this week, everyone? Tune in next week, for Optimism from Caiti and Pessimism from Jess!

Awkward Hugs,

Jess & Caiti

Flea Fallin'

Last weekend, we had the incredible privilege of selling at the Portland Flea For All.  It's an amazing, brand new market in Portland and it's full of totally rad people selling lots of rad things.  There's vintage and antiques and TONS of handmade things.  Everyone there is great, and everyone who showed up to shop was great as well.  It seems like everyone is super excited to have a place like this to go to, because there really hasn't been anything like it in the area until now.  

We sold lots of great pieces to some totally stylish people, and got to socialize like crazy.  I've already told Erin (who runs this whole thing, along with her main man Nathaniel) that we plan on staying there until they physically remove us from the premises.  We're kind of in love.

Here's some shots of what our set up looked like for the weekend!

I think Caiti is laughing in this picture because two seconds before this she was making a downright strange face and giving a thumbs up.  I decided not to post that one.

doesn't that insane beaded bird shirt kind of blow your mind? maybe my favorite thing ever

a skirt, handmade by Caiti, in the world's most INSANE fabric that we adore

Next weekend, I plan on walking around and snapping photos of some other vendors and some of the stylish shoppers.  If you're around, you should stop by and visit us!  We'll be there every Saturday & Sunday from 10-5 from now until the apocalypse or until we get told to leave (whichever comes first).  See you there!

xoxo,

Jess

with your tangerine lalalalalala

According to Pantone, a self-described "world-renowned authority on color", the color of 2012 is Tangerine Tango.  And since Pantone has declared it so, thusly, the design world shall listen.  It's all over the runways (i kinda dug Nanette Lepore's take on it, personally... plus I just like saying Nanette Lepore), in magazines, and... I suspect roughly two million people will end up with a Tangerine Tango den that they'll regret in 5 years.

Personally, I love orange.  Whether it be tangerine, mandarin orange, navel orange, or any other variety of citrus fruit.  Heck, I've even been known to love some terra cotta here and there.  BUT, I shouldn't get sidetracked... we're all about the tangerine here, folks.

one more sidetrack: am I the only one who constantly has Tangerine Speedo stuck in my head while talking about this?  You know, that song. The weird one.

ANYWAYS.  Since Pantone was spoken, and I am several months late at reacting, I thought I'd check out Etsy to see what sort of Tangerine goodies I could find to enrich my year.

Love this orange phone, via AnnaLouVintage - reminds me of one we had when I was a kid. 

 Except this one is way cooler.

totally rad tangerine toy car via VintageAdorables

adorable brooch via RainwaterStudios

and, I gotta say... I'm basically dying over this swimsuit via FabGabs.  

The adorable lady and umbrella make it even cuter too, just sayin'.

this is a perfect mod dress in a perfect orange hue via vampofvintage

love the collar on this dress via LookAgainVintage

so! do we feel invigorated? like we're on trend? excellent! my job is done, then!

til next time :)

some things never change

there's something comforting about knowing that auctions (my new favorite past time) have been the same since at least 1939.  Looking through these pictures from the Life Archives made me laugh, because I saw so many things I recognized!

Based on my knowledge, the auctioneer is probably saying something like "come on people, it's worth at least $5!"

there are always PLENTY of sassy old ladies there (these ones are particularly stylish, if you ask me!)

check out Rudy and his super fly new coat!  There's always someone that buys something silly and parades it around proudly for the other buyers to hoot and holler at (see: my erotic statue)

boys always seem to bring their dogs (seriously, I don't know how many carhartt-wearing farm boys I saw toting a shepherd puppy with them at our first auction)

aaaaand, in the end you always have to see the nice lady and pay up!

Honestly, I've never seen this happen at a flea market before, but I somehow feel that Caiti and I are direct descendants of these two broads.  I hope in our past lives we bought that couch.

auction action!

Caiti and I have a new addiction.  Auctions.

Holy crap, you guys.

AUCTIONS ARE MAGICAL!

The fixation on auctions started a few weeks ago.  We asked one of our friends/mentors at the flea market where he goes picking.  He responded with "What are you doing tomorrow?".  Next thing we knew, we were up at the crack of 8am, following some vague directions northward to a livestock auction.  But we weren't there for the cows (even though they were ADORABLE)

(and this is apparently the only viable picture I took that day... my excitement got in the way of my photojournalism)

We went in with little idea of what we were doing, but got the hang of it pretty quickly.  I clutched onto our number and did the bidding, and Caiti did the running back and forth to the car.  We worked out a system of code words, eyebrow movements and secret signs to show each other interest and to communicate what our bidding ceiling was. We scored some amazing things... vintage chairs (4 of them, eep), a desk, a hat box, and lots and lots of other stuff.  Not to mention, a serious adrenaline high.  Winning a bidding war in real life, not just eBay-style, is INSANELY thrilling!

So, needless to say... we needed another fix.  We went to another auction just last night, hoping for some more goodies.

I actually remembered to take a picture of the auction hall this time

It wasn't nearly as exciting as the first auction, I'll admit.  Prices were a bit higher... or we've just gotten cheaper?  At the first auction we went to they were selling TABLES of stuff for $2... but at this auction things were going for hundreds.  And none of the auctioneers even did bidding below $5, it seemed.  But check out some of the treasures we found!

a couple rad blue G.E. fans, and a couple wooden crates

a hat box from Peck's in Lewiston, Maine (love finding local things) along with quite a few vintage hats

an old railroad lantern

three old tin lunchboxes (one still had a thermos!)

a tin picnic basket

and last but not least.... this bad mamajamma of a statue:

 there was a huge lot of golden/bronzed statues and figurines... everyone bid on all of them, and this was the last one in the lot.  the auctioneer described it as "two people sort of goin' at it on a hand" and the room burst into giggles.  I'm pretty sure I actually heard some old ladies blush.  They started the bidding at $15.  It quickly went down to a starting bid of $5... still nothing.  When the auctioneer called $5 again, I couldn't resist.  I raised my number and said "oh yeah".  and I won.

there was an old man behind me who actually patted me on the back when I won.  And when I was in line to pay up at the end, there was an adorable old lady who said "you'll have to hide that statue in your bedroom!". I told her I intended to display it proudly.  (truthfully, I think we're going to sell it at the flea market in Brunswick, so if you want it... it'll be there this weekend...)

all in all: a roaring success, I'd say!  Even for the statue alone :)

so, who's Lucille?

I'm pretty sure everyone we know has asked us who Lucille is.  We wouldn't name our shop Lucille's if there wasn't one specific Lucille who we were looking to pay homage to, right?  Instead of answering you directly (because what fun would that be?), I offer you a list of possibilities.

Perhaps our inspiration was the lovely Lucille Ball?

OR B.B. King's legendary guitar Lucille?

OR LUCILLE BLUTH? i mean, who isn't inspired by her?

or, even better... Lucille 2!

OR maybe we decided to name our business after Kate's cat?

OR, maybe we just put a bunch of ideas for a business name in a hat and pulled out Lucille's and kind of fell in love with it?  What do YOU think?  We'll never tell (unless you bribe us with alcohol and chips, then we'll talk)