The Advent House Sale 2013

The Advent House is a pretty cool place.  It's a hospice house.  They only take two patients at a time and they get an entire suite to themselves.  It feels like a home and the people who work there are volunteers.  There are also rooms for family members to spend the night.  My grandmother spent some time there and I treasure the memories of her that I made there.  It's a great place but it, like so many other wonderful not-for-profits, needs our money to help it run.

Enter the Advent House Sale.  Each year they take donations of household items, toys, decor, electronics, etc. and then put on a huge sale.  The prices are great, the atmosphere friendly and the line to get it happily grows every year.  I take a day off for this sale.  It's serious business.

This year the sale was sadly a little smaller than years past.  I did still find a few presents for people and a few little treasures for myself.  

When you go into a sale like this you want to have a plan.  Where will you go first?  What is most important to you?  What do you want first dibs on?  Christmas/Hoiday?  Linens?  Jewelry?

This year my plan was Jewelry, toys, Christmas.  Jewelry was #1 because there isn't very much of it, but what there is, is pretty good.  Plus, last year I found like 5 Disney pins.  So, you know I'm going to scope that out.  Toys got the #2 spot because of my Etsy page.  I did find quite a few things, so I'm glad I went as quickly as I did.  And Christmas.  Because I love decorating for that holiday and just cannot get enough of it.

These are the things I found in jewelry.  No Disney pins this year.  The beads of the turquoise necklace are nice and heavy. The clasp is sterling silver.  It was $5 and I basically haven't taken it off since I bought it.  The bracelet is tooled and painted leather.  It was $1 and fits me so well.  It's adorable and I love it.  Since it's leather some part of me is distantly sad about it and since I'm a vegetarian I feel guilty that I don't feel really guilty about loving it.  You know?

Here are my itty bits.  You know I love a tiny cute thing.  I collect the tiny Strawberry Shortcake characters and this is my second one this year!  Woo!  I went like two years without finding any.  Yes, I do know that I could go online to Ebay or Etsy and just buy a whole bunch. But where is the fun in that, I ask you?  I'm a hunter, people.

I also found an entire sandwich baggie full of teesy tiny Hallmark ornaments.  Look at these suckers.  I mean, Hallmark.  You  know?  They are trying to kill me, I think.  Ever single thing they made from like 1979-1992 is more cute than the next.  Basically, I'm on the vintage Hallmark train and I'm riding it hard.  All the way to crazy town.

So, In Summary:

If You Find Yourself With Too Much Money, Donate To The Advent House

Vegetarians Wearing Meat Skin

If You Stand Between Me And A Display Of Vintage Hallmark, I Will Gouge Your Eyes Right Out