Gratuitous Pug Post!

Here are some photos of Phyllis and Priscilla. Just because I love them.

I love all those wrinkles and when they look back at me.

 Phyllis would stay outside all day if I would let her! 

 When it's really  nice I ask Travis to set up his camping hammock for me in the backyard. I love to read out there and Phyllis loves to sniff the air and bark at people walking through the alley. And look at Priscilla's face! She is worried I am going to kiss her. She hates it when we kiss her!

The right picture is Priscilla getting her nails trimmed. Our vet taught us this trick she calls "The Pug Boat." You put your dog on her back in between your legs with her feet sticking up. For some reason it makes them stay really still and let you cut their nails without the usual squirming. It has made cutting their nails so much easier!

Vintage Photo Friday: Dog Favorites!

For a while now I've been stashing the vintage photos I buy all over the house in little piles. Today I tried to get them all together and sort them into categories so I can put them into the vintage albums I've been stock piling. When I laid them all out I almost couldn't believe how many I have. I filled my whole kitchen table and wasn't even half done! Here is a small selection: 

The first thing I did was separate out some of the best ones to add to my shadowbox wall. I finally bought some new frames and the wall is almost full! So here are some of my favorites from my dog photo collection: 

 I have quite a few photos of dogs on military bases, but this one is the best! He is loving that soda pop!

 A photo with puppies is like hitting a jackpot for me! I love all these little guys lined up in the wagon. I feel like I know what that little girl is thinking. She just can't believe her luck! 8 puppies!

I bought a lot of photos from this familiy. They had lots of beagles and treated them like one of the family! There are some pictures of this girl hugely pregnant, then this sweet one of her smiling over her litter! Doesn't she look proud? 

And look at those puppy butts! Aren't they sweet? 

I always look through cabinet cards in antique malls but never find ones with dogs. Travis found this one in Louisville and wouldn't let me see it until he bought it! Isn't it perfect? It is one of the best photos in my collection.

I don't know what it is about this photo,but I've always loved it. It might be that huge pipe. And how caught off guard they are. The back says "Pat and Bob Sigmier and Freckles. March 1951"

Do you see the boy's pant leg rolled up for riding the bike? I wonder what the girls said to him to get him off of it so they could post with their little dog.  The back says : "Ain't this cute? 1 and Sammy insisted on getting on the bike. The background is certainly elegant, it looks like the slum district! It was taken at the back of the building, there wasn't any sun in front."

The little spaniels are sweet, but that monkey fur coat it what steals the show in this photo!

I couldn't get this one to scan well, but I love that tiny little dog! Something about how straight he's sitting and his little closed eyes just kills me.

Some of the first vintage dog photos I picked up where a set of about 10 photos of boston terriers. There is one with three tiny puppies in a basket that is hiding around somewhere, but I like these too. This is off topic, but when we were buying photos for a flea market vendor this past weekend he told us he has a customer that buys old photos where the photographer's shadow is in the photo. I think that is such a cool idea! I thought of it again when I saw the shadow on the stairs.

And last but not least this was sent to me by my blog friend Poppy. She posted about it on her blog, I emailed her asking if I could buy it because I LOVE it, and she said she was planning on sending it to me already! Could this photo be any sweeter? The woman's name on the back is too hard to read, it looks like "Bithermik Warna"but I can read the dogs name, Spoofy!! It might be my favorite out of my whole collection!

Estate Sale Report!

We went to an estate sale last Saturday that had some really promising photos! Full of vintage kitchenware, kitschy Christmas, vintage linens, pretty much everything I like in a sale! Sadly, all the other vintage lovers in town must have been excited too, because my Saturday it was really picked over.

The bottom floor was this strange low ceilinged apartment space. I loved all the floral drapes, but Travis wasn't into them.

There was a little kitchen and everything. Travis is in there for scale. He is right under six feet tall and the ceiling was probably six inches from his head. Check out the tiled counter tops. I love that.

I was REALLY into those drapes on the front window. Sadly upon closer inspection they were too damaged to bring home.

For the most part the sale was really reasonably priced. But this cracked me up. What did they thing it was? Because that is a Mulan toy from McDonalds.

This funny rick rack/tea cup creation made me think of Eartha Kitsch. Those pupiless eyes are kind of terrifying!

This walnut belt was KILLING ME! I wanted it so bad! Look at the little dangling walnuts in the front! Sadly, it was too small. Travis talked me out of buying it "Just in case." I will have to be happy with the photo.

There was another kitchen on the top floor of the house! Look at that counter. 

These candles were so cute! Now I kind of wish I had brought home that rabbit. 

We were really looking hard for something to bring home. I don't go out to sales much anymore, so it is really disappointing to go out and not find anything!

Here is what I came out with! I saw it on a bookcase and loved it but figured Travis would say no. (I don't want to make it sound like he is some mean guy who doesn't "let me" get what I want. He is the voice of reason for this knick knack obsessed lady, haha!) But he walked up to me with it in his hand a few rooms later because he knew I would love it. There is just something about a tropical souvenir! It's probably from Florida, because there was a lot of Florida stuff in the house. It has gone to live on my bedroom shelf with my kitschy snow globe collection.

Now that it is warming up and the sale listings are more plentiful I'm going to start trying to go out more. I've really been missing digging for silly treasures!

Travis' 29th Birthday!

Like I said a few days ago, Travis turned 29 on the 22nd! It was lucky it fell on a Saturday this year, and I was able to get off. We spent the whole day together and had such a good time! The weather was so nice and everything seemed to go our way. We started off the morning with some vegan waffles, made by the birthday boy himself! I made him put birthday candles in EVERYTHING this year. It made us laugh every time!

Scampi is Travis' cat, and she loves to be near him whenever she gets the chance. She sat in the chair next to him while we ate and he opened presents. I got him the Indiana Jones collection on blu ray and this cute manatee tea infuser. Do you like Travis' mug? It is a vintage one by a Japanese company (I forget the name.) We have a duck one he loves, then he found this one recently at a local thrift. 

 We went to an estate sale in East Nashville. Lauren over at Apron Strings Vintage wrote a post saying fellow Nashvillians needed to check it out. I wasn't able to get there until Saturday so the good stuff was gone! But you could tell by what was left that is was awesome! I'll have a post about it for you soon.

We stopped for second breakfast at Khan's. It is all vegan and they make an amazing vegan breakfast biscuit! We went in just to get cupcakes to eat later, but the biscuits were calling.

We were cracking up putting the candle on this soda! The waitress thought we were weirdos. Which is ok cuz it's true.

Yum! Seitan bacon egg and cheese! 

And of course there is the candle in his sausage, egg, and cheese. 

After this we spend a few hours at the flea market, which you can read about in my post from yesterday. Travis had some birthday money to spend but couldn't find the perfect thing.

It was so beautiful we wanted to spend some time in our yard when we got back home. Travis found this nice old Bocce set at the Goodwill Outlet last year. It has been sitting in our utility room but we never got around to playing it.

If you haven't played before, one person throws the small white ball, called the palino, then you take turns trying to throw your balls close to it. The balls are heavy and are made of stone. Our yard is full of mole hills so you couldn't really roll them. You had to throw them high up and hope they landed close! It was way more fun than I thought it would be!

Phyllis was an captive audience.

Here we were tied. You play to 11. And I won! I couldn't believe it!

We really tried to get a photo of him throwing a ball with a lit candle, but it was a little windy and it never worked! We had fun trying though!

Look at that perfect form!

The pugs would sit at our feet while we played, then follow us across the yard to pick up the balls. Then they would just sit there until we herded them back to where we were throwing from. We didn't want to hit them! Those almost blind old ladies didn't know what was going on!

After we finished the game I spread out a blanket and laid in the sun with the girls. Phyllis loves sun bathing and doesn't get to do it much. That is her over the shoulder pin up look.

Travis cleaned off our Bocce set. They look great now! Maybe we should have done that first! Haha. Look at our poor faded pink siding. It used to be that dark red in the top right but it faded in the sun.

Priscilla was VERY interested about what was going on in this box. 

Mmmm! Giant chocolate filled cupcakes with strawberry icing! 

The girls and I sang happy birthday to Travis then they stared at him while he ate his treat. 

Travis had a tattoo appointment at six so we went to our favorite local burrito place for dinner, Baja Burrito! He had the seitan chorizos con papas tacos! We ate so much good food that day!

I got the peasant plate. Their beans are my favorite. And the fruit tea. And the guacamole salad.

Then I sat for a few hours while Travis got started on his stomach piece! It was very painful but it looks awesome! Our artist and friend Jason St. Clair did it, he works at Flash City and is amazing! Of course we had to get one last candle photo!

Hahaha! It was such a good day! I'm so happy we were able to do so much fun stuff (and eat so much good food!) Happy 29th to my best dude!