Instalife

I haven't done one of these posts since January! Instagram is my favorite social media thingy and it kind of kills my desire to take my regular camera out all the time. But I love how I'm able to capture life quickly and share it. My user name is Raesock if we aren't friends yet! Here is a little of what we've been up to lately. Life has been busy and fun!

The biggest thing going on right now is our purchase of a Stella Fireball for Travis. He has been riding the bus since January and has gotten tired of the hour and a half commute each day (we live only 4 miles from his work). So we are buying a scooter from a friend for him to ride. I'm sure you'll be seeing more about it soon.

 Summer is upon us here and I'm trying to get out on the lake as much as I can! My team at work went on a team build last week to clean up an island and rented a pontoon boat! It was the best!! And wasn't as expensive as I expected. I'm hoping to get a group of friends to pitch in and rent one later this summer We also went out with another friend on his little boat recently. Here's hoping it happens more this summer!

 Speaking of summah I got to meet one of my favorites, Howard Kremer! He co-hosts my favorite podcast, Who Charted, so I was stoked that his comedy tour was coming through town! He opened for Brody Stevens. I'm so happy I got to meet him, he was so nice! He knows all about my new summah suit. Remember, don't start this summah in last years suit!

 I'm kind of addicted to Simpson's Tapped Out on my iPad. And I love that little three legged dog!

Here were are at the Schermerhorn! Travis' parents are part of the Nashville Choir and were able to get us free tickets to Les Miserables at the Symphony center downtown. They sang in the chorus. The show was AMAZING. Lots of the cast had played the roles on Broadway or national tours. I loved it so much, and cried at least 5 times! The photo on the right is from when I cleaned out my backseat. I might have a problem when it comes to Life Factory bottles. I think I have 12.Geeze!

I went with some friends to Tribe to see the season finale of Rupaul's Drag Race. As you can see, I was team Adore! I was ok with Bianca winning too. I'm sad I have to wait until next February for the next season.
Travis got a pass to go to a restaurant supply store. We bought a new frying pan, and a giant bottle of his one true love, Frank's Red Hot. I got a case of San Pellegrino Blood Orange. The BEST!

 We're still doing taco night once a week. It is my favorite night! 

My favorite cake, and a beautiful wedding cake at a friend's wedding! She got it from Whole Foods! Can you believe that?

 I was going through some files recently and found Scampi's adoption papers. Travis picked her out at Happy Tales Humane 8 years ago this week! She was three then so that makes her 11 years old! I love that sassy kitty.

He refused to pull his shirt up for a photo. Haha! 

And then a couple shot on our 6 year wedding anniversary. 

We got to hang out with our nephew this past weekend. Look how big he is! And look at that cool dude look on his face. Also check out my new karaoke machine! We went to a barbecue recently and the lady of the house said I could have this karaoke machine that someone had given to them. Mine is on it's last legs so I'm pretty stoked! It also came with a BUNCH of new cds! I've got over 1000 songs now! Maybe I should start my own karaoke business.

 If you follow me on instagram you saw this recent drama. I took Priscilla to a new vet for her yearly check up and she had a bad reaction to the vaccine. This is at a stop light on our way back, her face blew up so much more! It was red and scared me so bad. The whole visit was weird, I had to ask the vet to check her teeth and ears. Shouldn't that be standard for a check up? I know that the vaccine reaction could happen anywhere, but I probably won't be back to that office.

 Speaking of my pug angels, they are just as cute as always.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what else this summer brings!

Vintage Photo Friday: Displaying My Collection

I've been making it a point to get all the photos I've collected over the past few years together in one place. I keep finding little stashes of them around the house but I THINK I've found them all. Recently I've been working on getting them all into the blank scrapbooks I've been collecting just for that purpose. Here are most of them, unsorted.

I started by sorting them into loose categories. It gave me such a dorky thrill to lay them all out! This isn't even half of them. It is my favorite collection by far.

My collection started with just dog photos, but it has expanded to include many other things.

After a few hours I had them like this. The cetegories are dogs, cats/other animals, vacation/awkward swimsuits, weird, favorites, and "other."

Yesterday I finally got around to putting some of them in this book. The cats were VERY into "helping" me with this task.

II bought this scrapbook at an estate sales a few years ago. It is the biggest, unused one I have found. 

It just had the dedication in the front, and "Christmas 1945" written on one page. I wonder why "Mother" never used it. I'm using it for my vintage dog photos, since it is pretty big. Hopefully I'll be able to get all my photos in there.
At first I planned on using only vintage photo corners to get the photos in, but I almost never come across them so I decided to just get modern ones. They are acid free and will help keep the photos in good shape anyway.

Thanks for holding those photos down Scampi.

And yes Murray, I did need some help flattening the pages out! So sweet.

I worked on this for about two hours while watching the last two episodes of series two of Call the Midwife. Have you seen it yet? It is SO GOOD! The 1950's styling is incredible and the storytelling is excellent! I cry during pretty much every episode. I can't wait for series three to come out on Netflix!

I finally got the cats OFF my work space by putting this manilla envelope out on the table. Cats are so weird. But it worked! They took turns sitting on it.

I ran out of photo corners (I had one box of 250 and somehow thought that would be enough) so I'll have to get more and finish another day.

So that is how I display my photo collection! It makes them so much easier to look through and enjoy. 

The March Flea!

I'm on a roll so far this year and haven't missed the Nashville Flea Market yet! I'm not sure how my resolve will hold up once it gets hot and humid, but for now, I'm loving it! This past Saturday was the nicest flea weather in a while! Travis and I also didn't have any pressing obligations until much later in the day so we had plenty of time to browse. Here are some of the sights we saw: 

I'm actually working on cleaning out my front room so I can make my wild west guest room dream come true. I was very tempted by this photo.

 Cute!

 This guy had a table full of cool old circus ephemera! And that great Johnny Cash photo.

 I always love these decals! It makes me want to bring home a big crib, though what the heck would I do with it? Maybe the pugs need a new bed....haha, just kidding Travis!

That sweet little tiny is an "eternal match"! That little knob pulls out and it has a wick on the end. You strike it on the steel strip on the side and it lights! I wanted it, but left it behind. Not before bringing home three other tiny things from this booth.

 We went down an aisle I don't usually include on my route and found a whole booth full of vintage salt and pepper shakers! Travis claims they are always there. I was totally overwhelmed and had a hard time choosing what to get! They had so many I've been wanting!

A box full of the cutest vintage cards! Though 3 for a dollar was a pretty steep asking price if you ask me!

 Something about that little weird horse was appealing to me.

 I hadn't ever seen this brand before, and I love that lid! Not enough to pay $115 bucks though.

 Some of the weirdest embroidery I've ever seen. Are they kissing? Or just awkwardly placed?

 And this booth had all the prettiest pyrex, as usual. The prices are HIGH so I've never bought any, but I love looking. I'd love to have that pink gooseberry set!

 Here is what we came home with, minus the marlin thermometer (that is from an estate sale, I'll tell you about it soon) and Travis got another knife or two with his birthday money.

 The shakers I picked. I couldn't resist the haunted eyes of the dogs! And I've been wanting some anthropomorphic veggie guys for a while! I actually need a new shelf for my shaker collection, I've filled up the four I have!

 I bought the guy on the left at the flea, the lady on the right I've had for a year or two. The little frames are mirror. The one the left is just a mirror on the back and I wonder if a lady kept it in her purse to check her make up and look at her sweetheart. I thought they made a nice pair, and those are my two favorite colors!

 I'm on the lookout for vintage barettes but don't find them often. And that kiss timer is a brooch! Isn't it cute? You can flip it and the sand runs out! Haha, I hadn't ever seen another like it! The charm on the bracelet spins too, the other side has Robert Kennedy.

 Travis got this little red cross sewing kit for his medical/red cross collection.

 And of course my photos from the flea. Not a huge haul, people were asking more than usual for them this month. I found some gems though.

 Including this 8x10 of some little bitty poodles performing in the circus!

 i would have passed this one up, Travis pointed it out to me. Do you see what is on their oar? A little beaver! I'm so glad he looked closely and saw it!

 The flea was pretty good to us this month! April should be great too! And it will be right around my birthday!
Here are some gratuitous cat photos. Scampi and Murray can't resist posing whenever I have stuff out on the kitchen table. Look at those beautiful blue eyes!