Two Days in Atlanta!

We used Air BnB again when staying in Atlanta. I love that site! We stayed at this listing and it was amazing! It was in Midtown but in a residential area with old houses. The host was super nice too. I kinda hated that we were only staying one night!

 Have you ever stayed somewhere using Air BnB? Basically people can rent out their spaces, sometimes a room, sometimes a full house. We rented an apartment in Detroit last year the same way and loved it. You can stay in some cool places for a fraction of what it would cost to stay in the same area in a hotel. We're using it for our beach vacation this summer too!

 Loved that lamp!

We got to Atlanta on Sunday and after the puppet museum we went to dinner and then out to a drag show at Burkharts. I was worried there won't be any going on Sunday night (the drag scene in Nashville is pretty dead Sunday nights) but the show was really funny and we had a great time. I didn't take any photos though. 

We went down to the five points area because I remembered liking the store Junkman's Daughter a long time ago. They charge to park down their now which is kinda lame. This pizza place is cute though! They didn't have vegan pizza though. Dang. 

 I want that neon pizza sign for my front window!

 Junkman's Daughter wasn't as great as I remembered. But the paintings on the building were awesome.

On the drive down it felt like we saw those little sticker families were on every car. Travis and I kept pointing them out and laughing, and then we saw these cutes ones! Best ones I've seen!

 We went to a place called Soul Vegetarian for dinner and it was SO GOOD! It was cafeteria style and it was hard to decide what to get since everything was vegan. Travis got lasagna AND macaroni and cheese! It turned out to be a great choice because both were delicious! Look at that gooey cheese!

 Those sweet potatoes are the best I've ever had. Mmm I want some more right now!

 On Monday we had planned to go to some antique and vintage stores. But somehow every year I forget it is Memorial Day and everything was closed! I was especially bummed about this place! Doesn't it look amazing??

 I would take that sign with the ice cream cone for the front of my house. 

 I LOVE that huge wonder bread sign!

 This one looked awesome too. Oh well, next time.

 Look at this place! Can you read the window writing? It is a store that sells "Needlepoint Dog Accessories and Stuff." I wish I was still open! Phyllis and Priscilla need some new accessories.

 Since everything was closed we ended up going to see X-Men: Days of Future Past or whatever. It was pretty good! That young Magneto, Yowza! After the movie we headed back home, with a stop in Chattanooga for our favorite sandwich in the world! That's right, we went to Sluggo's to get the vegan club. Oh man it is always so GOOD!

 Those pinto beans!

 We also went by Cashew in Chattanooga because I can't resist those donuts! Travis got an oreo brownie, which you can see on the left. Ah!

 Some place in Nashville needs to start stocking vegan donuts. Or maybe I should try to make some. The lemon is my favorite!

IWe had a great little trip to Atlanta, and it made me really ready for our longer vacation. Just six weeks away!

Vintage in Chattanooga

We seem to end up in Chattanooga a few times a year and we always go to Sluggo's for lunch, then go by the Knitting Mill Antique Mall. There are some great booths in there (and some REALY terrible ones) but we always find something to bring home. 

 There is one booth FULL of amazing vintage Christmas but the prices are insane. I feel like the same stuff has been in her cases for years! Gimme some of those pine cone gnomes!

 Funny pink poodle made of some kind of fur.

 I kind of regret not buying one of these vintage barbie photos. I wonder if the person whose booth it is made them! Isn't that cute?

 The one of them in the surf!

 I love that big chalkware pig! And look at that gorgeous globe!

 I brought home that little gnome! He is actually a dream pet! 

 These are tiny 1960's swim trunks! I LOVE them! There were some cute pepsi ones with hot air balloons on them.

 I brought a few vintage photos home from this big box.

 Space mug! Very tempting.

 This embroidered quilt really broke my heart! Isn't it amazing! Look at the baby cutting the cat's hair! And that squirrel! It was well over 300 dollars though. Oh well. We brought home the gnome, some photos, and a neat roll of vintage labels that look great in Travis' medical collection cabinet.

 Like I was saying, we went to lunch at Sluggo's. It is one of our favorite places ever!

 We got a pot stickers appetizer. Mmmm it was so good. 

 And of course, the vegan club. We always get the same dang thing. It is just so good!

Also! When I was looking up Sluggo's address I saw there was a new vegan place in town called Cashew. The thing that really caught my eye in the listing was they had donuts! I haven't had a donut since going vegan and had been thinking about donuts lately and wishing there were vegan ones in town. These were yummy and really hit the spot! Especially the lemon one on top!
Thanks for the good time Chattanooga!

Digging for dishes at Deck's!

Back in September fellow Nashville blogger and all around good egg Eartha Kitsch posted about Deck's Glassware in Chattanooga. You can check out her posts here and here! And while you are there follow her and bug her to post some more! Her posts are some of my favorites!
Ever since I read those posts I have been talking about going. Travis has told me to go on my day off, we've talked about going together a million times, but it never worked out. I was off this past Saturday and we had no plans (this never happens. I work retail so usually I have to ask to be off on a weekend) so Travis mentioned Deck's again. I wasn't sure I wanted to make the two hour drive, but I'm so glad we did!

Deck's is a small warehouse nestled among apartment complexes and small neighborhoods in Chattanooga. It was opened in the 1960's and sold restaurant ware, which is the heavy china dishes that you find in restaurants. We have been talking about getting new china for everyday use (I have a set of Martha Stewart dishes and we have broken SO MANY) and what is better than deadstock restaurant china from the 60's and 70's? Nothing that's what!
When you first walk into Decks there are two rooms with neatly arranged dishes. I knew from Eartha's post that we needed to ask to see the china in the warehouse. The owner, Chester, is nice as can be and gave us gloves to dig around with. He opened the warehouse door and this is what we saw...

Piles and piles of china as far as the eye could see! This stuff has been sitting her for over 30 years! It was really dark, and dirty, and the plates were pretty precariously stacked, but we had a blast looking through them.

You would have to spend days there to see everything. There were at least three HUGE rooms and almost all the floor place looked like this....

I keep seeing things I wish I had looked at more closely when going through these pics...

Travis went out to get his flashlight so we could really get a look at what was in this corner. I lightened these photos a LOT. It was so dark in there! And not heated! Thankfully it wasn't  9 degrees that day like it has been lately. It warmed up to 55 and it was just a little chilly in the warehouse. I can't imagine how miserable it would be in the summer!

I tried to stick to dishes with blue on them, but some of the other patterns were too good! And we resisted bringing home mugs/tea cups because we have too many already.

We came home with that box full! I remember that we had 22 full sized plates. And a pile of small plates, a few bowls, and some little platters. And it was a great price! We spend less than 50 dollars on the whole haul!

Here are a few before pictures: 

If there were lots of the same pattern I tried to bring home the cleanest. That should tell you how DIRTY this stuff was! It's mostly just dirt/mud though. Travis complained a LOT about all the pigeon droppings. I tried to avoid bringing any of that home.

Don't you love those little flower bowls? I brought home four with matching plates. I think total those set me back 6 bucks!

We followed Eartha's advice and soaked them all in a big tub of hot water first! We left them over night then Travis pulled them all out, gave them a scrub, and popped them into the dishwasher. They all came out looking as good as new!

I'll show you some close ups of what we brought home soon! Now I just have to rearrange my cabinets and ruthlessly go through my existing stuff. I have a weakness for vintage kitchenware so it is going to be hard! Wish me luck!