It's hard for me to pass up white ironstone china, especially when I find it so inexpensively. This seems to be the one item that thrift store personnel don't seem to know much about so it is usually priced really well.

It was first patented in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century but made its debut in the United States in the 1840s. It was a cheaper and more durable alternative to porcelain. I tend to be drawn to more plain, simplistic ironstone but do love transferware as well, which has a lot of pattern.

In my thrifting travels this week, I ended up finding an array of creamy whites: china, ironstone, pottery and porcelain dishes.

Why I love it:

The pottery piece: It's useful, has a great design, good size and sturdy, appears to be mid-century and was only .25 cents.

The plate: Not vintage but cute and useful.

The Platters: The top two are Johnson Brothers English ironstone. Fine dotted detail, slight crazing (which I don't mind) octagonal shape. The bottom one is a newer, everyday piece, sturdy, oval shaped, perfect condition. I used it tonight to bring the burgers off the grill. I have quite a collection of platters which I use all the time because of their versatility and I have never paid much for them, 2 to 3 dollars max.

Lotus bowls: Size and delicate shape, surprisingly useful and not just for Japanese food. But if they were, it would be ok with me - I could live solely off Japanese food. I have.

The little pitcher: Vintage Tepco China, USA. Tepco made restaurant ware from the 30's until 1968 for the hospitality industry. It's also called Hotel china. Sometimes you can find restaurant ware with the logo of a hotel, airline, restaurant or branches of the military. It's heavier than normal dinnerware because it had to stand up to a lot of use, which is why I love it. I use the pitchers to hold other items like vintage silverware or everyday utensils. I also use them as vases but put a glass inside if there is too much crazing where the water will leak.

Lenox Butler's Pantry vegetable bowl. Why I love it - it's a Butler's Pantry bowl. This is the pattern that I have been wanting forever. The whole line is beautiful and complements any simply patterned dishes, like my standard white. Keeping it monochromatic allows me to use all the different thrift store finds I have and is just easy to throw together for a fun, easy to use collection.

Happy hunting!

Linking to 

The Happy Housie

The Girl Creative

The Shabby Nest

Thoughts from Alice

Natasha in Oz

The Robin's Nest

The Casual Craftlete

Coastal Charm

Nancherrow

Little Miss Celebration

Junior Rangers - US National Park program for kids

There are over 84 million acres of treasured places in The United States of America, They are our national parks and are waiting to be enjoyed. If you're doing any traveling this summer, you may be surprised at just how close you might be to a National Park or historic site. There are over 400 of them! So if you want to see any (which I highly recommend!) and you have children or grandchildren with you, there is a great program for them called The Junior Rangers. 

It's an activity based program where kids complete some easy tasks during a park visit, tell what they learned to a park ranger, be sworn in as a junior ranger, and receive a badge and certificate. They make it super easy. I love these types of things! I remember many road trips when I was young where we explored a historic site or took in a national park while we were traveling in the area. Sometimes they didn't seem as interesting as another but it always made for lasting memories. I think a program like this would've made it even better.

There is also an online program called Web Rangers that my kids do so they can receive badges when we're not traveling to a park. The park service will actually mail you a badge.

Because we live so close to the DC area, we're able to visit fairly often. So last year during the Cherry Blossom festival my kids were sworn in as Junior Rangers after completing three fun craft activities. I don't have the photos with me but will do a photo update when I do. This is what that badge looks like.

And now since we are in Arkansas for work, we are able to visit Hot Springs National Park all the time. So once again, we have some more badges. I wish I had started collecting them earlier since we have been to quite a few historical places and parks in our 22 years as a family. We'll just have to retrace our steps.

If you're like me when you hear the words "National Park," you automatically think of the iconic, maybe more beloved ones of our country, like the top 10 visited in 2014:

Great Smokey Mountains

The Grand Canyon

Yellowstone

Yosemite

Rocky Mountain

Olympic

Zion

Grand Teton

Acadia 

Glacier

They had a staggering 70 million visitors! But there are so many other places that you can take in where you or your children can have the park experience, like the Edgar Allen Poe Natl. Historical site in Philadelphia, Charles Pickney in SC, Ellis Island, Gettysburg, Golden Spike in Utah, The Badlands of SD, Golden Gate Recreation area in CA, Fort Clatsop in Astoria, Fort Vancouver in WA (went both places on field trips and that's where we grew up watching fireworks on the 4th!) There are just too many to list.
So don't worry if you're not in an area with one of the more 'famous' parks. There are just as many interesting and beautiful places to discover and maybe a little more accessible and away from crowds. And to make it easy for you to find one, Here is a list of the participating parks for JRs and also free entrance dates by state! Free is always a plus.

If you find a park near you and have the kids sworn in, let me know!

Have a great day

Love,
L

Yosemite 1994

sharing at The Happy Housie

Story telling on NPR - The Man in the Attic

For years I remember my mom always donating to public radio. She always made a pledge and would get some little gift in the mail. She'd have us listen to all kinds of interesting programs while driving around in the car, even if we did not quite understand the content.

As I got older, I really grew to love it and still look forward to many programs. And just like my mom, I have my kids listen to some of it and use the stories as teaching opportunities. I love it when I can tell that they are actually interested. Many stories you hear are not covered by mainstream media, which is one of the reasons I love NPR and one of the reasons everyone should be listening. Unlike the major networks, National Public Radio is not owned by large companies. There are about 6 major corporations that control 90% of what we read and hear. I think that makes it really difficult to do a completely honest piece about one of their subsidiaries. That's why we need a neutral place to listen to the news.

But it's not just all news and politics! They have great programs like The Best of Car Talk (reruns) which is hilarious! And I love Wait Wait Don't tell me! I have to go to one of their live shows someday. The Diane Rehm show always has great guests. All things Considered is wonderfully informative and Radiolab has great podcasts. World Cafe explores music of all kinds...I mean who else is going to bring you Elvis' epic concert, Blue Hawaii??  (Well, besides someone on YouTube.)
Anyway, I could go on and on.

So instead, if you haven't already heard this story, let me introduce you to
The Man In The Attic. I was driving home from work when I heard this and stayed in my car in the driveway so I could finish listening. It had me on the edge of my seat! Only 16 minutes, enjoy!

Love,
L

Friday Finds - reprising my weekly post

Despite the fact that flea markets and thrift stores are overpriced here, I was able to find a few things that left me feeling pretty good about my purchases. Even though we probably won't be living here very long, we don't want the house to look like squatters live here. So the first thing we purchased was a great, down-filled sofa off Craigslist and then found this massive clock at a church yard sale.

This cute little mid-century stool was a great buy. It just needs new fabric to give it a burst of life and a little Minwax stain pen for touch ups on the wood.

I found a large glass coffee table at a 2nd hand shop. The top is so large and heavy that it's still in the back of my car waiting for Jon to help me lift it. I'm painting the base to freshen it up with a new line of chalk paint. It's always nice to see what new products are out. We've used 3 different brands in the shop, and honestly, the only difference in them are price and array of colors.

Just the base

The leather side chair was a great find as well from another thrift store which may receive a coat of light gray paint. I haven't decided. Not everything needs to be painted but this may be a little too dull, especially with the yellow leather and the fact that we're drowning in brown.

And last but not least, I picked up this window from a flea market. I paid more than I wanted but liked the detail on it. I'm planning on a light white wash to marry the different types of wood but will still allow the natural wood to show.

So that is the round up this week. There are more but mainly just decorative items which don't need any rehab, thank goodness. So for all pieces, including the couch, we only spent $240.00. Not a bad start to furnish the living room.

Have a great 4th of July weekend to the USA and a great weekend the world over! :)

Love,
L




Linking up at Shabby Nest

The New Mrs. Adventures

 View from the Fridge

 Funky Junk Interiors

 Fine Craft Guild

Thoughts from Alice

DIY Showoff

The Casual Craftlete

The Happy Housie

Supreme Court Decision - thoughts

Because the tag line of this blog says 'a little of everything,' I had to comment on the historic decision by the Supreme Court, ruling in a 5 to 4 vote that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
And my comment is that it doesn't bother me at all.

I could give a long explanation as to why a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, me, would support it but I won't do that because for me it's simple:
I want people to be happy. We were not meant to go it alone in life. And no one's marital status has an effect on my family, period.

What does have an effect on my family
is the economy of the United States and Congress' revolving door of lobbyists who are given special privileges and are allowed to make policy that ONLY benefit the companies they lobby for. That is what is detrimental to my family.

Opponents say that this decision will weaken the family. I say that companies who slash benefits, send jobs overseas, skirt around paying taxes and pollute the environment are weakening the family.

I could go on and on but you know where I am on it. Everyone deserves to live a good life in the way they've set out for themselves, that's where I am.

@Home Again - A shop in a co-op

So a few months ago my friend Starr and I decided to open a little shop. We looked around for locations, mulled a few over, tossed around budget numbers and ultimately decided on opening a fairly large space inside a co-op rather than our own storefront for now. About 13 years ago I had a space inside a co-op in Utah. After working for an awesome interior designer, I felt that she had given me great inside info about how to start my own home accessories/vintage store and she really encouraged me to branch out. Not long after I began mine, my husband was transferred to Washington DC and I had to close out. Fast forward 13 years and I finally get to try it again!

We didn't go into this haphazardly, we really set goals and a vision of where we want to go with this which I'll address at some point because it may help if you're thinking of opening a shop. The market may seem saturated but there are ways of separating yourself from the crowd.

After frantically sourcing accessories and reworking/redoing furniture, we opened on April 1st and have stayed busy ever since. Its been a lot of work and so much fun, even with kids' chaotic schedules, family life and each of us holding down jobs outside of this venture as well. It truly is a partnership which I enjoy and appreciate so much.

We have a variety of new and vintage accessories and furniture and are constantly sourcing items. I try to really have one of a kinds. It doesn't surprise my husband when he opens the car door and finds another piece of furniture. Its amazing what you can fit inside of a Durango, like a 10 ft kayak. (That wasn't for the shop.) I do have a 1960's Drexel bar table in the back of my car right now, though. I couldn't pass it up after spying it at a thrift shop. A problem for me is that I mainly buy what I like and I want to keep just about everything. I also buy some things that are not my taste but I know someone would like it. Researching trends, antiques and guestimating what will be up and coming really is the fun of it I think.

I need to take some newer pictures but this gives you an idea of where we started. Lots more to come!

Getting ready to paint

Taken as we were setting up in late March. This is just a corner of the space. It's a little crowded now.

Have a great day,

L

A random snapshot of thoughts/happenings

So I said I was supposed to have all this time to get back to blogging...

Jon still lives in Arkansas and I don't, this is true. We'll be there over the summer so that will be a blast. We'll just go back and forth until we figure out what we want to do.

Charley graduated from high school last week! I am so happy for her to move on and discover what she really wants to do. So that's 2 down, 3 to go. Cliche or not, the time does go quickly.

Graduation 

A major spring cleaning mode has hit. While Jon was home last week, we cleaned most of the garage. Now I'm going through each bedroom and pulling out everything no one uses or plays with. I took two bags of kids' clothes to consign at a cute little shop in my town. She gave me 50 bucks right then. Sweeeet.

Baseball and soccer just ended...thankfully! I love that my kids are in sports, it was just a challenge to be at both games at the same time. I know to have a better plan for next year.

End of year school carnival

My friend Starr and I opened a little shop in a co-op on April 1st. It's been going well. We have been really busy since merchandise is turning over quickly and we hate to have an empty space. I still have a part time job as well as Starr so between the two, we have full-time jobs! I left my life sucking full time (corporate) job on March 1st and even though I'm just as busy but have less money, I enjoy this so much more and can schedule everything around my kids' schedules.

Starr and me with a load of barnwood 

I feel like doing more on instagram so if you want to peek in, find me at @lauramontgomery1, the shop is @athomeagain

I finally started reading "All the light we cannot see" I love to read but can never make the time. So this summer I'll sit lazily by the lake while the kids fish and read to my heart's content. (In between helping reel in a fish or two.)

Our back yard in Arkansas and the boys fishing

I've decided to really save up for a trip back to Japan. I want to take Jon to see my old mission stomping grounds, visit Buddhist temples, see old friends and have real sushi, udon, sukiyaki...we'll just eat our way around the country. I'd like to climb Mt. Fuji again too. It's going to be a slow savings.

Is it hypocritical of me to complain about people complaining on Facebook so much?
Probably, yes.

I sat and talked with my friend Jaime at a get together a week ago. She moved away last year. It filled my heart to just catch up face to face even if it was just an hour. Now if I could just do that with other friends who have moved, it would be most perfect.

Isn't it great, though, if you haven't seen your friend in a while and when you meet up again, you feel as if you just picked up right where you left off? I love that.