Car Boot-y

Apparently, due to more language barrier difficulties, I wasn't properly communicating what I wanted when I asked to go to a flea market here. To my current knowledge, what I should have been saying is "car boot sale". It's the same thing. It really is. It's a bunch of people who pull up in their cars/vans/trucks and unload random stuff onto folding tables to sell cheaply & quickly. And they're usually on a Sunday. I don't know what a flea market is over here, but from what I've gathered, there might be fleas involved and I probably should stay away. Lesson learned; another language barrier is overcome.

Sunday was bright and sunny, seemingly the last glimpse of warm weather for a while. After a lot of nagging over breakfast, I convinced  the hubs to drive me to a bi-weekly car boot sale in Ascot. I'm now even more excited to find our own place and begin decorating and filling it. The mid-century and antique furniture, the mixed ornamental china patterns, odd paintings, and travelers' treasures from all sorts of places laid on blankets and metal tabletops. We stood in awe at a table displaying one man's collection of WWII artifacts - German Uboat captains' uniforms and rings, Nazi soldier passport books filled with stamps and notes of where they had been stationed, medals, antique firearms and even movie props - like an old rifle used in the film We Were Soldiers. You just never know what you're going to find at one of these sales, and that's what makes them so much fun to browse.

I managed to wander away with a hippie-esque floral dress for £2, and an antique lapis lazuli bracelet (if you've seen my outfit posts, you'll know how much I love lapis). I'm still sitting here dreaming of "the ones that got away": a long vintage mink coat, a retro picnic basket, and a small antique bistro table & chairs painted with delicate flowers and birds. I think that my personal heaven would be wandering around car boot (flea market) sales for eternity.

As far as the photos go, this was my first time playing with Lightroom. The pics were all taken on my phone, so I had limited resources to work with, as well. I'm still unsure how I feel about it; I know that it's a lot simpler than Photoshop, and quicker, but as a control freak I'm partial to the precise handling that only Photoshop allows. Oh well! Practice makes perfect.

Sunday Funday

A warm and sunny late September Sunday ended up being the perfect day for a little adventure. I'm a sucker for trashy outdoor sales adventures, so this had my name written ALL over it.  Flea market meets carnival meets street hawkers: Yesterday I got to experience the mayhem and magic that is Blackbushe Market. I have to admit, I've been to a lot of outdoor selling/buying events, but nothing quite like this. From a distance, it looks like a county fair; flags marking food trailers selling questionable burgers and endless deep fried eats, children's games and rides towering above the crowds, and colorful tents in long winding rows. But step inside, and nothing is quite as it seems.

The auctioning was the first thing that caught my eye. It's the first time I've had the pleasure of witnessing anything quite like it: a butcher standing above a crowd, shouting out cuts of meat and loading them into a plastic bag, then selling it off to the highest bidder. Same thing was happening at the fruit & vegetable stands, too! What a way to buy the week's groceries... I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was a teensy bit temped to get involved.

I began to get a little discouraged when the first few stalls greeted us with nothing more than cheap handbags and dollar store knick knacks. But between the endless rows of useless and cheap clothes, bedding, plastic odds and ends, and knockoffs, I have to say that I was really surprised at how many of the vendors really exceeded expectations. All in all, it took about an hour to walk around and see everything.  Homemade fudge (I had to have samples of everything, obviously), a Chinese food stand where I FINALLY was able to find and buy sriracha and hot chili oil over here, a greek olive stand that helped me get my weekly fix of my favorite snack, and a great booth selling all kinds of vintage coats (including a 70's green suede one that's still on my mind).

As long as the weather holds out, this is definitely somewhere I'll be returning to occasionally in the months ahead.

City Limits

This past Sunday was a stunning day to be outdoors. My friend Cassie and I escaped for a few hours and took the short ferry ride over to Governor's Island for the Fete Paradiso (photos from that to come, I promise!). 

I'm a little ashamed to admit, I've lived here in NYC (well, Brooklyn, but I work in Manhattan, so close enough) and I had never been to Governor's Island before this past weekend. A beautiful parkscape a short *free* ferry ride outside of the city, perfect for picnicking and wandering and forgetting, if only for a few hours, that the concrete jungle is just beyond that short gap of the East River.