Fiesta ware - the winner of our everyday dishes

I know we are like most vintage collectors... our cupboards are full of mixed and matched vintage dishes and  drinking glasses. We set a goal a few months ago to start with dishes.... pick our favorite patterns, narrow them down, stick with collecting one type and sell the rest.  The problem that we faced with 50s plates and china is that  most of what we found were chipped, or ended up being chipped by us over the past 5 years. The patterns however are phenomenal. The most durable we have are the Corelle dishes which are more from the 70's, but we don't like the patterns. So after much thinking and shopping around we decided to go with Fiesta!

We love the history behind these dishes and thought it would be best to start from scratch and purchase brand new sets of colors we wanted. These are going to be our everyday dishes, so collecting the 'old' dinnerware is probably not a good idea due to lead and radioactivity issues of the past. We decided on ivory, paprika and turquoise. We got several sets of each color. LOVE THEM! The best part is that these come with a 5 year chip guarantee.

We are now left with more mixed and matched dinner plates of the past then you can shake a stick at. We are keeping my parents Blue Heaven dish set that were a wedding gift back in 1959. These are display only. I also want to keep a 1940's set of dishes for special occasions. The rest, from Corelle to Franciscan are going to sold in our next garage sale to other homes that hopefully really need the pattern.  I look forward to having an organized cupboard, but fear what I will do the next time I see a beautiful vintage plate at a garage/ estate sale.

If it were 1920....

I would mail order one of these....

and one of these...

Can you imagine being able to mail order something so beautiful?

Coffee thoughts....

I'm sitting here drinking a cup of coffee, watching an old episode of Alfred Hitchcock. I am happily thinking that in 9 months from now we will be back on our old old home in north texas, where the garage sales are plentiful and vintage items numerous. We have been renting in the far west texas desert for the past year  as my roommate finished his thesis. There is really nothing out here... no auctions, very few garage sales and the thrift store is pretty much 1980s and 1990s junk. I am very appreciative of the few small finds that I have come across. I am counting the days. 9 months and I will be back in my 1950s home with its original hardwood floors, gas range, crown molding and vintage rose garden. I miss sushi, rain, Megan and even Walmart (sorry Megan, didn't mean to put your name in the same sentence as Walmart).  I guess you really don't appreciate what you have until its far far away. Thank goodness I only rented our old house out instead of selling. I can't wait to be home again...

Bought it just because they brought back the old logo

I really don't use Brillo pads, but the box at the store just sang to me. Especially the top of it, exclaiming its made with Shine-o-matic detergent! I wish more companies would do this. Nothing beats an old logo...

Ever buy something, not really knowing why you are buying it?

I just picked up this vintage light fixture globe at the thrift store. I really don't know why. I think I have modern looking globe in a hallway in my old house that we are moving back into at the end of the year that this would look good in. But i don't know the measurements of the existing fixture. Not really sure why I bought this other than it was $1.00 and I like old like fixture globes. Hope I can find a hallway for it.

Gravel art rocks a go-go

Stopped by the thrift store today and found a huge basket of vintage gravel art rocks. The really cool old gravel art pieces on ebay go for a pretty penny, so I thought I would try my hand at making a replica or two for myself. The lady was adding up the price of each little bag and finally gave up and just gave me a cheap price for the whole thing. Here's to hoping I can actually do this without screwing things up...

Lustre-Creme. If it was good enough for the stars of the '50s then its good enough for me

If you google Lustre Creme, there is no shortage of 1950's ads featuring Hollywood stars boasting about how this shampoo makes their hair beautiful. I actually found a store that still manufactures and sells it. I am not sure how close it is to the original product, but it does have a nice clean smell. My order came in today and they are having a 2 for the price of 1 special. So here is to hoping that it gives me Hollywood hair. After all, 4 out of 5 former top movie stars used it! The ads say so, so it must be true!
Update- Just used it and a little goes a long way. I have short hair, and about a dime size makes a lot of foamy lather. The smell is great and the first rinse leaves your hair squeaky clean! I love it!! It has a wonderful clean smell... not the apply fruity stuff of today. I can only explain it as a vintage clean smell.