80% Local in The Perfect Storm - Gloucester MA

Are you ready for Tuesday?  I can’t believe how fast Christmas came this year….I seem to say that every year….this year I really mean it though.

The last couple of weekends I have really helped boost my Christmas spirit.  I’ve been “shopping local” and trying to find just the perfect thing for everyone on my list.  

Town tree in Gloucester...totally constructed with lobster pots (or
traps for non-Yankee's)

Last weekend I headed to Gloucester (about 30 minutes from my house) to explore – you know where they filmed the Perfect Storm (and of course the locale of the story the movie was based on).

Gloucester MA
photo source

 There is some irony here given sometimes Christmas shopping can feel like a bit of a perfect storm.  Well, Gloucester last weekend was just the opposite…it was a lovely day and without exception everyone I came in contact with was exceptionally warm and welcoming.  

Lovely proprietor-ess at Pearl's.  She really cared about everyone
who came in and thoroughly supported my 1 for you, 2 for me habit.

Pearl's
222 Main St., Gloucester MA

There are a mix of vintage, green specialty, and general boutique shops on Main Street.  There are also a couple of antique bookstores where I absolutely could have gotten lost in for days…it took all the self-restraint I had not to.  But I trekked on and I definitely checked quite a few gifts off my list.  

Oh my, so much bright shiny goodness at Banana's

How fun is this?
Banana's
74 Main St., Gloucester MA

Couple of “lessons learned” from this 80% local shopping experiment:

• In general I have found the local business folks provide a higher level of service than the big box stores…almost every item I bought was wrapped in a bag with tissue & ribbon that can double for holiday wrapping so I don’t have to rewrap everything.  Can you imagine that happening at Wal-Mart?
• No question there is a much more feeling of community when you are actually shopping in your community!
• The traffic/parking problems of heading to the mall…non-existent. I found on street up front parking everywhere.  Now the parking goddess tends to sit on my shoulder in general (some folks are lucky in gambling, I am lucky in parking) but I didn’t see a lack of parking anywhere.
• You can find the perfect gifts in some of the most unexpected places….I scored big time at the local hardware/lumber store.  They had a little specialty nook with specialty gifts and home decorative items. 

Building Center
1 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA

Some lovelies at the Building Center

More lovelies from the Building Center

• There are certain things that are just impossible to find anywhere but a big box these days…try finding a small inexpensive camera at a local camera shop…for my 8 year old niece (who doesn’t read this blog so I’m not spoiling anything here) so a $200 camera is a bit overkill…we’re talking $50 price range here.  So Best Buy it is and this falls into the 20% non-local budget.  

Funny side story about why I went the camera route for an 8 year old.  A couple of years ago my nephew (who will be 17 next month) got an ipod touch for Christmas.  He wanted one sooooo bad so his other favorite aunts pitched together and bought it for him.  He has really coveted it ever since.  Well, the niece got a hold of it one day and cracked his passcode and decided she would leave him a little gift….250+ pictures of herself!  She just went to town  posing in every way you can imagine a then 5 year old would, with and without Barbie.  We all (including her) thought it was pretty funny…my nephew not so much.  So this year she gets her own camera.

Self portrait

So I have thoroughly enjoyed taking a little time and exploring the wonderful businesses in my area.  Really the only negative for me was it became harder to fight the “one for you, two for me’s” when I was faced with so much loveliness at every stop.  I definitely ended up spending more this Christmas but only because Santa was very very good to me this year :-)

May you all have a very Merry Christmas with all of your families & friends.

Local DC Goodness - Miss Pixie

Ok, so with all of the wonderful pics I’m seeing on everyone else’s blogs in the last couple of weeks I am feeling extremely negligent in my Christmas decorating this year so far.  And since I’m such a slacker I’ll share a little more of my DC adventures today.

While looking for some local DC Christmas shopping opportunities I came upon a vintage shop called Miss Pixie (thanks to my good friend Yelp)…well with that name you know I had to put it on my must see list!
The pictures on Yelp show a pink storefront with black & white awnings…oh yeah….but, not exactly what I found when I arrived.

Miss Pixies
1626 14th St NW, Washington DC

 

Other than a drastically different exterior I was so not disappointed by what I found on the interior.  Such cool things!

How fab are these lanterns!

This was cast iron so was heavier than it looks...would look
so nice in my front entry....

And I came at just the right time of year.  Miss Pixie does Christmas right!  I have absolutely never seen such a collection of vintage Christmas bulbs (aka Shiny Brites).

Biggest regret of my DC trip...not buying up all of these!

And where else are you going to see a blue feathered tree on one side of the store and a pink balsam tree on the other side?

This brings Dr Seuss to mind for some reason :)

I've been looking for one of these this year...a bit
tacky but tacky in a chic kind of way

Did you check out the dresser I painted for my office/project room (if not you can see it here)?  Well, I am super proud of it now…Miss Pixie had this one exactly like it (different color paint) with a $150 price tag on it.  How cool is that…mine cost less than $20 (for paint)!

I love that this was priced at $150 and my exact duplicate cost me $20
in paint & materials.  

No question I picked wisely for my local DC stop…there was so much inspiration here.

Farm table perfection!

I walked away with so many ideas…and a list of other cool shops in the area that Miss Pixie generously shares with any customer with a keen eye to the stack sitting on the counter.  I'm all ready for my next DC adventure!

Amish Country Antiquing Continued - Mad Hatter Antiques

After Adams Antique Mall since we were in “Antiques Capital USA” (Adamstown PA) we continued on to see what more we could squeeze in before everything closed at 5 pm.  I don’t know that I have ever been somewhere where literally all shops close up at 5pm and everyone goes home to their family, Sounds nice in a way doesn’t it…

Mad Hatter Antique Mall
61 Willow Street (corner of Rt 272)
Adamstown, PA

Anyway, our next stop was Mad Hatter Antique Mall.  Mad Hatter is located in a former hat factory, and it has that high ceiling, industrious look of a former factory.  I love that these old buildings are not only surviving but thriving with new businesses bringing life into them. 

Oh my, such fun fabulous lamps!

We spent quite a bit of time at Mad Hatter – there was soooo much to look at and such interesting things.  I can safely say they have the widest array of mid-century modern that I have seen……..anywhere.  So many things that we recognized from our childhood, it was fun, fun, fun! 

Vintage Blue Aluminum Christmas Tree...
how awesome is this?

So many colorful glasses...and jelly jar glasses too!  

Nothings better than percolator brewed coffee!  Every shape
and size was here at Mad Hatter.

The girls having 1950's hair fun
I think they were practicing for
the hair styling dream sequence
in Grease

Many (like 20) years ago I purchased a set of 1960’s Hazel Atlas Glass Co Capri Blue Dot high ball glasses at an antique store in Richmond Virginia.  I just loved the color and at the time my everyday dishes were plain white so the aqua blue glasses looked so nice on the table with them. 

Hazel Atlas Capri Blue Dot Old Fashioned
Hi Ball tumbler..I had to have them!
photo courtesy of tias.com

Over the years and through many moves most of these glasses had broken but I still have a couple.  In the last couple of years I have purchased a few additional pieces in this pattern as I have found it and I have to say I still love it.  Mad Hatter had a 4 rocks sized tumblers…I had to have them J.

Although most of the antique malls do strive for their own “personality” not all are distinguishable from another.  Mad Hatter is not only distinguishable but truly memorable for their fun wares and colorful groupings.  We could have spent hours if they had been open later than 5pm…on second thought, perhaps it’s a good thing it wasn’t.

This is the third fabulous vintage stove
I have seen for sale in the last couple of months.
I'm dreaming of having a kitchen big enough
for this!

Saved by the bell on this piece...if I
had only had a bit longer to contemplate
where I would put this it might just have made
it in my car...

Amish Country Antiquing - Adamstown Antiques

I have needed an official vacation for a while now…one of those vacations where nothing is planned and there is no stress what-so-ever.  I try to get at least one in during the summer since it’s such a short season here but this summer has been busy and tough to find a place in the schedule where it would work…finally I just blocked the time and have been off all week. 

It’s been wonderful but has been packed…that’s ok, I don’t do “nothing is planned” well anyway.

  

My vacation started with a short trip to Lancaster PA with some excellent friends.  Not planned on my part but I was happy to accept the invitation to join them for a few days and see the sights of Amish country as well as a few other fun things.

Adams Antique Mall
2400 N Reading Road (Rt 272)
Adamstown, PA
photo courtesy of google images

 We spent one very hot afternoon hitting the antique shops in Adamstown…Route 272 is packed with every kind of vintage shop you can imagine from mid-century to primitives to French country…it’s all there (and at every price range).

It took an impressive amount of restraint
(on my friend's part) for this to remain in PA

Our first stop was at the AdamsAntique Mall and we instantly knew we were in the right place with the most wonderful industrial looking pieces in front of the shop. 

it took an impressive amount of restraint (on
my part) for this to remain in PA...second guessing
that now though 

There was a momentary hesitation on our part when we walked through the front door and was faced with row upon row of locked glass cases.

An amazing array of jewelry - talk about self restraint...
would have been harder if it wasn't all behind glass though

We quickly by-passed these and found tons of open booths with wonderful things to browse.  While I understand why shops install these glass cases there is just something very unwelcoming about looking through glass.  I want to see things up close and be able to touch it if I want to (understanding the “you break it, you buy it” rule).

It has truly been a very long time since I have seen
so much depression glass as I saw in the many
shops we visited in PA...so pretty!

Lot's & lot's of vintage Christmas goodies

Loved this piece but it had been "refinished"
and had lost a bit of that rustic charm that
many of these kinds of things have

 This place is huge with more than something for everyone and a fantastic respite from the July heat we were feeling last week.  Even my friend’s husband (who by the way, hates anything “old”) had a fun time rummaging and walked away with some way cool old record albums. 

I ended up picking up the most wonderful pictures….not everyone saw the fun in these that I do but they will learn to enjoy them on future visits to my house (since they are going to be hung in my guest room).

Michael Berry whimsical prints...I don't care I say fun,
fun, fun!

Beautiful piece of wrought iron I am going to hang with
some bone china pin tray's in my dining room.  Friends
husband thought it looked like a large trivet...kinda does
but so much prettier!