Weekend Hiking and Antiquing!

Todd and I went hiking at Bull Run Marina yesterday! It was ALOT hilly-er than I was expecting! But it was good exercise which is something I need more of this year! :x

Slightly creepy lake!

Todd wearing my Christmas present!

Today I went over to the Dulles Expo Center where they were having the big DC Flea. Awesome place to walk around and see a lot of old stuff! While it's a little pricey to get in ($8), there were still some treasures to be found! Unfortunately most of the prices were driven up because each person has to pay a booth cost, but that's how it goes at most antique/craft/art shows!

Tiny salt shaker for a dollar

Metal printer's block ($1.50) and a Buddha ($6)

Postcards! 3 linen! 2 were 50 cents the other 2 were $1.  $3 in all!

Old valentine $1

Wood block ($2) and key ($1)

Shaker with a purpose!

As you can tell, I am NOT a big spender! I'd rather buy a handful of small things that I know I have space for and can afford! And it's not what you buy when you go antiquing, it's what you learn and having fun just looking! I found out that my USA Postal bank that I posted about is probably not that old! Which is fine because I didn't spend much on it. I found one that was old and green and looked much different! It was $50!

Where do you all find items to add to your collections?

Weekend in Maryland

Back in October I went to visit my friends from college in Maryland! We went hiking, carved pumpkins (which I hadn't done since I was a kid), and my personal favorite, antique shopping!!

Random parade of old men in old cars.

Pretty woods!

Waterfall!

Twin 1: Alicia

Twin 2: Kristina

Look at the face!

We quickly discovered that my mini pumpkins were harder to carve than normal sized ones!

Taking out its braaains

My mini pumpkin all lit up! I wish I had one before haha

Jack from the night before Christmas!

Alicia's shocked cannibal pumpkin!

My favorite find at the antique mall! a Post office piggy bank! I also got some floral trays, a mason jar, and a necklace. Everything was really well priced!

Now that I'm totally in the wrong season, how was everyone's winter holidays?

Sunday Fun Day!

So I went on an adventure today with my boyfriend to Old Town Manasas! Naturally we managed to get lost and drive for over an hour when it only should have taken 10 minutes. I blame smart phones, it will always be their fault! Anyway this weekend was the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run, so we found a bunch of civil war reenactors hanging out in front of a Manasas civil war museum. It was an interesting experience sitting with people pretending to be historical figures from over a hundred years ago. You could ask them a question about a specific day during the war and they could tell you exactly what their character was doing. It was very interesting.

I was fascinated by all the furniture that some of the "generals" had in their tents! (typical interior designer)

Found this in the museum, there were a few ladies that were all dressed up too but I didn't manage to get a shot of them.

Manasas is kind of a random town. Sadly this museum was closed today. Cool sign though.

I finally found some Manasas postcards of the stone house! Its one of my favorite local landmarks and I pass it all the time. Unfortunately the gift store at the museum didn't have any that were of the actual battlefields. They always look so pretty when the seasons change. I can't wait to send some of these off to people on postcrossing, swapbot, or other friends I come across!

The ocean city one came from my boyfriend while he was on vacation. He always indulges me!

We also managed to find a really awesome antique shop! Antique shops are one of my happy places and luckily there are alot around this area, but this one had decent prices and a really random variety, which I love looking through! It makes me feel like one of the people on American Pickers! I actually ended up buying a few things that I found for my dollhouse in progress that were just too good of a deal to pass up. The display cabinet was only $8 and the drop leaf table (with working drop leafs!!!) was only $3. The table is missing a drawer, but I don't mind since I have a dresser that is also missing drawers. I plan on being crafty and finding a way to make drawers for them so they are pretty like they once were!

The dishes are Rement sets that I got for my birthday! I think most wooden dollhouse sized display cases cost a heck of alot more than 10 dollars!

Drop leaf table with REAL  drop leaf action!

I also bought an antique stamp that was probably from a letterpress that I plan on using to make pretty paper for letter writing. I think the dot design was just used as a decoration for titles (think bold newspaper print). I seem to be starting a collection of antique letterpress stamps! This is the second I bought this summer! I also have a few metal ones that I bought at the DC Flea market this past winter. I can't resist awesome old things!

Had to get it since the price was acceptable and I hadn't seen this shape/pattern thing before!

Anyone know anything about these types of stamps? I'm pretty sure they were shaped this way so they were easier to slide around when they were making a page, bit other than that I don't know much.

Do you all have a happy place where you can buy little things for your crafts or collections? Or do you live anywhere with a historic background? I'd love to know! =D