Thought I’d introduce you to a fun way to discover new bands in a really raw, down to earth kind of way. Originally started in the UK, you can know explore bands from the US as well.

Here’s how they do it!
Step 1: Turn a London black cab into a real life recording studio. Step 2: Track down your favorite music artists and ask them to play for you in the cabby. Step 3: Play one magical song. Step 4: Record session and post online.

[vimeo 15356675 w=515&h=290]
I stumbled upon this artist through the Black Cab Sessions and have fallen in love with their sound.

[vimeo 24316886 w=515&h=290]

Hope you enjoy playing around the site. I spent an entire day listening to the various selected artists. Great fun I tell ya.

He’s pretty much the best guy ever. Always there to cuddle with, to leave fur on your clothes and on all the rugs, and to whine whenever it thunders. This guy is a keeper!

We hope everyone had a great weekend. We did a lot of just laying around and watching the television. Just what we needed.

Hope on over to one of my sponsored blogs, MaieDae, for a chance to win an item from my shop. This will be the first giveaway of some of my collected treasures, so I’m pretty excited about it. She’s also got a lot of other great sponsors giving away great items!

While I was home over Memorial day break, my aunt dropped off an old collapsable wire “hamper/cart thingy” that she thought would be a perfect item for my shop. I considered the idea for a split second and then realized I needed to keep this item for my own personal collection. I try not to do this a whole lot, but I knew I’d regret selling it. It’s super unique and could be used for almost anything. I decided that I’d try to keep all our spare blankets a bit more organized. It’s just what we needed.

It’s silver, it’s industrial, it’s collapsable, it has wheels, it’s funky, it’s vintage and it’s just plain awesome. Have you guys received an item recently that is just darn perfect??

On thrift days, I usually I wake up early. I then patiently wait for the boy to wake up. Alright, I impatiently wait for the boy to wake up. He’s been tagging along with me from day one, so it’s only appropriate that he shares a story with you guys. This kid cracks me up. Enjoy!

Thrifting with Cass can be a lot of fun. It can also be a lot of work mixed with awkward pauses and stares. I’ll tell you what it’s like to have an insider’s perspective when she’s on an antique murdering spree. BADTATAT (machine gun mouth noise)!

Over the last couple months she’s turned the thrifting knob to level 12 and I’ve been right there to experience the highs and lows.  I think the difference between her and I, during the antique stalk, would be the mindset.  She’s on her, “I have to get this online store of mine stocked so I can take down the world,” mindset. I’m on my, “Oh, look at that little pony. What if I put it on top of this Mickey Mouse bobble head so it looks like they’re having sex, then I’ll show Cassie,” mindset. Don’t get me wrong, she loves to have fun when we’re out there, we just have slightly different end goals when things start.

A lot of times I’ll be collecting a nice range of items in my arms and find her at the other end of the store, obviously excited to show her my haul, only to have it stunted by her having mixed feelings about it all. Other times, I show her something and she practically tackles me she’s so excited. It’s fun shopping with her because she’s not afraid to tell me when something’s just plain stupid. I have a lot of respect for people who can speak their mind, and she speaks up frequently.

Sometimes, we will play little games too, without really realizing we’re playing a game. For example, sometimes we pretend we’re in our own little movie. I’ll take on a persona, like an overly hyped 13-year-old girl with an infatuation with clowns (for example) and she’ll counter all of my remarks with equally stupid retorts. This can last hours and usually carries on through multiple locations. We’ll, of course, come out of character, but when we go back, the other is right there to play along. In order to increase your bonding experience with your children, you can try incorporating toys like the best wooden playhouse for kids.

Overall, I get a lot of joy thrifting with Cass. To be honest, I wouldn’t be doing it if she wasn’t with me, but the company we give each other makes up for any disagreement I might of had. She also puts up with all my fart jokes…    – Jake

This item, among many more will be featured in the shop. Launch is coming soon, working out a few kinks before pushing it live.

Today around 1:30, the boy and I sat ourselves down at a neighborhood pub to enjoy a nice lunch. I mentioned something like “to bang, or not to bang”, meaning should I cut bangs in my hair or not, and the rest of the conversation went down hill from there. It’s interesting how a lunch date conversation can turn from ordinarily pleasant to dirty in less than 10 seconds with the mention of a hairstyle. I think the rest the rest of the conversation included mentions of boners, ninja’s and gang signs. Guys… the things they find entertaining.

We spent the afternoon strolling one of our favorite St. Louis neighborhoods and antique stores.

I wanted to thank everyone who commented and helped me through my recent really rough day. Having a blogging community as supportive as you guys is truly a gift. Thanks to all of you!

Dear week,
You were mean and ugly. I hope to never see your face again. Please and thank you. I’m determined to make this coming week amazing!

1^ Today is grocery day. Yuck. At least I get to stock pile my fridge with a bunch a fruit.
2^ We finished Shameless and now we are looking for our next TV series. Seems like we’ve seen them all, so it’s going to be a challenge to come up with something. Any suggestions?
3^ I’ve been craving ice cream like crazy. This could be bad news on my wallet and mid section.
4^ 2 more weeks until I turn 25. I keep thinking there is something I need to mark of my list for year 24. hmmm what could it be.
5^ The boy and I are planning a little vacation out to Portland sometime in July. Let the travel planning begin. Any must see things?

Goal for this week:
I’m going to do my best to workout/ do physical activity every day this week. I also need to drink a lot more water than I have been. We’ll see how this goes.

I’m starting a new feature over here on Thursdays that I’m really excited about. One of my favorite aspects of hunting down previously-loved treasures is the research that goes into each item once it makes it into my home. They all have unique and interesting stories. This new feature titled, The Collected & Reused will feature one item from my online market each week. Each week may be slightly different, but I’ll provide little stories to go along with the item. Some weeks may be more informational as I will provide information about the item; where I found it, what it’s original purpose was, what it’s worth, and even what you can do to repurpose it. Think of it as an online Antique Roadshow broadcasting live from my loft. It’s going to be fun. I promise.

This week’s story comes from my Dad, partner in crime, and old junk lover. He’s been helping me track down product for the market203 launch, so he has some stories to share about the experience. Hopefully I can get him to share more stories during this series.

On the hunt again! Over the last year I have been pounding the pavement looking for the best deals! When my daughter, Cassie told be that she was going to open up an online shop, it sounded cool, then only to find out that she was going to sell vintage goods, I was in heaven. I have a love and knack for finding old treasures….

Hunting down products from the past can be a blast. You have to search all estate sales, antique malls and flea markets just to name a few. This is where you’ll find the deals and you have to look all over the country to be really successful.

Let me tell you about a story, my lucky day!

I got back from a business trip and decided it was time to investigate the “Garage Sale” scene. In my mind this just didn’t seem like a FUN day, sifting thru the mounds of clothes, books, old shoes, etc, all typical of what you will find in the neighborhood.

It was time to figure out where all the good stuff was, so I went and got our local newspaper. In my city they have a 3 page spread just devoted to Garage Sales! The newspaper displays a color coded map to help guide you to all the sales.

Now, how do you know where to start? Good question. “Close your eyes and point” was my method! I identified 10 stops I wanted to try, got out the GPS, loaded in every stop, and was ready to go! Woke up early the next morning, and the wife and I started out on the journey…

The first stop was out in the country, so to speak. We pulled up the stone driveway and saw nothing, no sign of any Garage Sale, no cars no people, no life! We kept driving down the lane and saw 3 chicken coops, a pole barn, but still no signs of life. Oh well I thought, lets go on to the next one…

Just as we were about to leave, I saw movement to my right. We looked over to see a women exiting one of the chicken coops. I rolled down the window and asked, “Is there a sale going on?” She answered, “yes, come on in, help your self!”

We thought, ok we came this far, lets have a quick look. My wife and I jumped out of the car, opened the chicken coop door, and WHOLLY MOSES, god’s gift landed in out lap. It turns out this lady along with a close friend have been collecting antiques, and OLD/vintage containers for several years. Her husband got sick so they closed down their antique store, and redecorated this chicken coop to the hilt. All I could say was AWSOME! The way they had everything displayed was inspiring. I thought to myself, “this is what it’s all about.” The bonus was that they sold me everything at cost, so I bought everything I could, and blew off the rest of the day. I guess the Garage Sales were not meant to be!

This item will be listed in the market203 the last week of June amongst a gazillion more items.

Over Memorial Day weekend I traveled home to spend some much needed time with family members on both mine and Jake’s side. It was a jam packed weekend spent with lots of visiting and lots of catching up. All that visiting can be exhausting, but it is always nice to know everyone is doing well. Here’s some unseen moments from the trip.

– READ FIRST PART OF DAY HERE –

This farmers market is amazing and open all year long. The fruit/veggie stands are covered with an overhang so you can even go on a rainy day. The boy and I bought some stuff to make a healthy lunch- pineapple, stuff to make a salad, grapes and a cucumber. I love how you can walk out of there only spending a couple dollars and you know you’ve spent your money well. As we were walking out the boy asked me if I’d like to pick out some flowers to take home. Of course I did, so we went all the way back through the market to find the perfect bouquet.

Once home we washed and chopped all of our fresh produce and put the gorgeous wild flower type flowers into a vase. We made lunch and then plopped ourselves in front of the television for the next couple hours watching Shameless on Showtime. After a few episodes I read a few chapters of my current book and took a solid 2-hour nap. Pefection.

Once we were rested after our afternoon nap it was getting late in the day. Our neighborhood also had it’s first “concert in the park” that night, so we thought we’d take the pup on a walk and enjoys some tunes from a local band. We walked slowly taking in the steamy hot evening, listening to the end of the concert and letting the pup smell anything and everything on our way home. The rest of the night was filled with more and more Shameless. The end.