Friday field trip: Uncommon Objects

Uncommon Objects used to be on South Congress, but last year they moved to a new location on the north side of Ben White/290. This place is perfect for wandering alone, with no kids and no time constraints. Join me as I poke around Uncommon Objects, "a one-of-a-kind emporium of transcendent junk".

Who knew that string ties could be so beautiful (and cost several hundred dollars)?

This shelf full of green books was in an all-green section of the shop. How great would it be to explain to people what you do for a living?
"I'm a vintage dealer specializing in green things."
"Oh, so like, eco-friendly antiques, or something?"
"No, I mean actual green stuff. Just anything that's old and cool and green."

There were a surprising number of decorative grapes throughout the store. It reminded me that my grandparents had some heavy lucite grapes on their piano that made a pleasing clunking sound when they tapped against each other. When I texted my mom about it, she told me that my grandma made those at a ladies' church activity. How can I arrange this at my house? Please direct me to the store that sells vintage fake grape crafting supplies.

Old printing press letters! A staple in any self-respecting vintage shop.

Ditto a drawer full of rhinestone and enameled brooches.

I unintentionally photographed a bunch of animal items in a row. Hooked rug owl, with brass cranes and horse...

 Enameled tile with horses...

 Brass cats, owl, and unicorn...
(Side note, enjoy some 1980s unicorn stickers here or here if you'd like)

And a glass paperweight with a beautiful tropical fish.

Don't know what these tags are from, but I like the look of them.

I like that plate decoupaged with stamps; I'm collecting stamps for something similar.

It's amazing how even things like old wrenches look good when displayed in an artful way.

Last but not least, '60s furniture never disappoints.

Hope you enjoyed what is basically another installment of "things I wanted to buy but couldn't so I took a picture of them instead".

Living vicariously

Please enjoy this delightful guest post to start your weekend. My sister toured the Biltmore grounds yesterday to see the Chihuly exhibit there. Thanks, Rachel, for sharing your pictures!

(Note: I was about to publish this and then had second thoughts about being all, "Ooh, look, pretty stuff!"  when there is so much destruction right now in other parts of North Carolina. I just made a small donation through Google, who says they will match up to the first million dollars. Feel free to go do the same if you like, before checking out all this delicious glass.)

 

They had succulents too! If I had to choose between colorful glass and succulents, I'm not sure which would prevail.

But the main attraction here is the glass, so let's get some more of that:

 

This one makes me think of my white Christmas tree. It's like it's calling from not too far away: "Only 95 more days until Christmas..."

 
There are not enough heart-eye emoji for how I feel about this. I am at this moment drawing up plans to convert my front yard into a lily pad pond with a giant canoe full of colorful glass orbs. I'm sure my homeowners association will approve.

Late summer

I grew up in the Midwest, where September means bright skies and crisp breezes and leaving your windows open and feeling the first snaps of cold at night. It's glorious.
When I was younger I asked my dad what his favorite season was, and I thought he was crazy when he said fall. Spring had my birthday, summer had no school, and winter had Christmas. What did fall have to offer? Nothing but back-to-school. As a kid, fall ranked dead last for me.
Now that I'm an adult living in Texas, fall is like the reward for surviving the face-melting season. But September is a trick, because you think, oh, summer's over! It isn't over. You will still need to run your air conditioning until basically Halloween, and the mosquitoes are stocking up on blood like squirrels hoarding acorns.  Also the humidity means that I've had a superman curl on my forehead for a couple weeks now.
Yesterday was the first day in about 10 that we didn't have significant rain, so now apparently it's mushroom season. That's kinda fun.

I've got some ideas of how to break out of my late summer funk:
-Eat healthier foods
-Exercise
-Pick one spot in the house to de-clutter and tidy up
-Learn a new skill
-Make some progress on that to-do list of emails to send and phone calls to make

None of these sound appealing at the moment, so excuse me while I go re-watch the hot tub scene from "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" and wait for fall to actually arrive in early November.