ADDED TO MY POCKET KNIFE COLLECTION

When I was home in Athens, my parent gave me three more pocket knives to add to my small collection. I think this metal one from Israel is my new favorite (aside from my pink Swiss Army knife, of course).

MY OLD BOX COLLECTION

top to bottom:

sewing accessories box: estate sale

Japanese sewing box: estate sale

cigar box: thrift store

tin sandwich box: estate sale

plaid lunchbox: my mom

I really like things that hold things. Plus it's nice to have one thing you collect that's actually useful. I have quite a bit more old boxes around, but these are a few of my favorites. The plaid lunchbox will always be my favorite favorite though. It was my mom's when she was little. It's perfect. 

STICKER COLLECTION

I really love stickers. If I have something with a smooth, empty surface in need of a little flair, it's going to get stickered (notebooks, my laptop, bookshelves, our little AC unit...). I always loved them when I was a child, but it really escalated when my mom gave me a pack of weird, Japanese stickers (like the ones below) when I was 12 or so. They were odd, cute, and frequently featured one my favorite things - anthropomorphism. I had no chance of stopping there. 

I also really like to collect stickers from artists/designers I really love. Here are a few of my favorites of those. These are from Lazy Oaf, Jeremyville, and Matt Cipov.

Do you like stickers? Do you use them or keep them on the sheet? I have some that I'm probably never going to use because they're my favorites, and I don't want to put them on something unworthy. This is serious stuff.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THRIFTY FINDS

I absolutely love thrifting and everything about it - finding new places to go, searching through all the stuff, and coming across an amazing find. But my favorite thing is finding something so perfect for you that it becomes a fixture in your home, something that you see or use every day, something that you can't imagine not having in your home once you have it. I have thrifted a lot of stuff over the years, but picking out my absolute favorites was easy. These things just stand out to me as the best - for lots of reasons. Here's a little more about these things:

Globe Lamp // Needful Things in Athens, GA

I wanted a globe lamp ever since reading Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block when I was in middle school. I just loved the book and the idea of a globe lamp. If you've read it you might know what I'm talking about - if not, I'll just leave it at that because it's a weird book and all you need to know is there's a globe lamp in it. So I eventually found this one and got an amazing deal because of the chipped-off part you can see in the first picture. I didn't (and still don't) care at all. It's perfect, and I love it. 

1976 Hello Kitty Comb // estate sale in Mt. Pleasant, SC

I love Hello Kitty (proof here). But I need to clarify that I love old-school, normal Hello Kitty, not the new complicated, rockstar, too many colors Hello Kitty of today. Anything that is cute, simply designed  Hello Kitty is good. And when I found this old comb at an estate sale I was too excited. It's so perfect - the soft pink and blues, the shape of the comb and how it slopes down where she's sitting, the simplicity, and that it tells you to perk up your hair. Perfection.

Pink Metal Bracelet // Agora in Athens, GA

I don't usually wear jewelry everyday besides my rings, but this bracelet is my first choice always when I want to wear a little something extra. It's such a nice, light pink, and I love how that looks with the brass underneath. I love the shape, too. This is one of the finds I've had the longest on this list - it's definitely something I can't imagine not having. 

Polaroid One Step SX-70 1978 // estate sale in Charleston, SC

This camera is just so classic - something that I saw everywhere before I got this and always thought how good it would look with all my stuff. And hey, it does! I got an amazing deal on it at an estate sale. And for the whole week after (...and now too) I look at it and get excited. 

Fox Box Flashcard Ephemera // Uncommon Objects in Austin, TX

Ephemera is one of my favorite things to thrift for (see here), and I've found some cool stuff. But this fox box flashcard really takes it for me. I just love it. It's a fox...standing so slyly next to a box. And then there's a triple X above it. What more could I want? 

Pirates T-Shirt // Goodwill in Athens, GA

This is such a classy t-shirt. The golden yellow color is so nice, it only gets softer, and the lettering and swoop on the front is so perfect. Four is my favorite number, so that being on the back was a huge bonus. This is definitely a piece of clothing I can't imagine living without. I wear it all the time. 

Blue Bowl with Gold Stars // antique store in Watkinsville, GA

I love old kitchen stuff. It's some of the most well-designed, pretty stuff I've seen at thrift and antique stores. Having never had a well-sized kitchen of my own, I usually have to pass on thrifty kitchen things. But when I was out with my mom one day, we saw this bowl, and I was in love. This blue with the golden rim and starbursts is absolutely amazing to me. I get so inspired by objects sometimes and this bowl is one of those objects. 

And there they are. This was fun! Do you have any absolute favorite thrifty finds? I love to hear about how a random thing can become so important to someone. Thanks for reading. 

CUTE OFFICE SUPPLY COLLECTION

I am just drawn to overly cute things. And office supplies. So when the two come together as one, it's a big deal for me. Here are a few of my favorites that I've collected over the years. Here's a little about these things:

//pink and yellow notebooks from trip with my dad to Montreal; I love how the pink notebook has pink lines
//hand notebook from Northampton, Massachusetts; the pages are in five sections that each have some different illustration like the two pictured
//Monchhichi stickers and sticky notes, heart-shaped pencil and strawberry pencil from Austin, Texas; this heart pencil is one of my favorite things ever
//heart tape thrifted in Athens, Georgia; the hearts glow in the dark big time
//pink animal costume tape from Charleston, South Carolina; it's animals dressed up like animals...just soak that one in
//blue floral fabric tape from Paris; the first decorative tape I ever bought

MY OLD SNAPSHOT COLLECTION

Here is a post that I have been wanting to do for a really long time because these are really special to me. Like I mentioned when I shared my thrifted books, old snapshots were also one of the things I would look for when I first realized how much fun thrifting could be. I've always loved photography, especially the kind that captures every day moments, people around you, little adventures together. And when I first shuffled through some of these old photos in a junk store, I was in love.

Each one captures something completely different and personal, something I will never know the story behind but nonetheless harbors endless stories in my mind. I love the look of them, the white borders and scalloped edges, the different black and white tints and creases, the details and clothing from a completely different time. But most of all, I love seeing the moments these people chose to capture when photography wasn't as convenient and commonplace as it is today.

MY FAVORITE THRIFTED BOOKS

When I first realized how much fun thrifting and looking through old stuff could be, my favorite things to look for were neat books. At the time I was obsessed with cutting out pictures from magazines to decorate my walls, and every once in awhile I would find a cool book to cut up and hang the pictures up. But over the years I found a few books that became my favorites and were way too unique or special to cut up.

I love everything about this star chart book for kids. The simple blue, black and yellow color scheme makes for a really simple, stylistic book. I think some of the charts copied and framed would look beautiful hanging up together. Also, this book is by H.A. Rey, the author of the Curious George books.

This Andy Warhol art book is one of my best thrifty finds ever. I spotted it at an estate sales with my mom. I couldn't believe it because I hardly ever found art books that I was actually interested in, and Warhol was my favorite artist at the time. It's a pretty big book, and every page is filled with his work, some in color. It's also the only thing I've ever found that has some sort of value, since the book was printed fairly early on in his career. I would never sell it. It's definitely a favorite.

This magic encyclopedia has some charm about it - it addresses the reader as "you," guiding you through all sorts of different methods of dazzling an (extremely gullible) audience. Some of the tricks are written out in a sort of comic book style...and some of them aren't really magical at all. Of all these books, this is the most fun to page through and see what you'll find.

And of all my books, this is weirdest. It's a Czech children's book (maybe?) of only pictures that all illustrate some sort of metaphor for a natural occurrence. He jumps on a see-saw and flings stars up into the night sky, he zips daylight closed into night time, he...cuts pieces out of the sky to make hats for gnomes. Well, some of them make more direct sense, but the illustrations are super bright, and I can tell you it's like nothing you've ever seen before. It's a trip for sure.

I'm off to more unpacking...it's probably the worst. But I just keep thinking of how nice it will be to have our new place all neat and set-up. Hopefully it will be a reality sooner than later.