Vegas Gypsy

When I tell people I lived in Vegas for seven years, their minds instantly flash to some sort of image created by the people who brought you casinos, rather than an up and coming downtown, an indie music scene, an ever growing arts community, which finally is getting its due with support from Zappos and even a few downtown casinos. Today we found one of the greatest new addition to the downtown arts district: Gypsy Caravan. A full sized stuffed lion (with a disclaimer he died of natural causes), circus signs, dinosaur statues, a fully stocked vintage boot room, and some 60s hanging lights we were dying over. Everywhere I turned, fabulous! The endearing photos were in the entry, and I fell in loooove with these dancing kids.

400 miles of garage sales

In September every year, I drive up and down Hwy 36, on Kansas' Treasure Hunt, stretching the length of Kansas on a rural highway which barely lands in a town with a population greater than 3,000.  So far, in two days, I've only made it through 3 towns worth of garage sales: Mankato, Scandia and Belleville. Above are most of the goodies I picked up, minus a bunch of cutter quilts, scarves, a seashell hanging lamp, a burgundy velvet Stetson, two really old tennis rackets and oh boy oh boy oh boy, three little 'hooptie' bikes with chopper-style handlebars and banana seats.
On my run, I met a man who spent 4 months building a Longhorn bull out of old wrenches, scissors, railroad spikes and about anything else steel he or his farmer buddies could find. It's a miracle of art, of engineering and of humor. The bull's balls are made from nuts, and when you kick them, a bell rings. That's pretty much 1,000 times better than most of the crap that's found its way to Chelsea this year.




More photos after the break...

Kitchen: Accomplished

After four long years, I finally feel like the kitchen's complete. There have
been arguments about color, style, appliances, but at long last, it was all
worth the huge pain in my ass. I hated to paint over the beautiful wood in
the top photo; that was one of the biggest hold-outs. Problem was, and you

More junk jaunting goodness

After finishing cleaning out the car, I found more finds, some I'd completely forgotten. Here's some of the goodies: