Wanderings: Des Moines, Iowa |Day 1|

A few weeks back my mom and I played with the idea of going to Des Moines, IA for a few days. Not to see anything in particular or do anything special, it was just a fairly close ( 3ish hour) drive away and might be a fun mini road trip. We didn’t end up going then but a few weeks ago we had the same three days off and decided to give it a go and make our way down to Des Moines.

It turns out Des Moines does have some cool stuff to see and is a pretty cute city. When we first arrived we drove around downtown Des Moines and happened upon the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. So we decided to go and check it out, it turned out to be one of my favorite stops. The art is really cool and if you’re an instagram/snapchat whore like myself, it gives you plenty of cool subjects for photos.

White Ghost by Yoshitomo Nara

Untitled (three dancing figure, version 3) by Keith Haring

Nomade by Jaume Plensa


We then headed towards the state capitol building that we had passed on the way in to town. The building was pretty cool and has a killer view of the Des Moines skyline.

Next to the capitol were a couple of memorials. The tall one was a memorial to the Iowans who fought in the civil war.

The back here remembers the work of the Iowan women during the war.

When I finally got to the front of the monument I noticed something a bit odd…

Ok so I’m not exactly sure about the pose of this lovely lady, she’s definitely feeling herself if you get my drift. So that was a bit odd but still a very nice memorial.

Next to that monument was another smaller memorial for a senator that served Iowa for a long time.

After exploring downtown Des Moines for a while we were starving and decided to find a place to eat and a good hotel.

I bought a Vowl! (Thrift Haul)

1. Georges Briard coffee pot

I spotted this coffee pot at Arc’s Value village and immediately picked it up. It’s in the Ambrosia pattern which isn’t the most sought after of Georges Briard’s work but is still really cool. And the fact that it’s not super expensive on the ebays means it’s ripe for the picking. I’ve liked the kitschy pattern for awhile so I pretty much snatched it off the shelf when I saw it. Plus it looks good in my nice little collection of retro kitchenware. 

2. Framed Poster

I found this print at a thrift store in northern Minnesota. It was actually a pretty decent thirft store but the prices were a wee bit high. I liked this enough to get it though.

3. Mid Century Modern Shadowbox

it’s hard to take pictures of these things when you haven’t hung them up yet.  

 

After forcing my boyfriend to get up at 7 on Saturday to go to the flea market I then talked my mom into going too. I figured she’d be in into it a little more than my boyfriend. Anyway we got there at about 11 which was two hours later than the first time I went and though there were venders, there weren’t nearly as many. We walked around a bit but nothing was killing us and none of the prices were great so we left. But, we did end up going to one of the antique stores on the hour long journey back home. One such establishment was an old antique store that now is mostly cast offs from remodeled homes, but had some cool old stuff too. Among a bunch of random stuff I found this cool shadow box. I’ve been looking for a nice shadowbox for awhile so when I saw this one I knew I had to get it.
 

4. Blendo Glassware Pink Cups

some blendo bowls (?) my mom thrifted a few years ago

 These blendo cups were again found at Arc’s value village. My mom has an orange bowl and four small bowls in this same style (second picture) and I love the kitschy pattern so I had to get them.

5.The Letter “O”

I see letters at the thrift store a lot but they’re mostly craft store ones for kids rooms, not really the kind of letters I’m looking for. So when I randomly saw this letter “O” at the thrift store for 4 bucks I kind of had to get it. I have a “Z” (although not a real cool one, it’s hard to find “Z”‘s ) so I figured I could add to my “Z” and have the first two letters of my name. I have a feeling the letter trend is kind of on it’s way out, but I still like it so whatever.

6. Mid Century Lamp Shade

 I got this lampshade at the Salvation Army on labor day, it was like 2 bucks and I thought it would look good with the green lamp that I thrifted a few months ago. Of course now I need to buy a lamp kit and figure that whole thing out because the lamp base as is doesn’t have the hardware to hold up a lampshade. Anyway I like the look of the lampshade it has kind of a ratan-ish outer shade and a smaller fiberglass inside shade. I can’t yet tell if it’s a perfect match for my green lamp but when I held it up to the lamp it looked good.

**As always linking up with Sir Thrifts-a-lot’s Thriftasaurus, be sure to check out all the cool stuff other bloggers have found there. 

Crop it to me Capin’

Top: ASOS Skirt: Ebay (American Apparel) Sandals: DV by Dolce Vita Bracelet: Nasty Gal

 
        I wore this outfit to the opening of my best friends first solo art show. If you’re in the twin cities you can check out the show until August 7th at the Uptown Smitten Kitten. If you want to check out her art but don’t live in Minnesota you can go to her blog (just an FYI some of her art is NSFW) and/or check out her facebook page.
          I’ve been wanting to try crop tops recently. I’m not gonna lie I was a little afraid of them at first, flashbacks to  middle school and the strong body image issues I had back then when crop tops/ tube tops grazed the midriffs of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera ran rampant in my mind. But after seeing so many bloggers of all sizes rocking them I decided to give them a try, and I have to say I kinda like them.  I got this one and a matching white one from ASOS for pretty cheap to wear with high waisted bottoms etc. Turns out they were just what I needed to re-invigorate my maxi skirts.

Thrift Find of the Year?

Last wednesday I went to the dentist and the dentist is near my local thrift route. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to go thrifting or not and sort of went back in fourth in my mind but decided to go. Savers was having a mothers day sale which was 30% off clothes, accessories (not jewelry) and bedding. I went to Savers and didn’t find anything good but was kind of in the groove and decided to go to the other three.
Goodwill was OK, I found a cool piece of comic book art that someone made. The frame is crap but I thought the art was actually really good and nerdy. I’ve recently been looking more for cool art at thrift stores but haven’t had much luck. So I liked this enough to get it.

 After goodwill I went to the Salvation Army, I didn’t expect to find anything since though it’s on my route it hadn’t heeded any great finds. so I was browsing and went to the furniture section to see if I could find anything cute and mid century. I didn’t really see anything but I did see a dresser that looked kind of like campaign furniture, but wasn’t. So I went over to look at it and then when I saw it wasn’t campaign I looked to my left and recognized a distinctive handle of … a Broyhill Brasilia dresser! I almost couldn’t believe it, I looked it over to make sure, grabbed the whole tag (apparently you’re only supposed to get the bottom of it) and giddily sped to the register. It was $79.99 but with tax it came out to $85.00! I’ve been stalking Broyhill Brasilia online and recently saw a local vintage re-seller sell a credenza for $400.00. And on Craigslist I know mid century dressers are listed for around 100.00 to 400.00, So I knew it was a steal and I was getting it. It needs some work, someone decided to paint the top and it has a few nicks here and there but I still love it! Anyway, I was so full of adrenaline after that I couldn’t look around anymore. I quickly browsed the dresses and purses and then decided I just had to go and call my mom to tell her. Unfortunately she was at work so I left a message and decided to go to my last thrift store despite my adrenaline high.

We haven’t moved it to my room yet, it’s kind of heavy, but this is what it looks like.
Oh hey there Oliver.
 

After that high I calmed down a bit and decided I should finish up my round and go to Value Village. I figured with the Brasilia find I was on one hell of a roll and shouldn’t stop the momentum. Thankfully Value Village didn’t disappoint and I found some cool 70’s canisters. I’ve wanted some of these ugly kitschy canisters for a while but never bought any. These were in good shape and pretty cheap so I decided to get them. The middle one doesn’t have a top, despite my searching, but I figure I can use it as a planter or vase or something.

I’m linking up again with Her Library Adventures’ Flea Market Finds, so check out all the other cool vintage finds over there too.