Everyone Went to Mick's! (Part One - The Finds!)

Hey everyone!  Long time, no post.  Sorry about that, once school started back up, the blog fell behind on the priority list.  Here's hoping that this is the beginning of the end of that.

This past weekend, the wonderful Mick, of Everyone Goes to Mick's blog, held his annual Thanksmass celebration.  This was my second year for attending the event, which saw me driving a little over 400 miles Friday afternoon on the Oklahoma turnpikes to the great state of Texas.

After checking into my motel and taking a nap, Mick and his girlfriend, the lovely Patricia, met me after their play practice and we went out for dinner and made a trip to Walmart.

The following day, Saturday, was a big day!  Mick and Patricia met up with me and the delightful Vintage Christine of I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage for some thrifting and antiquing.  I found some wonderful treasures (one of which nearly caused Mick to kick me)!

I'm not one for taking my camera everywhere, so I don't have pictures of the thrifting trip, but here are my finds!

First:  We were in a great shop downtown Wichita Falls called Alley Cat.  There are some fun finds there, and it was quite busy due to the fact that they were having free pictures with Santa.  Now, this is the kind of shop where many of the vendors take vintage pieces of furniture and give them a restyle with paint.  I liked some of it, but personally, I prefer wood furniture to have a natural finish.  While wandering around the store, I came to a very large booth filled with many such examples of repurposed furniture.  Most of the pieces were very reasonably priced.  There was a dining chair that was refinished in a bright green paint that I am fairly certain was a piece of Broyhill Brasilia priced at $30.  I looked up from this and spied a two-tiered end table with curved legs.  I knew instantly what I had found, but a quick peek underneath confirmed it.  A Heywood-Wakefield table finished in a purple and gray paint finish that had been distressed so that some of the wood showed through.  Not my taste.  Price? $25.  Well, I'll pick up just about any piece of Hey-Wake for that price, so after deciding that I could strip it down and refinish it (I've got to purchase a refinish kit online), it came home with me.  The lady that owned the booth was there and said to me "I just had a feeling a guy was going to buy that table."  She also told me that she had just put it in the booth that day and that she had been told that the brand of the table might be kind of a big deal (I kept my mouth shut on this comment).  The lady up front when I paid seemed to know what it was and in an almost apologetic way mentioned that the booth owner had told her that the finish on it was in pretty bad shape before it was painted.

In the same store, I came across a vintage aluminum Christmas tree that hangs on the wall.  It didn't have a price on it, so I just passed it by.  After paying for the table, I decided to inquire about the tree, which was laying on a trunk by the register.  The shop owner came over and told me she would take $10 for it.  SOLD!!!  Little did I know that Mick was wanting it as well, and trying to get Patricia to inquire about it at the same time.  Apparently Mick then stood behind me acting like he was going to kick me...lol!  Anyway, I ended up with the tree, but Mick made sure that it was displayed that evening at Thanksmass.

The other treasures of the day:  A vintage Fisher Price car garage like one I had as a child (needs a good cleaning, but I'm sure my nephew will love it!), a creepy looking Christmas book titled "Santa's Twin" and a vintage bottle of Russian Pepsi.

Stay tuned for the second part of the trip, the events at Thanksmass!