look at miss ohio

a week at home in ohio and boy, was it just what i needed. six days filled to the brim with thrifting & soul-searching (odd combo, it's true), spent with my endlessly amazing family & friends.

here are some highlights from the trip:

this is ripley, my parents newly adopted 18-ish year old terrier mix pooch. she's pretty blind, pretty deaf, has three teeth (yep, three), and is terribly adorable. the little old lady had us all fooled by her slow-as-molasses trot until she booked it into the woods behind the house in the blink of an eye. one breathless, dress-clad chase & a single (gentle) tackle later, and we were all the wiser to just how much spunk little ripley still has. what a rascal.

and this is the kind-hearted soul who took that little rascal in... my mom. being the good sport/ goofball that she is, she's modeling my freshly thrifted oh-my-goodness-they're-somehow-kinda-in-my-prescription sunglasses from that day's hunt.

loads of buttons at one of my favorite antique malls in cinci. i don't know who owns this booth, but i wish i did. piles of forgotten, mostly worthless ephemera, mounded into lots of little boxes that are stacked one on top of another. ceramic trinkets, old bits of tattered ribbon, discarded bottle openers, handmade doll clothes, beat-up old comics, and none of it organized in any discernible way. it feels a little bit like stumbling into someone's untouched attic every time i visit. and i leave with a handful of old lace bits each time, all hand-priced at 25 or 50 cents. it's just a little slice of heaven. nbd.

another box of lace to which i found myself magnetically attracted. this one yielded one particularly pretty piece that i think i just might fashion into a one of a kind something for the shop. i'll keep you posted on that...

a good time at charming lavomatic with my best pals from high school. if you go, get the beer cheese pretzel bowl. you won't regret it.

and of course, no trip home is complete without a trip to sitwell's. even better that i got to have this lovely lady, as well as my other college bestie, join me.

i'm back with my boys in philly now, feeling energized & ready to tackle the (crazy) week ahead. thanks, cincinnati. i couldn't have done it without you.