shock and awe, treasure or treasured junk

perfection

I love shopping and these past few years, I've discovered that I love shopping at antique malls.  Wandering around an antique mall is a great way to spend an afternoon, especially with good friends.  Sometimes I find true gems and must have them, that only an outrageous price would stop me from buying the item.

One such find, over four years ago, was a beautiful Buddha.  It was perfect in my eyes.  I wanted it, but I did not buy it for reasons unknown to me and, to this day, I still have regret not buying that statue.  From that day on, if I find something and I cannot stop thinking about it while I am still shopping, I will buy it.  Lesson learned.

However, the majority of the time wandering through the antique malls, I find myself wondering what would possess someone  around for the truly unique items.  The items that I wonder who would actually want such an item, because it's complete junk in my eyes.

But, as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Me and Em

Last weekend, I spent another lovely afternoon with one of my favorite people in the whole world, my cousin Emily.  After seeing her quaint house in suburbia and having a wonderful lunch on the deck, we went to the Gurnee Antique Center.

I found the mall through a simple Google search and hoped for the best, since this would be my first.  I guess that I could have checked for online reviews, but that rarely crossed my mind, and, from the pictures of the mall, I thought that this would keep us busy for a few hours.  If not, there was sidewalk sale going on not too far away.

Thankfully, this place was perfect, a gem, and I had a great time.  There are plenty of booths to occupy more than the afternoon.  In fact, even though Em and I had already spent three hours wandering around, we had to rush through the final row of booths because the mall was closing shortly.  I had to see every single booth, in case a rare treasure was hiding inside one.  Next time, I plan on getting there earlier, so there is no rushing and plenty of time to wander aimlessly through all of the booths.  Who knows what treasures I missed?!

Another bonus, the shop ladies are extremely friendly and nice.  They were quick to take items from our hands to place them behind the counter, which freed up my hands to dig through another booth and see what other items I could unearth.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, I do not have any pictures of the treasured finds of the day.  I left with blue fiestaware salt and pepper shakers, two smaller ivory fiestaware fruit bowls, a pyrex casserole dish and a gorgeous cream wool coat for autumn.  Em, also had a successful day.  She found a wonderful wool coat, a cask iron iron to use a doorstop, some little bowls, and, the highlight find of the day, a little booklet on the life of a naval cadet.  Her husband works for the navy and it was fate that this book stumbled into her hands.

Hats make for great pictures, and all remained at the mall.

I found these gorgeous statues, but something was not quite right and am still on the hunt for that perfect Buddha statue.  One day, I will find one, the one (again).

 

The creepiest find of the day was a puppet.

A tiny Singer sewing machine, but what I want one day is a typewriter and push sweeper like my grandma had or maybe still has (yes, I am serious).

 

A few other treasures:

A wonderful day and a place to return in due time.  Until then, I've already found the next antique mall for Em and I to visit this fall.  I can only hope it's as good as this place.  Also, though not quite Indiana, but I think that I can crossed antiquing off from my summer list of things to do.