Well, hello sailor!

Justin Peddycoart:How I paid my rent by thrifting.


Oooh, and he's a pretty cute cat guy too...

If you want to sing out, sing out

Harold and Maude is my favorite movie in the whole wide world. I watched it for the first time about five years ago and immediately went out and bought the DVD. I never do this. That's what Netflix is for, right?

I historically hate romantic comedies. They're just goofy and usually short on the comedy part. Just a few weeks ago, I watched Sleepless in Seattle for the first time. Ugh. Imagine me making a raspberry noise and giving the double thumbs down. Soooo corny. This makes no sense because I'm a big old softie and get all weepy at the drop of a hat. I misted up last Saturday night at dinner with my parents while talking about the evils of Wal-Mart.

Related: Thanks A LOT Museum of Science and Industry Omnimax movie about the Great Lakes for making me want to cry like a baby over an old, stinky fish.

Ok, maybe that one was hormones.

Anyway, what I think I like about H&M (the real H&M) is that it feels authentic. And dark. And maybe a little bit weird. I mean, you've got a death-obsessed 20-year-old-guy who falls for a septuagenarian Holocaust survivor who lives in an abandoned train car and makes wooden sculptures that look like vajays. What's not to love? Add an all Cat Stevens soundtrack to the mix, and I'm hooked like that sturgeon in the Great Lakes movie. (sniff, sniff)*

I got to thinking about H&M earlier this week when I read this article about director Hal Ashby on Slate. It kind of bags on the movie, but I started poking around the Net (starring Sandra Bullock) and lo and behold, many others are WAY into this movie. It's inspiring all sorts of people, including:

(hold up. you have to imagine me reading this like a scrolling list of community college courses)


Decorators!



Puppeteers!


Architects!


Jaguar/hearse enthusiasts! (what a dreamy demographic)


Wes Anderson!



Designers!

aaaand painters.

Since I'm not a total nut, I'll just take the Belgian poster.


Ok ok. And the French t-shirt.

*Seeing has how the movie was about a 50-year-old man who loved and was tracking a 120-year-old female fish who had survived the environmental Holocaust that was the Industrial Revolution, the two stories are not entirely unrelated....excuse me. I need a moment. Anybody got a hankie?

Ooh Baby, baby! Ebay E-Baby

In an effort to hold up my end of the deal, here is an absolute hot mess of items that piqued my interest long enough to hit the "watch" button:



Vintage addition and subtraction flash cards. Love the scalloped edges. These would make sweet gift tags if you punched a hole in one corner. Wonder if they're big enough for postcards...hmmm.


Likewise with these German phrase flash cards. God only knows what they say...hope it's nice.



In keeping with the learnin' theme, this vintage French school poster is pretty dope (get it? dope? mushrooms? ugh, sorry).

Zut alors! More French stuff pour vous.
Well if it isn't a slightly rusty, slightly janky set of kitchen canisters!

Do you happen to go by these initials? Well, Have I got a Treat for you! Seriously, how cool would it be to have embroidered monogrammed tape? God! Why can't my name be Hiram Turtletaub!?!

Get in my bathroom.

Who said the Japanese had a monopoly on cute? Aww, you adorable mid-century Brits! Coochie coo!

Hanging up your clothes isn't rocket science.

Or is it?

Speaking of science. Better get on this one. The listing ends in just a couple of hours.

And for the department of WTF...


Hairspray holders exist?!? Well my Aunt Sally!

Pillow fight!

So originally, I was going to do a round up of all of the random, wonderful crap I'm watching on eBay these days. I'm certainly not going to buy it, so why shouldn't you?

But then, I noticed that a seller had listed all sorts of seriously awesome vintage needlepoint pillows. And you know, I love me some needlepoint pillows.

Actually timely, aren't some of these so nice for fall?


Perfect for reclining and sipping cider.

Maybe you want to put on a cowl-neck sweater and some Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie glasses and zone out to an old Judy Collins record while lounging with this guy.

I know I do.

Hey! Check out this one! It's a Cooooosssssssby sweataahhhh!


Come on, these two are so nice and neutral, you can't say they won't go in your house.

Ok, so the tulips aren't so seasonally appropriate, but who cares? They're awesome.

Too tame for you? Ok, then.






BLAM!!!!
How you like me now? I'm a badass blue-eyed Bengal tiger comin' at you from the couch!

Ahem. Actually I may have to kindly ask you to back off this guy. I kind of think I need him in my life, ok?

Go check out the seller. He has quite a few more snazzy pillows for sale (and some not-so-snazzy ones with corny golf sayings on them if that's your thing. No judgement.) Best thing is that they're all pretty reasonably priced at around $20. Even designer sample sale pillows are way above that.

If you guys are super nice and tell me which pillow is your fave--or if none, what random junk you like to collect--in the comments section (and stay the hell away from my bengal), I'll put up a post with some other neato eBay treasures.

Perpetually yours

If you're a procrastinator like me, July 1 is pretty much the perfect time to start looking for a calendar to get your life in order.

To be honest, though, who really needs a paper calendar with BlackBerrys and e-mail and iphones and robot man servants and all? I think we should all just admit that at this point, they’re just for decoration.

And I, for one, am totally fine with that.

In fact, I have a little bit of an obsession with calendars—there are three up at home. And my favorite of all are perpetual calendars. You don’t have to fall in love with them and then do the sad goodbye thing at the end of the year.
I have (and love) this Imbroglio calendar:

But here are some kitschy and fun options from eBay that make me flip (get it? Oh ho ho!):
You’ve got your classic.

Or your AWESOME Hamm’s beer bear.

Aww, hey Kanga on a log! Next trendy animal to usurp the owl? Could be, could be…

Whoo Las Vegas!

Or maybe Canada, eh?

Classy in chrome.


Or this stately dame. A little on the pricey side, but it commemorates the 1953 royal coronation and would look awesome with my Australian tablecloth.

Etsy, of course, has about a trillion options, but I have to give a special shout out to this one:


How rad would this be in the kitchen of someone who is actually regularly proficient at cooking (aka not mine)?