Popup Sale at Ashley Helvey's

Going to this amazing looking sale at Ashley Helvey's place tomorrow.  She'll have a mix of findings & her handmade stuff!!

Can't wait!!....but also a little bit scared that I'll end up wanting everything!

Sneak Peak of L&G SPRING SALE

More pics of our Spring Vintage Sale this weekend!!
We really letting go....
See? No joke.
But just to warn you, you might see us cry or fight you a bit on handing certain things over...but we promise we won't make a scene out of it...We'll try to stay strong...

SEE event details here and see more of what we gots here....But really, You need to just come HERE!

Japan sight/ taste / find: 3/10

Day 5: A little nostalgic

SIGHT:

This photo wouldn't be as awesome if the women sleeping wasn't sitting on the 70's upholstery on the train...

TASTE:
Freshly made rice crackers in the historic neighborhood of Tokyo in 浅草 Asakusa.

FIND:
One of my favorite item...Japanese 手ぬぐい Tenugui. They're simple cotton hand towels with a versatile purpose and can be used for wrapping, cleaning, or simply for decorating.

Japan sight/ taste / find: 3/9

Day 4: Full day of visual stimulation

SIGHT: Seiya & Mami took us to visit their kids, Aika & Yume's, elementary school to talk about the difference of school & lifestyle between the States & Japan. They asked what sort of backpacks kids in the states carry....and whether we all carry guns...
I didn't even know where to begin on answering that question without feeling ashamed.

TASTE:
Dinner at the Minatos and hand roll 手巻き寿司 Temakizushi with super delicious & fresh fish of all sorts.

FIND:
A used restaurant supply store filled with fun things of all sorts that made us want to open a restaurant just for the fun of it.

Japan sight/ taste / find: 3/8

Day 3: Roaming around

SIGHT:
Playground with a globe marry go round.

TASTE:
Mami made us a well-rounded breakfast with the best tasting egg.

FIND:
Got stuck looking at tiny microscopic miniature people of all sorts in the model making department of 東急ハンズ Tokyu Hands....a department store of 7 floors filled with materials, supplies, and everyday items of anything you'll ever need and everything you CAN'T think to need but feel compelled to get....Pretty much, it's like heaven and hell at the same time.

Japan sight/ taste / find: 3/7

Day 2: Woke up and saw this...

SIGHT: Snow in March?!

TASTE:
Lunch & a lovely dessert set at a close by Japanese Italian restaurant in 市川 Ichikawa.

FIND:
Got couple of vintage 暮らしの手帖 Kurashi No Techo lifestyle magazine at Seiya & Mami's friends vintage book shop, Smoke Books. They had a whole shelf of them from the 70's & 80's filled with the best photos of everyday delights!

Japan sight/ taste / find: 3/6

This is start of the our trip with the series of 3 photos highlighting our daily discoveries where each photo represents an interesting sighting, some yummy food we tasted, and things we found.

The day we arrived...

SIGHT:
At 林檎の木 Ringo No Ki Gallery in 千葉 Chiba checking out our friend Atsushi who makes Gunung bike & lifestyle accessories.

TASTE:
Got to taste these beautiful seasonal 桜もちSakura Mochi wrapped in shiso leaves as the first thing we ate after landing.

FIND:
Handmade steel tape dispensers by a local artisan in 市川 Ichikawa.

Guess Who's BACK??

ME! (two thumbs proudly pointing at myself) But did you really need to guess? Who else would I talk about besides ourselves?! So We're making a comeback with our L&G vintage shop!
We made a new banner with our shelving unit and our logo + a heart! But that's not all....we also got a TON of newer, better, and awesome-er things!

Here's a sneak peak of items we've listed and also some that we'll list later.You're gonna take a look at all this stuff and wished that you never said things like "I'm so sick of seeing the same old stuff!" or "They're so lazy!" or even things like "They're shop sucks and I hate them!"
We guarantee that all those thoughts will disappear after you see all our great new finds! Okay, we can't actually guarantee that....but we hope you will!
See what I mean? It's okay, we won't hold grudges....Becuase we're nice. So remember that.

Enjoy!!

New Great Finds!

Just recently updated L&G shop with some awesome finds! There's lots of great mid-Century modern housewares such as Dansk enamel pitcher, Cathrineholm cookware, Arabia enamel bowl, Gense stainless metal plates as well as some other fun stuff! Some are stuff that I dragged back from Michigan! Check them out!

Hang it up!

So I've had people ask me where to get vintage pant hangers since the blog mentions (Poppytalk, Readymade, Apartment Therapy) of our living room display awhile ago, and now they're available on L&G shop! Enjoy!We also wrote up an instruction about how to build the wall grid. It's really simple. Depending on the material it could be around $50 or less. We used cedar 2"x2" and it cost us more like $75. and took us half an afternoon to put it together.

BAM! BUTTERFLIES!

Collecting treasures is in my blood. I only hope to some day live up to my Grandpa's collecting legacy. I have these great memories of exploring his house and garage opening drawers and finding amazing collections of watch parts, coins, knives, you name it. So, I just had to take Jean back there to see to see the treasures.



I must say, Grandpa did not disappoint. The house was a time-capsule...everything virtually the same as it was when I was a kid. This time, we could truly enjoy the uniqueness and thoroughness of his collecting: wood duck decoys, scores of antique clocks, walls papered with early license plates, classic toys, old farm tools, and more of just about everything.



Then, there were the BUTTERFLIES! We were given free reign to explore the garage when I noticed some particular well made wooden boxes scattered and haphazardly stacked under his work bench. I pulled one out, opened it up, and BAM! BUTTERFLIES! Rows and rows of them! We pulled out box after box with each yielding a different display of these winged creatures.



It turns out that my great Grandfather had a huge collection of butterflies from around the world that he donated to Michigan State University after he died. These were what was left of his collection after that. It's just incredible that they were in such great condition. You definitely don't see collections like these anymore. Check out my flickr photoset for more photos. fd

-Dylan

L.A. Discoveries

This is from June (heh, just a little delayed) when I went to L.A. for a weekend of fun hanging out with my dear friend, Noal, who had recently moved there from Seattle. He graciously put me up and took me all over LA. I never had much chance to spend a lot of time doing sightseeing and just walking around in SoCal, so it was totally fun to do that for a change! There's so much character and so many things that were uniquely LA. This photo mosaic is just some of what captured while walking around different areas.
Here's some caption on where I took the photos (left to right in rows)
1. Mosaic tiled office building by Santa Monica Blvd.
2. Painted steps on some apt. building by Noal's apt. on S. Coronado St.
3. Painted wall at Grauman's Theater in Hollywood
4. Painted wall on some apt. building on Wilshire Blvd & S. Coronado St
5. Ceiling in the Getty Villa
6. Mosaic tiled floor at the Getty Villa
7. Painted wall at Grauman's Theater in Hollywood (I saw Jesus there..he's the real deal!)
8. Signage in the jewelery district of downtown L.A.
9. Succulents by a beach house on Venice Beach (my dream house)

That was the one thing I really enjoyed. (more photos here) Noticing the variety of patterns and colors incorporated on almost every building, shops, signs, walls, and houses....pretty much everywhere!! This is something that Seattle really lacks I think...it's just different I suppose. I'm not whinnying...but I just wish there's more decorative elements around Seattle! Most buildings are just...BLAH! Like the weather pretty much....BLEH!

Also Noal started documenting his little discoveries since he moved to LA while walking around, and he has captured even better stuff!!
Like this awesome awesome chair he found in Chinatown...of all places! The colors, patterns, and the chair itself.... everything about is just FAB-ulous!!
Neat collection of paper umbrella arrangements in Chinatown
Colorful ornate tiled steps in Pasadena
After the trip, I definitely can see LA in a new light. I realized that there's actually a lot of great things about the city beyond all the shinny nice cars, polluted air, high traffic jams, high-lighted hair, pregnant Hollywood stars, orange colored fake n' baked skin, roller blades and short-shorts...LA is so much more than that!
It's also this...6" platform shoes made with bamboo. It's eco-friendly!

I Saw the Sign~!

OMG!! I was doing my usual random browsing on Ebay and spotted this amazing lot of 400+ Vintage sign letters of all styles, colors and sizes! I've never seen such a thing! These colorful plastic letters are left overs from some old sign shop in Fort Plain, NY. I can't imagine finding that...I think I would have a heart attack if I ever were to see it in person!
The auction is starting at $2000.00 AND it's a pick up only auction....
Hmm...I suppose I could blow $2000+ to buy the letters, buy the ticket to fly over there, rent a car to drive there to pick it up, and pay extra for over-sized luggage to bring it back to Seattle!....It would be worth it....yeah! no problem!
Then I can die happy and be buried in those awesome letters......nah.....I don't think I want to die just yet...maybe when I'm 80. Someone else who lives closer or who has the money should snag these!