Not Thrifty!

March 17th, 2011

This is an ode, an ode to the things we left behind…because our rental car was a Chevy Impala and was not good for transporting sofas.

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but that upholstery was in PERFECT condition and the base was amazing, but weirdly, it was also on wheels. Take the wheels off and you have this incredibly perfect vintage sofa with so much style and flair that your boring room is suddenly made resplendent. I loved this thing, even if it is all brown town.

This is like my chesterfield sofa, you know, if it had been a long time drug user and was down on its luck and eating way to much sodium. It needed a little love to get cleaned up, get it off the streets and reintegrated it into society. Ok, maybe a lot of love.

This is the one that got away. I know you’re thinking, “Morgan, girl, you are crazy. Look at that crazy floral fugly mess happening all over that sofa.”

Yeah? Huh? What?

BOOM. This thing was $55. Fifty Five Dollars. FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS.

I was dying. Dying to take it home, but every which way we tried to swing it, we just couldn’t get it back to California. All I could think was that reupholstery doesn’t cost a whole lot for something this simple and the frame is in perfect shape. And it’s fifty. five. dollars.

Have you guys been watching Secrets From a Stylist with Emily on the HGTV? Guess what – this same sofa was in the most recent episode with that couples loft. I know! Crazy right? What a weirdo coincidence. As soon as I saw it on her show I got all pissed again that we had to leave it in Arizona. Next time I bring a van. Next time I will not fail.

Then I saw a coffee table that was cute and some man sized geode things…

…and rows and rows of turquoise…and got yelled at for taking pictures and had to get all sneaky with my iPhone…

…and more rock things…

…and all kinds of petrified wood.

Have you been to Quartzsite, AZ? That place is insane. A little scary…and totally insane.

Ugh, still beating myself up for not renting a van or something, but those things are annoyingly expensive. Next time, oh you silly willy next time, I need to bite the bullet and just come up with a better plan. I miss you sofas…

FILED UNDER: Not Thrifty, thrifting, thrifty, travel, vintage

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Phoenix Modern

March 16th, 2011

Of course I had to stop into a couple of vintage stores while in Phoenix. There was a whole slew of shops on Seventh Ave, and I had grandiose hopes of stopping at them all. I fell really short of that plan but the two that were the most interesting had to be Phoenix Metro Retro and Modern Manor.

Situated right next to each other in a little industrial area, these two shops had killer vintage pieces that made me drool all over the place. Too bad there weren’t any killer deals, but the pricing seemed fair in terms of the vintage store model and the selection was to die for. I was a little heartbroken that I couldn’t afford, nor could fit a number of pieces in our rental car, including that lovely vintage Akari lamp. I’ve been searching and begging and hoping to find one of my own, but alas, I couldn’t justify buying another freaking lamp for our pad – especially one that was $300.

Now a few sofas were tempting me and a little rocking safari chair in army green canvas almost did make it into the car. I practiced restraint. Lots and lots of restraint.

FILED UNDER: links, travel, vintage

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Phoenix

March 15th, 2011

We drove through the desert in our rental car with out of date registration tags all the while crossing our fingers that we wouldn’t be pulled over by the authorities.

We stayed at The Clarendon Hotel, a small boutique hotel in mid-town, that had a bit of a younger retro slant to its digs.

The rooms and interior had seen better days. Everything needed a bit of an update, some maintenance and a thorough scrub down.

The thing I loved most was the little restaurant at the hotel. Gallo Blanco was delectable! Doug Robson is the chef & owner, and according to their site, “the food is cooked from scratch daily…we strive to utilize local ingredients and partner with local farmers and distributors.” Tasty tasty fair and probably the best part of our trip.

I loves this little service area. It was just two Ikea sideboards with a giant wood slab stretched across the top. The turquoise detail inlaid in the wood killed me – something I’d love to copy some day for sure.

Jeremy got a tasty chicken chilaquile and I scarfed down this incredible torta with over easy eggs, avocado and piles of deliciousness. I will now put over easy eggs on everything I eat.

We totally went hot tubing, body shame be dammed!

The rooftop deck was the poop. Seriously, I love a high rooftop lounge area with city views and completely devoid of other guests. Voyeurism never felt so good.

We had one night to go out on the town and after a long day of business and shopping and hot tubing (and more than a few cocktails), we headed out to a restaurant around the corner that the staff recommended.

Totally cheese-ball, but kind of perfect after a long hot day was Hula’s Modern Tiki.

We got frou frou girl drinks with silly names like Dr. Funk and ate our weight in spare ribs, fish bites, sweet potato fries and jerk pork. Macadamia nut ice cream and brownies? Yeah. Yum num num.

We had a good time and left incredibly late and stuffed to the gills.

The thing about Hemet is that we have ZERO even mildly interesting restaurants. It’s all chain stuff like Applebees and Chili’s and Red Robin, so anything even remotely different or unique is pretty mind blowing. The food wasn’t even that spectacular, it was just nice to go somewhere that didn’t have fake ivy plants and “country” themed rooster wall paper for once.

Phoenix actually reminded me a lot of Hemet, well maybe more like Riverside. It had that same sort of desert strip mall atmosphere with a dash of ghetto and retro forlornness that seems to creep in. Phoenix did seem to have an INCREDIBLE amount of strip clubs and all the signs posted at thrift stores about not bringing in guns kind of freaked me out. I guess you can just walk around with guns everywhere? Makes going to IHOP or wherever a little more interesting…