Sunday, January 13, 2013

With Strings Attached


Did you ever receive a gift with strings attached? Normally I'd suppose that to be a negative, but yesterday I got a wad of cash with strings attached, and I was so excited! I loved it!

Read on to see why.



My friends, Lynn and Lynette, were taking me out for my birthday which is coming up this week. This has been our tradition for many years on each of our birthdays. Sometimes we go to breakfast, sometimes dinner, and we usually also include some other fun event as well. Maybe we'll see a show or a movie or hit a flea market. Of course, there are always gifts! For my birthday this year, the plan was to go to breakfast and then do a little shopping or whatever my heart desired. We had missed the flea market last week, so I wanted to hit Homegoods and do a little consignment and thrift store shopping.

In light of this, one of the gifts the girls gave me at the start of the day was contrived to inject a bit of a challenge into the day. I love a challenge and anything even hinting at competition. Their gift was so clever and fun, I just had to share it. Some of you may want to sock this idea away and use it for someone sometime.

I'm typically the type who holds onto my cash and won't spend it, just in case something better comes along. In an attempt to counter my penchant for being miserly, here is what they came up with:



It was 50 one dollar bills! Woo hoo! I was rich. Lynette's husband, Paul was actually the one who came up with the idea to tie the money with strings. Clever man, that Paul! So there I was with a wad of dough, but it came with strings attached; I had to spend it all by noon. Could I do it? Well, I was up for giving it a try!

So after breakfast, we took off. One of the places we had planned to stop was Homegoods, because there were some linens there that I wanted. When we got there, I found that they still had them, but I also found this lantern:



Decisions, decisions. I could have bought both, but I put back the linens and snagged the lantern, and it now graces my mantel. Since I still had $18 left and we hadn't even begun to hit the thrift stores, I just had to save some of those dollar bills for another stop, just in case I spotted something fantastic. We needed to get a move on; the clock was ticking.

After visiting another shop, we stopped at one of our nearby Goodwill stores with little time to spare, and I immediately spotted a few of these.


As I looked around, I found more and more until I had 16 of them. These are not your typical silverplate salt and pepper. Most of these shakers weigh almost a half of a pound. Heavy stuff. The inscription on the bottom of some of them says: Quadruple plated heavy duty metal - WR mfg. co. and different numbers on the different styles.

Goodwill wanted $4 each for most of them, $3 each for the three smaller ones. What!? That would have come to $64.66 with tax. Ridiculous! Way beyond my limits and the limits of anything I could call thrifting. So I went in search of Lynette and conscripted her to find and woo the manager with the need to reduce the price for the lot of them. Well, Lynette has skills, and she was able to talk the woman into letting me have them for half price. We are just in love with these. In LOVE I tell you! The color on many of them is a light golden cast. A few have a more silver coloring. Each one is worn, aged and vintage beautiful, and as a group, they make a huge a statement. Kind of like me and my friends. Hardy har, har!

Of course when I saw them, the first thing I thought of is the gorgeous little vases that Betsy at Mysalvagedtreasures.blogspot.com makes out of silver plate salt and pepper shakers. Check those out HERE. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with these other than watching them be beautiful. They really are so glamorous looking. They have a vintage charm that warms my heart.



The bevy of salt and pepper shaker beauty.



Practical, beautiful, utility


There are five different styles and the lines on some are so graceful.


On top of those items, the girls also gave me a stack of magazines and this adorable tray! So cute and colorful and it looks sweet on my aqua table. Gives me ideas for other things to make. We also went out to lunch and hit a bunch of other stores after the cash ran out. It was late afternoon and Lynn had to leave, but Lynette and I carried on with our treasure hunt until it was nearly dark.

There is much more I could tell, but I'm attempting a less wordy post than usual. It takes everything within me to keep the blabbing to a minimum. I'm working on it. Anything for you all!

All in all, it was a memorable birthday celebration with the most wonderful friends a girl could ask for!


I'll be sharing this with:


Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special


Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home
Be Inspired @ Common Ground
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style


Knick of Time Tuesdays @ Knick of Time




Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Mop it Up Monday @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things
Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios


37 comments:

  1. That's a fabulous idea! Love all your treasures. You asked me about the rose soaps from DT. Yes, they currently have these. I think they are so pretty!

    Have a great week!

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  2. What a fun birthday treasure hunt blended with the treasure of friendship! Very clever idea with the cash and strings attached. I love what you found to bring home with you.
    Have a great birthday week!
    Nici

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  3. What a wonderful b-day, Liz, such a clever gift. Love the salt and peppers. Our Goodwill has a strict no discount policy so you were lucky. Please be wordy - you are so entertaining!

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  4. OI LIZ,PARABÉNS PELO NIVER.ACHEI MUITO BOA A IDÉIA DE PRESENTE DA LINN E LYNNETE,ELAS SÃO ESPECIAL PARA VOCÊ.A IDÉIA DA BETSY PARA OS SALEIROS É SHOW,QUERO VER OS SEU, QUANDO ESTIVER PRONTO.BOA SEMANA.BEIJO.VALÉRIA.

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  5. 1. I love how clever your friends were.

    2. How are you going to top that for the next birthday.

    Have fun staging your new finds.

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  6. Liz, you do know how to pick: friends and stuff! And you sneaky girl, you didn't tell me it was your birthday yesterday! What a fun day - and what wonderful, clever friends. Sounds like they know you well...
    I vote for you to have a birthday WEEK!
    All the best,
    -Revi

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  7. A lantern is a must. I love them. I think you got a great buy on the silver salt and pepper shakers too. The would make cute vases. Happy Birthday, Liz!

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  8. a. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

    b. i'm freaking jealous!!! those shakers are GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    i hope you have a wonderful week full of fun and love!!!

    :) robelyn

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  9. Your friend's husband is very clever. What a fun birthday idea! Maybe "strings attached" should become you and your friends' birthday tradition. So clever and fun!

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  10. What a fun birthday surprise and celebration. Happy Birthday to you! That lantern is fabulous and those salt & pepper shakers are making me drool. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture..sweet bud vases. Thanks for remembering the ones I did and thanks for sharing your treasures.

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  11. OMGosh, I LOVE this!! What fun friends you have! (and those salt and pepper shakers are amazing :)
    Susan

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  12. Ohhhh I love lanterns and yours is so pretty! And the salt and pepper shakers--wonderful! My Goodwill never- never has anything so grand! It mostly has clothes and mis-matched Tupperware. It's smelly, too!

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  13. A great gift idea! You sure did a good job enjoying it too :) Happy Birthday wishes to YOU!

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  14. ~Liz~
    Happy Birthday Sista!
    ...and WHAT A COOL GIFT, love the poem, and the 'strings attached'. That makes you spend it on you!
    I still have my gift card from Tractor Supply my kids got me last year. I've only spent $ 10 of it...and I have $90 left!!!!
    aren't we crazy like that?

    so glad you had a great time with your friends on your birthday, too!
    Pat

    PS- you're so funny, I'm trying to shorten my wordy posts too.
    I should probably practice shortening my COMMENTS!
    ...again, Pat

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  15. I am going to use this idea for our oldest daughter's birthday. When I give her money, she always spends it on her family, and I want her to spend it on herself. Great idea!

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  16. What a fun birthday celebration!! Great finds and those gorgeous S&P's have a lovely patina - just like you!! Hee hee on the abbreviated post. So.... which day this week is THE day? :)

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  17. what a great amazing idea! Glad you were able to blow all the money!

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  18. The shakers are gorgeous and you hve very good friends. Happy Birthday!

    Cynthia

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  19. What a fun day and a fun post Liz...found myself wishing I could be one of your local friends..such a neet idea. It's great that you ladies will ACTUALLY MAKE TIME FOR EACH OTHER...so many of "us" think of it and have such good intentions but few ever actually do set aside the time for such a special gathering with our circle of friends. WAY TO GO -what a birthday haul!

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  20. What a neat idea...I will be sure to give this to someone in the next year...I wonder who it will be? Thanks so much for sharing at NTT.

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  21. Wow, I love that idea! I'm somewhat miserly, too, so this would be a good way to get me to spend my money! Looks like you found some great items!

    Happy birthday, Liz!

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  22. Oh what wonderful friends! That is a super fun idea - and great idea on the strings Paul!
    LOVE your salt shaker find! I think that pretty much tops my recent thrifting finds!

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  23. What a great idea...those are my kind of friends. Forced spending for the birthday girl is an awesome thing!
    Great finds...I'm in love with your s and p shaker collection.

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  24. Great idea! And I love those shakers, they are so beautiful!
    Happy Birthday!
    Besos!

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  25. Great post, thank you for sharing and Happy Belated Birthday!

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  26. What a creative idea ... to help a friend enjoy what is given them. Your choices are brilliant and look divine. Happy B-day

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  27. Well I'm a little jealous of those salt shakers! A suggestion - I've seen them turned to picture holders like the 1st picture in this post http://www.thegildedjunqueyard.com/2012/08/blogging-some-yucky-stuff.html
    Yours would be perfect for this. Thank goodness for fun and fabulous friends.

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  28. Great find at the thrift store. Wonder if they all came from an old restaurant or hotel. Happy Belated Birthday!

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  29. Love this post! I'll be featuring it at Be Inspired today, thanks so much for joining in!

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  30. What a fun idea! Will definitely remember this one. And am totally in love with your new found collection. Don't you wonder who owned these? Think they were someone's collection that got sent to GW when cleaning out an estate. Glad you spotted them and rounded them all up to keep this together. Love a good group of silver S&P. ;-)

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  31. That's an adorable idea! I think we tend to feel guilty about spending and then when it comes along in gift form we don't want to make a mistake. At least that's how I feel. Isn't it wonderful to have friends who know you so well?

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