Who wants to know how those Head Vases Sold?

I will update you a bit later, but let’s just say they have already paid for themselves!

So my mom’s real birthday was celebrated in Bellingham on the 18th.  I am taking the time here to share some photos of her birthday’s past.

Here we are on August 18th, 2018 (right after moving to Ventura) and celebrating with a few of our favorite customers/consignors Leslie and John Mackey at their Octoberfest party held on John (Mac’s) birthday…which also happens to be August 18th!

Pictured from left to right, Sue, my mom, Paula (Steve’s mom), Dar, not sure, Steve, and finally not sure!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #25…

August 28th, 2020
Watch for it every Friday or every other Friday!
Volume I  Issue 25

That party was so much fun!  And I met so many new people who would eventually become my good friends.  How cool is that?  Ventura is just that kind of a town.  I have only lived here 2 1/2 years and yet, it feels like forever!

Here is another photo from the party…this one is Mac and my Mom celebrating with their birthday cakes.  You can see Leslie right behind both of them and the amazing Polka band behind her!

The Mackey’s were sooooo sweet to include my mom in Mac’s birthday celebration.  BTW, the Mackey’s have moved into a home with no yard.  I offered to host this year’s Oktoberfest at my home and Leslie even had the Polka band booked….but then…COVID!  Yes, COVID really should be a 4 letter word!

One more last photo from that EPIC party two years ago on August 18th….and I do MEAN epic.  Here are my kids getting ready to head over to the Mackey’s house.  Leslie and John were so kind and let me invite Houston’s roommates from his Pepperdine year abroad which he spent in Heidelberg, Germany.

Left to right…Indiana, Emma (this was the first time I met Emma!!!!), Reilly, Houston, and Alec.

I text my friend Steve this picture and he had the best comment….”The kids look like a John Hughes Movie Cast”.  SOOOOO True and HILARIOUS!

O.K., one last picture from that super fun party!  It is from my Instagram account.  Please follow me at LynnDralle.  To get in the spirit of the party, everything I wore to the party I had purchased in Heidelberg…the hat, shirt, jeans, and even my shoes!  LOL

From left to right, Alec (Pepperdine class of 2017 Valedictorian), Reilly (Houston’s best friend), Emma (Houston’s girlfriend), me, my mom, Houston, and Indiana (wearing my Heidelberg sweatshirt).

After that party, Steve and his mom, Paula and my mom got to be really good friends and we would go on “play dates”.  Steve’s mom passed away this year right as Covid was starting.  We sure loved her and miss her!  She was into Beanie Babies and back in 1998, my brother and I wrote some books on Beanie Babies.  One of our books was published by Scholastic and sold 150,000 copies.  BTW, I did all the artwork by crayon for the book…it was my design…did you know I wanted to go to art school?  and my dad wouldn’t let me….I am sure I have told you that before…..

Yikes!  I gave a copy to Paula shortly after this party and a few days ago, Steve text me this photo and said “I think my mom liked your book”.  Awwww…we miss you Paula!

OK, that was a fun walk down memory lane…so back to reality and the store.

Just a reminder of our current store hours…..
Tuesday to Sunday 11 to 3. Saturdays from 11 until 5 pm.

We do stay late if there are customers so if you are in the area check us out to see if we are still open after 3 pm.

Another reminder that this is what our front window looks like…with the neutral pallet of furniture that is staying in place. This all started back on July 22nd! Although, we did sell the cabinet on the left, the desk, and the round distressed mirror recently. We have been able to replace those items with more neutral pieces that are (believe it or not?) for sale…I really don’t like selling anything out of my front windows. LOL!

For the first two weeks, the window had red accessories.  It was a hit!  Here it is from the street at night.  The red window was in place from July 24th to August 5th.

On August 5th, we changed the front window out to orange accessories (this was right before I left for my recent Washington trip).  Here is a photo of that front window at night.

Do you remember from the last newsletter (ezine) that I begged you all to NOT buy that hall tree?  Well, NO ONE listened…It sold for full price last week!  Hahaha  Thank you for your business!

So, a lot has been going on.  Two of my best friends from Palm Desert arrived here for a visit this past Monday.  Our goal for the store…change that window to Yellow.  You do all realize what is going on here, right?  ROY G. BIV, remember that?  Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Here are my besties out for drinks at Limon y Sal with Sandy!

Their first day here, we sourced Yellow all over town!  Here is a picture of the new yellow window from the side.

And here it is from the front on the first day it was yellow, August 25th.  Thank God I took a photo that night because the next day we sold the “Don’t Walk, Walk” sign for $295, the huge piece of artwork on the wall, and three pillows from the couch.  Trust me…Yellow is the way to go!  Seriously, I might leave the yellow window up FOREVER.  Everyone seems to LOVE it!

OK, I think it is time for an eBay score.  Don’t you?

Check out this listing for a lamp part that I inherited from my grandmother.  It sold for almost $150. Yes, I really did say that.  And, WOW!  It is a shade of yellow 🙂

Let’s take a second to share some of the fun amazing new items that have come into the store recently!  Check out the new arrivals by clicking this link.

This past week should have been the first day of school for both of my kids.  Well, I guess it was, but not in the traditional sense.  I am sure most of you can relate.  Ughhhh!

Well, my time hop showed some fun first days of school from days past and I thought it would be fun to share them with you.  Thanks for indulging me!  I miss my kids sooooo much!  Although, it is nice to have my house back.  It is hard to go cold turkey with Houston being in OKC and Indy living in Agoura Hills.

Thank you for that walk down memory lane.  Let’s get back to the store.  Sandy had a great idea recently.  Well, she has a lot of great ideas…some of which I actually listen to.  LOL.  Since Pier One is going out of business (super sad), Sandy found some amazing etagere rolling racks that they were selling.  I ended up buying 18 of them for the store.  Yikes!  Here we are loading them into Sandy’s truck.

I decided that I wanted them painted white, so Sandy, Wayne, and I went to work.  We gutted the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Iron Orchid Design display and completely redid it.  I must say it is BEYOND AMAZING and looks so incredibly clean, neat, and professional.  I am so thrilled with how it turned out!  Please stop in and check it out in person.  It really is incredible!  Annie Sloan herself even commented on my Instagram post by saying “Looking good Lynn and I love the new Painter Hutch”  So very British!

One of my best friends from USC, Joanne Carolan, offered up her daughter Vivienne to work for me a few days this summer.  LOVE THIS KID!  She is super sweet and has a great sense of humor just like her parents.  Here she is in front of the paint section before we redid it.  She is now away for college at Northern Arizona University.  Go Viv!

I miss Indiana A LOT!  She has been super busy at Pepperdine (well at Pepperdine adjacent in Agoura Hills).  Here are some of her recent doings.  She is the current President of the Pepperdine Improv Toupe (PIT) and they have a live show this Friday (TONIGHT) at 6:30 PM.  Please check them out on Facebook.  Here is a link to their Facebook page.  And the live event.

Here is another photo of Indy on Instagram promoting PIT…Pepperdine Improv Troupe.  She has also been rehearsing for the Fall play (she has a lead role)…not sure how that will play out, but it may be a zoom performance.  I will be sure to get you all the links. Indy is amazing in the role of Molly in “Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids.”

I love her post and I think she is getting pretty excited for the puppy that is coming our way soon!  Here is a recent photo of the puppies and one of these will be OURS…or HERS!

Let’s get back to eBay and those head vases that sold.  But since we are on the subject of eBay, I had some wonderful eBayers, Dublin Kim and Terri, come into the store to visit me this past week.  I have known these gals for almost 15 years.  Wow!  Here we are in front of the new paint display.  Thanks, girls!

Here is a photo of all of the head vases that were listed on eBay back in my storage room behind the store.  For those of you interested in seeing my eBay room, I am more than happy to show you how I get 14,000 items listed on eBay into a tiny 300 square foot area!

The head vase that sold for the most so far was the nurse that I pictured in the last ezine.  It ended up selling for $118.50.  I sold 10 of the vases at auction for a total of $490.43.  Not as much as I had hoped for but still a great initial return on a $360 investment.  Here is the head vase that sold for the next highest amount.  Check it out here.

For those of you who are consignors and for those of you who are not…just a huge heads up!  We need DESKS and anything that can be used as a DESK.  All of this homeschooling and work from home has created a HUGE shortage.   Please help us out!   Also, anything that is YELLOW!

Exciting News!  Baggu (who makes those amazing reusable bags that we sell), also makes masks!  The masks are now IN STOCK.  $32.00 for a set of 3.  My kids LOVE them!  Come in and check them out!

Time for another eBay score! I bought this Tommy Bahama embroidered men’s shirt in Santa Paula about 6 months ago for $25.  Sold it last week for over $100!  Yay!  Check it out here. 

Here is a recent Instagram post for a GORGEOUS Ombre Amsterdam Green Piece that has got me excited to try painting an Ombre piece!

Don’t forget that you can always order your paint supplies on our website……….

Shop Annie Sloan Here
https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/store/category/Annie%20Sloan?sort=HL

You know what is so weird?  Most of the last photos I have shown have been very GREEN.  Wouldn’t you know that in about 3 weeks we are going to be changing that front window to green!  So please bring in any YELLOW and GREEN items to consign.  Can’t wait for the fun next window!

Carlos has been very happy having me home!  It was also great to have my friends from the desert as house guests this week.  He SOOOOOO loves to have company.  Each night after work we would sit out on my deck with Carlos in his harness.  Not ready to let this guy go off on his own in the wild….yet.  Maybe never, as we love him too much.  Check him out hanging out in the sun.

I couldn’t find him the other day and I had to laugh when I saw him underneath one of my marble top tables.  The two Victorian Marble top tables that I own were my grandmother’s pride and joy.  I love trying to make them work into my design aesthetic (it isn’t always easy).  Here is Carlos wrapped around the feet of one of them.

Since Carlos is now 10 months old, I thought it would be fun to share a throwback photo of him when he was just a tiny guy.  He is still just a kitten as far as I am concerned.  Love this photo of the little guy in his Christmas sweater with Indiana!

My best friends from Palm Desert left yesterday to go back to the desert.  We are baseball mom friends since our boys have played ball together since they were about 5 years old.  The boys aren’t necessarily still friends, but our mom crew has been such a blessing!

Candy didn’t make it out this trip, but Mo (also my original and longest-running eBay assistant) and Kel did make the trip.  The gals were such great help and I was sad to see them go. For our last night, we headed down to the Saloon for drinks, got Gyros at that new place downtown, and wound up at Finney’s for a drink before our Uber home.  Here is a photo of Kel and me at the Saloon.

I so love that my friends from far and near LOVE Ventura.  It is so crazy that I picked such a great place to live!  I am sure my grandma, my sister, and my dad had something to do with guiding me here.  However, I am beyond BLESSED to be a part of this amazing community!

In my time-hop from only 3 years ago this week….THIS BLOWS MY MIND…was my first time ever stepping foot in Ventura.  I had traveled to Santa Barbara many times BUT never stopped here.  So, three years ago, after dropping Indy off at Pepperdine and having 3 days of parental orientation, my mom and I made our way to Ventura.

I obviously didn’t need three days of orientation since my son was in his Junior year at Pepperdine.  One of the Pepperdine security guards had mentioned to my mom and me that they lived in Ventura/Oxnard and commuted.  My mom and I decided to check it out!  We made our way to the Goodwill across from Rice by MAMA and the rest is history.

I fell in love with this town and am so happy here!  Check out this photo from three years ago of my mom crossing the street by the Goodwill.

Thank you, Ventura for supporting my small business! I appreciate it very much. Stop in and see us soon. Always lots of fun and shenanigans at the store!

Thanks for reading my ezines! I appreciate it….as always!

eBay with Heart & Design with Heart……Lynn

 

P.S.  All of the professional photos I use on Instagram, Facebook, and in these newsletters were taken by my friend Denise’s daughter, Jaclyn Sabo.  She is amazing!   To learn more about Jaclyn….https://www.jaclynszabo.com/

P.P.S.  If you have a friend who wants to sign up for this newsletter.