It has really happened.  My kids have moved out, gotten their first post-college jobs and a bitchin apartment in Marina del Rey!

I have an empty nest (aka house), but as my grandmother would have said the store is Chugga Rum Full!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #09…

July 29, 2021
Watch for it every Thursday or every other Thursday or Saturday!
Actually, lets be honest…watch for it whenever I get one finished hahahaha
Volume II  Issue 09

 

Last time we met, we were discussing Indy’s Pepperdine graduation, am I right?  Well, in this ezine we will revisit Houston’s Notre Dame graduation and a bunch of other crazy goings on this past month.  No wonder I don’t have time to write two of these a month anymore!

Since we aren’t going to discuss Goose’s (Houston’s) graduation until later, let me share a sneak peak photo from that epic day…which also happened to be his 25th birthday…..awwwwwww!

Here he is throwing up his cap in front of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart or the Gold Dome on  Saturday, July 10th.  Pretty cool pic!

I don’t know where to start…Kind of unusual for me, but sooooo much has been going on.  The first two weeks of July were all about traveling for me.  And boy have I missed traveling!

About 3 years ago, one of my customers (and paint class attendees) Teri Cruz was telling me and my mom about this really cool dinner company.  It is called OITF Outstanding in the field and they go around the company and hold dinners in farmer’s fields etc.  I was super intrigued as Teri and her sister have followed the OITF dinners from Santa Cruz to Oaxaca, Mexico.

The price for a seat at the table are not cheap, but it was something that I have been wanting to do forever.  Jim Denevan who owns the company even had a documentary done about him and it premiered right before Covid up in Santa Barbara.  Sandy and I went to see it and it was fascinating.

Fast forward to the OITF line up for 2020 and they announced a dinner at the Hearst Castle Ranch.  Well, that was one dinner I was definitely going to attend!  It sold out quickly!  I bought two tickets and the dinner never happened back in 2020.  It got postponed and moved to May of 2021 and finally postponed again and set up for July 2nd of 2021.  I was able to purchase two more tickets because of all of the delays.

I was super excited to take Houston, Indiana and Emma to the dinner.  Luckily, thanks to Sandy and Doug, we found an awesome dog sitter in Carpinteria.  She does not advertise and her property is like a Club Med for dogs.  The dogs all go on a hike or beach run at 10 am everyday and we were going to drop Cha Cha off on our way up to Cambria the morning of the dinner.

Here is Indy with Cha Cha checking out the dog’s swimming pool.  Life is RUFF right Cha Cha?

After dropping off Cha Cha we headed up to Pismo Beach for lunch.  I soooooo love that little sleepy beach town.  The kids had never been so it was super fun for me to show them around.  We ate at the same restaurant where I had taken my nephews, Zach, Kai and my mom two years prior.

Super fun fact about Outstanding in the Field’s Dinners….they ask you to bring your own plate….WAIT A MINUTE…WHAT?  As many of you may know, I am known as The Queen of Auctions, and “Dishes” Dralle (well that is my Las Vegas Mob name during eBay events).  You see, I am very well known for selling dinnerware on eBay.  It is my forte…my bread & butter…plate hahaha!

In any event, you asked us to bring a dinner plate….I complied.  I picked out 20 different plate that I have on eBay and let each kid pick their own.  Interestingly enough, Emma and I picked the same plate.  I knew I liked her!

So, when we arrived at the Hearst Ranch Winery for the cocktail party that happens before the dinner, they asked us to drop off our plate.  Of course, the OITF staff got a kick out of beautiful plates and we even made their Instagram story.  A truly proud and epic moment for me personally!  And I am being TOTALLY serious!

Now is as good a time as any to share a recent dinner plate score with you!  Yes folks, used dinnerware can sell for big bucks on eBay.  I sold this turkey plate in June of this year (not even around the Thanksgiving holiday) for over $80.  Check it out here!

But back to our dinner. The entire OITF experience was phenomenal. Just a few highlights. The cocktail party at the Hearst Ranch Winery right on the ocean with the great wines and appetizers was so fun!

Then they bussed us almost to the up to the castle where the table was set.  EPIC!

Indy’s dinner plate was chosen (haha) for a featured display on the table where you went to pick up your dinner plates and find a spot to sit. The only part I didn’t like was the “mad scramble” to find a seat.  Everyone wanted to be closest to the edge with all of the amazing views.  We didn’t have much luck and ended up way down the line.  You can see us (if you get out your magnifying glass) where the black arrow is.  But quite honestly, there wasn’t a bad seat in the place!

Our seats for dinner actually turned out to be awesome as we got to sit next to Jim and Debi Saunders who own the Hearst Winery with Steve Hearst.  Pretty cool huh?  Debi runs the gift store at the winery so we had a lot to talk about.  She gave me some great ideas for new gift lines.  I’ll share those later!

I was really proud of my kids and their gift of conversation.  Houston and Indy asked some really great questions.  One of Houston’s questions to Jim was “What has been your favorite wine tasting experience?”  Jim really had to think about that and told Houston “No one has ever asked me that before”.  I emailed Debi a quick note after the dinner and here is her email back.

” Hi Lynn,

So sorry it took me so long to get back to you.  It was great meeting you and your family last Friday night.  Such nice kids and fun to talk to.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

All the best,

Debi”

That made my day!  The dinner was phenomenal and the wines they poured with each course were excellent.  My favorite was the Hearst Ranch Chardonnay which sells for $75 a bottle.  Gotta buy some of that someday……

That is Jim, Debi, Indiana, Houston, Emma, Patty and Tim at the table.  Then Houston and Emma with Jim Denevan (the founder).

A wonderful time was had by all and I can’t wait to attend another OITF event someday soon!  OK!  Let’s get back to the store and see what is going on there!

Before I forget, would you please do me a HUGE FAVOR?

We need your vote for Best of Ventura County!  Voting ends on July 31st so there isn’t much time!  We are nominated in the “Best Home Furnishings” Category and are so honored!

Our first year in business we took 3rd place in that category.  Our second year in business we took 2nd place!  But Last year we didn’t place at all!  So PLEASE help us this year to make the top 3!

Here is a link to the VOTING!

We are in category #15.  Thank you soooooo much!

We finally finished the Indigo (Navy Blue) vignette that sits right by the back roll up door.  I think it looks fantastic!

We have yet to finish the Violet vignette.  I will try and work on it this week.  Gotta finish that ROY G BIV  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet for the rainbow!  Indy did work her magic on the pink vignette so at least I can show you that!

A LOT has changed for my kids since the last ezine.  AND I do mean A LOT!  Houston, Emma, Indy and their friend David all decided to live together in the Santa Monica area.  Indy attended a party hosted by one of her Pepperdine professors at her apartment home in Marina del Rey.  Well, Indiana fell in love with the apartment complex.  She told Houston about it and the next thing you know they have applied for an apartment!

The apartment they applied for was on the ground level and facing a parking lot.  Houston thought that was no big deal, but I insisted that we go down and tour all of the other units available.  I was not going to have the girls (Indy & Emma) living on the ground floor where they couldn’t even open their windows.

Well, we found a bitchin unit (but of course it cost more money) and I agreed to supplement them for the first year.  We secured the better unit which they wouldn’t be moving into until after our Chicago trip.  Here is Indy at the complex.  Nice right?  And off we went to Houston’s Notre Dame graduation!

Chicago, Chicago, Chicago.  I can’t tell you how much planning went into this 6 day trip, but it was A LOT!  No one flies into South Bend during the “non-school”year so we decided to fly into Chicago and spend a few days in the windy city.  Instead of wasting a day traveling, I suggested we take a red-eye.  Why not?

The hardest part to coordinate was making sure that my mom flew in and out from Bellingham, WA around the same time we did so that she wouldn’t be alone.  Mission accomplished and we all headed out on Tuesday night, July 6th (my birthday)!  Here is a cool shot as we started our descent into Chicago.  Check out that time stamp….YiKES!  3:50 am LA time.

We all arrived about the same time to O’hare!  Yippeeeee!  We collected my mom, grabbed and Uber and headed to our hotel on the Navy Pier.  We arrived to the hotel about 8 am Chicago time and unfortunately none of our rooms were ready.  Ughhhh!  Luckily, they had a wheelchair we could borrow and off we went for a lovely breakfast.  Here we are heading back to the Sable Hotel.  It was like staying on a cruise ship with floor to ceiling windows over the lake.

Not even one room was ready after our breakfast.  Ughhhh.  I was beginning to think that my “red eye flight” experiment was not a very good idea.  We hung out in the lobby until 11 am (9 am our time) and finally decided to have lunch in the hotel’s restaurant.

It actually turned out to be fun (as we were forced to hang out together) HAHAHA.  Indiana finished writing her thank you notes for her graduation gifts, I gave my mom a lesson on Instagram and we had a few cocktails.  Why not?  It was still technically my birthday!

The gals look pretty darn good for surviving a red eye!

Speaking of Indy’s graduations, I must share her grad announcement because it is soooooo cute!  The front is one of her new head shots for auditions and the back was a cartoon strip of her time at Pepperdine that my brother did (I helped) for her senior page.

After 2 hours in the restaurant we finally adjourned to the lobby….AGAIN!  After another hour, at 2 pm Chicago time, our rooms were ready!  Praise the LORD!

We all took naps and then Indy, Houston and Emma met up with one of her Pepperdine Improv Troupe friends who now lives in Chicago.  We LOVE Corbin and the kids had a blast going to a comedy club with him.

My mom and I ended up eating dinner in that same hotel restaurant (after walking the length of Navy Pier and finding no open tables) Hahahaha and watching the fire work show.

Day 1 was in the bag! It was actually a pretty fun day! The next day we were going to hit thrift stores, have some deep dish pizza and I had reserved a table at Gene & Georgettis for a fancy dinner to celebrate both mine and Houston’s birthdays.

We ended up at Gino’s East for lunch because back in the day there was a Gino’s East in Brentwood where I lived after college. We used to go there A LOT. Here we are at the old Gino’s East in LA circa 1990. That’s me, Jay Payes, Marina, Melanie Souve and Bart Miles. I miss the old crew!

Fast forward 30 years later, here we are earlier this month at Gino’s East in Chicago!

After lunch we took an Uber to a Salvation Army (gotta thrift when you are on vacay) and let me tell you Uber’s are UBER expensive these days.  It cost us $30 each way to only go one mile.  Yikes!

Here is the gang at the Salvation Army waiting for the Uber to take us back to our hotel.  They looked thrilled don’t they?  You can see the Gino’s East Pizza Box on the table.  Hahaha!

I did find some pretty decent flatware at that store.  I got an entire set of Towle Stainless for about $10.  Well, you have to add in the cost of a checked bag ($30) for me on the way home…I couldn’t take those knives through security!

Here is a link to one of those listings. I should end up selling the set (all individually) for about $400 over the next few years.  FUN!

That night we headed out to Gene & Georgetti’s Chicago Steak House for a fun Birthday celebration. Such a cool family run business! The original owner’s granddaughter runs it now and her name is Michelle Nicole.

We had such a blast with her & her husband (and the entire staff) that she bought our dessert! Such a fun time! Here is my mom at the bar with Michelle Nichole. And then Michelle with our server JJ and finally the chef, the pastry chef and Michelle after dinner as we gave them a round of applause!

Speaking of family businesses and Illinois seriously reminds me of my grandma!  She was born in Abingdon and lived there until her mother passed away when my grandma was only a baby.  Such a tragic story and one that my grandmother never got over.

Five years ago, we were in Chicago for eBay business and my mom and I added a road trip to our visit.  We headed down to Galesburg to see where my great grandmother, Maybelle, (Cheryl Leaf’s mom) was buried in a mausoleum.

Here is an excerpt from that ezine about our trip…And a link to the ezine if you care to read it in it’s entirety.

“The next day, my mom and I would be heading to Abingdon, Illinois where my grandmother was born and also to Galesburg where her mother, Maybelle, was buried in the Hope Abbey Mausoleum. It had always been my dream to visit that to honor my grandmother.

Cheryl Leaf missed her mother every day of her life as her mother passed away due to complications from childbirth at age 34 when my grandma was just 15 months old.

Here is a photo of Maybelle with my grandma on her lap and my grandma’s brother Houston standing next to them.  See, Houston is a family name!  We are related to Sam Houston (battle of the alamo) and we named my son after my grandma’s brother to honor her!

My mom had been in touch with her second cousin, Clifford, who lives outside of Chicago and he had emailed us this information.

‘When you go down to Galesburg, I would suggest that you find out ahead of time how you can get a key to get into the mausoleum. Even though I have always wanted to, I have never seen May Belle’s crypt, either, mainly because I didn’t know how to get into the mausoleum.

A relative (Robert) told me how your grandfather, George Sussex, purchased a casket for May Belle which had a glass window over the face so that the face could be seen when the casket was closed. The idea was that your grandfather someday wanted to have the casket pulled out so that he could show your mother, Cheryl Leaf, and Houston what their mother looked like.

In some papers written by your grandfather which Lynn copied, your grandfather mentioned that he someday wanted to take Cheryl and Houston to see what their mother looked like, so that would verify what Robert had told me.’

Is that crazy and a bit creepy? And oh so sad!”

Here is a photo of the flowers we placed on May Belle’s Crypt that day.

OK OK, back to present day Chicago.  I do so love to reminisce and am fascinated by history.  Especially, my family’s history!

The next morning we were packing it up and leaving Chicago.  I rented a car (an uber would have cost us $400 Yikes!) to get us from O’hare to South Bend and our next journey began!  We checked in to the Morris Inn on Campus where I had stayed back in 1991 (30 years ago) when I was participating in an MBA Case Competition with USC.  Crazy!  And such a handy location!

There was to be a prayer ceremony and cocktail party that evening, but first we had to grab Houston’s Graduation Regalia and get some grub (lunch)!  He picked up his cap & gown by the ACE (Alliance for Catholic Education) offices and I snapped this cute pic!  Then we had a late lunch and “some” of us tried a beer flight at The Evil Czech Brewerey.

While at lunch Indiana took a phone call from Paul who runs the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine.  I could tell from the conversation that he was offering her a job.  NOOOOOOOOO, I don’t want my super artistic talented daughter to ever get a JOB.

I want her to pursue her acting and a JOB was not gonna help that.  Turns out it was a temporary position to run the Box Office at Pepperdine and the pay was great and it is only for 2 months so she took it.  Ughhh, I was also hoping she would be working at the store a few days a week but whatever it gives her some structure as she transitions in the “REAL WORLD”.

The graduation pre-ceremony was held in the meeting rooms of the football stadium.  Pretty darn impressive!  I had to share this photo of us sitting outside with appetizers because of all the many pictures I took, Houston just looked so pained in all of them.  Poor kid!  Staring right into the sun.  Hahaha

Then we took one HAPPY photo in front of the Touch Down Jesus and it was off to wrap up our first day at Notre Dame.  Poor Indy was hidden in all of these photos.

Next day was graduation and Houston’s 25th Birthday!  Yikes!  What an incredible coincidence that they would happen on the same day.  We couldn’t have missed it!

Super fun fact, while Houston was getting his Masters at Notre Dame in Education, they would attend classes on campus during the summers (well not last summer but at least he was there on campus for the first one) and then the students were assigned schools all over the country where they would teach during the school year.

Houston was placed in OKC and taught at Mt. St. Mary’s Catholic High School.  He lived in an old Victorian House with 5 other ACE students.  They became super close.  Since it was his birthday they called a brunch for the kids and the family’s and even bought us all birthday hats.  It was so sweet!

Whenever I travel, I make it a point to visit an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Stockist.  I get such incredible ideas from these store owners.  This trip was no exception.  After Houston’s birthday brunch, we all jumped in the car and headed to Elkharst, Indiana to visit “Birds Gotta Fly“.  Seriously, this was my FAVORITE Stockist (Pam Hoffer( that I have ever visited.  Her store is what dreams are made of and a model for what I would like my store to be someday.

Doesn’t this look like a magazine shoot?

Not kidding, she has her business in a HUGE old brick warehouse that just lends itself to an incredible shopping experience.  I came home with so many ideas and am currently looking for a HUGE old brick warehouse that I can either move my store into or open up an auxillary location.

Any of you know of such a place?  It does NOT have to be in a retail area, it is definitely going to be a destination so please help me think outside the box.

Pam, the owner, was so gracious and took almost 2 hours to walk us through the store and show and tell her best sellers, ideas for marketing, etc.  It was such a treat!  Here are Pam and I standing in front of the Annie Sloan Display.

Here is my mom with some of the sales girls and Pam in the boutique section.  She also has a coffee shop in there!  Please people, help me find a location (that I can afford) to expand my business!  I need the space 🙂

I can’t believe that Houston let us stay at Pam’s store for almost 2 hours!  I know he was anxious to get back and get ready for the big graduation ceremony so we regretfully called it a day and headed back to campus.

The ceremony was short and perfect and held in their basketball arena!  Here he is crossing the stage!

There was an hour long mass afterwards…not so short nor so perfect but whatever!  Then we finally got to see the graduate and get some photos!

Then we headed over to the football stadium (again) for the dinner and dance.  Notre Dame really goes all out!!  Although, we did have to pay for it.  On the way in were cardboard displays that the house mates in OKC that were not graduating made for the graduates.  So fun to see photos from their 2 years living and working in OKC.

Here is a shot of our dinner table company.  It was a really fun event…not sure where Indiana was when I took this pic.

It was about time to call it a night when I realized that they were showing the kids photos from when they got their school assignments outside on the jumbotron in the football stadium.  Had to get a photo of that!  Houston Wilson OKC Mt. St. Marys!

And of course we couldn’t call it a night without sharing a photo of Indiana dancing in Houston’s robe.  Hahahaha

Well, that recap was exhausting and the trip was not over yet….we were still in Notre Dame….had not even left to drive back to O’hare to fly out which we did the next day. It was raining and traffic was terrible. WAZE ended up routing us off the freeway and down some side streets.

All of a sudden we were in some really sketchy neighborhoods. All the businesses were “out of business” and boarded up. The houses were also boarded up and had graffiti all over them. SCARY! Especially because we have all been binge watching Criminal Minds. Check out this picture that Indy took of one of the billboards at a former restaurant and then can you guess where we were?…..

OK, you guessed it!  Gary, Indiana!  So of course everyone in the car broke out in tune singing Broadway show tunes.  Ughhh.  And on Instagram Indy was able to tag it as Gary, Indiana Murder Capital.  So sad what happens when manufacturing/steel etc. goes overseas.  It ruins small town America.

On a better note to end this crazy Chicago trip, we ended up getting into the Admiral’s Club at O’hare because I belong to the Alaska Airlines Boardroom and I can take one person in with me, which was Indiana.  Houston and Emma were behind us in line trying to get in with their miles (didn’t work) and some nice gentleman sponsored them.  A nice relaxing place to chill before our flight home.  And that’s a WRAP!

But back to the store……Can’t wait to see you in the store!  Don’t forget we have gotten in 100’s of new consigned unique items.  You WON’T want to miss out!

This amazing silver vanity just arrived.  I LOVE it!  Priced at $495.00 it looks great with the red velvet swivel desk chair $149.50.

Just a reminder of Our CURRENT HOURS:

Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 5pm
Sundays 11 am to 3pm

Last week I was pleasantly surprised when an ezine reader from years ago stopped in the store to say hello! Liz Rubin and her husband were coming down the coast from SLO on their way home to San Diego and stopped in to say hi! She is a long time ezine reader, class taker and product buyer who still sells on eBay. Super fun to see her! Here we are in front of the Annie Sloan Paint display.

We will be announcing some Annie Sloan and IOD design courses soon!  Watch your email in box for the notice in the next week.  So excited to be back teaching.  Check out this amazing dresser that was in Instagram today done by one of Annie’s favorite painters using her green colors…Firle, Antibes, Amsterdam etc.  Isn’t it gorgeous?  Stop in and let us help you with your next paint project 🙂

Speaking of eBay and Liz’s visit, don’t you think it is time for a score.  Especially since 4 years ago today (as I write this) I was in Las Vegas for eBay Open doing my last interview with Griff & Lee for eBay Radio.  It was their swan song and boy do I miss eBay radio and those great events they used to have!

I love this eBay score because I sell a lot of coffee mugs which I pick up for anywhere from 10 cents each to $3.  I usually won’t pay over $5 but have on occasion.  This one I got for 50 cents and it sold for a best offer of $30 last week.  Pretty good ROI (return on investment)!  I think mugs sell for so much because they remind people of places and people in their past.  A lot of what we are selling on eBay are memories!

Check out the listing here.

So my month has been CRAZY!  The day we got back from Chicago, the desert girls arrived for 3 days of fun in the sun!  Actually, they were escaping the 120 degree weather in Palm Desert and I love having them in town!  We had a blast, days at the beach, dinners downtown and a day trip to Ojai.  Here we are out to dinner at Water’s Edge.

The girls headed back to the desert on Thursday which gave me a few days to work in the store before…..drum roll please….the kids big move to Marina del Rey which happened that Sunday.

I am seriously exhausted just writing this all down!  Luckily, I hired a moving company out of Ojai and they were great.  We just had to haul all of the kids stuff from the house down to the store for a 9:30 am pick up.  Thanks Sandy for letting us use your truck!  Here we are with the piles out behind the store.

Here are the guys loading the truck seen through the back of the store!  You see anything you like?   It is ALL for sale!

We managed to fill up a 17 foot truck and off we went to Marina del Rey.  I was going to stay home and let the kids handle it (as I was paying) but Indiana asked me very nicely to join them.  I will share a few photos of their progress.  It has turned out to be such a cute place!  LOVE IT!  I am also enjoying having an empty nest!

So before I get toooooo lonely and miss my kids, less than a week later on a Saturday I was sitting at my dining room table listing on eBay when the phone rang and it was Houston.  “Hey, what are you doing today”?  Not much.

“Well Mom, I just crashed my bike in a canyon above Malibu”.  OH shit!  Those canyons are scary.  I made sure he was OK (no concussion) and I was off to pick him up.  Apparently, Emma wasn’t answering her phone.  It was so scary driving up there–the canyon dropped off to NOTHING.  My kid is one scary cyclist.  AND I had just bought him two nice pieces of Rapha bike wear for his birthday and it is NOT cheap.

Check out the road where he hit the rocks and went sideways.  Also the holes in his new Rapha wear.

I brought him back with me to Ventura since he & Emma had planned to come home Saturday night to do laundry and grab dinner with me.  See, they never REALLY leave the house.  I was just relieved that he was OK.

Indiana wasn’t around as she was up in Humboldt, CA visiting a guy she is dating.  Such a cute picture of her with Patrick on their road trip.

OK, before I wrap this up, I had better update you about the pets.  Crazy, not much about them in this newsletter.  But there is some HUGE news!

Carlos is now an outdoor cat.  Not my choice but honestly, I had no choice.  He is always escaping when I let Cha Cha in and out but it has gotten even worse.  He cut a hole in the screen in my bedroom and I found him hanging out (1/2 in and 1/2 out) about 2 weeks ago.  Yikes!

Then I walked into the family room the other day and he was hanging from the top of that screen door and swaying his body back and forth until the screen door opened and out he ran.

I made a deal with him.  As long as he is in by dark, he can go outside all day long.  It seems to be working.  Here is Cha Cha keeping tabs on Carlos!

In more store news, I am looking to hire someone very part time to do our Instagram and get photos of new items up on our website.   Lynn’s Consignments Instagram is very unloved.  The most recent post was from Christmas.  Pathetic!  If you know of anyone or are interested yourself, please let me know!

We took in so much great stuff this week!  Please stop in and see us!  Also, here is a photo of those amazing purses that both “Hearst Winery” and “Birds Gotta Fly” told me to carry.  They are flying (just like the birds haha) out of here, so please come in and check them out.  Prices range from $24.95 to $59.95.

Well, we have survived July!  August is going to be a bit busy as well. My mom turns 85 on the 18th and we are headed up to Bellingham for a Beach Bash at her house!  Hope to see you soon!

And, just one final eBay score!  This picture frame sold yesterday for about $50 plus $50 in shipping to Switzerland.  Wild huh?  That someone would pay over $100 to receive this item.  eBay still blows my mind.  You can check out the auction here.  It was listed on eBay back in June of 2017.  Only took 4 years to sell it.  AND seriously, that is not bad.  Sometimes special items can take a while to sell.

Maybe the guy in Switzerland bought the double frame to put photos of special memories in.  Just like the ones I made this past month.

And as I wrap up this ezine, I realize that even though I have an empty nest (well it has only been a week now) it doesn’t mean that I will stop making memories with my kids.  Here’s to making memories!

And a great shot of my crew as I say Adios for this month!  Ktea, Sandy, Indy, me, Val, Adolio, Peggy and Mor Mor!

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.

 

We survived the Pepperdine graduation!  OMG…another crazy past several weeks (actually maybe a crazy past month)!  Time flies when you are having FUN!

Here is Indy crossing the stage.  I thought she was holding her Theatre emblem and it turns out it was her Baggu mask…hahahahaha!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #08…

June 25th, 2021
Watch for it every Thursday or every other Thursday or Saturday!
Actually, lets be honest…watch for it whenever I get one finished hahahaha
Volume II  Issue 08

 

Graduation was a whirlwind.  Luckily we got 4 tickets so me, my mom, Houston and the kids’ dad William could all attend.  My brother had driven in that morning from San Francisco and was exhausted.  Since we didn’t have a ticket for him, he took a nap in the car LOL!

Here we are with our huge Indy faces…Thank you to Sandy for making these awesome props!

Graduation lasted super long so luckily we were able to grab a few photos with Indy during the ceremony.  Graduation had started at 3:30 and we needed to bolt out of there to make our 5:30 pm reservation at Geoffreys.  We needed to leave by 5 pm and they were not even done calling out all of the grads.  Ughhh!  What a dilemma.  “Should I stay or should I go now”?  Here we are some fun pics of Indy.

Funny story…of course there is a story.  Back in the day, when I was dating William (my kids dad) we went to Geoffreys a few times for dinner.  The first time was when I won the basketball pool at my office (I was a buyer for Lamps Plus) and we took the windfall out to dinner in Malibu.

We drank too much that night (no way!) and ended up getting a dive hotel to spend the night and also had to purchase t-shirts and shorts to change in to since we were dressed up.  Fun memories!

It was really hard to get a reservation for 5 at Geoffrey’s the night of graduation as most of Pepperdine was planning to have dinner there.  LOL!  I was finally able to secure a reservation for 4, but I needed one more seat for William.

I phoned and luckily they let me change it to 5, but then my brother decided to show up (and I am glad he did), and they would absolutely NOT change it to 6.  CRAP!  I finally had an epiphany.  Maybe they would give me a reservation for 1 at the bar and then the rest of us could sit at the 5 top and we could rotate in and out.

That worked!  We snuck out of the ceremony at 5 pm before it ended and off we went to secure out table/tables!

Good news was that they were able to get us all at one table….bad news was the kids didn’t show up for a long time!  However, Geoffrey’s was super accommodating and held our table until 7:30 PM when Indy and Houston finally arrived!  Seriously, 2 hours past our reservation.  Here is the gang at dinner.

Here is Indy opening one of her gifts that my brother and I designed for her!

Dinner was fantastic and it was a beautiful drive up the coast to get back to Ventura because…..the next day was her grad party at the house!

Crazy….but it all turned out so well.  Check out some of the party pics!

Houston had flown home for the graduation from OKC.  He flew in on the Friday night before and had to leave at 2pm on Sunday to head back to LAX.  Ughhhh…at least he was there for graduation day and part of the party 🙂  He would be returning to Ventura in just 5 more days as his days of teaching high school in Oklahoma City would be over that next Friday and he would do the road trip back to California…Whirlwind trip for that boy!

Time for an eBay score don’t you think?  I bought this super neat covered soup tureen out in Palm Desert back in January.  It sold recently for asking price of almost $200!  Check it out here.   I paid $20.  Yippppeeee!  Speaking of Soup Tureens….I must share a Houston story from when he was little…LOL!

The Soup Tureen story is from an ezine I wrote back in 2012.  Here is a link to that ezine.  But here goes the tureen story….

“Hi!

Happy 12/12/12! What an awesome date! I love that the last 12 years had such amazing dates. Like 1-1-1 and 4-4-4. This year’s is almost like the 12 days of Christmas!

12/12/12December 12, 2012Volume VIII, Issue 11I wish it were Issue 12!I hope your Thanksgiving was great! Ours was awesome! The kids did all the cooking and I TOTALLY lucked out with one of the best meals EVER! We had ham (Houston decided to pass on trying a Turkey this year), green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, Jello & marshmallow salad, and a Caesar salad made just like the famous table side Caesar from Hy’s Steakhouse in Vancouver, BC. Then pumpkin and apple pie. Yum! And what great kids to cook for their mom! I did have to do all the dishes though. .”

“Then the day after Thanksgiving, Houston came down with the flu. Just when I needed the kids to ship for me. Yikes! I ended up taking Houston to the doctor because he was in pretty bad shape and needed antibiotics. However, there was some good news. They measured his height and he is 6’ 1/8”!!! He made it to 6 feet and just a wee bit over. How exciting!

As Houston was starting to feel better, he decided to go to garage sales with me. It was a hoot! At one sale, I found a soup tureen that was signed Portmeirion in the Botanic Garden pattern. How much? $10. Total score! I asked Houston to carry the soup tureen to the car and when we got to the car I told him that I thought it was worth about $400 at high retail. He was very excited to hear that great news! Then he asked me, “Mom what is a Soup Latrine?”

Soup Latrine? You have got to be kidding! I laughed so hard. It is a soup tureen—NOT LATRINE. Here is a photo of that Soup Latrine and please note that it didn’t sell at auction so I raised the price to $400 in my eBay store.”

OK!  Back to present day 2021….Super fun stuff happening at the store.  When isn’t there fun stuff happening at the store? NEVER!

Since Indy is home for a few weeks before moving to LA to pursue her acting, she has been working at the store.  I LOVE having her help.  She is extremely talented and creative!

I decided to redo the entire left hand side of the store….Call me crazy!  Well, Val did call me “cray cray” and there was a lot of eye rolling that day 🙂  My plan had always been to redo that side in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet (ROYGBIV)!  However, there are only 4 vignettes and I couldn’t figure out how to make it look like a rainbow.

Had an epiphany (my word of the day) the other night and figured that since the existing Beachy room was super large, I could use it for two colors, (orange and yellow) and put a stripe in painter’s tape down the center.  Room Division!  Just like sharing a room on the Brady Bunch!

I will be sharing the first 5 colors in this ezine.  Here is the Red.  The comments/compliments etc. have been off the charts!  I think we are on to something here!!!!

To celebrate both kids graduating this year (Houston will be graduating on July 10th-his 25th Birthday! at Notre Dame), I rented another one of the Carpinteria Cottages (House this time) for a 4 day mini vacation that would start on Monday, May 31st, Memorial Day.

However, that morning we would be going to The Vent to participate in the Murph workout.  What a cool tradition!  It is in honor of Michael Murphy.   “Murph” is a CrossFit Hero WOD (Workout Of the Day) named after Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. He was 29 and from Patchogue, N.Y.   Lt Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor after his death. The workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he’d named it ‘Body Armor.

The night before Memorial day we watched “Lone Survivor” with Mark Wahlberg.  It is the movie of that last deadly mission that Murph was on.  Extremely good movie.

The workout consists of a 1-mile run, followed by 100 pullups, 200 pushups, and 300 unweighted squats, followed by another 1-mile run.  We did the workout in teams so only had to do 1/2 of the workout.  It was still pretty brutal!  Here are the kids before we got started 🙂

After our “Murph” workout we headed home to pack for Carp.  My mom was still in town and she was going to go with us.  Fun fun!  Since there was going to be a lot of walking, we had tried to find a wheelchair to borrow for her.  Crazily enough, my dad was a Veteran and because of this we were able to get her a free wheelchair from the Veterans of Ventura County.  Thank you Thank you!

I am so grateful and indebted to the men and women who humbly serve this country and keep us all safe!  A HUGE shout out and thank you to all of our military!   For those of you who see me in the store, I wear my dad’s dog tags on a chain almost every day.  Here is my mom getting the wheelchair–you can still see Indy’s grad decorations in the background!

First stop in Carp, was to drop Cha Cha off for the afternoon and then we headed to Teddy’s!  One of our favorite Carp restaurants.  Here we are with our first holiday cocktails.  Indy and I tried the Margarita flight!  It was awesome!

After lunch it was time to check in.  The cottage house is soooooo cute.  Here is Cha Cha chilling on the porch as Houston bikes past, but on separate days :).

Unfortunately, the weather did NOT cooperate for our little mini beach vacation.  It was definitely not beach weather, so we checked out the Catholic thrift store.  TOTAL score!  How have I never been there before?

I spent $60 and got 4 huge box fulls!  I even found some flatware….Check out this serving fork that I paid 25 cents for and sold for $49.99 last week!

The weather didn’t cooperate for lazy beach days, but we did take Cha Cha down to the water for some quality fun time.  Check her out!

Speaking of Cha Cha….apparently she has a boyfriend at “Send Rover on Over”.  His name is Bruce and he is part coyote.  How cute are they together?

While in Carp we tried some fun new restaurants.  We loved having drinks on the deck at the Rosewood Miramar hotel!

We also (finally) tried the Padaro Beach Grill….I know I know it only took me 3 1/2 years of living here to give it a go!  We LOVE it!  And have been back several times.

OK!  Enough about Carp, time to get back to the store.  Here is the orange vignette (pretty fun to see the red one peeking in over the back)….You must tell me which one is your favorite after you have seen them all, or better yet, come in to the store in person and tell us!

On my phone from 10 years ago popped up this photo.  It makes me sad for several reasons.  The obvious one is that my dad is no longer here and less obvious is the fact that we were moving out of our big awesome Palm Desert house and not for a good reason. It was 2011 my friends, and I lost all of my property from that mess that started in 2008.  I hung on as long as I could, but this was the week we were moving out.

This is what our house looked like from outside….I miss those days and the little kids that grew up in that house…..because Houston and Indiana are going to be 25 and 23 years old this year.  How in the heck did that happen?

Well, it’s 10 years later and I am now in a position to buy a house again! I am sooooo excited! However, as many of you know the market is a little bit crazy right now. But, I am looking so please keep me in mind if you know of anything coming up. AND I already have a realtor….Joanne & Jeff Carolan! So excited 🙂

Since we are back in Palm Desert and strolling down memory lane, let me introduce the Beck family. Jason Beck was one of Houston’s baseball coaches. We love the Beck family and Jason and Mary (his wife) were out in Ventura this past week. We got to meet up with them for lunch at Andreas and it was super fun.

Check out this pic of Houston and Coach Jason in my office holding a photo from one of their many tournaments.  This one was in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  We used to have so much fun doing the travel ball thing!

Here is a close up of that plaque.  Both boys (Coach Beck & Houston) have lost weight since then!  Can you spot them?  Houston is middle row 2nd from left and Coach Beck is back row 3rd from left.

OK, back to the store….let’s check out the yellow vignette….

A super fun before and after from one of our youngest customers.  Lila and her mom came in because they were redoing her room.  It was going to be pink and white with a focus on Butterflies.  How fun is that?  Here they are standing by the white desk that they had just purchased.  Notice the wall in the background getting ready for it’s green makeover!  I  will share that vignette soon!

Here is a photo of her bedroom before the furniture was added.  I LOVE the peel and stick wallpaper her mom put on the back wall!

Here is the room with the desk, french upholstered desk chair and nightstand that they bought at the store.  Sooooo cute!

Here is the side wall with the darling dresser that they had also purchased from Lynn’s!  Everyone Wins When They Shop at Lynn’s!

OK!  Since I gave a little hint about the Green vignette….here it is!  This just may be one of our FAVORITES!  I still want to know what color is YOUR favorite so please let me know :)!

Just a reminder of Our CURRENT HOURS:

Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 5pm
Sundays 11 am to 3pm

Can’t wait to see you in the store! Don’t forget we have gotten in 100’s of new consigned unique items. You WON’T want to miss out!

This amazing wall unit just came in. Everyone calls us with entertainment systems, wall units, and armoires to hold TVs that they want to sell. I ALWAYS say NO!…..because none of them are built for a flat screen. Well, this gorgeous one is made for a flat screen–approximately 60″ wide. Can’t wait to see who buys it! $795 and it won’t last long!

WANTED in good colors (Light Wood, White, Beachy etc.)….

1. Desks

2. Shelves, Shelving Units, Book Cases

3. Sideboards, Buffets, Consoles

4. Dressers

5. Nightstands

Who out there has heard of Whole30? Well, I had NEVER until I hired Bree at The Vent as my personal trainer. She has been slowly trying to convince me for 4 months and I finally relented. 30 days of no diet coke, no alcohol and only whole unprocessed foods. This was and still is HUGE for me! But I am on day 22 and doing well. Curious to see who else has done this reset. It is not a diet, but a way to slowly introduce foods back into your life and test them to see if they make you feel good or bad.

Here I am at the gym (with a ton of other people) last week for the Wedding Work out of the Day for Bree and David. Congrats you two!

OK, got to share some photos of the pets.  Sorry, there is no “Carlos” corner anymore.  The pets just seem to pervade all areas of my life (like my kids!) so they are now sprinkled throughout the ezine!

Here is Cha Cha after I let her out to go to the bathroom at 5 am.  Unfortunately, the sprinklers were on.  Ughhhhh.  Luckily, Indy was still home (the kids will be moving out soon and I am sad) so I could wake her up for some bathtime help!  Yes, she was on a leash for this photo as I couldn’t risk her jumping on my couches!

Cha Cha recently got groomed and we have done such a horrible job of brushing her that she had to get shaved….Ughhhh!  Oh well, this has been a learning experience and her hair was so matted that we could never get ahead of it.  Check out this rug (aka Cha Cha’s fur) that Misha let me bring home to show the kids!

In any event, she will be super cool for the summer.  Here she is helping me take pictures for eBay….NOT!  I paid $75 for that afghan at a sale up in Ojai, fingers crossed I can get a couple hundred for it.

The kids have been getting dressed up quite a bit recently to go out in Ventura and driving into LA, Calabassas etc. to see friends.  It is fun for me to watch them try on outfits just like I used to do back in the day when I was their age.  Seriously, Indy tried on at least 15 different outfits the evening of the photo LOL.  But look how cute they are and they kind of even match the colors on that afghan that Cha Cha was helping me photograph.  Hahaha!

There is an Annie Sloan Stockist in Langley, BC that I follow on Instagram. Here name is Carrie and she owns the Passionate Home. Her store is awesome and we have visited her 3 times. Check out these colorful umbrellas that the city has displayed in her business district.

I LOVE THIS and think this would be a great display in Midtown. I can just see it going from my store across the street to Laguna Vintage, Aloha etc. Anyone want to help me?

There is an Annie Sloan Stockist in Langley, BC that I follow on Instagram. Her name is Carrie and she owns the Passionate Home. Her store is awesome and we have visited her 3 times (not anytime recently unfortunately!). Check out these colorful umbrellas that the city has displayed in her business district.

I LOVE THIS and think this would be a great display in Midtown. I can just see it going from my store across the street to Laguna Vintage, Aloha etc. Anyone want to help me?

OMG!  I almost forgot to show you the Turquoise Blue vignette.  So far I have shown you ROYGB….check out my next ezine for the IV!  Which one is your favorite?

And a final photo from our 2nd year anniversary March 1st 2010 before all of this Covid CRAP!
Sandy, me and Val…..

For those of you who are frequent in store visitors, you may have noticed that Sandy has been missing.  She had back surgery last Wednesday up at Cottage in Santa Barbara.  It went really well, but she won’t be back in the store for quite some time (could be a month or more).  She needs time to rest and recover.  Only Sandy could look this great after surgery!  Hurry back…we miss you!

If anyone wants to reach out to Sandy, her email is spiritforsurvival@gmail.com  Hit her up for some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint advice or to just chat.  Hahahaha!

OK, one final eBay score.  I always try and get at least 3 in each ezine!  Check out this heart trinket box.

It was from my grandmother’s personal collection and is not that old.  Well, maybe 30 years vintage and I took a best offer of $100 for it.  It was part of my inheritance so I didn’t pay anything for it. Yipppeeee skippppy!

BTW, my grandmother had about 5,000 items in her personal collections (not kidding), so don’t feel bad that I sold it.  I have soooooo many more of her things left that I treasure to this day!

Oh crap!  I forgot to include a photo of Carlos the little rebel.  OMG, seriously he has been sneaking out at night.  We can’t figure out how he does it, but he is determined.  He is like a serial killer that must satisfy his compulsions at least once a week.  We have been watching too much “Criminal Minds”.  But boy do we love that series!

He got out last night (maybe through a hole he tore in one of our screens ughhh!) and we didn’t know until he was meowing at the sliding door to let him in this am.  Here he is sleeping on his back (feet in the air) after a night of rebel rousing.  CARLOS!!!!

That is for now! Stop in and see us. I will be in and out for the month of July. Heading to the desert next week, then Cambia for an “Outstanding in the Field” dinner at Hearst Castle and then to Chicago/South Bend for Houston’s Notre Dame Graduation. So happy to be traveling again! Stay safe and see you soon!

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.

 

I am beyond grateful….Indiana gets to graduate in person with her classmates!  What a blessing!  As you read this we are heading to Malibu for the ceremony.

Only 2 tickets per family, but somehow I wrangled 4 (Thank you Kimberly Barkis!).  It will be me, my mom, Houston (who is flying in from Oklahoma) and the kids’ dad William.  My brother is also in town, but I couldn’t swing a 5th.  Ughhhh!

Look how cool this graduating kid is!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #07…

May 22nd, 2021
Watch for it every Thursday or every other Thursday or Saturday!
Actually, lets be honest…watch for it whenever I get one finished hahahaha
Volume II  Issue 07

 

This will be a super short ezine…famous last words!  There is just so much going on this weekend with the graduation.  We are going to Geoffreys for dinner after the ceremony and then Sunday we are having a Grad party at the house.

Let’s start out with an eBay score!  This bowl sold for full price (almost $100) and was shipped to the set decorator for ACS (American Crime Stories) the Impeachment episode about Bill Clinton.   Hahahaha!  It will probably be in the oval office on set.  How cool is that?  Check it out here. 

Mother’s Day was fun this year!  Indy came home and we went to the Front Side Café for Breakfast.  That place is soooo cool!  Food was great!

Interesting how the colors are blue and orange…Pepperdine colors!  Coincidence?  I think not!

Indiana is up on campus today getting her “regalia” for commencement tomorrow.  Look how cute she is!  She looks pretty happy!

Don’t forget these AMAZING stained glass lamps that are in our front window.  I know several customers are watching them and waiting for the next price mark down. If you are interested, you should buy them NOW as I don’t think they will make it to the next mark down.

The Green Peacock Eye lamp is currently $796 and will not have another markdown until June 1st.  The Floral Floor Lamp is currently at $1,116 and won’t have another markdown til June.

Along the theme of graduation, this picture popped up in my time hop this morning from 7 years ago.  It is Houston and Indiana in Mass Dress for the end of year assembly.  Indiana was a Freshman and Houston a Junior.

Their high school, Xavier College Prep, gave out 5 awards to each class at this assembly.  The awards were “Open to Growth”, “Intellectually Competent”, “Religious”, “Loving” and “Committed to Doing Justice”.

Most kids go their entire high school career and never receive one.  It was crazy and such a blessing that 7 years ago, they each got an award!  Houston was awarded “Open to Growth” and Indiana received “Religious”.  What an honor!

I forgot to tell y’all, but once I was home from Florida, I decided to head to Palm Desert.  Well long story short, I needed to get out to the desert to thrift and pick up some merchandise from Mo.  I was going to head out over Mother’s day weekend, but didn’t have anyone to watch the Cha Cha.

Turns out that Emma was going to be staying in Ventura through Wednesday, so it made perfect sense for me to head out a few days after my return from Florida.  Yes, I am crazy!   Here are the girls with the pets right before I left.

First stop on my way to Palm Desert was in Palm Springs at Revivals Thrift Store.  Found this awesome set of China!

They were Limoges by Reynaud in a super interesting pattern called Jumieges.  What is that you may be asking?  Jumieges it turns out is an old Monastery in France and this design comes from a drawing on cardboard from one of the monks.  What?  How cool is that?

Check out the history behind this design.  Do you see why I love selling on eBay?  I love the hunt and the research.  I always wanted to be a detective…so this is the next best thing!  And I make money doing it!