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!

 

OMG!  We called and you answered!

Our consignors are an AMAZING group….Thank you Thank you!

We were a bit overwhelmed with all the LOVE and merchandise (hahahaha), but you must stop by the store and check it all out…..so much goodness 🙂

That is Indy, Bree Cochran (owner of the Vent), me and Marc Kettles (owner of Fit Buddha) and of course Cha Cha.  Then Judy Kitchen and Rebecca Rudenko.

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #06…

April 29th, 2021
Watch for it every Thursday or every other Thursday!
Actually, lets be honest…watch for it whenever I get one finished hahahaha
Volume II  Issue 06

 

I am writing this ezine on my way to Tampa, Florida.  It has been YEARS since I have written on an airplane.  It used to be the norm.  Back in the day, when I wrote my strictly eBay ezine that went out to 20,000 people I was writing from the road all the time.

Since I started writing this store ezine back in January of the COVID year 2020, I haven’t been able to travel much…duh!  It was kind of fun this time to pull out my big checkable suitcase and pack like I really meant it!

One of my best friends from high school, Jo Dallas, and her husband Jon recently bought a condo in Florida.  Jo and Jon were high school sweethearts.  Aaaawwwww!  He was a baseball player and she was a cheerleader.  We all attended Sehome High School in Bellingham, Washington and our colors were green and gold and we were the Mariners!

Here are a few photos of the two of them from back in the day!

Many of you may have met Jo in the store as she makes it a point to show up for all of our anniversary parties (except for year 1…she was there for year 0, year 2 and year 3).

When she was here in March, she asked me if I would like to spend a week in Florida at their condo on the ocean….what do you think my answer was?  Got that right!  YASSSSSSS!

Here we are with Cha Cha this past March 1st at the party!

Before I forget and since we are on the subject of high school….and Mariners and Green & Gold….some amazing news!  Drum roll please…..Houston got his first official JOB.  I am beyond proud of this kid!  For those of you who don’t know he graduated in May of 2019 from Pepperdine and Immediately left for South Bend, Indiana to start his Masters in Education program.

It is a two summer program with him teaching for the ACE (Accessories in Catholic Education) program in Oklahoma City at Mt St Mary’s Catholic High School during the 2 school years on either side of that summer.  By doing this he gets a Masters degree tuition free…..so much work!  Brutal actually and my poor kid never got a break.  Went from one college frying pan right into another one!

He will graduate this July from Notre Dame (and fingers crossed we will all be there in person to cheer him on).  He has been diligently looking for a position back here in Cali!  Praise the Lord!  I miss my Goose!

His dream school was Saint Monica’s in Santa Monica, California.  After numerous Zoom interviews and a grueling application process, my kid just signed his contract as a new high school history teacher starting in the Fall of 2021.  Beyond proud!  And guess what?

They are the Mariners and their colors are Green and Gold.  Coincidence?  I think not!

OMG, that Saint Monica’s mascot is a little bit creepy.  Si o no?  He kind of reminds me of Willy the Wave.  Sorry to throw you under the bus Pepperdine, but I just had to.

This picture with Willy was taken during Parents weekend in 2015.  Houston was a freshman at Pepperdine and Indiana was a junior in high school.  Time flies!

And by the way, in more HUGE amazing news…my little Indiana will be graduating May 22nd from Pepperdine with a degree in Theatre and a minor in Spanish.  What an epic year this is turning out to be an epic year!  Here is what she looked like at her High School Graduation.

Let’s get to an eBay score before I get into more shenanigans from the past month.  And of course there are going to be more shenanigans…..

Many of you have already seen this one, but I just MUST share it again.  I bought a tiny set of LuRay pastels all shrunk wrapped together for about $12 in Palm Desert.

The small chocolate set creamer sold for $512.99. OMG!

Let me give you a run down on the other 7 pieces that came in that tiny purchase and what they sold for at auction.  There were 7 chocolate cups and saucer set.

2 Green  $107.50 and $100.00
2 Blue  $100.99 and $100.00
2 Pink  $71.00 and $50.99
1 Yellow  $86.55

Wow!  The Chocolate Cup and Saucer sets added up to $617.03.  Add that to the creamer and my grand total was $1130.02.  Amazing what eBay does to make mine and many other’s lives better!  I literally raised my kids as a stay at home (really just work from home) mom because of eBay.  What a gift!

Here is a photo of us back in the day (2007 to be exact) hauling in my weekend eBay finds.  This photo was in an ezine I wrote on March 22nd, 2007.  Here is a link if you want to visit the archives.   Hahaha.

That is my mom, my sister Kiki, me, Houston and Indiana.  OK, must point this out…do you see the tongue out to the side on that girl’s face?)  Indy has ALWAYS been an actress!  She comes by it honestly!

Please keep in mind that a successful everyday eBay business is not made up of all scores, rather the day to day little victories that keep the money coming in and allow you to make a great income from home. AND we all know what working from home looks like these days don’t we?

Let’s check out what has been going on at the store. I have been meaning to redo both of the front windows forever, but just never got the right statement piece (or pieces) to get me motivated. I need something BIG for inspo!

Well, amazingly enough this past month there was plenty of INSPO. First, our consignors Brad and Dean (who owned an Antique store in Santa Barbara for many years) brought me their personal collection of hand made and exquisite Stained Glass Lamps! NOT kidding, these are out of this world (OMG my grandmother used to say that when she really loved a piece). Miss you Cheryl Leaf!

Here is a fun picture of me and the infamous Cheryl Leaf at an antique show in Seattle or Portland circa 1985. Such fun we used to have!

Here are some photos of those lamps.  These are going to go fast.  They are absolutely stunning!  The green table lamp came in at $995 and the amazing floor lamp came in at $1,395.

The lamps were the inspiration for the front window on the right hand side when looking at the store from outside.  We ended up going with a deep teal (thank you for the amazing teal couch Sandra that is for sale…down filled and practically brand new at only $1195) and green.

Here is a shot with the sofa.

Here are some night pics of the right hand side front window.  We will get to the left hand side soon enough!

I finished writing my last ezine from Bellingham, Washington while at my mom’s house helping her with her eBay business.  Strange, but true, it is easier for me to write when out of town.  I don’t know why…just kidding…let’s see a store to run, an eBay business to run, a puppy, a social life, hitting the gym hard etc.  LOL!  Life has been crazy.

After I hit send on that last ezine, I got a very special surprise.  I didn’t know if we were going to be able to see my sister Kiki’s boys or not that trip and Praise the Lord, they agreed to meet us in Smokey Point for lunch on Saturday the 27th of March.

They both had soccer games later that evening in Lynnwood that we were invited to attend.  That just wasn’t going to work as Lynnwood is about 2 hours from my mom’s house and it was going to be cold, dark and we wouldn’t be able to visit at all.  So we were thrilled to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to Smokey Point and sit outside in 58 degree weather for lunch.

Check out these handsome young men.  The second two pictures are Kiki with the boys a few months before she passed away.  My sister would be soooooooo proud of them!

While I was home in Washington helping my mom, we FINALLY got to do something that I have been wanting to do forever!  My dad had always told me the stories of him growing up in Bellingham and having to wait outside of the Coconut Grove while his oldest brother Earl was inside drinking.

My poor dad (who is/was just the nicest person ever) would wait patiently in the truck and freeze so he could drive his brother home.  BTW, my dad was not a big drinker at all.

I have been wanting to check out the Grove for years so my mom and I stopped by for a quick drink after a trip into town.  Not much to see there, but I felt that I was walking in my dad’s footsteps.  I always miss him this time of year.  He was diagnosed with Cancer in March of 2017 and passed away too fast on Cinco de Mayo of the same year.  Always makes me sad.

My main goal in helping my mom at the end of March was to help her sell through on her old inventory.  We put her oldest inventory on sale at 41% off and I sent offers diligently every day.  My mom usually sells about $3,000 a month on eBay.  With my help, we have her up to $4,500 a month.  So awesome!  My techniques really do work 🙂

Here is one of my mom’s eBay scores.  It is a pantsuit that she bought out in Palm Desert when I lived there and the photo was taken out on my patio.  She took a best offer of $50 for it and probably paid $5.00.  Way to go Mor Mor!

Time for one of my eBay scores!  Because it’s always time for good news.  I love this one because it is for an item from Bellingham.  I inherited this from my grandmother and it had been in her antiques store.  It is an original door bell from the Fairhaven Hotel and it’s claim to fame is that Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens) actually stayed there.  OMG!  He might have actually touched this door bell.

From my description…

“Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain once stayed at the Grand Fairhaven hotel in 1895.  My grandmother bought these when the Grand Fairhaven Hotel in Bellingham Washington was dismantled.  It was originally located at 12th and Harris and was still standing until about 1953 from what I gather.  It was not a functioning hotel at that time.”

Sold for a best offer of $125.00 and went to Mt. Vernon, Washington.  Check out the listing here.  Pretty cool!  Mt. Vernon is 30 minutes south of Bellingham and where my grandfather, Elmer Leaf, grew up.

OK, I lied. Did not get into any real trouble this past month–no shenanigans darn it!  Lots of gym workouts and sticking to my program.  Pretty boring, but hopefully will have some tales to tell after my week in Tampa!

Some fun at the store though…I had been wanting to redo the left hand side front window for a while.  Especially since we sold most of the mid century stuff that was there.

I was thinking Green, spring and garden, but again had no anchor piece for inspiration.  Always need some type of anchor piece. Then on a Tuesday afternoon, I got an email with a greenish grey toile covered settee and BINGO!!!  I was off to the races….at least in my head.  Hahahaha

Then we went out and got some pillows and artwork to add to the inspo.

Here is how the window turned out!  Please stop by and check it out.  Not sure if it is French Garden or British West Indies, but one thing I do know is that it is FUN!

Let’s get back to the pets…Cha Cha has been with us for six months now…so crazy!  Here are photos of how it started and how its going.

Indy’s most recent lead role in As You Like It was another epic moment in her life.  Seriously, she was so funny and entertaining as the jester.  Check her out with the remote control.  In the slow parts of the play, she fast forwarded the actors….hahahaha!  I loved it!

The Zoom presentation was so awesome and for the intermissions, the director asked Indy to put together a few videos.  The first one was a 1980’s aerobic workout video.  HYSTERICAL!  As my friend Steve would say.

The next intermission was her making mustard pancakes as a 1950’s housewife.  She really is so clever.  So proud of you Indy girl!

Thank you for indulging me and letting me talk about my family (Indy and my sister & her boys).  Now let’s check out what is going on at the store!  Because of all of you amazing consignors the store is jam packed with amazing finds and special items.  Check out this lovely dresser.  Only $495 and antique and well made!

And these darling end tables painted in Annie Sloan Svenska Blue.  There are two of them at only $135 each.

We also got in three very very EXPENSIVE killer bar stools.  These retail for $595 EACH.  Our price just $249.50 each. These won’t last long.

Let’s take a break from the store and talk about the pets.  Sorry, that there is no dedicated section for them anymore…this is just because they have taken over my entire life and my entire ezine!  hahaha!  Cha Cha got a new white fluffy bed recently and OMG, when I go to check on her sometimes I can’t tell if she is in the bed or not!  It is actually hysterical.

Carlos escaped the other night at 3:30 am.  OMG!  I HATE getting up in the middle of the night to let Cha Cha out, but when duty calls there I am.  On this particular night, Carlos made his escape.  WTF?

I was out there on my hands and knees trying to get him out from under the bushes.  I just couldn’t leave him out there….could I?  No way!  I love that Kitty too much.  So I grabbed one of his “crack” treats (thank you Marnie at Sailor’s Pet Supply for these amazing treats) and put it on the ground.

Of course, he came running for the treat and I was able to surprise him and grab him by the neck.  He was having none of it and bit the shit out of my hand.  Not kidding, it was extremely painful.  Here is a pic.  I ended up having to get antibiotics.  Oh the joys of being a pet owner!

What this made me realize is that Carlos wants and needs to have some outside time….just like his little sister Cha Cha!  Poor old man must be so jealous watching all of Cha Cha’s outside play time.

I grabbed his old harness to put on him and was all set to let him chill outside when I realized he has put on quite a bit of weight.  HAHAHAHA.  He eats most of Cha Cha’s food.  She is not a foodie, but boy Carlos has sure turned into one.

Here is Carlos back in his more svelte days in his little harness.

So I ordered him a bigger harness and couldn’t wait until it arrived. Once it got there, he was so excited! I am not kidding! That cat is so friggin smart….he knows that when I say “Carlos, do you want to go outside?” that he has to jump up on the table for me to put the harness on him. I am SERIOUS. I can say that and he will come running from anywhere in the house. I am going to do a Tik Tok showing this because it is CRAZY.

I put the harness on him and then hook him into the 50 foot red leash we got for training Cha Cha and that cat is HAPPY! Here is a pic of when he did escape recently from that new harness. LOL. We did find him!

OK a few more fun items from the store.  A really neat navy blue cabinet that is only $249 and would be great as a TV console.

And a really fun large basket with willow stalks in it for only $95.  What a great decoration for your entryway!

OK, let’s do one more eBay score before we get to my shenanigans that apparently I had been saving up for Florida….can’t wait to tell you about my super fun trip that I am still on 🙂

This is a Dansk Animal that sold for a best offer of $50.00 and it was shipped with 2 other similar animals to France.  Check it out here. 

Animals always remind me of my sister Kiki.  As I write this, today is April 27th, and it is her son Zach’s 15th birthday.  I just called him and left a message.  His mom (my sister Kiki) passed away almost 10 years ago from Lung Cancer.  He was barely five years old when she died and has had to grow up without the “fun full of life” love from his mom.  It makes me so sad.  I miss her and all that could have been.

Here is the kindergarten photo of her sweet Zach, which was taken shortly before she passed away.  I look at this photo a lot and often wish that he never had to experience all of the loss that would come after it was taken.  This is the last true photo that shows no loss, no sadness and just the pure joy of being a kindergartner.

This picture reminds me of the end of innocence.  What really gets me is that I had to grab the photo from my sister’s Facebook page.  She posted it 5 months before she died.

My sister smoked for almost her whole life.  She started in high school and just could never quit.  If you smoke or know someone that does please stop.

In any event, I flew into Florida last Friday and ever since I have felt my sister with us.

I keep getting Kiki sightings or reminders.  I am here (as you may remember) with my high school pal Jo Dallas.  She, Kiki and I traveled together on a few fun adventures and it would be just like my sister to poke her head into our fun.

The first Kiki sighting was at Jo’s condo when I wanted to pet a neighbor’s dog.  I asked the dog’s owner the dog’s name and it was ceasar.  Really?  That was my sister’s dog’s name and that dog meant the world to her.  She loved that dog almost as much as her kids.  Caesar passed away from lung cancer (due to second hand smoke) right after Zach was born.  God knew that Kiki couldn’t live without caesar so thank god for giving her Zach.  Not kidding!

To show you how much we all LOVED Caesar the dog, let me share a story from my 1st 100 Best book.  And yes, that is my grandma with Caesar.

Next Kiki sighting was at Home Goods shopping with Jo for her condo.  As we rounded the corner to check out there was this mug…..Everytime I called or saw my sister she would say “Hola Chica”….and now there is a mug with that on it?  Seriuously?

Then we get in the car and Duran Duran is playing….not only is it Duran Duran, but it is her favorite song…Hungry Like the Wolf!  I just say “Hi Kiki”  Glad you could join us.  We have missed you!

This morning my time hop showed a photo that says so many things.  It was 4 years ago today (4/27) and I was looking at retail space in Bellingham (not Ventura as it was not even on my radar yet).  I had called together my former employees from Cheryl Leaf Antiques to look at the space.  Here is my post from 4 years ago.

Left to right, Audrey Angel, my mom, Grace Jones, Henry, me, Indiana and Houston.  We were in town because my dad was fighting cancer and I was still trying to open my store there.

I ended up texting that photo to Audrey as I haven’t heard from her in a while and we started a text exchange.   This text is from Audrey, my first Cheryl Leaf Antiques employee when I moved back home in 1993 to run my grandma’s store.

Then I sent her a photo of the coffee mug and I love what Audrey wrote back…..

OK, one last Kiki sign and then I will fill you in on my Florida Shenanigans.  We were watching some Netflix show last night (Girlfriends Guide to Divorce) and one of the main characters walked in and said “Calgon”….and I knew what was coming next….”Take me Away”!  That was my sister’s favorite saying EVER.  “Calgon, take me away”…Miss you Kiki!

Florida is sooooo much fun!  We have already met with one Annie Sloan Stockist in St. Pete’s, his name is Keith and his store is so adorable!

Then I got the cutest text (well Instagram DM) from Annie herself!  She is the bomb!  And by the way, she does tell me that she LOVES me!  Made my day!

My favorite shenanigans from this trip is that I talked Jo Dallas into taking Paddle Board lessons with me.  HAHAHAHA.  What a friggin trip!  It was windy, we drove clear up to Dunedin Marina…..and got in the water at 5 pm.  It was scary!

We both did great, but did not stay out long.  It is a lot of balance work and my feet were killing me.  I bought a balance ball on amazon and will be practicing for my next excursion.  In the meantime, here is the only photo I have and it is blurry, but that is OK.  It is me!!!  I did it and did not fall….so flippin proud of myself.

Oh and by the way, I also got up early and did a Zoom workout with the VENT gym 3 times while on vacation!  Indiana even joined in the 3rd workout from Agoura Hills.  Too fun!  And we both had on the same workout tank top that we bought at Rains in Ojai last week.

Since I was going to be in Florida for 8 days, I didn’t want to have to board Cha Cha. Indiana is in her final month before graduation and there was no way I could ask her to watch both animals. Too much! I text Emma (Houston’s girlfriend) and asked her if I could buy her a plane ticket to come out from New Jersey to watch the pets (I would also pay her)….she agreed!

Made me so happy to know that they would be with “family”. Emma and I coordinated so that I would fly out Friday morning at 11 am and she would fly in at 11 pm Friday night and I would leave my car at LAX for her to drive back home. Super idea? I think so….until I got to LAX and there was no short term parking. OMG! I drove around for 30 minutes and could not find ANYWHERE to park.

Panic at the disco! That is sooooo something my sister would have said! Finally got lucky and left my key on the tire for her to find. Fingers crossed it would all go as planned.

Well, praise the LORD it did go as planned and Emma found my car and drove it back to Ventura.

Crazy story though.  When I bought my ticket from LAX to Tampa on Alaska airlines it was only $100 more to go first class and it was a direct flight.  Score!  About 3 weeks before the flight, I get an email that says I will be rerouted through Seattle.  What the Heck?  I was going to cancel and just buy a direct coach ticket on Delta when I asked Houston his opinion.  He was like….go first class…then I asked Indy…same thing.

Also, I figured I could write this ezine on the plane and no better place than in first class and no interruptions.  When I landed in Seattle from LAX I had to laugh.  OMG, I had forgotten about all of the trains that you have to take between terminals.  Back in the day whenever we would leave Bellingham we had to go out of SEATAC….it really is (and was) my home airport.

Those trains reminded me soooooo much of my grandmother and all of the times I picked her up from her international flights.  Lots of great memories.  Check out my Instagram post.  LOL.

Another benefit from flying first class was that I met a cute guy who was sitting next to me!  Seriously, we had a blast from Seattle to Tampa.  I didn’t mind that extra flight leg at all 🙂

My trip in Florida is coming to an end as well as this ezine.  It was a long ezine wasn’t it?  Here is one last great shot from the dolphin cruise we took tonight.  They played Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf and again, Kiki is making her presence known.

Oh, before I forget….the girls (Indiana and Emma) completely redid our picnic table.  It was a mess!  Wait until you see the before and after shots!  They sanded it and painted the top in Annie Sloan Provence and the seats in Svenska Blue.  I absolutely LOVE IT!  Way to go girls!  I am going to go on vacation more often!

For those of you with project in mind, please come in and see us.  We are more than happy to help you pick out paint and guide you on your next fun upcycle!

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!
And a final photo from our 3rd year anniversary this past March 1st!

Some of my team, from left to right. Peggy, Mor Mor, me, Indiana, Jo and Val…Keep the faith and keep smiling (as my dad would say)!

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/

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