Hey, adoring public. Yeah, you.

I am going to San Francisco (or really, anywhere else on the West Coast) for the first time on Friday for the long weekend and meant to ask: what should a crafty gal, thrift store goddess, and urbanism nerd like me not miss?

I'll be sure to take a bajillion pictures of all the flea market awesomeness that I manage to come across.

Also, excitingly, I will be a vendor at this year's Homespun Yarn Party in Savage, Maryland on Sunday, March 15! I jut got the confirmation tonight, so I will add more details as I learn them. But mark the date and start planning your weekend! I've never been to Savage, so I can't give you tips on the best way to get there (tip: not Metro), but as I figure it out, I shall share.

Bird-themed EcoEtsy Treasury

Thanks to the EcoEtsy Twitter feed, I found out about Treasury West opening up this afternoon. I grabbed a spot and, inspired by the flock of birds in my tree this morning and with Valentine's Day coming up, made it lovebird themed. The items are all EcoEtsy team members, so if you snap anything up, rest assured they have green business practices!

Accessories Of Old

I am going to alert you right now that this post is going to consist entirely of pictures from my Saturday trip to Accessories of Old. Side effects may include jealousy, moaning, and the repeated urge to craft. You have been warned.

They have a wall FULL of buttons. It was amazing.

Vintage barrettes!

For someone who doesn't do a whole lot with her long hair, I sure did take a lot of photos of the hair accessories.

Lisa, the shop's owner, has very smartly bagged up variety packs from which customers can choose. The pretty scrapbook paper in the background is the main color of items in the package. They include a combination of all sorts of things, like a length of lace, various buttons, and ribbons. All vintage, of course. (I snagged a package of two different colors of sunny yellow velvet ribbon.)

Vintage trim, still wrapped on its original package. How cute are those little printed faces?

Lovely gift tags for that lovely person for whom you are buying gifts at Accessories of Old.

So, when are you going?

Brick and mortar and pixels.

My friends Meigh and Christina, the crafty ladies at NoPantsMcGee, sent an email to me earlier this month:

"Ohmygodohmygodohygod. We're going, yes?"

After Inauguration Madness and their return from the Outer Banks, we managed to make time this weekend, and oh my goodness, I am so glad we did. Accessories of Old sells vintage sewing notions almost exclusively, along with a few other pretty gifts and vintage items. Lisa, who we met along with husband Andrew, keeps the store's blog up-to-date with pretty pictures and projects she's working on. I took a bunch of pictures, but foolishly left my camera's cord at my office, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see my goodies.

Another adorable, localish store is Three Potato Four, based in Reston, VA (though their shop is an online-only set-up). I have always enjoyed their inventory, especially because of the beautiful way in which they style their photos. Imagine my excitement, then, when Etsy used TPF's Sneak Peek at Design*Sponge to come up with a Get the Look: Decor article for them. (Mostly my excitement stemmed from not having known there was a Sneak Peek of them!)

I love peeking into other people's well-appointed homes, especially with my own move coming up in a few months. I need to curate and cull what I have here to make it easier to get everything to the new place in an economical and timely fashion -- not to mention that I don't need so much stuff. I'll likely be updating with my adventures in downsizing, so feel free to share any experiences you've had on getting stuff out of your life, and any lessons I should learn from you!