October Overspending: Antique and Dollar Store Finds

Hello readers (who may or may not exist!)!  This post has been a long time coming.  I've been very lazy and haven't written on any of my blasted blogs.  I recently got The Sims Medieval, and have thus neglected 99% of everything else in the world. =P  But I was playing last night and my king and his stupid wife royally pissed me off (pun intended)... so you all get to hear from me again! Yay! *applause*

Anyways...

I spent a few days last week going around to antique stores in search of the perfect birthday present for a friend of mine.  Her mom and I hit most of the antique stores in our area and had trouble finding anything for her.  We both did eventually found awesome stuff for her, but not before we found a ton of awesome stuff for ourselves.

I got this lovely little chair I've had my eye on for ages.  It was marked down to $9... too good to pass up!  And these pictures don't show off the actual color of the upholstery.  In actuality, it's a really good match for Molly's Christmas dress.

My super spoiled Addy got a little lamp.

Now I know this is obviously not the perfect lamp for her, it'll work for now.  (And it's pretty cute besides. =))  I like that the glass on top is red... that's my favorite color.

Probably the most exciting thing I got though is my lovely Malibu Barbie!  I saw a small bin (about the size and depth of a mixing bowl, but oval shaped) filled with Barbies standing up.  Most of them were nothing special... big hair dolls from the 90s and/or beat up nekkid gals.  But mixed in with them was this lovely Malibu girl.  And she was standing there with her arms raised over her head, as if to say, "come get me and buy me, Bre!"

I've been really fond of Malibus for as long as I can remember.  Here she is with her twin, my 2002 reproduction Malibu Barbie.  She was on the cover of the first issue of Barbie Bazaar magazine I ever read.  The dress she came in is tagged, but I don't recognize it.  Probably a pak item.  (If anyone recognizes it, let me know!)  Based on the research I did, this doll is from sometime between 1971 to early 1973.   Not bad for $5!

The twins, whom I've dubbed Caroline (repro) and Christine (vintage) modelling the only matching outfits I had available.  Christine is in a vintage Friday Nite Date set from 1960, while Caroline is wearing a 2006 reproduction of the same outfit from the Friday Night Dream Date Giftset.

I'm sure you can tell how fond I am of my Malibu girls.  I could do a whole post on them alone!  Maybe when I have more matching outfits for them to model I can photograph them getting into some Patty Duke type shenanigans.  =)  It's also worth noting that I have another Malibu Barbie... a  later Sun' Lovin Malibu Barbie (from circa '78).  I've decided she's a cousin to these two.  Unlike the original Malibus, she has the Superstar face (that Mattel forced on the public from 1977-1999).  She's one of few dolls with that mold that have found their way into my Barbie collection... she's really gorgeous.  I got her for $9 at the very same antique store as this gal!

Anyways, I also got a few books, including a vintage copy of The Lonely Doll, a book I've been wanting for ages.  This has made me so, so happy!  The photos are so amazingly beautiful, haunting, and thought provoking.  Dare Wright was an amazing and interesting woman.

But quite some time before my antique store trips, I went to the dollar store on a routine shopping trip and came out of there with some cool Halloween finds.

First, I got this neat little witch hat.  It was marketed for pets, and as you can tell, it's a little small, but I think it looks cute on Quinn, so one of my girls will be a witch this year.

Did you ever see that episode of The Brady Bunch were little Cindy got the part of the fairy princess in her class play?  She only got one ticket and couldn't decide which parent to invite.  Well, Marcia and Jan both made her a pair of wings for her costume... when I saw these wings, I thought they'd be way too small on a little kid, but adorably oversized on a doll.  I immediately went to Cindy Brady in my mind.

They look like the sort of thing that Keisha might have seen at Party City and begged her mom for in front of everyone in the store.  So she's going to get to be some sort of butterfly fairy thing for Halloween.

And just so you don't think I only shop for my dolls, I bought myself some toy pirate weapons for my pirate costume.  I got an awesome gun and a bitchin' sword.  Out of money at that point, I convinced my mom to buy me a couple of pirate bandanas.  (They are clothes, after all, and that's a parent's job... right?  Right.)