A Day Out in Cambridge

one of the things i was most excited about when i found out i would be moving to England was the shopping opportunities i would have while here. i was mostly excited about going to thrift & antique shops, but one shop in particular that i was looking forward to was the Cath Kidston store! i looked up where the nearest one would be & it turns out it's only about 30 miles away in the city of Cambridge!!

so what did we do on our first Saturday in England? we drove ourselves to the outskirts of Cambridge where we parked our rental car & rode the bus into the city center. the little one was very excited to ride a big red bus, especially when we sat on the top deck & enjoyed the views out the large windows.

we weren't 100% sure where the CK store was located, but Jer said he had a pretty good idea. haha, i spent a good 30 minutes chasing after him & Layla because he was walking so fast while i was trying to take pictures. (tip for the wise: don't walk so fast if you don't know where the hell you're going.)

i finally made him slow down & stopped for a quick sec to look around & low and behold i found the store in the distance! it was completely in the opposite direction he'd been circling.

after i spent time browsing the store (& disappointed with the low limit Jer gave me to spend) i finally decided on which items to purchase & checked out. afterwards we went & walked around some more, a little more slowly this time so that i could take some pretty photographs to share with my family & friends. the entire city is just beautiful. it's mostly old buildings, but ever the newer ones have a sort of old spirit to them & they all mesh so well together. 

even if they didn't have the CK store to go to, i am sure we'd still be going to Cambridge often because there is so much shopping, eating, & sightseeing opportunities for us. it looked like there were a few walking tours with guides who have more information on the beautiful buildings & the history of the city. there were quite a few pubs & restaurants to eat at, but we ended up getting some sausages from a cart, they smelled way too good to pass up!

A Few Of My Favorite Things

I like old things. 

Vintage. Antique.

 Two great words to describe my style & taste.

When I go to thrift stores or antique shops I like to browse to see what they have to offer, but there are a few choice items that I try to keep an eye out for.

Things like:

Matryoshka Dolls

Vintage Tea Tins

Books (particularly old versions of Jane Austen novels)

Women's Handkerchiefs

Old Suitcases

& 

Tea Cups

A few stacks of my hankies. I still need to frame a bunch of them, sew others onto some bunting, and I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest.

A few of my favorites all spread out.

The pretty lady on the right is huge. The bearded man on the left is the average size of the largest matryoshka doll, so the beautiful Christmas doll is about 12 inches tall!!

Some more of my beauties. Note the little doggy in the bottom right-hand corner? He's a little cutie I named Basil. He's a toy from the 1930's & I rescued him off a dusty shelf in the corner of an antique mall.

It's a MATRYOSHKA PARTY!

A few of my tea tins hanging out on my dresser. (Also pictured: vintage souvenir Dutch clogs, my Great-Grandma's yellow tea pot with a tiny matching cup, a fake candle with the Eiffel Tower on it, a vintage tin tray on top of a bigger vintage tray both covered in my jewelry, and a piggy bank from Target.)

Another little tin nestled into a cozy section of my dresser. (Also pictured: blue vase I rescued from a dirty old thrift store, a tea cup & saucer that weren't made for each other, but I decided that they belonged together anyway, my Grandpa's old jewelry box, a spool of vintage fabric ribbon, and Dutch clogs the last time I was in the Netherlands.)

I was going to put off posting pictures of this great find until Friday so I could do a 'Great Find Friday' post, but I just couldn't help myself! I went to the local Antique Mall here in Monterey to have a little retail therapy after my dear friend, Melissa, left this morning on her big move back to the East Coast. I went to the corner where my favorite seller displays her items when I noticed on a little roll-top desk a few books sat. The first one I picked up:

Emerson's Poems!!

I adore the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

His philosophies on life are brilliant, and if you've never read anything by him you need to go hit up Borders before it closes & get a copy of 'Nature' or any collection of his essays and poems.

So I looked through this book & fell in love.

It was printed in either the 1880's or 1890's, the seller thinks (there is no print date inside the book at all.) & you can tell it was well-loved by it's previous owner, but it is still in excellent condition!

A project

My newest obsession as of late is to browse the Cath Kidston shop website & daydream of owning everything they have to offer. I am in love with all the prints, the fabric is just to die for, they offer a lovely selection of kitchen & other household goods, and I just love all the purses & wallets.

Alas, one has no use for that many purses & wallets (well I don't at least) so I am just letting myself browse for now. I've also decided to wait to purchase one after we get to our new home for there will be a CK shop in the nearby town of Cambridge. With that being the case I can save on paying shipping & pick it up in person. The hardest part is to go in & just buy a purse and a wallet. Maybe eventually I'll get a new tea set & splurge on some of her fabric as well.

So to satisfy the need for Cath Kidston in my life I have recently visited my favorite craft shop & purchased some lovely yarns inspired by the shades CK uses in her items. She keeps it simple only using a few hues so I was able to find some similar & am using them to crochet the niftiest of quilts. This will keep me busy for quite some time me thinks. I'll post pictures as I progress with this project.

hugs,
Jenna

Squeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Ever since we found out we're moving to England I have been daydreaming of rural English cottages made of stone surrounded by beautiful flowers and green foliage. Yes, I'm going by what I've seen in movies, because really that is my only frame of reference. Unfortunately the last time I was in England I only stayed in London & the only countryside I saw was from the window of a bus as we headed to Dover to be loaded on a ferry & then made our way to France. 

Well I found a blog that hasn't been updated since 2009 that was made by a woman stationed at RAF Mildenhall with her family. Even though it's a few years old it was quite helpful in suggestions for day trips with the family. She had lived off and on base at different points of their tour & she was a strong advocate for living off base. She had many tips & made me even more hopeful that living off base would be the best decision for us. There was even a link that sent me to a website that finds homes & flats for rent that lets you choose the size of the place & gives you a good idea of what your budget should be. Well, I found quite a few 3 bedroom homes WELL UNDER our budget that are in the town we're really hoping to live in! They're not as rural as I would hope, but I'm excited to get to know our English neighbors! I just hope they like me. I know Americans aren't universally loved abroad, but I'm hoping that since there is a large number of Americans living in the area that my English neighbors will be friendly & welcoming!

Another exciting post from the old blog was about Antique shopping! She listed quite a few places within driving distance that offer great deals & have an excellent variety of antiques. I cannot wait to check out these markets for exciting treasures for my home as well as great gifts to send home to friends & family!

cheers,

Jenna