Prussia in June

This past June I was fortunate enough to be able to spend five days on tour with my fiance's band Prussia. We traveled from Michigan to Pittsburgh, then to New York where we spent two days. From there we drove to a friend's house just outside of Philadelphia. After Philly came D.C. and then finally Pittsburgh and home.

New York was hot and crowded. The van broke down in Philadelphia. D.C. had good pizza and beer. Pittsburgh had better pizza and hotter weather.

We drove through an incredible storm on the way home and at 2am, lightening struck the toll booth that we were stopped at and the highway went dark. This would have been my favorite part of the trip if I hadn't slept through it.

All of the photos above were taken in NYC, if you'd like to see more from the rest of the trip please visit my flickr.

Just a Little Something

This is our dog Psymon. He loves to chase feet and gets worried when he thinks there is a fly in the room. He spent his puppy years locked in a cage but now he's happy and healthy. We've rescued dogs for as long as I can remember and I really think that they make the best pets. I think I like Psymon the most of all of our dogs because we have the same color hair.

I'm Telling Ya'

This little girl never stops amazing me. With cold days approaching, I've been trying to pack our days full of outdoor adventures. Autumn is my favorite season. I just love the warm colors and cool air, the pumpkin ice cream and hot coffee.

We've been visiting a lot of parks. I try to visit a new one each day since we live by so many. Lydia has been having so much fun feeding ducks and playing in creeks.

Winter will be here soon, so do yourself a favor and enjoy fall to the fullest!

A Trip to the Children's Museum

This past Wednesday my wonderful friend Sara organized a play date at the Children's Museum in Flint, MI. It was a sunny, beautiful day and the kids were all so excited to play together.

This is the perfect place to relax and let your children explore. There were so many different rooms, each with a different theme.

Lydia loved this room. Each of those yellow dots make a sound when you step on them. You can also change the tone of each sound with a button panel on the wall.

This was her other favorite, the music room. A huge wooden bin in the center held all different types of instruments and those tubes behind her were part of a handmade organ where the children could hit the ends of the tubes and make music. She spent a lot of time testing out instruments and singing.

There was also a "My Town" which was, in my opinion, the cutest part of the whole museum. It was a small town with a grocery store and pizzeria. The kids had a lot of fun making and serving pizza to each other.

After exploring each of the rooms, we all went outside to the fenced in courtyard and ate lunch. There was a beautiful garden, sandpit, and rock garden.

The children all had a great time, I highly recommend this museum if you are looking for an inexpensive and exciting afternoon out of the house!

I will be blogging a lot today so check back tonight for more updates about Home Ec class and some vintage inspiration.

THIS THURSDAY...

This past thursday, I packed up my car with some vintage clothing, grabbed a cup of coffee, and met up with these two lovely ladies. Lily of LoveCharlesVintage and Abby Fiscus of Brainbow. We explored an abandoned house and another (seen below) that was a vintage time capsule.

I was a little nervous about leaving Lydia and having some personal time, but her and her daddy had a wonderful morning together so maybe I'll have to sneak in some "me" time more often. Besides, being with friends makes me feel giddy and sixteen all over again.

The last three pieces of clothing will be available in our Etsy shop by the end of this weekend and I will also be updating with photographs from the abandoned house so check back soon!

THIS FALL IS ABOUT CHANGE

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently in terms of consumerism. We all know that feeling of joy that a couple of packages at your doorstep can cause, but is that really true happiness? I want Lydia to know that buying new things doesn't solve boredom or loneliness. I want her to be able to find happiness within herself, at the drop of a hat, whenever she needs to. I want to be able to give her the tools to do that.

Starting this fall we will become smarter consumers. We will continue making our coffee at home and using washable mugs and thermoses. We will continue using washable diapers and training pants. We will buy used when possible (this includes vintage) and only buy what is absolutely necessary.

Yes, I know that there will be times when Lydia just HAS to have that toy at the store or I just HAVE to have that new sweater, but this is about change. It's not necessarily easy but it is valuable. What we learn and become will far surpass those things that we thought we needed and it will feel so rewarding to throw away less garbage and have less things around us.

To think that your actions are not important is ridiculous. With every action comes a reaction, what will yours be?

This fall is about change.

So it's 4:55am and we are currently watching Spongebob dvds and eating cereal. Lydia woke up at 2am and after an hour and a half of fighting to keep her calm and quiet, I finally gave in and got out of bed. I've been spending this time researching reasons for sleep disturbances, as this has been happening for two weeks now. It goes something like, down for bed at 9pm, up at 2am wide awake ready to start the day, awake until 12pm for a nap, then all over again. Luckily, I am a night owl of sorts and can easily wake up and stay awake. The same cannot be said for my fiance.

I have come to the conclusion that it's from a developmental milestone. Lydia has been doing very well with potty training, has also been learning to let go of her abstract artistic qualities (I'm going to miss those drawings), and has been doing a lot of growing up in general.

I can only hope that this is a phase, and if not, there is always the drive-thru Starbucks that opens at 4am. ;)

MAINE BLUEBERRY GRIDDLE CAKES

My mom recently brought up her collection of vintage cookbooks from the basement and we decided it would be a fun project to choose a recipe from each book and share it with our readers. This is a cute little cookbook from 1946 with fun illustrations throughout the whole thing.

We chose the Maine blueberry griddle cakes recipe, which is basically just a hearty pancake recipe.

One thing that we love to do in the summer and fall is take advantage of our local farmer's market. We have about three in our area and I love to get fresh, local, chemical-free produce, especially for my daughter. Farmer's markets are a great way to get healthy produce at a great price (seriously, way cheaper than grocery chains) and also support local farmers.

Here is what you'll need:

- 2 eggs (we used flaxseed meal as a substitute)

- 2 cups buttermilk

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 2 cups all-purpose flour (we used whole-wheat)

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 2 teaspoons sugar

- 4 tablespoons melted butter

- 1 cup fresh blueberries

Recipe reads, "Beat eggs and add buttermilk mixed with baking soda. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into the mixture; then pour in the melted butter. Fold blueberries into batter, and fry on a hot griddle. Serve with maple syrup and you have the perfect breakfast for cold winter mornings."

This is what Lydia did while we made breakfast, she's an artist at heart.

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, a nice hot plate of Maine blueberry griddle cakes. They reminded me a lot of restaurant style pancakes, but with all of the comforts of a home cooked breakfast.

Lydia definitely approved. Let me know what you think or if you try these yourself. We will be doing all sorts of vintage recipes in the near future!

THE KALEVA BOTTLE HOUSE HISTORIC MUSEUM

We recently visited the Kaleva Bottle House Historic Museum in Kaleva, Michigan. What once was a home built in the 1940's out of 60,000 bottles from a local bottling factory is now a beautifully preserved house filled to the brim with all sorts of vintage goodies. My favorite room was the nursery, which was complete with an antique black rod iron crib, handmade antique quilts, and vintage books and toys that had obviously been well-loved in their time.

We met a man in the basement of the home who was also there visiting. He pointed to an old black and white ad from the very early 1900's that had been hung on a door and told us that it was a photograph of his childhood home, one of the first houses built in the area. He was a very interesting man and had a lot of great stories.

If you love anything vintage you HAVE to check out this museum/house. It is absolutely beautiful.

AUGUST COLLECTION

Visit our shop this week for our new "Oslo in the Summertime" August Collection. Lots of lace and pink!

BLOGLOVIN'

Follow my blog with bloglovin

A GREAT WEEKEND OF ESTATE SALES

We recently went to an estate sale and really lucked out. It definitely improved our moral, because there hasn't been much to find lately. Reeboks, sunglasses, fabric, and records. All vintage! I guess that's why I love thrifting so much, you really never know what you're going to find.

AND SO BEGINS SUMMER...

Yesterday was the last day of classes for the semester, so we celebrated with a day at the park. Lydia had so much fun picking dandelions and playing in the creek. When we got home she got to run around our backyard in her diaper and play with Becky's new puppy Hank.

Now we're making dinner and enjoying the breeze that is coming in through the windows. What a perfect day. Tomorrow we've got some estate sales lined up and maybe a few rummage sales. I'm hoping to find some more Fire King mugs for our growing mug collection.

Wish us luck, enjoy this beautiful weather!

AN INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone! I wanted to give a quick introduction to MOUK VINTAGE & HANDMADE. We are just a couple of people who love spending our afternoons cruising estate sales and yard sales. We search for unique gently used vintage clothing and vintage pyrex and fire king kitchen items. You can find all of our new finds for sale, for very reasonable prices, at our shop on Etsy.

By following this blog you will be able to get sneak peeks at our new merchandise, get updates when we've added new items to our shop, and be a part of our every day life.

We hope to keep you inspired and entertained, and hope that you will be able to find wonderful vintage items in our shop to spruce up your wardrobe with!

Take a peek at our shop: www.mouk.etsy.com

Thank you,

xo MOUK