This weekend I got up at the crack of dawn and dragged my bleary eyed booty to the Alameda Flea Market. It all started a few weeks ago when I began to tackle THE GARAGE for Project Vintage POP. Otherwise known as the crazy vintage wasteland. It was exhausting but really fun sorting through everything! You already knew I had a shops worth of vintage clothing, but I also have tons and tons of “stuff”.

(Um, I couldn’t resist…i’m keeping the tray! Thanks for making me reconsider Jenny….Frecklewonder, the vintage enabler!!!)

Time for a little break. Whew!

FINALLY everything was cleaned, carefully packed and ready to go! My friend Stephanie (aka Pineapple Princess) came over the night before to spend the night. Before you think we had a fun slumber party lemme tell you that she was selling with me and we had to get up at 4:30-5:00am. YEECH! It’s true. Vendors have to be at the flea before 6:00am. It’s a ghastly hour but it did take us some time to get set up!

I can safely say our booth was one of the most colorful. We had kitschy cuties, awesome vintage clothing, a cool kitchen area and tiki and western goodies. It was a blast!

I think the hardest part was successfully displaying everything! The clothing racks are great but you don’t want all yer tchotchkes to be a jumbled mess. The tricky part is having things on different levels! I brought that book case up there as a way of displaying shoes and other fun items!

(and he BOUGHT the lady! He bought her for the frame but i made him take the photo too…heh)

It was a looooong day. Some things I fretted that I sold far too cheaply…other things I marveled that anyone bought! We were on our feet for over 8 hours and boy were we pooped! We made some good cashola though, which was the other purpose, and met some really lovely folks! I would definitely do it again, now that we know the ropes.

By the time I got home I was soooo exhausted, grimy and sunburned! I’m such a granny I could barely walk, haha. Wolfie was making fun of my sunburned shoulders and cheeks….and frazzled hair!

Greg was awesome and went and got us pizza from my favorite place and I kicked back to count my cash and rest mah weary bones. All in all, it was a darn fun day!

PS…..Come July I’ll be takin’ my Flea Market Roadshow online, so you’ll all be able to grab some great goodies! Stay tuned for more info!

{A fabulous bulletin board. A gift from Greg.}

So we have a situation at our house. A thrifting situation. When Greg and I first met we were both obsessive thrifters. We still love it but we don’t get to hit the thrifts nearly as much (and frankly, Bay Area thrift stores are pricey AND picked over). Our old flat in the Mission was awesome…loads of kitsch and goodies everywhere. I had prom dresses hanging on the wall, paint-by-numbers. Our bedroom was 50s asian, with bamboo lamps and bright orange walls. Our living room was space age pop. Silver walls, an egg chair and a huge collection of 8-track players and space age TVs. Oh yeah, and we had the Toy Room, with our collection of 70s collectibles and dolls…Evel Knievel, Mr. T, Bionic Man and Woman, Sonny & Cher…the list goes on and on! I have to say it was pretty awesome. We loved it! When we finally bought a house of our own, we kind of wanted to step it up. Of course we’d still have vintage goodies, but we wanted it to look a little less like a thrift store exploded inside and a little more “nice”. Ish.

ANYWAY…..old habits die hard. We still kept thrifting. And we still have all our old stuff. Some in the house. Most in the basement. I have been saying I’m going to have a garage sale for…oh, 7 or 8 years now?? And we just never have the time. So Greg and I FINALLY hit the basement/garage and did a massive sorting. We didn’t get to everything. But we managed to hit a lot. My Master Plan? PURGE or PRETTIFY (POP!). AKA “Use it or Lose it”. I either have to dust it off and display it in all its glory or I have to get rid of it and let it go to a new home.

Step One: The Flea Market. I’m going to rent a booth at the Alameda Flea next weekend (June 12) and I’m crazy excited! And nervous. I hate when people overcharge for things, but at the same time I DO want to make some money on this sale. I’ll def have to do a little research this week and see what’s fair and the going rate!

{A collection of knitting magazines from the 60s}

Step Two: Have a boutique sale. I did this last summer (you can see it here) and it was a smash success. I set up a little Vintage Boutique in my house—made the living room look kinda like a shop. And invited girlfriends and their pals to come over. Prices were higher than a garage sale but cheaper than a vintage shop. It was like a big ol’ dress up party and a total blast!

{Novelty panties still in ze box! They are indeed unusual. Not so sure about comfrotable! I love “Mi Lady”}

Step Three: An online yard sale. Probably in July. Because in addition to allllll the “stuff,” I also have about 3 or 4 racks of vintage clothing (I used to have a vintage shop on eBay). Last year my friend Pilgrim (draw! pilgrim) held a really successful Online Rummage Sale. I thought it was a genius idea but I could never get my act together. This month my friend Jenny (frecklewonder) is having a HUGE blow out sale and it’s doing soooo well (if you haven’t stopped by you must! She is constantly updating and has tons, TONS of really cool stuff!). She’s calling her quest, The Road to Minimalism, and I’m really excited to watch her progress!

{Agent Honey Bunny is a charming little sponge & bubble bath set.}

It was very fun sorting through everything and also kinda daunting. Everything was dusty and there was a lot of random crapola. Exhibit A:

Greg: “Um, who the hell is Blaine?? Why do we have this thing?”
Alix: “I don’t know. He came with turn tables! I wanted them for Blythe…”

Everyone has a scarecrow that wears vintage clothes, right?? Hah. We put this guy out every Halloween. I realized his old skool Levi’s and Pendleton were in dire need of a wash, so he’s getting a stuffing refresh and clean duds.

It was an exhausting process but very satisfying.

Frankly, our garage is a Bionic Crisis.

But we DO have the sexiest TV tray in town….

I’ll be keeping you posted on my progress friends! And we haven’t even touched upon the vintage shoes, handbags, jewelry and CLOTHES. Sigh. It’s gonna be a looooong (but stylish!) summer.

So this week was a big week for me. It was my first week off of work. “Off” because I gave my notice. Eep. This was a big deal. I’m an associate creative director at a big time ad agency. Or rather. I was. hee. Still not used to saying that. My job is both amazing and amazingly hard…it gives me a fantastic creative outlet. I get to travel and work with all kinds of interesting and talented people. Over the past 5 years I’ve worked with amazing directors, photographers and animators. I’ve been really lucky to have worked with cool people like Gwen Stefani, Fergie, Vera Wang, Jake Burton (snowboarding king!), Petra Nemcova, Mariah, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and taken a couple of meetings with Kanye. (And for the record, he was on time, super cool and smart. truly.)

OOF

Sorry , just tripped over all those names I dropped. So yes. I consider myself super lucky!

{We weren’t allowed to take a photo in our meetings, not very professional you know, so I saved the candy wrapper he left on the table. Which is verrry professional.}

But as amazing as my job can be, I can’t lie. It’s really tough being a working mom. I feel pulled in a million directions. I’m always exhausted. Our house is a disaster. And I’m burnt out. In a bold move, I decided that I needed to focus on the one thing that I was always neglecting. Myself.

Sooooooo, long story short. I’m taking a sabbatical. I’m spending the summer recharging and reconnecting. Yup. I’m taking the summer off.

Packing up everything was very bittersweet….I had a lot of stuff and a lot of memories. I’m really going to miss all my friends. I worked with a really cool bunch of characters.

Everyone has a shoe drawer, right??

My little helper!

So what’s next on the horizon? A combination of things. Focusing on some exciting new Modern Kiddo projects….organizing our crazy house (and doing things I never had time for)…spending lots of quality time with my family (trips to South Carolina and Michigan already in the works) and of course just recharging. It’s exciting, exhilarating and to be honest a little scary! We won’t have my income for the summer, and living in Pricey Town USA (aka San Francisco) we need my income.

I won’t be totally flying without a net. I’ll be freelancing over the summer and also having some massive sales to purge our house of all my beloved kitsch and clutter. Come September, I’ll re-evaluate and see how I’m feeling. Will I be stressed with my new free-form lifestyle and craving the steadiness of full time? (and that full time paycheck, lets be honest!) OR will this be a new and exciting chapter in my life? Only time will tell!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to visit some of our best friends, Dan & Lisa. Wolfie is extremely close to their kiddos (we call them “the cousins”) and it’s the perfect place to relax and unwind.

Dan is a professor and just got tenure at his university….and with my big news too, well we decided a celebration was in order. I’ve never had a champagne shower before, have you? Gotta say they’re pretty fun!! {Dan wussed out and wore a rain coat. Ahem.}

It was ironic that my last day of work was May 25. The same day as Oprah’s last show. Ironic because the one time I am actually home to watch her show, and there’s no more Oprah! I will say it was interesting and inspiring to hear all her reflections over where she’s been these past few years and where she is going. While I’m certainly no Oprah, the timing was perfect and her final show really resonated with me.

Somewhere along the way she mentioned a terrific quote by Mary Oliver:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

I love it. Life is wild and precious and beautiful. And we only get one shot. It’s scary to make big changes but in the end, I think change is always good. Moving forward….onward….and upward!

PSST! For those of you curious about my job, you can see more here. And here are some of my favorites:

HP Catch of the Day // ePrint commercial from Alexandra Tyler on Vimeo.

HP Backpacker TV Spot // Director’s Cut from Alexandra Tyler on Vimeo.

Reel from Alexandra Tyler on Vimeo.

Frito Lay Dips // Circles from Alexandra Tyler on Vimeo.

Frito Lay Dips // Love and Sockets from Alexandra Tyler on Vimeo.

Education in our public schools is such a hot topic, especially in California. The Ed-Data website says, “Although Californians pay more than the national average in taxes, the monetary effort Californians put toward education is below average.” Sweet! And of course the arts and music fall to the bottom of the priority list. It’s so disheartening. But I’m not here to bum you out. I’m here to share a couple of really great things we got to experience the last couple of weeks that demonstrate how great things can happen when parents take things into their own hands!

We were fortunate to have experienced three really different and unique ways parents have worked together to help our children blossom!

1. THE CREATIVE SPARK ART SHOW + PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Every year our Dad’s Club hosts a pancake breakfast. The pancakes are great….and the bacon is pure crispy deliciousness! I love that everyone gets served on mismatched, sweet old-timey plates. Sure, it’s an extra effort when it comes time to clean up, but how lovely to have real china! (And much more green than paper plates.)

The tables were decorated with flowers the kid’s had picked—our table had violets. So sweet. It’s really a terrific event, but this year was even more special….

Two enterprising moms at our school (one of whom is my friend Teri, founder of the marvelous giddy giddy) decided that this year we would have an art show. They announced the theme: Things That Move! It was wonderfully broad, whatever the kids could dream up—accordians, rollercoasters, butterflies, dogs, go-carts, even little sisters were all represented. Kiddos had a few weeks to work on their project. It could be a sculptural piece or a drawing/painting. The school held a little workshop to after school one day to help any students that needed guidance (and to give kids a place to create their masterpiece). The results were on display in a mock gallery and it was TREMENDOUS!

Wolfie was hit with a horrible ear infection so we were unable to complete his piece (very sad!) but luckily there were several other displays of classroom art and Wolfie’s had one of his drawings featured—he was quite proud!

It was a lot of  work, but it’s something that I think anyone could do at their school. We were lucky we had two amazing women planning ours but even someone with minimal experience could pull this off. You just need to have the desire!

2. THE BEAR NECESSITIES OF THEATER!

The next week we went to a musical production of The Jungle Book that another elementary school in San Francisco had put on. My co-worker/friend’s wife Amal was the director of the show and I was eager see the show and give Wolfie a little taste of children’s theater. I have to confess, I have a dream of putting on a show at Wolfie’s school. I met with Amal for lunch and picked her brain. She gave me some great advice and tips and told me that the entire theater program is parent funded….all the parents volunteer to put on the show. Amal is a really talented singer/musician so they are  lucky to have her. It was also SO amazing to see how the entire school community bonded together to make this show happen. The play was around 45 minutes, the perfect length for elementary school children. The sets were simple but reallllly groovy and the costumes clever and crafty. I was so charmed and couldn’t help but think WHAT a great experience for the whole school!

3. STAGE WRITE ON!
Monday night we went to see a production that Greg was involved with….the StageWrite theater program. This is a really phenomenal program….the StageWrite team works with elementary school children over the course of a year. They pick schools that are in real need. They use theater and writing exercises to help build literacy skills and self-esteem. At the end of the program, the fifth graders write short one act plays….and then the kicker? Professional actors put on the show! Each play features one song that the students have written and Greg and his bandmates write the music. The shows are SO much fun and the kid’s are thrilled to see their work on stage.

The shows are done as staged readings, so costuming and sets are very minimal but WOW the actors are hilarious and really bring the stories to life. Some of the scripts are touching and some are just straight up goofy cool (hey, they’re written by ten year olds, so things like dragons and talking pencils and “The World’s Crazies Night Club, PARTY ROCKERS!” all make appearances.). It was a really brilliant evening and I was so proud of Greg for being a part of this cool program the last three years.

So there you have it. Three very unique and wonderful ways our community is taking matters into their own hands. It’s so important our kiddos have exposure to the creative arts. Does your school have a great art program? Are there things you’d like to bring to your elementary school? Have your kiddos ever participated in dance or a play?

I leave you with this most excellent talk by Sir Ken Robinson. He’s got a really great dry sense of humor and makes a wonderful case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. It’s really great…

Friends, I can’t even tell you what an amazing trip we had! It was relaxing as can be….sadly it took me a good two days to get used to doing NOTHING! We swam and ate and lounged….a few sights were seen, but mostly it was fun in the sun. Wolfie LOVED it. He doesn’t know how to swim just yet but he was so happy and confident in the water. I ordered him the cutest little swim suits from two of my fave brands, Polarn O. Pyret and Mini Boden. They were kind of Euro style trunks that looked adorable online but In real life they were a leeeeetle bit smaller than I had envisioned. Think Daniel Craig as James Bond. I kept giggling— they were still SUPER cute but hilariously short compared to other kids in their ankle length board shorts. Wolfie loved them, struttin’ around the pool all confident and what not.

I have so many photos to share but for now, here is a little sampler of our trip! These photos were all shot on my iPhone with Instagram (i’m “galexina” if you care to follow! If you aren’t using it, it’s too much fun….Twitter meets Flickr!). MAHALO!

This is where Wolfie spent most of his time. The pool. There was a huge grown up pool and then this terrific kid’s pool with pebbly/sand bottom and a sweet slide, that was only 2 feet of water. It was so amazing for him to be able to play independently in the water. My eye was on him, of course, but I didn’t have to literally hold him or be next to him.

This is where I spent a good deal of my time:

With this:

Looking at this:

Greg eyeing the menu at breakfast:

Mmmmm pineapple pancakes! (in the batter for extra nom) Greg got banana macadamia nut, which were even better….

Hang Ten, Little Dude!

The World’s Largest Shave Ice!!!

The most picture perfect sunsets and warm balmy evenings…..

And one tired and happy kiddo.