Treasure Hunting: Mathews Yard Sale

Ever since I got sucked into the rabbit hole of this blog, I've been itching to hit every thrift store, antique mall and yard sale in a 50-mile radius. I don't know what I'm hunting for, per se, but I love hunting for treasure.

So when I saw the community of Mathews, Va. was having its annual "longest yard sale" on Saturday, I begged Sean to get up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday to drive me nearly an hour away to hopefully buy crap for pennies. He must really love me.

We had a fun time of it, and the country girl in my heart loves nothing more than a bargain and a backwoods drive.

My loot included the brass owls you see above ($1.50!) destined to go to my future sister-in-law, who loves all things owl.

I also got this very tarnished brass bowl that I plan to clean up. I love the look of old brass, and the shape to this bowl was incredible. I think it makes a great decorative object, but will also serve as a gorgeous vase for big, fluffy peonies or some other big-headed flower.

I picked up this vintage wire basket with a sweet little bow for $1 at the Gwynn's Island Civic Center (which is very much in the middle of nowhere), and I got an entire roll of grasscloth wallpaper (shown in the background) for a $1. I plan to use the basket for gift cards at our wedding; it's a dead-ringer for the brand new picture frames I bought at Anthropologie and plan to use for menu descriptions.

I scooped up this 1940's edition of "Little Women" at Annie Rooney's in Mathews, which proved to be one of the BEST antique stores I've ever visited. I loved the cover of the book especially.

Sigh. I can't wait to read this again.

One of the hardest parts of treasure hunting is leaving some treasures right where you found them. I was determined to buy only little things, but omigoodness, I wanted to buy all the garden stuff at Annie Rooney's.

When we pulled into Annie Rooney's lot, the first thing I spotted was this gorgeous bench and I swear, it was love at first sight. The tag, however, said it would cost $595 to take it home and alas, it was not to be. So for now, my love will be unrequited.

One of the most pleasant surprises of the trip was our stop to have pizza at Southwind Cafe. I expected greasy spoon fare, or at least country-fried everything, but I was pleasantly surprised when we walked into the PACKED restaurant and saw Vichyssoise at the top of the menu. Nevertheless, we got pizza.

And it was good.

Be sure to stop by if you're ever in the Mathews area. All told, it was great to get out of the busy busy busy I-64 rush of Hampton Roads and stretch up to the Northern Neck.