Apron Thrift Girl

Thrift Share Monday - Rose Bowl Flea Market

Rose Bowl Flea Market - Pasadena Calif.

A week ago Sunday, my travel adventurer Teresa (owner of Wee Threads Resale Shop in Mill Valley) and I met up with the so charming and fabulous Lara of NowSoLA blog at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

I had heard so much about this Flea Market for years and still I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was so large and was almost like a puzzle the way it was layed out. I'm thinking that Alameda Flea has spoiled me with it's straight rows both for parking and for shopping.

We met up with Lara by the front gate. I adored her from the start. The moment I visited her blog a last year, I knew that I'd love her in person. She had been to the flea once before so we completely placed our newbie-ness in her hands. She became our guide as we weaved our way through the market.

I loved this booth and would love to replicate it back home.

Lots of eye candy with Vintage Christmas, Halloween and just plain vintage sweetness.

Prices were overall higher than I'd like but hey I'm an Estate Sale/Garage Sale Thrifter so it makes sense. I did spend a little money but not too much. I stuck to my frugal goals.

We spent two hours at the Flea Market and my favorite booth wasn't in the Vintage & Antique sections but in an area that included mostly clothing sellers. One booth had a table with scarves and blouses. Every item was just a dollar. It was as if they didn't want to deal with woman type items. Our gain.

Various vintage scarves, many of them Vera Neuman designs - $1 each

I found so many vintage scarves. I was in Vera heaven.

This last weekend I didn't go out on Friday like I typically do. I decided to tackle my office. In the last few weeks my inventory has multiplied and spread to practically every room in the house. I decided that it was time to move out all of my craft items and create a practical sorting area in my office. I continued working on it throughout the weekend. I feel so much better this Monday morning. I still have a ways to go with my office but it feels manageable now. One of the worst problems of a ReSeller is when our inventory gets out of hand. I personally feel frozen when it gets to be too much and struggle to do any work. Right now I'm ready to get listing and making some money.

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

We Thrift  - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:

• Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
• Create a blog post with photos of your items.
• Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add a button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.

Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

Morton's Warm Springs

A wonderful frugal gem in Sonoma County is Morton's Warm Springs. Wednesdays is $5 per person to swim, picnic and relax. That price is for all day. There are three pools in total depending on the size of your child, but all three pools are perfect for children. I love to swim but only in warm water and this naturally warm water is perfect.

They also have an inexpensive snack bar that feature $1 snow cones. A perfect frugal day out!

Where is your hidden gem for swimming?

Maker Faire 2011 ~ San Mateo

Maker Faire 2011 - San Mateo, California

Sunday morning we headed to Marin County, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through San Francisco and down south to San Mateo.

I had seen photos about the Maker Faire but seeing it up close and personal was a completely different thing. It was incredible.

Make Magazine (and Craft Zine) is actually a local Sonoma County company which is a part of O'Reilly Media. They are based in Sebastopol.

It was amazing to attend an invent that encouraged so much innovation, creativity and imagination.

If I had to choose an alternative ride to a car, I think this owl contraption would have to be it.

There were movable creatures everywhere.

Some people were in costume.

What do you think of this vest?

This is Kieran, a large puppet on stilts. He was one of our favorites at the Faire.

"Kieran's" owner.

I want that hat.

The Faire was pretty overwhelming. There were so many things to see and way too many people for my liking. For some reason when we were in the small Steampunk area, I seemed calm down a bit and felt relaxed. By far it was my favorite part of the Maker Faire. Although I liked the robots and the crafts, I think I would have loved an entire faire based around Steampunk.

This gentleman had in his hand an expandable fisted glove (aka Punchy Fist) that he'd swing out toward people. Keiran wants to make one of course.

He is a member of the Leage of S.T.E.A.M.

They are monster hunters from the Victorian Age. They had on display their tools as well as a ghost monkey which Keiran was especially interested in.

Another League of S.T.E.A.M. member.

I just adored their passion.

Cerys wearing a Head 'N Home Hats - Steampunk hat. Each hat is handcrafted. The one she is wearing was priced at $178. Each one is a work of art. You can follow them on Facebook.

This lovely booth had members calling over people to come and sit down and write a letter with an old fashion pen and drawing ink. Both children wrote a small letter at the St. Clair Aeronauts booth. Their business card reads "When it absolutely, Positively has to be there........Next Week!" Their purpose is to encourage people to sit down and write letters. They are based in San Jose.

Another member, this one with a sweet knitted octopus on her top hat.

What's not to love about that?

Some of the handcrafted gadgets of the League of S.T.E.A.M.

I'm not sure why I'm drawn to Steampunk so much. Maybe it's the interest in antiques and vintage that speaks to me. The work that these people went into their costumes is admirable.

The children were as much in awe about it as I was. Our goal this summer (we all decided) is "Camp Steampunk" where we craft costume, tools and gadgets. The Handcar Regatta is just around the corner. This year we will be ready.

I'm not sure I could get Dave into a pair of those boots on the right though....

This book is being released in November. I. can. not. wait.

You can pre-order it now on Amazon.

It's written by Thomas Willeford, A Steampunk enthusiast.

The crowds were so intense and we couldn't really see everything. We should have gone both Saturday and Sunday as Cathe Holden suggested to me. Next year we'll arrive Saturday morning, stay in a discounted hotel and attend Sunday as well. The early bird tickets were $50 for all four of us. To me this in incredible value for money. Even Cerys who in her 11th year would usually prefer to stay home and read, has said over and over again to me about how much she loved the Maker Faire.

So much creativity in one place.

Truly inspiring.

Seeing R2D2 made Keiran's day. Keiran has never seen a Star Wars film but he's drawn to anything remotely Star Wars related.

Did you know that there is a club for building R2D2 robots?

There are Maker Faires and Mini Maker Faires across the county. You can even try to create your own Maker Faire here. The next Maker Faire is in North Carolina on June 18th.

As they say on the website, "Our goal is to bring together Makers, Crafters, Inventors, Evil Geniuses, Scientists, Artists, and everyone else for a day of fun and inspiration."

It was simply incredible.

California State Railroad Museum

We had one stop to make in Sacramento before heading home and that was a visit to the California State Railroad Museum. So many of you suggested that we stopped there and we even received a personal invitation from Brandy to visit the museum as her guest. This became the highlight of our entire trip.

Brandy was so kind to invite us to the museum where she works as the Volunteer Coordinator. We met Brandy and she gave us a quick tour and left us in the hands of a docent who shared with us the most amazing stories about the Railroad. Cerys (11 yrs) kept whispering to me at how fabulous he was and how good he is at storytelling.

My dad is a train buff. He took us to so many museums as children. When we were learning about the California missions he took me to as many as he could so that I could touch, taste and really feel the history of our state. He always believed that traveling was one of the best educations that you can give a child.

I thought of him in every moment of this museum. Keiran said to me how his grandfather would love loved the docent. Little did we know that we'd see my parents a few days after arriving home from the museum.

Current history and exploration seems to untouchable now. When they connected the train line from Sacramento through to Omaha they met in the middle and placed the last spike. The docent told us that when the spike went into the ground it would send a telegraph throughout the country to know that the railway line is now officially finished. The docent told us that the entire county celebrated with parades, parties and cheering. I felt so nostalgic hearing this and wondered what modern day accomplishment would create such a unified country or world.

This image makes me proud. I know that a lot of people have strong opinions on the state of California, some of them not so positive, but there is a part of me that feels so blessed to be home again. I'm the third generation in my family to be born in California and my children are the 4th generation to live here. That feeling of not being home was felt every since I left the state and stayed with me until we arrived back here in 2009. Do any of you know this feeling?

The dining car had vintage table settings for each individual train route in America. For vintage dishes fans you would have loved this car.

What a great opportunity for the children to understand the size of the locomotive. And an opportunity for me to realize how big my two are getting. I'm guessing I soon need to switch from saying my children to my kids. Sigh....

Vintage Fruit Crate Labels

I haven't been to many museums with the children, and certainly not to many since they have become older. This summer I'm going to make it a goal to visit a couple every month.

This was taken from upstairs where they have a large collection of model trains (behind me). From a ReSeller's point of view I took notice since many were Lionel trains. Take a look at completed auctions on eBay for Lionel Trains.

Keiran's favorite part of the museum was the sleeping car. When you step on it it is rocking gently as if you were on the train. It's complete with lights outside of the train and train noises. We were able to see the beds made up and all of the sudden I was ready to jump on a train and travel across the country. It seems like such a romantic way to travel.

Brandy, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful museum with us. As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, this was the highlight of our trip .

This summer we want to see more of our state. Do you have any favorite California museums to share?

Not at the KOA

Our journey to Sacramento started perfectly. We stopped in Davis for lunch at Chipotle and a quick visit to a thrift store. We hopped back on the road and drove straight to an estate sale in Sacramento. After spending an hour there the children and I were anxious to get to our cabin at the KOA (a camp ground) in West Sacramento.

We decided to pay a bit more and get a Kamping Kottage which came with a "small kitchen", bathroom and plenty of beds. We called ahead to make sure that we could have a fire and that the Kottage had a fire ring. We looked through all the photos and thought we had done all the necessary preparations for what to expect when we got there.

We arrived at our cabin and immediately noticed that it didn't have a fire ring or BBQ. It was surrounded by gravel yet the smaller cabins across the little road had grass, fire pit and were on the water. Our cabin looked a bit like something you'd find at a construction site. There were rat droppings on the front porch by the door which overall didn't bother me since I'm often digging away in basements. The cabin smelled lightly of cigarette smoke which I try to avoid for the children's sake. We walk into the kitchen and it consisted of a microwave, sink and tiny fridge. We didn't pack the propane stove since we thought that "small kitchen" would include something to cook on. I sighed, called Dave and asked for his help. He rang the manager and spoke with him, called me back to tell me that the manager was coming to talk to us. In my head I was planning to ask if we could swap for a smaller cabin that included a fire ring and BBQ. That way at least we could cook and prepare our food. The only reason we decided to spend more money on the larger cabin was to cook in the kitchen to save money.

The manager arrived and asked us what was wrong. I explained that we had made assumptions based on the website about the cabin. He said that he could roll over a standing BBQ over to the Kottage. The children weren't too impressed to stand around and roast marshmallows though. He then implied that photos of the kitchen were on the site and that I obviously hadn't seen them. I mentioned that I had spent a lot of time on the website and never saw a photo of the kitchen itself. No matter what I said he appeared to want to argue with me. You know the expression "the customer was always right?" Well this was not the case for me. I personally felt that he wanted to belittle me in front of Cerys and Keiran. My intention wasn't to argue about what was on the website or wasn't. I simply wanted to move to a smaller cabin but once he implied that I was internet inept I decided to get a refund and leave. It just wasn't worth it.

It got worse though. When we went to get our refund he started looking for photos of the cabin on his computer. He wouldn't let it go. Ironically enough just now I looked and I still don't see any close up photos of the kitchen or details that there is nothing to cook on. Sure it says half kitchen but what the hey dickens does that really mean? I'm not an expert in cabins and really it should be explained to any customer clearly on the website that one needs to bring their own stove.

He kept having a go at me as I was waiting for my refund from another gal at the desk. He was very unkind to me and even said to me "what you want me to build you a kitchen?" I was so shocked that anyone in a manager role would speak that way to a paying customer, especially in front of her kids. He apparently was very insulted about the rat droppings too. I said it didn't bother me but he ignored me and went on to say that what did I expect, it was a camp ground and that there are snakes and ducks too. Seriously he wouldn't stop talking even after I asked multiple times to just let me get my refund. Finally we were able to leave and I swear he was still rattling insults to me as we walked out the door. It was unbelievable.

We have had pretty good experiences with KOA in the past. I haven't always slept well but the people were friendly and kind. This is the worst customer service I've probably ever come across. My children were in tears as we left. We had to drive to the nearest Starbucks to calm down. Here we were a couple hours from home, all of our camping supplies in the van (except the stove....LOL) and nowhere to stay. I nearly decided to drive home but Dave came through and found us a hotel.

I hate to think about how much he paid for us to stay at the Marriott. I think because I had worked so hard for the last 4 months and the fact that my birthday is this Sunday, that he wanted me to have a relaxing time in Sacramento. I felt a little sick that I had attempted to have a frugal holiday and instead it cost us far more than expected. We did have a beautiful time at the hotel and I must admit when we woke on Wednesday morning to a cold breeze and later rain, I was very grateful to have slept in that amazing bed with feather duvets and pillows.

Dave was still trying to fix the KOA incident at home so he emailed them and told them about our horrible experience. I also mentioned it on Twitter using their twitter name @KOAGREAT but not a word from them on Twitter.

Dave received a reply in what appears to be a form letter:

Subject: KOA Sacramento [ref:000000197856:ref]

Case Number: 197856

Case Summary: Kamper Complaint

Last Reply...
Dear Dave & Selena,

Thank you for your email regarding the  Sacramento West/Old Town KOA Kampground and for taking the time to share your concerns with us. I'm sorry the kabins at the kampground were not what you expected them to be. Each kampground does have different types of kabins, so if you ever need to get details about any KOA kampground, I recommend calling them and asking any questions to help your decision.

Please know that we at the KOA Home offices and the managers of each independently owned campground care very much about your experience.  We'll be sure to pass along your concerns to the management at the Sacramento West/Old Town KOA.

Once again, thank you for sharing your concerns with us. I wish you much happy camping in the future.

Sincerely,

The KOA Value Kard Rewards Team
vkrservice@koa.net
koa.com
888-562-0000

It would have been a little nice if someone had actually signed the form letter as in a first and last name. What we both got from the letter is that they really don't care much about customer service or about us. Dave was very honest in his email about the manager and how he treated us so really what good is KOA forwarding Dave's email to him? I don't think he's going to change his tune if that's how he treats people, especially in front of her children.

I do love visiting Sacramento so we will need to get creative in our future visits there. It's always challenging to be traveling, stay frugal and rely on a gluten free diet. I can't just go anywhere and eat the food available. I usually have to depend on being near a Whole Foods, a Chipotle (although lots of cross contamination) and In-n-Out Burger (protein burger) or have our own kitchen.

I have a romantic vision of traveling and staying in inexpensive small vintage motels. I looked for some when I thought our trip was going to take us near Chico. Yet most on-line comments about these motels mentioned seedy people and cockroaches? I think one of my goals this summer is to figure out how to travel for less. Because we are in a rental we aren't so keen to do a house exchange with strangers from homeexchange.com. We may try some exchanges with Waldorf Home Exchange. We have used all of our Hilton hotel points up so we don't have any more free hotel stays available to us.

My two children love swimming which is why we have been drawn to KOA in the past. They loved their pools and we loved the simplicity of how easy camping is at their campgrounds. I'm not sure at this point if we want to ever stay in a KOA again though. I suppose I shouldn't let one grumpy manager ruin it for us but I think it was the KOA form letter that made the decision to avoid KOA at least this summer.

We didn't let it ruin our little holiday to Sacramento and our trip ended fabulously thanks to an ATG reader which I'll share about next week.

Now to begin the celebrations of my birthday weekend.

Happy Thrifting.

xoxo Selena

Getting Away

Our bags are packed and our first destination of the day is an estate sale in Sacramento. Our second stop will be a KOA where we staying in a little cabin for two nights. It was the most frugal option for us. It's just the children and me on our little thrift adventure.

We are looking forward to marshmallows, a campfire, swimming, thrifting, visiting the Capital, relaxing and for me getting away from work. I'll be doing some light posting from the road that hopefully will include photos from thrift stores.

Do you have any favorite Thrift Stores in Sacramento to suggest? How about some frugal tourist things to do?

How to Plan a Thrift Trip for the Road

Anytime that a family trip is in the works, I'm always thinking about it through my thrift shopping eyes. New uncharted thrift territory always makes my heart beat a little bit faster. You never know when you might stumble on a thrift store where every item hasn't been fully researched or a store where the prices were the same prices from 20 years ago. It's that mere hope that keeps me planning and charting for every new trip.

When we were planning to take our trip to San Luis Obispo, an ATG reader suggested a Goodwill Outlet in the area. This was going to be one of my highlights for the journey. I miss the Seattle Goodwill Outlet very much as the Santa Rosa one is just not the same. No more vintage quilts, vintage linens or vintage children's books.I can still find some good items but nothing compared to Seattle.

Our plans changed of course when we decided to come and visit my mother instead. Our time was much more limited.

Here's how I typically design our thrift route within a vacation or trip.

• Plan our drive complete with overnight stops and destination hotel/campground locations.
• Find out where we might stop for meals.
• Before we travel I search under Local and type in Thrift in Google or Bing. Here is what thrifting in Aberdeen looks like. One of my favorite thrift stops on I-5 is Grants Pass, Oregon. 
• Traveling on a weekend? I either look up local sales on Craigslist (on my smartphone) or we pull off the freeway and drive through towns looking for Garage Sale Signs. The kids love trying to spot the signs first.
• I search for any local Auction Houses in the small chance they might have an auction while we are there.
• Before my iphone, I used to have a folder for each destination on our journey. In each folder there would be gluten free restaurant information, health food store information, antique store addresses, local parks and a list of the thrift stores including addresses and maps.
• If you find yourself at a thrift store, ask if there are any other thrift stores in the area that you should hit. These might not have made it on the map.
• If you have children, include a list of children & dad activities for them to do while you escape to a few thrift stores. Parks were a favorite of ours. Luckily geocaching has taken the place of parks. I get to adult thrift while the children get to kid thrift.
• A GPS is a wonderful tool if you have one or or if you can borrow one for your journey. To me it is one of the best Thrift Tools on the planet.

One thing that helps as a professional thrifter is that you sort of have the excuse to thrift because it can mean bringing in money. Dave is now fully supportive of this work and makes the time for me to thrift. He wasn't always so keen on me doing this though so if you have a non-believer husband just work with him slowly. If you are planning to thrift as a business hopefully when the money starts to come in,  your husband/partner will see the benefit of you popping into a thrift store to look for a valuable item to ReSell. Thrifting is my passion that became my job and luckily Dave has always somewhat understood this. Now he sees this as more than just my passion but dollar signs as well.

I went into Salvation Army yesterday and came out with a few books worth $80. I was hoping to find some non book gems but they couldn't be found. A local reader mentioned a different thrift store that I'll visit today. Maybe I'll have better luck.

Vintage door with glass window $14.99.

Fabric 99¢ a pound. What I love about smaller, more rural stores is that the prices can be quite lower than urban stores. You might have more luck with finding vintage items.

Vacations can take on a whole new meaning when you mix in a bit of thrifting. We also look for souvenir t-shirts, beach gear, and inexpensive toys or books to keep the children busy on the next leg of our journey.This saves us money rather than popping into retail shops to buy expensive keepsakes.

Do you have any Thrift Travel Tips that weren't mentioned here?

How to Plan a Vacation Budget

My mom was a champ when it came to budgeting. She has a gift with numbers and was always able to keep our family on track for money. I think many of my thrifty ways were influenced by her and yet I didn't appreciate it at the time. One of my most embarrassing family memories is the time we drove to Reno, Nevada to stay at Circus Circus Hotel for $19.99 a night. We didn't own any luggage so we brought our clothing into the hotel in brown paper bags. My brothers and I were trying to hide our faces in the bags as we stumbled through the lobby. Yet my mom probably made a smart decision. Why spend money on luggage when we didn't travel very often. Or when we did travel it was in a powder blue GMC Carryall that kind of looks like this but without all the 4x4 hot rod stuff. We just threw our stuff in the back and took off down the road. It wasn't classy but it sure was fun. We drove all over the Western United States in that vintage clunker.

Before each trip my mother would sit down with her blank envelopes and pen to plan our vacation budget. I have tried to copy her over the last ten years but I suffered mostly from Budget Fail. I couldn't keep up and because we charge everything (to get points in order to stay free in hotels) it makes it harder to keep track. My mother would add cash or travelers checks to each envelope. She would write these titles on each one:

• Motel / Camping
• Food
• Gas
• Souvenirs
• Emergency
• Misc Expenses

I figure maybe if I use some sweet Cath Kidston envelope & cards, it might help inspire me to stick with it.

My 20th class reunion is this weekend.....gulp...... Although 20 years have past, I'm still not ready to face my childhood in such a way. Did anyone see the Bones episode about Brennan going to her reunion? This episode helped make up my mind about not going. Some of my childhood friends though are getting together for a potluck dinner on Sunday. Since it was the end of the school year, I decided to celebrate by taking a little vacation. Dave booked three free nights in Sacramento through our Hilton Honor Points.

My sales have been steady and our renter stayed for June so I am taking a bit of my earnings and buying the children some summer clothing. I adore Naartjie because they aren't full of your stereotypical dump trucks and dinosaur characters or TV characters. They are just simple, gorgeous play clothes. Naartjie is having a sale of up to 40% off for their summer clothes. I've budgeted $100 for Keiran and $50 for Cerys. I find most of Cerys' clothing when I thrift but I am more challenged when it comes to Keiran.

Dave asked for some Misc. money to spend while I am thrifting on Saturday morning. I think we'll add $100.00 to this budget. We are hoping to visit the State Capitol on Monday which is free. He plans to take the children geocaching while I work on Saturday.

Our food budget for our four day trip comes to $120.00. We have to be very crafty as we eat out to keep within our $20.00 budget for some of our meals. We plan on bringing our camp stove and cooking breakfast at a nearby park. We are bringing a cooler with cheese, bread, potluck dish for the party, butter, eggs and bacon. Since Chipotle is relatively healthy and delicious, quite a few of our meals will be enjoyed there.

 

I'm not planning a budget for Petrol (gas) but I am keeping track of it so that I can tally up the final cost of our trip.

We have bartered for house & dog sitting so there isn't an added expense for that. My work money is separate from this budget and I'm hoping to pick up a large amount of inventory. I really look forward to thrifting in a new area. 

When I mentioned the budget to Dave his eyes got a bit large with surprise but then something must of clicked and he felt the challenge that I was offering him. He's ready to keep things within our budget. The point of our trip is to get away and enjoy ourselves. We aren't going to beat ourselves up with saving money but instead we are going to be creative. We want to do more for less. It takes a bit more thought but I have found that it is far more rewarding in the end.

How do you budget for vacation?

I'm drawing the name for my 4th Anniversary Mystery Giveaway tomorrow morning. There's still time to enter. If any of you have posted the link on your blog, make sure to comment an extra two times with your link in the comments. I use the random number generator to pick a number. I'll be posting photos of the revealed mystery items tomorrow morning along with the name of the winner. I can't wait to share with you all what I have selected as the Giveaway.

Sturgeon's Mill

A friend of ours mentioned that they were going to a steam run sawmill this last weekend. I didn't think much about it but then a local radio station mentioned it as well and when I heard the word "free" associated to it my ears perked up. We are currently on the frugal hunt for inexpensive adventures on the weekends this summer.

Sturgeon's Mill is considered one of the last great mills of its kind and has survived since 1914. It was like stepping back in time.

 

A few times a year the mill is open for visitors. You can find more details about these demonstration days here.

The saw mill can be seen in the background. This gentleman is pushing the wood through what I think is a planer. Love the man's hat. Not sure if they were going for a vintage style or if this is your typical sawmill attire.

 

They had on display what the original office was like. It was filled with vintage calculators and old office equipment, the kind I often find at estate sales.

 

The men would roll the logs down onto this cart and then slide the log through this incredibly large rotating blade that was nearly as tall as me.

 

I'm not sure where they find their redwoods but there were signs up everywhere stating "looking for redwoods." This is a non profit organization so perhaps many of the logs are donated.

 

The saw blade cut through this large redwood beam like it was butter.

 

The steam escaping from beneath the mill.

They even had a blacksmith demonstrating. He was proudly stating that he has never been hurt by his work even though he doesn't ever wear safety goggles. Shortly after this photo a tiny piece of very hot metal hit Keiran's arm. Luckily just a tiny sting. We're thinking he should review his safety protocol.

 

They had quite a bit of wood for sale. These slabs were some of the most expensive that I saw. Wouldn't these make an incredible dining room table? The had some very inexpensive smaller ones starting at $25. The wishful woodworker in me had the urge to buy one to make a small table. Maybe another time.

They had a very lovely BBQ on offer with cold drinks. When the whistle blew for lunch we headed to the van for a picnic of salami, cheese & olives. The children loved the sawmill and Keiran asked a million questions.

If you live in Sonoma County take a look at Sonoma on the Cheap. You can also follow SOTC on Facebook. Her blog is filled with inexpensive ideas for outings as well as coupons and discounts in our area.

What frugal adventure did you go on this last weekend?

Maker Faire 2010

Are you heading to the Maker Faire in San Mateo this weekend? It was on my calendar a couple months ago but due to my new frugal goals, I'll be giving it a miss and instead try to get into this intriguing Geocashing that so many of you shared with me yesterday. If you are in the area though and want a relatively affordable weekend adventure, I'd highly recommend hitting the Maker Faire.

One of the most exciting things at the Maker Faire for thrifters is the Swap-O-Rama Rama. Each swap begins with a giant heap of second hand clothing. You can dive into this fabulous heap of clothes and take whatever you desire. Next you head on over to a Sewing Station with your goods and you get a lesson on altering clothing to create something new. As a fan of altered clothing this idea just makes me light headed with excitement. Local artist will be there to guide you and help you as you work on your item.

Photo courtesy of Shawn Connally, Make Magazine

At some of the Swap-O-Rama Rama's you'll be able to pick up some free "Recycled" or "Modified by Me" labels to sew over the old brand labels. How sweet is that?

Photo courtesy of Shawn Connally, Make Magazine

You can find other Swap-O-Rama Rama's going on in the country here. Or you can find details here about bringing a Swap-O-Rama Rama to your community here. 

Photo courtesy of Shawn Connally, Make Magazine

While I have to give it a miss this year, I'll definitely be planning to go next year with bag of clothing in hand. Has anyone gone to a Swap-O-Rama Rama before? What did you create?

Other exciting things to do at the Maker Faire include How To Events. You can find a detailed list here. I would so want to be at these:

• Easy Root & Veggie Fermentation
• How to Screenprint
• Learn to Make Your Own Soap
• How to Become a Beekeeper

Actually I think I just want to live at the Maker Faire. This is only a tiny glimpse of what is on offer for the How To Events. Don't forget to catch Cathe Holden who is going to be there on Saturday showing you how to make a Vintage Book Cover Notebook.

It's going to be an incredible weekend of creativity, inspiration and learning. I. so. want. to. be. there.