Rose Bowl Flea Market

To add to the serendipity of my trip to L. A., the world-famous Rose Bowl flea market was taking place on the same weekend.  It only comes around once a month, and the timing just happened to work out perfectly. It's touted to have something for everyone, and it certainly delivered.  I was surprised that my brother wanted to go, since it's not his thing.  It wasn't my sister's thing either, but she was my slave for the weekend!  We were all pleasantly surprised with what we found there.

The banana seat brings back lots of memories.

 I bought some sewing gift items, some hard-to-find manicure implements, and vintage petticoats.

Cuticle trimmer and crystal nail file

White $3, Black $17

Gertie Groupie

How crazy is it that I immediately booked a flight to Los Angeles as soon as Gertie posted on her blog about a book party there? It would have been nice to have more advance notice than 6 days in terms of airfare, but as Tim Gunn says, I made it work.  I met Gertie a couple of years ago when she came to Nashville for an exclusive  couture exhibit here.  I'd forgotten how much prettier she is in person; the pictures on her online don't do her justice.  I wasn't crazy about the pink hair from the blog pictures, but in real life, she totally rocks it!

The retro picnic included pink ambrosia Jello mold and addicting peach rum punch. 

I enjoyed seeing Gertie's garments on display.

I was happy to meet up again with my bizarro world twin Anh, whom I met through Pattern Review.  She came with another friend that she also met through PR.

Carla, Anh, and me.

 Crazier still, I was able to rope my sister Kim into flying out from Denver to join me.  She graciously served as my assistant/slave/photographer for the whole trip.