Dream On

In the midst of packing/moving madness, we took a time out to head to nearby Weatherford TX to the best sandwich shop we have ever found, Yesterdays. Perfect sandwiches, on the best bread in the world. And since Weatherford has amazing antique stores, we went exploring and of course stopped by Heather’s grandfather’s shop, Town & Country Carpet, one of the oldest buildings in Weatherford and full of contradictions and surprises in design. Perfect weather, antiques and great food – just perfect calm in the midst of boxes!

Historic Hands at Baylor Medical

One of the keys to living in the city without resorting to the same activities over and over again is to keep an eye out for those rarities about town, things and activities that exist in environments that you wouldn’t expect give days out and about a special sense of adventure. Heather is quite good at finding these things. And such is the case with the Adrian E. Flatt M.D. Hand Collection, which is on display at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas in the lobby of the George W. Truett Memorial Hospital. What is even better is that the display is open 24/7 and free to the public. Heather found it out by the way of the inclusion of (her favorite) the great Walt Disney in the collection. We recently checked out the collection and along with Walt, was a pretty diverse selection of bronze hand casts from many celebrities, politicians, writers, artists, as well as many influential fellow surgeons of Dr. Flatt who began the collection. The diversity and expression in the detail of the hands was truly cool, creepy but cool and something worth checking out.

And no trip to Dallas would be truly complete without a quick trip to Good Records, where we picked up a long overdue copy of a favorite record by Margo & The Nuclear So & So’s. But all good trips must come to a close, especially when we have a little puppy to take care of and spoil considering his recent trip to the veterinarian where they had to do blood tests and come home with quite the bandage. But vet visits aside, Emory is doing well and considering all the boxes and moving chaos around the house, it is obvious our entire household is ready to be out of this space and into a new home.

Sunday Kind of Love

Last weekend as Valentine’s Day loomed on the horizon, we took to the roads to hopefully discover something new to inspire us.  So, who knew that in a sleepy corner of Uptown Dallas near the Katy Trail in a law office building would be one of the coolest art galleries we have ever been too. The Geometric & MADI Art Museum features an endless number of walls full of geometric and MADI styles of abstract modern art. Geometric art maintains the integrity of the frame, while MADI breaks all the rules of form and convention.

Not only is the museum free, but we were treated to a extraordinary tour by owner and executive director Dorothy Masterson, who along with her husband who owns the law firm that owns the building created and curate the museum.  We highly recommend going on a Sunday as the museum was practically ours alone. The styles are both limited (to two loose categories) and unlimited (using all types of colors and mediums). The art was truly international in scope and full of life.  We had a great day exploring every corner of the place, and our eyes really couldn’t take it all in. It was a perfect afternoon doing something we love, finding more reasons to love the region we call home.

Valentines Day

To keep Valentine’s Day in perspective, things in life aren’t always perfect and romance shouldn’t be set for just one day. Regardless, kindness is always nice, love is wonderfully amazing…and a few presents? Well, presents are my favorite. Truth be told, it’s my love language. So, it’s not too shabby to receive flowers arranged by one’s husband, a long-coveted leather bound copy of Alice In Wonderland, and along with Emory, a few Disney items! To top it all off, we were able to have some time in the trees of the Botanical Gardens and then off to dinner at our favorite, Jinbeh Japanese Restaurant in Las Colinas. Some things are just a necessity. It feels nice to have a day where life is about giving to each other and blocking out the distractions caused by the busyness of life. It’s about allowing each other the space to truly enjoy each other.  And then go record and book hunting and head home from a night out on Valentine’s Day with 1/2 dozen delicious donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. Because nothing says you are comfortable with your place in life like an armful of donuts. And remember, “Love is love” so let’s share it every day. Happy Valentine’s Day!

P.S. – Being it is our 4th Valentine’s Day together, we thought we’d document the moment with some photos of us now. It’s always nice to be able to see who we are and how far we’ve come from when we met those years ago.

Happy, Happy Valentines Day

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Broadripple Is Burning

For some people, home decorating comes so easily, but for the Liles? Not so much. We know what we like, we have our style but finding all the pieces and putting it together, and then agreeing on things…well, its hard. Not every thing translates. Heather knows fashion, as in she eats, sleeps and dreams and researches fashion. And the skills of a writer don’t exactly translate either. So us trying to decorate a house that is almost double the size of our current place is daunting indeed. Luckily, we have plenty of catalogs and look books, HGTV and IKEA.  Today, we ventured yet again to the latter for Swedish Meatballs and furniture. And despite an unscheduled couples IKEA “fight” (over lamps?) we came away with polka dot drapes and a couple of occasional chairs for the living room. So, we are doing surprisingly well in selling old items for new, more functional pieces.  It’s an adventure in nest building, and for a home we hope to be in for some time.

Founders Plaza Observation Area

It’s safe to assume that we are nerds and apparently we have been into airplanes lately? We recently shared how we had a surprising and entertaining day at the American Airlines museum and today we found another aviation related area of note – the Founders Plaza Observation area at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.  Located just off the runway area, you can watch planes taking off and landing, listen to air traffic control and learn about the airport.  While it isn’t as cool as being ON a plane, it is a really cool area and worth checking out on any day when the skies are clear. What is next?  Trains and automobiles?!

The Lady in Cat Frame Glasses

Well, it seems it is round 2 for new eyeglasses, because as anyone knows, eyeglasses are accessories…right? So, I wanted to show off my lovely new frames that arrived in time for Valentine’s Day. Please excuse the excess of iPhone pics as we need to get our “real” camera out of boxes since we have been on a packing jag. These are Ray-Ban RX5226 frames in a subtle cat-eye shape in a black w/ clear backing. I do love them so much and can’t wait to have my prescription lens put in. It’s good to have options, ya know?

As Tall as Cliffs

This week, you treated us very good. From the very good unseasonable warm weather for much of the week, to Anthology magazine coming out, to trips for ideas to Home Dept, to packing up our house for the end of month move, Heather finally getting to take her Christmas ankle boots for a spin, getting our new couch thanks to our friend Kyle’s helping hand, a day date to our favorites – Amon Carter Museum and AVOCA Coffee with our close friend Miss Katie, rest and great Mexican food followed by a weekend ending cookies and Puppy Bowl VIII!

It was a week of work and play in perfect balance and every day is one day closer to a new season of blessing and creativity in our new home. OUR NEW HOME, that we move into in 3 weeks, cheers to living in boxes!

Keep Calm and Thrift On

We get our fair share of questions here at Lost In Drawers about where we shop for vintage and thrift in Fort Worth?

The answer is that we consistently shop Fort Worth’s collection of thrift stores because with thrifting there is rarely consistency in the inventory that comes in to stores. We don’t always find gems, but patience is the key.  Here are some of our favorites.

GOODWILL – Camp Bowie Blvd. Fort Worth                                                                 When one thinks of Goodwill, it is easy to think about well worn furniture and stained Christmas sweaters but the truth is that the Goodwill on Camp Bowie will often give up really good pieces of thrifted clothing with a little digging and imagination.  We have also snagged some furniture that was easily transformed with some spray paint.  A great store overall. (Our favorite Goodwill to be exact!) Vintage dresses, skirts and always nice bow tie blouses can we found.

THRIFT TOWN – Hwy 26 Richland Hills/Fort Worth                                                       Thrift Town has long been a favorite and we often make the drive over this location on the edge of the Fort Worth city limits. A large and diverse inventory that rotates fairly often, there is a lot to see at this store. And it is the best place for the guys to find some wearable pieces. And to make it even better, there is always a sale or some portion of the inventory 50% off. Nice retro and plaid men’s button downs, Vintage skirts and a fair amount of vintage shoes.

YWCA – Camp Bowie Blvd. Fort Worth                                                                        The really cool thing about smaller stores that are donation driven is that the inventory is often large chunks of peoples’ closets in up in the store. This can be a really good thing, and we find some good pieces as a result. An eclectic mix of clothing and nostalgic housewares makes YWCA a good stop for making the thrifting rounds. They use to have “vintage” section that I was fond of, but it went pretty fast. Good vintage blazers, hats and bags.

BERRY GOOD BUYS – Berry St. Fort Worth                                                                  Like the YWCA, this smaller store is a source for some interesting thrift finds, and benefits a good cause. Bo has found a lot of good menswear accessories at this TCU area store.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE – 8th Ave. Fort Worth                                                                  A newish store that benefits the Junior League, Double Exposure is a mid-sized store that focuses primarily on clothing and is really great about offering good shoes and high quality pieces, sometimes a real gem or two. I have found a lot of my Salvatore Ferragamo shoe collection there.

DOC’S RECORDS – W. Camp Bowie Blvd. Fort Worth                                                    This record store on the west side has surprising vintage section that ranges from costume ready items to vintage t-shirts and occasionally we have found some really cool wearable pieces all for quite good prices. Shoes, Vintage dresses, jackets.

THRIFT TOWN – Jacksboro Hwy. Fort Worth                                                                This Thrift Town location is HUGE, and while it is laid out and run in a similar fashion as the other locations, this location has a vintage rack and a lot of real estate to fill with all manner of items and a surprisingly nice selection of men’s dress shoes. 90’s ditsy print skirts, Vintage sweaters, shoes, scarves and lot’s of furniture.

SUPER GOODWILL – Alta Mesa Blvd. Fort Worth                                                          For volume of thrift items, this Super Goodwill is absolutely massive. Frequent visits can turn up some really cool items. And Goodwill often has sales and they have a discount program as well. We always find a wide selection of goods here! Vintage blouses, housewares and a good wearable 80’s dress can be found.

MCCART FAMILY THRIFT – McCart Blvd. Fort Worth                                                      One of our original spots, McCart Thrift is another large space where digging and patience is a must, but on those days when it is good, McCart Thrift is really good. We have found all sorts of items, including a lot of shoes over the years. Possibly the largest men’s section in town and a huge selection of casual items for all types of people. This one is close to our hearts as we began thrifting here together years ago. Vintage shorts, shoes, a good amount of skirts, on rare occasions a vintage dress.

So, that’s a partial short list of our favorites! Let us know where your favorite places to thrift around Fort Worth are!