Thanks to Craigslist and a really cool older guy in Niles, IL, we are now the proud owner of a set of four amazing Eames Herman Miller fiberglass arm shell chairs in seafoam green. (!!) (click the image above for more pictures)
They are from 1957, with metal glides on zinc H-bases. Two of them still have the foil label from that year. The maker’s mark looks to be the double triangles/mountains from Summit Plastics in Kalamazoo. I am in awe of these chairs, and our luck in finding them. We saw found them the day before we left for Florida and called the person selling them, who was awesome enough to hold them for us for a whole week until we could drive up there (it’s near Elgin, so we spent the night at my parents’ and hand an insane sushi orgy furnished by materials from Mitsuwa – more on that later).
Thank you, Craigslist. Oh man.

I won this book on eBay tonight – it was published in 1961, and illustrated by Charley Harper. Probably the coolest biology book ever, aesthetically; very excited to get it! It’s in slightly rough shape but considering its age (and the deal I got on it) I’m quite happy. All pages are complete and intact.

Read more about the book here.
First two images courtesy of the above link.

We’re headed to Florida for 6 days starting this Sunday; my month has been super busy work-wise but generally nice with fantastic weather and a great trip to Elgin around the beginning of this month. We visited the flea market again and I scored a vintage Nelson bubble lamp in the small spherical shape. I’ll post pictures soon once I get this place straightened up and actually take some. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser really is magical, by the way, because it is fantastic at cleaning up vintage pieces like fiberglass chairs and our bubble lamp; the thing was completely filthy but looks new after some work with one of those. I wholeheartedly endorse them.
I also found two original Rorschach ink blot test cards; each is double-sided with an ink blot image and numbered. I still need to look up my specific blots.
Finally, as I’m hopelessly bag-addicted and there’s no help for it, I bought two Lug bags to do my traveling with and I’m really happy with them so far. I got the Skipper in grass green and the Taxi Full Tote in ocean blue, below. The texture, weight, construction and color of these bags is fantastic, can’t wait to haul them around some airports (and Disney World).

Dustin’s uncle bought this house recently; the interior needs significant renovation (the previous owners wanted a ‘Tuscan villa’ look and totally ruined all of the flooring, walls and woodwork), but it looks great from the outside at least. It’s huge, over 4000 sq. feet, with two stories and some great built-in features and brickwork. Also, the multi-level yard! Wow. It will take a long time to refurbish it, but I’m excited to eventually see it looking more like its original incarnation again.

I ordered some Birkenstock sandals on eBay last week. They arrived Friday; I tried them on and found they fit a little weirdly. On closer inspection, they were fake! Aarrggh.
(For comparison, picture shows real [blue] Birks on top, fakes on the bottom.)
The seller was cool about it and offered a refund, but still, sucks getting burned on eBay. Luckily I have mostly good experiences there, but the occasional issue. EBay is a mysterious beast.

I have a small obsession with this designer. She has done some furniture and housewares but specializes mainly in fabrics, clothing and bags/pouches. This is my most recent Orla acquisition; I found this on sale at Nordstrom when I was out with my mom and sister this weekend. It’s so well made and generally awesome. The material is laminated canvas (so it’s waterproof but still light and flexible) with leather on the handles/closure, lined with cotton in another cool print.

I’ll go more into my collection later, as I would like to document it and it’s getting ever larger — recently I’ve realized through selling and finding neat older pieces on eBay I’ve refined the collection to the point where I can’t bring myself to sell any more of the ones I have… hm.

A shot of our home office in the morning.

Friday night before our send-off of the library-program-attending friend that had been staying in town this week, we stopped and had some tapas at Radio Maria. The tapas side of their restaurant is as cool as the dining side.

At “Carrie’s”, an odd little curio shop packed with random vintage stuff in downtown Champaign, we found a full 8-piece set of vintage Bodum glasses last Sunday. I am in love with their design and the clean happiness of the white handles. They even have the older Bodum creed stamped on the bottom. They look unused; I wonder what their history is, if any.