How Much is That Kitty in the Picture...

For anyone that owns a furry feline, you can feel my pain. Not only do I have a cat, but a dog that enjoys chasing the cat, but that's another post. So here I am at the computer minding my own business... 

Oh, that looks comfy, let me lay down right here. 

Ok, no computer. I'll just go photograph a few things..

Are you taking pictures of me? No? Will you pet me? 

Ok, back to the computer, let me just grab something off this shelf...

Why won't you just love me?!?!

Needles to say, he lives off of attention. Sometimes food and treats, but mainly attention. But the show must go on. Thank you for this cute kitty interruption, now back to your scheduled program: 

So in my travels, I come across a lot of neat people, places and things. (I could have just said nouns, I guess.) I don't always get to buy everything I want, but for the things I do get to call my own, there's a story and I would like to share that with you! 

This weeks story is about two little embroidered owls. I was driving home from who-knows-where and just a block from my house was an estate sale! How the heck did I miss that?  So I parked, grabbed $20 and walked over with high hopes. Books, clothes, piano, big furniture, oh shoot, there go my hopes, plummeting to a deep hole of leaving with nothing. Then, like a ray of freaking sunshine, there were these two framed owls, sitting all by their lonesome. 

(angels singing)

Oh hey, I'm awesome.

What the hoot! So am I. 

Vintage sharpie?! 

There they were, all in their 70's brown, orange and yellow glory. I asked the woman if she knew who made them and she said her husbands grandmother. She made them in 1978 and had them until she moved and he took them to their house, where I was currently fondling them (mental picture.) So if you think they are as adorable as I do, you are in luck! They are now up for sale in my Etsy shop here!

Even if you don't think they are adorable, which they totally are, you can still check out my shop. If you don't see something you love to the moon and back, or are looking for something in particular, let a sista know! I have a garage full of things, and I am constantly on the hunt. Be sure to like Poor Girl Picker on facebook too! Yes, I am stepping my social media game up! You can check that out here!

Smell ya later! 
-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from me! Turn it into something new! Send me a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, or any other space filled with stuff that needs to be picked over? Get atcha girl!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe chew on some laffy taffy!

***Check out my Etsy page to see what kinds of cool things I have in store for ya! PGP Etsy Shop

Feature Friday: Dance Party!!!

I have to admit, its not Friday. Its not even Saturday. Its Sunday (yikes!). I am two days late and always a few bucks short. But hey, thats life, right? So anyway, now that I am finally sitting down for longer than 20 minutes, let me tell you about this weeks: 

FEATUUUUURE FRIDAAAAAY!! 

This Fri.. erhm Sunday, I bring you Serife! Lets time warp back to August to a hot summers night, hanging out at Silo City for the City of Night Festival, eating food truck deliciousness, walking amongst abandoned grain elevators full of art, and sweating the sweet summer sweat. Ok, we are there. So, like any normal human being I am enjoying the festivities when nature called! If there is one thing I hate in this world, (and hate is a strong word,) its port-a-potties. Why can't I just pee in a bush? I mean, you are telling me that it is more sanitary to get in a 3 ft-by-3 ft traveling poop bucket with little to no ventilation than to find a nice hidden spot in the trees? Well, I unfortunately follow the rules so I get in line for the poop buckets and boy oh boy did I have to pee. Have you ever been driving home when the urge hits you to pee and you're like, "no worries, I'll be home in five minutes." Then you get home and you drop your keys at the door, pick them up in a hurry, can't find your house key but you swore it was on there, then you find it and it gets stuck in the lock and all of a sudden you are about to pee your pants. Come on door! Don't you know I am about to be standing in a puddle?! Ok, so thats how I was feeling so I started doing the pee dance. Every one has one. It can be subtle or it can be a full blown "get the cardboard out cause I'm about to bust a move" dance. I chose the latter. Guess who was also on line for the portable poop bucket? Serife and her friend Denise! We had a mini pee dance circle until we could relieve ourselves. Fortunately for us, there was a DJ laying down some beats so we didn't look too crazy. After our first dance party ended with no accidents, I noticed that Serife and Denise were still dancing by the DJ so I joined them and a lovely little dancing friendship blossomed. 

Fast forward to September: I am selling at the Peddler when I see Serife eyeing up a suitcase of mine. As if you couldn't figure it out, she bought it! And this is what she did with it:

Suitcase perfection.

I was really happy to see that the suitcase was put to good use. I mean, your records can't go in just anything. I saw Serife again this past weekend and she invited Jordan and myself to her houewarming party! I can't wait to dance, boogie and jive some more!

Smell ya later, 

-Stephanie 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

 

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe chew some gum.

First EVER Feature Friday!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for! --(ahem)--

FEATUUUUUURE FRIDAAAAAAAY!

 

I am very pleased to share with you the story of Amie! She came to the flea market a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love with a coffee table and mini ottoman I had for sale. They were both in pretty rough condition. Well, the table was just a weird green/vomit color. (It was Miranda's and it was in our living room for a few months before we replaced it with a kick-a surfboard shaped table.) Amie said she was going to be re-finishing them and I immediately told her about my blog and feature idea. She was so excited and promised she would send me pictures. She delivered and thats why she is the:

 

FIRST EVER FEATURE FRIDAY!

 

 B-E-A-UTIFUL!!

I'm drooling over here.

 

You know what I just thought of? Wouldn't it be nice to have before and after pictures? YES, YES IT WOULD. Hindsight is always 20/20. I will do my best to take before and after pics! But didn't she do a great job!? She took some dusty, worn out, vomit colored pieces and transformed them into little sparkling gems! Thanks again Amie!

 

This business and blog are ideas that have been marinating in my brain since May. I am beyond thrilled that it is actually taking off! Slowly but surely more people have been showing interest and I can't wait for what the future has to bring! It's people like Amie that are helping me realize my dreams, and I can't find the words to show my gratitude.

 

I have some more big news to divulge but I will be taking the weekend to clear my mind and just have some fun! I will be camping in the Ithaca area with my boyfriend, Jordan, my best friend, Taylor and her boyfriend Shawn. My roommate Miranda and her boyfriend, Tyler might be meeting us too. I guess you could call it a couples weekend! (vomit) I know I say I want to relax but you better bet your bottom dollar that I will be picking, scoping and bringing some things home with me. Heres hoping it fits in the car or else Jordan might have to hitch hike back to Buffalo!

 

Have a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend friends! Smell ya later!

-Stephanie

 

*Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a before, during and after picture! Its as easy as that folks!

**Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe have a carrot.

 



Ladders, Tables and Bolts -- Oh My!

Last week while I was sitting at my desk, day dreaming of dusty gold and the open road, I looked up some sales to check out over the weekend. I found a posting for a sale happening just a few blocks down from my apt. It started on a Thursday, which really burned my butt since I work during the week, but I told Mike and he was on it. Now, when I saw he was on it, I mean he was on fiyaaaaaah! He was a buying machine! Tools? Sold! Cabinet? Sold! Crates? Sold! The house was chock full of goodies. The kind of goodies that make us pickers all tingly inside. I was so excited to get there on Friday that I could barely sleep! We got there early and I went to town. I started making a pile as soon as I walked in the door. Sometimes I'm really amazed at what people don't buy. I mean, I was a whole day late, (I'm always more than a few bucks short,) and there was still quality goods! I picked up a few suitcases, sweaters, jackets, awesome trucker hats, chairs, ladders, tools, tables, photo equipment, you name it- it was there!

As we usually do, we were negotioting prices with the sellers and we racked up a few tickets. (Most estate sales have numerous people in different locations writing up tickets so you can go to one cashier and pay.) I had about 8 tickets. Mike started a "Day 2" pile and we loaded up! One of our friends and fellow flea marketeer, Jeff, was there picking up some pieces he bought as well. Usually, I am the muscle of the group, but I had somewhere super important to go, so I sent Mike to do the heavy lifting.

We pick in style.

 

All in all, it was a super sale. We already re-sold some of the items at the flea this past weekend, but we also grabbed a few things for winter projects. Now, I know I mentioned winter projects once before, and I can't divulge too much but just know, there are bigger things on the horizon.

 

 

Smell ya later!!

-Stephanie

 

Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe have some sushi. 

Did you say Airstream?

Recently a friend of mine was talking about this super awesome 60's Airstream her and her husband bought. Naturally, I got all goo-goo gaa-gaa and started drooling. She was saying they didnt have time to clean it out to start remodeling it. Well, I obviously volunteered Mike and myself to go check it out. She pretty much lives in the middle of nowhere New York so we figured we'd make a day out of it! We woke up last Sunday, August 4th and got our tush's on the road. It just so happens that the exit to her house was the same one to get to Darien Lakes, where I work part time. I knew there was a barn that always had barn sales on the weekends, so we hooked a right and drove for about a mile-- Voila! Barn sale! It was more like a country store with some garage sale items. Either way, we got a few things and continued on our merry way.

About 3 miles more down the road we happened upon a yard sale. By "happened upon" I mean I flew past, had to jam on the brakes, and pull a U-ey. Thats not important. Whats important is that they had some really killer stuff! We could spot things we loved immediately! I mean, we had to keep our poker faces on and act uninterested, like the super professional pickers that we are. But, we started making a decent pile and we told them what we do. They were excited and let us in on some "pre" sale items that hadn't been put out for the rest of the public yet! Ed offered us a beer while we hung out and loaded up the car. Turns out, my little Ford Focus really can't fit a picnic table. Who would have thought? So we had to leave a few items behind to pick up at a later date. Off we go on our merry way again...

HOLD UP -- ANOTHER SALE.

 

Literally a half a mile down was another sale! We could spot some good things from 35mph, so we had to stop. I mean, the Airstream wasn't going anywhere, right? Right. Boy, am I glad we did! They were giving things away! Unfortunately, we pretty much spent all our money at the other sale, but we scrounged up enough to get the things we wanted! There were 5 or so sellers at this sale which was at a church turned auction house. The building was super cool. The sellers were super cool. They thought we were super cool. Wanna know something? It was super cool. As if the car wasn't packed enough, we found a way to cram in some more stuff.

 Who needs their back windshield?

 Nice trunk, can I put my junk in it?

That front seat was some super valuable real estate.

 

We were pretty nifty with our cramming arrangements, as you can see. So now, we are on our merry way! To the Airstream! "We're only like 5 min awa...COW!"

 

I love cows, seiously.





 

Holy crap, its like 4pm and we didn't get to the Airstream yet! Well, not to worry, there wasnt much we could do anyway. We did end up getting there and we assessed the situation. We need more ammo, for sure. So, we will be back for the airstream!

 

Isn't she a beaut?

 

We pretty much doubled our flea marketable pile and added to our winter projects pile. It was one heck of a successful day! We will be back out that way soon to pick up the stuff we left behind and to check out some places that were closed.

 

Know someone that has a barn, attic, basement, chicken coop, secret room, garage, (you get the point,) that needs to be picked over? Holla at me!! PoorGirlPicker@gmail.com and we can talk about what you got, what I want, and maybe have a donut.

 

Smell ya later!

-Stephanie





Let her rip, tater chip!

Hello there interwebs! My name is Stephanie, and if you haven't caught on by now, I am the Poor Girl Picker! Ah! Im super excited and I just can't contain it! So much has happened in such a short time, that I am currently playing a game of catch up, so please bare with me. This blog is going to be my outlet and your inlet (?) for all things PGP! So, as my first blog post, let me start at the beginning!

Whoa, this is really happening. My first blog post as Poor Girl Picker. Breathe. Ok, Go!

So, back in October I moved to the up-and-coming city of Buffalo, NY from my hometown of Union, NJ. I was asked to relocate for my (at the time) full-time job and I said of course! Well, after moving and settling in, my hours were cut and I was left staring at my 4 walls with 1/4 of the income and a lot of time on my hands. My roommate at the time, and one of my best friends, Taylor, had to move back home. So, on top of loosing money, I also lost my roommate. Bummer, I know. Well, I am too stubborn of a person to throw in the towel, so I stuck it out and lived on my own for 2 months working odd jobs here and there to make ends meet. Along the way I had accumulated a bunch of stuff from thrift stores, estate sales and the trash (ever hear of retail therapy?) and it all piled up in the now empty and conveniently out-of-eyesight room! So, my stubborness wore down, I put an ad online and met with Miranda as a potenial new roomie. Miranda came to check out the aptartment and she decided she wanted to move in! Woohoo! Wait a sec, she was moving in to the room with that ever growing pile of stuff. Where in the world do I put it all?! (This, my friends, is where the AHA! moment comes in.) Remember how I said I had a lot of time on my hands staring at my four walls? Well, I forgot to mention I did a lot of crying, soul searching and why me-ing? We all do it. Well, at least I tell myself we all do so I dont feel so bad. So anyway, I had this AHA! moment during a soul searching day and I discovered I don't need material things. I dont need all that extra crap. (I say crap with all the love in my heart.) I should sell it all! Make some money while getting rid of crap! Whoa, could that actually work?

So, I contacted this flea market around the corner from my apartment and they said I could sell! Woohoo! This is might actually work. Wait a sec, I have no idea what Im doing. I've never priced things, sold them, set up a booth. WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!?! After being slightly overwhelmed, I showed up with my crap, set up a table and sold my little heart out. I made friends with the other sellers, asked them for advice, shook a lot of hands, and had a blast! I was hooked! It only took me a few more weekends to realize I had a real passion for it. Ideas started flowing, opportunities arose, and I jumped on all of them! I started picking barns, getting leads, and accumulating more stuff! My landlord let me use the basement for storage, so that solved my space problem but I had (correction: still have) a transportation problem. More on that subject later.

After a few weeks I had another AHA! moment. What are all these people doing with the things they purchase from me? Wouldn't that be neat if people sent me pictures of their repurposed goods? Yes, that would be neat! I decided I needed a name and a blog. Poor Girl Picker just kind of rolled off the tongue and the rest is history! (Actually, theres more to the story, I've just always wanted to say that.) I reserved the name, got cards made, and started explaining my idea to people at the flea. Every one thought it sounded awesome and were totally in on it!  

Something that I have found in life is that when you follow your passions, you find other people doing the same thing! This led me to meeting one of my best friends and new business partner, Mike. He was at the flea market just walking around and I said to myself, "Hey, that guy looks cool." Boy was I right! We bonded over a love for abandoned buildings, old crap, urban exploration and just being awesome. So we went on a mini road trip to Syracuse for a task I gave myself on one of my soul searching days. More on that subject later. As our friendship blossomed, so did the creative juices. Mike is so supportive and thought PGP and the blog were awesome ideas. He was sold and we slowly became business partners. (Its kind of weird to be at the point in your life where you have a business partner and cards. WEIRD.) Anyway, as similar as we are, we have different visions, tastes and ideas. Mike is more of a realist and I am a dreamer. It works really well. It took me a little bit to convince him to sell at the flea, but we are both hooked. There are a lot of good things on the horizon and I am super-duper-crazy-I-cant-contain-myself-excited for it. So, after that crazy long explanation, here we are. At my blog. Whoa.

We are currently still selling at the Peddler Flea Market every Saturday on the corner of W. Ferry and Elmwood right in the heart of the Elmwood Village. We are also always on the look out for new places to pick, people to meet and garbages to dig through. So, now that you know the story, welcome aboard the Poor Girl Pickin train! I am going to post as often as I can about our picking adventures, ideas we have, updates on the business and feature customers that send me pics of their repurposed goods!

Want to be featured? Buy something from us! Turn it into something new! Send us a picture! Its as easy as that folks!

Smell ya later!
-Stephanie