The July show is my favorite, though, because an additional 300+ vendors exhibit outside in the parking lot and that's where I find most of the good stuff!
My friend Amy and I went yesterday as Early Birds, when a lot of vendors were still setting up. Yes, you miss out on a few booths that haven't arrived yet but on the flip side, you get the best selection among the things that are already set up!
1300 dealers can be quite overwhelming so I usually try to stick to a budget and try to decide whether there's something specific I'm looking for so my eagle eyes can scan all the booths quickly. This year, I wanted to keep my eyes peeled for beer paraphernalia for Todd as well as storage solutions (my one and only new year's resolution for 2009 was to get more organized).
I came away with some great finds:
I found a great metal bin with a wooden handle (the one on the other side is missing) that I can use in my office. The round tin with cute side handles and a clean interior that will be perfect to store the cat food outside by the back door.
The cute little lunch tin is perfect to hold loose ends in my office, and I couldn't walk away from that awesome little "25" badge. I'm sure it'll find its way into some of my assemble art.The old horse bells on a leather strap will be repurposed to help potty-train Tucker. Just that morning when I dropped Tucker off at doggie daycare, the folks at Wag the Dog told me to tie bells to all exterior doors. The idea is that he'll associate hearing the bells with opening doors and access to the outside; hopefully, he'll get the picture and start nuzzling or pawing the bells to announce his needs!
I even found a few things for Todd: an old bottle opener and a piece of a bill board advertising non-fattening Acme beer! With a title like that, I bet the beer wasn't much good, but I love the graphics and color palette.
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