World Travel Market Preparations: Business Cards

Only a little over a month remains until the London 2013 World Travel Market. I have my press pass, the hostel is booked, plane tickets are purchased and now I have my business cards! I used moo.com, and it was really such a great experience. I used the “Great Escapes” Template. I loved the color scheme and layout on the front, and on the back, you can choose 5 of your own photos that will alternate on the cards…

*There isn’t actually a blank space under “Two Thumbs Travels”, I just figured the internet isn’t the best place to display my personal cell phone.

You can use the photos on the back as a mini photography portoflio, like I did with the New York and Key West Photos, or have photos of yourself to make them remember you, like the skydiving and paddle-boarding shots…. or you can have a picture of your cat, just because you can…

Anyway, the cards are made really well. They’re not flimsy and cheap feeling, like cards I had previously purchased from a large office supply retail chain. I also love the matte finish and rounded corners, but there are many other options also. Plus, they come in a really cute little black box so you can carry them around and not get them damaged or lost.

The shipping was incredibly fast too. I ordered them on September 15th and the confirmation said they would arrive by September 25th. This is why I was fairly surprised when they came in the mail only 5 days after I placed the order and 5 days before they were due to arrive.

I wanted the cards to look professional, but stand out with a little humor (Cat Lady) and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I highly recommend moo.com for not only business cards, but all kinds of promotional materials. Go check out their website!

For live updates on all upcoming events (World Travel Market, Doctor Who 50th Celebration, Cats), don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Vine and Instagram @CorneliaJoy.

Side notes: I would like to point out that I know the scratches on my desk are terrible and I will be refurbishing and posting about it as soon as time allows. Also, I will only have 8 weeks of class left for my B.A.S. after the WTM, but it would be a huge waste of money hassle to make these and then have to order new ones 8 weeks later, so I decided to include it on there already. I hope that doesn’t offend anyone!

An Excuse for the Beach…

There are two benefits from thrifting for beach equipment. 1. What house doesn’t have a few things that were bought for a family beach trip, used only one time and then stored in the garage for the next however many years? This means you can buy those things, barely used, and at a fraction of a cost. 2. Once you have it, you have the perfect excuse to go to the beach!

For example:

$2 for both of those watermelon umbrellas. They aren’t just regular “Stick them in the ground and hope they stay put” umbrellas.  They’ve got nice clamps on the end, so you can attach them to your beach tables or chairs.

$1.50 for the beach blanket / tablecloth. Much nicer than a towel because you’ll have room too move around and set down your things without covering them in sand.

In the event that the weather turns gloomy while you’re out at the beach, as it did with me, don’t worry. That’ll just give you time to check some of the local thrift stores where you’ll find things like super groovy cowgirl boots…

A large, shaggy, pleather jacket…

Or a nice straw hat for your next beach trip…

Happy Summer!

Reverse Retail Therapy

As of yesterday, Summer is officially here! If you missed the drop on Spring cleaning, like I did, now is the perfect time to make up for it. Go through your closet and get rid of all the clothes that you haven’t worn in a while because they don’t fit quite right, aren’t your style anymore or  because you never really liked them in the first place. Here are my cast-aways..

The white dress with the butterflies? Bought that one in 2009 and haven’t worn it ONCE! All in all, that’s two pairs of shorts, three sweaters, four shirts and eight dresses. I normally rotate donations between my favorite charity thrift stores. This time everything went to the Hope Chest which raises money for abused women and families. Apart from making extra space in your closet and helping to raise money for charity, you’ll also clean out all those extra hangers you have cluttering up your closet…

Well go on then! If you go do it now, you can justify taking that afternoon nap later. That’s reason enough for me!

Tennessee Thrifting: Part 2

I mentioned in my last post about the really cool mod clothing store where I couldn’t buy anything because I had already purchased too much. Here are a few of my favorites…

Anthropology Skirt- $10

Plaid Old Navy Shirt- $5

I have to admit, I wasn’t 100% sold on the skirt, until I found out that it was from Anthropology. Have you been to that store?? It is my absolute favorite place, but I can’t afford anything there. I first discovered Anthropology in the Chelsea Market and I’ve been dying for something from that place ever since.

Columbia shirt- $12

That’s normally more than I would pay for a shirt, but Columbia fishing shirts are pretty popular in Florida. I’ve been looking for one for a long time and you never find them in thrifties down here.

Brand new Tommy Hilfiger Bermuda Shorts- $5

These are nothing exciting, style-wise, but they are perfect for work. They were actually $10, but this particular thrift store was having a half-off sale and I needed some new work clothes.

Priceless V8 Sweater- $6

We also got this for half price. It was just so ridiculous, she couldn’t pass on it.

$75 pants from The Limited outlet store- $17

I know this isn’t technically a thrift store find, but they were such a great deal that I had to include them. The outlet store was having a 30% off sale AND these were already on the sale rack. So, just a re-cap, that’s 30% off jeans that were on the sale rack and already discounted by the outlet store. How ’bout them apples. I also got a few other shirts, but no pictures of those, unfortunately. I did so much shopping that week, but it was hard to pass these things up!

Tennessee Thrift: part 1

I bought so many clothes on this last trip to Tennessee that I had to buy a second bag to get them all home! There were many great thrift stores, so it was hard to resist! My favorite one BY FAR was called “Pre to Post Modern,” just outside of Nashville. They had so many adorable clothes from every era..

I didn’t actually buy anything here because I was already over spent, but there were such good finds. I LOVED this jacket, but leather jackets are far from optimal in Florida.. 😦

Bed Jacket anyone?

Hats? Yes, please.

I need this light…

I took mostly video (go watch it!) here, so my photos don’t do it justice. I promise if you’re in the area and you stop in, you won’t be disappointed. The address is..2110 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37204…

Makes Me Want To Take A Backroad

Hellooo writer’s block. I have to take my GRE this morning so of course my brain thought it would be an excellent idea to wake up at 5AM for absolutely no reason. Fantastic! There isn’t really a method to the madness of writing these posts. I just scroll through my pictures and the first thing that catches my eye gets a post. This morning, at 5AM, it was the things we saw on the back-roads of Tennessee.

We took the back-roads often, but we mostly only drove on the first and last days. The rest of the time, we were in Nashville. We arrived there and found it impossible to leave, so we did a lot less driving than we had originally planned.

Our first stop, once we were outside of Knoxville, was Oral’s Elegant Junk…

Who wouldn’t stop there?? Unfortunately, it was closed. That may or may not have kept us from being chopped into tiny pieces and thrown into a river. I guess we’ll never know. Then we stopped at a few smaller antique/thrift shops which were not what I would call exciting.. but then… we saw this beautifully promising sign..

Bargains AND MORE? What could you possibly want beyond bargains? We had to investigate. Upon driving up the long twisty driveway, this is what we found…

Why yes, that’s a 6′ by 10′ shed… I’m not sure how much “bargains and more” could fit in this place, but there was no turning back now…

Apparently, she’s a couponer and she sells her extras, using a deceptively large sign to lure people in. I only say deceptive because her sign was probably bigger than the whole shed. At least she “excepts” major credit cards…

The people were really very sweet, and I was able to buy some paper towels which definitely came in handy so I can’t really complain. It’s always an adventure.

Our best stop was probably on our way back home. We had just been to a park for some relaxation and river frolicking and we’d worked up a pretty good appetite. That’s when we saw this place…

The food is very southern, which means a lot of fried food and a lot of meat. For us vegetarians, there is a grilled cheese option that they make with Texas toast. Add some tomatoes and it’s perfection! The owners were there and so friendly! They gave us a lot of recommendations on things to do in the area like white water rafting, kayaking, parks etc. Too bad it was our last day!

The decor is very hunter chic..

One deer even gave the place two thumbs up…

Terrible joke. I apologize..

Here’s the address, 3292 STATE HWY 158 SOUTH, GEORGETOWN, TN 37336. If you’re driving from Chattanooga to Knoxville, I definitely recommend stopping for some lunch.

I Saw The Signs..

I wanted to share some pictures of signs that I have come across recently. They made me laugh, some for the wrong reasons, and hopefully they will make you smile too. All of them are from Tennessee, but the last one. Enjoy!

That’s intense!

I’m still not sure what to say about this next one…

I don’t know what it means to “except” credit cards, but they do it in this place, apparently.

“Greatest blog in the world.” – My Mom

Step up your game, Bradenton!

It has been WEEKS since we had a good Estate Sale in the area. My thrifty senses are becoming extremely bored! If you look at the pictures for this weekends sales, everything looks like it came straight from Pier 1 in 1997. In honor of my next trip (a road trip with a friend through Tennessee! I’ll post about it later) I decided to do a little “window shopping” of the sales going on in the Knoxville area this weekend. I have to say, I like what I saw, like beautiful vintage cabinets that I will dream about refinishing…

Piles of junk to sort through…

No telling what you’ll find here!

Wooden boxes of all shapes and sizes…

And a fantastic GE fan. The cherry on top…

Hellooooo Tennessee! See you in a few weeks!

Tiny Fancy Lady… Thrifties

Saturday I went to an Estate Sale that had three different closets filled with clothes from one tiny fancy lady. The absolute best find at the whole sale was this dress. FIERCE!

If only I were a size 4.. This lady also had a thing for leather. There were probably 10 different leather jackets in various colors, leather dress suits, biker vests and a GORGEOUS trench coat…

My tiny mother found a lot of nice things, and Linda found the coziest cashmere sweater. There was also this jumpsuit lacy thing.. Imagine what kind of woman it would take to rock this outfit!

The only other real find from the day was this dart board. Only $5. It’s in fantastic shape and excellent quality.

Now who’s going to hang it for me??? Calling all handymen…

Post Box Decor

The only credit I really deserve for this post is writing it, and staking my claim on something my mother found. All other credit goes to my mom for finding this cute little Post Box.

She went to a church sale, probably the biggest one in our area where they actually charge you for admission. A lady had picked up a microphone and said, “I’m selling this post box and I’ll start the biding at $5.” No one was listening to her so she just kept rambling nervously about how she was selling it for a little old lady who had brought it over from London several years ago. My mom felt bad that no one was listening to her, so she bought it. It worked out nicely for me, because I love it! It only had slight wear and it still had the screws and TWO KEYS!

After a little clean up, it was sparkling white. I haven’t yet decided where to put it, or what to do with it but I’m thinking this would be a nice spot.

That spot has just been waiting for the perfect thing, and this might be it. For now though, I am enjoying just having it on my desk. If you’re wondering about that cat picture on my desk top, you can read the story about it here.

If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!