Bargain books, CDs and DVDs from Daedalus

Book, music, and movie lovers (along with those who buy gifts for book, music, and movie lovers) should know about Daedalus Books and Music. We've received catalogs from them for awhile and, with their amazing prices on some items, we just couldn't resist placing an order with them any longer. Our recent purchase included the classic The Women DVD for $6.98, a two-fer DVD of Holiday Inn and Going My Way for $6.98, a Billy Taylor Trio CD for $5.98, and a gorgeous big softcover book of The Posters of Mauzan for only $9.98 (which is a huge savings compared to Amazon). They might not have everything that you are looking for but, with these low prices, you feel free to be more adventurous in buying things that you're not as familiar with (we'd never heard of Mauzan and don't know much about Billy Taylor either) so you can enjoy the thrill of discovering something new. While they don't offer the free shipping like so many online retailers are this season, a flat fee of $5.95 for standard shipping isn't too bad, especially the more that you buy.

As an extra special bonus, the same exit that you use for the Warm Glow Candle Outlet and Webb's (exit 145 off of I-70) has a Stuckey's. Whenever we spot one of these rarities we have to stop in to buy a Pecan Log roll and Pecan Praline and to peruse the cheesy souvenirs.

Fletcher Place Yard Sale on Saturday

Be sure to look for the giraffe statues if you go.

The adorable Fletcher Place neighborhood is having yard sale this Saturday, September 12th. Even if you're not in the market for anything, it's a nice excuse to gawk at this historic neighborhood.

Oh we wish we could be in Chicago on Saturday for Dusty Groove's first ever sidewalk sale. Per their email:


"We'll be offering some amazing merchandise for that one day only -- lots of vinyl and CDs that we've never offered to the public before, all at special prices for the event. This is stuff we've had in storage for quite awhile, and have never got around to putting out in the store -- most of it first-rate merchandise, just material that doesn't always fit the styles we sell in the store -- which means that we'll have some extra-cool records that you won't find everyday
-- assorted odd artists and genres that should make the sale an amazing musical event. We've got weird Brazilian titles, lots of indie-label releases, unusual Latin, offbeat Now Sound, vintage Vocals, sealed Soundtracks, long-lost 12" Singles, Funky 45s, and lots more great bits -- all in really good condition. These titles won't be junk at all -- just the sorts of things we've picked up over the years because they were cool -- but which we've never got around to putting in the racks. For this one day only, we'll be selling them at some very low prices -- and after that day, they'll be put back in storage, and not offered in the shop."



Sigh- it sounds really cool if you have an opportunity to be in the Chicagoland area this Saturday, August 15th.

Smith & Hawken going out of business sale

We never shopped at Smith & Hawken much but we stopped in yesterday to see what was there and how their sale prices were since we read that all of their stores will be closing by the end of the year. Most of the merchandise is 20%-30% off but some of it is 50% off. There is still a pretty big selection of outdoor furniture, pots, watering cans, and statuary. We didn't buy anything, but we're going to keep our eyes on the "stack and grow" planter that we admired in their catalog that is now $31.


Smith & Hawken
8605 River Crossing Blvd. (the Borders shopping center by Keystone at the Crossing)
317.571.8091

Attention shoppers; these adorable place card holders from Spoon Sisters look perfect for summer parties and they are deeply discounted ($5 for the set of 4!).

Here's another great idea for picnics. The August issue of Food & Wine magazine has a blurb about a product to help you keep ice cream cold on your way to a picnic or party. Zak designs has their Ice Cream Tubbie in a variety of cheery colors and a whole pint of ice cream can fit inside it in case you have to make a lengthy trek to a store for your favorite ice cream and don't want it to be soup by the time you get home. You can also just put some scoops of ice cream in it instead of a whole pint sized container. Food & Wine said that the Tubbie kept the contents from melting for up to 90 minutes. We think that this would be perfect on a hot day when you're enjoying lawn seats at an Indianapolis Indians game.

Sad story about 20th Century Props in the New York Times but some really cool looking stuff at their Ebay store (with more to come in an upcoming auction- we'll take the Marilyn Monroe armchair).

Super Salve and Think Before You Pink

We've recently become hooked on Super Salve's Power Repair Vitamin C Solution. We like that the products at Super Salve are developed by a clinical herbologist (read her story here) and that the products are made from organically farmed herbs, essential oils, butters, and waxes. It was through Super Salve's website that we learned about Think Before You Pink, an interesting organization striving to help consumers not get misled by pink ribbons used in marketing campaigns by companies that actually might be manufacturing products that are linked to breast cancer. Their website is a worthy read.

Re-Bound Designs book purses

We love old books so we were intrigued when we heard a story on NPR about a designer making purses out of them.

Papaya Art

Some of the journals and greeting cards that really caught our eye at the Whimsy store in Madison were from a company called Papaya Art. We looked at their website and were agog at the their cool products. We will definitely be purchasing some of their wall art (like the one pictured here) for only $16.

"If I keel over in Walmart...

...drag my body to Neimans". Yes, we shop at Walmart but no, we don't really savor the experience. That's why this credit card case caught our eye in the wonderful Victorian Trading Company catalog. We ordered it for a gift and were delighted to discover that it came so nicely presented. It was in a zebra-striped box with a red ribbon and the image of the stylish lady on the front of the box. Be sure to visit the Victorian Trading Company's website because they have some really unique items. We get their catalogs and really enjoy taking our time to flip through and do a little time traveling.

DHC

Get on this catalog's mailing list. We don't order from them very frequently but they always send at least a couple of samples in their catalogs. We've liked several items that we've purchased such as the lavender and rosemary scented After Bath Hair Treatment Emulsion and the White Sunscreen but the one we always make sure we have is the Deep Cleansing Oil. It's a really luxurious cleanser/makeup remover. We think olive oil is just one of those amazing things like vinegar that is pretty much good for everything.

Cheap Thrills at Old Time Pottery

There are rows and rows of glassware:
Colorful candle holders:

Retro Coca-Cola glasses:

Bargain tea light holders:

We've seen Old Time Pottery's ads for so long in the Sunday paper that we decided to finally go browse at the store. It's a huge, warehouse-like space the runs the gamut from Christmas decorations to sheets. We treated it like a treasure hunt and walked away with a few purchases including a generous wine glass ($1.49), a large glass tea light holder ($1.50) and a smaller red tea light holder ($1.00). They also had a lot of items for outdoor entertaining (we picked up a decorative solar light) and, besides all of the glassware, they had a wide selection of sets of dishes which you might keep in mind as a gift if you have any June brides to buy for this year.

8811 Hardegan St.

Indianapolis, IN 46227

317-888-1810

Here's a little bit of our haul from the Easter Bunny. For Mr. WYA!, both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus know that you just can't go wrong with zombie gifts. In his Easter basket were 2 books, Zombie Haiku and The Zen of Zombie. Mrs. WYA! got all kinds of goodies (representing the many facets of her personality) including some Marilyn Monroe lighters, a Hello Kitty notebook, and a really cool Jizo statue.

Interesting article in Nuvo about The Village Experience started by Kelly and Anne Campbell. Their new store has its grand open on April 4th in Broad Ripple and looks like it will have a wide array of goods from international artisans- just the kind of store we love.

Attention movie fans, thanks to Ain't It Cool News we found out that some titles in the Warner Brothers' archive that haven't been available on DVD can be ordered from their website for $19.95. That's a little pricey but we just might have to see Jean Harlow in The Beast of the City.

This is pricey ($399) but what a unique way to grow a garden and it also just makes for nice decor. It's the vertical garden from Smith and Hawken.

Our Pomeranian loves to get on the yoga mat with Mrs. WYA! and, when she can't join Mrs. WYA! at a public yoga class, we could get her picture on the mat and it would be like she was there! Thanks to Yogamatic you can upload your photo to be transferred to their yoga mats- a little pricey but very cool.

New Orleans toile from Hazelnut

We love toile. We like the old timey charm of it and we just like to say it out loud. A couple of years ago, we bought some New Orleans toile fabric from Hazelnut and wrapped it around a wood frame to make a unique wall hanging. They now have some of their lovely toile items marked down 50%! If you are New Orleans native or just have fond memories of visiting, you will want to take a look.