{Tony, overjoyed with his find}

Tony and I are in the midst of updating our house with some minor remodeling and redecorating. I’ve lived here since 2010, and have outgrown my obsessive passion for studded everything. (Also, the dogs have chewed up a lot of things.) It’s time for a facelift. It all started this summer, when I had a nervous breakdown before our engagement party and thought repainting our blue accent walls grey would make me feel better. Now, I’m slowly turning into William Randolph Hearst; as soon as we finish one project, I start brainstorming what to transform next. Tony is loving it. (*This is a lie. But he’s being a really good sport.) I’ll be sharing pictures of the finished projects on the blog over the coming months, starting with yesterday’s sweet snags at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

Both of us had never been, but always wanted to (or at least I have always wanted to. Again, Tony is a really good sport.) It’s held the 2nd Sunday of every month, and I recently read on Remodelista that Margot Guralnick, a house flipper whose style I love, does a lot of her shopping there. We figured that with half of the town away dancing in neon fanny packs and taking selfies at Coachella, this was the weekend to hit it.

The place is crazy overwhelming, and we didn’t really go with a plan. We didn’t even know where the entrance was. I barked at Tony to grab the first parking place we saw, and we proceeded to walk for a solid 15 minutes (past at least 30 other open spaces. Sorry, Tone.) We ended up somewhere in the back where the vendors enter, and a security guard said he’s let us in if we paid $20 cash. Breaking the rules was exhilarating, intoxicating, as he grabbed our twenty and muttered “Hurry, hurry, hurry, GO GO GO!” We were in. (*I think it also costs this at the real entrance. Don’t know why I loved this moment so much.)

We spent the first hour or so wandering around, wondering why most of the booths were just clothing before we realized there were several other sections to explore. Tony admired the Civil War era guns, and I said no because I’m no fun. We almost bought this guitar, until we learned it cost the same as one month’s rent at a nice place in West Hollywood:

However, we also found a few things in our price range. Our favorite purchase of the day is this giant leopard statue from a 1960’s movie prop house. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen Tony so excited about something. Several people stopped us as we paraded through the Rose Bowl with it, asking where we’d gotten it. Tony kept admiring it, saying “He’s so strong! Look at those muscles!” And now we have it perched at the top of our staircase, where it is scaring the sh*t out of our dogs. My friend Amber, who has impeccable taste and just launched her company Spruce Design & Organization, is helping us with our remodel. I haven’t told her about it yet. I have no idea what she is going to say. All I know is that in the 24 hours we’ve had it, it’s brought Tony an inordinate amount of joy.

{Notice our live animals peeking through the jungle, too}

Tony bought me this pretty gold elephant statuette, because elephants are a symbol of good luck (I know this because I read Nicole Richie had a live one at her wedding), and we love and support the work that the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust does.

And finally, I treated Tony to a vintage neon skateboard. He’s been updating me with photos of him riding it around set all day.

In between our feverish bargaining, we ate burritos from a food stand, sharing a table with a super nice couple on vacation from Canada. And then, while we were trolling around an old surfboard that I thought would make a really cool alternative to a guest book for our friends and family to sign at our wedding, we got this photo text from our friend Ryan McCann, an incredible artist and designer (I can’t wait to share all of the furniture he’s building for us), who happened to be there with his girlfriend:

{Ryan’s creepy paparazzi shot. I’m not in it because I do not look good in photos I’m not aware I’m in}

We barely even covered 1/3 of the flea market, and we were exhausted and running late for Tony’s rec league baseball game. We were sweaty, exhausted and super happy. My favorite advice I received about tackling the flea market was to not second guess our purchases; if something is a deal to us, and we feel like we’re getting it for the right price, then it is a deal. And we love our crazy new items, which I will perhaps fondly look back on one day as the first sign of us becoming hoarders. Regardless, I love that we got to do it together, and the house won’t just be full of what I want as I work on redecorating it with Amber… As Tony proudly toted his leopard the mile+ back to the car, he said “We’ve gotta come back next month!” So, I know that for all the marble, gold and floral accents we put in, they will be balanced with muscular animal statues and brightly colored skateboards, and anyone who walks into our home will know we both live here (and that Tony is a really, really good sport.)

{After the flea market, I cheered Tony on at his rec league baseball game. Then, we had frozen yogurt and sushi for the second night in a row. Sunday was a Funday indeed.}