Just like Christmas Morning

There are certain events each year that I look forward to.

Christmas has got to be my numero uno.  I love Christmas Eve and Christmas morning like nothing else.

That being said, coming up in a close second place is the annual Lakeside School rummage sale.

It is the holy grail of all rummage sales.  It officially kicks of the "sale-ing" season and gets it started on the right foot.

It has been going on for 62 years and they have perfected the art of the sale.

I called up my deal-loving besties, Lauren and Bunnie, and we hit the sale as a group.  Shopping in groups is way more fun, plus friends can help you make the hard decision of "is it a want or a need."

So we armed ourselves with Starbucks and headed to the sale.  We got a primo parking spot, which pretty much bodes well for the whole day.

I'm no stranger to the Lakeside sale, but Lauren had never been before so it was a whole new experience for her.  She had no idea what it had in store, and she was blown away.

When we got there at noon, there was tons of stuff already picked over, but I am not one to stand in line with hundreds of other people all to buy used stuff.

For those of you who have never experienced this wonderful sale, they have 3 gymnasium style buildings full of rummage.  It took us 2 and a half hours to do a full shop, and everyone left with a great deal!

We found some items that were near-misses, we determined that these items were not meant to come home with us:

These mail slots were so cool, but we had no where to put it and no clever ideas of how to use it

I needed help leaving this air popper at the sale.  It was only $2 and who doesn't love air popped corn???

Nothing like an "A" bookend for my shelf.....but it was a little too ornate for me.

Cute outdoor lanterns.... we decided that 3 just weren't enough

I offered to buy this beautiful gown for Bunnie.  She declined.

I could have taken hundreds of photos at the sale, but I was too busy shopping and filling my arms with items that I couldn't live with out.

My favorite purchase of the day was this huge wood platter for only 9 smakaroos.

I'm a sucker for platters in general, but this one was very large (2' x2') and all wood, which I thought was very cool.  It had a water stain on it, but for $9, I figured I have lots of ways to fix that- I could re-stain it, paint it, or tile the bottom etc.  So many options!

My overall plan for this platter is to sit on our living room coffee table.  Remember the craigslist coffee table I bought a while back from a Punky Brewster look-a-like, which I then accidentally left in my rental car?  

Well, that same table has been happily occupying our living room for over 6 months and it has been wonderful  It's the perfect size and shape.  I love it.  It was worth all the headache.

My grand plan is still to to turn that table into a tufted ottoman.  I haven't quite gotten around to that yet, but when I do, we will need a hard surface to place drinks and things, and this platter will be absolutely perfect.

This is the look I'm going for (Picture via Target)

I also snagged a few picture frames, a basket and a water pitcher.  All of which I'm using for the upcoming baby shower I am throwing.

All in all it was a great way to spend $17 and a Sunday afternoon.

For any avid rummage salers in the Seattle area, they actually hold 2 sales a year so you can catch the one in the fall if you watch their website.