Dig This Treasure!

On Friday, Adam and I went to the wedding of a family friend, and it was held at The Henry Ford. If you’re not from Michigan, you might not be familiar with this joint, but it’s a museum filled with lots of industry-related old things. The reception was awesome because it was basically in the middle of the museum and you could go look at whatever you wanted! So that’s what we did. 

This is what I take out on the town when I’m feeling really fancy. 

This is what I take out on the town when I’m not feeling fancy. 

Obviously since Henry Ford was so into cars, there are a lot of cars in this museum. Here are some cool ones. 

Hey now! Another Bugatti! 

This is what I drive when I wear my robot suit. 

Ok, this is really my favorite car there. Besides of course, this one. 

Bring back the Escort, b*tches! The Focus sucks! 

Ok, there were many other things at the museum besides cars. Like trains.

And Holiday Inn signs and fake rooms.

A furnished cabin.

An old camper

The first wireless remote (an awesome invention, I must say.)  

This cute soldier doll (seriously I wanted to drop an elbow on the glass and take this guy.) 

A giant McDonald’s sign, and a little diner. 

A fake gas station where I seriously tried to use the ladies room. Thankfully nobody was around when this occurred. 

Lots of Mold-A-Rama machines (I made a Rosa Parks bus).

A Game of Thrones chair (looks like something Zach and Erin would own.) 

This chair that gave Adam a boner. 

This cool stuff. 

A bunch of steampunk things.

And finally, my favorite, the Wienermobile. I’ve been watching a lot of The Price is Right. What do you think of my modeling skills? 

Because my husband is a 5th grader, he made me pose for this photograph: 

As you can see, I am not very pleased. 

-Sarah

Yesterday I decided to tag along with Adam and our friends Asif and Pedro to the annual Motor City Comic Con. I debated at first, but then decided that the experience would probably be blog-worthy AND also just simply eye-opening. I was not disappointed. 

The three dudes I tagged along with are all fans of their own nerdy things (Legos, comics, Transformers, Harry Potter, video games, etc. etc. etc.) so they were not strangers to the nerdiness of what awaited us. Now remember, I’m a librarian so I’m not a stranger to nerdiness either. But this was just different. 

When we arrived, I was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of stuff to look at. 

Right away, StylinOnline.com caught my eye. How could it not?

I was also quickly frightened by some of the stuff on display. This, for example, greeted you when you entered the convention: 

Ok, you’ve convinced me, dungeon master. I will not obey. 

Anyway, it ended up being a very fun and interesting experience. I am actually a fan of a few nerdy things (Harry Potter, etc.) and I like some comics. I also like anything where people go ALL OUT, so like I said–great venue for seeing such things. For example, one of the first things I saw was this guy: 

Who doesn’t love an Animal/Stormtrooper mashup? Speaking of mashups, these nerds LOVE mashups. Even Adam, who carefully selected his Alfred E. Neuman/Misfits mashup tee to wear to the event.

I actually made fun of this before we left, and sure enough, he got lots of compliments from other nerds. Way to go, Honey! 

The one thing I quickly learned is that the people who dress up for this event really enjoy having their picture taken with you. Here is some proof of that: 

(Does he know that Alice isn’t a Grimm tale, or is this some other sort of weird mashup?)

Ok, the Tauntaun didn’t explicitly say he wanted his picture taken, but he enjoyed it I’m sure. 

I have no idea who all of these people are supposed to be (except sexy Wonder Woman and sexy Captain America) but they were pumped to be photographed. Mad props to the dressed up child in the middle. 

Another popular theme, besides mashups, that was ever-present at this thing, was steampunk. 

That is a large selection of protective goggles with various mechanical wizzligigs and doo dads attached. Perfect for your next steampunk adventure or gathering. 

Besides seeing lots and lots of this

I did see a lot of cool old stuff. 

Remember the Get Along Gang?! Love those guys. 

I loved that cover!

So let me tell you about my history with Freddy Krueger. When I was a child, I was an absolute p*ssy (sorry fellow feminists, but I can’t think of a more accurate word)! I was afraid of everything, including bugs, fire, and PAPER BOYS. The people who lived next door to my grandparents had kids our age, so when we were little, my brother and I would play with them a lot. When the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie came out, I’m sure you can only imagine how terrified I was of good ol’ Freddy K. Well these kids knew it and would torment me, telling me that Freddy was going to be hiding under my bed, etc. 

Can you blame me for being afraid to fall asleep?! 

Anyway, flash forward to college. I took a film class that was called “Horror, Sex and War” and featured films from these genres. One of the ones we watched was the first Elm Street so I had to confront my fears and face Fred. It ended up being really cheesy and dumb, and I actually went on to become totally obsessed with horror movies for a while. I’m still a fan but I’ve reverted a little to my fearful ways.

Back to Comic Con. How about I tell you what I purchased? Well, one of the first things I wanted was this HP themed “always” tee: 

Sold by evietees from Brooklyn! She was super nice and had some other pretty awesome HP themed shirts as well. I also picked up some Domo earrings, a Beavis and Butthead keychain, a cute necklace from Lydia’s Vintage, and a Harry Potter lego man. My favorite find, though, was this Six Feet Under themed poster made by Adam Heath, who was a super nice dude. 

I am obsessed with this poster and can’t wait to frame and hang it somewhere. Good thing I was at Comic Con with a bunch of other nerds because I totally missed this booth until Pedro wanted to swing back by and purchase a Zelda poster. 

After about 3 hours of walking around seeing more boxes of comic books than I ever want to see again in my life, we decided to call it quits. We were all starving, so we toured around the Novi, MI dining scene. After joking about eating at Hooters (I would NEVER, fellow feminists), we decided to go to a place called the Tilted Kilt that looked like a pub. When we got to the door, Adam said, “Uh oh… I think this might be Irish Hooters.” Sure enough, it was Irish Hooters. While my veggie wrap was pretty delicious, it was served to me by a young woman wearing a sexy schoolgirl outfit who talked in a porno voice. 

All in all, a memorable day. 

-Sarah

P.S. Names I had to look up while writing this post, in order to spell them accurately: Alfred E. Neuman, tauntaun, Freddy Krueger. 

Update from Erin: I don’t have a problem with Hooters.  Just FYI.  And I was a Women’s Studies major.  So send me your Hooters coupons y'all.

Last weekend, my family ventured up to Holly, MI for their annual Dickens’ Christmas festival.  The festival has become a tradition each year to kick off the holiday season, and it does a good job.  There are literally chestnuts roasting on an open fire in Holly.  And Scrooge roams the street being all scroogey.  

The whole gang was here, and our plan of attack was to load up on hot chocolate and then hit all of the numerous Holly antique stores.  My sister Lindsay (chugging her cocoa above) is a fellow ebay guru, and has been raking in the cash lately selling old GI Joe and Star Wars toys.  Lindsay’s husband Mike, and our mom Joan, went to a gun store down the road to “browse.”  And you all know Zach and Timmy, they chose antiques over weapons.

The antique stores in Holly are super old-timey/general store looking.  So the atmosphere is just as good, if not better, than the actual treasures.  They are also huge, so at the end of the day, we had antique-shopped for about 5 hours.

Most of the items in Holly are high-end, and also pretty rare.  The first store we went into is known for being haunted, and was featured on Paranormal Witness (never heard of it).  They didn’t have any ghosts for sale here, but they did have a lot of other neat things:

This is me making a phone call to the ghost in the store, asking if he/she has scared anyone lately.

This store is also known for a vampire hunting kit they’ve had since I was like 8 and going to Holly.  They’ve been trying to sell it for $15,000.

Zach contends that this kit is TOTALLY FAKE.  And he is probably right.  You know who loves this kit so much though?  Steampunks.  Holly needs a Steampunk hunting kit because it was being overrun this day.  I don’t really understand Steampunk, so if someone can enlighten me about the connection between them and Charles Dickens and Holly, MI and vampires, that would be so great.

I didn’t buy anything at this first store, but our second stop was very fruitful.  I found a Skookum doll for $35!  I’ve wanted one of these for a long time, but they are usually expensive.  This guy has some slight paint wear on his face, but no big deal at all.

This doll was in a locked case with some others, and the store owner pulled the doll out for me.  I then explained that there is a doll quota in my household and that I would need to hunt down my husband for approval on this purchase.  He said that was fine, so I walked away with the doll.  Now, this place was HUGE and super crowded, so it took me an eternity to find Zach.  By the time I made it back to the register to buy the doll, the store owner was convinced I had stolen it.  He let out a huge sigh of relief and exclaimed, “There you are!”  He then tried to sell me a million other dolls. 

Zach found a cool book at this store, which we also bought:

I should also mention that I accidentally rummaged through a bunch of garbage at this sale.  Literally garbage.  This is the SECOND TIME I have done this while treasure hunting.  I thought this was a basket of little ziplocked knick-knacks, but it was really trash from a nearby snack stand with coffee and cookies.

Also, there is totally a half-eaten banana hanging out in there.

We next visited a store that was mostly selling old fossils and Egyptian artifacts.  Zach was so excited about a case of old Egyptian ceramics, and then he saw a sign that said “Display Only, Not for Sale.”  I thought he was going to cry.

We did find an old lead Santa riding on a sled, which we bought and have paired with our lead skiing Santa and lead skiing buddies.

Man, those little guys bring me such deep joy.  I have probably never seen anything cuter than those recreational Santas.

The last store we visited was more of a creepy antique museum.  It was really dark, and nothing had price tags on it.  I had never been in this store because it is off the main drag, and the outside looks like a building that is permanently closed for business.

That wreath was probably put up like 6 years ago.  And all of the windows had the shades and blinds drawn.  Anyway, they were open for business.  Well, kind of.  When we walked in, an old woman “greeted” us with a frown, looked us up and down and said, “Go ahead and browse.”  Browse?  We must have looked like a bunch of Aladdins walking into the palace.

It was really dark in there, obviously.

Here is Zach touching something, which was probably against the rules.

Interestingly, in the middle of this place, was a weird little opening into a cave.  Not a real cave, but a manmade fake cave.  So bizarre, and also the best.

It had a bunch of dioramas inside….inexplicably.

My sister was the only one who actually found something to buy here.  It was an old paper magazine from the 1920s or so, and was advertising a circus.  She bought it because it featured some guy on the cover who designed all of the exhibits at the Detroit Zoo (she is the penguin keeper there).  It was a whopping $6.  She was thrilled.

-Erin