Suburban Sunday

This afternoon Eric and I took a drive out to Hayward with three goals in mind: to eat lunch at Val's (one pound burgers!), to go to Kmart (for the Martha Stewart Collection spatulas- they're my favorite kind), and to go to thrift stores.

First we got pretty lost and took a long detour through an industrial park full of amazing topiaries (I didn't get any pics unfortunately, but there were some shapes I've never seen before!). When we finally ended up at the first thrift shop we were heading to, it was closed. However, just down the way we found another one, where Eric was able to buy some Boy Scout shorts, and we found this fantastic cutout of Liberace, which we both agreed would be an instant purchase if we were a few years younger and lived in a dorm. Look at the socks (and the legs)!

Then we found this amazing abandoned skating rink (quite close to the recently closed Holiday Bowl). We made it to Kmart just fine and I bought my spatulas as well as some wooden spoons and a salad spinner. Afterwards we decided to beeline it to Val's because we were starving and it was already 2:00. When we got there, salivating at the thought of a chocolate peanut butter milkshake and fries, we found it closed!!! It was terrible. Making every effort to stay chipper in spite of our growling stomachs and disappointment, we drove on towards Thrift Town, only to discover Sam's Super Burger, which turned out to be quite good! After eating, we stopped at a brand new Target (!) and then decided to call it quits before doing any more thrifting. To be honest, I can't quite thrift like I used to. It used to be so fun sifting through all the crap to find that one treasure... now it seems like way too much work, and I always find myself wishing I had a little bottle of Purell in my bag. For those of you still willing to get down and dirty, I raise my Purell to you, but I just can't do it anymore. I've become a strictly antique mall/sale girl, and my Goodwill days are over.

Still, I did make one great find today: this sign. The font, the colors... it's beautiful.