A'shopping We Will Go

Flea Markets are one of those things I've never understood. How people can get so excited about a glorified garage sale (my perception) was something extremely foreign to me. I am not much of a shopper, period, unless I have something specific that I need/want. It is...exhausting.

Nope, not a trunk.

Recently, I found myself in need of sprucing up my home a bit. I am bored with things, and hate some of the things I have, and just need to make some changes. One such change includes a new coffee table, which, I would like to be an old travel-style trunk. While this is something I guess I could spend some gross amount of money on at Pottery Barn, I wanted to find something more authentic (oh, and, I don't have even close to a gross amount of money). I had heard through the grapevine (and read on the interwebs) that this is the sort of thing I could find at garage sales/flea markets/antique stores.

Enter Treasure Island Flea Market.

This market is relatively new -- about a year -- and they are doing a great job promoting it. I have seen it referenced in emails, on buses, from friends...enough that I definitely took note of it (and I tend to not notice a lot). Treasure Island doesn't always feel super accessible -- you have to get on the bridge and, more dauntingly, merge back mid-way to get back home -- but it is only about 10 minutes or less outside of the City.

It was a lovely Sunday that my friends & I headed over. Driving through the Island, we noticed a proliferation of wineries -- also very new information! We spilled out of the car, four people and 2 dogs, and headed on in, prepared to be wowed.

At one of the first stalls I happened upon, I found some great trunks. Not being an impulse buyer (ahem), I decided to keep trucking on to see what else may be out there, and could I get the best deal. I was absolutely fascinated by 1. how common these old trunks seem to be, 2. what else was being sold there. One booth had the mixing bowls my mom owns -- white with green flowers that she got for a wedding gift in 1974 -- for 12$/each. Another had a bunch of junk items from my childhood for prices way higher than what we paid way back when.

And then we came upon this stall that was selling homemade signage with various inspirational quotes...and these cute, bicycle-like push carts. Both my friend A & I were entranced...oh, the things we could do with these carts. Again, not being impulse buyers, we walked away...but were drawn back moments later after talking each other into them. They are all homemade from recovered parts, and are super, super cute. To me, it was the kind of thing you see in wine country for some crazy price. These were very reasonable. I only wish the vendor had a company name or website or anything where I could recommend them -- a wife & husband, nice as can be.

With our major purchases under our belt, our energy was spent, and it was time to head off to drink some wine and toast our success.

Not sure if I personally would head back out there anytime soon, but it was a really fun experience. There were tons of people & pooches, a bike demonstration, and a whole "food court" of trucks. If I need something unique or more vintage, this would be a great starting (and possibly finishing) point. For now, I will content myself with my new bicycle cart and figuring out what to do with it.

Held the last weekend of each month. Admission is 3$, and they sometimes offer specials from the discount sites that include wine tasting and food from the food trucks.