I’m thankful to be with you again.

Anyone remember back in 2005, when Mariah Carey released The Emancipation of Mimi? It was her comeback album and all that? Just me? Well, that’s where my mind went when I began writing this post. Is this my comeback? Here’s hoping!

So, what happened? Well, somewhere around 2016, I lost my muse. I still loved vintage, but I struggled to write about it. Then, my work-life balance unraveled and I watched my passions become problems. Several moves, bringing my work home, buying a house, beginning grad school, my favorite aunt passing away, and my mother’s decision to sell my childhood home… well… it wasn’t pretty.

So, how did the blog get broken? Well, somewhere in the midst of all that madness, I had the idea that if I could monetize my blog that it might help me move some of my extra stuff along to its forever home. Nothing against other blog platforms, but I moved out of my depth – fast! Everything I had learned to do blogging-wise was gone in an afternoon. I figured it was gone forever and, by this time, I had started grad school. But, every month, my former blogging platform continued to bill me for my domain and I didn’t want to give that up. I added looking into what I could do to get my blog back to my to-do list.

In the meantime, I discovered Facebook Marketplace and, let me tell you, it has been a godsend. One of my stumbling blocks with selling vintage has always been shipping. Facebook Marketplace gives me a place to locally sell some of the vintage items I would like to see go to people who will appreciate them. Once I got used to its quirks it became a way for me to make space.

So, that’s it. Nothing sinister. I tried to be like the cool kids, pressed some buttons, and my blog was gone. In the meantime, I graduated with my master’s degree and, I’m starting to pick up where I left off. Let me tell you, it feels good. I’ve missed this part of my life and I can’t wait to share it with you again.

– Mary Beth Meece, owner and creator of Meteor Vintage

I learned so much in class. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on by truly getting my Etsy store up and running. More about that soon! In the meantime, here is an article about our class and its press conference by Jamie Sears-Rawlings of Louisville Distilled.

They say that anything worth doing is worth doing well and, to that end, I started taking an Etsy‬ Craft Entrepreneurship Class through the Louisville Metro Dept of Economic Development. The class is three weeks long and Jordan Kavuma from Thistle & Thread Design is our instructor. She’s been great and the class has taught me so much already. You may remember Jordan from the Spring Loop Giveaway several of us did together last spring.

I’ve built up a pile of vintage goodies this winter that I’m looking forward to listing.

Stay tuned for some sneak peaks!

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E-Z Ups are not made alike. Prior to this April, my first and only outdoor sale was in Denver. Back then, I borrowed an E-Z Up and didn’t think too much about it. A few weeks before the April Flea Off, my husband and I were tooling around a sporting goods store when he noticed they were having a sale on E-Z Ups. For $49.99, you could get a 10 x 10 slant leg E-Z Up whose carrier was on wheels. Trouble was, I could not decide on a color. The options were bright! Bright! Bright. I wanted a plain, white E-Z Up. I’m not sure why that’s the “unicorn” of the E-Z Up world, but I’m here to say that white E-Z Ups are hard to find and, when you do find one, they’re expensive. I finally found one for $69.99 at a discount department store chain. It was 8 x 10, had straight legs and no wheels on its carrier, but I was satisfied.

That was until I got to the show and realized I had foolishly waited until the day of the event to try out my new E-Z Up.

I noticed immediately that the quality of this E-Z Up was lacking. I don’t think it was evident to my patrons, but straight out of the box, I knew the nylon canopy of my discount store E-Z Up was not going to last over several shows. The material (and even the steel of the structure it went on) was much thinner than other E-Z Ups I had seen. So, it was returned to the store where it was purchased. Afterward, I headed to the sporting goods store in the hopes they would still have the E-Z Ups my husband had seen for $49.99. And they did! Plus, they had a color I had not noticed before…Khaki! Khaki is sort of like white, right? Sure it is! I thought I had made a decision until I saw the ever sleek and classy black. My husband at work, I stood in the store for no less than 45 minutes trying to, yet again, decide on a color. Would black draw heat? Would it show dirt? Would tan let too much light in and be as hot as a darker color? I talked to sales people. I called everyone I could imagine would have an opinion to offer. I Googled. Here’s what I learned: Although we learned in grade school that dark colors attract heat, it isn’t as though you are wearing the E-Z Up canopy against your skin. Since the canopy is above you it should, technically, draw the heat up and away from you. That said, it was recommended that you find an E-Z Up with a vented top to let that heat out. Science aside, I wanted to know what someone who had actually used a dark canopied E-Z Up had to say, but I couldn’t get a hold of anyone on the phone. Though my gut said “KHAKI!”, my style side bought the black. I rolled home still waffling back and forth in my imagination between the khaki and the black. That’s when I received a call from Robyn. “You will hate the black canopy,” she said. Having done shows with a navy canopy in the past, she explained that if an event day wasn’t sunny it was going to be dark inside of my tent. “If your event goes into the evening, you’re going to need lights.” Poop. I had just pulled into my driveway, so I turned around to take the black E-Z Up back and buy the khaki.

I’d like to tell you that that’s where the drama of my E-Z Up ends, but there’s more. Here’s another reason to have a little practice session with your E-Z Up: As I set up the new one, I noticed that the canopy had little holes in it all along the underside that looked like cigarette burns. I assumed these were a manufacturer’s defect since the E-Z Up had (presumably) never been out of the box, but if I hadn’t given it a test run I would have been stuck with it. My husband thinks the holes were where someone had used the E-Z Up over a campfire and returned it to the store before I bought it.

I have lugged this thing hither and yon how many times now and haven’t done a show with it yet? But now it’s been tested (i.e. set up in the backyard) and is ready to go for the next Flea Off Market. Come and see me and my E-Z Up (I feel like I should give it a name at this point) at The Flea Off Market, June 6th!