Pink Poodles on Parade

Patience is a quality that doesn't come easy to me, but boy am I ever glad when it pays off!

There's a large antique mall that I visit every once in a while. One vendor was apparently getting out of the business and had everything reduced 50%. Antique store kryptonite, right? So of course I checked out the goods but the problem was that this vendor a) had only a huge locked glass case and was b) way in the back of a large store. The giant hassle of having to go hunt down an employee to open the case and then hover over me while I shopped kept me from ever purchasing anything. The vendor took several months to go out of business, and each time I would check the case just to see if there was anything new. One item in particular caught my eye each time but it was priced quite high, even with the discount, and eventually that vendor's lease ran out and his goods were gone.

Here's where the patience part comes in: last week I happened to be at a thrift that I rarely visit, due to it being a bit out of the way. Whoever does the pricing at this thrift knows what to look for in terms of vintage stuff--anything remotely interesting is immediately put in the locked glass case in the front of the store and priced far beyond what a reasonable person would pay even at an antique store. I always look but am usually turned off by the high prices. That day, though--that day I got lucky, because what should I find in the case but the EXACT object of my affection from the antique mall!
You can see why I love it, right? The perfect shade of pink, the jaunty hat and bow, the spaghetti fur, and best of all, the black cat-eye glasses with rhinestones! Pure 1950s perfection. She even has her original Napco foil label.I image that vendor just dumped the unsold merchandise from his booth at the thrift and took the tax write-off. It was priced higher than I like to pay at the thrift but still a fraction of the asking price at the antique mall. And I think that after all those months of admiring it, it was meant to be! Thrift seredipity, if you will.
Pinky the Poodle Planter joins Pinky the Poodle Pincushion, another thrifted treasure that has a place of honor on my desk. Pink Poodle Perfection!