star spotting at the santa monica flea market

Living in LA, it's pretty typical to see celebrities while out and about. And mostly you learn to just take it in stride. Maybe you sneak a few sideways glances to see, "Is so-and-so as pretty in real life as on-screen?" (Sometimes no, but mostly they are ridiculously beautiful in person.) The whole LA thing is that you pretend you don't notice them. But yesterday, at the Santa Monica flea market, I was taking a look at some carved wood Chinese foo dogs, when I thought to myself, "I recognize that voice." And lo and behold...

There's Emily Henderson, the most recent HGTV design star, and star of her own fantastic show, Secrets From a Stylist, looking cute as a button, and styled almost exactly like this:

Image from HGTV

She was looking over some vintage art and frames, and then this cool old map of Long Beach. 

So I know I was just talking about how I don't get that excited at celeb sightings, but I got all kinds of crazy excited about seeing Emily. Though "flea market chic" is not totally my thing (and long-time readers may recall that I've only recently gotten over my abject fear of flea markets), I am a huge admirer of Emily's style. She is truly gifted at mixing an enormous range of styles, and she's just so darn likeable on her show. I don't think I would like hanging out with Candice, David or Genevieve -- even though I might occasionally swoon at their designs -- but I would ABSOLUTELY hang out with Emily. And I would love to live in her rooms. Any of them.

Naturally, I got way too nervous/embarrassed to take a picture, let alone say hi to her. I know, I know, it would have been so easy to just say, "Hi Emily, I love your show," and then keep walking, but I just felt like too big a dork. And the woman was WORKING, for crying out loud. She was possibly training a new assistant, too. But for a good minute or two, I just really enjoyed hearing her talk about the pieces they were scoping out for the show, while half looking at items for myself.

And then she sauntered off into the wide blue yonder, never to be seen again, until next Saturday's new episode of Secrets From a Stylist. :::Le sigh:::

That adventure over, I turned my attention back to the flea market, and the reason I'd come in the first place: Forks.

You see, I saw this cool pic on bhg.com (and pinned it), and thought: I need to do that.

And, to my delight, there were forks everywhere. I selected these vintage beauties, for a total of $7.

I love the detail of the tines, especially the skinny one that reminds me of Neptune or Poseidon, and the one just to its left that has great asymmetry. 

So that will be a project soon. I need to decide, though, if I want to hammer the forms flat so the little notes don't protrude forward so much. Decisions, decisions.

I also found this great Bombay-style nightstand, which I'm envisioning in a rich, glossy peacock or navy blue in our new house. Price: $40.

That was a pretty good day at the flea market for me, still being pretty timid about the whole haggling thing. That Shakespeare bust at the very top of this post REALLY wanted to come home with me, but I couldn't justify spending $75 on it, and couldn't muster the courage to try to haggle it down... although I can't imagine that they would have come down to $20, which is about all I would have spent.

Here are a few more sights from around the market, just for fun.

Have you had any good flea market or thrifting finds lately? And what about celeb spotting -- who would make you get weak at the knees?

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xoxo,