My Summer Mantel Display: The Jersey Shore, Vintage Style!

Well hello there! I am happy to be back on my blog again after a brief hiatus called SUMMER!

We were so busy with the store, vacations, summer camps, etc. Always a good thing! We even found time to go treasure hunting! (An even better thing, right, my vintage lovin' pals?)



With all of that behind me now I wanted to do a post on my summer mantel before I change it Mid-September.

 

This is my ode to the Jersey Shore. Not the Jersey shore you saw in a raunchy reality TV show, but the REAL Jersey shore I've known and loved. Born and raised in NJ plus doing a four and a half year stint working at a local TV station for the Atlantic City/Wildwood area, I grew to love my time spent there.

So, whenever I find vintage NJ beach themed items, I pick them up. I have sold some of my Ocean City, NJ things but to tell you the truth, those are hard to come by.

I love mixing old aqua glass bottles with shells, books, etc.
 

This year I decided to also add in my Philadelphia Magazine pictures. I do think these are original covers that were mounted on foam core.

I love them and barely take them out of my office for fear of damaging one as they are dated 1910.

If I ever get a beach house, these will be framed and used for wall décor.

I also thought this little "beach chair" was too cute and had to be added to my vignette. The plate and vase souvenirs made out of china are fun to collect and are perfect for my mantel.

I love the deep navy blue of this pitcher.
I also get a kick out of the caption:
"Bathing in front of the big hotels."

Is that what we are doing? Bathing?
But then, I remember... we are wearing
bathing suits.



This is a close up of a small portion of a vintage painting... it sits below the mantel on top of the fireplace insert.

Hope you enjoyed my "little tour" of the mantel... stop by and say hi if you have a chance, I've missed chatting with all of you!

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While all of the souvenirs in this post are from Atlantic City, here are a couple of other posts I've written about Ocean City, NJ ... just click here and here. 

And while you're at it, you might enjoy this poem by Ogden Nash, titled Seaside Serenade. I wrote a post about it.... Just click here.

Beach Break Part 2

Still wishing I was back at the beach... I loved our time there. Did you know I used to live on the

boardwalk in my early 20's? I was working my first "just get in the door" TV station job as the master control operator, signing the station off at night. Remember when they used to do that? Around 3:30 am I would run the tape of the American flag with the national anthem and then switch over to the station's call letters and color bars.

So many things have changed since then. But not my love for the beach and boardwalk.

In fact these store owners knew this was MY PLACE!

We also found an antiques and collectibles store on the boardwalk. . . here's a peek inside. We couldn't miss seeing vintage, even on our vacation.

The local historical museum was enticing as well, so we all took a walk to check it out. The antiques inside were amazing! (I forgot to bring my camera however!)

About a month before our trip Dear Hubs had been bragging about a bicycle he found for me at a yard sale for 5.00. Yes, I rolled my eyes and only imagined what awful thing he had dragged home for me. Well, I have to tell you, it ended up being my absolute favorite thing to do each morning... riding on the boardwalk with the Atlantic Ocean as my scenery. Dear Bebe rode on the back of his bike and she just loved it too!

Here she was playing "peek-a-boo" with my neice.

This year's beach trip included a mini reunion. My Sister's family was vacationing along the shore as well. We arranged before the trip to all bring the same outfit to wear on the beach for family photos. Don't they look great?

Dear Bebe loved having her cousins around to play with. I loved having my family together.

We'll have to do it again next year!

Beachy Keen

It is nice to take a break.

A week to get away from it all.

And even better when you can do it by the beach.

I didn't check my email once.

The ocean can be so calming.

Facebook? Twitter? Not me.

It was time to relax. It was time to play.




And we had a great time.
I'll be back with more pictures of our

family "reunion" week along the Atlantic Ocean!

Coastal Living

I'll be coasting along for a little blogging break...


Kind of like this little guy here....

I'll be back soon!