Flea Market Fresh: Santa Barbara Consignment Hunt

My family is no stranger to spontaneity. Growing up my friends' parents would spend weeks planning elaborate vacations to Europe or the Caribbean while my own family made absolutely no plans for how to spend the upcoming school break. My siblings and I would be prepared for a week of TV and junk food induced comas when suddenly, one morning, instead of waking us up with her usual rise and shine gimmick, my mother would literally yell at us to get up out of our beds and into the car. It was like an evacuation. And just as our school drills had taught, we did not take anything with us. So we'd hop into the car completely unprepared with no shoes or underwear, thrilled because we were on our way to... well, somewhere, somewhere not home, but typically somewhere on the coast.

When I think back on my childhood those crazy, unplanned road trips, were some of the most memorable highlights. However, I've found that as an adult it is a bit more difficult to be so carefree - having a job and what not. That is why I was delighted when on what was supposed to be a Sunday drive to the beach for lunch my boyfriend caught the spontaneity bug and just kept driving. We found ourselves in Santa Barbara checking into a hotel for the night with only what we were wearing and a faithful credit card.

View from our hotel room

I had read about a vintage and consignment shop called The Mermaid's Chest in a flea market magazine and was lucky to accidentally stumble across it. Owned by local Debbie Moore, who greeted us with a sly smile and debutante wave of the hand, The Mermaid Chest is a great place to dig up unique finds. Debbie runs the store from 12pm to "6ish" and stuffs it full of furniture, jewelry, clothing and anything else she happens to like. I found the prices to be a bit high but The Mermaid's Chest is in Santa Barbara after all.