Thursday, April 23, 2015

Skirting the Issue

I found several skirts while thrifting the last the couple of months, but since many of them are are lightweight, I haven't taken them out for a spin yet.  I put one on the other day, and you could barely distinguish between the skirt and my legs. Time to break out self tanner.




A poly blend-no wrinkles!






Cotton with a slight bit of crinoline


Linen Blend




I guess I have a thing for black and white prints. I bought them all at different times, and then when I was organizing the closet I realized that I had three pretty similar skirts.  The weight is different on all of them, but just the color makes me want to wear them in the summer months versus winter.

I just need some time out in the sun so you can tell I have legs....

Top: 212 for Kohl's --$3.99
Middle: Jones New York--$8.99-half off=$4.49
Bottom: Talbots--$6.99-tags still on-$69.99

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Girl's Day

After starting my day out right with a Zumba/Hula class, my daughters, my granddaughter and myself spent the whole day out shopping. One was looking for some separates for work, the other was looking for a swimsuit and I was basically just along as the driver and lunch-payer.

After we hit one mall and Kohl's to return some items, we headed off to Arc's Value Village as we had several bags of items to donate.  We received a coupon for 25% off, plus a bonus 200 points for my rewards card.

My youngest found a lot of stuff (she is like a small, even after the baby) so there were a lot of choices for her. My eldest found a pretty scarf she is going to try and make a handkerchief top out of. She is also quite thin, but was blessed with the chest I had before surgery, and is very concerned with proper coverage. If I've taught them anything, it was 'keep the girls covered'.  We even found a little romper for Coco.

I didn't score a huge haul, but I did find 2 pairs of shorts with the tags still on, an animal print sheer tank, a red satiny blouse with elbow length sleeve, a pair of sandals and a retro print scarf.







After leaving the thrift store, we hit up another mall to look for shoes.  We didn't have any luck with that, but we stopped for a quick snack-and a snap of Coco. Sigh-she is the most beautiful being. I heart her very much :)



We had a lovely day with a lot of laughter....and very little bitching (wink, wink).

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Sunny

I have a hard time wearing yellow. It is clashes with the undertones of my skin.

But every once in a while, I luck out and find the right tone that works for me.







You know how I love polka dots!


I found this blouse on a trip to Arc's Value Village about 6 weeks ago. It makes me happy. A little piece of sunshine filling my day.










I think I need to buy some daffodils now








The snow is finally gone!!


I had a good shopping trip today.  My husband and I finally decided on a locale for our 25th Anniversary trip.  I found several dresses, a bathing suit and a collapsible sun hat.  Only 8 more months! Ocho Rios, watch out!



I hope everyone has a joyous Easter. 


Dress Barn Yellow Polka dot blouse--$6.99 @ Arc's Value Village
Orange/yellow bracelet--$1.25 @ Arc's Value Village
Purple faux croc purse--old, from Kohl's

Saturday, March 28, 2015

For the Love of Shoes

I know it sounds like a cliche`. All girls like shoes. My oldest daughter isn't overly girly-she prefers jeans and sweatshirts to dressing up-but she loves shoes. My youngest thinks she has flair to spare, and loves shoes (more specifically: boots). Most of my girlfriends love shoes.

And shoes that I would most like to own are far out of my league. Those beautiful Blahnik's, Choo's, Miu Miu's, Louboutin's............I mean, they are works of art! But that sad truth is I only have a beer budget and Grey Goose dreams.

I have large feet. Not like basketball player size 15, but a 9-1/2. I don't often find nice shoes in thrift stores for my size. I find tons of 7's that are the most adorable ones that want to jump into my cart, but I must break it to them gently that I would need to remove my toes for them come close to fitting. And I like my toes.

Last weekend I introduced a friend of mine to Arc's Value Village. I myself had only recently tried them myself.  We had a fun day of thrifting and a wonderful lunch at PF Chang's.

I wasn't having a lot of luck finding clothes that I wanted. I did find a dress and some shorts, but to my amazement: shoes. As in 5 pairs. 1 pair has never been worn, 3 have very light wear and 1 pair are nicely broken in.


Back row: Bandolino, Cole Haan, Born
Front row: Bare Trap, Naturalizer


My hubby was none too happy. Apparently he feels if you get a pair of shoes, you need to get rid of a pair. I think he was dropped on his head as a child. 

We stopped at Turn Style Consignment after visiting 2 Arc's Value Village locations. Kelley found 2 pairs of shoes and a pair of cropped pants for work. I couldn't find anything for me, but I found something for my love bug!




Children's Place 'fur' coat-tags still on


It was a really fun day with a sweet friend.

Cole Haan Nike Air pumps-- $36.99 + 25% off with coupon. Retail around $125-150
Bandolino faux alligator wedge--$28 + 25% off with coupon (never worn). Similar about $48
Born sandals--$10.49. Retail around $100
Bare Trap sandals--$7.49. Similar retail $40-50
Naturalizer slide sandals--$6.49 + 25% off with coupon. Can't find comparable-guessing $40?

Children Place jacket--$7. Tags on but price torn off. Guessing $25


I think Coco will look quite cute in it next fall!



**UPDATE: hubby says he WAS NOT dropped on his head. He just thinks like a 'normal' person.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Spring Weather Separates

The weather is warming, a little.

The snow in these pictures are gone-it will show up in a few more posts as I took several pics on one day. While we had a couple of very nice days last week, we are back to more normal temps this week-ranging between 40 and 55 degrees.  Time to shed heavier layers and start wearing lighter weight options.

I have a lot of black in my wardrobe due it's slimming effects, but also because it is a good neutral. It goes with just about every color in the closet.




This is the softest shirt I have ever worn


Perfect for my office, which is way too warm all the time




In addition to the blouse above, here are a few items that I found while thrifting a couple of weeks ago.  The scarf doesn't have any tags, but it reminds me of one my Mom wore back in the 70's.  The baby blue cardigan is deliciously soft and has become one of my favorite things I have found. The fabulous t-shirt reminds me of my teenage years in the 80's. I love it for the gym.






     


Black A.N.A. blouse-thrifted $1.29
Black and white striped Merona skirt-clearance $7.98
Black Peep toe Merona shoes-sale $18.99

Blue polka dot with red trim scarf-thrifted $1.29
Baby Blue Designers Originals sweater-thrifted $1.29
Grey L.O.L. Vintage crop t-shirt-thrifted $1.29

The items thrifted for $1.29 are from Arc's Value Village that has a different colored tag sale every Sunday where all clothes with that color tag are, you guessed it, $1.29. The blouse was $6.99,                                                              the scarf was $3.49, the sweater was $7.99 and the crop tee was                                                            $5.99.



Sunday, March 15, 2015

Sunny and Bright


While we here in Minnesota are always complaining this time of year that the winter was sooooooo long and horrible and that we just want to see grass, hear birds and wear something other than tights, wool socks, down parkas and long underwear.





Happy to report that all this snow is now gone!


The truth is,we have had a pretty mild winter this year.  We did have many cold snaps, but our winter was not too bad. Last winter-that was bad. Huge amounts of snow, blizzard conditions, horrible icy roads. And it snowed in May. That was a bad winter.

Trying to wish spring here, I pulled out some sandals, a lightweight bright blouse and my favorite thrift purchase ever-a pair of white Ann Taylor jeans. The are the best fitting jeans I have ever put my booty in. They are the curvy fit and I think I want to wear them every day.  The pants had the tags on when I bought them. so I went to the website to check on ordering another pair-gah! $89! Which is what the tag said, but sometimes 'retail' isn't 
'real-tail'.  I couldn't bring myself to spend that much right now-but maybe when I win the lottery ;)


Ann Taylor Jeans-$20 Clothes Mentor
Apt 9 blouse for Kohl's-thrifted $5.99 Goodwill
Kate Spade bag-thrifted $8.99 Savers (I don't think it is real-but it's cute!)
Sandals-Target (old) gift

Friday, March 13, 2015

Ugh



8 full days of being sick.

I felt like a leper in the waiting room.

The drugs aren't helping.

Cold now bronchitis and asthma attacks.

Bed.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

What Would You Suggest?


I am stuck.

I have this sweater of my Dad's that I want to make something else out of.  I will never be able to wear it A) because I'll never be that small (it is from when he was in the Navy and weighed about 110 pounds) and B) it is wool and I cannot wear wool next to my skin.




So does anyone have any ideas?

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Pink and Brown

One of my favorite color combos is pink and brown.  I was so happy when I spotted this on the rack at Arc's Value Village. Not only is the color combo I like, IT IS POLKA DOTS!


Why yes, that IS a really big skillet

Polka dots just make me happy. I have been enamored with them since I was young. Remember that fabulous dress Julia Roberts wore in  "Pretty Woman"?



I found a very similar dress for a special event-unfortunately I couldn't find the shoes :(


I liked the randomness of the polka dots on the shirt-a little more casual and fun. 




For a pop of color, I pulled out my yellow purse.  My youngest daughter gave it to me when she was done with it. I don't think it is a real Guess purse, but that doesn't matter to me-I just think it is pretty. 







I included an "artistic looking off into the distance" shot. I hate my profile and I look terrible in pics if I'm not smiling)




I like the little detail on the sleeve and the band around the neck



And for some reason all the comments on my previous posts have disappeared. Since I'm soooooo not techie orientated, I have no idea what has happened.


Shirt: no tags thrifted from Arc's Value Village $6.99 half price-$3.50
Jeans: Lauren Conrad for Kohl's-old
Purse: Guess-gift


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Thrifting Heaven

Living in Podunk like we do, we must drive to the big cities so see some thrift action. Really, 25-35 miles isn't so bad considering we have to drive 10 miles just to get some milk.

We have a radio station in the Twin Cities that is talk radio, but not your normal talk radio.  MyTalk 107.1 is an entertainment station. They talk TV shows, movies, music, strange news. Pretty much Pop Culture. They have spoken of Arc's Value Village for as long as I have been listening to the station. They are all in the Twin Cities metro area, which means a drive.

They opened a new store about 27 miles from us and I took a wander up last Sunday. I hit the jackpot, baby. For about $83 I got a couple dresses, many tops, two jackets, 7 pieces of jewelry, the shoes posted in my last post, some baby clothes for CJ, some books and a blue vase for my desk at work (a place that is stuck in the 70's, but that is a different story).

Today my youngest wanted to go see what it was all about.  She took over my job as Office Manager when I went to the 'Mothership' of our employer.  She is a young, single Mom (both kids and a grandchild are under our small, small roof) who doesn't have much money to spend on herself, so she had thrifted since she was a teen.


I love to find different pieces of jewelry. 


Just a pop of color is sometimes all you need to make an outfit


Cleaned and ready to be worn, including a Lane Bryant dress, a Limited tank and a Style & Co top


Some of the lighter stuff-Style & Co, Merona and Jones of New York


Every week at Arc's, there is a colored tag sale for 50% off everything with that color.  On Sundays, they pick another tag color and all the clothes with that tag color are $1.29. A BUCK TWENTY NINE!!

My daughter got some Limited pants, a Banana Republic blouse, an Old Navy skirt and a Gap sweater. The sweater was $6 but the other three were $1.29 each.

We had a fun afternoon out scooping up deals and treated ourselves to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Mmm, probably won't be going there again anytime soon. Our food came before our drinks, there was tomato on my sandwich when I asked for no tomato and then our desserts took about 15 minutes to get to our table. AND it was horribly expensive. 

I'm off to eat my piece of cheesecake-it had better be good!


Saturday, February 28, 2015

If I had a dream closet......

....it would be filled with shoes.  My Pinterest shoe board is filled with items I will never be able to afford nor wear comfortably.  Admit it-we would all like some Louboutin's or Manolo's. But who could wear them in their everyday life?  Not me. I have stood too long on concrete floors, had two children that made me go up a half size, and am carrying about 40 pounds too much on my frame.

However, my favorite shoes are Kitten heels.  A cute heel which gives a little height but is comfortable to wear all day-just not on concrete floors.

I scored a great haul at my most recent thrift store adventure. I was a little disappointed in the shoes though.  Maybe people with 9-1/2 regular width shoes don't donate a lot. Maybe there were tons, and since I didn't get there until an hour after they opened-they were all gone.

But I did find these beauties.


Hello my lovelies




I don't know this brand, but I'm not brand conscious



If they were worn, it must have been on carpet. You can see the price written on the bottom




They fit like a glove. They look like they haven't been worn.  They will go with so much in my wardrobe.

Sometimes you may not find everything you are looking for, but when you find something like this, it is all okay.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Stripes are in

Stripes seem to be everywhere.  I love it.  They add movement. They add a pattern. And the rule about curvy girls wearing horizontal stripes is bogus.



I usually stick to smaller stripes 


Not very evident in photo, but there is a zipper on the right shoulder




I just got on board the 'bootie' bandwagon last year. I'm hooked.


I need to work on my 'modeling' skills. And maybe learn how to use my remote for the camera instead of the 10 shot continuous setting.


Dress-$8.00 Target Merona-Clearance
Tights-$2.40 Target Merona-Clearance
Boots-$38 Kohl's Vera Wang-Sale + 30% Coupon

Monday, February 23, 2015

The Answer my Friend, is Blowing in the Wind...

Actually, the wind is just blowing. A lot.

We live in the country so we have a lot of open space surrounding us. It is ALWAYS windy here, but this is ridiculous. The windows are humming because of the wind.  I'm thankful we don't have snow to go with this wind like out East (we had that last year-don't miss it).

I was going through some of my folders of pictures and deleting ones that are in one or more folders. Why does the computer recognize that these photos have already been downloaded sometimes. but not others? I digress. Looking through photos of last summer are helping to ease the winter blues. Maybe not, but it did take my mind off the howling right next to my computer.




                                                     Me and my girls on Mother's Day



                                                                      Me and my BFF in Portland, OR

At the Great Minnesota Get Together (the State Fair)



And of course the best part of last summer was the arrival of our grand daughter CoCo




Ahhh, memories.  

With this darn cold weather, I haven't been able to take any photos in my thrift store finds.  It is hard to take good photos in the house as we have good Southern exposure in the living room, but there isn't a great spot to take photos, since the walls either have a couch, a fireplace or stairs-not great backdrops. The fireplace would be okay, except for the big TV sitting in front of it. 

So I wait. Until it is at least above 30 degrees and the wind is lest than 30 MPH!


I had a great thrifting trip on Sunday. I found so much stuff and I can't wait to get it cleaned and ready to wear.

Happy Monday everyone!

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Black and White.

I was so excited.

 I have been using a homemade "dress form"-a pillow case stuffed with batting on a broomstick. It isn't great, as you can probably imagine.

I had been looking for a dress form for quite awhile.  There are the expandable ones from several places-JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, Overstock.  I wanted something nice to put clothes on to photograph and also use for sewing, but I wasn't sold on the adjustable kind as I had read many reviews and decided it wasn't really what I wanted.

I found a place that sells ones that are fiberglass and have padding and a nice jersey type cloth cover.  They have nice bases and a plug that goes in the neck.  It was cheaper than the adjustable ones, and looked much nicer.




I apparently didn't measure myself properly as it is way too big.  I have contacted the company twice and haven't heard back about how I can return it.  It is very nice, but my clothes won't fit on it.

Sigh.

Since my clothes don't fit, I had to use my old method for photographing my thrifty finds.

I found this dress at Goodwill for $5.99.  I love the graphic print and slight retro vibe.


It is one of my favorite thrift store finds yet!

Here's hoping I can get the dress form issue resolved and have one that works!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Good Times with Great People

About 16 months ago, I got laid off from a job I was sure I was going to retire from. 120 of us were told that Monday morning that we no longer had jobs. It was a scary day. This was the third lay off that had happened to our family in 8 years.  This is not what we had planned. This was messing up our future we have been planning since we got married. This just sucks.

The day I lost my job, I posted it on Facebook, hoping that I may get some support from my friends, but it led to much more.

The next day I received a phone call from the daughter of one of my friends.  She had just been promoted in her company and her position was open. Did I want to come in and interview? Um, yeah!

One week later I was in a new desk at a new company and planning my new future. I loved that job.  I looked forward to going to work every day. I had wonderful co-workers, worked in a beautiful environment and laughed all the time.  Fast forward to this past October. I was asked by the CFO if I would interested in taking on more responsibility. They had an opening at the "Mothership" of the company I worked for. It is so close to my house and I was happy to show them I was up for the challenge. The hard part was leaving the job that I loved and people I cared about.

Last evening was the Holiday party for the former part of the company I work for.  My youngest daughter took my job when I moved to the new location, so I went as her "date".  I had so much fun catching up, laughing and eating wonderful food.  



 Me and my baby






Fun, fantastic people



Big, happy smiles



Old Navy dress: $6.99
Merona Pumps: $7.58
Green Bracelet: $2.99




Thanks you so much for including me in your night of celebration of a great company and the friendship of so many wonderful people.