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!

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

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!

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.

Thrifty Thursday

I know lots of people do Thrifty Thursday on the Blog land. There is #tbt on Facebook.

I have a thrifted outfit that I really like. It has the 60's vibe that I really like. My hubby calls this my "Peggy Olson" outfit.

The dress I found at Saver's for $7.99 and the shoes were $5.99 and I got 50% off because of a sale. The cardigan is one that I have had forever.

I just found a red belt to wear with it and the hubby really likes it as it gives me more of the hour glass figure and he thinks it is sassy.

I hate how my selfies-in-the-mirror turn out, but I was at work and snapped it while I was still 'fresh' looking :)