This is why I love thrift stores

 When I was in 5th grade I started hanging out with Kate, my best friend Emilys' neighbor. She was 13, in the 7th grade, and in my mind the coolest person I had ever met. She had wavy white-blonde hair, a unique sense of style, knew how to use sarcasm, and owned an obscure music collection. Together we attended our first concert, Aerosmith and the Black Crowes.  I wanted to marry Steven Tyler which is creepy because he is old and wears really tight pants. 

For the concert, Kate dressed me up in a black scoop neck leotard, Chuck Taylors, trashy looking make-up, and frayed short shorts, which were decorated with various band names and odd drawings in permanent marker. I looked like a tiny whore

When Kate hit middle school her mom decided she was no longer going to buy clothes for her. Kate had to babysit and start paying for her own wardrobe. That's where thrift stores came in. On the weekends we would head to LaGrange, a neighborhood brimming with Salvation Army’s and Goodwill’s. We would scour the racks for vintage band tees and used gap jeans.

Thanks to Kate I am still madly in love with thrifting. Yesterday I spent three hours at a thrift store. Here is some of my amazing finds:

Vintage Annie dress with the 1980's tag still attached.  My sister and I both used to have this very same dress.  Everyone would comment on how adorable Michelle  was with her red hair and Annie type looks.  I was insanely jealous.  It's a 3T so Amelia won't be able to fit into it, however my red-headed 2 year old cousin will.  Or,I could sell it on Ebay for an obscene amount of cash.

 J crew cashmere sweater that retails for $78. I have been wanting a cashmere sweater for awhile now but am way to cheap to fork over the money for one.  This one looks brand new, okay so amybe not in this picture but in real life it is super cute.

Amelia has been begging for a toy guitar.  this was $1.99, not bad.  She has been rocking out on it all morning.  I'm going to have to make a video of her because it maight be the cutest thing ever. 

I also scored saltwater sandals for 99 cents, brand new, with tags, gap pants for Jake @$4.99, Banana Republic jeans for me at $4.50, A Baby Lulu outift for Amelia for $2.99, a Volcom work shirt for Aaron for $3.99, and a Tony Hawk button down for Andrew that cost $2.99. 

I miss thrift stores

I'm kind of addicted to thrift stores but haven't been able to get my usual fix due to my shitastic Spanish class that is all consuming.  I really want to be one of those people that has a functioning brain capable of retaining information like what sweatshirt and jogging pants translate to in spanish. I am just not that person. 

Anyway, this week we had the most amazing weather and I was able to to dig out my summer clothes. Among the pile of shorts and tank tops were my favorite thrifted dresses.  I wore this yesterday.  I realize that having my nine year old son take a picture of me wearing my favorite dress to post on my blog is probably super cheesey.  I don't care. I love this dress.

I kind of like that I have an angry face paired with cop glasses.  The end.

Thrifted

White Chucks found at Amvets for $1.95.  Red, nearly new, Converse scored for $2.95.  Not to mention those awesome leggings were scored in San Francisco china town this summer for 99 cents.  Life is good!

I love thrift stores

I went thrifting today. The following pictures are of my favorite scores

My stuff:
My favorite is the yellow vintage dress. It had long sleeves but I seam ripped them off and sewed the edges. I also really love the grandma hemp looking shoes. The black shoes are Kenneth Cole Reaction. The tank is J. Crew. The white floral blouse is vintage gap and looks super cute on!


Amelia stuff:
The pink ballerina outfit was brand new. It only cost me $2.50. I love the mod dress with the big black buttons. Amelia put the brown maxi dress on as soon as I showed it to her.

thrifted goodness

I spent the afternoon thrifting. I scored a pair of board shorts for Jake, a t-shirt for Andrew, a cool painting for my living room, a nice button down shirt for Aaron, two tank tops for me, and an awesome vintage dress for Amelia

Amelia's new dress (P.S. her pink chucks were thrifted as well)

Stripper shoes

I went thrift shopping the other day and bought myself two pairs of heels. One is a slightly tacky gold pair from banana republic. I love them because they have cute ties and remind of something crissy from threes company would wear!




The second pair are slightly hookerish but they make me super tall and I like the feeling of being giant. Also, I want to be less tom boy.

I'm kind of obessed with thrift stores

I have gone thrift shopping three times within the last week. It might be becoming a problem. Over the last few days I have scored a ton of really great books,clothes for the kids, Aaron a yellow 80's t-shirt that says "man eater", which he didn’t think was as funny as I did, and myself the most excellent dress of my life. It is seriously the greatest dress I have ever owned! It's an old dress from the 60's that fits me perfectly.

Over the weekend I hit up two local thrifts near my home, the first one was truly disastrous and disgusting. There were piles of clothes, toys, and household items all over the floor. It was filthy and smelled oddly like puke and farts. It’s possible that I may have contracted an STD just from setting foot in that place. I found one decent dress that had a big stain on the front. I was willing to work with it but then the cashier told me that it was $5.99, can you believe that. Gross!

I also hit up the animal protection thrift store and scored a bright pink obnoxious skirt and an even more obnoxious 80's Liz Claiborne substitute teacher style dress that is so reminiscent of my friend’s mom, Mrs. Webster. I could so see Mrs. Webster wearing it in her wood paneled station wagon circa 1991. Last but not least, I also scored three free stickers professing just how evil the circus is. I love thrift stores!






I am super excited about cannery row! All of the boks were between $1.00-$1.50

My favortie off all the thrifted clothing itmes I scored for the kids.

I love thrift shopping

Here are a few of my favorite recently thrifted items:

Shoes:
vintage heels, $1.50 at the thrift store by the san diego airport

boys, Diesel shoes $1, St. John of the cross rummage sale

Amelia's fancy euro mary janes, $2.50 @ St. John of the cross rummage sale. these puppies sell for $45+


other stuff:
H&m shirt for Amelia 95 cents

dress for me $5.95, at the thrift store on El Cajon BLVd off the 15

I love the colorful buttons on the sweater and hearts on the hoodie for Amelia!

More Amelia stuff! I am not a huge fan of the shirt but I bought it because I knew Aaron would love it. The purple peasant skirt is much cuter in real life! The jeans are basic jeans since she has outgrown just about everything!



Stuff the boys picked out:

They are obssessed with both books but especailly the cook book that offers bascially zero healhty options.




Not thrifted but bought on super super sale/ebay:

I obviously didn't buy the kid. That's cute Andrew who was not cooperating when I asked to take his picture! I bought that really ultra soft yellow shirt that is rad in person at nordstrom rack for $5. His pants are sweet in person. They are skinny legged plaid volcom dress pants. I actaully bought them for Jake but Andrew is kind of obsessed with them. I bought them on ebay with two t-shirs and a pair of jeans for a really good deal.


This purse is going to serve as my school bag in the fall. It was around $10 at Marshalls. I have an unhealhty fixation wiht discount stores!





Last but not least, thrifted school clothes. Amelia has to wear a uniform to preschool. Basically she can only wear khaki, red, or blue. It's very boring but luckily she has lots of fun tights, socks, and shoes. I got all of this for under $10.

The fine art of thrifting

My friend Nicole clued me in to the most awesome thrift store. We took a trip there last week. I managed to find some great stuff. I would have gotten more but Amelia and Lehlahnia decided to wheel two big plastic trucks around the store while crawling around on there hands in knees getting in everyone’s way. You would be amazed over just how annoyed people get at little people getting in their way when they are trying to score some bargains. I have to admit that I too am a little psychotic when I go thrifting. I have a system and it really bothers me when people disrupt it! I like to go through the racks from right to left. It pisses me off way more then it should when someone starts thumbing through the middle of the rack that I am working my way through. I am fine if they look at the stuff behind me, (you know, the stuff that I have looked at already ) but if they dare rummage through the clothes that I am about to look at I get a little agro. I start making inappropriate heavy sighs and clearing my throat. I am kind of a big asshole when it comes to thrift shopping. Frankly I am shocked that no one has ever punched me right in my face.

Despite getting in people's way, the girls managed to cover themselves in thrift store muck. Also Amelia was having a heart attack that Lelahnia was not following her every command. It was annoying and a little too much for me to handle. We left sooner then I would have liked. Next time I will be more prepared with better snacks to keep them better occupied. Here is couple of my favorite finds:



Everything minus the tights and boots. The little black circles on her stockings are evidence of the thrift store muck I mentioned.


Andrew's Rusty sweatshirt was a measley $1.99



Spring shirts for Amelia