Monday, September 29, 2008

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (9.29.08)


Perfect Fall Cape, originally uploaded by anja louise verdugo.

Ok, I know I said I wasn’t going to do a picks post until next week, but then Anja went and posted THIS, and I just could not resist. I kinda already wanted a vintage cape for Fall but after seeing these amazing photos, I can honestly see finding one becoming a full blown obsession! Thanks Anja ;) What can I say? I love it. It’s perfect. End of story.

These photos are part of a really cool lookbook she put together for her vintage shop. Definitely check it out for some wonderful Fall inspiration. The styling is awesome and I really
love the subtle vintage photo treatments. Nice job Anja!

Check out the 100% Thrifted flickr group for more fabulous fully thrifted outfits :)

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Happy B-Day Clover and More Trip pics

It's official, as of 9:30 this morning, my lucky little 4-limbed Clover is one year old! Happy Birthday Sweet Pea! Mama loves you :)

I took this photo of Lucas and Clover on the first evening of our trip. We arrived in Pismo Beach just in time to get the Duck set up then hike out to the beach to catch our first sunset. I love how it shows what a chip-off-the-old-block she is... those two steal my heart with their cute lil' smiles and matching baby blues!

After spending our first night in Pismo, we packed up to head down to Santa Barbara and happened upon this wacky place, where we ate breakfast on our way out of town. The Rock and Roll diner was inside two long train cars attached to form a restaurant.

It was decorated all 50's style with little juke boxes at each booth. The place was totally bizarre, mostly because we were the ONLY ones in there. With Johnny Cash playing in the background and the long row of empty tables, it all felt a bit surreal.


We met up with Lucas' sister Zoe and family on their way back up from a trip to Disneyland. It was great fun camping with them for the rest of the trip. However, their cute lil' teardrop trailer made the poor Duck look quite big and wonky in comparison.

This is my 10-year-old niece Vida, who Clover ADORES. She literally flips out whenever she sees her, it's really cute to watch.



Some interior shots of the Duck before we trashed it. If you're bored (I know how boring looking at pictures of other people's travels can be ;) you can play "Find the Finds" as there are several thrift finds pictured that have previously been posted about.

Oh the irony, Clover is for the most part NOT a fan of "the cage" but you know, sometimes mama just needs a break.

She was indeed a fan of our nice grassy area under the shade tree at San Simeon Creek Campground outside the town of Cambria. As was I, following our El Capitan campsite where the ground was all dirt. She crawled around like Pig Pen for days in a little cloud of dust, dirt-trolling for things like old cigarette butts and bottle caps to put in her mouth, never a dull moment with this one ;)


The town of Cambria was described in one of Zoe's guidebooks as "terminally cute." It really was quite the quaint little town.


Home of the olallieberry, two thirds blackberry, one third European red raspberry, 100% delightful in the form of pie!




As well as the world's cutest thrift shop! The Love Me 2 Times Thrift Shop was in an adorable little bungalow and all the rooms were set up in themes like the rooms of a house. Above are the kitchen and closet rooms.

Surprisingly, I didn't actually find anything to take home here. Partly because I was rushing a bit as Clover was ready to head back to camp and partly because I had already picked up several things in Santa Barbara and wasn't trying all that hard. I was mostly just enjoying the terminal cuteness of it all.


This was the beautiful cliff-side cafe with the breathtaking view I mentioned in the previous post. We stopped here on our drive back home along the coast through Big Sur, one of the most majestic places on earth. It was a lovely way to take it all in and finish off our trip :)

Alright, that's it for the trip pics, thanks for indulging me. The next post will be back to business and all about the finds! Also, I'll pick up with my weekly picks posts next week :)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Moments of Zen











I now interrupt this thrift blog to share a few moments of zen from our camping trip:

  • Sunsets with the loves of my life.
  • Witnessing folks livin' the dream (if you enlarge the third photo you can actually read the little yellow sign that says "Welcome To Our Beach House," not to mention the much better view you'll get of the scantily clad, sword wielding woman ;)
  • Great coffee and a scrumptious cinnamon roll enjoyed while experiencing the best birds-eye-view Big Sur has to offer at this cafe.
  • Eating olallieberry pie sent down from the heavens. (My nephew Ryland was clearly having a religious experience)
  • Napping under the perfect shade tree at our San Simeon Creek campsite. (Ok, so I didn't actually get to do any such napping with Miss Clover to watch over, but I enjoyed it vicariously through my brother-in-law Sam. My guess is he's dreaming of olallieberry pie here ;)

Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Rose of a Swap


I know that it's technically Fall now, but where I am it's still HOT and Summer seems to want to hang around a bit longer. Though I'm looking forward to putting together outfits involving layers as much as the next gal, I'm also glad that the weather hasn't cooled just yet, if for no other reason than to be able to wear THIS AMAZING DRESS!

Both the dress and the PERFECTLY matching purple rose pendant arrived from Australia, just before I left for my camping trip. They were in a package full of thrifted goodies from the lovely Skye of the awesome blog Skylark and Son. After offering her my romper's blue twin, she suggested we do a swap, and I'm so glad we did!

I was immediately enchanted by this dress, I love everything about it! Interestingly, a quick google search informed me that the purple rose symbolizes enchantment, so there you go.
I LOVE the flower garden print and it's so light and gauzy, the perfect dress for a hot day!



But the dress love doesn't stop there, because she also sent awesome dress number two with its perfect pleats AND this adorable little clutch!


Also, in keeping with the rose theme. I love a good theme for these sorts of things!

It wasn't until after she had acquired these items that I informed her of my address, which happens to be in a town called Santa Rosa :D The small clutch was a bit of a coincidence as well, since I thrifted one very similar for her.

Other goodies included:

This very cool skirt which reminds me of a vintage tablecloth. Skye mentioned having thought of my vintage linens post when she found it.

It seems all my whining about having no plaid payed off! I plan to wear these cute little shorts layered over tights with boots for Fall.


This neat vintage zoo pamphlet with fold-out animal pics. I like the hand colored look of the photos. There were even goodies for Clover!

The "One Woolly Wombat" book is all about the crazy animals Down Under (of which the platypus has always been a personal favorite), very cute.

Speaking of very cute, I love this long-sleeved koala tee, absolutely adorable!

AND speaking of absolutely adorable... the poncho! Poor kid... it was like 90 degrees out and her mama is making her pose in a wool poncho (one woolly wombat indeed;) She's obviously very pleased with her loot though, and it didn't stop her from hamming it up for the camera, look at those teeth! Princess CloverTwoTeeth has about five more coming in as we speak, ouch!

Thank you SO much Skye! You really did a wonderful job shopping for us, and I had a blast shopping for you as well, we should definitely do it again sometime!


Thanks guys for all the well wishes on my trip too, we had a really great time! Also, there WAS some thrifting involved and I'm planning to post about it soon ;)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Gone Camping :)


Well everyone, the Duck is packed and we're off on our journey...

I'll be away from my computer for the next week. Just wanted to send out a big thankyou to all of you who read this here little blog. I sure do enjoy talking thrift with ya'll, and I'm always thrilled to read your comments :)

Hopefully, I'll cross paths with a thrift store or two while I'm out and about. If I do, you'll surely hear about it when I return ;)

Monday, September 15, 2008

100% Thrifted Pick of the Week (9.15.08)

11 Sept 08, originally uploaded by acatofimpossiblecolour.


After seeing strawberrykoi’s two gorgeous plaid dresses featured as last weeks picks, Andrea of the wonderful blog A Cat of Impossible Colour, of course, went out the very next day and thrifted this wondrous specimen for only four dollars! Meanwhile, I remain plaidless. Jealous? moi?... yeah, a little. Though she did say that my “Thrift Goddess Incarnate powers” had something to do with it, along with thrift gods hypothesized to exist in the form of “old ladies in gloves and hats, knitting on a cloud” and really, you just can’t argue with that logic ;)

Well Andrea, if my thrifty powers did indeed have something to do with this, then I deserve a big ol’ pat on the back, because that is one fine dress and it looks totally amazing on you my dear! The shape is so lovely with the gathers at the waist and the slight bubble of the skirt, and those buttons! The anchor buttons are my favorite, so cool! The black tights and boots along with the lil’ black bow headband finish this outfit off perfectly, so well done!

Check out the 100% Thrifted flickr group for more fabulous fully thrifted outfits :)

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Thrifts and Gifts

Today's outfit was a combination of recently thrifted items and gifts. I found this sheer cream blouse at the Hospice Thrift this week for $2. The drape is nice and I love how tiny the collar is. Just one of those great basic pieces.

The gray pants (they're jean-like but much thinner and softer) are another great basic, given to me by my friend Julianne. Someone she knew was trying to find them a home and she took them thinking they might fit me. Turns out they fit PERFECTLY and are now the nicest pair of pants I own, brand new and very high quality from a boutique in Spain. I've been wearing them a lot lately, thanks Julianne!

For some reason I find this shot incredibly amusing. Maybe it's how I appear to be in complete denial of the fact that I have a child. Meanwhile she sits there plain as day in all her pink-striped glory pondering the quickened beeping of the strange blinking red light. Really, there's no denying such cuteness and cuteness of this magnitude can not be cropped, besides, she kinda matches bits of my patchwork leather bag ($1 from the romper rummage sale awhile back).

The GORGEOUS pinkish nude suede shoes and this really cool bracelet were swap gifts from the lovely and stylish Meg of the fashion maven. I saw the bracelet on this post along with some other pieces of jewelery that she made and commented about how much I liked it.

I was thrilled when she offered to do a swap with me for the bracelet, and even more thrilled when it showed up with these amazing shoes that she thrifted for just 3.99. They look barely worn and the suede is sooo soft!

I love the beautiful Gandhi quote and the simplicity of the bracelet which is what I was originally drawn to. I can wear it with everything and lately I have been, thanks Meg! :)

It seems I'm not the only one who is drawn to the bracelet though. Clover has taken quite the liking to it. She absolutely LOVES playing with this bracelet. I don't know what it is, but it's amazing! When she starts getting fussy now, I just take it off and hand it to her and she is instantly appeased. Meg, for that I thank you most, as it is a truly priceless gift (one that came in very handy today at the supermarket ;).

The hair was an experiment inspired by this lovely post by Milla at The Girl Who Married a Bear. I started off following the tutorial for creating the Gibson Girl hairstyle that she refers to at the end of her post, but then kinda started doing my own thing and one large hairclip, one small hair clip, one hairband, and about 8 bobbypins later this was what I ended up with.

Two more items from the Hospice Thrift this week. The bag was $2.50 and is the perfect size for carrying books and magazines. I was actually planning to go to the bookstore and buy this exact book to read on our camping trip this week. I was so excited to come across the hardback copy for $4, quite the savings! I keep wanting to start reading it, but I'm saving it for the trip.

Here's an outfit I wore earlier this week. The pleated turquoise skirt with pockets was another find from Hospice thrift for $1. I also got a like-new blue paisley sling for lugging around little Miss Clover for $3. The cool part is that I got the blouse, bag, book, skirt, and sling all for less than what the book would have cost me at the bookstore :D

These two lovelies were both gifts from family that coincidentally showed up on my doorstep on exactly the same day a few weekends ago. I came home to find the adorable vintage cardi waiting for me on my front porch, it wasn't until days later that I found out my sister-in-law scored it at a clothing swap for me.

After discovering the cardigan, seemingly left by a mysterious cardigan fairy, my mother-in-law showed up later that day with this lovely skirt that she thrifted for me. The skirt fit perfectly and twirls like a dream! I couldn't get over how perfectly the two items went together :)


And now I'll leave you with some cute overload. Clover has a skill she would like to demonstrate:



Look mom, no hands!... Could I be any prouder? :)