Sharing my weekly faves from the Nifty Thrift flickr group where people post pics of their nifty thrifty finds.
Oct5 - country house,Um…. yeah… there are really just no words. This dress is so freaking cool, I don’t even know what to say about it except: Behold the awesomeness that is Caroline’s owl dress!
Actually we were just trying to get Clover to say “owl” tonight and she kept saying “wowl” and that is the perfect word for this WOW of a dress, so let me rephrase: Behold the awesomeness that is Caroline’s WOWL dress ;)
What a happy little scene and POCKETS TOO! This dress is definitely one of those extra special finds and the red belt is the perfect addition, Bravo!
Check out the 100% Thrifted flickr group for more fabulous fully thrifted outfits :)
Turning leaves, the trumpet vine's shriveling blooms, the early setting sun... it seems my yard is full of evidence that Fall has truly arrived. Now, thanks to my latest thrift finds, so is my closet :)
While "camping", Lucas' sister Zoe (also and avid thrifter) and I, hit up a Goodwill in Santa Barbara as well as a cool thrift store called Alpha Thrift in the town of Goleta. Alpha Thrift was huge and had quite a vintage selection. Unfortunately, they also priced many of their vintage pieces accordingly, but still there were good deals to be had.
I lost my receipt from the Goodwill, and there were no price tags on the clothes so sorry no prices for those items. I know I didn't pay more that six bucks for any single item though.
Large vintage Missoni Sport sweater vest (I'm all about the sweater vests for Fall layering) - $3.50 (Alpha Thrift, half-off) and cute lil' Japanese print scarf (I suggest enlarging it to get the full effect of how neat the print really is) - $1.50 (Alpha Thrift). I found these two items completely separately in different locations of the store and was floored by how perfectly the colors go together!
Vintage cardigan - $9.99 (Alpha Thrift). This was actually a bit pricey for me. Usually $10 is kind of my unspoken max when thrifting clothing. So this one just squeaked in, I went back and forth with myself a little then just decided to get it. I love gray and found the design interesting and appealing. Besides, I was on vacation and feeling a bit loose with my money ;)
Small vintage sweater vest, it has little difficult-to-see perforated hearts connecting the diamonds - Santa Barbara Goodwill.
Large woven basket of awesomeness - $3.93 (Alpha Thrift). This find was really cool because Zoe and I had just been in a weird little quasi-thrift shop in Santa Barbara that was filled with really tacky stuff donated new from other retailers. There was hardly anything second hand in the shop and the only thing I saw that I liked was one of these baskets but it was $29 which is not far off from what they cost new, so I passed. I was so excited when I found this one hiding in the back of Alpha Thrift for just under $4! I love the colors and these baskets are so great for storage.
Plaid wool blazer - Santa Barbara Goodwill. Slowly adding to my budding collection of Fall plaids :) 
Cozy oversized vintage cardi with neck tie - Santa Barbara Goodwill.
Medium sized vintage mixing bowl with anchor motif - $4.94 (Alpha Thrift). The underside says "TEPCO Verified China Made in U.S.A." and it's quite heavy. I have a thing for vintage bowls and I LOVE the little blue anchor on this one!
I found this set of vintage German puzzle blocks at an antique shop in Cambria. They come with pictures of the 6 different fairytale pictures that can be made. The illustrations are adorable and the whole set is in near perfect condition, so $16.50 seemed like a pretty good deal to me. Now I just have to keep them out of Clover's reach until she's old enough to play without destroying them. We've still got a ways to go ;)
I got these old fashioned bathing beauties postcards on sale in a little shop in Santa Barbara. They weren't thrifted, I got them new, and they're more Summer than Fall-themed but I'm sneaking them in anyway because I think they're pretty cool and I only paid 50 cents each for them :D
I also did some thrifting just before leaving to go on our trip:
High-waist vintage tapestry skirt (those colors!) - $3 (Salvation Army, half-off) and vintage red leather Dior belt - 75 cents (Salvation Army, half-off).
Corduroy vest - $1 (Hospice Thrift).
Vintage boots - $4 (Salvation Army, half-off). These boots are fuzzy on the inside and made of some sort of rubbery faux leather material (kind of a cross between a leather boot and a wellie). There's a tag inside one that says "Jewel Tone Originals". As they're marked guaranteed waterproof on the bottoms, I'm pretty excited about these as my cozy winter rainboots :) 
Vintage wool skirt - $3 (Salvation Army, half-off). This skirt is such a classic, I love those three side pleats and that it still has its belt! I think it will be really cute with my new rain boots, some tights and a nice cozy cardi :)
Vintage top - ? lost tag (Salvation Army, half-off). I love this print and the tie sleeves too.
Perfect Fall Cape, originally uploaded by anja louise verdugo.
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 :)
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 :)
