Dollar Racks Give U Courage

We have been restricting our thrift shopping - but having gotten the first really good paycheck so far this fall, we indulged ourselves by stopping into the Goodwill in Fillmore, CA on our way up to Ojai & the boat. (It's also car-conditioned & it was WARM...)

And would you know, I found a Michael Kors purse for $3!! (Now I looked them up & new they cost $200+ - Can you believe it?)  The bag is so well made, that I think the thrift shop employees thought it was vinyl - whereas it's real patent LEATHER and black SUEDE! Hoorah for finding leather!  I found a very nice Italian leather wallet at the Salvation Army in Pasadena for practically nothing (same syndrome, I think) - & I feel prosperous every time I take it out & use it!

I also found 2 dresses for $4.99 each - one a vintage (??) black & pink batik - and the other a raspberry knit with the tag from the store still on it!  On the dollar rack I found some nice tshirts.  OK, I have oodles of those - but at that price & considering that tshirts don't last all that long... And on the same rack there were a pair of suede fabric cargo pants in black.  They fit, but were snug in the waist - but being of good quality (Bill Blass), they had darts in the back of the waistband, which I managed to take out - giving me several inches more at the waist - enough to make them really fit! Remember that you can do minor alterations - & on dollar rack clothes if you screw up, the investment was so small that you can risk it!

Hubby also found a nice new mop for 1/2 off retail!

I confess that I enjoy being able to shop - altho thriftily.  My hair is doing much better - thank you - and the occasional applications of tea tree water has stopped the itching.  I am also continuing to moisturize my scalp.  I bought some a cheap coconut butter stick, and am using that on my front bit, still recovering from whatever allergic reaction I had there - & that seems to be helping, too. 

Not wearing my visors, as I want to cover my scalp - but I fished out my vintage fedora in cocoa - and made a hatband for it out of the material I had taken off an old poufy scarf barrette - carefully saving the metal parts to fix other barrettes, which are always losing pieces.  Don't remember where I got that hat - but in its day it was a fine one - It has the mark of the Emporium - once San Francisco's primo department store - on the leather sweatband. I have worn hats like this for years - but they have come back into fashion & lo and behold, I got several compliments on it over the weekend...And the dark straw is just right for these peculiarly hot autumn days we get here in L.A.

What does one wear?  Summer clothes look sortta silly - but I took out my burnt orange tshirt dress from last year & wore it with a scarf & my fedora.  Really made me look fashionable, I must admit, even tho the outfit had mostly arisen because I remembered how HOT Ojai can be & the dress is very cool....& doesn't crush, either...

Got some odds & ends at the church thriftshop in Ojai - $.25 eyeglass cases - I have been buying them for all my sunglasses & reading glasses when I see them cheap...Some yarn - Another pressed flower glass plaque to hang on my screen to complete the two already there - The window looks out on a stucco wall - so It needs all the color & such it can get.

I really am grateful for our boat pied-a-terre at Channel Islands Harbor.  Sunday was a perfect day with clear blue skies, cool, with a little breeze - the sort of weather you always see in the movies (that nowadays comes from lighting!)  We sat chatting with an old friend at the Farmer's Market, listening to jazzy guitar - So very nice.  Yes, I am grateful for all that.  Our old boat looks fine & a buddy who stayed on it for a while sanded down all of the wood & it looks better than ever.  Just have to put some varnish on it.

And then back to the thrifty apartment in Hollywood to watch all the classic horror movies on cable for the month of October - life can be so nice at times.

4 Comments

Courage!

You too can alter clothes!