GREat Thrifting Luck

  Last Friday I finally took the GREs, a standardized test required to apply to graduate schools. I did well, which was a huge relief because the test is 3 hours long, and I have ADHD. I'm medicated, which extends my ability to sit still, but my limit is 90 minutes and the entire last hour I was fighting not to get up and run shrieking around the room. I was pretty burnt afterward.

  Therefore in the following days I treated myself by going to three thrift stores. *cackles* I'm afraid I overshot my monthly budget for entertainment, but I will allow it this time for celebratory purposes. (:

  If you want to get in on my thrifting luck, check out my Couturgatory giveaway where the winner gets to choose something for me to go hunting for! This weekend, I knocked off two items on my searching-for list, which I keep on the right side of this blog. On to the treasures!

  I found this beautiful gold and creme crepe duvet cover for $7. It has tassels at the corners and black circles with gold thread patterns on it. My bed looks like it belongs in an old eastern fantasy palace, now. (Especially since I have a mattress! I defied family advice and bought one for my back instead of propping myself up on a wood futon frame with medical pillows left over from deceased relatives. My family is cheap bordering on crazy sometimes. :D) I lounge under my new duvet cover like a sultana. My roommate says it looks like one of the blinged out robes a boxer wears when coming out to the ring, but I ignored him. It is much classier than that. For royalty. Couturgoyalty. Totally a word now.

  Incidentally, did you know you can test for whether something is silk by burning a fiber? You can see a video here. I took a loose thread from the inside of my new cover and tried it. It curled up and hardened, so I knew it was a polymer, a fiber made of repeating subunits via chain chemical reaction. You can see a 1949 documentary here about nylon and rayon. I had to do a project on polyacrylonitrile this summer, also known as acrylic, if you ever see that in your clothing labels. I could chat about it all day.

  First thing crossed off my list: wine skinny jeans, that I will wear as leggings! American Apparel, so made in the US *and* thrifted. Double win. (:

  2nd item from the list: chambray mermaid skirt by Bebe. This is ankle length on me and doesn't require any alterations. This is HUGE. I've been looking for one for over a year, since chopping 5" off a mermaid skirt results in a vague A-line. Believe me, I've done it, and it made me sad.

  Incidentally, I didn't know the difference between denim and chambray before I started reading style blogs. Hooray learning!

  I told myself when buying a new (old) Heart Moon Star sundress that maybe I'll go to grad school somewhere with a summer, so it's not an insane, impractical purchase. The great fit, Japanese-ish florals, and the <$3 price sold me, however impractical it is for SF.

  A Prairie Underground prairie hoodie! I found out about this brand years ago through Already Pretty. They're designed and made in Seattle, and the hoods actually fit human heads, instead of those stupid useless dealies the size of a yarmulke you find attached to so many garments these days. They are thick and warm, perfect for SF weather, which given their city of origin, makes perfect sense. Unfortunately they're way out of my price range. Way way.

  The nice gal at the counter knocked the price down to $5.49(!) when she pointed out some marks on the left sleeve that hadn't come out when the garment was washed. She even told me to bring it back if I had any problems after washing it again! They might be very light bleach stains that got brushed on, but they're almost unnoticeable, and for a garment that's $264 retail, I am way more than happy. Way way. :D

 Honest-to-goodness pinstripe jodhpurs. Jodhpurs! The company, Ariat Pro, does riding gear. I initially picked them up because HAHAHA what will I look like in these? and also $5.49, but I ended up liking them! I shall make them my new pinstripe and suede leggings. They're in brand new condition, and they are oh so comfortable. Rich folks sure know how to live!

   This shirt's asymmetrical ruffles make me look like I'm wearing a shoulder pauldron. Haha! Part of it could be that it is XL and probably doesn't fit the way it was designed. I liked it anyway though, and bought it with the intent of making an outfit that looks like old fashioned armor, but for an everyday look.

  Incidentally, I totally failed at my own thrifting game of Is This Brand Cheap, or Expensive? because the shirt did not even register on my radar. When I looked up the brand when I got home, it turns out one.september is an Anthropologie brand. Why does half the stuff I thrift turn out to be from that store? I am not in their target demographic.

  Lastly, some housewares. The character on the left is Kogepan, my favorite Japanese character of all time. He is a piece of bread that fell off the tray when being taken out of the oven, and as a consequence is burnt and unwanted. Since the entire purpose of a delicious bean bread is to be wanted and eaten, he suffers existential crises, leaving home to discover himself and eventually returning to the bakery he came from to try to lecture the pretty, unburnt bean buns about life. Naturally, they find him morose and scary and listen to nothing he says. I love this character SO MUCH.

  He got discontinued some years ago and it's been increasingly harder to find Kogepan things, so when I found this ashtray for $.99 I nearly squealed aloud. I washed all the gunk off and I think I will use it to hold rings.

  I also picked up this Cutty Sark jug (I used to work for a pirate game so I still have a fondness for nautical things) and two silver-plated salad forks. I use salad forks instead of full sized forks because my jaw is quite small.

  Not pictured is a Lulu Lemon exercise top, which I bought entirely on word-of-mouth. My dearest friends M. and C. swear up and down about the quality of the brand, and my classmates (my major is largely made up of athletic types) have nothing but good things to say about it. I've worn it once for a run and it does seem pretty awesome. We'll see if it stands the test of time. My first exercise tanks, bought in the year 2000 from Target when I started wushu are still going, and seriously, they get washed almost every week. I'm hoping to use them until I pass away and maybe even will them to someone. If they eventually wear out, I will save the fabric and put them in a quilt. They have earned a permanent place in my life. Do you have clothes that just keep going and going beyond any reasonable expectation?

  In addition to all these lovely things for me, I found some nice gifts for my friends that I am looking forward to mailing out. Yahoo! I'm feeling pretty fine. What are your latest treasures, thrifted, gifted, retail, or otherwise?