her first.

This weekend my best friend S came to visit. S lives in upstate NY and before that in rural Maryland and before that with me in Chicago. We've gone from three feet to a thousand miles to three hours.

I learned that S has never been thrifting---which I didn't really understand. I just blinked at her for a while, trying to imagine what she does every Saturday. She probably reads. She's smart like that.

I was more than happy to drag her out and about, digging in racks searching for the perfect finds. I won't lie-- I'm sure I was patronizing, holding her hand around the store so she wouldn't wander off and talking slowly as to not shock her system with too much information.

Yeah, so here's the thing. S is amazing at thrifting. Once she got over the flashbacks of skorts and junior high, she started pulling out adorable. amazing. priceless. perfect. vintage goodness.

She did go on a bit of an excited rampage near the champagne glasses and we had a couple of casualities (at least she did while I hid safely near the angel food cake pans), but all in all, she was an absolute thrifting partner delight.

Now I just have to lure her back to little rhody every weekend to find more goodies like these.

online gamblin' and swappin'

I've heard, from a friend, that online gambling is seriously addictive.

And I believe them. My friend.

You start with a simple game of blackjack and pretty soon you haven't moved away from your computer for 34 hours except to refill on doritoes and mountain dew, your credit card is maxed out and you've become incredibly sensitive to natural light.

I for one, have never tried online gambling simply due to the fact that with my addictive personality, I'd become that person swearing and struggling to shut the blinds at 8am with serious Cool Ranch breath going on. So wrong.

So, in order to save up for this savings account I'm planning on opening, um, tomorrow, I've become addicted to other online delights. Blogs! Flickr! Stalking innocent people to stare jealously at their completed handmade projects and their organized studios and their unique effortless fashion sense!

One of my own reasons for starting a bloggy thing was to be inspired to attempt to finish a project and wear more than 3 staple items from my overflowing closet.

And now, to add to the list, I found a group on Flickr that is all about swapping. While that could definitely go towards a distinctly, um, uncomfortable direction, it's less "secret lives of the rich and famous" and more "online thrifting and trading between regular people who don't swap signficant others." So, yeah.

Becoming addicted to thrifing creeps up you. I don't think I even truly realized how deep it runs until I bought a dress at Target for twenty five bucks last week and lost sleep over the amount of money I spent. And then, to top it all off, I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about where our clothes come from....the company and people behind them....how much stuff is floating around this world...the product quality and markup...damn that jesuit education.

I feel like during college the jesuits (yeah, that's right: priests. catholic priests) implanted a tiny little social justice chip in my arm so that no matter how far I go away or how old I get, I still flinch at the idea of my sweatpants coming from sweatshops. Granted, it starts as a flinch, but a constant tick becomes something you can't deny or ignore and pushes you to the point where you have to do something.

While I don't know what my something is just yet--I do know that I can appreciate the idea of trading and swapping my stuff for more than one reason.

And it's like that pesky Christmas truth--granted, I love the idea of getting--but I'm more excited that my dear little mod dress is finally going to have a good, safe, warm home:

dumpster diving

A few weeks ago, when walking the dog in front of our apartment, a sketchy looking dress form perched on the sidewalk next to the bags and bags of empty seltzer bottles (I have an addiction) caught my eye.

After I made a big deal about dragging it into the house when no one was looking, K pointed out that it would be a bit uncomfortable when my neighbors (also: landlords) came into the apartment and saw that I had gone through their trash, cleaned it up, and proudly displayed it as my own.

So she made me tell them. Which I did. And then I cleaned it up and now I'm proudly displaying it as my own.

She's a bit rough (and still unnamed) but I think she'll be great for hanging dresses on that don't fit me or randomly sticking fabric and pins on her, you know, like I'm sewing something or something. Whatever, I saw it once on Project Runway.

Anyway.

The spare room/sewing room/cd collection holding room is slowly....slowly coming together. It needs to happen relatively soon because I need to start working on the craft profects that K & I will be passing on this holiday season. Cheap craft projects. Seriously, if my mother doesn't need a pine cone ornament then I don't know what she needs.

At least now I'll have some company*.

*yeah, I should probably try to make some friends. talking to a dress form isn't that far off for me right now.

the one.

Found: Classy vintage caramel brown leather wallet for good price at overpriced thrift store.

******

Ways it will change my life:

Encourage me to be classy.
Keep my receipts for coffee, bagels, etc in nice ordered fashion.
Help me dress better.
Create budget and pay bills on time.

Look much more prepared when pulling out bus fare versus digging at bottom of bottomless bag purse.
Make me happier.
*******
Ok, granted--high hopes for a wallet. But I've been on a search for some time now (give or take 6 days) and if you could really get a grasp of its enchanting caramel-ness color in the picture, --well, I think you'd feel the same way.

thanks, craig.

I'm going to state the obvious here when I say: Moving is expensive. I know---you know. It's like saying: The sun is bright. --or-- Ice cream is delicious --or-- That time, in my infinite 5th grade wisdom, I decided to proudly show off my pin collection by wearing all 102 somewhere on my tight rolled jeans or my XL Guess t-shirt--yeah, that time was definitely a mistake.

I'm on this recent kick of getting financially organized--which, can be seriously challenging when you're basically just alphabetizing the numerous receipts stuffed in the bottom of your purse and ignoring the pile of bills near the front door.

Obviously--I need a new approach. I've become the person that finds themselves sitting at the red light, scoffing at the radio commercial spouting off debt consolidation assistance and then flipping to the AM station quickly so I don't have to think about my own debt let alone admitting that I would need something as extreme as consolidation. It's like the dentist. Maybe I don't floss as much as I should, but it's not like for that they'd give me a root canal. Right?

Or maybe I'm playing a game of denial.

I've been looking for a book/article/blog of someone who has been here--honestly considering charging three dollar tacos--and has moved forward and up and away and out of it.

So far all I have found are books on amazon like:

"I have money. I've always had money. I'm incredibly smart about money. Have been since birth. Let me share my secrets with you."

"I've never missed a credit card payment in my entire life. And if you have, I judge you. Put this book down and step away."

"My credit score is 780. Sucker."

"Bad credit will ruin your social life, lovers will leave you, and you will never find a job you're passionate about. Read this book before you take out a credit card, school loan, car loan, loan from your parents, store credit card, or debit card and you MIGHT have a chance!"

Why is it that I can't find anyone out there that admits to learning by experience and a lot of mistakes? Maybe there aren't too many people that would put their 401Ks in the hands of an admitted former shopaholic, but I'd like proof that the folks here with the low credit scores don't all end up at the mercy of visa for the rest of their days.

The past couple of months have been a whirlwind--and now that the dust is settling, I need to learn the art of stretching this temp salary far enough to cover the bills, the necessities, and the occasional frozen pizza.

Thankfully---I do believe that I'll get out this money muck business and learn some stuff along the way. Trust me, I don't have an excess of optimism or perkiness---but I figure the good thing about the bottom is you've got to start going up somehow.

Lesson 1:

My kind of Ethan Allen: Craigslist. New apartment means new, big spaces to put new things. New things aren't really in the category of "necessity" these days. But! Looking for character--uniqueness--adaptability---look no further than for used furniture. I adore the potential, the treasure hunt, the feeling of success!!

The ladderback chair above is a recent conquest of my girl's. I never thought I could love a kitchen table so much.

And that new interest free for thirty six hours department store credit card was completely unnecessary.