Thrift Finds VDay 2008

I was forced to spend Valentines Day alone because the dreamboat had to be in Los Angeles for work and Virgin America is the crappiest airline I have ever come across (they messed up my flight date).

I was determined to have a great day anyway, so after tasty lunch of Belgian fries and a delicious Framboise Lambic at Frjts on Valencia I headed out for a day of thrifting and doing whatever stuck my fancy. Some things I was happy to find on my little trip?

From Community Thrift

1. A pair of speakers for the bathroom – Back in November of 2007 I mentioned the fact that I play music as a means to keep track of how long I’m in the shower. At first I was using cheap little speakers that I had purchased at Walgreens. Well, in typical cheap goods fashion, they both broke within two weeks. I’ve been looking for speakers that are loud, small, and used ever since. Enter these new babies. They’re much louder than the previous speakers, don’t need batteries, and at only $4.25 for the pair, were less than the money I wasted on the two tiny speakers.

2. A bright pink belt

From Thrift Town

3. A “new” black bag – I go through periods of “big bag” love, and that’s what I was all about last year. Huge bags that could hold everything including the kitchen sink, because I thought I needed to keep everything with me. I have since had a change of mind. Bags with small handles full of everything you don’t need are a pain in the derriere to carry with you on a bike and just irritating when you no longer what to be holding them. This bag is big enough to hold what I need (mainly wallet, keys, camera, a couple makeup things, my sketchbook and travel water colors), and it had a long shoulder strap, keeping my hands free.

4. A foxy spring green wool pencil skirt – For a while I started to give up on colors and go for more neutral tones; black white brown, you know, because I thought they would make me seem more “adult.” Well my bizarre thoughts of adulthood be damned! I am going back to wearing colors, black and white all the time, however classic, was getting boring.

This entry was written by Audrey, posted on February 20, 2008 at 4:40 pm, filed under San Francisco, shopping and tagged thrift. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

Mmm Heart!

How excited do you think I was to see a package from a mortuary novelty shop addressed to me in the entryway of our apartment building on Valentines Day? As a person who loves dead creepy things, 12 kinds of excited.

The amazing dreamboat surprised me with 1lb anatomically correct chocolate heart for Valentines Day! It’s delicious and oh so me. Thank you love!

This entry was written by Audrey, posted on February 16, 2008 at 4:22 pm, filed under Uncategorized and tagged dessert, love. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

Getting Thrifty

Before I moved to San Francisco 80% of my clothing came from second hand sources, mostly thrift stores, vintage shops, and EBay; 20% came from new sources. Lately that ratio has been reversed, and today I decided that I’m just not happy with that.

New clothing has to go through a major process to get to each of our hands. A single article of non organic clothing can travel up to 14,000 miles and produce up to 27 pounds of carbon dioxide, from raw materials to finished product. They’re also jam packed full of pesticides, insecticides, bleaches and dyes at some point during their creation, none of which are good for humans, pets or lady Earth.

In addition to the damage done by the chemicals and travel the EPA Office of Solid Waste states, “Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste” (information from September 2006 via Environmental Health Perspectives). I know I could have a field day with 68 pounds worth of discarded clothing, and with all the people in the world who can’t afford to clothe themselves, it seems ridiculous that these garments are ending up in landfills across the country. They could easily be donated and re-used.

It’s much more satisfying, for me at least, to put an awesome ensemble together from random “one of a kinds” from here and there, or to find that one amazing piece I was or was not looking for, than it is to shop at a normal retail chain. It’s also an awesome feeling knowing I put together my get up without being part of the problem.

I miss the buzz and the happiness involved in buying second hand. I am going to be applying the 80% thrift rule to all my purchases from here on out.

This entry was written by Audrey, posted on February 12, 2008 at 4:10 pm, filed under San Francisco, shopping and tagged thrift. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.