Go-To

Top: Thrifted  Jeans: Old Navy  Shoes: Gifted Earrings: Designosaur Bracelet: Nasty Gal

           Every season I have a go-to outfit, you know the outfit you feel good in, is cute, and doesn't take a lot of thought. This winter my go-to outfit has consisted mostly of striped shirts and skinny jeans. The current incarnation of the go-to includes this black and white nautical-ish striped top. I thrifted the top in January and have been kind of obsessed with it ever since. Black and white are big trends for the spring/summer 2013 season so i'll definitely be looking for similar tops that are more summer friendly in the future. Anyway I wear this outfit a little too much but I just love it so. Do you have a go-to?

Fuckery

          So apparently Google Reader will be no more soon and I'm not really sure what that means or if it effects Google friend connect, but I've seen enough warnings that I figured I should just put one up for good measure. Anyway if you're like me and are just unsure what it all means a good way to make sure all the blogs you follow are safe is to import them to Bloglovin'. If you don't have a bloglovin' account it's pretty easy to do and a good way to keep track of all your blogs. Anyway if you already have a bloglovin' account then all you have to do is go to the account button on the upper right hand corner, click on settings and then click on import blogs which is located at the bottom of the settings page in the "other" category. This will insure that whatever Google ends up doing all your favorite blogs, including this one, will be safe. If you don't feel like importing all your blogs you can just click on the bloglovin' button in the "follow me" side bar and you can just follow my blog on bloglovin'.

Thirft Haul

I haven't done a thrift haul it what seems like forever. But, I'm trying to get back into the blogging regularly pattern and I have a bunch of thrift finds from the last couple months that have been patiently waiting for me to blog them, so here goes nothin'. I'm also linking up with Apron Thrift Girl, Sir Thrift-a-Lot, Remnant and A Living Space. Be sure to check out all of their thrift finds as well.

1. Decorative Owl Side Table. 

 I was never really that into the whole owl craze, but when I saw this table at Goodwill I had to have it. You just don't see stuff like this everyday at the thrifts so when you do you pounce, and I did. The table was a little pricier then I would really have liked to spend, but I didn't want to chance loosing it and it was so unique I figured I could deal with the price ($50.00). Plus I got paid the next day. I've never really had a great score at this Goodwill so this was a first, a very welcome first.



2. "Made in Italy" vase and Art Deco Salt and Pepper shakers. 

This vase was another find at Goodwill. It's simple, cute, and was only 3 bucks so I had to get it. The Salt and Pepper shakers were found at Value Village. I've seen some of these in antique stores and thought they were cool but generally antique stores just make me hope i'll one day find that item in a thrift store. So when I found these for 4 bucks I had to get them.

3. Ceramic cat set.

 I got these at the Salvation army for around 4 or 5 bucks (for all of them). They're kinda creepy and kind of cool, my favorite combination, so I got them.

4. Patterned Shift Dress.

 I'm never sure if you guys want to see my thrifted clothes just on the hanger like this but I figured i'd give it a shot. I got this dress at Salvation Army, It's originally from Old Navy and I though it was pretty cute.

5. Striped H&M Shift Dress.

I got this at Value Village. Value Village tends to be hit or miss, like most thrift stores, but when you hit at Value Village you really hit. I'm kind of obsessed with this dress, it's a touch shorter than I'd like but it's so cute  I had to get it. Plus it's not that short.

6. Sequin T-shirt. 

 I found this shirt at Value Village too. It is also kind of short but I really like it so I'm determined to make it work, we'll see how that goes.

7. Poodle on Wood. 

I found this at Savers and it was just "so bad it's good" that I couldn't help but get it, and it was only 3 bucks. Interestingly enough it was apparently given to someone as a birthday gift last year, or so says the inscription on the back, guess they weren't into it but one man's trash is another man's come up, right?


8. 70's Orange Coat.

I found this at Savers a few weeks back. I'm kind of obsessed with it and now that it's getting slightly warmer I'm totally gonna wear it. This will definitely go into my Fall/Spring coat rotation. Also every time I see it I think of the thrift shop song, because you know "I'm in this big ass coat, I look incredible."

9. Donut Mug. 

I found this mug at Value Village at their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday sale. By the time I got the store it had been pretty cleaned out but I saw a sort of funky looking box in the housewares aisle and inside was this guy. I thought it was a pretty cool mug and who doesn't like donuts? especially ones with SPRINKLES, which were totally my favorite as a kid. Obviously it was destiny for the donut mug and I to meet. Also it makes me think of Homer Simpson every time I drink out of it, unexpected bonus? yups.


Anyway those are my recent thrift finds. I'll try to bring you guys an outfit post later this week. I haven't been wearing anything super interesting lately, thus the lack of posts, but with warm weather around the corner (hopefully) I'm starting to get my fashion mojo back. I'll also try to get more of the Florida pictures up in a post. I don't want to drown you with photos but editing them down has been taking awhile.

Also though I still don't have a smart phone (yet?), I do have an iPod touch and that means I also have instagram. So if you'd like to see LOTS of pictures of my cats as well as thrift finds and other random stuff you can follow me @blackcatlies, or click here, or click on the instagram button on the bottom of the "Follow me" window to your right.

A Sweet Escape

      So a couple weeks ago (Valentines Day week to be exact) I packed up and went to Florida for the week. My mom got a few weeks off and wanted to go somewhere and when I was able to get a week off so we decided we should go somewhere warm, so we went to Florida.  We kind of went all over Florida, we landed in Fort Lauderdale and drove to our hotel in Islamadora, Fl (one of the Florida Keys), then we spent the next day in Key West and drove (8hrs) to Orlando. In Orlando we did the usual, Disney World and Universal Studios for 3 days (which really isn't a lot of time, people usually spend a week doing just that) and then we went to Tampa where we went on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern University and a tour of (mostly) Mid Century modern houses in Sarasota, Fl. All in all it was an incredibly busy but fun vay-cay. Whenever I go back I'll probably do less and spend more time on the beach, but it was a really nice trip and a nice break from winter.
        I did take pictures, but there are so many I think i'll break them up into three posts. I also have a couple outfit posts from the trip so i'll include those when appropriate. I don't have as many outfit posts, as a lot of the Orlando time my outfits were more functional than fashion-y, it also was a tad cold (like 50/60 degrees but with rain) some of the days so a lot of the pictures of me during those days are of me in a hoodie, which isn't real exciting.
         I figured I'd  get the outfit post out of the way first. I wore this the first full day we spent in Florida. I like it but i'm not in love with it, not really sure why.

The patio of our hotel room.

Top (actually a dress): Thirfted  Skirt: Asos  Belt: Target  Shoes: DV by Dolce Vita

 

What I didn't buy at the thrift store

 Hey everybody and welcome to another addition of Things I didn't buy at the thrift store. I have actually been buying some stuff at the thrifts but most of it has been clothes and I'm not sure if you guys want to see that or if I should just wait and post them in outfit posts, I'm leaning towards the latter. Anyway here are some things I've passed up on my recent thrifting trips


1. Groovy cookie jar. This cookie jar is so ugly it's kinda cute, but it wasn't ugly/cute enough for me to put it in my cart.

2. Red Wing Pot. I liked this pot but I don't really need another pot so I passed it up.

3. Campaign style dresser. I've been wanting a campaign style dresser like this for awhile, ever since I saw this picture on pinterest. This dresser would have been perfect since it wasn't in great shape so I wouldn't feel bad about painting it green and it was only $25.00. It wasn't too big but I don't think it would have fit in my tiny little car, so I passed it up. I seriously need a friend with an SVU or truck that likes to thrift and wouldn't mind helping a sister move thrift furniture to her house. A girl can dream right? I do have a family friend that has a large van, but he lives a little farther away and it's really only worth the hassle of calling him if I really love the piece.

3. Campaign style desk. The dresser had a matching desk that was also pretty cute and cheap, but obviously if I can't move one I definitely can't move two.

4.  Rock star Nutcracker. Ok I would have never actually have bought this but it was kind of funny to see. I used to be really into Nutcrackers when I was like 8 and saw the Nutcracker movie, but I never really understood them. They're festive though.

5. Framed Cross Stiched sad children. I'm always looking for cute or quirky art at the thrift store, but these weren't quirky enough to bother with. I still think they're kind of fun though.

6. Aldo faux berkin. I liked this bag but when I inspected it further the shoulder strap was ripped and it wasn't really worth it.

7. Livestorng bracelets. Remember when these were big? Remember when Lance Armstrong had won 7 tour de France titles and we thought it was not due to steroids? Oh the good ol' days. Now Lance and apparently his bracelets are hung out on the .99 cent shelf at the thrift store.

8. Chairs. I thought these were pretty nice chairs. My favorite is the dark wood one on the left, but I don't need any chairs so I passed them up.

9. Drexel Mid century Dresser. This was a nice dresser, only missing a few nobs, but I wasn't in love with it and I don't need another dresser.

10.  Vintage Faragamo Shoes. These shoes are ok but after looking them over I realized the only reason I would buy them is because they're designer shoes and that's not a great reason to buy. They're cute but not quite cute enough, although for five bucks maybe I should have taken the plunge.

Warm and Cozy

Sweater and Denim top : Thrifted  Jeans: Old Navy  Boots: Gifted  Necklace: Bauble Bar

        Sorry for the lack of outfit posts lately. It's been pretty freezing out lately and for the most part when I go out I've been reaching for essentially the same outfit every time. Anyway I went out to dinner the other day and decided I should probably wear something else, so I put this together. I was cold that day so I wanted something warm and had been looking through a J.Crew look book earlier that day, this outfit is the result. J.Crew is always good at layering and mixing and matching, they're generally a little preppier than I like to go but I still find inspiration in the ways they put outfits together. This outfit is also a little preppier than I would usually go but overall I like it. The necklace I got as a Christmas present to myself. I like it but with the curlycue on the end I think it look more like Zorak than Zorah, but I digress. Either way I can't return it and I like it enough to still wear it.  I'll try and post more in February, hopefully the temps will be warmer and I'll try and put together more interesting "blog worthy" outfits when I go out.

Thrifts of Horror

Wow it's been awhile since I've done  a Thrifts of Horror post. Since the holidays are over my work has calmed down and I've had a little more time on my hands. So I've been doing more thrifting and whilst thrifting I came upon this beauty. I think the most offensive thing is they wanted $30.00 for this... lovely lamp. Well I guess it would be a good conversation piece. Anyway enjoy the first Thrifts of Horror for 2013.