Salvo Wednesday #3

This Wednesday's Salvo expedition was to the Canandaigua Salvation Army. I found precious little this time, which prompts me to share a couple of my basic thrift-storing rules.

Rule #1: Don't have an agenda. 

 This is a very important piece of thrift-storing advice. If you go to a thrift store looking for one particular item, it is 99.9999999% guaranteed that you will find anything in the world but that one item. It also USUALLY means you won't find anything good period, since you've just jinxed yourself. Case in point: I need a new purse. The old one is too big (I literally lost a spatula in it once) and the new one is JUST too small to fit my Kindle comfortably. I am looking for something very particular here... I like bright colors for my purses, because my theory is that if it doesn't match anything, then it matches everything. I like to have two outside pockets, so that I can put my house keys in one pocket and my school keys in the other. I need an easily accessible cell phone pouch. It needs to be, as I've already mentioned, neither too big nor too small. So, given that I'm not only looking for something specific (purse), but I have extremely specific ideas about that item, you can guess how much luck I've had finding one. None. I have jinxed myself and am pretty much guaranteed to only find such an item when I stop looking for one.

So learn from my mistakes. Go thrifting with an open mind and no agenda. Sometimes it's even a bad idea to get a shopping cart, because you're just taunting fate and that's the surest way to be certain not to put anything interesting into said cart.

Rule #2: Sometimes you strike out.

OK, it's not a rule so much as a statement of undeniable fact. Persistence is key here, folks. People are always amazed my thrift store finds and say they never find anything and they'll just have to go with me because I'm lucky. I'm not lucky. I'm persistent. There are a lot of times when I go into a thrift store with high hopes and walk out empty-handed. It happens. But sometimes you strike gold and come out with a huge bag of name brands for $10. The only way to know which one it's going to be is to go. And go again. And go a few more times. And obviously, if you break rule #1, you're more likely to encounter a rule #2 kind of day. Don't let it bother you. Be persistent!

Anyway, I did find a few pairs of shoes to keep the drive to Canandaigua from being a complete bust. And they're pretty great shoes:

Charlotte Russe, $3

I've been keeping my eye open (in a very general way! Not with an agenda!!!) for a pair of black wedges since that's what I need to wear for my friend Meggles' wedding in August. I was lucky enough to hit on the exact style I was hoping for, and for quite a steal!

Kenneth Cole Reaction, $3

Worthington, $1.50

The white ones have me nearly giddy with those ankle straps. So the trip wasn't a complete loss, but I'm still hoping for better luck next week.

The Dog Days of Summer

If Facebook posts are any indication, most of you have been HATING this week's heat wave. People like myself are rare. I've been blessed with the ability, while sitting in the brutal, sticky, sweaty sunshine, to look around my backyard, remember what it looked like buried in snow, and be thankful. I hate snow. I HATE it. And people... it's not snowing. I haven't had a Raynaud's attack in weeks. I have rarely needed a cardigan (and only then when in air conditioning). There is zero need to wear anything other than a sundress and a pair of flip-flops. Since the beginning of the heat wave, none of the following things have happened:

• Shoveling the driveway
• Scraping off my car
• Wrapping myself in a thousand layers
• Clutching the steering wheel on a treacherous, snowy drive into work
• Slipping on the ice
• The dogs destroying the house due to pent-up energy from being cooped up

In fact, the dogs have been too hot to do much of anything but lay about panting, and splash in their doggy pool. This is much less annoying than usual, and infinitely cuter.

Trying to get as much of herself in the water as possible...

...including her face...

...but she's willing to share.

It was pushing 100 degrees when I took these pictures, and I was happily sweating through my sundress, watching all the adorableness, and drinking my body weight in seltzer water.

I. Love. Summer.

For those of you who don't, a few tips to help you enjoy it more: Close your eyes, and try to envision yourself scraping your car free of ice while you're running late to work. Remember shoveling your driveway the billionth time, after nearly five months of snow. Remember when you both arrived and left work in the dark. Go drink something iced, turn on a fan, and enjoy it while it lasts. I certainly intend to!

January...

...or July.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know which I choose.

Boats!

I really like boats. I don't have a particular desire to own one (except for maybe a kayak), but I sure like it when other people own them and take me out in them. We were in Minnesota (land of 10,000 lakes!) this last week visiting my husband's family, and blessedly, they live not only on water but have a boat to put on it.

Less fortunately, it rained like CRAZY the first day we were there and it got maybe just a touch flooded...

That chair isn't floating. It's sitting on a dock.

Still, it was easily 90 degrees and nearly 100% humidity, so it felt pretty great to go out and feel the wind in our hair (well, my hair. Greg certainly didn't feel the wind in HIS hair).

On our next trip out, mimosas were the order of the day...

On the boat...

...and in the water.

Just to change things up, we decided to go paddle-boating...

 I looked pretty great in my vest.

Come on, doesn't this make you want to go on a boat??

Traveling (part 1)

Every summer, my husband and I take at least one trip. Usually this trip happens on or around our anniversary on August. This year, in addition to that trip (which will be to Atlantic City), we are also taking a trip to Minnesota to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of Greg's paternal grandparents. It is an insanely long drive from Rochester, NY to St. Cloud, MN.

We did a couple of things to make this lengthy drive more enjoyable. One, we took the scenic route through upper Michigan.

Second, we stopped at a campground (Indian Lake State Park) and camped for the night. This included a beautiful campsite,

my husband having the chance to show off his fire-making skills,

time for me to read my Kindle both by the fireside and the water,

a beautiful sunset,

and campground breakfast the next morning.

We got back on the road the next morning, and followed our route through the center of Wisconsin. A word to the wise: don't try this. It was horrifying, and you should be thankful that I don't have photos to illustrate my point. We took a trip in time to the mid-70s, and saw the scariest assortment of "restaurants" and bars ever. Luckily, we made it through alive, and finally arrived in Minnesota happy and relatively unscathed.

Now to enjoy the destination!

Weddings

I love weddings. I especially love a summer wedding, but they're pretty much all OK by me. Here's why I love weddings:

Fancy date with my husband. He has to (mostly) dress up.

I have an excuse to dress up, and spend time with 

OTHER dressed up, fun people.

The husband having fun with friends...

...possibly too much fun.

Delicious food...

...candy...

...and wine.

The chance to wear fabulous shoes...

...and dance in them!

But most of all, a beaming bride and a smiling groom,

who will hopefully be as happily married as I am.

Down with air conditioning! (Literally. Turn it down already.)

Dear friends, let's take a moment and discuss air conditioning. I've often been heard to say that I hate it, and while that covers the spirit of it, it's not strictly true. There are times when I'm infinitely thankful for A/C. When I'm lying in bed and can't sleep for sweating. When I'm working out at the gym on a 90° day. When I get into my car on a hot, sunny day.

However, when it is a lovely 80°, I'm dressed for summer (and so is everyone else), and we walk indoors to find it's been air conditioned to mimic the dead of winter, not so much. Those of us who are Raynaud's sufferers especially don't appreciate it:

Let's just all agree on these simple guidelines: if you would complain about the same temperature in January, it's too cold for July. If my nose is dripping and I'm forced to layer, it's too cold for July. If you're sweating buckets and smelling bad, feel free to turn on the A/C. Otherwise...let's enjoy the warmth. It doesn't last long!

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Salvo Wednesday #2

After getting up at an ungodly hour to run with Lisa, my cousin's girlfriend, at 6am (yes, I said AM!), I found myself ready and out the door before I'm usually out of bed on a summer day. First stop, the Salvation Army on West Ave in Rochester. I saw the first dress hanging behind the counter immediately upon entering and pounced on it:

 

Rochester Salvo
No label, $1.50

You read that right. One dollar and fifty cents. Finds like that are what make my day!!! Next... one skirt, two colors.

Rochester Salvo
$2

Rochester Salvo
Same skirt, so basically free.

If you buy one skirt for $2, but get two because it's reversible, that's like getting a second skirt free, right??

Rochester Salvo
$2

Pockets in a skirt. That's all that needs to be said.

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The second stop was in Henrietta. I need to point out that I broke one of my own cardinal rules of thrifting here - don't go back too soon. I was there in early June and thought a month was long enough for them to restock after I picked them clean of my size, but I was wrong. I didn't find a single blessed article of clothing. However, someone of my shoe size had obviously made a generous donation.

Henrietta Salvo
Newport News, $4

Henrietta Salvo
Old Navy, $2

Henrietta Salvo
George, $4

Henrietta Salvo
Mossimo, $2

Henrietta Salvo
Clarks, $1.50

This last pair was obviously the coup de grâce (as Sarah would say), as Clarks usually go for $80 and up. They are also insanely comfortable.

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So, being of weak spine and constitution, I caved and went to Goodwill again. It has been suggested by some that I keep "going back to my ex" and I'll "only hate myself in the morning"... but I ask you, could YOU have left this dress behind???

Bay Town Goodwill
$9

The back is obviously the best part.

I didn't think so.

Shakespeare in the Park

Every summer, Rochester's Shakespeare Players present a different play in the Highland Park Bowl. Being able to see Shakespeare, outdoors, for free... spectacular.

 

As you can see, some people bring chairs and some people bring blankets. Melissa, Colleen and I brought blankets, and blueberry wine with blueberries.

We also brought a lot of deliciousness. Last year, Melissa and I sat and drooled over what the people in front of us were eating, so we decided not to repeat that mistake this year. The result was three very happy ladies.

This year's production was Othello. Not to ruin anything for anyone, but everybody dies. We all agreed it would have been fun if everybody had hopped up and started doing a kickline, preferably with jazz hands. Only Shakespeare could make a play this inexplicable last for centuries. But Shakespeare is Shakespeare, and there's nothing quite like a little iambic pentameter on a summer night.

Iago and Othello

 

 

Desdemona, Iago, Cassio, Emilia

By the end of the night, the stage was still bright but the sky was dark and the fireflies were twinkling merrily. Nights like this make me very, very glad to live in Rochester!