Epic Salvo Wednesday '12

It had to happen sometime. I had it coming. It's what every treasure hunter dreams of... and it happened yesterday.

What you are about to see is only what I brought home after talking myself out of many other items. On any other day, I would have hesitated over those other items. I would probably have stared at myself in the mirror in them, maybe taken a picture or two and sent it off to various friends for opinions... but not yesterday. There was only room in my cart for the very best. Literally.

Now, admittedly this cart is a bit smaller than the average shopping cart, but this was only halfway through my trip. I had to stop and try things on before continuing because things were falling off the top. (I also need to point out that beautiful, beautiful Elle purse - which someone took out of my cart while I was trying on clothes, so I didn't get to buy it.) :(

I walked in yesterday, and immediately headed to my right as per usual. That's where they keep the dresses, so you can understand why. I looked to my right and there they were... and then I looked to my left, and there they were, too. The wall of dresses that was already larger than any dress section in the Rochester area had DOUBLED. I left some beautiful things behind - there are limits, even for me - so if you live near Henrietta, GET THEE TO THE SALVO.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my beautiful, beautiful finds.

American Eagle, $6

This gorgeous dress is missing a belt. I'm taking suggestions as to what color I should choose!

BCBG Max Azria, $3

I love the way the top sticks up over the waistline. (*Edit: I just found this, pre-owned, on ebay for $95!!)

Ann Taylor Loft, $8

Two tones of denim. A million tones of awesome.

Scala, $3

This skirt still had the tags on it and is made of the most unusual stretchy material - I've found it before in a workout shirt or two, but never a skirt. I am in LOVE with it. I have a feeling this is about to become my new go-to skirt. I have been wanting a new, stretchy black skirt for ages!

Nicola, $2.50

Cowl neck, flowy and pretty. Love it!

Ann Taylor, $5

This obviously came out blurry, and I am far too lazy to try again. Anyway, it's Ann Taylor and 92% silk and has little buttons on the sleeves. This is going to be brilliant with a pencil skirt and pearls!!!

Ann Taylor Loft, $2.50

More silk! More Ann Taylor! More fabulous!

H&M, $2.50

This may have been my favorite item of the day. I love the way the shirt is gathered diagonally from the not-quite-flowers on the left shoulder. Pretty pretty! Bet I'll wear this to school on the last day before Christmas, betcha betcha!

Abercrombie & Fitch, $2.50

I love tank tops of this material, and this fit. I only had one and now I have...

Express, $3

... three!!

Banana Republic, $4

Finding Banana is always my favorite.

Old Navy, $3.50

Cute little fabric flowers, cute little cardi!

Express Design Studio, $3

I love the colors on this one. Also, I think we should make it a law that all skirts and dresses should henceforth have pockets. I think we can all agree on this.

Merona, $2.50

I know I already bought one stretchy black skirt, but what if I need one that goes to my knees? What then?

BeBop, $6

Knit top, cotton bottom. I always love these dresses, and never buy them because they're either the wrong size, or have a tear, or something. Not only did I find one, I found TWO (the other was blue on top with a floral print on the bottom) and I made myself pick. Because, as I said already, there ARE limits.

Roxy, $4

I apparently am in the mood to go shorter with my dresses. This one is so beachy, I think I'll just have to wear it to the beach!

Nike (both the top and the bottom), $2.50 & $5

I don't usually take pictures of my workout clothes, but I mean. Come on. Nike times two? This outfit has to be worth around $80, maybe more. I knew all my running buddies would be jealous!

Pearl Izumi, $2.50

You can tell by this point that I was getting fatigued. I did just take a bajillion pictures. Because I'd just had the best Salvo hit of the summer, probably the best for years. I had considered going to the Irondequoit Salvo after, but clearly there was no need (and no time). 

These things happen only once in a great while. I hope this is just fate consoling me for the poor luck I've had this summer so far, and not my only good hit all summer. I'll be thankful, either way. God bless you, Henrietta Salvation Army.

J'adore Montréal!

Greg and I usually take an annual vacation somewhere or other at the time of our anniversary (in August). This year, since our destination was to the north, we decided to go early in hopes of longer daylight hours and warmer days. So last week we ventured to Canada and spent 3 days in Montreal and one day in Ottawa with friends. In theory, this gave me ample chance to practice my French. In reality, I said the following things:

• Bonjour!
• Très bien!
• Merci!
• Nous avons des amis en Ottawa.
• Mon amie deteste les poissons, alors je (um, um) prendre un photo pour elle - ?? (starting to get iffy here, you see.)
• Nous sommes marchés beaucoup hier.

Unfortunately, turns out that that last sentence was incorrect. She corrected me very nicely (Nous avons marché beaucoup hier) but I think that I gave up at that point. Also, the last three were to my pedicurist, who was kind of a captive audience. Sigh.

Fish pedicure!

I made the valiant attempt to do my Wednesday Salvo-ing while there, but their stores are not our stores. I was slightly horrified. However, they do have one major advantage:

I'm making that as large as possible so we can all see what we have here. Those are size tags. Yes, friends, our northern neighbors understand how a thrift store should be run. Dear American Salvos, put things on there by sizes, for crying out loud! 

Anyway, there was one other thing that Montreal did very, very well. Food is always my favorite part of every trip and this one was no exception.

Salmon with mango chutney.

Margherita pizza (Greg's)

Smoked salmon tapa

Chorizo tapa

Tuna with bruschetta tapa

More smoked salmon (with capers, yum!) tapas

Steak et frites

Crème brulée!!!!

Spicy lamb curry for him, chicken curry with spinach for me.

 I'd call that a successful vacation!

I'll leave you with this - we stumbled upon the 30th anniversary of the "Village" in Montréal, and this, which appeared to be their motto. I wish it was everyone's.

D'accord.

Salvo Wednesday '12: #2

This week I took a short road trip out to Batavia. This was necessary for 2 reasons: 1, I never actually made it to Batavia's store last year so that needed to be remedied. Also, I just bought a brand new Kia Soul last Saturday and I couldn't wait to drive it for longer than it takes to get to church or the gym (my main destinations during the summer). I am happy to report that it was a great experience and I predict many happy years ahead with my new car. But on to the clothes!

Calvin Klein, $1.50

The material is so, so soft on this one, and my favorite thing is the slits on the sleeves. It reminds me of the episode of My Boys where PJ's boyfriend buys her a shirt with similar slits (only without the other color underneath) and she says that her shirt is broken.

Ann Taylor Loft, $1.50

A nice layering t-shirt for fall, and it's my favorite soft, stretchy kind of knit.

Don't remember, $1

 This is not for me but for my very fortunate friend Sarah.

This might be my favorite part of the Batavia Salvation Army - their very, very fancy row labels.

I also bought a bathing-suit cover up there, but you don't get to see it. There are bits of me you shall never see. However, it was Merona and $2. Let's just hope I have the opportunity to wear it!

On my way home I stopped at the Greece store. I was happier because my purchases included this:

H&M, $3

It still has the tags on it but it did NOT have the Salvo tag on it. They usually refuse to sell you items that aren't tagged, so I was very worried when I took it to an employee and explained. She just sighed and told me it had been happening a lot today (uh oh, someone's not on their game!) and to take it to the manager at the checkout and she'd take care of it. I fully expected them to charge me a high price (for the Salvo) and to assume that it was the color tag that was NOT half off - but she looked at it, and with a tone that implied clearly that she was exasperated with whomever had not tagged it but NOT with me, told me that dresses are usually $6 but we'd assume it was half off. Wheeeee!

Mossimo, $1.50

Cute, and light. I also was GIDDY over the purcase of a $3 pair of Nike running shorts - white with bright orange compression shorts underneath - not only because they were pristine and obviously unworn, but because I have a Nike top at home that I am pretty sure had to have been originally sold with this very pair of shorts. They match pefectly! 

That's it for my finds, but I wanted to share my other accomplishment this week. I obviously have a bit of a closet space problem, partly because of my thrifting addiction but also because my house was built in the 20's and houses of that era are not known for their enormous closets. There is a small closet in the spare bedroom that I have only half-heartedly used for years because the hanging shelf was so low that I couldn't fit much on it without having clothing scraping the floor. It suddenly occurred to me that if I just raised the shelf up, I could actually hang ALL of my dresses (well, MOST, anyway) in there and free up room in my bedroom closet. So, behold!

I dub thee "Dress-Up Closet"!

Ghetto Garden, Garden Grow!

The ghetto garden has made an appearance again this year at the Maine household. It is ever so slightly less ghetto since we didn't use the kiddie pool this year, but instead opted for lots and lots of pots. 

What we have here is a lot of tomato plants (celebrity, whatever that means), a green pepper plant, a sweet red pepper, and some cilantro in the mix. The tomato plant to the right already produced a beautiful, enormous red tomato that my husband was watching for a week with hungry eyes. Unfortunately, a squirrel (or one of the giant pigeons living in my neighbor's roof - this issue is still up for debate) got to it first. Greg's heart nearly broke.

In an effort to make use of every square inch, there are plants on top of our teeny little shed. Here we have multiple types of hot peppers and some roma tomatoes!

This particular pepper was so cute it got its own closeup. Teeny tiny thai peppers!!

 Basil in a pot! I liked the really little basil leaves we had last year (covered more surface area) but Greg prefers these. As he is the one who keeps the garden alive, I guess he wins.

 The multi-colored lettuce was bought at Rochester Public Market (#1 in the US, if you didn't know). It is basically awesome mixed lettuce in a planter. Yum! The green stuff was planted from seed by Greg, but the squirrels/pigeons keep digging the center up. Greg has constructed what he imagines will deter and hopefully impale one of the offending creatures.

We also keep plants along the side of our house. Here we have a roma tomato plant that is taking over the entire planet! Greg keeps having to add more sticks to prop it up, and keep it from choking the hydrangeas! 

This thing is a cayenne pepper. I had no idea they could look so twisty and evil!

And I have saved the best for last. That, friends, is the world's tiniest cucumber!!! Dear cucumber, I will be eating you shortly. Grow quickly, ghetto garden!

The Return of Salvo Wednesday!

Well, it's taken me forever to take the pictures and write about them, but I DID go Salvoing last Wednesday! For the first one of the summer, I ventured a bit further off the beaten path than I did last year. My mother and I went a bit past my hometown and visited the Salvation Army in Hornell. I did find a couple of nice things there:

J Crew, $4

 Now, I love this dress, but I was suuuuuuper annoyed that the tag was not only not on the label but on the fabric itself (a major pet peeve, as you know if you read any of last summer's blog), but through both the front and back so I couldn't try it on. They will also not sell things to you at the Salvo if they don't have a tag - they won't retag it then and there, you have to come back another day, and I certainly and decidedly was NOT planning to return to Hornell in the immediate future. So I had to take it to the cashier and ask HER to remove the tag, trembling in horror as I did so in case she doesn't know how to be gentle with those darned staples. Fortunately, the dress escaped unharmed, and it was worth it all in the end.

$1, Old Navy

Adorable, light, lovely.

Club Monaco, $2.50

 I didn't buy this one for myself, largely due to the fact that I would never be able to decide when to wear this. When it's hot? then the sleeved arm would be too hot. When it's cold? then I'd need a sweater for the bare arm. Too tricky. So instead, since this $2.50 little number is probably worth $50 even second hand, I am going to try to sell it on Ebay. I've done it once before and it was fun... now I just need someone *cough cough Sarah* to help me take good pictures.

The best part of my trip to Hornell was the brief conversation I had with a little old lady in the aisles. She offered me a gold sequined halter top, being apparently a very helpful little lady. I started to politely say, "No thanks, I'm not really -" and intended to finish the sentence, "a sequin kind of girl." But she finished it for me " - classy?" I choked on the rest of my sentence and had to move on quickly. Posted it to FB immediately, though, because the world needed to know.

On to Dansville Salvo. I usually do really well here,  but had to be satisfied with a few nice things.

$3, Old Navy

I love having cardigans in pretty much every color! It's a necessity in summer in case I go indoors. You know... where there's *shudder* air conditioning.

J Crew, $1.50

 Stretchy, non-clingy. BEADED!

Banana Republic, $3

This was my favorite item. It's Banana Republic and ANGORA! So soft, and not the creepy kind of soft.

I will leave you with one last item, purchased at Henrietta Salvo back in May at an "accidental" Salvo Wednesday. I was across the street at an eye appointment and it just called to me. I walked away with this, so no regrets here:

Maeve, $7.

POCKETS!!!

A whole summer of Salvo Wednesdays is ahead...