Pick Me! Columbus Day thrifts.

So Monday was Columbus Day, and naturally I celebrated by going thrifting. What better way to celebrate "discovery" than by going out in search of treasures that previously belonged to someone else? (Insert rant on colonization and the rights of indigenous peoples here). Deep breath. 

On to sparkly things! We started out by going to a thrift store that a lot of people talk about but that I'd never been to, Red White and Blue Thrift Shop in the South Hills. I got rather excited when we walked in, because most clothing was on sale at 50% off.  And they organize by color. I always attempt to do this in my closet, and it lasts for a bit, but then I get obsessed with dividing by genre and too many subcategories end up ruining it. Oh well. I had a decent armload of stuff when we decided to try things on and discovered there were NO CHANGING ROOMS. I kid you not. And the place is cash only, with a sign posted for no returns and no exchanges. I’m sorry, but I’m not giving you a penny for anything if I can’t try it on first and you won’t let me bring it back if it sucks (which it probably will). So, all the clothes went back to the racks.

 Things that you don’t need to try on? Wallets! I found this little pretty, and it reminds me of all the fancy journals that I buy in bookstores with good intentions and never end up using (I’ll get to them eventually!).  I need to find the perfect use for this, and since my purse situation is a perpetual disaster area I’m thinking I’ll use this to organize all the artist business cards I keep collecting from festivals. I’d be hardcore broke if I bought every beautiful thing I see, but you never know when you’ll need to bust out the perfect gift (or engage in some retail therapy) so I have a lot of cards saved.

Pretty old things.

There was also a wall of semi-crafty things, and I found little bags of mixed rubber stamps. I’m not a scrapbooker, but I do love Halloween, and I found a bag that was mostly holiday theme stamps…and heavy on the candy corn. Oh, there was also a stamp of a vintage sewing machine. That  meant I had to have it. 

Sew cute! (Couldn't help myself...)

After that, it was on to Goodwill. I guess the thrifting gods wanted me to continue with my holiday theme, because I found this brass horn that will be perfect for Christmas. Think big red bows and garland over a mantle. I usually get really angry if people try to make me think of Christmas-y things before Halloween (choir music not withstanding), but I'll admit I got a little giddy thinking about where I was going to put it. 

Bust out the carols!

I also found this small glass cloche which I had to have. I always have to have all the glass display bottles and jars. I'm a hoarder in the making here. I'm pretty sure I won't stop till everything I own is sorted and displayed under/in/behind glass. Please start buying me windex. 

For fruits. And cheese. And candles. 

We had plans to hit some more thrift shops, but when we stopped for lunch and had pumpkin soup and bread, we decided to finish the day out at Soergel's. Now I've got several pie pumpkins in need of roasting, some delicious squash for soups, and some cranberry cinnamon cheese that I might eat in one sitting. Cheese is magic.