Thrifty Bloggers

Over the weekend, Laurie of I Wana Know Belle and I decided to meet up to go thrifting. Laurie and I met a year ago when she came to the clothing swap that Erin of Work With What You've Got and I had. So when Laurie emailed me about having a swap again this year, we decided to get together to go thrifting since Erin and I weren't sure if we were going to have another swap this year. (If you're in the Dallas area and are interested in a swap, email me. If there is enough interest, we might do it again in January.)

Anyway, Laurie and I live quite a ways away from each other, so we met in one of the suburbs between us to get our thrift on. Normally when I meet people who read my blog or other bloggers (Laurie is both), I try to look nice. But poor Laurie got to meet me in all my blah glory. I had been working on the house all morning, plus I can't find any of my casual clothing right now, so I had on short, flips, and a T. She of course looked super cute! In fact, I heard two different people come up to her while we were in the store to compliment her on her outfit. Why didn't anyone come up to me to tell me that my schlumpy outfit was hot?!?! I just don't get it. hehe.

Anyway, we had a ton of fun and totally confused to store worker when we asked him to take our photo. Oh yeah, I bought an awesome flower brooch and Laurie picked up some Halloween decorations. Neither of us bought any clothes, though.

Expand Your Wardrobe - Borrow Stuff!

I borrowed this fabulous necklace from Kasmira. Every time she posted a photo wearing it, I wished it was mine. I even went to Newport News to see if they still had it. Sadly, they did not, but now I get to wear it for a little while. Thanks, Kasmira!

What I Wore With Thanks to Kasmira:

• black skirt (Newport News)
• magenta blouse (Target)
• grey wrap sweater (Target)
• magenta/grey striped cardi, worn backwards (Target)
• black heels (Nicole Miller)
• faux pearl necklace (Newport News, borrowed)
• faux pearl bracelets (thrifted and gifts)

Manual Labor in a Skirt

I'm still not working so I can be more causal, but I get bored just wearing jeans. So today I threw on a casual skirt. This is actually a skirt that I took to the swap, but no one claimed it. So I took it back home and it was one of the things that I dyed on Monday. I've been intrigued by the combo of grey and brown lately, so I decided to dye the background grey. It didn't come out as dark as I wanted. That how these things go. I paired it with some of the items I got from the swap. In fact, I'm going to be wearing a lot of my swap items in the next few posts, so keep an eye out for them.

What I Wore While Shoveling Gravel:

(Yes, I was actually shoveling gravel in this outfit. It wasn't planned. I went outside to close the garage door for Rand, and I just grabbed the shovel and filled in some holes in the driveway for about 15 minutes.)

• grey/brown skirt, overdyed (Target)
• grey tights (Target)
• brown shirt (I've had it for years, I have no clue)
• brown suede boots (SWAP!!)
• silver tone earrings (SWAP!!)

I untucked the shirt during the day. I saw myself in a mirror at Target and decided the proportions were off with it tucked in.

What I Ate/Drank After Running Errands All Day Long:

• breakfast: fried egg sandwich, 2 cuties
• snack: 19 rice crackers, no pudge brownie
• dinner: smoked salmon sandwich, side salad, 4 beers, 1 tequila shot

I didn't eat lunch b/c I was out running errands and didn't get home until late afternoon. I usually carry fruit and bars in my purse, but I had taken them out in the morning. Silly Tina. I know I didn't eat enough; I'll do better tomorrow.

Total for the Day: 2 swapped items, 33.5 points

Clothing Swap Success

Erin and I had the Dallas Clothing Swap on Saturday and I am happy to report that it was a great success. 13 lovely women in all shapes and sizes showed up with massive amounts of clothing and accessories to be swapped. We had 3 big tables piled high with clothes, 1 with acessories, 1 with jewelry, and shoes piled on the floor:

And of course, we had some snacks to keep everyone fueled while they rummaged through the massive piles. We had cake balls (thanks, Erin!), chicken biscuits, hummas and veggies, plus white wine spritzers. I will say that most people seemed too occupied by the clothing to stop for food. We did a couple of rounds of selections, then we just let everyone grab whatever they wanted that was left.

Even after that, we still had 7 bags of clothing to donate to charity.

All in all, I would consider this a great success. Any of the other attendees care to put in their two cents? Thanks to all of you who came and made this such a fun event:

• Monica
• Kelly
• Wendy
• Maria
• Laurie
• Connie
• Anjolee
• Bernadette
• Jen Mauldin
• Ann
• Becky

Clothing Swap Update - VENUE CHANGE!!

Please note: the location of the clothing swap has changed.

Due to an accidental doublebooking at our first location, we've had to move across the street. We will be in a conference room at

Crowne Plaza Suites

7800 Alpha Road

Dallas, TX 75240

If you don't see a sign pointing to our room, just ask at the front desk and they will be able to point you in the right direction.

I am so sorry for the last minute change. I can't wait to see you all there!

Don't forget to wear clothing that allows you to try on things in a communal environment. (I'm going to wear a tank top and leggings under a wrap dress, so I can just pull off the dress and try on the things over the tank and leggings.

Dallas Clothing Swap - SATURDAY

* Please note the location has changed *

What: A fashion swap for all Dallas areas ladies.

When: Saturday, October 24th at 11 AM

Where: Crown Plaza Suites (in a conference room) 7800 Alpha Rd., Dallas, TX 75240

What to bring: Gently used clothing, accessories and shoes

What else to bring: If possible, we encourage you to bring a snack or drink to share. Because we know some of you are on really tight budgets, this is not required.

Why: Fun, Friendship and Fashion

The details:

So we will gather at the address above at 11 AM. You will be greeted at the door by myself, Tina or Wendy. You will sign in, and exchange your clothing, accessories and shoes for tickets. Each item is good for one ticket. Then we will take your items and add them to the rest. All items will be available for checking out, trying on, making notes, ect for all participants. We will have a couple of full length mirrors for you. No swapping will take place yet. After everyone has had a chance to check out what’s available, we will start the selection process. Each girl will get a chance to exchange one item for one ticket. Participants will select based on the order on the sign in sheet, first come, first served. This will continue until all tickets have been spent, or no one finds anything else they want. Some girls will get more turns based on the number of tickets they have, some less. Once we run out of tickets, we will open the floor for everyone to raid the remaining clothing. Please be respectful and polite.

Any items left will be donated to charity. If you have not signed up, and want to come, please do. If you get a chance to drop me an e-mail and let me know you are coming, great. If not, please do not let that keep you from coming. I hope to see as many of you out there as can make it. And I hope you all have fun!

Clothing Swap Date Picked

Mark your calendars!

The date for the Dallas clothing swap is

Saturday, October 24th

We'll post the specifics of where, when, etc soon. But in the mean time, go through your closets and start culling gently worn items to swap. We will be swapping clothing, shoes, and accessories, so don't forget to go through your jewelry box, your pile of scarves, and your purses.

A Confession & Some Planning

Sorry for the major delay in posting. At my very core I am a lazy lazy girl. And on Wednesday, I met Erin for dinner and a clothing swap planning session. So I got home a little later than usual, and I just didn't get around to it. Let me just say, you know a couple of daily fashion bloggers are getting together when the deciding factor on whether dinner was over was the light outside. We both had to rush home and take pics before it went away completely. ha! Anyway, as always I had a ton of fun with Erin. And we've got plans set up for the Dallas Clothing Swap. We're thinking the late-middle of October, but more on that soon.

What I Wore While Being Unzipped:

• grey plaid wiggle dress (Merona, thrifted new Goodwill)*
• grey vest (Lane Bryant)
• black patent belt (Nine West via Ross)
• grey patent pumps (Steve Madden via Ross)
• turquoise earrings (Ross?)
• turquoise necklace, extended by me (Lane Bryant)
• aqua bead bracelet (TJ Maxx?)
• blue rafia purse, redyed by me (thrifted, St. Vincent DePaul)

* confession time: I had to have this dress. HAD TO. I adore it and I've been looking for something like it. It fits perfectly in the waist and skirt. BUT it's way too small in the bust. Major pancake boobage. And I could tell that even with a minimzing bra and even with some major weight loss, it was never going to fit in the chest. But I bought it anyway. I told myself that I would cut it off and make a great skirt out of it. And I might do that. But first, I had to find a way to wear it as a dress. So...uh...it's totally unzipped from the waist up and that is hidden by the vest. I wish I could figure out a way to wear it as a dress without covering it up. Anyone think I can get away with turning the zipper into a ribbon/corset type thing? LOL

What I Ate While Planning with Erin:

(my stuff is the two plates this side of my water glass)

• breakfast: cheesy egg, bagel, pear
• lunch: leftover beef stroganoff, leftover mexican veggies
• snack: cheese stick, thinkOrganic bar, apple
• dinner: 1/2 c. calamari, 3 cheese croquettes, 2 glasses sparkling sangria (Sangria)

See Erin's planning notes on in the dinner pic? It was totally official business, even if there was sangria and tapas involved!

Dallas Clothing Swap

I'm meeting Erin after work today so that we can discuss the Dallas clothing swap. One thing we're going to decide is if we have enough participants in various sizes for this to work. So if anyone else that hasn't already let me know is interested, leave a comment!

Dallas Swap

Are you in the DFW area

and

interested in meeting up for a clothing swap?

Erin and I would love to host a free clothing swap if there is enough interest. It would be a basic swap. You bring gently used items and you trade with other girls. It's not set in stone yet, but we would probably use a "ticket and take turns" system for the first few rounds (You get a ticket for each item you donate to the swap, we take turns selecting items). After that, the leftover items will be sort of free for the taking (but be fair! No grabbing everything to sell to Buffalo Exchange!). Items left after that will be given to Goodwill.

If you are interested, please leave a comment and tell us your sizes. Don't be embarassed to post your sizes online. I'm about a 16W/XXL and I wear size 8 shoes, and Erin is a 4/6 so you can see that we already are starting out with a broad range of size options. If you don't want to post your sizes but are interested in participating, feel free to email me. This is important info b/c we want to be sure that we have more than one girl in each size range so that everyone has the possibility of finding a few good swaps. So 'fess up!