Thrifting Finds!

oh.

my.

goodness.

Goodwill in Jamaica Plain, MA =

amazing.
$25 got me 2 skirts and 3 sweaters. um, WHAT.
memo to regular stores: that is what regular clothes should cost, i think. 
memo to grocery stores: $25 should not buy me milk, bread, eggs, and a chicken for dinner.
it should buy a lot more than that.
scammers.

at some point I will figure out how to set up my camera for a

What I Wore 

so you can see my new treasures :)

until then, just a quick linkback to a couple of blogs:
Sally over at Already Pretty (one of my favorites!) posted a lovely link to
Couture Allure Vintage Fashion's article on
Fraudulent Label Switching
!!!
If it hadn't been for reading this fascinating post,
I never would have snapped these shots
as a public service announcement!
First, this 
gorgeous
winter coat:
 
real wool, real fur collar, looked amazing on me!

and this one of "its" label:

if you look closely, you can see how sloppily it was handstitched into the coat.
it was partially ripped out, so i had to hold it on to take the picture.

but when i tried the coat on,i found another label on the side seam! a big one!
(i think) the original label!
(i'm so annoyed... my phone was almost out of battery,
so i couldn't risk taking another picture)

well, anyway, to cut a long story short,
i took the coat up to the front desk and told them that i thought they'd been 
scammed!!!
and they agreed…
but they also pointed out that it seemed like it was 
good quality
and even if it wasn't from saks,
certainly the wool and fur were real,
so it probably was worth $35.99...

anyway.
Moral:

check the labels! all over the coat! 
Second Moral:

lots of people are scammers. especially

grocery stores

and people that decide how much clothes should cost

and people that want to trick people into buying vintage when it's not really. 
Third Moral:

lots more people are nice.

especially

Sally 

and

Couture Allure Vintage Fashion.

also me. i'm pretty nice too.

the end.

By the way,
What are your tips for beginning thrifters?
Do you go for quantity or quality when you thrift?
 Have you encountered fake labels before?

Friday Favorites

… I need a better title than that! anybody find good weekday alternatives to "Things I Love Thursday," for those of us who can't make it to the blog on Thursdays?

this week I love:

my family

this is my Mamãe.

 she was born in Brazil, but her father was German 

and

her mother was American.

so she has a

{beautiful}

Brazilian accent tinted with German.

she is a

social worker

and she works with the Brazilian immigrant community!

she loves reading.

she has lots of freckles.

in our family, we assign Pooh characters.

Mamãe is

  because she likes to write poems

(not because she is a Bear of Very Little Brain.)

next…

this is my Balou.

he is from everywhere because he was a

Navy brat.

  he started growing his hair and beard out when he was in college at MIT

(1 million years ago!)

so even if he did have any freckles 

he has probably forgotten where they are.

he works in computer security and helped to design

Kerberos

which everybody uses for password protection - like Hotmail and stuff!

he is

because he knows a lot of things and is always ready to tell you them.

also, he has many friends and relations.

Next...

this is my Thaïs.

a.k.a. "That Girl" and "Me-Too."

she is rather grown-up compared to here:

she wants to be a 

shoe designer

when she grows up!

she loves 

{Shakespeare}

 she looks just like our Mamãe!

…but with fewer freckles.

and she is

because she is rather small

and worries about things

and we have a picture*

*(lost in the sands of time in the closet behind her chair)

of her as a toddler

with a

BIG BUNCH OF BALLOONS!

she also appreciates Expotitions. 

Then…

 

here is my Tycho.

he is rather grown up too.

he likes reading

and animals

and recreating battle scenes with Playmobil:

he looks like me when i was little…

but he is growing into himself rather nicely.

i don't think he has many freckles. 

he and Thaïs have the same birthday! 3 years apart!

i would argue that he is 

because he has lots of Interesting Anecdotes

and if you ask him a question, you're sure to get an answer.

but Mamãe and Thaïs insist that he is

because he spends an inordinate amount of time saying

look at me!!!

to which i must sigh and agree.

however, until he got his hair cut,

he looked much more like

than anyone else in the 100-Acre Wood.

Finally…

this is me.

I am studying 

{English literature!}

because

I lovelovelove reading.

I also love writing complicated things about what I read.

I love romantic dates

and sparkles

and pink things

and toddlers

and someday I will have a beautiful

{bakery}

image courtesy flickr

where I will sell cookies.cupcakes.baguettes.cakes.croissants

and all kinds of other delicious things.

I am also

because I talk very fast

and I'm rather bouncy

and I am unendingly cheerful

and sometimes I say "worraworra."

The End.

(Fear not, future Favorite Days will not be nearly this long!)

My New Year's Resolution…

…stop procrastinating.

Not really. That's a little too much to ask, I think. Hence the {irony} of the post title.

Here's another {irony}: One of my actual New Year's Resolutions is to

* break my Internet / computer addiction!

The {irony} being that I also want to

* blog more!

and

* read for pleasure!

and

* be more tidy!

So the combination of all of this really adds up to an 

Umbrella

{via flickr}

Resolution:

Use the time I am given wisely.

see, the problem I have is that really, 

I have the 

{via flickr}

for all the things that need doing (playing with nannybaby E., going to class, writing papers, eating, yoga, dating my husband, reading, etc.) but I waste it all online.

For example, I just wasted 2 hours of my Life trying to find out 

how to change the fonts in my Blogger template...

when it turns out (I think?) that I can just write my post

in Word {yuckies}

and then copy/paste.

Meanwhile, my grad school application essays still aren't done.
Neither is the laundry.

See what I mean?

It would be a much smaller deal to declare my intention to blog more

if the rest of my life weren't spent trying to

GET OFF THE COMPUTER

Hence my recent trip…

{my picture}

to the Boston Public Library.

I've decided that it is an absolutely atrocious

state of affairs when an English major, of all things,

should spend her free time doing anything but reading!

So far I have brought home 12 books*

*and yes, classes start next Friday

and have yet to hook up my Goodreads account** so that you can see what I'm reading!

**the {irony} of course being that even to read a paper-in-my-hands book
I still need the computer... pathetic...

What are you procrastinating on?

What were your New Year's Resolutions?

How do you get yourself off the interwebz when real life calls?

Now, about that personal statement…

If You Give A Girl A Paper…

(all due respect to Laura Joffe Numeroff)

If you give a girl too many papers to write,


she's going to want something else to do instead.

So you'll find her a camera.

She'll take lots of silly pictures of herself in the mirror.


Then she'll want some props.
So you'll find her grandmother's vintage sunglasses.

Seeing them will remind her of her mother,

whom she hasn't talked to in several days. But her phone's battery is dead.
So she'll ask to use yours.
Then she'll use up all your battery talking to her mother.


Talking to her mother will remind her that she hasn't updated her Goodreads "currently-reading" list in a while.

So she'll have to use your computer to update it.
Seeing her list of currently-reading books will remind her of school.

That will make her remember that she has too many papers to write.

And chances are,
if you give a girl too many papers to write,
she's going to want something else
to do
instead.

You Are a Doris!

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz ...

You are a Doris -- "I must help others."

Dorises are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people's needs.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific.
• * Share fun times with me.
• * Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours.
• * Let me know that I am important and special to you.
• * Be gentle if you decide to criticize me.

In Intimate Relationships

• * Reassure me that I am interesting to you.
• * Reassure me often that you love me.
• * Tell me I'm attractive and that you're glad to be seen with me.

What I Like About Being a Doris

• * being able to relate easily to people and to make friends
• * knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better
• * being generous, caring, and warm
• * being sensitive to and perceptive about others' feelings
• * being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor

What's Hard About Being a Doris

• * not being able to say no
• * having low self-esteem
• * feeling drained from overdoing for others
• * not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish
• * criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should
• * being upset that others don't tune in to me as much as I tume in to them
• * working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings

Dorises as Children Often

• * are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism
• * try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding
• * are outwardly compliant
• * are popular or try to be popular with other children
• * act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention
• * are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Dorises), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Dorises)

Dorises as Parents

• * are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren't)
• * are often playful with their children
• * wonder: "Am I doing it right?" "Am I giving enough?" "Have I caused irreparable damage?"
• * can become fiercely protective

Haiku

Spider eyes brush cheek
Leaving mascara footprints
Baby monarch's kiss

Memento Rosie: A Dedication in 3 Parts to Rose (formerly known as Nightmare). Part III.

Though Rose learned the difference between herself and the literary matter I wanted to put in her Favorite Hiding Spot, she managed to so terrorize Ilaya, our sweet wolf-hybrid puppy, that the poor baby got herself an identity crisis. Rose was an absolute bully toward Ilaya, and Ilaya wanted so badly to be loved by everyone in the house (she got her nose bitten by Rasta in the process, and Pimenta didn't really care, so that was better than being hated), that she tried to be a cat. Again, the proof is in the photo black hole that is the closet behind Thaïs's chair at the dinner table, but I swear to God, that puppy had inch-wide sores on the sides of her ankles for months before the calluses kicked in, from lying with her paws wrapped around her front just like Rose and Pimenta did. She had to fit in some way, as far as Rose was concerned.

My mom eventually tamed Rose, and I have absolutely no idea how she did it... I just remember her saying, "Come pet Rose!" and me shrinking away, saying, "She's gonna bite meeeee…" and my mom going, "No, no, just be gentle and she won't!" And then me getting bitten. So yeah, I wasn't real on-board with the whole lets-be-patient-with-Rose program.

But somehow, between the bitings, and the scratchings, and the siblings, and the movings, there came a point where we didn't have to worry if Rose was in the same room as baby Thaïs or toddling Tycho. She learned that we were safe for her, even if we did have a tendency to bring new irritations into the house specifically to annoy her - like Ilayas, and Thaïses, and Kisinkas, and Tychos, and guests, amongst other things. She kept herself to herself; guests who came over a second time would comment in astonishment, "I didn't know you had two cats!". Though she appreciated petting when it was given (but only where she liked being petted, and only for exactly as long as she wanted to be petted, these things being part of an arcana known only by my mother), in the past few years I was astonished on occasional mornings to find Rose on my bed, or trying to knock me over in an attempt to get me to pet her.

She had the loudest purr I've ever heard, an outrageous buzz that sounded more like a growl than a purr - there were several times that I recall hearing that noise while petting her and yanking my hand away for fear of Vampire Kitty showing up, and my mother saying soothingly, "It's okay, she's only purring." Her coat was a beautiful black velvet, and she was black through and through (even the roof of her mouth!), but her eyes were lime green and her teeth sharp and pointy. Her favorite pastimes were: getting fur on my mother's pillow, staring, prowling, finding places to hang out that best suited her obvious vocation of jungle cat, and kicking Kisinka's ass.

She died last night in a little nest my dad made for her in his and my mom's bed. She was 18 years old. Kisinka won't miss her, but the rest of us will.