Lovely Days

I'm not sure I'm comfortable admitting this, but I think I just might be an Iowa girl - not the hawkeye's, just an Iowa girl. 

I hate the humidity here and I hate the snow (mostly because of driving), but sadly, I'm beginning to accept this is home. 

I'm also getting to the point - I hate even saying this out loud - I am ready to wear some substantial clothes.  I've never been a big fan of summer clothes, it feels like they should be biodegradable or something, like you wear them than throw them away at the end of summer, maybe in the yard and they end up fertilizing the plants...  Being an Iowa girl, you're used to wearing clothes that are industrial strength.  :)

Sooo, I've hit the jackpot thrifting lately!  I love Goodwill and I have a consignment shop in Cedar Rapids - Crazy Daisy’s - and one in Iowa City - Second Act - that I love.  You can find some really nice stuff for a bargain.  On a side note - I take all my extra plastic bags to the consignment shop they're always looking for them, so if you need a fun way to recycle this is a good one.  ALSO, I love taking my extra magazine places for people - laundry mat, doc office, work! 

Anyway, I found these shoes at Goodwill the other day for $4.38.  BCBG's, probably wore once/twice, in brown.  Not my favorite color, but I've been dying to try this glitter thing!  This was the perfect opportunity.  I follow a blog a friend hooked me up w/ and it was shown there. She's adorable and is an amazing repurposer.  She buys a lot of thrift stuff and tailors them to her liking:  http://cottonandcurls.blogspot.com/

I used my Martha Stewart glitter!  There's not much that Martha makes that I don't love, but her glitter is just one of my all time favorite things. :)  Also, I could live at Michael's. 

Here's my new shoes that I LOVE!  They turned out amazing:

The Original

Paint by small sections w/ Gem-Tac glue

Voila!  But not done yet!

Paint on an indoor/outdoor varnish - like a thin glue that protects the glitter.  The shoe below is wet.

The end result after the varnish dries! 

I left the heel as is.  I liked the look.  I have a few pairs tho that the heels are banged up on and this might be a good way to get a little more life out of them.

SO, I was really happy about a.) finally trying it and b.) how well it turned out.

Also, a few of my thrift finds lately:

The coral/pink skirt is a J Crew for $3.98!  Yippy yi!

How cute is this dress!  I need to do some work on the sleeves, I'd like something else, but it's so cute!  Lucial Ball! :)

Adorable skirt!  Very cute.  

A Few Good Things

It's been a successful thrift month!  Found a great Banana Republic skirt for a song!  And it's a size 2!  :D  I'm not, but it is.  Clearly someone messed up the sizing, but going forward I'm going to say I'm a size 2. lol. 

This picture cracks me up

So does this one...

I have a 100 other thrift items I need to post, but I don't feel like it right now. 

I went sky chasing tonight!  I told Jack to hurry up!  It was time to go!  What an amazing sky.  I can't get over my obsession w/ the sky.  I've loved it since I was young... or younger.  :)  It's just one of those things I stand in awe of.  It always feels like a little bit of peace in a messed up world to me.

What are these things?  Amazing.

Reminds me of that Jack Handy quote:  I think the most beautiful sunset I ever saw was on page 4 and 5 of The Book of Sunsets.

Another bit of peace... I could write a novel on how to drive... especially on 380.  People make me NUTS!  It had been one of those drives home and then I got to the mall (that's not the peace part ;), which I cut thru to get home and these geese were crossing the road... and it was nice to stop and let them pass at their own pace.  Ahhhh... a gentle reminder that we're not in control of as much as we'd like to be, pretend to be or try to be. 

Pulled two tomatoes off my plant!  One was completely rotten - I think because it was laying up against the stem of the plant and the side of the other was too for the same reasons... the tiny I bite I had was delicious!  :)  A friend of mine planted a garden for the first time ever.  We laughed today about it - she planted 23 tomato plants! lol.  Should be interesting to see how many thousands of tomatoes she ends up with. :)

Ok, and the last but best GOOD thing!  :)  My hubby!  This picture is so funny. Sometimes I hate him... look at that AWESOME tan!  I'd take it right off of him if I could figure out how. He was working on his sermon and I wouldn't quit pestering him. :)

Oh yeah, and I disabled my FaceBook account, so now I'm out here just talking to myself and telling my jokes and laughing at them myself.  ;)  lol.  <--- see.  ;)