aka Bailey: Poppin' Some Tags: The Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

"THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME."

Hey, Macklemore's words, not mine! Don't shoot the messenger.

Well by now you're surely privy to the po-but-stylish man's anthem: Thrift Shop by Macklemore. If not... I mean, come on. Lift the rock up off of yourself and climb out from beneath it. It's a fresh 'n poppin' world out here!

So you know the song - what the hey does it have to do with me? Well, there's been a Challenge issued in ZEE BLOGOSPHERE (as Dave so refers to anything that takes place on the Internet), tasking bloggers with heading to their fav thrift shop with $20 in our pockets (I actually used my debit card), spending that $20 on our best finds, and sharing our spoils via our blogs. There was also an added "scavenger hunt" angle that challenged us to find an item that Macklemore references in his song and snap a pic of that as well.

I heard about the challenge over on the blog Young House Love and I saw that blogger 'A Casarella had taken them up on it and had scored some pretty sweet shit. That was all the motivation I needed, because as you know, bitches be shoppin' and it's not hard for me to find a reason to head to the thrift shop.

SO I headed out to the 4th Ave Salvation Army right after work on Wednesday. Time to turn that $20 in my pocket into a few good come-ups!

THE SCENE:

. love that this is a 10-minute walk from my apartment .

THE SHIT:

I actually went to Salvay with "home decor" and "books/CDs" on my mind, more so than clothing - which is unusual for me. All of this blogging I've been doing lately has led me into some incredibly crafty online circles which has been inspiring me to try to make things look... niftier around our apartment. Dave is nottttt a fan of clutter, and on top of that we don't really have too many "surfaces" on which to put nifty things anyway, so my decorating options are somewhat limited. I am however working on one particular decor project - I'll be blogging about it as its completed - and it involves the use of lots of glass jars, which I've been saving/cleaning/accumulating for a few weeks now at home. Elena, of the aforementioned blog 'A Casarella, actually found a big cardboard box FULL of mason jars at her thrift store... for only $4! Hearing that made me start to drool a little bit, and I was dead-effing-set on finding some jars at my Salvay - mason or otherwise!!

SEW... in the spirit of things, here's a picture of the proverbial "$20 in my pocket" - though as I already mentioned, I really just used my debit card:

Ready to see the FIRST FREAKING THING I saw when I walked into the store??

. i think it's looking at me .

YUP.

Pretty sure someone is rocking something that looks just like this jacket in the Thrift Shop music video, so I'm going to count that as something from the song (for the scavenger hunt aspect of this Challenge). Unless you think that this could pass as "fur fox skin."

In other news, check out its price tag...

YUP.

The price tag made me instinctively reach out to touch the coat with my fingers (as if I'd really be able to tell if it was "real" or not) and let me tell you... it definitely felt like a carcass.

Mewving on past the bear coat, I headed to the back of the store to look through their shelves of home goodies to see if I could find a jar or two. There were lots of jars like these:

... so I grabbed this one for only $1.99! It's about 7" tall and I'll use it as the "centerpiece" of my home decor jar project, because it's much larger and is shaped much differently than the other jars I've collected for the project so far. So in the center it shall go.

Next I found this clothespin...

What you can't tell from the picture is that this clothespin is HUGE! Well maybe not "huge" but it is the most substantial clothespin I've ever come across. It's about 6" long and the side facing us in the picture is about 1.5" tall. Definitely a "jumbo" clothespin. I've already scraped off the "HOLD ME" decal and I think I may paint this whole thing white and use it as a picture-holder. There's a hole in the back of it so I could even hang it up on a wall with a picture clamped inside of it. Basically, when you come upon a jumbo clothespin at a thrift shop and "shit, it was 99 cents!!!" (which it was) then you just have to buy it and find a use for it.

Also in the home goods area were plenty of little decorative glass dishes - I really liked the etched designs in the glass of this one, so I skewped it up! This was $2.99.

I've already filled this little dish with some of my smaller, more delicate rings, and it's sitting beside all of my perfumes atop my little glass Ikea nightstand in the bedroom. I'm going to do a blog in the future about how I store/display my perfumes, too, if that is of any interest to you!

Another item that will play a part in my jar decor project is a mirror, and I found this one for $6.99. It's a little hard to tell how large it is in the picture, but it's about 15" across and 12" tall, with hooks on the back that will allow me to easily hang it on the wall. Score!

. hey oooo!!! .

I'm not a fan of the color gold, so I may end up painting the frame of the mirror a different color. Not sure what color yet though... Suggestions?

Sidebar, check out my sweet fresh 'n crisp white "Canada" sweatshirt! Dave got that for me while we were in Banff in December.

Lastly, I was totes jazzed to find this really pretty cardigan amongst the women's sweaters:

. the two pieces of white lint on the sweater in this picture are pissing me off so much .

I've been going a little nuts for this bright cobalt/royal blue color lately, and on top of that I LOVE cardigans... so this was a double whammy. As you can see, it was only $5.99 and it's in impeccable condition. Even all of the buttons are securely fastened!! I can't wait to wash this, so it doesn't smell like R. Kelly sheets (not that it does in the first place, but that one line in the song has forever solidified the haste with which I'll wash items I've purchased from a thrift shop), and then I'ma wear the shit out of itttttt!

I searched thoroughly through the CD selection at the Salvation Army but didn't come away with anything this time. #Blurgh.

THE END:

So that was everything I ended up with during this little $20 Challenge. And check it out - I actually came in at $18.95! And that's CANADIAN currency! Hollllla!

I had a blast poking through the 4th Ave Salvation Army for this Thrift Shop Challenge. Let's be honest though... I'll take any excuse to spend $20 at that Salvay, because that place is fucking awesome.

If you do this $20 Thrift Shop Challenge, please come back and post your link here! I'd love to check out what you find!

Check out more of my thrifting hauls here: