backpack, cats, fox, lamps, mid century, mid century modern, mugs, side table, thrift, thrift store, what i didn't buy at the thrift store, what i left behind, wishbone

What I didn’t buy at the thrift store

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1. A Fox

I found this Illustrated fox/ cardboard cutout at Savers a few weeks back. The fox is very handsome and would be a fun piece in any room really, especially a kids room, but I didn’t really have a need for it and lately have been trying to not bring in unnecessary things. Hopefully this got a home on some adorable child’s wall.
2. Brass and Marble side table 
I really liked this side table, but wanna know what I have a lot of? side tables. I’m not even kidding I have five in one room. This was cute but I need closed storage more than side tables, so I passed.

3. lil Wishbone

I used to have a dog named Wishbone (before the TV show started thank you very much) and she was the sweetest dog. I also was a fan of the PBS show and even went to meet wishbone once at the Mall with my best friend and her mom, but the line was so long we got fed up and left. Anyway I spotted this mini Wishy at an estate sale and had instant nostalgia, but stuffed animals I need not.
4. Rich n’ Creamy Nestle Cup
I loved the typography on this mug and the cool 70’s vibes. I was going to get it if I ended up finding anything else, but I didn’t find anything else that day and forgot about the mug. 

5. Mid Century Modern Library cart

I’ve seen these before on craigslist and such but have honestly never really got them. I’m sure there is someone somewhere who styles these bad boys amazingly and would make me regret not buying it. But, I’d rather have cleaner looking closed storage or storage with non-slanted shelves. I thought about this for a while (it was super cheap) but I decided to pass and let it go to someone who’d be really excited for it.

6. Gold Lamp with potential

Something about the clean lines of this gold lamp drew me to it. With the right lampshade and/or a coat of spraypaint it could be really cool. But for the most part unless it’s an amazing Mid Century lamp that I just cannot live without I generally pass on lamps, like side table I already have too many. 

7. Men’s symbol Mug

This was another piece I told myself I’d go back for if I found anything else, but I didn’t. It’s very Austin Powers and I love that about it. The only thing with vintage mugs is they are often pretty small. That is obviously coming from the land of huge portions and giant mugs but I’ve become so accustomed to bigger mugs I find it hard buy cute smaller ones at the thrift store. I feel like I’d opt for the bigger ones and they’d be used mostly for decoration, which is kind of silly.

8. Backpack

I was given an old real leather coach mini backpack a few weeks before I saw this one. When I first spotted it I was hopping it was a bucket bag, so when I found out it was a backpack I was a little bummed. It’s super cute but I don’t really need two small backpacks, so I left it.

8. TACO CATS IN SPACE!!!!!

I saw this shirt hanging on a dressing room and loved it. But I wasn’t really in the mood to check the tag or try it on.  I love it though, had I been in a different mood ( and it been in my size) I may have bought it. 
9. Small Mid Century Lamp

I carried this around with me a bit, it was only three dollars but in the end I decided it really wasn’t cool enough for me to bring home. Plus I don’t really have a place for it.

10. Big Box Light

I liked the look of this lamp. Obviously it’s very big and bulky but something about it was appealing, I still passed though.

11.  Mixed Media lamp

 This lamp had a cool look i’d never seen before. But didn’t need it.

12.  Sand Dollar Lamps

There were two of these lamps and I actually think they’re really cool. I love the texture on them and think they have a really interesting shape. But I really have no place to put them, so I passed.

70's, art deco, cats, coat, dogs, donut mug, dresses, H&M, haul, old navy, owl, poodle, salt and pepper shakers, sequin, side table, table, tea set, thirft, thrift haul, tops, vase

Thirft Haul

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I haven’t done a thrift haul it what seems like forever. But, I’m trying to get back into the blogging regularly pattern and I have a bunch of thrift finds from the last couple months that have been patiently waiting for me to blog them, so here goes nothin’. I’m also linking up with Apron Thrift Girl, Sir Thrift-a-Lot, Remnant and A Living Space. Be sure to check out all of their thrift finds as well.

1. Decorative Owl Side Table. 

 I was never really that into the whole owl craze, but when I saw this table at Goodwill I had to have it. You just don’t see stuff like this everyday at the thrifts so when you do you pounce, and I did. The table was a little pricier then I would really have liked to spend, but I didn’t want to chance loosing it and it was so unique I figured I could deal with the price ($50.00). Plus I got paid the next day. I’ve never really had a great score at this Goodwill so this was a first, a very welcome first.


2. “Made in Italy” vase and Art Deco Salt and Pepper shakers. 

This vase was another find at Goodwill. It’s simple, cute, and was only 3 bucks so I had to get it. The Salt and Pepper shakers were found at Value Village. I’ve seen some of these in antique stores and thought they were cool but generally antique stores just make me hope i’ll one day find that item in a thrift store. So when I found these for 4 bucks I had to get them.

3. Ceramic cat set.

 I got these at the Salvation army for around 4 or 5 bucks (for all of them). They’re kinda creepy and kind of cool, my favorite combination, so I got them.

4. Patterned Shift Dress.

 I’m never sure if you guys want to see my thrifted clothes just on the hanger like this but I figured i’d give it a shot. I got this dress at Salvation Army, It’s originally from Old Navy and I though it was pretty cute.

5. Striped H&M Shift Dress.

I got this at Value Village. Value Village tends to be hit or miss, like most thrift stores, but when you hit at Value Village you really hit. I’m kind of obsessed with this dress, it’s a touch shorter than I’d like but it’s so cute  I had to get it. Plus it’s not that short.

6. Sequin T-shirt. 

 I found this shirt at Value Village too. It is also kind of short but I really like it so I’m determined to make it work, we’ll see how that goes.

7. Poodle on Wood. 

I found this at Savers and it was just “so bad it’s good” that I couldn’t help but get it, and it was only 3 bucks. Interestingly enough it was apparently given to someone as a birthday gift last year, or so says the inscription on the back, guess they weren’t into it but one man’s trash is another man’s come up, right?

8. 70’s Orange Coat.

I found this at Savers a few weeks back. I’m kind of obsessed with it and now that it’s getting slightly warmer I’m totally gonna wear it. This will definitely go into my Fall/Spring coat rotation. Also every time I see it I think of the thrift shop song, because you know “I’m in this big ass coat, I look incredible.”

9. Donut Mug. 

I found this mug at Value Village at their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday sale. By the time I got the store it had been pretty cleaned out but I saw a sort of funky looking box in the housewares aisle and inside was this guy. I thought it was a pretty cool mug and who doesn’t like donuts? especially ones with SPRINKLES, which were totally my favorite as a kid. Obviously it was destiny for the donut mug and I to meet. Also it makes me think of Homer Simpson every time I drink out of it, unexpected bonus? yups.

Anyway those are my recent thrift finds. I’ll try to bring you guys an outfit post later this week. I haven’t been wearing anything super interesting lately, thus the lack of posts, but with warm weather around the corner (hopefully) I’m starting to get my fashion mojo back. I’ll also try to get more of the Florida pictures up in a post. I don’t want to drown you with photos but editing them down has been taking awhile.

Also though I still don’t have a smart phone (yet?), I do have an iPod touch and that means I also have instagram. So if you’d like to see LOTS of pictures of my cats as well as thrift finds and other random stuff you can follow me @blackcatlies, or click here, or click on the instagram button on the bottom of the “Follow me” window to your right.

ASOS, cats, DV by Dolce Vita, florida, hemingway, key west, OOTD, target, thrift, vacation 2013

A Sweet Escape

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      So a couple weeks ago (Valentines Day week to be exact) I packed up and went to Florida for the week. My mom got a few weeks off and wanted to go somewhere and when I was able to get a week off so we decided we should go somewhere warm, so we went to Florida.  We kind of went all over Florida, we landed in Fort Lauderdale and drove to our hotel in Islamadora, Fl (one of the Florida Keys), then we spent the next day in Key West and drove (8hrs) to Orlando. In Orlando we did the usual, Disney World and Universal Studios for 3 days (which really isn’t a lot of time, people usually spend a week doing just that) and then we went to Tampa where we went on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern University and a tour of (mostly) Mid Century modern houses in Sarasota, Fl. All in all it was an incredibly busy but fun vay-cay. Whenever I go back I’ll probably do less and spend more time on the beach, but it was a really nice trip and a nice break from winter.
        I did take pictures, but there are so many I think i’ll break them up into three posts. I also have a couple outfit posts from the trip so i’ll include those when appropriate. I don’t have as many outfit posts, as a lot of the Orlando time my outfits were more functional than fashion-y, it also was a tad cold (like 50/60 degrees but with rain) some of the days so a lot of the pictures of me during those days are of me in a hoodie, which isn’t real exciting.
         I figured I’d  get the outfit post out of the way first. I wore this the first full day we spent in Florida. I like it but i’m not in love with it, not really sure why.

The patio of our hotel room.

Top (actually a dress): Thirfted  Skirt: Asos  Belt: Target  Shoes: DV by Dolce Vita

 
Now onto the (many) Florida Keys Photos:

Palm trees

view from our room’s patio

the beach around our hotel

I guess Islamadora is known for it’s good fishing so our hotel had lots of docks for boats and fishing,

cool bird

These little cabins were also part of our hotel. Aren’t they cute?

 Key West.

When we finally got to Key West we had to find parking, it was really packed when we got there, and we went immediately to Ernest Hemingway’s house, one of our must see sites on the trip.

The Hemingway House

The house had some really cool light fixtures:

Hemingway was a cat person and was really fond of these extra-toed cats. Now the decendents of these cats occupy the house and grounds, it’s really cute.

just a cat on Hemingways bed, nbd.

the house had some amazing bathrooms

You know just hanging out on the display thing

I’m obsessed with this bathroom, isn’t it amazing? I want it!
Look at that funky tile. momma like.

view down from the veranda

I told you i liked that bathroom

The ground were really beautiful too, though the ground smelled a bit like cat pee…

Hemingway’s carridge house/ study. I love the way this room is decorated.

The cats really do run this house

Urinal turned cat watering hole. Hemingway took it from his favorite bar Sloppy Joe’s (see below) when they moved to a new location. His then wife added the water fixture and tile to pretty it up.

We found a cat that looked like my Olive man so I had to take a few pictures of it.
shortly after this the cat on the left pounced on the cat on the right, it was pretty cute.

Oliver? no, but still cute

All cats love boxes

Cat houses made to look like mini versions of the big house

cat cemetery

the house was right across the street from a light house

On the streets in Key West:

The Southernmost Point of the USA:

The marker that i didn’t take a picture in front of because there was literally a line for it. I wasn’t waiting in line for that.

Hemingway’s favorite bar

cats, new additions, oliver

New Additions: Meet Oliver

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He’s a total nip fiend.

And as you can see, he’s a total ham.

        A couple months ago this guy waltzed through our front door and shook things up. I’d seen him roaming around the brick ledge of our house from time to time, then a couple days later my mom almost hit him while he was eating out of a McDonald’s bag in the middle of the street. She brought him in the house and there he’s stayed ever since. He was a little tough to love in the beginning because he wasn’t neutered and was cray-zy. But he was very sweet when he wasn’t in a hormonal craze, so we got him fixed and now he’s perrrfect. The only problem is our other cats aren’t real fond of him, he’s an attention hog, but I think they’ll warm up to him in no time. Anyway this is Oliver, the pleasure’s all his.

cats, DSW, OOTD, skirt a day challenge, thrift

DAY 8: Casual

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gratuitous cute cat picture
detail of the skirt pattern
Top and Skirt: Thrift  Belt: Target  Shoes: DSW 
             This is probably one of my favorite outfits of the whole skirt challenge. I’ve worn this outfit, as is and in a variety of different incarnations, way more than I should have since getting the skirt. I got this skirt two weeks ago in Eau Claire, WI when my mom and I randomly took a mini road trip to the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. Despite it being early September, all the Halloween stuff was out and of course that means the vintage rack, that usually is pretty lack luster in the Savers I usually frequent, was stuffed. I found this skirt there, it’s navy blue with little yellow stars on it. Surprisingly it’s super on trend, it’s not only a midi skirt it also has one of the trendy prints of the season, stars. At first I was going to pair it with the bright yellow shirt I wore for the color block challenge but I just wasn’t feeling being that bright. So I paired it with this lovely grey t-shirt that I paid a little too much for at Unique Thrift Store, but loved too much to not get it. I like the color and the fact that it has some interesting texture/pattern to it, something that makes it a little more interesting than your regular grey t-shirt.
             I wore this outfit to go to an Estate Sale in Austin, MN. I had seen a sale online and it looked like it had pretty good stuff  and my mom and I are always up for a mini road trips, as long as the weathers nice, so we got up early and went. It took about two or so hours to get to Austin and well we probably won’t be going back. We went to the Estate sale and everything was ridiculously overpriced. We came on the last day of the Sale so everything was 50% off but there was still a lot of stuff despite the fact that it was the third day of the sale. I found some clothes I was interested including a black 80’s dress with a sequin embellished neckline. But, when we went to check out the lady told me, very rudely, that instead of being $2.50 the dress would be $20.00 because it was embellished. Turns out the rack where I had gotten the dress had other 80’s embellished sequin tops and that dress and instead of originally being $5.00 like the rest of the stuff on the rack they were $40.00 or so because of the embellishment. The problem? they’re ugly 80’s sequin shirts! They’re not in style and only some people are really interested in wearing them in a sort of ironic-y fashion. I have a similar old lady 80’s sequin cardigan that I bought at the Salvation Army for like $3.00.  Needless to say the prices were ridiculous and I wouldn’t be surprised if they still had a bunch of stuff left over after the sale ended. Anyway after that we explored Austin a bit, which kinda smells like Ham/Spam due to the Hormel plant near by. The town was ok and we ended up stopping for lunch at a Mexican Restaurant that was nice. But after that we decided to split. The lovely interactions we had with the ladies at the sale left a bad taste in our mouths so we left and went back home. When we got back we went to another Estate sale in a town closer to home and found some really cool stuff which we ended up paying a total of $40.00 for on the last day of the sale, way less then we would have spent at the sale in Austina and for way better stuff. Guess we won’ be going to anymore Estate sales in Austin.

cats, DSW, old navy, OOTD, skirt a day challenge, Tang, target, thrift

Day 6: Make it Classy add a blazer

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Tang and my shoes

       Blazer & Belt: Target  Shirt: Old Navy Skirt: Thrift  Shoes: DSW
              Sorry for this slightly delayed post, I wore this and couple other outfits the last few weeks and took pictures this weekend but we changed internet providers and had a mini lapse in internet for few days. Anyway we’re back up and running and I have a bunch of skirt challenge outfits to post and will hopefully be wrapping up this challenge soon. 
             On to the clothes! I wore this outfit to get up really early on a Saturday and try and get some amazing things at the final day of an estate sale. I totally lucked out and got all the pieces I wanted, about eight things for $40 bucks, all of which I’ll show you in an up coming A Sale-ing We Shall Go. Most of this outfit I’ve had for a really long time. The blazer I think I’ve had for roughly five years and never really worn. I’ve never really been much of a blazer person, I think they look amazing on a lot of people and can really pull an outfit together but I’ve just never really gravitated towards them. I bought this one because I’m an avid What Not to Wear fan and Stacy and Clinton always praise a good blazer. Anyway I think I may be a convert now, I really like how the blazer pulled together the outfit and I think i’ll have to start giving them more of a chance. The skirt was originally an 80’s dress I got at Savers a couple years ago in a very last minute decision. I liked the color and pattern so I just decided to get it. When I got home I tried to twerk it and make it work as a dress but it just wasn’t cutting it, so a year or so ago I cut my losses and made it into a skirt. I think I made the right decision. It’s a lot more versitle as a skirt and I really like it. The only slight downfall is it’s kinda sheer. It could probably use a slip but the only one I have is really long so I just wore it as is, I figure I don’t really care if in the right sunlight you can kinda see the outline of my hips. 
      Anyway  you may have noticed a little furry friend at the bottom of a few of the pictures, that’s one of the two cats behind Black Cat Lies, my fur baby Tang. Usually when i’m taking pictures she wonders what the hell i’m doing and comes over to meow at me and rub against my legs. As you can see she’s not a black cat but she’s adorable so you can’t really complain too much. The other cat behind BCL is Diamond who isn’t really a black cat, she’s a torise shell, but she’s mostly black so just go with it. You’ll probably see more Tang pictures in the future since I can’t resist a gratuitous cute cat picture and she always seems to be following me around when I take outfit pictures You probably wont see as much of Diamond, she’s not as much of a ham but i’ll try and post pictures of her too.