Opshopping | Other Such Things

Top Five Things to do

on August 19, 2011

Hello everyone! I’m starting something a bit new here. It’s called Top Fives.

Every so often, I will post a list of my personal top five things, in a given category.

The idea is that you can comment on these posts, with your top five in that category.

It’s my way of not only showing you more of my life, but getting to know you a little better too!

I hope you will participate, because it is actually really fun!

(I’m also open to suggestions for Top Five categories… so if you have a good idea for one, let me know.)

Today’s Top Five is:

My Top Five things to do (at the moment)…

1. Riding my bicycle

Oh, the gleeful feeling I get when the wind is whooshing past whilst I’m riding on a sunny day!

2. Blog whoring

I actually waste a lot of time surfing around the place, looking for pretty blogs with pretty pictures and interesting themes… and WHAMO – I’ve lost a whole day!

3. Op-shopping

Need I say more?

4. Listening to our vinyl collection

We have very recently finished setting up our new sound system for our turntable, and we are finally able to listen to all those delicious new vinyls that were purchased whilst on our trip overseas. YISS!

5. Gardening plans

Our little family here at home are about to start a veggie garden, and I have been reading up all about it. It is very exciting! I am looking forward to that day, when I go out into the backyard, and compose an entire meal out of things grown at my own house!

So, how about you? What are currently your top five favourite things to do?

x Jessica

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Thrifty Thursday: Post # 2 – One’s Trash is Another’s Treasure

on June 23, 2011

Thrifty Thursday – noun
Pronounced: Thrifty |ˈθriftē| Thursday |ˈθərzˌdā; -dē|
1. A day to which posts based on thriftiness are uploaded for your viewing pleasure, be it op-shop discoveries, crafty projects or yummy new recipes…

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Thrifty Thursday Number Two:

Firstly, I would love to thank all of you who had a look at my first Thrifty Thursday post last week. I found it very encouraging! Having finished the first post, I was left feeling quite inspired. This thing is going to be great! So I want to thank you all in advance for your comments and support etc. etc.

So, over the past few weeks I have commenced what could be referred to as ‘opshopfrenzy’. I have been spending my pocket money wisely on lovely little things from op-shops. I am constantly amazed at the volume of cute things still around in these places.

Luckily for me, Adelaide is home to a very ageing population. Which means there is a heck of a lot of cool retro stuff still cycling around. Squee! So far, I haven’t been to a thrift store where I haven’t found at least one awesome thing.

The best kind of stores are the ones that are operated independently, like in little church halls, or dusty little hovels in outdoor strip-malls. I like these better because the stock isn’t distributed to other places. I like the places that only sell whatever they receive in donations. I am not altogether very fond of most Vinnies or Salvos stores. When clothing charities get large enough to distribute, their stores get larger, and their prices can get a little expensive. There’s almost nothing more annoying to me than to walk into an op-shop and see a ‘labels rack’ laden with Billabong jeans and Country Road jumpers covered in lint balls.

Not that there’s anything wrong with Billabong, or Country Road for that matter, but I get stuck on the fact that a Country Road jumper will cost $15, where another similar jumper with no brand printed on the tag will be only $5. What a wrought!

/RANT

Here’s the part where I self-contradict: Having said all that, I am posting about four op-shop visits this week. One to Vinnies in Brighton, two to the Salvos in Brighton and Glenelg, and another to Sunflower in Goodwood. Although some things in these shops were a little overpriced and categorized, like I said before, I am still yet to visit an op-shop where I leave empty handed.

And in the sum of all things, it is all for charity, so I should probably stop being such a windbag.

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Store 1: St Vincent de Paul, Brighton

Remember how I said last week that I was just a little bit into blouses? Well, I found some at this store. Yiss!

They were $5 each, so… I splurged and bought both:

And I wore one of them out to a pub later that night:

And SKORTS! Naturally, for $7, I got those too. ;)

And these beautiful clip on earrings. (You really know that something is great when your big brother describes it as “F*&$#@% UGLY”. I love you Dave.)

The Deets:
Address: 367 Brighton Road, Brighton
Main type of goods: Mens’ and Women’s clothing and accessories, and some furniture and bric-a-brac
My rating out of ten: 5/10 – They did have some pretty cool mustard stools there, but most of the clothing was from the late 90s and the staff seemed just a little bit disinterested.

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Store 2: Salvation Army Store, Brighton

I found this awesome lamp. I absolutely LOVE anything made from amber coloured glass.

I also bought some mustard scarves there, which are displayed collectively with others down below.

The Deets:
Address: 429 Brighton Road, Brighton
Main type of goods: Mens’ and Women’s clothing and accessories
My rating out of ten: 6/10 – The staff were very kind and there were a LOT of clothes.

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Store 3: Salvation Army Store, Glenelg

For a Salvos, this is definitely the best I have ever been to. I have visited it on a number of occasions during visits to Adelaide.

Here’s Shelley and I:

Michelle got a SUEDE skirt… aaah, hasn’t she got the loveliest, tiniest little body you have ever seen?!

Here’s some cute things I got there:

And I got this dress:

Also, this is a dress I got from there a few years ago. I am kind of in love with it, and the pretty floral print. I really like peachy colours!

The Deets:
Address: 43 Broadway, Glenelg
Main type of goods: Mens’, Women’s and Children’s clothing and accessories, and some furniture, kids toys, books, and bric-a-brac
My rating out of ten: 7/10 – I do like this place. Each time I go, there are always hidden gems to be found. The staff were a little bit moody, but don’t let that stop you!

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Store 4: Sunflower, Goodwood

I visited this store yesterday with my sister and I was lucky enough to find one of the prettiest headscarves I have found yet! (I have developed quite an obsession to these things)

We also bought this scarf as a ‘sharing present’: (It is truly AWESOME to live with my sister, we share clothes)

Also, I got this beautiful lamp there about three months ago. I have it sitting on our dresser/drawers in me and Dana’s bedroom.

The Deets:
Address: 145 Goodwood Road, Goodwood
Main type of goods: Mens’ and Women’s clothing and accessories, and the occasional lamp.
My rating out of ten: 5/10 – A lot of the stuff there can be pretty pricey. I saw a pair of worn, cherry red Doc Martens in my size, only for my heart to sink upon seeing the price tag underneath: $60. WAAA! Tell ‘em they’re DREAMIN’!

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I also wanted to share this little collection with you. It is a combination of scarves from shops 1, 2 and 3. Obsession much??

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post.

I’d love to know, do you ever take the time to go op-shopping? If so, what is the best find you have ever scored from a thrift store?

See you next week for Thrifty Thursday # 3!

xx Jessica

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Thrifty Thursday: Post # 1 – Save the Children

on June 16, 2011

Thrifty Thursday – noun
Pronounced: Thrifty |ˈθriftē| Thursday |ˈθərzˌdā; -dē|
1. A day to which posts based on thriftiness are uploaded for your viewing pleasure, be it op-shop discoveries, crafty projects or yummy new recipes…

____________________________________________________________

Let’s be honest here, moving away from the place I essentially grew up in is hard. I miss my best friends, I miss my mum and dad, I miss the little things, the big things, and I also miss having a good income.

It is really easy, and very tempting for me to get quite despondent about this situation, and I think I have spent a few too many days moping about.

I have been realising over the past few weeks, that this stinky attitude of mine is doing me no good! I am actually selling myself short.

So: Thrifty Thursdays now come to you, as my first initiative in my new project – a happy, fulfilling, conscientious, healthy, productive life.

I do hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I am going to enjoy sharing it with you.

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Thrifty Thursday Numero Uno:

So, Adelaide is bloody cold. Coming from Brisbane, I have soon realised that I do not possess quite appropriate attire to abide within such a climate. Some days lately, I have been feeling entirely cold to the bone.

So I decided, this is as good an excuse as any: I am going op-shopping.

This particular day, Dana was working at the markets. I decided to take myself on a little drive to Glenelg – to visit Save the Children’s op-shop. (I secretly love op-shopping alone – mainly because I can spend as long as I like staring at myself in the mirror, and also because of the apparent lack of any sort of external ‘voice of reason’.)

Upon entering the store, I was greeted by two cheeky ladies, and was well entertained by the banter that was going back and forth between them.

So I piled my arms with could-be purchases, and on the way to the change room, I was distracted by something orange and furry – a nice old Kangol hat. Yep, he came with me too.

I have recently developed quite a liking to finding lovely old blouses. The fabrics are usually much thicker, the stitching much stronger and the buttons much more interesting than many of the things you can find in retail today – unless of course you don’t mind spending an arm and a leg! (I normally wouldn’t mind, but currently, I am down to only two arms and two legs, so it probably wouldn’t be wise at the moment. Think, two month overseas holiday followed by interstate move, only casual work, and ridiculousdeathterriblecreditcarddebtblah.)

Here are some of the things I tried on:

After it all, I didn’t end up getting the mustard blouse, but I did get the red and the white ones, the orange hat and some beautiful old lacy slips. (They weren’t quite appropriate for display – it’s not that kind of ‘viewing pleasure’ ;) .) Total bill = $26.

Here’s the hat, and GAH, how cute is that bow?!

Shopping for recycled clothing and goodies always leaves me feeling uplifted and in such a cheerful mood!

If you just so happen to be an Adelaiden, you should visit this op-shop yourself.

The Deets:
Address: 101 Partridge St, Glenelg South
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri 10am-4pm, Saturday 9am-12noon
Main type of goods: Mens’ and Women’s clothing and accessories
Stock distribution: They mainly sell what is donated in store, but sometimes contact nearby stores for certain stock if they don’t have any of that particular item.
My rating out of ten: 8/10 – friendly staff, good range, and a relatively swift turnover

That’s it for this first Thrifty Thursday, there will be more usual posts throughout the week, but be sure to check out the next instalment in another seven sleeps.

x Jessica

Ps. Please don’t be shy – I love reading your comments. Go ahead and share some lovin’.

4 Comments

Hahndorf and op-shoppy goodness

on June 8, 2011

The great thing about having people come and visit you, is that you get to show them around to all of the cool places you know. For me, having Roman stay was a good reminder of just how cool Adelaide is.

There are so many awesome places to visit, no more than an hour out of the city. For some reason, all of the Adelaidens I have gotten to know here (including my family) consider any thing over a 20 minute drive to be “aAAAaaaaaaaages awayyyy”. To someone who grew up in Brisbane, this just seems ludicrous to me!

When Dana and I lived in Brisbane, I would drive to work in Bulimba from my home in Cleveland, and it would take me about 40 minutes if the traffic was good. And we would also have no qualm with visiting our best friends every weekend on the Northside (a trip that would take us 1.5 hours each way) (we could have taken the highway and cut our travel time in half, but that would mean paying a toll. I am morally opposed to paying tolls, and have a very patient husband – so we would always go the longer way.)

So, (sorry about my blah blah-ing) Dana and I took Roman to the German town of Hahndorf – it took just under 30 minutes to get there from home including a quick stop at the Central Markets in the city to get some roasted nuts for the ‘biglongtrip’.

Our main purpose of this trip to Hahndorf was to go to a pub called ‘The German Arms’. Where we drank very large glasses of cider, and ate ridiculously huge meaty meals (which ultimately formed part of the reason we decided to do a juice detox for this week – but more of that later).

I normally abhor photos of food, but this one kinda begged me to be put up:

We had a lovely time, well I did, despite the chilly Adelaide Hills weather.

Also, most excitingly, we happened upon a dingy op-shop on the main street which was surprisingly awesome. There was a grand selection of chunky, woolen, ugly cardigans and I found this gem for ONLY $3.50.

My consequent visit to the back room of the store was met by me with a high-pitched “Squeeeee!”

You see, for the past few years now, I have been steadily building a collection of stoneware dinner plates (circa 1970′s). I do however, have some regulations that I follow for this:

1. I am only allowed to purchase single plates at a time
2. I am not allowed to break up an existing set – plates can only be purchased if they are already lonely
3. Plates purchased must have some sort of floral motif

This is the one I picked (isn’t she lovely?):

Here are some more photos from our day:

Champions we are.

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Posts tagged ‘Opshopping’

Top Five Things to do

Thrifty Thursday: Post # 2 – One’s Trash is Another’s Treasure

Thrifty Thursday: Post # 1 – Save the Children

Hahndorf and op-shoppy goodness

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