Thrift store finds.

I am officially finished with college classes! My last online class ends today, and I submitted my final assignment last night. I'm so thankful that I don't have to worry about it anymore. Also, thanks to everyone who commented about the value of handmade in my last post. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in feeling the way I do. :) Now I'm going to move from talking about the worth of handmade items to shopping for thrift store bargains...

Me and my mom hit a couple of thrift stores while we were in town today. I've recently become fascinated with the idea of collecting some gorgeous vintage Pyrex, so I had been itching to thrift. We went to our Goodwill and DAV thrift stores, and I found some fun stuff. :)

Our Goodwill has a nice record section (though they're a little higher compared to our other thrift stores- single records are $2, and sets are more) and an amazing book "section." I know I've mentioned this before, but there's basically a used bookstore inside. Anyway, here's what I found:

-The Best of Glenn Miller: Volume 2. No, I don't have volume 1, but one can never have too much Glenn Miller! He's my favorite big band leader. $2

-To Kill a Mockingbird. I have never read this. That makes me feel like a terrible reader, but it'll soon be remedied. :) I have seen the film, though (Gregory Peck!). $3- more than their paperbacks usually are, but still not bad. I saw this exact edition in Target today for $13. The cover is not my favorite {I'm a nerd about book covers}, but it'll do for the price. :)

-Joy of Cooking. The All-Purpose Cookbook, as the cover says. I had never heard of this book until I was reading My Life in France, Julia Child's autobiography/memoir, and she mentions loving this cookbook and meeting the author in Paris. I've been looking for two specific cookbooks at the Goodwill for several months now: this one and the Fannie Farmer cookbook (which was recommended to me by several people). I think this is the 1975 edition, but according to the reviews on Amazon, the older versions are better than the newer ones?? I have had this edition on my Amazon wishlist for almost 3 months now, and it's $23 on there. I paid $3 at Goodwill! And although the dustcover is a little stained (understandable :), the actual book is in perfect condition and even has two red ribbon bookmarks. :) I figure that now I'm finished with my college classes, I can't put off learning cooking skills any longer. Don't worry- I'll document it here and it should be very interesting. :)

Our DAV is one of those thrift stores that doesn't look very promising at first. It's sort of disorganized and not especially clean, to be honest. But I have found some awesome stuff there. They also have a lot of dishes and housewares, so we thought that would be a better place to find Pyrex than Goodwill (which has very little of those).

That's where I found this.

My first thought was not exactly a positive one. :) The color seemed sort of atrocious, but as soon as I got closer and looked at it, it grew on me tremendously. And then I opened it and knew that I had to buy it.

I sort of have a thing for vintage luggage. It's so unusual and sturdy and tacky (in a good way). I have five or six train cases, and this is my first piece of vintage luggage other than a train case. It cost $4.50.

The inside is ridiculously perfect. Like brand new. It makes me wonder if the previous owner ever even used it! And it only has the faintest bit of a musty smell that needs to be aired out (some of my train cases smelled strongly of old, stale perfume and make-up).

There are three pockets- two in the bottom section (one has a zipper, the other is elastic), and one on the divider. The divider separates the suitcase into two sections:

I love Samsonite! From the little bit of research I did online, this suitcase is likely from the 70s.

These two pictures show the correct color the best. It's a very 60s/70s shade of green. :)

And I didn't find this until I got home: the key, in the original packaging! Swoon. :) Along with a little square of white fabric- not sure what that is supposed to be.

I am super excited about my green suitcase, in case you can't tell. My family may be going on vacation to Florida this fall, and if we do, I'm taking this suitcase and one of the train cases as my luggage. {Hint, hint, Marmee and Father.}

The only Pyrex pieces I found were three little unusual cups. They were cute, but I didn't really know how I would use them, so I didn't get them. But I couldn't resist yellow (I dream of having a yellow kitchen someday). So I got these little mugs. According to the bottom, they were made in Italy. They were 50 cents each but 50% off today, so I got all three for 75 cents. They haven't been washed yet, so ignore any dirt or dust you may see. :)

Ollie (my brother's cat, whom I've sort of adopted) is so nosy. Apparently no one has ever talked to him about what curiosity does to cats. :) He was scared of the suitcase at first, but he loves to lay on plastic bags and paper so he couldn't stay away for long.

Until next time,