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Thursday, November 30, 2006

A good choice, I'd say

Remember the coat I bought for $90 and then decided it wasn't quite right for me? Well, I returned it, paid a visit to the Sally Ann (otherwise known as the Salvation Army thrift store), bought this coat for $5...
coat
And then for good measure, I bought this funky wrap/shawl for $3...
wrap
BUT the best part of all? With a few extra dollars thrown in, I bought THIS PAINTING from blog friend and talented artist, Andrea Pratt from Colouring Outside the Lines.
penguin
I'm SO excited and I can't wait to get my painting in the mail. Like I've said before, when I make money freelance writing (and it's not usually very much), I try to re-invest the money in myself by buying something that will inspire me - a book, a cd, something like that. Well I wasn't sure a faux fur coat would inspire my creativity, but I'm pretty sure this fun and colourful painting will.

One of the greatest things about blogging (a rather unexpected delight) has been the opportunity to meet artists, writers, and other creative people from all over the world. I love to be part of a creative community like this, and I hope the brilliance of all these shining stars rubs off on me.

23 comments:

Pamela said...

I'm sure you've mentioned the Sally Ann sometime in a previous post, long before I started visiting.

Who? or What? is a Sally Ann?

Heather Plett said...

Sorry Pamela - the Sally Ann is the Salvation Army thrift store.

Liz said...

Awesome painting! I visited her site last time you mentioned her and everything I leaned towards was already sold. That's a beauty!

By the way, did you ever take a picture of the faux fur? I like your $5 choice very much. You look very comfortable in it.

Pamela said...

I'm short - and kinda chubby wubby --- and never have any luck at thrift stores.

Then, another factor is that some people just know how to shop.

I'm a horrid shopper with or without money

karla said...

Lovely! What a great buy! We often check out Value Village for good buys too. I bought come cute baby sleepers there, and when I needed a pair of shorts this summer to accomodate my growing belly, I found a pair for $2.00. Can't beat that.

I'm also a huge fan of ebay. I bought Nate a Christmas themed sleeper and his winter bunting bag/coat online.


I haven't even broken out my winter jacket yet. In fact, last weekend we didn't even need jackets it was so warm. Now, the only coats we need here in Toronto are rain coats. The stuff just wont stop falling out of the sky.

joyce said...

Heather-- I totally get all of that. What a great exchange-- Three for one Sale. The painting is great, and don't you love paying $5 instead of $90?

Anvilcloud said...

Pretty nifty. I am married to a person who loves to look flamboyant in shawls, wraps and capes.

Whippersnapper said...

Holy freaking gorgeous painting, batman! And a big toast to the local Sally Ann and other thrift stores without which my family could not survive!

Kila said...

Oh, I really like that coat on you.

I recently bought my kids some clothing and new boots, and myself some Christmas dinnerware, at Goodwill--all like new, yet I spent so little. $40 boots for $2.95, yay!

Gina said...

Love bargains!

You look lovely in both!

And there is nothing so nice as a beautiful work of art to look at and make you happy!

ccap said...

Cool painting!

andrea said...

I'm still swearing off blogs and blogging until I feel reasonably on top of things here (I just bought $300 worth of groceries and those huge shopping carts at Superstore couldn't hold it all -- took me 1.5 hours to properly unpack/put it all away, yeesh) but I caught sight of this on Bloglines and had to drop in and say a big thank you. I must admit that I don't want to give this little paitning up -- which rarely happens any more -- because I like it so much, too. It gets varnished tonight and will be in the post before you can say Salvatian Army Thrift Store. BTW I love the coat and I love the Sally Ann and all its clones. One of the best parts? No PST or GST! (And to further prove how thrifty I am, I got $30 off my grocs because I bought over $250 and even renmembered to bring the coupon!)

Hmmm -- that was almost a post. Clearly I'm suffering blog withdrawal.

Anonymous said...

What fabulous treats! That painting is amazing, lucky you.

Dana a/k/a Sunshine said...

I love thrift shop finds! Those are great!!

BarnGoddess_01 said...

I like the wrap AND the painting :)

great pics too!

Like Pamela, I have no luck at thrift stores because of my build but I buy for my boys when I get the chance.

thailandchani said...

I used to buy all my clothes and household items from thrift stores. They're great! :)

Love the cape!


Peace,

~Chani

Hope said...

The coat is beautiful with your hair colouring, and that shawl makes your blue eyes pop. Great choices. the painting... stunning.
Extremely good use of 90 free bucks!!

Whippersnapper said...

OK, Heath, you know I'm computer illiterate. I tried to find your E-mail address on your site, but totally failed. :( Leave it on my comment page. My Email is supposed to be "almost-conscious@lycos.com", but to date it hasn't seemed to work: everyone who has tried to reach me there has failed, so obviously something is wrong.

Anonymous said...

What a great trade off! And I love that painting! Not quite as much as the painting of Mr. Poodlestein Jenny gave away, but really close.

Anonymous said...

Excellent choices! I love the painting and I'm a huge sucker for wraps. (I'm wearing one right now...and in the picture I posted on my blog today now that I'm thinking about it.)

Anonymous said...

The coats are wonderful.. and what a price. One never knows what treasures one may find at Sally Ann. And the picture.. now that is just too beautiful. Love the colours.

Anonymous said...

We are big fans of Sally Ann. There is a place called Tuesday House where we live. My daughter went to school telling her friends she got her new skirt at the Tue house. I had a Mom call me asking where it was because her daughter HAD to have one! Second hand is the only way to go!

Cuppa said...

Love the cape!