Married to the Empire

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Weekend Report

Saturday's plans changed drastically. One of the stormtroopers was supposed to come over to work on banners, but he cancelled, so Steven and I had an afternoon to fill. We headed out to the Old Town part of our city to go to the feed store. Steven was looking for burlap for a Halloween costume he's making, but when we got downtown, the roads were blocked off. We detoured around and found a parking spot, only to be carded as we tried to enter downtown. What???

Turns out our town was having Western Days or something like that, and Old Town was blocked off from entrance. You had to prove your residency just to enter if you didn't want to pay a whopping entrance fee. I told the bouncer volunteer at the gate, "But we just want to go to the feed store!" Ridiculous.

Anyway, we were allowed in once we showed our driver's licenses, and we spent some time in the feed store chatting with the owner. He told us the store has been in his family for over 100 years. He was filling us in on our town's history. It was really interesting! Then Steven set about finding the burlap sacks he'd come in for.



Since we were in the gates anyway, we walked around for a bit, looking at all the displays and vendors. A car show of sorts was going on with old cars such as this:



I was sucked into this vendor's space immediately, as I found her repurposed cabinet doors just beautiful:



Our hubbies chatted and discovered that they're both Baptist ministers (mine is a youth minister and hers is a pastor), so they talked "shop" while I chose my piece of art. We totally were out looking for inexpensive materials for Steven's costume, and we wound up spending money on wall art. Unexpected, but wonderful. I've been unhappy with what's on my living room wall for quite some time, and I've been looking for just the right thing. This makes me happy:



We left Old Town and headed out to a few more places, including a New Orleans store/restaurant where we bought an inexpensive lunch of shrimp po'boys, French fries, and root beer made with Louisiana cane sugar. Pure nirvana.

Our final errand of the afternoon was a stop at Goodwill. Steven was again looking for costuming stuff. We ran into a family from our church in there, and one of the daughters was looking for a purse to take to the Homecoming dance that evening. She showed me what she'd found, and it was all so pretty that I was inspired to look at purses. I enjoy thrift store shopping, but I've never looked for or bought clothes or accessories there. That's the one hurdle I hadn't yet been willing to jump.

While looking at purses, I happened to glance at the shoes, and there was this gorgeous red pair with black accents. Excellent condition, barely-worn children's dress shoes. My size. Price: $1.50. I decided to take a chance. There was also a box full of sweaters for only 50 cents each. Again, I took a chance. Two sweaters for only 99 cents!



We went to dinner and a movie that evening with friends. I wore my fabulous new shoes and received lots of compliments. I confessed where I'd bought them and what I'd paid. Amazement all around. I think I could get used to this thrift store stuff! (But my daddy will be horrified if he finds out I'm wearing used shoes!)

2 comments:

Joanne Brown said...

Sounds like a fun day! Unexpected bargains are always a delight :) and those shoes ARE cute :) I actually just bought myself a purse at the thrift store this week. I saw it there last week but as it as dark blue didn't buy it (I didn't think I had anything to wear it with). But on Monday I pulled out a blue sweater to wear and realized the purse would look cute with it, so off I went to buy it. And yes, it was still there :)

Anonymous said...

I am sure you did, but what always works for me when buying Goodwill items is shoes can be sprayed and wiped with disinfectant. Most other items I just toss in the washer beofre wearing.