Tag: thrifting

geek style · shoppin'

Thrifty Thursday

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

Stockton may be considered a podunk town (we did make it on Forbes‘ worst cities to live in list multiple times), but it has some redeeming qualities — I swear by Podesto’s deli sandwiches, Tiger Yogurt is AMAZING, we’re the only city in California with a Dillard’s and they have awesome sales, Crossroads Trading Co.’s only outlet store is in Stockton, and we have some of the best thrift stores around! My friend Marcos told me that Superior Thirft has 20% discounts for students with IDs every Thursday, so we made plans to go yesterday along with Shanice and Jen.

Superior Thrift is on the side of town I don’t care to venture off to by myself (plus I like avoiding super busy streets), but Marcos told me I had to get over it and made me drive there. And I did okay! *phew*

This purple tie-dye poncho/shirt hybrid was so effing ugly I had to try it on. I just wanted to have an Ugly Betty moment.

Anyway, I managed to find a silver locket, a rodeo belt buckle, a maroon bow tie a la Doctor Who, a copy of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, a mustard yellow Mr. Rogers-esque cardigan, a Michael Kors dress, and a purple pave hippo ring for my mom. I found a few other items as well, but they didn’t work out — like the knitted TARDIS blue sweater with gold stitching I found. It was hella itchy and unflattering. I also tried on a Bill Cosby-esque cardigan, and a red dress from the 80s (long sleeve, gold buttons, chain pattern throughout). I thought it was one of those things where it was so ugly, it might be cute. But alas. I was wrong.

Mustard yellow cardigan by Casual Corner. My mom said it's probably from the 80s. And Rory is my blog's unofficial mascot.
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This Michael Kors mini dress was only $10!
I've been wanting a rodeo belt buckle since May. Better late than never I suppose.
This locket kind of reminds of the one in the film adaptation of The Secret Garden.

Marcos managed to snag some nice button-up shirts (and I picked one out for him!) and a swanky Triple 5 Soul khaki jacket, Jen found an authentic military jacket, and Shanice got a fancy grey sweater. I would’ve taken pictures of their loot too, but I was too busy complaining about being hungry in the midst of shopping. All in all, the four of us got some pretty nice swag.

geek style · shoppin'

Lodi Street Faire

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

Every May and October my mom and I wake up at the ass crack of dawn to head to the Lodi Street Faire. Why so early? To get first dibs on all the goods, of course! In May I wrote a post with 10 tips about shopping at these kinds of things (Tip #10: Get there early).

You can find the aforementioned post here.

We ended up getting there around 7 am (an hour later than we would’ve liked), but I still managed to score a bunch of awesome swag. My first find was a vintage Wicket coin bank (I love Ewoks, and my dog looks like one — I had to have it). The vendor originally asked for $10, then I asked if she’d take $8, and she was like, “Well, I originally wanted $15 for it… blah blah,” but then she went ahead and gave it to me for $8. LE WOOT! <– Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to negotiate.

Seriously, it doesn’t hurt to try and bargain with vendors. I have weird social anxiety issues, so I always had a problem doing this — my mom still has to encourage me to ask if they’ll lower the price. *nervous laughter* I think I’m getting a bit better at it though! And a lot of vendors are usually willing to negotiate the prices of their merchandise with shoppers.

Other items I scored:

  • Snake bracelet (marked at $16, I asked for $10, but the lowest they’d go was $12)
  • Nefertiti necklace ($5 — it kind of reminds me of my Mona Lisa necklace)
  • Enamel horse pendant w/chain (marked at $32.50, I asked the vendor if they’d take it for $25 and I ended up getting it for $27 something because they added tax… weird)
  • Japanese lion musical pendant ($10 — it winds up in the back and plays music!)
  • Not pictured, but my mom and I also split on a box full of silk bow ties ($20)

It was nice and cold this morning and a cool breeze came in around 8, but by 11 the sun was blaring. Can’t the Central Valley just have real Fall weather already? I’m ready to wear cardigans, scarves, and boots ALL DAY LONG. I’ve been ready since Winter ended! D:

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outfit details:

  • scarf: Missoni for Target
  • cardigan: Mossimo (Target)
  • camisole: Xhiliration (Target)
  • belt: some Target brand… I love Target, okay? Sheesh.
  • jeggings: H&M
  • boots: Madden Girl
  • purse: Cynthia Rowley
geek style · shoppin'

Yee-Haw!

Nina Penalosa1 Comment

My Friday was a lot more productive than usual — I had a driving lesson with my mom’s friend, Sarem (I don’t like driving, it freaks me out, but I’m trying to get used to it as a means of necessity), then I went shopping with Shanice for a bit before she had to go to work, and then I went thrifting with my mom and her homies. She sent me a text saying to call her when I was done shopping with Shanice and then she’d take me “thrusting.” Oh, the joy that is auto correct. I will now refer to thrifting as thrusting. o___0

I managed to find a nice pair of brand new cowboy boots for $29 at Superior Thrift (the bestest thrift store in the Central Valley). And they conveniently went with my outfit! After I bought them, I immediately changed into them since the ones I was originally wearing were starting to hurt my feet. It’s really hard to find boots that fit over my calves, let alone fancy cowboy boots, so when I do find a pair that fit, I take it as a sign from the fashion gods that I must purchase them. That sounds logical, doesn’t it? I also found a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt for 99 cents. Whoop!

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outfit details:

  • dress/deer ring: H&M
  • earrings/belt: Target
  • sunglasses: Coach
  • boots: thrifted
  • bracelet: from my mom
geek style

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Nina Penalosa4 Comments

Last night I got to watch the Mary Poppins musical in Sacramento! Mary Poppins is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies. I adore Julie Andrews (who doesn’t?). I seriously wish she was my grandmother.

I’ve been wanting to watch this show ever since I got word that it was being developed a few years back, and while I did enjoy it, I have to say I definitely prefer the film version. The musical was a bit more serious than I thought it would be. I took a theatre appreciation class once and the professor said that the show dealt with a lot of family dynamics. In the musical, the children were snobby (particularly Jane), the dad was way more uptight, and the mom wasn’t all sister-suffragette-like. The changes that were made totally made sense for the stage adaptation though. There’s no way they could’ve recreated the “Jolly Holiday” scene for the stage. And it still had that bit of Disney magic, so all was well in the end. Plus, I got a Mary Poppins umbrella! The parrot’s head is kinda heavy, but I am going to look so fancy during the rainy season, I don’t even care.

For my outfit that day, I decided to be a bit of a dork and base it around Mary’s blue and red color scheme. I think I kinda ended up looking a bit like Molly from the American Girl series though, which isn’t too bad since she was my favorite anyway! 😀

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outfit details:

  • shirt: The Limited
  • dress: thrifted
  • tights: Nordstrom
  • shoes: Dirty Laundry
  • umbrella: Disney
  • necklace: True Birds
  • bracelet: from my mom
  • purse: Kate Spade (graduation gift from my family)
geek style

I’m still 5…

Nina Penalosa5 Comments

Sometimes I don’t have enough time to put an outfit together, so this is what I ended up wearing to work this morning. Later on I realized that this is something my 5-year-old self would’ve probably worn. I can’t say Minnie Mouse has always been my favorite. Daisy Duck was my homegirl when I was a wee lass. I had a blanket with baby Daisy on it and it was one of my most favorite things in the whole wide world. But every time I went to Disneyland, Daisy was never there and there wasn’t a whole lot of merchandise with her mug on it. Everything was Minnie, Minnie, Minnie. I had a Minnie purse, fanny-pack, t-shirts, dresses, etc. No Daisy! Not even a plush doll. 😦

*sigh*

I learned to love Minnie Mouse though, and went crazy when Forever 21 launched their Minnie Muse line last fall.

The coolest pair of Chucks I ever owned were a pair of purple ones with dinosaurs on them. I think I had those when I was in preschool. The ones pictured above would be the second pair of coolest Chucks I have ever owned. My mom got them for me last year at Nordstrom’s Half-Yearly Sale! They’re slip-ons with a pop-art/comic book feel — the shoe laces and stitches are painted on.

I found this ring at a garage sale last week. It kind of reminded me of the cheap-o rings I would get at Sanrio, or as I still like to call it “The Hello Kitty Store,” when I was little. It’s fun because I can shift all the gems whichever way I please. Also, they kinda remind me of the fireworks at Disneyland. 😀

I remember watching an episode of What Not To Wear a few years ago, and Clinton and Stacy were against wearing garments with cartoon characters on them if you were over the age of 10. While I think they have good taste, I disagree with them on that. I’m all about graphic shirts with my favorite characters on them, so long as I look age appropriate. And I think I did today.

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outfit details:

  • top: Forever 21
  • pants: Levis
  • shoes: Converse
  • necklace: Tiffany’s (hybrid of my necklace + bracelet)
  • ring: garage sale
geek style · shoppin'

Dress-up

Nina Penalosa1 Comment

I am not ashamed to admit that I still play dress-up, and I’m 110% sure that there are tons of ladies out there that still do. And by dress-up, I don’t mean I do cosplay (although I do own a Wonder Woman costume), I mean I rifle through my closet and try on different things to see what items go together and what doesn’t. I did this a lot with my Barbies as a kid… and my Blythe dolls as a twenty-something. I think putting outfits together is an art form. Sounds silly, but have you seen the people featured on The Satorialist? Walking, breathing, art, I tell you!

My friend Chelsea asked me to help her go shopping and I was more than happy to pick out dresses upon dresses for her! Last Friday we scoured the racks at Macy*s and Crossroads. Macy*s was a bit of a bust, but I talked her into trying on some white dresses, and even though I originally picked this white lace BeBop dress for her, I had to try it on too!

Not the best example of what the dress looks like since I’m wearing a maroon jacket over it (damn thing was so cute and on sale, but my arms were too fat for it! :(). At Crossroads, Chelsea found some cute nautical things like a seahorse necklace and white & red peep toes. I found a navy purse with seashell charms on it to match both items. Chelsea actually found lots of cute stuff which I didn’t get to take pictures of. Rugh! But, I will be going over to her house sometime to raid her closet and find all sorts of outfits for her. I’m so excited! The last time I did anything like that was when my cousin Nicole was 13 and we took her to Limited Too and my sister and I picked out all sorts of outfits for her to try on. It’s like dressing up Barbie, but for reals!