My very first Pyrex

I spotted it on my usual weekend trip to Housing works. In the household section, at the back of a shelf, was a mustardy yellow and very retro Pyrex casserole. The lid rattled slightly and it had a nice heavy feel to it. I promptly paid the $12 (yes, Manhattan prices....) and brought it home.

Pyrex was made in the 50s and makes for the perfect kitchen accessory for any vintage lover. The stuff was built to last and the designs are wonderfully retro. As a result, it has now become quite collectable. It makes the perfect item to thrift, so keep your eyes open for it. If you thrift some Pyrex, check out the Pyrex love website to figure out what you've got. I believe my casserole is part of the Butterfly gold collection, who knew?

Thrifted Thanksgiving 2009

The boyfriend and I followed the tradition of hosting Thanksgiving for our New York friends. A mixture of foreigners and holiday orphans gathered at ours for a day of eating, drinking and being merry.

On Thanksgiving eve, I realised that we didn't have enough wine glasses for everyone, so I went on an emergency thrifting expedition. First stop - Housing Works Soho. I bought one wine glass and err......a pair of ultra cute shoes. OK, so they weren't on my shopping list, but how could I resist them? Second stop - Goodwill on east 23rd street - brilliant for housewares. As if by magic, there they were, 4 beautifully tall and elegant wine glasses, 1.99 each. Bingo! As we had the exact number of glasses for our guests, we asked our guests to put a little sticker on their glass so they could keep track of it throughout the evening - a great idea.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. We actually saw the parade, after all, we do live one and a half blocks away from Central Park West. For the first time, we managed to get our lazy selves out of bed and onto the street to see the giant balloons - well worth it! The Thanksgiving meal was divine (my man cooked all of it) and - of course - the table was set with my thrifted china finds. The amount of food we ate was legendary but - most importantly - we were grateful for being among friends and loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving! Here's to family and friends!

Thrift cinderella

Like a magpie attracted to shiny things, I'm a thrifter with a shoe obsession. Shoes are one of the best things to thrift and here is why:

• Thrifted shoes often mean that someone else has taken the trouble of breaking in the shoes for you. This means you get a gently worn pair of shoes, all soft and lovely, and you are ready to get all the gain with no pain.


• I love shoes and I live in NYC where you walk - a lot - so my shoes get treated pretty roughly. If you're like me, into shoes and into wearing them, thrifting is the only way of sustaining a large shoe collection so that you can rotate your shoes often and have them last longer. Which brings me onto the next point...
  
• Thrifted shoes mean you can feed a shoe addiction without breaking the piggy bank.


• Like with all thrifting, you can look fabulous and with your own individual style. And if you're into vintage, there's nothing better than thrift.

Here are some summer beauties I've thrifted in NYC:

These lovelies are quite special. They are the most perfect 50s pink shoes and were my very first NYC thrift buy. I bought them on the Upper East Side Council Thrift Shop for $7 . I love that thrift store! These marked the beginning of my penchant for thrifted shoes...

These cuties are super stylish and were found in the Housing Works Soho, for $10 - I love the ankle strap. And another pair, these are cute chocolate brown colour and a nice heel, and a lovely pink bottom. $5. This place is a treasure trove for shoes.
The ones below were from the Goodwill on the UWS, they go with everything. $5.
Some tips for shoe thrifting:

• It's not rocket science. Check they are of good quality - made of leather - and in good nick - check the heels and soles.

• Try them on, give a twirl, see how they feel. Even in places without changing rooms, never ever buy a pair of thrifted shoes without trying them on.


• Be open minded. I'm a 6 and a half, but I'll try on 5 and a half, 6 and 7 - you just never know.


• I discovered summer soles a couple of years ago. This amazing invention is basically a trim-to-fit sole that comes in different types of materials and in stylish colours. I have them in all my shoes (thrifted and otherwise). It protects the shoes from my feet - sweaty summer tootsies - helping them last longer. And for all of you out there who may be freaked out about wearing secondhand shoes, a pretty new sole between your feet and your thrifted shoes may help you get over it.

• Like the saying goes: Men are like buses, you don't see one for ages and then suddenly there are two or three at the same time. With thrift shoes it is the same. After a particularly long time with no luck thrifting shoes, when you finally spot a perfect pair, you often also spot about three pairs more. Point in case: Housing Works Soho last week had about three pairs of the most beautiful heeled sandals, all sized 5 and a half. They were all a similar style and I'm sure they were donated by the same woman. Unfortunately they were all too small for me but nevermind, I'll cash in my thrift karma another day.
  
  

Like all thrifting your efforts will be rewarded over time - don't expect success every time, that's the fun part. Go forth and thrift my friends! Good luck and thrift karma!

How many dresses can a girl own?

Quite a few I believe. This Sunday, a stall in Hells Kitchen fleamarket had a huge pile of dresses, all for $5 each. Once I saw it, I quickly packed the boyfriend to the neighboring cafe to read his newspaper - he's such a good man! I knew this was going to take time and skill. I went rummaging elbow deep next to a couple of other thrifters and checked out a few nice dresses, all too large, until I spotted these two. I couldn't try them on, but I didn't care, from looking at them I knew I was golden:

- Pink dress - perfect for summer, very delicate, very feminine. Sweet!

- Black dress - lovely cut, great sleeves

The photo in the first picture is one I bought in a market in Buenos Aires, Argentina - I love the face of the slightly grump lady on the left staring at the couples dancing tango. The frame was thrifted at Housing works.

Let's go thrifting

In order to satisfy a thrift craving, I normally pick up my vintage handbag and hit the New York streets. However, when I cannot do that - as a thrift junkie I can get a quick eye candy fix at Housing Works online. Nothing beats rummaging in a thrift shop, but when you cannot do that - the next best thing is online shopping.

Housing Works have a good selection online - most of which you can buy immediately. Each of their New York shops has a fantastic window display - and all the items are on auction -which you can check out and bid online.

To illustrate my point of good thrifting online, check this out:

A beautiful vintage silk chiffon green dress, perfect for spring. I love the empire waist and the ruched bust. This beauty is in an auction - ending 26th May. It starts at $35.

I would pair the dress with this investment piece (read expensive but would wear over and over again) - a Ann Demeulemeester blazer. I love the combination of the feminine floaty dress with a killer tailored blazer. Ann Demeulemeester is a Belgian desginer well known for her perfect cut, edgy monochromatic clothes, which are as beautiful as they are horribly expensive. The thrifted blazer is $175, is in perfect condition and is available online right now. Unfortunately it is too large for me but I would love this in my wardrobe - it would look great with anything.

Housing works - Upper West Side

When we walk into Housing Works Upper West Side store, me and The Boy have developed a little routine. At the front of the store is an arrangement of furniture that we walk around together, imagining where we would put the table or the desk in our imaginary house (our little Manhattan shoebox apartment cannot take anymore thrifty finds!). I then make a beeline for the shoes and clothes whilst The Boy heads for the books and CDs. This routine works beacuse I know exactly where to find him when I need to ask him abpout 5 times whether he really loves the fab shoes that I've just tried on.

My neighbourhood thrift store, the Housing Works Upper West Side store, located on Columbus Avenue between 74th and 75th street, is a little piece of New York thrifty heaven located one block from where I live.

The store is part of the Housing Works chain, which has seven thrift stores, located in upscale Manhattan neighborhoods, dahling. Each store has a fantastic window display, offers great selections and is well organized.

The Housing Works stores are the best kind of thrift stores - where you can buy a great pair of shoes or the perfect table for that spot in your living room - whilst getting yourself some good karma as your money helps provide services for homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS.

The store's clothing can often be expensive - compared to other thrift stores - and the selection can sometimes be a little staid - unless of course you are a 70 year old lady that lunches. There are however treasures to be found and you should always watch out for the sales - they often have them for different store items - when I went two weekends ago the whole store had 40% off and recently they had shoes 30% off.

The furniture selection is excellent -they have an eclectic mixture of functional and quirky pieces. Take for instance the rustic wood table or the modernist lamp I spotted there recently . The housewares are good and I have bought many a china plate there. The book selection is very good, with a mixture of genres and of hardbacks/paperbacks. For their spring clearance all books were 10 cents.

The shoe selection is my perdition. I simply cannot resist it, I have bought....err I rather not count....many a pair there. The condition and the prices tends to be very good. Here are the beauties I bought yesterday ($12), I need to figure out what to wear them with.

The store tends to get very crowded on Sundays, I'd recommend you go during the week or on a Saturday.

For the love of thrift rating (from 1 to 10):

Selection: 8

Presentation: 8

Niceness of staff: 6

Bargain factor (ie pricing): 7

Thrift turnover: 9

The Upper West Side Housing works sells furniture; housewares; women's clothing and shoes; men's clothing and shoes; books and CDs; and jewellery. Opening hours: 11-7 Mon to Fri. 10-6 Sat. 12-5 Sun.