Who wouldn't love a thrift gift?

You never know what you'll find at a thrift store.
I love thrift stores. Seriously. I can spend ridiculous amounts of time sifting through books and purses and racks of sweaters, looking for that one great find: the unique skirt or bizarre kitchen gadget. It also makes me feel good to recycle/reuse something rather than buying new. Plus, it's kind to my student budget, leaving me more money for important things like haircuts and massages. Sometimes I find something incredible, most often nothing great. Lately I've been sweater hunting. (It is, after all, winter in Minnesota, though we don't have any snow here in Minneapolis.) Today I visited Savers and found three cashmere turtlenecks from Neiman Marcus, all in great shape, for $6.99 apiece. Two of them were black, and one was green. I had no choice but to buy all three. I'm thinking that I might give one of the black sweaters to Madilly or maybe B'lou. I know that neither would mind that it was thrifted. It got me thinking. Wouldn't it be kind of cool to do a thrift Christmas? Think of the great stuff you could find! You could either set out to find the nicest stuff possible, like the $298 Coach purse that I bought for $15 awhile back, or you could look for something fun, like the "Big Maze" game that I have hanging in my kitchen. It certainly wouldn't be the same thing that everyone else was getting. Sure, it might take more time than just visiting the mall, but it would also be more personal. Just an idea.
The Big Maze game on my kitchen wall.

The Last Supper as a mirror. Nice.

This down-on-her-luck angel was most likely a tree-topper.

Am I the only one who thinks the Eiffel Tower looks awfully happy to see the Arc de Triumph?

Everything on this chair was thrifted. In fact, I bought the chair at Goodwill in 1999.