With my knee being jacked up and in different braces of varying size/encumbrance all fall and winter, and then winter generally sucking out loud, I was ready for a change this spring. I was ready to dress a bit nicer, to look a bit more pulled together. A couple of fortunate things have happened to aid this:

1. My coworker found herself in the same mindset. In October, she gave birth to possibly THE CUTEST baby boy (which I point out because another friend gave birth to possibly THE CUTEST baby girl in December), and is now giving her wardrobe another look-over. Dear readers, I cannot tell you the absolute super bonus it is to have someone around on a regular basis to bounce ideas off of, and to support and be supported by.
2. The same dear coworker introduced me to Already Pretty, which blew my mind open and resulted in about 20 “to read” tabs in the browser.
3. Summer of Dresses is back for another year in the Twin Cities. I think dresses are the ideal clothes for someone as lazy as I am. Put on ONE thing, and you are done getting dressed. I’m in love, and wearing more dresses.

Sadly, my pocketbook does not simply allow me to waltz to the mall and buy up a new wardrobe, so thrift and consignment stores have entered the picture. They’ve yielded some good results so far, but I revisit places every month or so to allow for turnover. Today, I became a crazy person, and hit up six stores in three hours. All of these stores closed at 6, and I got this idea in my head around 2:30 (while still in my pajamas, what’s up weekend). Some of these spots were new, some I’ve been to before, but all are going to be JUDGED (gently) below.

Savers: A huge massive thrift store, and not my favorite kind of environment. I dislike digging and pawing through huge quantities of clothes, and wasn’t in too much of a mood for it today. I tried on a bunch of cardigans, and lamented how cardigans look weird on me. Purchased nothing, but didn’t spend a lot of time there. Will return when feeling like a deep dive.

Blacklist Vintage. This is rated the #1 Thrift/Vintage/Consignment store on Yelp. I am not cool enough to shop here. While I think I could get away with some vintage pieces in my personal style, I can’t just go full-on retro dress. I perused the accessories areas (belts were on my to-get list), but nothing spoke to me. The shop clerks were super friendly, but this isn’t my style at all.

Buffalo Exchange. The local BE gets mixed reviews on Yelp, but I’ve had regular good luck there, picking up some sweet pieces for absolute steals, including one of my favorite sweaters. Today didn’t pan out for buying, but I still say this place was a win because I brought in 9 different things to try on. Seeing how clothes work or don’t on my body is part of all this, too.

Nu Look Consignment. Meghan had a killer red dress on last week that she nabbed at NuLook for a criminal deal, so this made the list as I moved west across the city. I did manage to find a solid pair of brown Hush Puppies heels that I can wear around (shoe collection also needs expanding, DANGER DANGER), but I was bummed out with the dress selection! So small! The rest of this place overwhelmed me ala Savers, so it’ll have to wait for more time to explore/dig.

Turn Style. I like this store because I can put on an outfit, stand in front of a 3-angle mirror, ask people for opinions, and wander over to the belt/scarf wall and accessorize away. None of the outfits worked, but I did get 4 new fabric belts.

Second Debut. The day wrapped in St. Louis Park, with Second Debut. This is part of Goodwill, but they sort out the higher end stuff and bring it to a separate store. I showed up here with about 10 minutes to go until closing time, and had to laser focus. I pulled three items to try on, but none really worked. There was a dress/jacket outfit in the window that I deeply covet, but I wasn’t about to be the jerk that shows up right before you shut down for the night and ask you to dismantle a display.

So yes, a smaller haul than expected, but I got to check out more stores and give another run through old favorites. Operation Stop Dressing Like A Hobo continues apace.