Thrift blogger kudos for me n' my thrift bloggin' pals

100 percent thrifted outfit: American Eagle Outfitters blazer, MEXX top, Bongo Jeans, dollar store belt, and leather ankle booties.

Takin' a trip down memory lane with my style blogger shot from last winter. I'm feeling pretty stylish as Alex Deeds, creator of the website Associate Degree, an educational website, recently compiled a list of the Top-50-blogs-for-yard-sale-aficionados, and guess what? Yours truly was number one for the Top Style Blogs portion of the list (16th overall).

90 percent thrifted outfit: J Crew wool blazer, Teenflo miniskirt, Nine West booties, generic cotton stretch tee, and (not thrifted) vintage Nina Ricci chain with stone hearts by Toronto designer Rita Tesolin.

Well, thanks Alex for compiling the list! The cool thing: I blog with or at the very least have many of the blogs on my blogroll - the thrifting blogosphere is actually pretty small, if you can believe it!

100 percent thrifted outfit: Bionic dress by Toronto designer Marc Foreman, disco 1970s belt, white platform slingback shoes, vintage costume jewellery chain, and vintage faceted glass sunglasses.

So in honour of the posting I've posted some of my different seasonal thrift looks from the past. Enjoy, and check out the list for thrifting bloggers not featured on my blogroll - or I will, and I'll bring them back to you!

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Hair cuts, hi & low

Excuse the crap Blackberry photo, but it's all I had with me to snap my new do, $25.

I've been growing my mop for months and months from its uber short style, and yesterday reached the boiling point: my hair was truly looking like a mop, with no shape, too much hair, and an icky texture (probably helped along by icky dollar store shampoo).

So my amazing hairdresser gave me what I asked for: a shorter blunt cut, tapered at the front and shorter at the back (that's how my layers were growing out so it made sense).

Cost, $25 plus tip.

I've discovered, the hard way over the years, that spending $100+ on a do often gives you the same or even a lesser cut than the cheaper varieties. Truth is I'm so happy with my $25 cut (and the good cuts my gal has given me over the years), that I have no inclination to torment myself looking for the 'perfect' hairdresser.

I'm thrilled with my own look, and before you ask: I'm sorry, but this is one find I can't share with you, not out of selfish reasons but for consideration for the stylist. My advice: there are plenty of peeps who work from home and supplement their incomes this way; you just gotta find 'em. But if you check out my Twitter feed to the right, I hear the Mrvel Beauty School in Yorkville charges $10 for a cut.

On the not so cheap note: I did have to equip myself at the drugmart after my cut with the necessary brush, (decent) shampoo and styling product - and images of me morphing into 'a high maintenance babe', as the women in my fam jokingly call it, flashed through my mind. We'll just see how it pans out, but I don't mind paying $40 for the accoutrements of style especially since the do was such a good deal!

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Pop Up Shop on Queen East until December 31

It's not listed, there's no phone number, and nata a website. But I CAN tell you the shop is called craisy's; it's located at 888 Queen St. East, just where Leslieville meets Riverside in Toronto; and it's open until December 31.

The shop carries mostly fair trade imports from Peru, Mexico and so on. The wool and jewellery rocks, though you can pick up sea salts, kid's stuff and other accessories.

This wool Al Paca beret: a mere $15.

The real oak leaf dipped in some sort of metal (there were maple leaf variations dipped in sterling too): $25.

This gorgeous purple Al Paca sweater would have cost $150-200 in other stores, I'm guessing, but here it was $57. After my beret and my pendant I was broke, so my hunny bought it for me, the sweetheart that he is. I've been wearing the sweater in this damp weather - today I donned it with leggings and but a big belt at the waist - and it's been keeping me warm, and reminding me of my man.

The hat, meanwhile, is impossibly chic and has already turned into a staple. See how la-di-da it looks with some retro 1970s shades, and my hunky mannie?

See my recent review of Craisy's and some other new Leslieville area shops in my "Shopping" column in the Town Crier newspapers

P.S. Leslieville's "Wanderlust" evening shop hop is this Thursday, November 18! Many shops will be having specials and events and will be open late - I hear some will be open til 11pm. A family and stoller-friendly event too, I hear.

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Diane & Veronica's Excellent Thrifting Adventure at my fave shops!

They went. They thrifted. They conquered.

It was a tale of epic proportions: Diane (left), a Grunge Queen reader, and her best pal, Veronica. Both dedicated thrifters. The former, in search of a fun day she could treat her best pal to, but unsure of where to go. The latter, a gal from-out-of-town, entrusting her best pal to organize An Excellent Adventure.

That's where the Grunge Queen came in. Enlisted by Diane to suggest a number of thrift shops in Toronto's east end along with a spot to lunch, so Diane could treat Roni to a day of thrifting in the big city, the Grunge Queen put on her thinking cap, made her list and checked it twice, and sent it off to Diane.

Would it measure up? Would the girls, so accustomed to adventure, be bored? Would GQ's thrifty picks be worthy? What if the shops were horrid, and they found nothing?

First stop: Stretch Thrift on Pape Avenue - the GQ's ultimate fave shop where she buys most of her wardrobe. The GQ knew this was the first stop beforehand as Diane sent her the itinerary (which Roni is reading, above) of their "Excellent Adventure, # 32."

Gulp. Adventure # 32? Would these thrifting picks make the grade? Surely, we were dealing with no common adventurers here. The GQ had to wonder: what were the 31 adventures that came before? Only Diane and Veronica know.

Diane's first find: a double-breasted brown wool coat. Cost $7.

Next: Roni finds a Spongebob Squarepants costume, a major victory.

Diane's second find: a turtleneck for five bucks. The scarf was picked up later at St. John's Thrift shop on Danforth Ave. near Woodbine ( another GQ fave), for $4. Matches the turtleneck perfectly, as she rightly observed.

Somewhere in between St. John's Thrift and Value Village next door (where the GQ had found many designer dud), it looks like there was some lighthearted thrifting fun to be had. 'Cos if you can't have fun thrifting, really, what are you doing thrifting in the first place?

Roni scoured VV for work clothes but ended up finding heaps of play clothes for her kiddies. Diane picked up a tie and a Sandicast bull terrier for her son's Don Cherry Halloween costume (pictured with him in it here) - she even made the suit and the doggie's tam, how fab is that??

A possible gem Diane picked up: a drawing that could be worth something. Stay tuned.

These wild and crazy gals end up partying at the Drake Hotel with their hubbies later, and since no pics were provided for that particular event,  let's leave them having lunch at Relish tapas resto near VV on the Danforth, toasting the Grunge Queen, the sweeties.

Ladies, all humour aside, thank you for sharing your Excellent Thrifting Adventure! It sounds like you truly had a blast and you've made me think what a wonderful thing it would be to actually make A DAY out of thrifting as you did!

All photos courtesy of Diane & Veronica's Excellent Thrifting Adventure.

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Can a bohemian clutter bug live with a streamlined contemporary?

I've spent most of the weekend relaxing and tidying my apartment - no energy to do a full-on re-org, alas, but sometimes you can get the FEEL of a re-org by just rejigging the elements on a console, as I have here.

The urge to de-clutter and purge myself of all my STUFF is still going strong, helped along by life's little events - falling in love with someone overseas - and that fact that said beau is a contemporary style kinda dude: minimal clutter and an uber streamlined look is his design dealio.

So I dedicate this pared down little twilight tableau (consisting of a vanity/console I traded with an ex; flowers given to me by someone I wrote about in the Town Crier newspapers; a brass/glass box with all my little tchotckas in it; a brass lamp bought for $5 at Consumers Lighting in Toronto; a lamp shade from a garage sale; and a thrifted hardcover book you will be hearing about very soon!) to my darling N, who, like many of you lovely readers, checks in every day to read this wee blog -- because, well, he loves me.

I'd say a bohemian clutter bug and a streamlined contemporary can most definitely live with eachother! It will certainly make life interesting!!

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Forgive me readers; here's what's coming

Dear readers, it has been a crazy busy emotional time for me, so please please forgive me for not posting every day; for not yet responding to your comments and thanking lovely new followers! That will come in a day or two, but at the moment I'm just so so bagged. This pic has nothing to do with this post, btw, other than to say it was taken yesterday while doing a shopping column - that and I'm wearing a thrifted wool sweater from Paris and thrifted Paige jeans. The sunglasses are vintage too.

SO: LOTS of exciting stuff coming up! Here are the highlights:

1). A Grunge Queen reader follows GQ's advice on where to thrift shop in Toronto, treating her best pal to a day thrifting in the city. Hear about their finds and see exclusive photos!

2). Vintage 1970s shoes my Brit beau bought me at my fave vintage shop that's celebrating a year anniversary this month. See pics of the shop, and see a wonderful pair of vintage shoes that have NEVER been worn - with a different maker's stamp on each shoe to boot!

3). A fun pop-up shop discovered in Toronto's east-end: my finds; what he bought me.

4). Ebay: who knew there was a green arm? A local designer previews her collection there.

5). A great designer consignment shop in Toronto's west end: 1970s bling found there!

So you can see I have all sorts of nifty thrifty ideas brewing in my head - and they are coming to you next week!! Please stay tuned and thanks for your patience .... Love Kelly

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That's MY kind of centrepiece!

Sorry I've been MIA this past week - I've never gone this long without a post, except, perhaps, when I was in England recently. I've had a house guest - from England, gee coincidence? - for two glorious weeks so have been pretty bust between working, visiting, seeing family, going out, etc.

 

Anyway, back to regular Grunge Queen programming.

When we were home visiting my fam last weekend, I snapped a pic of this centrepiece that has slowly been growing over the years at my sis's place.

The do-it-yourselfer Grunge Queen in me loves the simplicity of this: all ya gotta do is drink lotsa wine and then pop the corks in the glass bowl! Then you can take a dive in, pull out a cork, and reminisce over that particular bottle of wine and what was happening in your life when you were drinking it!

Cheers to inventive decor ideas like this!

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