My new maxi-dress

In this photo, I am very hot because of all the heat in the outside world. I don't think it was over 100 when I made this face in my fabulous dress, but it was probably pretty darn close. I bought the dress while thrift shopping in California. It almost didn't make the cut, but then I thought about the summer ahead of me and my adoration for the two maxi-dresses I already own and decided I needed to make it a maxi-dress trio.

This necklace is from my days as an undergraduate in Asheville. It's handcrafted and purty. Reach for the stars!

My favorite tote is starting to look a little beat up. I am on the lookout for a nice, large, professional bag to start using when school starts, but I find it's really hard to thrift purses. Maxi-dresses? Those are pretty easy to find. Nice, large, professional bags? Not so much. 

Books are also pretty easy to thrift. I've been finding a lot of great elementary-age novels. I actually already had a decent little collection in the books I already owned. "Jacob Have I Loved," Lloyd Alexander's books of Prydain, the Harry Potter series... all already my possessions. While thrifting books, I've been reminded of my realization about children's books: A great book is a great book. I may read above a fourth-grade reading level, but a fourth-grade book can still touch on significant themes, still engage me and still teach me about life. True story (about fictional tales).