A Goodwill Update

I realized last week that I've been scoring some pretty sweet deals since the beginning of the year (how is it already the middle of APRIL?!) and not been sharing them! Get excited...

You've seen this one, but for recapping purposes, you get to see it again. I found this ceramic dish at 2nd Chance Thrift Store for $3 (read more about that day here).

After making a few cake stands (read here, here and here!), I thought I might use these candle sticks (found for $4) for cake stands. They'd be gorgeous used that way, but after a few days of having them, I realized there's no way I could ever use them for anything but what they were intended. (Hand-painted, people!)
Since then, I've become obsessed with blue and white dishes and table settings like this. LOVE.

Last weekend, some friends and I ate lunch downtown and then headed to the City Market where they were kicking off the season for the weekly "yard sale." It's best described as an eclectic garage sale full of antiques, overpriced junk and really dirty old stuff (read: there was good, bad and ugly. And just because it's old doesn't mean it's worth your money). We found some cool stuff, like an [overpriced] old Adams Dairy milk crate (like this one), but I only spent $3 and walked out with this sweet metal bread box:

Which houses my coffee...

Yes. I know. I have a problem.
Speaking of problems...I love all things travel- and geography-related. So when I saw this little plate (for 99 cents), I thought I should own it. I'm not sure why. It doesn't have a place to go in my home, I just liked it. I can't decide if owning a plate for a state I've never even been to is a problem or not.
Here's an updated view of my (work-in-progress) entry way. The mirror was a $5 Goodwill find you've seen before. The little basket was also a Goodwill find (for 99 cents).
It makes a great place to drop your keys on the way in!
This tray was a Goodwill find for $3.
It makes a great place to hold these turquoise Ball jars we scored. I LOVE THESE! Turns out they're Mexican replicas of the bicentennial jars from the 70s. But, we found them for $7 total. SCORE!
Finally, one of my favorite finds: a matching set of hurricanes in perfect condition...for $5 and $8 each. This was certainly on the really high end of what I'd pay for something at a thrift store, but it's rare to find something so nice, new and in perfect condition. I don't have anything in mind for these yet, but the big one stands at 12 inches and the small one at 10 inches, so they're a good size for pretty much anything.
$40 total for 12 items. This is why I thrift shop!

In other news, I've decided that I'm going to get rid of a box of "stuff" every month from now until the end of the year. An extended spring cleaning of sorts. One month it may be clothes, the next month it may be old textbooks that I kept after college and will NEVER use, one month it may be decor I no longer want or need...we'll see! But it will feel good to have all of that extra breathing room at home. Consider this my proverbial giving back to the people who donated all of the great items above.

Happy thrifting!