About highplainsthrifter

Thrift-store shopper. Lives in & loves South Minneapolis. Blonde. Picture taker. Road trip enthusiast. Likes making things. Proud WI native. Classic rock is my favorite. So are nachos.

clickin’ around, vol. 38

Posted on December 11, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

{prettiest ever GIF found here}

♥ Read this, loved it: A two-step plan for getting what you want, via Yes and Yes.

♥ The Hennepin County Library put together a list of actively tweeting writers and it is solid. That said, they’re missing @MsTerryMcMillan, aka one my favorite tweet-ers of all time!

♥ How bomber jacket art emboldened “our boys” during WWII.

♥ Cannot wait to see this: Betty White gives Kim Kardashian makeup advice.

♥ Aunt Peaches posted a guide to her favorite online photo printing places and I think it’s going to be incredibly useful.

♥ Craving hot cocoa? You will after reading Rookie mags’ editors reviews of a million-and-one kinds.

♥ 10 life lessons from Buddy the Elf.

♥ Two recipes pinned, made and loved this week: Crock-Pot Chicken Ranch Tacos and Salted Caramel Cajeta Fudge (SO GOOD).

♥ I swooned over Dietland Wolf’s insanely gorgeous food styling after stumbling upon it on The Artful Desperado. So talented.

♥ This circa 1964 photo of Goldie Hawn is just too perfect to keep to myself.

♥ And last but not least, my recipe discovery of the year. Cannot wait to get in the kitchen and give this bread a whirl!

xo,

Meghan

thrifting trip: elk river

Posted on December 10, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

I thought I’d start the week off by sharing a little about one of my favorite weekend thrifting destinations: the wonderful town of Elk River. Just 40 or so odd minutes outside of the Twin Cities, Elk River’s proximity makes it accessible enough to hit in an afternoon, and once you get there, you’ll find a bunch of thrifts clustered all together. Which to me, makes the drive totally worthwhile.

On 169, you’ll find a big ole’ Sal Val that’s in an old grocery store, a Goodwill and a decent-sized charity thrift called Samaritan’s Way. If you head into town, you’ll find Antiques Downtown, a two-story antique mall that’s packed with cool stuff. My favorite dealer there, hands down, is on the second floor, right at the top of the stairs. You’ll know it when you see it because it’s all vintage jewelry. It’s pretty cheap too!

Anyhow, I could go on and on about the many trips I’ve taken there through the years, but I’ll leave it up to you to discover for yourself. To make your thrifting journey easy as pie, below you’ll find a map to all my favorite spots. Tip: Click “View Larger Map” to see them all! And click the pinpoints to see pics and details like hours, phone numbers, etc.

If shopping leaves you famished, stop at Minne’s Diner in Rogers for some good eats. And then go to the Goodwill across 94! There’s also a Sonic and a Culver’s off 169 in Elk River, if fast food floats your boat.

Happy hunting!

xo,

Meghan

P. S. Check out some other thrifting maps I made of Family Pathways stores up Highways 35, thrifts in St. Cloud and stores on the way from Minneapolis to Cambridge.

saturday night supper

Posted on December 8, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

Tonight’s forecast looks like this.

Yikes. I’m going to take advantage of the weather and stay in, cozy up and cook a yummy dinner for my hon and me. Here’s what’s on tonight’s menu.

First up, Rosemary Lime Cocktails via Joy the Baker.

For the main course, I’m making this Bacon Mac & Cheese with Wisconsin Gruyère, a dish I fell head-over-heels for after seeing it on Savory Sweet Life earlier this week.

And to finish, Slow Cooker Pumpkin-Apple Dessert. I love making desserts in my Crock-Pot because you can start ’em before dinner and they’re ready and warm by the time the dinner dishes are done.

It’s not a fancy lineup, just some hearty home cooking. Which sounds perfect on a winter night when the snowflakes are a-fallin’. I hope you are all having warm and restful weekends as well!

xoxo,

Meghan

8 rad winter outfits that are totally thriftable

Posted on December 6, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

Whenever I browse fashion lookbooks, I like to play the fun game of “could I thrift that?” More often than not, the answer is “heck yes!” Here are a handful of wintery (and work-appropriate outfits!) that’ve caught my eye recently. Each and every one could easily be replicated for a song by picking up pieces at the thrifts.

Hansel from Basel, FW12

Betina Lou, Fall 2012

Sally Scott, Autumn ’12

A.P.C., Fall 2012

Bows & Bandits Vintage, Winter 2012

Can you tell I’ve been loving separates lately? Do you hit the thrifts with specific outfits in mind? I find it’s a great way to keep from getting overwhelmed. Let me know what’s been on your thrift-store shopping list lately!

I hope you all have wonderful Thursdays!

xoxo,

Meghan

tablecloth of the month: december

Posted on December 4, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

I reach for this vintage thistle print tablecloth by Startex almost every December. The red and chartreuse print lends this beaut a holiday vibe, but not in an obnoxious way. Not that I don’t love obnoxiously Christmas everything. If you don’t believe me, come over and I’ll show you my garage that’s half-full of lawn ornaments. I just prefer to have a little that’s more low-key on my main table for most of the month. Made in South Carolina at the Spartan Textile Mills, Startex was known for the quality cotton household linens they churned out after World War II. You can find their cloths often at the thrifts (or on Etsy and eBay)…just look for the tag that says “Startex” in the hemline. (It often has a star!)

xoxo,

Meghan

crickets

Posted on December 3, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

Apologies for the bit of quiet ’round here recently. We lost Lucille, the queen of our little fur family, last week in a rapid and unexpected fashion, and the past few days I’ve just been getting by. She lived a happy, pampered and long life, serving as my honey’s no. 1 girl since he was 19-years-old. And while those circumstances should have made letting her go easier, that fact is, it didn’t. Death sucks. End of story. Thanks for giving me a break to be sad and to be there for my baby. I’ll be back to posting regularly soon.

xoxo,

Meghan

clickin’ around, vol. 37

Posted on November 26, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

♥ I kicked off my birthday week last night with a visit to a hippie/punk alley pizza party that happens on Sundays at a house a few blocks from my house. My pal Dana and I had a ball, stuffing ourselves silly with delicious ‘za (favorite one pictured above was topped with squash sauce, sauerkraut, apple, ricotta & blue cheese…so yummy!) and cheap beers. It was a perfect end to the long weekend that’s for sure.

♥ Check out the delightful styling put out by Antipast, a Japanese stocking company. I love the balance of brights and neutrals.(You can find more lookbook images from them here!)

♥ Good question: Is our retro obsession ruining everything?

♥ Thank you for this, Srsly Liz: How to not spend a million dollars at Target.

♥ Three recipes I’ve pinned, made and loved this past week: Slow Cooker Bacon-Apple-BBQ Chicken (TO DIE FOR), Tomato Tortellini Soup (I swapped out the cream cheese for this and added a can of lightly draned diced tomatoes—so good and so easy!) and Pumpkin-Cider Beertails (sweet, spicy and dangerously easy to drink).

♥ Have y’all heard of Retro Roadmap? I can see it being a super handy resource for summer road trips.

♥ There’s a lot of inspiration to be had in the home tour of 100-year-old artist Gisèle d’Ailly van Waterschoot van der Gracht.

♥ I need to find some wall space at home ASAP so I can snap up this Veronica Lake print guilt-free. I’m smitten with it!

♥ And finally, I was surprised (and humbled) to be named the no. 1 thrifting blog in this top ten list. Thanks catalogs.com!

I hope you all have wonderful Mondays. The birthday week celebration continues tonight with yet another lady date. Two of my favorite blondies and I are going to see my favorite Marilyn Monroe movie, followed by pie. I can’t wait!
Have good ones, loves!

xoxo,

Meghan

heads up: black friday thrift store sales

Posted on November 21, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

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Truth be told, I’m not big into Black Friday. I love me a bargain, but I also love me some sleep…especially on a rare Friday off. And the thought of getting up at the crack of dawn to bust down the doors of some mega-chain store? Well, it just doesn’t have that much appeal. But since a fair amount of thrifts have hopped on the Black Friday bandwagon, I feel it my duty to tell you what’s the haps in case you’re out and about shopping on Friday and want to save some money.

Salvation Army Family Thrift Stores
Enjoy big, fat 50% savings on clothing all day on Friday, and special deals like half-off books, etc. announced every hour on the hour between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Savers
Friday only, take 25% off all used merchandise.

Hidden Treasures Thrift Store
Take 30% off both Friday and Saturday on everything in the store, including Christmas merchandise.

ARC’s Value Village Stores
All items with a pink tag will be 50% off. Be sure to check out the Merry Thriftmas boutiques while you’re there!

Hope Chest for Breast Cancer Stores
Hope Chest stores are celebrating “Pink Friday” with 30% off savings on any item of your choice; 50% discounts on all red-lined merchandise. They’ll also be offering a door buster special of 75% off all china sets between 10 a.m. and noon.

Empty the Nest
Take half-off one item on Friday or Saturday at the new ReHome Center in Burnsville, offer good only with a coupon. (Get signed up for their mailing list ASAP to get coupons and sale alerts.)

Happy hunting!

xoxo,

Meghan

weekend in wisconsin recap

Posted on November 19, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

Hi guys, and happy Monday!

It’s been a long work day and I’m sort of out of words, but I wanted to pop in quickly and share some snippets from my weekend in Wisconsin with you.

Friday night’s dinner: Baked lemon chicken, potato logs, beans and chocolate pie (not pictured); all recipes (minus the beans) were from Loretta Lynn’s (awesome) cookbook.

My cabin = coziest place on earth.

Treasure hunting at a small town thrift store.

Pretty view of Lake Superior’s south shore.

Wisconsin Bloody Marys, I miss you so.

Dairy Queen pit stops…there were two.

My favorite lady country singer, who we saw perform from the third freakin’ row. It took me four songs to stop crying from happiness…it was literally like a dream.

And last, but not at all least, three days straight with this guy, who isn’t embarrassed to road trip with a lady in rollers apparently, bless his heart. After four years together, he still treats me like a treasure (even when I act like a turd). And that’s just one of the many, many, many, many reasons why I love him so.

I hope you all had wonderful weekends as well, and that your (short) week’s off to a stupendous start. Be back here tomorrow with a lovely list of links I’ve been diggin’.

xoxo,

Meghan

P.S. Photos in this post were taken with VSCO Cam.

this weekend is going to be a good time

Posted on November 16, 2012 by highplainsthrifter

It’s finally Friday friends! We made it! This weekend is exceptionally exciting because today, I’m heading up to my family’s lake house with my honey. And tomorrow? We’re road trippin’ to a part of my home state I’ve never visited, my favorite coal miner’s daughter, Loretta Lynn. My sweetheart surprised me with tickets…THIRD ROW TICKETS…as an early birthday present.

Keeper much? I’d say so. Besides seeings Loretta, we don’t have much of an agenda, which I’m perfectly OK with. I’m hoping to stop at some of my favorite thrifts on the way up 35-W and I wouldn’t mind trying the beer at this little brewery in Ashland when we drive through there, but we’ll see how it goes. After such a busy week (month?), it’s going to be nice to not be in any kind of rush.

I wish you all wonderful weekends! See you all back here on Monday?

xoxo,

Meghan

P.S. The photo of Loretta was found on this blog. It was taken the moment she got word she had been been accepted into the Grand Old Opry.