Texas Family Vacation, Part Two

As promised, in today’s post, I’m going to talk about my shopping adventures in Houston. They were not extensive, since kids and shopping don’t mix well – at least in my family. We did manage to hit up a Target and a Walmart, which the kids like because they can usually squeeze a snack and a toy out of the excursion. To be fair, I like those stores for pretty much the same reason, except in my case it’s snacks and cheap beauty products. None of us were disappointed; as I mentioned in my last post, the American snack aisle is a wonder. Hello, Strawberry Nut M&Ms!

Apart from these, more pedestrian diversions, my shopping was limited to a few stores. Nordstrom Rack was OK; I was lucky to find some practical things on sale – my favourite perfume, my favourite bras, replacement Crocs for the kids – but the clothing was a disappointment. Even on sale, the prices on my fave brands were simply too high when compared to thrift. This is not an issue limited to Nordstrom Rack, obviously; I do like the variety of non-clothing items they offer, and I can’t wait for the Edmonton store to finally open. Generally, though, I have come to the conclusion that non-thrift shopping for clothes is a non-starter for me, barring a few exceptions.

I also hit up the outlet mall in Katy, though the trip was largely devoted to taking the kids to the Rainforest Café. I peeked into Neiman Marcus Last Call and Saks Off Fifth, but the experience was similar to that at Nordstrom Rack; everything I liked was way outside my budget comfort zone. I spotted a lot of designer brands, though, which made me hopeful about the Houston thrift scene. Alas, I was destined to be slightly disappointed on that front.

Most of the brand name stuff I saw on my thrift “tour” fell in the “mall” category: J. Crew, Ann Taylor, Loft, Gap, Banana Republic. The higher end stuff I spotted was in poor condition, and I didn’t find much to begin with. I went to 3 thrift stores in Houston (out of many, many dozens), so it’s hard to say whether the thrift scene is better or worse than Edmonton’s, simply because my sample was not large enough; also, since successful thrifting owes as much to frequency of visits as anything else, that was another factor that weighed against my chances. Based on the stuff I ended up buying, prices seem comparable to my local Goodwill (after you factor in the exchange rate) and generally lower than Value Village.

The best part of thrifting in Houston was not the clothes, though; it was getting to hang out with my former Edmonton thrift buddy, Nicole (aka The Spirited Thrifter). Nicole and I met a few years ago through social media, but she has become one of my dearest friends; I am forever in awe not just of her thrifting skills but also of her generous heart and wonderful sense of humour. As much as Houston traffic is a drag, I loved driving around with Nicole and catching up on life – even if we never did make it to the drive-thru margarita restaurant.

The other person I got to meet during my thrift tour was Elisa, who is a long-time reader of BCRL. Here, again, is the wonder of social media. Elisa found my blog through another blogger, then found Nicole’s blog through mine; when Nicole moved to Houston, Elisa reached out to her and the two of them became friends. I think that’s a great story, and certainly an example of the good that can come from social media. Elisa is one of the most interesting people I have ever met – in addition to being incredibly funny, warm, and stylish (of course) – and I hereby go on the record as saying that she needs to start writing a blog because I would read the hell out of it. She joked that she would call it “70 plus and Still Learning” but I think it might as well be “70 plus and Still Being Awesome” because, well, it’s true.

Here are the three of us being some thrift version of Charlie’s Angels:

As I alluded earlier, I didn’t end up finding a lot of stuff in Houston, but here’s a look at what I did get:

The purple Cartonnier blazer might end up getting listed, sadly; it’s an XS and a smidge too tight in the shoulders for me. I’m a little bummed out about that, because it’s one of my faves – I have it in 2 other colorways (black and red/pink). But, c’est la vie. In the end, I got so much more than just a few new pieces from my Texas thrift adventure that I really can’t complain.