Three Thrift Finds

This vintage Gap suede mini skirt was on the pricey side, but too good to pass up. The chocolate brown colour is to die for, and the fit is incredible. It’s the perfect length for my proportions, too. I ended up paying $25 with a coupon. For 2026 thrift prices, that’s a pretty good deal. The current State of Thrift is sorry, indeed.

After thrifting my dream pattern (the Amish Buterprint in turquoise) a couple of years ago, I’ve been on a Pyrex no-buy — mostly because I don’t have room to store more. But! I saw this pair of Woodland Cinderella bowls and, well, the heart wants what it wants. The brown colour looks great with my turquoise pieces as well as the mustard yellow ones (Butterfly Gold pattern). I had another coupon, so the pair ended up being $40. Again: pricey for thrift, but cheaper than Etsy and other resale sites. I made some room so it can sit next to its sisters.

This Skagen watch wasn’t in the showcase and only $10, which felt like a steal. It needs a battery, but so do all of my watches, haha! I wear them for looks, not functionality. I like how delicate this design is, and love the rose gold mesh band. The amber mother-of-pearl dial is stunning.

Three Books to Read

It has been a long time since I’ve read much Romanian fiction, but I grew up with it and I still have a huge spot for some of the turn of the 20th century authors, like Caragiale, Cezar Petrescu, and G. Calinescu. But I had never read anything by Hortensia Papadat Bengescu, and wasn’t really familiar with her work until I came across some Reels from Romanian Bookstragrammers. They made me realize that I was missing out, so now I’m on a missing to track down her books. I found Bach Concert in English translation, and am very excited to read it. It’s supposed to be one of her best novels. I expect the vibe to be a little E.M. Forster-ish … to give you a general idea of the setting and themes.

I have read Marvyn Peake’s Gormenghast before (and was obsessed with the TV mini series adaptation), but it has been decades and recently I got the itch to re-read it. I’m saving this for my lake vacation, so I can immerse myself in the world of Titus Groan and savor the beautiful prose.

I started Gnomon a few weeks back and quickly decided that I needed to put it aside for my vacation as well. I’m enjoying the writing and the premise is very intriguing and hook-y. It’s a murder mystery set in a dystopian surveillance state where the government has access to every thought in your brain. Looking forward to picking it up again soon.

Three Perfumes

Sun, Moon & Stars is one of my go-to summer fragrances. I thrifted the bottle a while back, but I only started wearing it again this year when the weather warmed up. To me, it smells like the 90s, period. It’s a powdery floral — but it’s not soft powder. There’s an edge to it that modern floral fragrances don’t have. It feels almost crisp. In my mind, it comes from the carnation and narcissus in the middle notes.

Another one of my fave summer fragrances: Britney Spears’ Jungle Fantasy. Ignore the atrocious bottle. The juice smells fresh and fruity and a touch aquatic. It’s a pretty good dupe for D&G L’Imperatrice (which I also have), for a fraction of the price. It’s supposed to be a watermelon-forward fragrance but, honestly, I don’t get much of that when I smell it. To me, it’s a juicier, non-lemony version of D&G Light Blue.

I finally got my hands on Guerlain’s classic Insolence — and I adore it. It smells like violet candies. If you love violet, and don’t mind sweet perfumes, you have to try it. Its sweetness is not gourmand at all; even less so that Lolita Lempicka, which is the most similar fragrance to it that I have in my collection. Insolence has more violet and no anise. It’s too heady for daytime wear in the summer, but I love doing a couple of spritzes on my wrists before bed. It mellows out beautifully overnight and I wake up to a soft, powdery skin scent that’s still quite delicious.

It is a week of anniversaries. Today is my 9th anniversary at my current company, which officially makes this the longest stint of my career. [Sidenote: in October, I’ll be celebrating 20 years at the Bar, aka being a licensed lawyer, which sounds SO strange because how is it possible I’ve been doing anything for 20 years??] On Sunday, my son turns 15. FIFTEEN!!! How is that possible?! It’s true that I have to crane my neck to look him in the eyes now, but still … he’s my baby boy. How exactly does he have a budding mustache now???

Don’t mind me, just tripping a bit over here …

I am getting ready for my bestie to fly to Edmonton for a visit (next week, eek!!), soon to be followed by our annual trip to BC, so I’ve been working extra hard to wrap up a few writing projects beforehand. That meant second edits on Inspector Hawthorne book #4, and first edits on my most recent WIP, an urban fantasy mystery with a bit of a gothic twist. The latter is also, tentatively, intended to be part of a series. I say ‘tentatively’ because I’m currently in the most difficult stage with this book, trying to turn a messy first draft into something resembling a story and trying to figure out if there’s an actual story there. The complicating factor? I’ve just had a kickass idea for a book #2 in the series. D’oh!

My ambitious goal for this coming week is to knock out another editing round on my second fantasy mystery book. I’ve been getting beta reader feedback on it, and I need to make some decisions about the direction I’ll be taking with this one. Needless to say, come the last week of July, I will be ready for a long break!!

Somehow, I managed to read two excellent books last week — mostly because both were extremely bingeable, and I finished each in, like, 24 hours. (Reading on the walking pad, for the win! I love multi-tasking, lol!) Anyway, highly recommend The Clock House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, and The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada. The latter is a honkaku classic that has been on my TBR for a while now, and did not disappoint — it has one of the most ingenious methods of murder I’ve ever read. And if you’re not familiar with Japanese honkaku mysteries, this is your sign to get on that 😉

I went to the Re-Use store again — surprise! lol! — and got another motherlode of magazines. I’ve not had as much time lately to work on my collages, but I’ve been gathering materials (aka ripping up old magazines) and, honestly, that’s quite soothing and meditative in its own right. It’s especially satisfying to work on a magazine where I can use up the majority of pages for scraps.

Have a great weekend!

A few weeks ago, I finally made my way to the city’s ReUse Center – and hit the magazine jackpot! Let me explain.

For those of you who are not familiar with it, the ReUse Center is basically a shopfront where the City of Edmonton puts out small items that get donated/tossed out but, instead of being recycled, can be reused by others. Most of what we’re talking about are paper-based products, craft stuff, decorations, containers of various descriptions, and similar categories of things. Everything is free – you just pick what you want, weigh it (they keep track of what gets “upcycled” this way), and go.

There is a section for magazines, and when I went, it was quite large and full. I was in heaven!

In total, I ended up with about 60 or so magazines. Some to use for scrapbooking, and some to keep in my personal collection at home. This included some amazing vintage magazines – and even a collectible, the inaugural issue of George, with Cindy Crawford on the cover. That thing is selling for hundreds of dollars online! I’m going to keep it, as a piece of JFK Jr./CBK memorabilia.

Here’s my scrapbooking haul:

And these are some of the vintage magazines I’m keeping:

Talk about nostalgia! These are all from the mid-to-late 90s, aka my teen years. Flipping through them gave me one flashback after another. Some good, some bad. I was a shy, nerdy teenager (and not very well-off) so I spent most of my adolescence feeling like an outsider, watching from the sidelines while other people were having all the fun – cute clothes, parties, boyfriends, etc. Magazines were a window into a world to which I had no access. I loved them, but they also made me feel bad, tbh.

Now, 30 years on, I have enough emotional distance to be able to look at these magazines with the perspective of my current self (who’s living 15-year old Adina’s dream life, tbh) while also holding space for the memory of my old experiences. Bittersweet, but also just quaint and sweet.

The December 1994 issue of Seventeen hit extra nostalgic:

Little Women was my generation of teenage girls’ Roman Empire. And the one and only Laurie:

There was also an ad for a just-released Sun, Moon, and Stars – still one of my fave perfumes.

I couldn’t afford it then, but a couple of years ago, I was able to track down 2 vintage bottles (one thrifted, one on Poshmark) so I’m set now for a while. I believe they still produce a perfume under this name, but it’s not the original formulation, so I had to make sure to get the vintage ones. They smell like the 90s, in the best way.

I also found some outfit inspo … of course. How fun is this outfit:

I have a few vintage oversized blazers that could work, and a similar necklace, but I need to track down a pair of daisy-printed leggings, haha! Here’s hoping the thrift gods deliver. Remember how popular daisy prints were in the 90s? I’ve been looking for a dress like that for ages now, too, to scratch the nostalgia itch. Picture it with a white tee and some Dr. Martens boots or mary janes – it would be perfect! Haven’t found one yet, but I’m not giving up yet.

I thought this was pretty funny — predictions for fashion, 10 years into the future (so, 2004):

The caption is actually quite prescient — though it’s quaint to think that we’d still be walking around with literal faxes and radios in our pockets. But the spirit of the future was definitely haunting the page 😉

Anyway, I’ll be back at the ReUse store soon and keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll find another treasure hoard.