"My World" Photo Blogging Challenge and Sundays in My City

P.J. of A Lil' Hoohaa, one of my WWFC writing challenge buddies, has instituted a monthly Photo Blogging Challenge. The gist of it is ~

March’s theme will be simple and pretty easy for you to interpret — “My World.”

Take us through your world, in five shots. Maybe it’s the area in which you live. Maybe it’s you. A hobby. Family. Friends. Other things. Whatever. But as we get this challenge going — and hopefully keep it going for many months — let’s learn about the people who might take part!

Here’s how it will work.

• On the first of each month, I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
• Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month, participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos to interpret the theme).
• I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.
• I’m also working to set up a “newsletter” sort of thing so participants can subscribe and get a notification whenever something in regard to the challenge is posted here.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month and link up.

Heading into the country for a series of rusted farm implements

Back to the city, my office where $4 Thrift Town brunette Barbie poses with my blooming orchid and springtime teacup.  She is now my Easter Barbie, you know, wearing white and all ~ Yes, she is shoeless, I am sure there is a Payless for Barbies that carries micro-sized shoes.

Back to Sacramento for a group of Prop 8 demonstrators in front of the Federal Courthouse.  (Yes, it was taken from my car window, snicker if you must).  The size of the group has varied from day to day with the pros and cons on opposite sides of the street.  Not a political statement here - just an image from My World.

This post is a perfect link in to Claudya at Unknownmami.



Not part of the My World Photo Blogging Challenge but ending with some (kind of) Easter-themed images.

Blogspat and Mighty Minion ready to spring into action

Now is the calm before the storm when the A to Z Challenge participants are scheduling their blog posts.  A to Z is the mutha of all blog challenges.  There are over 1,000 bloggers participating this year.  Some bloggers revealed their topic, and a couple of those caught my eye - a foul-mouthed Scottish gal A Daft Scots Lass who will post on All Things Scots and a Hungarian blogger The Multi Colored Diary who is focusing on weird princesses.  My focus will be All Things Thrifting.

As a Madlab Mighty Minion for the challenge, I will be visiting chosen participants to ensure they are following the rules.

On the subject of rules, I must admit I was involved in a blogspat last month.  I have a habit of combining blog challenges and hops and this one hop host (who shall remain unnamed) took issue with my technique.  Granted it was with a group of romance writers, of which I am not, but thinking they might want to expand their audience beyond that realm - how could it hurt?  Well, did I get the b***h slap down and sent to blog purgatory.  After I read the lengthy rule set in its entirety, it was apparent I had violated more than one rule to the hop.  I did a quick retreat and removed all reference to the writer's hop.  Do tell, have any of you been involved in a blogspat?

So, off I go, hopping once again ... with a newly discovered blog Rolled Up Pretty

This past weekend's thrift shop finds were a Caslon black print skirt ($1.50), Patti Page, The Mercury Years ($2) and some gel ink black ruled paper (50 cents).  

Please vote for me as Best Local Sacramento Blogger.  Vote button is at the top of this post.  What fun!

 BEST Local Blogger

Friday's Frock and Now That's A Dress

Friday's Frock is a splash of color, celebrating the fact that we have officially entered springtime.  

Banana Republic cream colored collared shirt

Outfit teal sweater

Worthington print skirt

(all thrifted)

Brighton chartreuse bag

Aerosoles cream colored sandals

(both retail)

I heard of an event on the radio station 100.5 that I can donate my gently used dresses.  

The event is described as follows:  

NOW 100.5 knows that most women won’t wear the same dress twice, so we’re holding the first annual “NOW That’s A Dress” exchange to benefit WEAVE (Women Escaping A Violent Environment) on Wednesday March 27, 2013 at 6:00pm.

Women from all over Sacramento will be encouraged to donate their new or gently used dresses at any Dimple Records location between February 27, 2013 and March 25, 2013.

All donated dresses will be dry cleaned at Prestige Cleaners and placed on display at the Hyatt Regency (1209 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814) for the first annual “NOW That’s A Dress” event on March 27, 2013. All dresses will be sold for only $10 regardless of the designer.

Start digging through your closet for those formal dresses, cocktail dresses, sun dresses, prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, or even wedding dresses, that you’re tired of and drop them off at any Dimple Records location!

Want to know what will be for sale? Click here to get a sneak peek of a few of the dresses that will be on display at NOW That’s a Dress!

Dimple Locations:

• 2433 Arden Way Sacramento, CA 95825

• 7830 Macy Plaza Drive Citrus Heights, CA 95610

• 1701 Santa Clara Drive Roseville, CA 95661

• 9692 Elk Grove- Florin Road Elk Grove, CA 95624

• 313 E Bidwell Street Folsom, CA 95630

• 2500 16th Street Sacramento, CA 95818

• 2499 Arden Way Sacramento, CA 95825

For hours of operation and more information on Dimple Records, Click here

All proceeds from NOW That’s A Dress will benefit WEAVE.

WEAVE is the primary provider of crisis intervention services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sacramento County. It is WEAVE’s mission to bring an end to domestic violence and sexual assault in partnership with our community. WEAVE’s vision is a community free of violence and abuse.

The NOW That’s A Dress will take place inside the beautiful Hyatt Regency in Downtown Sacramento. The Hyatt Regency is a Four Diamond luxury hotel is located in the heart of the city’s vibrant downtown, across from the State Capitol and adjacent to the Sacramento Convention Center.

Please vote for me as Best Local Sacramento Blogger.  Vote button is at the top of this post.  What fun!

 BEST Local Blogger

Linked up with Visible Monday

Nom for Best Local Sacramento Blogger, Blog Pop Spring Fling and The Big Reveal

My A to Z challenge theme is All Things Thrifting, with the exception of two pet posts, one cat-themed and one dog-themed.  My posts will include tips, observations, and comments on the thrifting industry.

The Blog Pop Spring Fling giveaways are being posted at Rats and More

In celebration of the onset of spring, I present FASHION!  (You know I can't resist, I love those fashion photos) ...

Please vote for me as Best Local Sacramento Blogger.  Vote button is at the top of this post.  What fun!

BEST Local Blogger

Rednesday and a Blog Blitz

Hellooo to my blog audience!  It is a rainy day here in Sackotomatoes, California (aka Sacramento).  To amuse myself, I've joined in a couple of hops.  One of my favorites - Rednesday - featuring red, red and more red ...

Jayne Mansfield in "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?"

via It's A Very Cherry World

Fashion by Louis Ferraud, 1968

Vogue, United Kingdom, 1938

A fellow A to Z Participant DL Hammons is hosting ~



via Cruising Altitude 2.0

DL explains the process:

I present to you the BLOG BLITZ.  Here’s how I see it working.  Sign up on the linky list below, making sure to record your email address, and you’ll instantly become a member of the Blog Blitz Team.  Then from time to time, I will select a deserving blog (that must be part of the Blitz Team) and a specific date.  I will then email the team members that information and on that date we all will go out of our way to visit that blog and leave an encouraging comment on their most recent post.  I'm talking about hopefully a 100+ comments appearing out of the blue in one day!

At first I'll pick who gets blitzed, but then I'll start taking recommendations from other members for deserving targets. My only restriction about who joins the Blog Blitz Team is that your blog cannot be primarily for commercial gain.

BEST Local Blogger

Ninja Captain Alex's Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest

No. 1:  One of my enduring favorites is Die Hard with Bruce Willis.  Hope the new movie coming out, A Good Day to Die Hard, will be as much of a romp as the original.

No. 2:  Off in the quirky realm would be the movie Kinky Boots - I think it is movie with heart and soul.

No. 3:  For drama and heartbreak, I recommend Sin Nombre.

No. 4:  Kind of an off-the-wall black and white classic Katherine Hepburn is The Rainmaker (1956) with her playing opposite Burt Lancaster.

No. 5:  I so loved musicals as a kid, so I have to dig in history's past for this gem (and animated nonetheless) 1955s Lady and the Tramp.

No. 6:  Back to the future (noooo, not the movie), recent movies - 2007's No Country for Old Men.

No. 7:  For those who don't mind subtitles Ran is worth the effort.  Amazing photography, excellent story line.    

No. 8:  A comedic movie worth the price of admission - The Hangover.

No. 9:  Removed from the list. 

No. 10:  Finally, one in the horror/sci-fi genre -- 1979's The Alien. 

There ya haves it, in no particular order, my top ten I could (pretty much) watch over and over again.

The past weekend's thrift shop finds included a Madame Alexander fairy doll ($2.50), silver seashell clip-on earrings with pink gemstone flowers ($2.50), two amber colored bracelets (1/2 off $1.75) and background scarf ($2.50).  MA Fairy doll and the background scarf will make an appearance later on in the year with either the Mad Tea Party or Le Mysterieux Carnival.

To add to my art book collection, I picked up How to Draw Animals by Jack Hamm (pub. 1969), and British Landscape Painting - 19th Century (pub. 1970).

Celebrate Oz and Friday's Frock

It is time to celebrate Altered OZ hosted by Olde Baggs 'n Stuft Shirts.  What perfect timing with the release of the new version of the movie, Oz the Great and Powerful.

Dorothy and Tin Man

Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

The two witches

I was hoping inspiration would come to me by ozmosis to write an altered Oz story but the only thing that kept coming to mind was placing Dorothy in real time, crime-ridden Stockton, California - but I just couldn't do that to her.  

So, I'm off to see the wizard in Friday's Frock ... and to visit the Altered Oz participants.

Jones Wear navy blue jacket

Cutter & Buck pink t-shirt

American Living navy floral print skirt

Costume jewelry heart pin

(all thrifted)

The Traveling Yellow Skirt has arrived in Sacramento, California.

YES!  I have waited patiently (and no so patiently) for the skirt to be sent my way ... I have been thrift shopping and image collecting to prepare for this post.  To be included with the likes of the previous TYS wearers is an honor (as I hold a fashion award and wipe away imaginery tears).

This is a skirt that DEMANDS bold pieces and accessories, it is a whole lotta skirt.  Without further ado, I present The Traveling Yellow Skirt ~

The first image was captured along the riverfront walkway with Sacramento's tower bridge in the background.  I had so much fun with this photo shoot.  Does it come across that I am happy to be alive?  I hope so, because that was my thought at that moment.

This second image is my fashion mag shot - I love the lighting, the outfit, and the industrial background with a touch of elegance.

Outfit details

Fio green acrylic ruffled sweater (thrifted)

Insane Clown Posse belt (thrifted)

Traveling Yellow Skirt (via Melanie at Bag and a Beret)

I added the pink flower with camo background (a nod to my blog moniker, Thrift Shop Commando), salvaged from a poorly constructed garment.

There is even a TYS Barbie!

Look what landed in a recent issue of Harper's Bazaar.  Right on trend and an iteration of the TYS (Alla Kostromichova by Erik Madigan Heck).

A nod to those previous skirt wearers ~ the instigator of TYSFS, Melanie of Bag and a Beret.  M'kay so I cheated a little, this is not the post of her wearing the skirt but I just ADORE this image.



The fashionistas, in order of appearance, Sarah, brainchild of the TYSFS, at Misfits Vintage (Australia)



Helga Von Trollop (New Zealand)



Edie Pop Factory Mom (Italy)

H O W    I T    W O R K S

1. Request the skirt by email to the current skirt-holder, who will announce its next stop.
2. If you like, alter the skirt with paint, sewing, markers or other means. Please try not to shorten the skirt much because the length is part of its charm, and please maintain the skirt's flexible sizing. 
3. Post a photo of yourself in or with the skirt as real wear or inspirational wear and I shall post a photo here too as part of a Global Compilation (GC).
4. If you are REALLY inspired, post a short video clip of you twirling or dancing in the skirt so "Just Bad Enough," my art project band with Sandra, can include it in a "music video" GC.
5. Announce who the next skirt-holder will be on your blog. If you do not receive any requests, it will be time for the skirt to fly home to Melane at Bag and A Beret.