Favorite Things - Continued

We've only just begun to cover my "theme" of favorite things.  Today has to do with my love/hate relationship down here with shopping.  Since this topic is "favorite things" I'm going to skip the reasons why I'm not a fan of shopping down here, and concentrate on the why I am a fan of shopping down here.

Around this time of year, I like to polish the chrome on my convertible, prepare a special sparkly Keys holiday outfit, bake like mad, and then deliver said baking to friends and such in said sparkly outfit while driving said polished convertible as heavy metal blasts through the speakers.  I like to find a different outfit every year. Now, I'm not talking what you probably would expect.  Down here for the holidays, I usually put on a pink or purple wig, a glittery pink Santa hat, and some ridiculous colors and sequins with army boots, and sparkly tights.  It's to make people laugh, not to compliment my "great taste."  And, usually I do get a fair amount of laughs and looks.  I like this.

So, it's outfit planning time for this year.  I rummaged in my closet and decided I had some good basics, but needed something new and sparkly.  I've been hitting the vintage & thrift shops pretty hard the last few days searching for something perfect.  I managed to find a few good pieces to work with, but as I was walking out the door of one of my most favorite thrift places, I heard a little "oooooo, come back here!" voice calling me into the back room of said thrift shop. The secret stash.  There in all its glory was the perfect outfit for making cookie and cake deliveries.  I haven't tried it on (yet), I've been soooo busy today.  But, tomorrow is the day of reckoning.  If it fits, I've got the most perfect outfit.  And, this is one of my favorite things.... poking around the thrift shops looking at things and having to really think "how can I use this."  Here, I almost never buy clothing for a specific purpose.  I am constantly on the look out for costumes, glitter, sparkles, wigs, and other things that you just never know when you'll need them.  And, this is how I prepare for events like Midsummer, Halloween, Fantasy Fest, and even cookie deliveries.

I like how I have friends and people who get into this stuff as much as I do.... in fact more.  I like that people care enough to call to me from the back room of a vintage shop and say "I have THE MOST PERFECT THING FOR YOU!" and smile and laugh all the way.

I realize we do not have big box stores (for the most part), malls or other such nonsense.  Thank goodness we do NOT have them. There's rumblings of a mall-ish development at this time.  If there is anything I can do to protest that from happening, I will be there.  I did not move here to shop at stores such as Wal-Mart and the equivalent.  In fact, here we are the opposite of such mentality.  We always search for fair trade and Made in the USA items, and we refuse to buy things that are made in countries that do not offer a safe environment nor living wages for their workers.  So, when we buy things from thrift shops, this essentially closes a loop before it opens as far as issues like that.

Yes, a favorite thing of mine is the experience of shopping local, seeing friends or people I know, and then having to create things seemingly from very little.  But, the truth is, the "very little" is always so much more, and always more than I could ever need or want.  And that, indeed, is a favorite thing.