13 Things I Thrifted In October

My new vintage fall frames, a sterling-silver choker, $8 sequin fruit, and, what happens when Santa Claus goes out for a box of Cheerios...🤠

Last week, I spent the day with my friend Rebecca helping her sort through some of her late mother’s many beautiful possessions as she empties her longtime apartment. Rebecca is one of a handful of friends I always go thrifting with. She was my boss at Gourmet magazine back in my 20s, and as the person who first taught me how to edit, she has also taught me over the years how to really see things, too. As we sat on the floor of her mother’s apartment, surrounded by a coterie of inscribed books and pottery and hand-knit snoods, I looked at Rebecca and said, “We really don’t need to go thrifting today.” She smiled and nodded. There were just too many beautiful things to discover right there on every shelf, in every drawer…even the custom rubber stamp I found on a shelf in a closet her mother had made to “monogram” each book in her collection.

So much beauty…

With her blessing, I’ll be writing more about what we found, saved, sorted, and the “picnic” she brought for us to eat at her mom’s kitchen table when we got hungry—in a few weeks. But this whole day with my friend reminded me how necessary and also nourishing that process of collecting is…the seeing, the surveying, the editing, the keeping…and, eventually, the passing along❤️. When we talk about a circular economy, there is so much humanity in each of these stages of things, not only the things themselves. Tracing their lifespan before us, with us, and after us, something I never cease to marvel about.

And well, here is a little more marveling…about a few more beautiful things. And, not just from my October thrifting pursuits, but also September, having skipped that missive because I was busy losing my mind having a giant sidewalk sale:) AND…speaking of sales, I will be having a wee pop-up vintage sale at OK Pantry in Kinderhook, New York (not far from our IRL Future Cottage) in early December…stay tuned for exact date/time, I hope some of you can come! As always, I will host a preview flash sale for Paid ATA subscribers, so just in case you can’t make it to Kinderhook, you’ll still get access to some very good, beautiful things right here. And now….

On with the show✨…xxCb