9 Things I Thrifted In January

Feat. the most incredible, GIANT piece of graphic artwork and the $400 Italian wool coat I (literally) found on the sidewalk.

The other morning, I was making my daughter breakfast, felt a little sniffly, and then realized I was having a full-blown nosebleed. In my 50+ years, I’ve never had one before, and it honestly freaked me WAY out. My husband was gathering the recycling to take downstairs when I yelped for him to come in and help me. There is something incredibly powerful about watching a Zen Master in action. Calm. Grounded. Zero hysterics. That is him. And not me. Especially not in this moment when trying desperately not to die OR stain any of our nice Belgian carpet.

Anyway, I kind of wrote about this briefly in an Instagram post yesterday, and feel like it could (in an abstract way) sum up the vibe of January: Good intentions to get up early, exercise, save $$, write that screenplay, and nope…you’re gonna spend the next hour sitting on the bathroom floor with a rag up your nose just trying to breathe and not go anywhere near your Dusen Dusen towels.

I’ve never considered myself a seasonal depression person, but lately, I’m reconsidering. This winter has seemed darker. Damper. Dare I say, a little creepier (that’s probably just lingering scenes from True Detective: Night Country).

All that said, when I started to assemble the photo album of everything I’ve discovered/collected/rescued over the past six weeks, I came back to my senses: Life is OKAY. It’s just winter….a time for rest/slowing down/hibernating so that some wonderful, mysterious, extremely thrilling + tiny things can start to germinate. Something else that happens to be great about winter is that I seem to remember my dreams more. Maybe it IS the darkness or the pull to tuck into bed earlier. I don’t really know, but I had a dream last week that prompted me to call an old friend and tell him about it scene by spectacular scene. He listened intently, and I could tell just hearing about the wildness of it all made him happy. Which made me happy, too.

And thrifting makes me happy no matter the season. But it’s winter rn, so here are nine beautiful-and-maybe-a-little-strange things that I hope give you a tiny hit of sunshine, too…xxCb

I’m very into metal/steel/silver things lately. I found these roaming around Dumbo one Saturday with my friend Anna at the lovely shop Hudson Wilder (they had a vintage phone, too, with “The Lottery” on speed dial:). It’s a vintage cocktail set from the 1960s, $70. I didn’t need it at all, but it was a cold and snowy day and the four of them together just felt like a tiny gathering of friends.

Vintage Aquascutum blazer I found at the Goodwill in Hudson for $9.99. Fits like a glove. They’re less frequent than they used to be, but this blazer is proof that you can still find vintage DESIGNER gems at the thrift store. I promise. (So, don’t stop looking!:)

Found this little rattan table for $5 at the same Goodwill. It’s a bit beat-up but that U SHAPE…swoooon. As luck would have it, it also tucks perfectly underneath the lounge chair I recently bought from Zara Home (and LOVE).

This is kind of bananas, but on my way home I saw this coat on the sidewalk…and was like, uhhhh…that plaid is GOOD. I don’t usually pick up clothes on the sidewalk (I do have SOME restraint), but I decided to take it immediately to my local dry-cleaners where we inspected it carefully. Turns out, it’s a Mango coat (below), originally about $400, and a really beautiful Italian wool (no kidding, it says inside the label “Italian wool”). And well, it fits! I’ll probably put it in one of my upcoming sidewalk sales, but had to share what a special and very strange find it was. If anyone is truly obsessed with it, DM me…it could be YOURS. By the way, this chic chic CHIC navy coat also by MANGO is just as DIVINE.