Greetings my lovely ones!
I hope that this post finds you all happy and healthy. These photos are of Day 6 of my New York summer adventure. The amazing Gabby arranged to meet us at the Brooklyn Tabernacle after her dance rehearsal to take us to a big thrift store in Brooklyn. Guys she knows where EVERYTHING is we just didn't have time to get to them all *UGLY CRIES* but the one we went to was AWESOME! It was 25% off everything on Monday and this place even had 3 levels with an elevator! HELLO HEAVEN.
I basically walked around quickly picking up everything that caught my eye. It's a bit of a race when my sister and I shop together because we both have similar tastes and sizes and even though we always share our stuff eventually we basically have a little rule that you can't borrow it until the owner has had a chance to wear it.
I left with a huge NY Yankees jacket and that was my most expensive purchase ever in a thrift store (it was $25 and brand new but it went down to about $17 after the discount). I wanted it because I was contemplating getting a jersey made cause I'm cheesy and I think they are super cool but they were like $70 upwards. NO DEAL BRO. I am not that rich.
Also found this amazing purple oversized blouse with gorgeous buttons (I plan to wear it in Melbourne this weekend). A gorgeous yellow short sleeved blazer, a long sleeved tartan pink blazer and some cute button pins. You will see my bag as you scroll down. It's big and it's full!
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| Brooklyn Museum |
We continued on with our amazing guide Gabby. Past the Brooklyn Museum heading towards the well known and much loved
Gloria's Caribbean Food in Crown Heights.
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| Look at all my thrifted finds! All 25% off price thanks to Gabby's insider knowledge ;) |
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| Crown Heights baby and her Momma. |
We made it to Gloria's and we are ready to eat. Gabby's Mum was telling her off for making us walk around all day without eating. LOL our Trini-Sissys and their 'Mommy' were always looking out for us and making sure we were fed. Guys it was SOOOOO WORTH THE WAIT! The food is definitely our type of thing. She was worried we wouldn't like it because it looked messy, some other people turned their nose up at it and I was like "No Gabby you don't get it. If it tastes good then we are there! No food snobbery here my darling!" Brooklyn people be jamming that place up! I CRAVE IT ALL THE TIME!
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| Watching the good folk of Brooklyn pass us by while we wait |
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| Gabby presents our rotis and she is so glad that we like it. Ruthie enjoyed her beef roti curry. |
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| How could we not? Roti with lentils, chicken curry and peppers. SOOOOO YUMMY! |
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| Walking to another store to represent Niue and Australia ;) I got a pineapple and ginger punch. YUMMY! |
Readers meet Valerie. The super cool teacher who was happy enough to let us excitedly move around her whilst she was eating. She smiled and asked if we were from England (everything thought that) while she was eating her pineapple cake. I told her we were from Australia and she asked my if I had seen
Muriel's Wedding. I almost died because that it one of my MOST FAVOURITE MOVIES EVER! My friends and I quote it constantly! She explained that when she teaches her students about Australian culture she loves to show the Rabbit Proof Fence along with Muriel's Wedding.
Both are must-see Australian films movies in my mind.
Anyways I am getting off on a tangent but she was super cool and we exchanged email addresses and she even said "We should catch a show together while you are here!" I LOVE NEW YORKERS because the majority of them are so open to meeting and making new friends. She is now a FB friend and I get to see all the cool shows, concerts, movies and community arts events she attends. She is so fly!
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| The nice lady let Gabby play with her hoola-hoop and explained it's all in the forward-back movement not the side to side. |
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| Kids cooling off. I was tempted to join them |
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| Salvos: Dress $2 Shoes $3 Bag 50c Street Vendor: Glasses $5 |
What I wore: As the heat continued to blister in New York I had to keep any attempt of an outfit cool and comfortable because we were still doing a whole lot of walking and subway exploration.
By NOW (who would have thought it could ever happen) we started to find our way around a little better but still my big dreams of having beautifully straight hair never came to pass. It was always up and out of the way.
I pulled on my light collared dress. I picked it up at the Salvation army store in Nowra for $2. My trick is to walk straight to the dress up section because they are usually half price compared to the other 'normal' clothes and they are exactly what I'm looking for (either vintage dresses, bold patterned pieces or just something unique that can use to add interest to some of the simpler outfits that I wear).
I loved the colour of this dress but it was too long and sadly too tight :(
The underlay was just cutting off any attempts to breathe but I really really REALLY wanted it and the dress itself was fine. What to do then?
Take a pair of scissors and cut the hemline and the underlay. Shoes were $3 from the same place and the bag was $0.50 from the Salvo's too so it basically is a Salvos outfit ;)
I really encourage all of you to take a good look in secondhand/thrift stores. After the
Buy Nothing New Month Challenge I seem to source the majority of my clothes from Opshops/thrift stores.
I still get some lovely basics from Best and Less and City Chic and I love ASOS for special occasions but with the constant urge to travel and enjoy weekends away from work; well I love that I can get clothes that no one else will be wearing at an insanely good price.
Being in Australia with limited plus size options, if it's new then chances are you will most likely see someone else wear it. There's nothing wrong with that because I love seeing how other women choose to style certain pieces and I always like guessing or wondering where they have picked up certain items from. Girls be rocking that City Chic in Australia and I have notices a lot more ASOS purchases. Who can blame them right?
ASOS Curve is just so amazing!
Gabby if you are reading this please send me a Goat Roti asap ;)
Big Love,
Falala Mele xo
What I wore: I picked up this sheer over-sized black button-up blouse in St. Marys. I went to get my eyelashes done at 4 Seasons Beauty (they are the best) and there was free clothes at the street fair. FREE CLOTHES? HELL YES! My sister and I found a few pieces and we thought we should leave some for other people but they insisted that we take all we wanted because they have too much stuff. COOL HUH? I found these yellow tights at Kmart. I REALLLLY wanted a pair of yellow shorts before my first US trip and I didn't find any. So when I saw these I was like "YES I finally get my yellow shorts". I cut these and they did the job just fine. Had to wear my faithful chucks because we were trekking all over the New York catching trains and walking to and from places.
