Once upon a time, there was a girl. This girl and her husband were going to London for two weeks, and the girl was bound and determined to find a pair of cognac/tan flat boots to take with her. She really wanted a pair of Frye Campus boots (in Saddle, not Banana), but she thought they were too expensive. (The girl had really gotten a skewed sense of cost from all her thrifting. She could barely bring herself to fork out full price for a pair of jeans, much less $250 for boots.)

So one Saturday, the girl was determined to find similar pair that would work. She dragged her husband to 22 stores (yes, Husband counted, and yes, these included a few thrift stores as well). But she just couldn’t find them.

A week later, the girl was at the thrift store on half-price day and saw these:

Vintage Liz Claiborne riding boots, exactly the color the girl was looking for, and in her size. The girl was ecstatic! She snatched these boots up for $7 and happily packed them away for her trip. The girl and her husband went to London and had a “brilliant” time! (PS – This New York Times article on “Britishisms” is pretty funny!)

When she got back stateside, the girl resumed her weekly half-price Thursday thrift store visits. The second week she found these:

That’s right, friends.

She thrifted some Frye Campus boots. In Saddle. In her size. For $12.49. True story.

There are other thrift stories like this one, but none as great. Here are 3 more finds that I would include to round out my top 5 in my Hall of Fame.

This dress is just so fun. Why? Immaculate vintage condition, it’s a shirt dress, blue with red paisleys (I’ve never met a paisley I didn’t like), it reminds me of men’s old fashioned pajamas.

I don’t know what it is about this dress.  It’s way too big and will have to be tailored at some point.

But there is something just lovely about it. One day I will be glad I got this for $4.

And my favorite find ever:

Bu it wasn’t thrifted – I found it at an antique store – and it wasn’t even a bargain, so I’ll save its story for another day.

So please, tell me, if you’re a thrifter or a vintage shopper, what’s in your “Hall of Fame”? Can be anything – furniture, old books, whatever. I’d love to hear about it!

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This post is part of a 31 Day series. Find all the posts in this series here.

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