And the thrift gods smiled down...

Have you ever gone to the same thrift store two days in a row? That's me, this week. On Wednesday I met my friend Dave for lunch at the Lucky Elephant in Sam Dimas where we had a great chat, catching up on the last couple of months. He's such a cool guy and always has interesting news about his many entrepreneurial projects. After lunch we stopped at Community Thrift in Covina aka "the magical thrift" and spent about an hour checking things out. I was having an off shopping day and for whatever reason was focusing on workout stuff and ended up just looking at a few racks of clothes. Dave found a vintage mannequin display bust and I ended up buying a pair of jeans. A great visit with Dave but unremarkable in the way of thrift shopping. I did a u-turn toward Rancho Cucamonga to hold my sweet new grandson for a few minutes and then headed back into LA to meet Carl for dinner.

The following morning, I decided to stop in Covina for some real magic. I arrived as the doors were opening. I'd never been there that early before and found it much less crowded and remarkably quiet. I headed directly to the housewares on the far right wall and immediately saw three plates- pink, yellow and chartreuse- that I thought looked like Bauer. I turned them over with my fingers crossed, and saw the Bauer imprint. Old Bauer. Yes! Well I nearly squealed and couldn't get them into my shopping cart fast enough. I continued to look around and a few feet away I spied a gray divided bowl and picked it up. Franciscan! I love divided bowls, vintage or not. They work perfectly when I serve rice and a vegetable at dinner. Yippee! I quickly scanned the rest of the shelves then moved to the opposite wall to look for flower pots. I immediately saw two flower pots- identical in shape but different colors. I swooped them up and turned them over. I could barely read the imprint but it looked like White Pottery California M-2. I wasn't familiar with the name but loved the colors and shapes. Of course at $3.95 each they went immediately into my cart. I spent about another hour looking at the rest of store- no vintage linens but bought a couple pair of jeans that looked like they might fit. On to the Goodwill!

I was feeling like it was pottery day so I walked directly to housewares, bypassing clothes, shoes and accessories. I fell in love with the first piece I saw- a fluted pot in a beautiful shade of green with a frog adhered to the inside. No markings but so pretty! A steal at $2.95. And then I found a charming dark green tea pot missing its lid. Perfect to plant! Between the two stores, a vintage pottery bonanza costing less than $25. And let me add that each piece is near perfect- no chips or paint loss.

What I found after that I will save for another day. Let me just say that it was one of my most fun finds ever. Ever.