It´s a nice tradition to bring home something for your loved one when you´ve been away for a while. I got the Chanel Rouge Noir nail polish nicely wrapped in paper with a sweet little note.

His mother had also sent me a few things, three vintage scarves and a collar.

Finally things can get back to normal again, starting with the traditional Saturday shopping tomorrow.

Almost every Saturday over the last few years have involved thrift shopping in one way or another. It´s one of my absolute favorite things to do. I love searching through piles and piles of crap for those few gems, and I love to find things I never would have thought of wearing otherwise. Today I got a pair of pants. I have two pairs of jeans that I wear, no pants. I mean, I have them, I just don´t wear them. When I spotted these on a sale rack for $2 I figured it was about time to give them a go. They were too short and had an awkward cut to them. I lengthened them, made them skinnier and folded up the hems. I realize this may take some time getting used to and I might end up altering them even more before I am satisfied, but I am still pleased to have found something that is so completely different from everything else I own.

I also got a few more bow ties to wear in my hair or on my wrist.

An odd necklace. Update: Due to help from a kind reader I have discovered that the necklace is from the Finnish designer Pentti Sarpaneva and is actually quite valuable!

And a chain belt with tassels. I might turn this into something else as I rarely wear belts like that.

I can never seem to stop picking up new shades if I come across something special at flea markets or high street shops, and over the years I have build up quite a collection. Even though I have them in all kinds of different styles and colors, it´s the aviators that I most frequently wear. I figured I could just as well put some money in them and get a pair of Ray Ban aviators seeing that they are such classics. I had a look on eBay and I came across this shop selling them for no more than $9.99. The fact that they´re so cheap and that they are being shipped from China doesn´t really speak “authenticity” out loud. At that price it was too tempting not to give it a go though. I picked them up at the post office today and while I am no Ray Ban expert and even though they came with all kinds of proof of authenticity, I am still sceptical. That doesn´t really matter though, cause I do love the shades, although I would like to get a bigger pair as well.

I´ve never been a flats girl. Somehow, even though I am quite tall, they make me feel stumpy. But lately, as I´ve purchased a maxi dress as well as a long skirt, I´ve been playing with the idea of getting a pair of flats to wear with them. Today I came across these leather gladiator sandals at a thrift shop at $10 and I figured that was a price I was willing to pay to test it out.

The butterfly necklace is another thing I thrifted with spring in mind. I love that it´s so big.

At last I got a scarf and a set of gold bracelets.

I intended to stay far away from shops this week. Oh, well…

For a while I´ve been fascinated by what I really don´t have any good name for - zippers and/or ribbons made into a pretty much useless garment. I started with the Acne grid skirt that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I contacted Acne as I wanted to get a hold of one for my own, but I quickly learned that it was only a showpiece whereas only one was available for stylists. In other words, it would never end up in my hands.

Then today, while browsing eBay I came across a rather interesting Helmut Lang piece. It´s a top made out of ribbons and a giant zipper. It is just as useless as the grid skirt, but if you look at it more like an accessory than a garment, it makes a little more sense. It would be that little extra worn over a dress, a skirt or a pair of jeans, and can completely change the way a garment is perceived.

And, like in an old spring show of Ann Demeulemeester, it´s really more like an odd piece of jewelry than a garment.

After realizing that I would never ever own the Acne grid skirt, I started thinking of making one of my own. I never really got as far as buying the needed supplies, until today when I saw the Helmut Lang top. I could have placed a bid on it, but it just happens to be that I for some strange reason purchased a giant zipper like that on eBay not long ago. My original plan was to wear it more as a necklace, but after trying it in front of the mirror a couple of times, it ended up in a box waiting to be used for some future DIY project.

Anyway, this is my plan for today, creating something like both the skirt and the top. We´ll se how far I get as I bought all the ribbons that were left in the shop and I still don´t have enough. And who knows, it might end up as a major disaster, but it´s fun just having a project to work on.

H&M used to be the ultimate shop for me, I stopped by at least once a week not to miss all the good stuff. Then it something changed and I usually only got my thrills from secondhand shopping. Just this morning, on my way to work, I thought about how I rarely stopped by H&M anymore, how I usually never found anything in particular when I did, and how I maybe should just stop going there all together. Then, when I got home, I saw a picture of an H&M dress I liked. It´s the same print as I´ve already got a shirt and a bikini in, and the dress looked like just perfect. Floor length but not floral as I have trouble finding florals I really love. I ran off to H&M with a feeling of excitement, afraid that it would already be sold out. The dress wasn´t there. As far as I can tell it hasn´t come to Norway yet. But even though I didn´t get the thrill of finding the dress of my dreams, I found a nice little frilly white scarf. Nothing too special really, but it reminded me of the images I picked yesterday with the soft shades and suddenly spring didn´t feel too far away after all. Only that was a little thrill in itself. Now I just hope I snatch the dress too before it´s all gone.

The rings had to go when I went outside and discovered that huge cocktail rings didn´t go well under mittens, and mittens are a must now that it´s snowing sideways.

Since I was a kid I was pretty good at money. I never spent money on more than what I really needed or wanted, and the rest was put in the piggy bank. And I had quite a few tricks up my sleeve to hustle my little sisters for their savings. I´ve always been in control, never really broke. Lately things seem to be changing. I think getting a job has put me into a different mindset, like I can´t really spend too much, like there will always come in more. For some reason that is impossible for me to understand, just a few days after receiving my paycheck, I´m already nearly out. I am still reasonable enough to put aside money for food, rent and all of that, so it´s no crisis, I just don´t get why I´m not in control like I used to be. Anyway, I was quite pleased with the fact that it´s Easter and all the shops are closed over here. It would put a stop on my spending. But then there´s today, the only day when shops are open, at least for a little while. I deliberately only went to secondhand shops, and picked up…

…a men´s vest. I wanted an oversized since the fall of 2006, but never really got to it.

I also got what must be a fake Dior umbrella. It´s very old which speaks against it being fake, but I assume authentic Dior umbrellas are of better quality, even though this one does have a nice wooden handle. It was only $2, so I didn´t even bother to consider the fact that when it is raining, I am too lazy to carry an umbrella anyway.

At last there was this floral shirt. I have a hard time finding floral garments I like and I´ve wanted a shirt like this to wear with shorts, so I just couldn´t leave it behind. It looks like it was home made, no tags and the seams are far from perfect.

However, the point of this post is that there´s still eBay. All the shops are closed but I have of course placed a bid on a pair of ridiculously expensive boots on eBay. Today´s purchases may not have cost much but if I win those shoes I am in trouble. I am going to Stockholm in April, to Copenhagen in May, to Berlin and Paris in August, I really need to save some money. In a weak moment though, I figured that if I should be too broke to be able to do any shopping in Stockholm, at least I could walk around in a pair of fabulous boots. Who knows, I might lose the auction, I´ll leave that one up to faith.

On my way home from work I stopped by a craft shop that had a closing down sale and I grabbed a bunch of tie dye color for future DIY projects. Several bloggers have already attempted making those dip dye tights (as seen in Christian Lacroix´s spring couture show), something that is also on my to do list. I also feel like making a dress of some sort.

In the meantime I will have to settle for this tie dye scarf that I picked up at a thrift shop, cause I really don´t have anything to dye.

Style Bubble is great at finding quirky little shops, and it was through her I came across these Buddog bird headbands. £18 a pop for the single ones and they shipped super fast. I´m not exactly sure how I´m going to wear it, but if it´s weird and affordable, I will rarely pass it up.

The only wearable items I found while thrift shopping today were these real snakeskin bangles. I wear a lot of bangles these days so I was thrilled, and even better that they were just a couple of dollars for the lot.

As I mentioned earlier, there´s been a lot of the long feather-like fur on the runway, especially Gareth Pugh´s is much like the Ann Demeulemeester collar I got yesterday. I love this as a change from all the more traditional furs.

Gareth Pugh, Anna Sui and Dolce & Gabbana.

The more ordinary sheep fur is something else I like from the shows. I got a huge white collar like this a few weeks ago. It looks really dramatic and I got is as a substitute for a sheep fur vest I´ve been craving for quite some time. Fur collars in general seem to be making it big, but I´d like to get my hands on a vest like this too.

Pollini, Topshop unique and Dolce & Gabbana.

Wide brimmed hat is such a classy summer accessory. I put great use into my black H&M hat of last year, but black often feels a little dark for summer, and I wouldn´t mind a different one…

Tracy Reese, Badgley Mischka and Michael Kors.

United Bamboo, DKNY and Douglas Hannant.

I love Sundays, there´s not really anything to do than to check out markets…

…and walk long strolls by the river…

…and end up with a couple of new things.

It´s hardly any breaking news, florals are always there for spring anyway, this spring no exception. I usually have a hard time finding nice floral garments and I had actually planned to avoid the whole thing this time around. There were some great florals on the runway though…

Top three are Luella, Balenciaga and Karen Walker.

Today I went to a small shop called Day Dreams and there I found this over the top headband with fabric flowers. It´s more something a bride would wear at spring wedding in the outdoors. But then it was on sale, and even though they had other colors, I went for the white cause I thought maybe, just maybe, it would go perfectly with my Zara motorcycle jacket.

I love these over the top clutches at Recycled Rings. They´re not really low budget, but when are you ever going to bump into somebody else with one of these?