Mundane Misadventures

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I went to Portland with my mom today.  After we had lunch at The Park Bistro (omg they have the best roasted potatoes and French toast and their coffee is to die for!) we went to the Goodwill on 10th.  Holy crap, this is not the small town Goodwill I'm used to where I'm lucky to find some brands I've heard of, Old Navy, Gap, and very rarely Doc Martens.  Here, Mom shows me this godawful bright yellow jacket with purple trim.  The buttons were awesome, but the whole look was very Sgt. Pepper.  OK, just another crappy 80's colorblock thing.  $70?!?  Then Mom points out the tag.   

It was Versace.  WTF?  First off, what's Versace doing at a flippin' Goodwill?  Second, who wore this thing to begin with?

We continue on and most of the tags are brands I recognize.  Really, none of the stuff in this place looked like the KMart remnants that are normally seen.  Nowhere were the shelves of generic cleansers or sponges.  I saw not a single frying pan with a loose handle.  No tennis rackets missing strings.  And sure enough, there are Docs in the shoe section.  The books were geared more towards literature and alternative spirituality, not the usual Christian romances and third rate sci-fi.  The jewelry in the cases actually looked nice, like it had a reason to be in the case. 

Over in the corner I found a Scentsy warmer for $15.  I bought some Scentsy bars from a friend a few months ago thinking that I would just use them in my old candle warmer, but that's not such a hot idea.  Hooray, now I can finally use them!  It also came with three bars, but they were nasty citrusy smells.

I was tempted to buy a full bottle of Lucky You perfume then I remembered that I just ordered a bottle of Tavern of Hell from BPAL yesterday.  Under the table was an XBox with two controllers for $25.  When have you ever seen a game system at a thrift store that wasn't an Atari, possibly a Sega Genesis or Nintendo?  If you're like me, then never.

Then we find the most amazing, jaw-dropping thing ever found in a thrift store since Mrs. Whitaker found the Holy Grail in the Oxfam Shop.

I notice a cute velvet short sleeve jacket over a black dress.  It had purple and blue sequins and I am a sucker for shiny things.  The velvet fabric was purple, black, and blue swirls.  Very pretty.  Too bad it was a small because I would have bought it in a heartbeat.  Mom must have a nose for these things, because she wants to see the dress underneath.  I didn't think much of it.  It was a halter style made of cotton with an overskirt of a floaty material that had a subtle floral design on it.  We debate the merits of the dress and I check out the tag on the dress for the size.  The brand name doesn't register with me immediately and I look at the Goodwill tag.  It's listed as a medium...and it's $250.

What?

I check out the dress tag again.  It's goddamn Givenchy.  And my blind self notices that the original store tag is still attached.  The dress originally came from Barney's in New York and cost $2650.  Twenty six hundred fifty dollars. 

TWENTY SIX HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS! 

Suddenly I couldn't stop touching the thing.  When would I ever get the chance to buy a dress this expensive for a relative pittance?  But who the fuck bought the damn thing to begin with?  And why did they donate it to the Goodwill without even wearing it?

I guess I don't feel so bad about donating an unworn skirt that cost me $1.50 on clearance.  And no, I didn't buy the dress.