Thriftspiration Thursday: Fiona Apple

I've been wanting to do something like this ever since I started my blog; a weekly post about people or places or things that inspire me, and may hopefully inspire you. So, here goes. I guess I'll start with my all-time favorite person:

     Not to sound like one of those people, but I really love the 90's. Not just because I was born in them. Not just because of Nickelodeon cartoons. I don't claim to be a "90's Kid". I just genuinely love and respect this part of history on so many different levels. The style, the music, the movies. From Beck to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. From Goosebumps to "Groove is in the Heart". It's all one big, beautiful, flannel dream to me. But the centerpiece of my 90's fantasies is without a doubt Miss Fiona Apple. I don't know what I love most about her...

      I love her style. Always trendy, with F*** the system undertones. Sleepy-sexy, in a hippy dippy kind of way. Certainly enviable in many modern circles, and a very easy look to get at thrift shops. 

     I love her music. Especially her lyrical style. She writes kind of like like Taylor Swift, if Taylor smoked weed and read old English literature. Romantic and girly with a trippy, dark-poet twist. She actually came out with an album last year called The Idler Wheel is Wiser... and I highly recommend it. Gorgeous. But my favorite album of hers is Extraordinary Machine. If I were to have a movie made about my life, the first song on that album would be in the opening scene, and the last song would play as the credits rolled. I want that last song played at my funeral actually. It makes me laugh and cry on a regular basis (I'm not even kidding, friends and family. Remember that. I truly want that song played at my funeral. Okay this is getting weird, moving on.)

     I love her general outlook on life. I don't know how better to explain this than show you her acceptance speech from the 1997 VMAs. 

     

(The video really is embedded here. 

If you can't  see of from your phone, sorry. 

Look it up.)

If you're not obsessed with her yet, I don't know what your problem is.

     Anyways, that's your thriftspiration for the week. Check out her music, really. And study her style. Maybe you'll fall in love like I have. 

See you next week with more thriftspiration. And maybe a real post or two.

Your Thrifty Godmother,

Leah

Just stopping in to say Chai...

     Sometimes all I need to motivate me is a tasty beverage. 

     I've found this to be true in many cases. When I don't feel like doing homework, a cold coke can give me the kick I need. Paper to write? Better go get a Peace Tea from the gas station. And last time I had to clean my room, I made a gallon of pomegranate Arnold Palmer to start me off right. Well tonight I was planning on cleaning my room again and stumbled upon a recipe on the internet for a homemade chai latte. I didn't have and/or didn't have enough of some of the ingredients so I've made a recipe all my own and it turned out quite nice. So nice, in fact, that I decided to share it with you. I know it has nothing to do with thrift shopping, but it does have to do with being fiscally intelligent, which is a huge part of the thrifter's lifestyle. The ingredients to make 20 of these costs about how much it would cost to get 4 or 5 of them at Starbucks!

     It was too cozy and delicious to motivate me to clean my whole  room though. It mostly just made me want to cuddle up on the couch and enjoy it. I'll have to try it iced next time and see if that helps...


Leah's Home Made Chai Tea Latte

Ingredients:
(I totally eyeballed all of these so I have no idea what the actual measurements are. You can eyeball it too. I guessed here to give you some ballpark proportions. Do what you want. Exact measurements are for squares!)
2 cups water
2 bags of Chai Tea
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp allspice
1 cup milk
1 cup French Vanilla coffee creamer
1/8 to 1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Fill small saucepan with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Add 2 bags of tea, and all of the spices. Stir for 2 minutes and set aside. Let the tea bags continue to steep.
2. In another small saucepan, combine milk, creamer and brown sugar. Let it heat enough to dissolve the brown sugar.
3. Combine milk mixture and tea mixture in mug. I did it almost exactly half and half. Maybe slightly more tea than milk.

And there you have it! An easy, cheap, delightful drink! Impress your barista friends! (We all have at least one.)

Feel free to experiment with the recipe and let me know what you change (so I can try it too!) I'm sure I'll end up doing it a bit differently each time I make it. What's great about this recipe is all the ingredients are so tasty it will probably turn out wonderful no matter what!


As my friend Danny would say, "I got nothin' but love for ya, brother." (or sister)

Yours truly,
Thrifty God Mother

P.S. That closing line is a quote from my favorite move. Guess what it is?

Just a Small Update So You Don't Get Worried

   

 

  So I just realized that it's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. 2 weeks! You all must have thought that I fell off the face of the earth. Well guess what...I didn't.

     My absence from this blog has been caused by 3 things: 

     1. My work schedule has blown up in these past couple weeks. Back to school is a crazy time at my job. Leaving me a lot less free time for blogging and thrifting, and thrifting and blogging, and what not.

     2. For some reason when I get onto my computer the Blogger composition dashboard isn't working. So in order to even write a blog I have to either borrow my sister(who is never home)'s laptop or type one from my own phone which is very strenuous on the eyes and neck.

     3. Writer's block...No, Not so much writer's block as much as a complete lack of material, really.

Well anyways my good friend Callie who is also a huge fan of my blog told me that the material doesn't matter. That I could write pretty much anything on here and people would read it. So I guess we'll see if she's right?

I'm just gonna fill you all in on my most recent thrifty misadventures real quick...

     Last Saturday my mom and I drove down to Lawrenceburg to shop in the Worlds Longest Yard Sale! I can't believe I had no idea that this existed. Apparently  it's happened every year since 1987! It's a yard sale that goes all the way down the Highway 127 corridor, starting in Michigan and ending in Alabama!

     As exciting as it sounds I actually came back from it with surprisingly little. I got a puffer vest, a pair of flats and an Elvis t shirt (that as you can see in the picture below my cat refused to get off of. I'll have to write a blog about my cat sometime. She's my friend, my guardian, my life advisor, but anyways where was I...)

 These are all great things, but I've come back from dinky little neighborhood yard sales with more stuff than that! I think the problem is that my mom and I got there at about 2:30, and the sales start at 7am. Plus the sales had been going on since Thursday, and it was Saturday. We could have done a better job planning out the shopping trip but at least now I know that it exists and I'll know how to prepare for next year! 

      As for thrifting I haven't had a ton of luck lately. Last Tuesday I spent 2 hours at 2 different Goodwills only to come back with a throw pillow (see above). It's an adorable throw pillow, but I really expect more of myself and my shopping abilities. I haven't tried shopping since then (mostly because I have no money). I'm sure I'll get my mojo back soon. In the meantime this throw pillow has inspired me to perhaps write a blog post on non-apparel thrifting. All I've talked about on this blog so far is clothing. There are a million other things to find at thrift stores! That post obviously isn't ready yet but I am working on it so stay tuned. 

I'll try to keep you all updated on my life more often. It feels good to write again even if it wasn't about very much. 

I love you all, my precious thrift angels.

Yours Truly,

Your Thrifty Godmother