Tag Archives: beauty

Thrift shopping (and selling!) online: lovin’ ThredUP

This post has not been endorsed.

I just wanted to share.

I love my baby . . . but she can make shopping a little complicated:

She gets squirmy in the baby carrier.

She has figured out how to climb out of the grocery store and Target carts despite the child restraint.

Here she is laughing at the cart’s inability to contain her exuberant motion.

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Child restraint schmild restraint!

She is a baby on the move.

So! I discovered ThredUP through a friend who posted a link via facebook. ThreduUP is basically an online consignment store, with brand name clothes for thrift-ish prices.

Having a squirmy little one increases the wonder of online shopping. And since Alice is just a baby and doesn’t need to try things on, I can just hop online and look around for things for her when she needs ’em–thrift things like a pair of adorable 18 month size jeans for $3.79. Or an adorable blue and white striped dress that is one of my absolute favorites.

I’ll hit up Salvation Army when I can, but on the days that my squirmy wonderbaby just doesn’t want to go shopping, I can shop without going. Here’s the link where you guys can check it out.

And let me add–they don’t just have baby clothes! They have women’s clothes which you can sort by brand, color, price level–I love it! (And I love the Banana Republic black pencil skirt that I found–that was a well-spent $14 if I may say so.)

Ok, and let me add one more ringing endorsement: you can order what they call a “clean-out bag,” which they will deliver to your door. You fill this bag with your consignment-worthy clothes, put their pre-paid UPS or USPS label on it, send it off, and they will go through and pay you for the clothes they accept (you can even get the rest returned to you, though for a fee). I stuffed my first bag full and just got my first payout–$45.10.

Thredup bagWhoopdeedoodledoo.

As you may have noticed in my screen print, you can also earn referral money if you love the site and want to share with friends–just like I’m doing!

Double whoopdeedoodledoo.

Anyway, if you’re a thrift-loving person and/or have a small posse that can limit your shopping ability, check ‘er out.

Loving yourself: smiles in the mirror

One of my favorite things to do with Alice is to hold her up in front of a mirror. As soon as she locks eyes with her reflection, her face lights up in the biggest smile you can imagine.

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“Look at that baby!” I croon. “Who’s that baby? Isn’t she the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen?”

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Yes! Alice’s expression says. That’s some baby, alright!

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On one hand it’s a fun game to play . . .

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. . . but it’s always struck me that there’s something deeper going on. At this age, Alice loves herself. She loves how she looks. She has no complaints to issue God-wards about the shape of her nose or her ears or the size of her cheeks. In her eyes, it’s all praiseworthy.

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And she’s right.

God says in Isaiah, “Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”? or “Your work has no handles”?”

I have to confess I have said that. I’ve said “God, what did you make? Why can’t I be curvier? Why did you give me freckles? What were you thinking?” From about age 11 to my early 20’s, I had massive insecurities. My freckles were too freckly. My thighs were too huge. My feet were too big. For an entire year of my life I felt the need to wear oversized shirts that covered my butt, because certainly the shape of my butt wasn’t fit to be seen. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t praise God for what I saw. I didn’t rejoice in his creation like he wants me to.

Thank God I’ve gotten beyond a lot of that, and to a place where I do praise him for his work in me and his craftsmanship in forming my body. I do smile when I look in the mirror. He created me beautiful and unique, and I know he smiles on his creation.

Alice will probably go through periods of insecurity, doubting her beauty as all us women do at some time or another, and wondering why God didn’t make her differently.

But right now, she is utterly happy with what she sees.

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And every time I see that pleased smile blossom on her face, I pray that she will always love herself. That she will recognize the beautiful work of the Master Potter when she looks in the mirror, and say in her heart “Good job, God. I’m beautiful!”

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