Friday's Finds... a few days late.

Eventually, I will actually get one of these posted on Friday, ha.

For the record though, I purposely waited to post this week because my mom and I had plans to go to the Antique and Flea Market in Olde Towne on Saturday. I've been waiting like six months to go, so I was pretty excited. Overall, it was fun. A lot more antiques than I expected.. not all of which were in great condition, but I still found a few things :)

These colored wine bottles were 3 for $2. I'm not really sure what to do with them, but I'm sure Pinterest can help me. I just thought they were really pretty. And a really good price!

I got this desk lamp for $5. The color isn't showing that great, it's more of a minty blue-green. I tried to get a better picture, but it just wasn't happening. The chrome neck is adjustable and the lamp itself is really bright. Definitely going to be a cute addition to my bedroom! 

I also got Heart of the Matter by Emily Griffin by $1. I haven't read any of Griffin's books before, but I've seen some good reviews and wanted to for a while. Excited to pass some time poolside with this one.


I also spent a little time on eBay and made a trip to Goodwill since my last post.

I found this Victoria's Secret bikini for $10.99 on eBay, tags still attached. Not usually a fan of animal print, but I like this one a lot. I just love swim suits. I own way too many in comparison to the number of times I actually go swimming. 

Lastly, I got this pair of flats from Goodwill for $4. They are Nine West and in great condition. A little bit of wear to the soles, but that's all. With jeans and a tank top, it'll make the cutest outfit for a summer night. 

With a total of just $22.99, that's it for this week! Again, sorry for the tardiness. I'll get there eventually. Practice makes perfect, right?

If you give a mouse a cookie...

Tonight, I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies. So, I made 5 dozen. And 2 dozen pumpkin muffins. And 2 loaves of banana bread. Go big or go home?

Other than my impulsive, ridiculous attempt to be the next Betty Crocker... today wasn't all that exciting. I woke up with a migraine, attempted to drink a cup of coffee and took some ibuprofen, and went back to sleep on the couch. Woke up a few hours later, started reading This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, went a little crazy in the Kindle Store and downloaded 26 new free books to my Kindle... oops. Then ate some dinner, went to the grocery store for chocolate chips and came home to spent three hours baking while watching Chasing Mavericks. And now I'm sitting here, eating chips and salsa and watching Friends. Again, kind of lame for a Friday. It was, however, a pretty exciting week in the life of Jillian Goodwin. So let's recap!

To start, summer term started Monday. I'll be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it at all. There was only 12 days between semesters. I felt like I just finished classes, because well... I had, ha. Also, while I'm not a stranger to summer classes, I was very nervous about ODU's classes. I've taken summer school at TCC every year since I was 16. But TCC does twice a week classes, for ten weeks... at ODU, it's four days a week, for six weeks. Intense, terrifying, overwhelming... just a few words that came to mind thinking about it.

Despite my reservations... my classes went excellently! I'm taking two communications classes; Introduction to Public Relations and Public Relations Project Management. I have the same professor for both classes, Dr. Burton St. John. I've heard really great things about him as a professor, so I'm happy about that. And, he scored major points with both classes when he started off with "I know four day a week classes are rough and you get burned out by Thursday. And guess what, I do too. So unless we absolutely have to, we aren't having class on Thursdays."

My intro class is a moderately sized and pretty standard as far as assignments go; one quiz, two short papers, two in class assignments, a final project and a final exam. My project management class is a bit more interesting. There's only 9 students, which is officially the smallest class I have ever had. And, it's a brand new class to the program, so it's in a developmental/experimental semester. We have a syllabus, but Dr. St. John told us that it's flexible and we can make changes if something isn't working. And finally, 80% of our final grade is based on a semester long group project. Also kind of nerve-racking, but groups were assigned on Tuesday and the two girls I'm working with seem chill, so it should be okay.

Overall, it was a good week. The classes will be fast paced, but not as overwhelming as I was expecting. These are my first Public Relations classes (which is my actual concentration), so I'm really just excited to be finally studying what I want to do with the rest of my life! Just from the first week, I know this is a great career choice for me. It's something that I am passionate about and it's something I am naturally good at. Many of the personality traits and skills needed to be successful are ones I already have and value. I feel so comfortable with the topics and eager to learn more. I'm excited for the rest of the semester and even more for my future career in the field of PR :).


In addition to starting a new semester, I also got a MacBook Pro this week! Wooooo! My Sony Vaio has been acting up for several months now. It overheats really quickly and then shuts off in the middle of me working, multiple times in a row. Since I couldn't afford a new computer, I talked to my dad and he offered me his Macbook. He said he wasn't using it much since he had a computer at work and an ipad for home. It is two years old, but he restored it to factory settings so it's basically good as new.

It's going to take a while to transition everything from my old laptop to this one, and adjust to the Mac Operating System, but I'm very excited and thankful. I used Macs at TCC's art school for three years, so I am familiar enough.. but I only used them for the Adobe programs. Getting use to the overall format and organization will be a learning experience.


The next exciting part of my week is that I decided to try my hand at selling clothes, not just buying them. I went through my closet and I also had about three boxes of charity donations I hadn't dropped off yet. Pulled out everything that was brand name and in nice condition and put it on hangers. I knew of two women's consignment stores in Norfolk and one junior's store in Virginia Beach. On Tuesday, I went by two of the stores. Double Take is a high end women's store, they took 7 of the 10 items I bought in. Ditto is a teen's store and they took 14 of 20 items. Both stores have a 60 day contract and I will receive 40% of the proceeds if my items sell. On Thursday, I stopped by both stores again, Double Take took another 7 items and Ditto took all 20! I also stopped by a store called Act II, another women's store, to see if they would take the items that Double Take passed on. They took 7 items, also on a 60 day contract but they give 50% to the consignors. So all together, the three stores took 55 items. Hopefully things sell and in two months I'll be holding some pretty looking checks, that I can go spend on more pretty looking clothes, of course :)


I also got offered a part time job this week. It was brought to my attention by my childhood art teacher. She has a friend who recently had her elderly mother move in with her. The woman is looking for someone to "babysit" her mother, who cannot be left alone, so that she and her husband can still go out on the weekends to run errands or just see a movie/go to dinner. It would be Friday or Saturday evenings, and perhaps during the day on Saturday too. I spoke with her yesterday. She asked me to put together a schedule of when I am available and call her back after the holiday. I think it will be a good opportunity for me because it is not too strenuous. With my health and my full time schedule at school, I have to be careful not to push myself too far when it comes to working. It is really easy for me to over do it and get sick. I don't see that happening with this job though because it is only one or two nights a week. Enough that I can have some spending money, but not so much that I get worn out.


Overall, I'd say it was a rather pleasant week. I do feel bad about not posting at all though. And for this post being kind of mundane, ha. I did say no promises though :P But really, I'll try to be more interesting next week. Hope everyone has a great holiday! :)

Friday's Finds

This is probably the post the majority of you have been waiting for... the first official "Friday's Finds" by yours truly. YAAAAYYY!

And yes, I am aware it is no longer Friday. I apologize, but I had very important obligations yesterday. And by obligations, I mean I had to go watch one fiiiiiiiiine looking Georgia boy sing about drinking, dancing and good ol' southern sunshine and summertime.

Btw, if you are a fan of country music and have never seen Luke Bryan live, I HIGHLY recommend going to his show. Not only because he's basically the sexiest thing alive, but because he is one of the best stage performers I have ever seen in my life. His energy on stage is contagious. His accent carries so smoothly. And just, overall sounds very close to his studio work. Definitely a must see.

With that said, let's move on..... SHOPPINGGGGGGG :) :) :)

I love shopping, I do. But I hate spending money. Kind of a oxymoron, eh? Not when you know how to pop tags and make the most of secondhand shops!

There seems to be a negative stigma attached to consignment shops and especially to thrift stores; some people think it's old, dirty used items they want nothing to do with. But that's not true at all. I often find like new or even brand new items for significantly less than retail stores. It does take patience, but it's definitely possible to find some amazing deals.

To be honest, unless it's something I absolutely NEED and am on a time crunch, I never buy things full retail price anymore. If I'm not shopping consignment or thrift stores, I prefer discount department stores like Ross, Marshall's or TJMaxx. On the rare occasion that I do shop at the mall, I always check clearance racks or use coupons. I think the last item I actually bought from a store without any kind of discount whatsoever was a white dress for my graduation from TCC... last May.

Usually, I go thrifting once a week, either Monday or Tuesday. Monday is military day at CHKD and Tuesday is military day at Salvation Army (20% and 25% off) Also, CHKD Stores do a weekly texting coupon. They send it to you on Monday night and if you show the clerk your phone on Tuesday, you get a 25% off you entire purchase! Sometimes I have to laugh at myself for using discounts at thrift stores, but hey, money is money. And I'm a broke college student, 2-3 dollars off is almost a full lunch from Taco Bell! So, discount days are my favorite. And one of my best secrets when it comes to shopping, maybe one day I'll dedicate a post to sharing the rest :)

This week, I was a little busier than normal... haha. I found a new consignment store AND a new thrift shop while I was out running errands on Sunday. Then stopped by Salvation Army for my regular Tuesday trip.

First up, I Want It All Consignment in Portsmouth. Consignment tend to be a little more expensive than thrift stores, but still way less than retail. This particular store had a pretty nifty system where they have about 6 different colored tags and each week, they pick three and assign a different discount to each (20%, 40% and 50%).

I found this lovely maxi dress. Originally priced 16.99, marked 40% for the week, making the total cost $10. 20. Being 5'2, maxi dresses are either hit or miss for me. Some styles/cuts make me look six inches taller, and some just swallow my petite frame. This one was a go.

I also found this cute teal tote. Priced at $11.99, but the blue tag made it 50% off so I only paid $6! I just looooove the color and detail, perfect for summer.

Next, Pick 'n' Pack Thrift in Portsmouth. This was my first time at this family run thrift store. It's pretty small so not a huge selection, but really great prices and some really unique pieces.

One of which was this fantastic metalwork wall hanging. It's about 2 feet tall, and it only cost me $5! 

I'll be honest, this is probably one of my favorite thrift store finds to date. It's so intricate and unique. I've never seen a piece like it before. I have always loved dream catchers. I had one hanging over my bed when I was little. So this was a must have. 

Finally, my trip to Salvation Army in Virginia Beach. The Salvation Army Family Store on Virginia Beach Blvd is one of the biggest thrift stores in my area and one of my favorites. I always find great stuff. Like I said, they do 25% off for military on Tuesday, but they also do a "Color of the Week." They have 5 different colored price tags, and each week they designate one to be 50% off! This week's color was white. 

Yes, I am aware it's May and I probably won't wear these for several months, but I love shoes. A lot. These are American Eagle Outfitter, fur lined suede boots. They were priced for $14.99, but were white tag so 50% off, THEN 25% off for military. Final price, $5.60. 

 There is hardly any wear to the soles, so if they were ever wore, it wasn't more than just a few times. Easily $60 retail, practically brand new for less the cost of lunch. I can dig it. 

My other find was this corduroy backpack. $2.99, at 25% makes it $2.25. 

Unfortunately  one of the straps on this one is broken, but my mom said she's help me set the sewing machine up and get it fixed (one of these days, I will learn how to sew on my own, ha). 

That's all I have for now. Like I said, it was a busy week. Usually I just make one trip and find just an item or two, but the two new stores were a special treat. Considering I didn't even break $30 at all three stores though, I would say it was still pretty successful. 

Stay tuned next week for more Friday's Finds!