Military Balls = the bane of my existence. For those not married to the Army (or serving), a Military ball, is kinda like prom, but way stricter.

Civilian Women's attire should be.....
- A formal gown (knee to floor length)
- Tasteful

Real helpful right? Basically your dress shouldn't look like something you'd wear to prom (e.g. lots of fake rhinestones, glitter, reviling cutouts, neon colored ect), nor should it be a huge 6 hoop ball gown. The dress is suppose to classy, elegant, and not too flashy. After going online and getting a general idea of the type of dress I wanted I started my search.

Now here's a tip about thrifting, that I live by. Make a list of items that you need or know you will need sometime soon; carry this list with you at all times, so every time you go thrifting you can remember to be on the look out for those items. For example I keep the following list on my phone.

- Large picture Frames (18 x 24 or larger)
- Formal dress for Mil Bal
- Drinking Glasses
- Wicker Baskets (for the rabbits)
- Small patio table
- Chair suitable for outdoors

Important note, don't expect to find all the items on your list all at once; you'll end up being disappointed. Also don't let the list limit what items or sections you browse, it should serve more as a reminder then a grocery list.

After 3 months of checking, I finally found this awesome size 4 "After Six" dress. This gown in a bridal shop normally goes for about 250ish. I paid 10 dollars for it, and it fits perfectly :)

So when I got married, I made the mistake of registering for these pricy glass tumblers from Crate and Barrel. The glasses were so pretty, however, very bottom heavy (aka VERY drop prone). After 3 years only 3 have survived. Now I love how real glass looks and feels, but I didn't want to sink a ton of money into something that might not make the next move, thankfully Saint Louis has plenty of thrift stores. Now normally when I go to my local GWs I see a lot of stemware, and a lot of mixed tumblers, but Saturday I hit the jackpot. While checking out the new items section I came across 7 of these matching yellow and black glasses; best part they were 50 cents EACH. So for basically a whole new set of glasses I paid 3.50, that's less then one of the Crate and Barrel glasses.








After getting these bad boys home (and washing them of course), I had to try them out. Here's my personal ....

Tropical Tester cocktail

6 fl oz Diet Pomegranate Juice
3 fl oz Pineapple Juice
1 fl oz Vodka (I use Rain Vodka, it has a somewhat sweet taste)

Combine all three liquid ingredients, mixing well. Pour mixture into serving glass, add ice and garnish as necessary.

Ok so I'm some what of a TWA collector, and when I saw this bag on shopgoodwill.com I couldn't resist adding it to my collection.








The bag itself was only 5 dollars, but after shipping my total was around $15. I'm hoping to use it as a carryall on my next day trip, to add a pop of color to my outfit.

So I signed up for the RedditGifts Arbitrary Day 2011 exchange. After weeks of work I have finally finished my main present for my giftee.





The painting I created is loosely based off this awesome WWII Air Corps poster I found online.My giftee is currently in NROTC, thinking about a career in aviation, and listed video games as a like; I thought trying to combining all three interest would be fun. For my first time using acrylics, I think I did alright.