The year of living thriftily

Oh YES Austin, have I got a gem for you:

My friend and fellow Austinite Sarah Dean, owner of Magnolia Family Vintage and subject of an upcoming feature story in Rare, has a new blog up that I have been so pumped about: The Year of Living Thriftily. And girlfriend is KILLING it on the blogosphere! (28 comments on the second post?! Damn!).

But it's no surprise because it's pretty freaking awesome. Sarah is a vintage stylist, alright, and wanted to do an experiment where she wore no new clothing for an entire year, chronicling it on a blog. Sort of like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but with clothes. Everything she wears (with, I'm thinking, the exception of underwear), has to have had a previous owner, so it's not only a vintage effort, but a green/recycling effort too.

I know! So genius!

Anyway, in addition to taking pictures of herself in cool vintage finds, Sarah also has neat tips on thrifting and vintage fashion in general. Like showing you step-by-step how to take frumpy, orthodontist-assistant-looking dresses and make them quite lovely through the subtle power of accessories.

And....AND....see, this is the part where you, readers, writhe around in simultaneous pain/pleasure because the things I'm saying just can't get any better - she links her blog to her eBay store, where she sells her vintage stuff. (And now you say: "Omigosh srsly?!!")

If you are anything like me, then you are wandering around like a blind person on eBay, knowing there are Deals To Be Had if only you knew where they kept all the cool shit. It's like walking into a mall with those sad little cell phone and UT apparel kiosks all around (pause: Who works at the UT apparel kiosk? And why?), and knowing there is a Derek Lam boutique buried somewhere inside having a sale right this second, if you just knew where it was. Well, think of Sarah Dean's eBay store as that bright shining beacon of hope/fashion on the internet.

Here's a little taste to get you all excited...