“Got a little change in my pocket going ching-a-ling-a-aling…”
No, I haven’t joined the Georgia Satellites… (I’m reminded that VH-1 once did a countdown of the 50 most “Awesomely-Bad” songs. I don’t think “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” was on that list, but in my mind it surely qualifies. The overly nasal voice, the hick nature of the lyrics… this song is not just bad, but annoying. And yet the song is so damn catchy and fun, it became a guilty pleasure, which is the awesome portion of “awesomely bad”.) But I do have some Lindens going ching-a-ling-a-ling, so I’m going shopping. Where better than Thrift Shop 4?
Nifty and thrifty, that’s me!
By the way, that was a “rhetorical question,” a hoary old literary device in which a question is used to imply an assertion, in this case the assertion that Depraved Nation’s Thrift Shop 4, running from Feb 7th through 28th, would be a great place to go shopping. It’s where I’m going to be shopping while I write this post. Editors and employers tend to be literal people, however, so I did hear the Allie Munro in my head answering “Grumble, Grumble (Taxi here!) is an even better place to shop! Why encourage readers to check out a few choice bargains from each of dozens of great brands, including Grumble, Grumble, when they can come by our sim and join the nifty VIP group, get info on some of the best current and upcoming hunts on the grid, win lots of gift cards and prizes in the subway, and best of all browse and purchase a huge selection of great clothes and accessories and furniture, all of which is from Grumble, Grumble!” The Allie Munro in my head was also rubbing her hands together malevolently and cackling. For the sake of keeping my job, I will point out that the real Allie Munro is much nicer and more patient and less fiendishly sadistic than the Allie Munro in my head (although not as entertaining to write about). However, the Allie Munro in my head did make an important point… There are an awful lot of good things to get at the main Grumble, Grumble sims, and today’s style card will only highlight a small fraction…
From head (earrings) to toe (boots) I’m a Grumble Girl!
My shape and skin today are freebies, standard size Medium shape that I got from Virtual Attire and *Skin Bella Pale* that I got from *JStyle. I decorated the skin with a few tattoos, the Vegas tattoo from Infected and a facial tattoo that says ‘Slut’ from the Slut Shop. (I can’t believe I just said that with a straight face. My life is ‘interesting’ sometimes…) My wild hair is mad Lilly, “ketchup”-colored, from i love 13. And the rest is all Grumble, Grumble: I camped for the cool one-shoulder blue Mesh dress. I won the Colorado boots from a lucky chair. (Apparently I have a thing for red leather boots… These boots dial down the ‘angry punk’ vibe from my red kicks and ratchet up a ‘rugged sexy’ vibe. Sexy and rugged is good.) The 4th of July bangles, the super-cool dangly earrings, and the slashed tights were all purchases. (The tights, by the way, came in a four pack with black, pink, blue, and purple. They are a perfect accessory for putting together an urban or an 80’s look, or even an 80’s urban look…) So chic, so Grumble!
But then Grumble does very good urban chic, which nicely segues back to their booth at the Thrift Shop 4 event… This time around, they are featuring some urban footwear, each for 59 L$. In the picture above, you can see sales displays for the thick soled mesh Cyber Stud Boots (5 patterns available, coolest is the black with the silver studs on it.) and the mesh Cheetah Sequins Stud Boot (also with 5 patterns, I can’t decide whether I like the pink or the black best.) There are also spiked stiletto heels in a zebra pattern available. Although they wouldn’t go with just any outfit, there is something about the spikes that keeps whispering to me. (Or maybe it’s yet another voice inside my head. This tiny skull gets awfully crowded some days…)
For clothing, the booth offers really cute black miniskirt with a zebra pattern on the hem and colored bows along the waist (and only 39 L$!) and a mesh spiked ‘body suit’ with a zebra pattern for 49 L$. Apparently, zebra is in right now. (Aside: Oh, the things we can learn from wikipedia. I kind of air-quoted body suit, because I thought a body suit would cover more body. Turns out I was thinking of a unitard or a body-stocking, the sort of form-fitting all-over layer that would be the basis of a superhero costume. By definition the body-suit just needs to be one piece, cover the torso and crotch, and be form-fitting for smooth lines. There are some distinctions between a body suit and a leotard, but since they have to do with fastening at the crotch, they are minor in a discussion that doesn’t involve getting naked for someone…) You can see the sales display for the skirt in my first picture of the post.
Finally, there are also some cute bags at the Grumble booth. See me is a purse with a cute fox-like animal face, including “what big eyes you have” eyes on the side. The cassette backpack is a round backpack with a picture of an old school mix tape (including the hand written ‘I like you’ label) on it. Both are only 39L$ each, and like the other items in the boot, come in five different colors. There is also a free gift for coming by and checking out the booth.
One way, or another, I’m gonna gacha gacha gacha…
And of course, for those with a Gacha addiction, Grumble, Grumble has 5 Gatchas at the event as well. I like the Shorty Mesh Top Gacha that I’m standing near here… The zombie purses and the candy heart purses (not shown) are “cute, but”… They’re cute, but I can’t really think of when I would actually wear them, so I should walk away from the temptation. And I have to confess that I just don’t get the mouth cookies and mouth cassettes (not shown)…A lot of stores I love and wander through sell these fashion accessories, items that you are supposed to wander around all day with something hanging out of your mouth…A lot of bloggers with looks I like will have various lollipops, razors, chains, what-have-you, hanging from their mouth, in their posts and selfies. I am apparently in the style set that would do that sort of thing, but I just don’t get it. (Unless they are grabbing cigarette substitutes because most sims are non-smoking or announcing to those who are interested that they have oral fixations? I know, I know, never ask why in fashion… just appreciate it or don’t. Wear it or don’t. Support it or don’t. But I have to ask. Why?)
After devoting most of this post to Grumble, Grumble (sponsorship has its privileges, you know…) I decided to do a fast blitz through the rest of the Event and see what else caught my eye (and my lindens.) As a comment, Thrift Shop 4 doesn’t strike me as thrifty as Thrift Shop 3 did… the prices I checked seemed high, although when I double checked the flyer, it didn’t promise any particular range of prices (unlike the events in Katznip’s sales room) just that the items would be on sale. It’s also quite possible that I have expensive tastes, and the items I gave a second look were among the pricier items in the room… Still I did buy a few things… Sari II hair from the Alice Project, some cute retro style clothes from Osito, a slutty angel costume from Barely Legal Couture, the Bella Valentine outfit from Edelfabrik (omg! I take back what I said about high prices. Edelfabrik is awesome, but generally out of my price league, which is why I don’t have much… This was on sale so it was merely a little rich for my blood…I bought the outfit, I can always exist on Ramen noodles later in the month…), and couple items from the Grumble booth where I wanted some color options… I also reminded myself (same as I did for Thrift shop 3…) that I really need to put some of the static pose vendors on my to-do shopping list…
Here I am in some of my new thrifty duds…
Two thoughts for winding down this post. One, you may still have ‘Keep Your Hands to Yourself’ stuck in your mind. It does that. So here is a song more appropriate for this post to try to dislodge it: “Shopping” by the Pet Shop Boys. Two, I figured I would show off some of what I bought… The boots in the final picture are the black cyber stud boots I mentioned above. The T-Shirt is the free gift for visiting the Grumble booth. The cherry red jeans are one of the items I bought from Osito. The new hair do is Sari II from the Alice Project. (Which is recolorable via hud, and the corn-rows can be worn or colored separately from the main hair… more options than Tameless Hair’s dos, but also less easy to use. Off the cuff, my initial grade is B+.) Anyhow, you have until the end of the month to get down to Thrift Shop 4 and find the thrifty buys that make you happy… time’s a slipping!
sltimewellwasted 