Thrift Off #1: African-Themed Print Dresses: The Challenge

Welcome one and all to the kick off of one of Operation Sparkle's newest installments of 2011—the first ever THRIFT OFF!

For our first Thrift Off, I am presenting the challenge piece—a piece that had me squealing like a stuck pig in the middle of Fox Valley Thrift store during some post-Christmas thrifting—the African-Themed Print Dress.









As Laurie and I will each get a chance to plead our case after each piece is presented, I am garnering every ounce of my willpower to resist blabbing on and on about the greatness that is my African-Themed print dress—lions! leopards and/or cheetahs! tigers cutout back! mock turtleneck! AGHHHHHHH! SEE! I can't stop myself!

A word on Thrift Off logistics:

This is a whole new experience for us, so we will be tweaking the process as we go. That said, our initial Thrift Off process will be as follows: The challenge (the first post, featuring a simply awesome piece that can no longer go on without being hailed for its greatness), then the response (containing a piece that is more or less superior to the challenge piece), followed by defensive arguments by each party. After the last defense (scheduled for the forth day of the Thrift Off), readers will have two days to vote on their favorite of the two items. Votes are accepted through comments directly on the blog (following the last defense), or, for those of you who know us through the intimate connection of facebook, on facebook (following links relating to the Thrift Off).

Questions or suggestions? Please let us know!

AND LET THE GAMES BEGIN!