Beltane to Memorial Day Countdown: Some Rules are Made to Be Broken

While it certainly helps to abide by certain self-imposed rules during your thrifting escapades, sometimes a thrifter needs to know when to break those rules. Case in point? This totally awesome black lace leotard I thrifted a while back from the Salvation Army on a particularly fruitful day of Salvation Army shopping. Though Laurie and I have long operated under the confines of "no crotches," I find myself occasionally breaking this rule for a rad swimsuit or leotard or even a shiny blue spandex full body suit.




This piece arrived in my life at the height of American Apparel's pushing of all things lace, particulary in the bodysuit/leotard territory. As the store's trends tend to, like Urban Outfitters, mimic thrifted style, I wasn't surprised to find this number for a mere dollar or two. Not only did it cost a fraction of what AA would charge for it, but it has everything you could ask for in a lace body suit—snapped bottom (for easy bathroom usage, a must for full body pieces), french cut to keep things interesting (even with the highest waisted of pants, it is apparent this "tank" is more than just a tank), and of course, black lace, the sexiest of all laces.

While I suppose this is technically not a "tank top" per say, I think we can bend (possibly even break?) the rules of this countdown as well. Because, truthfully, the only way I can really see myself wearing this in public is under a pair of bottoms which then transforms a full leotard into, ta-da!, a tank top!

Operation Sparkle on Facebook + GIVEAWAY (that means cool free stuff)

To make things a bit easier for people to get Operation Sparkle updates, we are adding a Operation Sparkle Facebook page! Whoot! Whoot! That is almost exciting as the buffalo tater tots at the Blue Door in St. Paul!

What is even more exciting than having yet another way to stay on top of all things Operation Sparkle (the first is our twitter feed, but I know there are a lot of people out there who, for whatever reason(s), are morally opposed to twitter. Since we are all about equal opportunity social media platforms, we decided to give this one a go as well) is that we are coinciding the launch of the Facebook page with our first Operation Sparkle GIVEAWAY!

That is right folks, we are giving away this little, sexy thrifted number that Laurie picked up once upon a time! The static print crop top leotard!



I mean, really, have you ever seen anything like this before in your life!?

I can tell you are all salivating over the chance to get your paws on this one-of-a-kind, Operation Sparkle-approved gem. The way to enter?

Just 'like' us on Facebook! At the end of the month (meaning February 28th), we will randomly (honestly) pick a fan to receive this glorious little number. If you win, you will have to give us your mailing address, but I promise you that we won't pull an Oprah and make you pay for the shipping. That's on us. We also recognize that not everyone may want this piece, for whatever reason, and that is cool too...you can always resell it, give it to a friend, or simply donate it back into the thrifting world if that is the case. AND we promise that for future giveaways, we will mix it up with accessories and household goods!

And the best part? Even if you don't win, you can know all our Operation Sparkle news, maybe even before it hits the blog. That is the beauty of the speed of technology! So check it out (and tell all of your friends!)!