Thriftanista in the City

Paris has long been on my list of cities to visit. I'm a big fan of the cheese, wine, and fashion of the City of Lights that's why I'm excited to partner with Atout France, Lancôme, and Perrier-Jouët to share the "Show You Paris" sweepstakes and ways you can tap into your inner french girl.

I know every year feels like the year went by too fast but 2017 seems to have really flown by. I've finally accepted that it has come to an end and I am very much looking forward to a new year of possibilities. This year, I really want to focus my attention on staying organized, increasing my income and taking myself out on the town.

  One of my goals in the new year is to do more traveling. Living in the south definitely has travel perks. You can easily drive to a number of different states for weekend excursions. I definitely haven't taken full advantage of this since landing in Georgia. First stop on my travel list will be to Jackson, Mississippi -- City With Soul . photo credit: Visit Jackson

I love to thrift on vacation. One of most enjoyable trips was taking a road trip with my bestie to Unclaimed Baggage in Alabama . That store is packed with gems. It has a department store feel but you get a taste of thrift because of the lost treasures inside. The Parker dress is one of those gems.

One of my favorite things to do when visiting a new place is check out the thrift scene. Last year, I went to Austin and a lot of people recommended SoCo, a South Congress Austin neighborhood,  as the place to go. Admittedly, there are some amazing vintage store there but those perfectly curated collections come at a price. I did some searching and discovered a few stores that were were easier on the pockets and a great way to explore this gorgeous city. Treasure City Thrift (2142 E. 7th St) This store has a very cool vibe. Donations are received from the community. I was introduced to Korean R&B music here. I did not know that was even a thing. They have a free market and a monthly .25 sale! It's a small store and they claim to have the cheapest prices in Austin. I found the  sheer Kensie Girl swiss dot dress  here.

As we inch our way towards summer, I am thinking more and more about new places to visit and explore. I am a fun in the sun kind of girl so I will definitely be looking at spots in the Caribbean which is why I'm excited to partner with Martinique Promotional Bureau and Norwegian Air to highlight all of the reasons to visit Martinique. Martinique is a Caribbean island that is an overseas department of France with French and West Indian influences. For a small island there is much to see and do. This is definitely the place to be for outdoor exploration and lazing about with fruity drink in hand. It's the best of both worlds.

Since moving to Atlanta, we've vowed to do more road trips as we are surrounded by great short distance travel destinations. A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to the coastal town of Savannah, Georgia. It's a three hour drive from Atlanta and makes a great getaway destination. Savannah is known for picturesque antebellum architecture, cobblestone streets and large oak trees covered with Spanish moss. It's a gorgeous city filled with history which may not be a kid's version of a good time but you can sneak it in between kid-friendly activities that are both fun and educational.

Thanks to SheKnows Media & BlogHer17 for sponsoring today's post. Opinions and excitement about visiting Orlando for the very first time are my own! I'm super excited that BlogHer17 is in Orlando this year and that it all goes down on my birthday weekend! No one tell Violet but we've decided to make a family trip out of it. While I'm having conference fun, V and E can see what that Disney World stuff is all about.

While indulging in a few of my favorite things, I wore a few of my favorite things - african print head scarf, a vintage jacket, and thrifted jeans. I cleaned out my fabric stash and discovered scraps of one of my favorite pieces of cloth. I made a dress 7 years ago and held on to the remnants thinking I could piece together a skirt. That never happened but there was a square piece perfect for a wrapping hair up.

This is the last week of school for Violet so I'm in planning mode for our summer family adventure. I would love for us to take a road trip and explore St. Louis . I want a trip that we can all enjoy with activities for Violet and maybe squeeze in some me time too. After all, I made it through kindergartener drama and homework too!

I had a long weekend in Miami and briefly stopped at my favorite place to visit when traveling -- the thrift shop! I didn't leave a lot of room in my bag for a large haul. I was able to stick to my $20 budget due to limited space and the prices were insanely cheap. It was the cheapest and best looking Goodwill I've ever seen. It's one of the newer Goodwill Super Centers in South Florida. The outside was decorated in beautiful murals and inside it was clean, modern and well maintained. There was even an attendant in front of the dressing rooms.

This is a sponsored blog; while the views expressed here were genuinely mine, consideration was paid to me to review this film. In My Father's House is a deeply personal tale that explores themes of fatherhood, forgiveness and personal redemption. After buying his father's childhood home, grammy award winning hip-hop artist Che 'Rhymefest' Smith goes in search of his father and discovers his father is a homeless alcoholic living only several blocks away. Che and Brian (Che's father) reunite and try to build a new future. IMFH won Bentonville Film Festival's Jury Award for Best Documentary.  Bentonville Film Festival 's mission is to focus on content that exemplifies the growing diversity of the American landscape. BFF provides a platform to significantly increase the commercial value of content produced by minorities and women. Because of their efforts, I was fortunate enough to catch an Atlanta screening of this award winning film....

DriveShop generously provided me with the use of a Mazda CX-5   for a short period of time. I'm excited to share my thoughts about an affordable car with amazing safety features. The opinions I have shared are my own. I love you Atlanta and I need to get something off of my chest. Driving out here scares the crap out of me. My week long adventure driving a 2016 Mazda CX-5 was the safest I've ever felt while navigating the traffic, darkness, and winding roads of my new city.

My road trip to  Unclaimed Baggage  was an absolute blast and I was pleasantly surprised by the experience and I love my unique thrift haul. As you know, I'm partial to Goodwill and Salvation Army. Savers was my go to "fancy" thrift store (Super sad they are not in GA). I like the dirty and usually cheap thrift store and I went to Unclaimed Baggage expecting a beautifully lit, well organized and overpriced experience. It wasn't like that at all. It is a gorgeous store but the prices weren't that bad especially on the baubles.

Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (“Toyota”) provided me with compensation and use of a RAV4 for a short period of time. The opinions I have shared about this vehicle are my own. My birthday was made extra special this year by Toyota reaching out to me take a new RAV4 on an excursion. From the moment I received the email, I knew exactly where to go -- Unclaimed Baggage in Alabama. It's tops my mental list of cool places to thrift.

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Quick message to invite you to add a fun activity to your summer calendar. Visit Macy's next Sunday, July 14th at 2pm for  Camp Macy's . As part of their American Icons campaign, Macy's is hosting a super fun day of readings, storytellings, BINGO, snacks, crafts and more. Shop AND keep the kiddos occupied! Click the picture to see if your town is listed.

You may or may not be surprised to know that I'm an urban girl. I'm not into backpacking, camping, and roughing it. I've never had an interest in safaris either. Big uncaged animals? No thanks. Too much nature for me. I was a little scared during my first and only safari especially when our car drove too close to a herd of elephants. I'm glad I had the experience but it's not something I necessarily need to do again. I'll wait until V is old enough to beg for request it. Given her love of animals, we'll definitely be seeing the Big 5 again soon.

After I expressed some  vintage love , I headed out to the Minx & Mingle Mixer event with the goal of meeting new blogger friends and of course taking a peek at Minx Diva's exclusive luxury manicure suite.

Thank you  P.F. Chang ’s for sponsoring this post and the tasty much needed date night! We don't get out together sans V too often. Our last date was February? Gahh. We need to get out more. Together. We both have a love of alfresco dining when the weather is warm so we opted for a nice drive up to P. F. Chang's Northbrook location. They have a fantastic happy hour menu so we sampled a variety of dishes and cocktails. There's lots to choose from plus they have a great patio to soak up the beautiful sunshine and people watch.

Last week, I was honored to accept an invite to Container Store's Oak Brook Blogger Preview. In addition to a special gift and lunch, I learned a lot about Container Store's history and the wide variety of innovative organization tools they carry.