Awhile back I got an e-mail from Peace Place, Inc asking if I would be interested in visiting and spreading the word about their thrift store. From their website:

Peace Place, Inc. is a domestic violence program that serves survivors of family violence in Banks, Barrow, and Jackson counties in Georgia.

We offer emergency shelter, transitional and scattered site housing, outreach and legal advocacy, safety planning, educational presentations, and children’s services.  We also operate a thrift store to help fund the operations of the agency.

Naturally, I am all about helping people through thrifting, so this sounded like a great idea to me. The store is in Arcade, GA, about an hour and a half from me, so a little outside of my usual thrifting territory. BUT! It’s also pretty close to Athens, where there are more thrift stores and which is just a nice place to visit in general, so I hatched a plan to make a kid free day of it with a couple of friends (hi Kristi and Tracy!). Also, it’s my birthday next weekend, so it was like a birthday outing and they even bought me lunch. Everyone wins! Except Dave. He stayed home with the kids all day. But he doesn’t get to do that every single day like I do, so maybe it was way fun for him. Anyway, he seemed okay when I got home.

Okay, so! Peace Place Thrift Store was our first stop. We were impressed with how big it was (10,000 square feet, says the e-mail they sent me), and everyone there was really friendly.

Who needs a gaming chair?

Or a green velvet one? (I’m pretty sure that tag says $40)

I thought this big gold lamp was cool and a great deal for $6, but I couldn’t think of anywhere to put it:

I did bring a few things home, though. I got a navy pea coat for Abe to wear next winter (I think it was $3.99; I didn’t take a picture of it. I bet you’ll see pictures of him in it next winter, though), and then this pretty bird (cockatoo?) for $2:

And a white bison. I think all signs might be pointing toward a cowboy or western themed big kid room for Abe. I’ve always wanted to do one. And I have cool cowboy bookends that need a permanent home. And now a bison:

And maybe my favorite find was this little hedgehog for $2. I think he might end up in my master bathroom, holding rings and whatnot. He could even be a tiny planter:

Next we made the short drive over to Athens and got some lunch here:

It was quite good. I think we all had chicken biscuits, because why wouldn’t we, right?

Funny thing, Mama’s Boy is about three doors down from a house that my roommate, Suzanne, and I lived in in college. We only lived there for a few months because it was in a pretty scary neighborhood, and we decided to move after we got broken into while we were out of town for Thanksgiving. Now there’s a fancy greenway and a hip little restaurant right there.

After lunch, we attempted to go to The Potter’s House, my most frequent thrifting stop when I was in college. But it was gone (I know I should expect that after nearly 20 years, BUT I actually went there with Dave and the kids a few years ago, too. Apparently it moved pretty recently to somewhere farther out).

So we continued on to America’s Thrift Store, which was NOT there when I was in college, and which was HUGE! Like here is a small portion of the shoe section:

I think they had three of these racks, double sided. We spent forever looking at clothes here, and everyone came home with some good stuff. The furniture and housewares sections were….not as good. But I couldn’t believe how many clothes there were, and they were even sorted by size.

By the time we looked at every dress at America’s Thrift, it was getting late and we all had children to get home to. We swung by the Habitat Restore on the way out of town, but we all left empty handed there. But all in all it was a successful day and so great to get away with friends for awhile.