I’m aware that it’s already May, AND that I shared my Arizona Spring Break Thrift Haul. However, I did a little local thrifting early in April that I haven’t shared yet. Let’s take a look!
Striped + Floral Skirt, $7.79
This skirt is a cheapo brand (the tag says Truly 4 You) but I was intrigued by the nice weight of cotton fabric and the stripes + floral design. Initially, I was thinking I’d chop off the bow. But I decided to give it a wear first and I’m not sure…
Anyways, I think this skirt is quite springy and enjoyed wearing it to a work event earlier this month. Will this be a long-time resident of my closet? I’m not sure yet. But it’s fun for now and at less than $10 the price was right to play with it for a while.
Loft cardigan, $9
I layer on cardigans basically year-round for days that I go into the office, so when I saw this one in a color I don’t own in like-new condition, it was a no brainer. Sure, a solid cardigan isn’t that exciting but when I can mix and match it a dozen times and the price per wear ends up well below $1, it just makes sense to grab them up when I can.
This soft embroidered Kimono is a J. Jill design and was recently sold on their website for $109. I thought it would make a nice, light topper for the summer when I’m working from home and want to throw on something over my tank top for those surprise Teams calls. However, it had a strong perfume smell… which I hated, so I threw it in OxyClean bath. While the OxyClean took care of the odor easily, it left the fabric with an almost tie-dyed appearance where it bleached out the color. Oops.
If it had been an item that I loved, I’d be pouting. As it is, I actually don’t mind much. It looks purposefully tie-dyed and I paid $9 for it. No biggie!
Thanks to our annual spring break trips, April always goes by quickly for us. This year was no exception, we had some chilly early-April days, followed by a wonderful trip to Arizona, and then returned to a mix of mild spring days to finish out the month.
Let’s take a look at April:
I purchased this lightweight Eileen Fisher sweater secondhand a few years ago and I have mixed feelings about it. It’s a beautiful silk fabric, but it’s quite thin. Like so thin that it’s hard to determine what kind of weather it’s good for, considering there are long sleeves… but not much warmth.
I decided to give it a try for a workday and paired it with a pair of thrifted black pants. And yeah, I’m still on the fence about it. I also tried it with a denim jacket and wore that for the beginning of the day until it warmed up a bit. This might just be one of those items that are good in theory, but not in my actual reality.
Two more work looks:
On the left is a striped + floral skirt I thrifted earlier in the month. I like the fit-and-flare style, deep pockets and pretty bow. For my first try styling it, I went with a berry-colored blouse and a purpley cardigan. I like the combo, it’s very springy and was comfortable for a long workday with an evening event.
On the right is a more casual work look that I wore into the office to basically just do cleanup from the events that ran the day before. I’m still getting used to the look of the baggier jeans, but I do like them with the striped tee shirt. I’m not sure about the longer cardigan with the look though and think a shorter one might have looked a bit nicer (in hindsight, of course).
Two casual looks:
On the left is an Arizona outfit – I thrifted the skirt there and purchased the top at a retail store. After a round through our VRBO’s washing machine, I wore this outfit for our last day in Arizona, where we explored Scottsdale and made our way back to the plane and home. I love both the tee shirt and the skirt and can’t wait to wear them both many times over the summer.
On the right is another thrifted piece from Arizona, that fabulous striped Everlane sweater. I was so happy for a cooler day, so I could wear it before packing it away for next fall. For a lunch date, I added on a floral bandana and my visibly mended jeans. I love this combo and will absolutely be wearing versions of it again once we get to the other side of summer.
New vs Secondhand Tally
This month, I count 12 thrifted items and 5 that I purchased retail!
For part three of our Arizona Family Adventure series, let’s talk about Prescott! Why did we decide to stay in Prescott? Well, Sedona is expensive. Instead of staying in Sedona like we did last time, we looked for a spot that was within easy driving distance to both Phoenix and Sedona — with a bit longer (but totally manageable) drive to the Grand Canyon for a day trip. Prescott quickly rose to the top of our list, and I narrowed our VRBO searches to Prescott and nearby Prescott Valley.
We ended up renting a house perched on the side of a mountain in Prescott, complete with absolutely gorgeous views from the deck and hot tub. If you’ve only ever stayed in hotels, let me wax poetic about the magic of renting a VRBO for just a moment:
You get your own house, which makes it feel like you’re truly part of the community.
You can be as introverted as you want! No hotel registration lines. No awkward elevator small talk. No sharing walls with strangers and listening loud conversations as people walk down the hallways while you’re trying to sleep.
A full kitchen and laundry room are a must. We always make sure our rental has both, so we can eat meals at “home” and travel with just carry-on suitcases — doing laundry halfway through the trip.
We like to add a little extra luxury, renting places with a spectacular view, hot tub, or private pool whenever possible. Honestly, it’s amazing how much further your money can go renting a whole house instead of a hotel room!
On our Spring Break 2025 trip, we spent 2 ½ days in Prescott – day 2, day 4 (Easter) and the afternoon of day 5.
Day 1: A Donut Stop before the Grand Canyon and Red White Brew After
Okay, I’m going back in time a bit. We already talked about our Day 1 adventure to the Grand Canyon. However, I wanted to make sure to tell you all about Outlaw Donuts. We stopped there for breakfast and ordered coffee, homemade donuts, and even a breakfast wrap and everything was delicious. If you are staying in Prescott (or even driving through), it’s a fantastic hole-in-the-wall that needs to be added to your itinerary!
After our Grand Canyon visit we pulled back into town hungry, so we stopped by Red White Brew because the menu looked good and they were open until 9pm. I ordered the chicken parmigiana to share with Jack and Travis ordered the chicken marsala. The food was great and the portions were so huge that we not only enjoyed dinner, but had plenty for lunch the next day.
Day 2: Shopping and All the Weather
After a long drive to the Grand Canyon and back on Day 1, we decided to take it easy on Day 2. The weather forecast was calling for chilly temps and a bit of rain, so it felt like the perfect excuse to throw on our comfiest clothes and spend the day exploring downtown Prescott.
We drove to Courthouse Plaza on South Montezuma Street, where there was lots of free parking and easy access to a bunch of stores, restaurants and bars. We then wandered around and poked our heads into pretty much every store around. Some of our favorites were: Prescott Trading Company, the shops in Whisky Row, Arts Prescott Gallery and Drawn West.
We headed back to the house to heat up our leftovers from Red White Brew, watched a little TV and then decided to head out to explore some thrift stores. We ended up checking out a Goodwill and two different locations of the Disabled American Veteran’s Thrift Store (DAV). You can learn more about the DAV thrift stores and their mission here. The thrifting in Prescott was excellent with great items and really low prices. You can see my thrift scores here, but Travis also ended up with some tee shirts, a super soft plaid flannel shirt and an Under Armour hoodie.
When we were driving around thrifting, we were SHOCKED when the rainy weather turned into giant flakes of snow! We decided to check out a nearby tapas restaurant, El Gato Azul, and had a delicious dinner while watching the snow float down. I love a fun, tapas menu and it’s a great opportunity for us all to taste some different things (even Jack). We ended up ordering: artichoke & spinach dip, Mediterranean nachos, fried artichokes, and carnitas.
It actually ended up snowing a few inches, so we woke up to a winter wonderland the next morning… before it all melted and it was 70 degrees again.
Day 4: Hiking The Granite Dells at Watson Lake
Day 4 was Easter and I knew that we wanted to stay away from the ‘touristy’ areas like the Grand Canyon or Sedona, so we planned to have a Prescott hiking day. I was really excited to see the Granite Dells at Watson Lake, and the hike did not disappoint. In fact, it may be one of my favorite hikes that I’ve EVER done!
We parked at the Flume Trailhead and then hiked the Flume Trail to the Watson Dam Trail. Basically, on our way out every time we got to a split in the path we would stick to the right. The path was marked extremely well with white dots to follow. Some of the hike was sticking to a path, but then other parts were climbing over gigantic rocks or up the side of a mountain. It was surreal and it felt like we were on another planet. We saw less than a dozen people out and about while we were hiking and it was absolutely beautiful. Once we got to the top of the trail, we were able to look down into the Watson Lake.
I cannot stress how much I loved the hike. In fact, when we were trying to decide what to do on Day 5 (Sedona or another Granite Dells hike on the South side of the lake), I was kind of leaning towards a second Dells hike.
Since that evening was Easter, we didn’t want to depend on a restaurant being open to feed us, so we stopped by Trader Joes to pick up some more food and ended up having some delicious home cooked steaks for Easter dinner.
Take a ball and throw it around on the courthouse lawn. Jack had an oversized hacky-sack and had a great time stretching his legs on Day 5 after the ride home from Sedona.
Bigger kids/teens – Jack LOVED the Granite Dells hike. I mean, there was not one complaint from him the entire time!
Here are some photos from hiking the Granite Dells at Watson Lake:
This is the end of my three-part series on our Arizona Family Adventure – Grand Canyon, Sedona and Prescott. Let me know if you have any questions or need any other tips!
