holy moly. so, sunday morning comes. (and all i wanted to do was blog.) i open my laptop, to a gray screen with a blinking question mark. i knew this was not good. at the moment, i thought, oh just a hard re-boot will do the trick. negative.
so, after frantically getting ready and waiting for the twin to show up, (yes i have a twin. not a real twin. but if i had a twin, she would be it.) we booked it to best buy's geek squad. that is where they pronounced my hard drive as- crashed. all my logos. images. fonts. GONE. $100 for a new hard drive. $100 for labor. $200 to ATTEMPT to save my data/backup on the crashed hard drive. something inside of me said- wait. go to apple tomorrow, and just get a second opinion. and how thankful i am that i did.
i walk in, i tell him my horror story. and he said, well 9/10 it's just the cord that connects the drive to the laptop. and that is only $50 to replace. after a couple minutes, and praying to my god...
it WAS! i was so ecstatic. i couldn't even deal. and now i'm back in business. so, on to my super amazing swap meet find.
so, after frantically getting ready and waiting for the twin to show up, (yes i have a twin. not a real twin. but if i had a twin, she would be it.) we booked it to best buy's geek squad. that is where they pronounced my hard drive as- crashed. all my logos. images. fonts. GONE. $100 for a new hard drive. $100 for labor. $200 to ATTEMPT to save my data/backup on the crashed hard drive. something inside of me said- wait. go to apple tomorrow, and just get a second opinion. and how thankful i am that i did.
i walk in, i tell him my horror story. and he said, well 9/10 it's just the cord that connects the drive to the laptop. and that is only $50 to replace. after a couple minutes, and praying to my god...
it WAS! i was so ecstatic. i couldn't even deal. and now i'm back in business. so, on to my super amazing swap meet find.
i'm sure i got into swap meets on my old blog site. but not here. so let me start. i love love love them. the vibe. the bargaining. the amazing finds. and let's be honest, the kettle corn and margaritas. my absolute fav. swap meet is the rose bowl, in pasadena. the meet is SO large that you can't even get through the whole thing in a day unless you are running. this past sunday, we went to the one in costa mesa. it's a little smaller, but you can still come up on some great finds. like this bracelet. originally priced at $30, left with it for $10. and it's beautifully made.
want some swap meet tips? read below.
- do your research. admission costs, parking costs, hours of operations.
- wear something comfortable, and weather appropriate. this speaks for itself. it could be pretty effin' hot, or freezing.
- make a broad list of what you're looking for. there is so much to look at, you can get distracted and possibly leave with nothing, or everything that you really don't want.
- new vs. old. at these swap meets, there are still vendors that have hand made products, new apparel items, etc. make sure you pass these vendors up, unless it's something you absolutely need. don't forget to ask for their social media handles because most of the time they have discounts posted on them!
- bargain. kill em' with kindness. they won't deal with rude customers.