I wore this last Saturday to see Batman v Superman. I actually enjoyed the movie, although I did have low expectations. There were definitely some things I didn’t care for in the movie but overall pretty good and I’m super hyped for the Wonder Woman movie.
Jacket: Target (old)T-shirt: Thrift (Old Navy)Jeans and Shoes: Thrift (Target)
Anyway my desire to wear bright springy colors hasn’t quite kicked in yet. I think It has to be a bit more consistently warm and nice out to spark a little color in my wardrobe. So for now I’m still gravitating towards blacks, grays, and olive green. But I did get to wear my new to me leopard booties. I’ve worn them a few times and they’re pretty comfy. I wouldn’t wear them for a long time or on a real walk intensive situation but they’re fun and add a nice pop of pattern to the outfit.
It was a cold and wet day that Saturday so grey seemed appropriate. Unfortunately my jacket, which is a good four/five years old is on it’s last legs, the “leather” is ripping and it’s just time for a new one. I’m hoping to find a good one during end of season sales or next fall, we’ll see. Obviously the best scenario would be to find a great one at the thrifts, so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out there as well. Anyway hope you all had an awesome Easter if you celebrate or at least enjoyed some 50% off candy and/or time with your family if you don’t.
I’ve recently become obsessed Ear Crawlers and Ear Jackets. Every few years I get really into jewelry and this seems to be one of those instances. I’ve recently been into more delicate simple jewelry and have been steering a bit away from bigger statement pieces (though I still love those as well). I think simple jewelry is just easier to wear and kind of chic for everyday. Anyway I have a small but growing collection, thanks in part to a Bauble Bar sale, so I figured I’d show it.
Most of the earrings above are no longer available online but all were found at Target or on Bauble Bar so those are great places to check for alternatives.
As a single girl I never hated Valentines Day but I never really celebrate it much either. Now that I’m in a relationship I start thinking about what I’m gonna wear on this day pretty soon after the new year, I know it’s silly but that’s just my brain. Last year I had a vague idea of what I wanted to wear, but this year I had nothing. No ideas, no inspiration, nada. The only thing I knew is that I wanted to pander a little to my boyfriend and wear a skirt and/or a Dress, since he’s fond of them and I tend not to wear them much during the winter months. So I went thrifting, I looked online, I went to the mall, I scoured pinterest and fashion blogs and … nothing. I did find a couple dresses I liked but one wasn’t in my size and the other was too expensive. So what’s a girl to do? Look in her closet, duh! I don’t know why but whenever I have an event/ occasion to dress for I rarely look at my wardrobe and pick something from there right off the bat. No, my first instinct is to declare I have nothing appropriate and look anywhere but the most convenient location. So finally last week after coming up empty handed yet again I went through my closet and found no less than 15 pieces that I could possibly wear, 15! silly, silly, silly me. I finally tried them all on in various combinations and decided on this lovely ensemble oh a few hours before dinner on valentines day…
This outfit wasn’t too exciting and I had plans for a different pair of incredibly valentines day appropriate earrings to add a pop but, of course, I couldn’t find them. So I went with these green ones that I “made” from a broken pair of my mom’s. I decided to wear the skirt since I’ve only really worn it once even though I really like it. I just find it hard to style mini skirts casually, I should probably work on that. It has a lovely mesh band on the bottom that looks really good when you’re not wearing black tights, but it’s Minnesota, it’s February, and it’s cold so those are the breaks. The shirt was a recent thrift find that I’m kind of obsessed with it, it’s stretchy and soft and I love it. Overall I really like it, it doesn’t scream Valentines day date outfit but it’s significantly more dressed up then I get for most of our dates (especially in the winter) so that’s a win.
Anyway the boyfriend and I went to Chino Latino a latin/Asian Fusion restaurant in Minneapolis that I seriously always wanted to try, 80% of which was because of its shiny gold sign (I’m dead serious). We had a kind of early reservation since we didn’t end up making concrete plans until 11 days prior (procrastinators unite!). Dinner was really good and dessert was kind of amazing, we had fried bananas and coconut ice cream, yum . After dinner we just hung out and did our normal date stuff, which was cool.
Didn’t take a picture of my presents but here’s a “in the process of” picture of my Zine. The finished one is on the bottom and my first draft is on the top.
If you were wondering about gifts, this year I got hella crafty and did some serious DIY. I saw a really cool tutorial on Design sponge about making your own mini Valentine’s Day Zine so I got really excited, ran to Michael’s and made one awesome Zine! For the actual gift I made (yes made, as in got all the ingredients and mixed them together) my boyfriend one of his favorite snacks, Trail Mix. Oh yeah I bought an ungodly amount of nuts, dried fruit, M&M’s and chocolate chips and filled two pretty large canisters full of my concoction. Then I gussied them up with some left over craft supplies. I have to admit I had the most fun making these gifts this year and think I may have to incorporate some DIY every year, if I can. I also gave him the lovely cold I’d been fighting that week, ooops.
My boyfriend isn’t big on the whole flowers and chocolate thing on valentines day, I’m pretty sure he’s convinced it’s some sort of trap and I wouldn’t like them if he got them for me. I keep telling him I would be down but I don’t think he believes me. Anyway that means I always end up getting the sweetest homemade gifts. Which are better than flowers in that it means he actually puts in some time and effort into thinking up a sweet and thoughtful gift. Last year he gave me a jump drive with all the texts messages we had sent back and forth for the entire first year of our relationship, which is oh 99% of our phone conversations as I’d rather text than talk on the phone most days. It was incredibly sweet and unexpected but a totally appreciated gift since I only just got an iPhone last year and all those texts etc. had to be regularly deleted from my old phone. This year he ended up giving me his version of “Cooper Coupons” from The Big Bang theory, though he called them Cooley coupons (because last names n’ such). Basically they’re coupons I can redeem to make him do things he may otherwise not want to do or at least would bitch about a bit. Go somewhere on date he wouldn’t necessarily want to go, not bitch at me for talking during a TV show, etc. It’s very cute as they’re very tailored to our relationship, I’m already planning a time to redeem my first coupon.
Anyway In honor of V-day I’ll leave you with this adorable video I saw in the New York Times the other day. I think it may be the most adorable love themed YouTube video I’ve seen in awhile. Enjoy. And whether you’re single or in relationship I hope you had a very Happy Valentine’s Day, or at least go some sweet deals on chocolate the day after.
This outfit was pretty much my go-to last summer and it’s been in pretty heavy rotation this year too. It’s a cute easy outfit, it’s pretty perfect. I’ve worn this a million times but most recently I wore it to go to a flea market with my boyfriend. The boy is not into the whole thrift/vintage/flea market thing but he knows I am so he sucked it up an went with. It ended up being only a few miles from where we went apple picking last fall, apparently all of our excursions are about an hour NW of Minneapolis. Anyway I was a horrible blogger and only got one picture (see above) but the flea market was fun. There were lots of different people and a good amount of vintage stuff as well as new stuff, vegetables, food, DVDs, videos games, the works. We got there around 9, I read a yelp review that you should get there by 7 (!) to get the best deals/stuff but I just couldn’t make myself (or the boy) get up at 5 in the morning on Saturday, it’s just wrong. I didn’t end up getting anything as I didn’t find anything I couldn’t live without, but it was fun to go.
Crop top & Sunglasses:ASOSSkirt:River Island (via Asos) Shoes:Target (old)
Last Sunday the boy and I went to Artist-Designed Mini-Golf at the walker. Basically it’s a whole mini-golf course full of quirky holes. Unfortunately there was a two hour wait! But we decided to suck it up and wait it out. So we walked around the sculpture garden, Loring Park and saw an exhibit at the Walker. You get free admission to the walker with your mini-golf tickets, unfortunately all of their exhibits were under construction so the only one we could see was an exhibit on Edward Hopper, which was really interesting. I’ve never been to the walker’s normal collection though so that was a bit dissapointing. Guess I’ll have to go back another day to tour the museum. Anyway this season I’ve really been into the ladylike midi skirt trend. This is the first of a few that you’ll be seeing on the blog as the summer rumbles by. I really like the outfit and thought it worked well for the day. The only thing I would change is the shoes. I like my old target flats but sandals would have been better, I really need to invest/ find at the thirft store some good flats and a comfy pair of sandals. I didn’t relaize until this summer just how few summer shoes I really have.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a thrift haul partly because I’ve cut down on my thrifting and partly because I haven’t found a lot of amazing things lately. I’ve been thinking more practically and that I need to clean, organize, and donate the stuff I already have before acquiring anything new. So I wasn’t really doing any heavy thrifting for a couple months. Of course during those months I didn’t actually make any cleaning and organizing progress so… that’s still a work in progress. But, some spring cleaning is definitely in order (only a few more weeks till spring y’all, hopefully). Anyway I’ve made my way back to the thrift stores in recent weeks so I figured I’d share some of the things I’ve found recently and that I found a while ago but have yet to share. 1. Cathrineholm bowls.
I got both of these bowls at a vintage store near Milwaukee last fall. I went on a mini road trip there to visit the SC Johnson HQ where they have some Frank Lloyd Wright buildings (more on that in a future post). Anyway we went to a flea market near Milwaukee and though it was a cool market there were hardly any of the vintage goods we were looking for. But, we had noticed a sign for an antique store nearby so we went and I found these bowls for $15 buck (total). The lady that ran the store wasn’t really into mid century stuff so she had great reasonable prices. The bowls aren’t in the best condition but for $15 bucks I couldn’t say no.
2. Chalk Figure Wall Art
I don’t exactly know what these are called but I stumbled upon them a couple months ago at Value Village and had to have them. It’s not often I find such cool kitschy stuff at the thrift store so when I see something I like I pounce. These are also in rough condition but I actually don’t mind that. They’re totally cool and were pretty cheap so I’m totally OK with the cracks and nicks.
3. Embroidered Wall Art
I fell in love with this embroidered wall art when I first saw it on Smile and Wave (here and here) . So when I saw it at Savers a few days ago I knew I had to get it. It’s huge but I really like it, just have to find a place for it.
4. Kitchen Wall Art
I saw this while browsing a new Goodwill in my neighborhood. I really like the graphics, colors, and look of it.
5. & 6. Friendship and Jadeite
I pretty much only pick up Pyrex if it’s in a pattern I like/love. I see a good amount of it but I just don’t think it’s worth it if I’m not into the pattern. I do however love the friendship pattern so when I saw this bowl I immediately grabbed it and true to it’s name it came with a couple of friends. Tucked inside the larger friendship bowl was the smaller friendship bowl and a slightly larger Jadeite bowl!!! I’ve been looking for Jadeite in thrift stores ever since I saw Martha Stewart’s envious collection in a magazine and wanted to start collecting it. Though I’ve seen it a lot at Antique/Vintage stores I’ve never popped on them. So I was very excited to find this one hiding amongst the pyrex.
7. Target Frame
I bought two prints from my best friend earlier this year and have been searching for frames for them ever since. If you’re into the art you can buy some of her prints here on her Etsy page (NSFW). I found this one and originally had it in mind for another print but this one ended up working in the frame better. It’s a simple frame from target that I got at the salvation army, the salvation army and goodwill are good places to get cheap Target frames (at least in my neck of the woods). I may find a better frame for it in the future but for now I like it and the search for a frame for the second print continues.
8. Taylorstone “Cathay” Dishes
I’ve found a couple other dishes in this pattern before, so when I saw a good amount of it at a local thrift store I knew I had to get at least a couple of the dishes. Of course I ended up getting the whole set. Unlike Savers and the Salvation Army this thrift store doesn’t bundle like dishes so I was afraid it’d be more money than I wanted to spend. But after adding up all the prices It ended up being fairly reasonable. I don’t have a complete set but I’m definitely on my way!
I wore this dress a few days ago when it was warm enough to break from my usual winter pants situation. Unfortunately right after 10 or so inches of snow were dumped on the city and we’re now gearing up for our third polar vortex. I hate winter. Anyway, I really love this dress although it’s a bit short. It may actually be more of a tunic type situation if I was average height, but at 5’1 it’s still long enough on me to wear as a dress. I’ve been dying to find more shirt dresses since finding this one, I haven’t had much luck but they’re definitely on my to find list.
Skirt: A|Wear via ASOS Top: H&M Tights & Boots: Target
I’ve never been a Valentine’s Day hater, although I’m pretty much always single on Valentine’s day, I love the giving of cheesy valentines to friends and of course chocolate. I genearlly just acknowledge the day maybe wear red or pink and then wait for single girls Valentines day aka February 15th when all v-day chocolate is 50% off. This year though I’m in a relationship and actually have a valentine so I had to actually make plans, buy things, and figure out what to wear. It was all a bit weird, but good. After thinking about possible v-day outfits I remembered this galaxy print pencil skirt that i’ve had since the end of last summer and never really worn. I love the skirt and the pink and purple go with the whole valentine’s day theme so that was sort of the base of the outfit. After deciding on the skirt I wanted a cute top to go with it and after going through a few options I decided to go with this pink chunky knit sweater. I’m not completely sure if I like the outfit as much as I thought I would, it may have looked better in my head, but it’s still pretty good and I was glad I got to finally wear my skirt. Anyway I had a lovely Valentine’s Day and hope you did too.
Button downs have been having a serious moment in my wardrobe lately, I’m not really sure why. I’m guessing it has something to do with extreme cold we’ve been having this winter. Either way they’ve become my go to item for a casual day out. I got this shirt a few years ago at Target and was super excited to wear it until I walked into class the next day and at least 3 other people were wearing the same shirt. I know it shouldn’t but something about seeing so many people wear the same item kinda puts a damper on it. So I relegated it to dorm lounge wear and kept it moving. But, I could never bring myself to donate it so when plaid made a big trendy comeback last fall I knew I had to dust this baby off. Since the fall I’ve been wearing this shirt more than ever, it’s super comfy and warm which is always a plus in the winter.
Can you believe it’s already 2014? time sure does fly when you’re having fun. 2013 was a really good year for me and I’m hoping 2014 will be just as lovely. I had to work late NYE so I spent the first hours of the new year at home in my jammies with some celebratory champagne, classy. This year I hope to focus more on my career and really get that going, that’s my number one resolution. I am also resolving to blog more! Things sort of fell off here in 2013, while I did post a bit it wasn’t nearly as much as I would have liked. My personal life got busier and I made little time for blogging, so this year I promise to balance that more and come back with more content then ever before!
Since I didn’t go out for New Years Eve the first outfit post of 2014 is actually from 2013, go figure. Anyway, I wore this dress twice recently so I figured I’d show you the various ways I styled it. I wore the first look to one of my good friends from Elementary/ Middle School’s wedding. The wedding was lovely and she looked goregeous, I had to hold myself back from crying while she walked down the aisle. It’s odd when your friends start getting married, but I’m very happy for her. I had a dress all planned out to wear, then I got the invitation and found out it would be a shorter wedding in the afternoon and decided to go a bit more casual. I thought this dress fit the bill perfectly. I’m in love with the wrap look and the cute little birds on it, the neckline is a bit too low for most occasions but that’s an easy fix. I decided to dress it up a bit with a cute bracelet I wore to my prom forever ago, some peacock earrings I got in Ecuador, and black booties.
Dress:ASOSBoots: Payless
I also wore the dress on Christmas. I had a very busy Christmas in 2013, I went to my boyfriends mom’s house for Christmas brunch and then we both headed to my grandparent’s house for Christmas dinner. There were a lot of families, I’m pretty sure we were both exhausted by the end of the day. But it all went well and we got the meet the families part over with for the most part. Anyway since I was meeting some of his family for the first time and wasn’t sure what everyone would be wearing I decided to go with this dress as it’s casual but still kinda dressed up. I also wore my new favorite boots from Payless. I seriously need more boots in my life. I really like this look and have recently fallen head over heels for wrap dresses, so look for more of those in the coming months.
