cheapish

earrings - handmade by Carie, won in Pretty Little Mountains giveaway / dress - Five Bamboo, won in What Would a Nerd Wear giveaway / belt - vintage, thfited / bracelet - DIY, tutorial via Honestly WTF / sandals - Target, thrifted

Whew! I feel like I have been so absent from blogging lately, but I suppose it's really only been a few days. This weekend we took the bus up to New York to visit with friends (and to break up the long ride to Chris's parents' place in MA). Today's outfit is the same one I wore to take the bus on Saturday. I wanted to be comfortable for the almost five hour ride, but I still wanted to feel put together enough to head straight for drinks on the Lower East Side when we arrived, and my new Five Bamboo dress was perfect on both counts. I realized later that this might be one of the cheapest outfits I've ever worn - between the thrifted belt and sandals and the homemade bracelet, I think the total cost was about $7!

We spent our visit catching up with a bunch of my grad school buddies in Fort Greene, drinking beers outside in plastic cups and eating a ridiculous amount of delicious food (there might even have been a post-brunch pina colada slushie from an ice cream truck). We’ve started talking a lot about where we’d like to live when we finish traveling, and even though it was ridiculously hot and sweaty in Brooklyn, our visit still managed to tip my scales a bit more in favor of New York. I had been rather resistant to the idea, as it seemed so overwhelmingly to be the ‘default’ choice coming out of graduate school; in fact, of my class, only six of us do not currently live in NYC. However, I am reminded every time I go back just how much I do love about the city, and about Brooklyn in particular, and after this weekend I can tell my resistance is really starting to break down.

We’re now up in central Mass., and have spent the day watching a small town Memorial Day parade, grilling in the backyard, and visiting with family. I'm looking forward to hitting up a few of my favorite thrifts this week, as well as digging through the clothes I have stored here, and tomorrow we're headed to the beach!

signature

necklace - boutique in Montmartre, Paris / tank - Anthropologie / dress - UO / sandals - Target, thrifted

As simple as this is - a dress, sandals, and a necklace - I think it might be my favorite thing I've worn yet on the blog. I've paired pink and yellow here once before, and I've been so enamored with the combination that it seems to permeate everything I do. It worked its way into my recent blog redesign, my Pinterest is just full of pink and yellow, and my "to try on" pile while thrifting this weekend was so overwhelmingly dominated by these hues that my mom declared them my signature colors. Given how very cheery (and, dare I say it, 'me') I felt wearing this, I'd say she's on to something.

This dress has been a favorite of mine for a few years now, but I've recently been considering refashioning it into a skirt. I love the draped tulip shape, but the neckline has gotten substantially lower over time, and I'm not convinced the somewhat loose empire waist really does my figure any favors. Chris thinks I should leave it alone ("You already have so many skirts!"), but I think it might be more versatile and flattering with a little restyling - what do you guys think?

confessions

compass necklace - vintage, Grand Bazaar in Istanbul / gray v-neck - Target / braided belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - homemade / espadrilles - thrifted

Confession: While it's not the most inventive outfit I've ever worn, I might have worn this three times in as many days. Once for a thrifting expedition (with flat sandals), once for a low-key day at home, and once for a long morning dog-walk (again with flat sandals). This is numero dos.

Confession: I did not wash my fabric before assembling this skirt - hence the permanent wrinkling in the hem, which no amount of ironing will remove. Always wash your fabric - especially if it's seersucker. Lesson learned.

Confession: I have not told my family about this here blog, as I can't tell if they'll think it is cool or just an incredibly strange and inexplicable hobby. I fear the latter. This adds an entirely new level of weirdness to taking outfit photos, as it feels like we're sneaking around. "Where are you guys off to?" "Oh, uh, nowhere. Just.... out. With the camera. For ten minutes or so."

Confession: I'm posting super late, this week is speeding by me, and I'm grossly behind on replying to comments and emails (To say nothing of reading and commenting on other blogs. My Google Reader has enough starred "Come back to this!" posts to qualify me for an all-digital-media episode of Hoarders.) They say the first step is admitting you have a problem...

on the line

sunglasses - Nasty Gal / earrings - handmade by Carie, won in Pretty Little Mountains giveaway / purse - Athens tourist shop / silk top - vintage, thrifted / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - J.Crew, thrifted & rebuilt / ring - Nasty Gal / sandals - Target, thrifted 

Over the weekend, I went thrifting with the lady who taught me everything I know about shopping secondhand - my mom. Most of our old favorite thrifts aren't around anymore, so I spent breakfast only slightly over-zealously making a Google Map of a dozen or so stores in the area. In the end we only made it to an estate sale and two new-to-us thrifts, but we still managed to come home with a trunk full of new goodies. I think I must have had some of Jen's magical silk-radar, because I found more silk blouses than I could carry, and ultimately came away with this top, a pink silk blouse, and a killer raw silk blazer for mom.

I also brought home this cute J.Crew skirt, although I could see it needed a little love; the elastic was completely stretched out, but would be easy to replace. Of course, once I got it home (and into decent light), I discovered a constellation of little holes in the fabric in front. Fortunately only the top layer was damaged, so I wound up taking the whole thing apart and moving the inside layer to the outside and the front to the back. Definitely much more of a project than I'd realized, but still worth it for such a dreamy little $2 skirt.

We snapped these photos on our walk home from the Metro after spending the better part of Sunday picnicking and catching up with one of our best friends from college at the zoo. This is actually the third base line of the baseball diamond behind my old middle school, a place I most associate with bomb-threat evacuations and doing my best to avoid participating in gym class. Ah, memories...

seaweed

earrings - handmade by Carie, won in Pretty Little Mountains giveaway / blouse - Target / ring - Nasty Gal / overdyed skinnies - Zara / sandals - Target, thrifted 

I hope you all like my jewelry in these photos, because you will definitely be seeing a lot more of it. Both these incredible earrings (designed and made by Carie of Pretty Little Mountains) and this giant ring were waiting for me in the mail when we got back from Europe, and they both just make me feel so, well, badass, that I haven't stopped wearing them since. I can't wait until Carie opens an etsy shop to sell her jewelry, because I am absolutely in love with these earrings and can't wait to see more of her designs.

Also worn on repeat was the rest of this outfit, first for an excellent dinner out with my parents and then for a day spent rummaging through all the stuff we've been storing in their basement. I love how a slightly oversized blouse can transition so seamlessly from feeling 'dressed up' to completely casual, and I can tell this one I picked up while running errands is going to fast become a staple in my wardrobe.

Unfortunately my rummaging wasn't quite as successful as my impromptu shopping trip - I've been obsessed for months with digging up a pair of vintage Dansko sandals my high school boyfriend's mom gave me, but I'm afraid they must have been donated in one of my mothers great semi-annual closet purges sometime in the last decade. Now I'm on the lookout for the perfect pair of '70s style sandals - cognac leather (natch'), low platform with a bit of a heel (but nothing crazy), open toe and an ankle strap - any great recommendations? (These Swedish Hasbeens are, sadly, way out of my budget.)

five things

...I haven't done in the last five months - that I have done in the last five hours.

1. Worn polish.

Sunset Orange by Rimmel London, to be precise.

2. Gotten mail.

Both Pigeon Trading Post and that adorable cycling rat sticker are by awesome artist and friend Allison Sommers - check out more of her work here.

3. Driven a car.

Much less a big old pick-up truck, as seen here.

4. Eaten tacos.

And yes, that is a margarita in the background - I know how to lunch.

5. Hung out with these guys.



Yes, the mystery of where we are now (and why I haven't exactly been posting regularly) can be put to bed - we're back stateside for the next month, and currently visiting my folks in Virginia. We hadn't planned to come back for a visit mid-trip (we'd actually planned to be in Russia this month) but a number of unexpected factors conspired to bring us back for a little vacation from our vacation. We'll be back to our lives of international mystery next month, but for now it's nice to slow down a little and enjoy being home.

banana banana

earrings - Boston street vendor / chambray button-down - thrifted Banana Republic / braided leather belt - vintage, thrifted / wide leg jeans - Banana Republic / red T-strap sandals - UO 

I've been a big fan of the double-denim look for the last year or two, and have been especially smitten with a few recent looks incorporating wide leg jeans, so I was especially excited to get back this great chambray shirt in my recent bunch of clothes from home. While Chris wasn't too crazy about my Canadian tuxedo (when I ask him what he thinks of my outfit, getting a silent half-smile does not mean good things), I absolutely loved it - it was the perfect outfit for our last day in Paris, a day of frantic packing and cleaning followed by an incroyable dinner out (confit de canard avec aligot - my arteries do not thank me, but my tastebuds sure did) and an awesome, cheesily romantic trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower at dusk.

I already tweeted about this earlier, but my little blog seems to be on a bit of a hot streak today - one of my photos popped up on WearColor (one of my absolute favorite tumblrs, courtesy of Mallory of Where the Lovely Things Are), Tania gave my milkmaid braid tutorial a shout-out over on What Would a Nerd Wear, and the other emily officially hit 500 followers! It really does mean so, so much to me that you guys take the time to stop by my blog (and sometimes even say hi!), so thank you. And although we're still reeling a bit from our most recent move, I hope to get back to answering all your lovely comments (and letting you in on where we are now!) by tomorrow.

homesewn

earrings - Anthropologie / cat print blouse - Zara / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - homemade from vintage fabric / tights - Target / boots - vintage Nine West via etsy

This skirt is one of my absolute favorite items of clothing, so I was especially relieved to get it back last week after my epic mail fiasco. I made it about a year ago from some vintage kitchen curtains that I thrifted, and it's since gotten more wear than all my other homemade clothes combined. I am by no means an expert seamstress, but I do love wearing clothes that I've made for myself. It's definitely a skill that runs in my family - my grandmother still does mending and alterations for her neighbors, my mom made all my Halloween costumes growing up (and I still have an incredible coat she made for herself at age 14!), and even my dad did a little home-sewing when I was a baby. He was a stay-at-home dad while my mom finished her PhD, and she still tells the story about how he called her at school one day to ask how to put in a zipper. She told him it was a bit complicated, and that she'd show him how when she got home - but by the time she did, he'd already popped me into the stroller, zipped down to the library, and taught himself how to do it from a book. It's a small thing, but I'm still so proud of him for that.

monochrome

gold link necklace - vintage, great-grandmother's / purse - Athens tourist shop / cardigan - H&M / white braided belt - vintage, thrifted / ring - Primark / seafoam linen skirt - vintage, thrifted / brogues - Primark

In college, some friends* and I got really into dressing in monochrome. It became the theme for all our parties, and we even made Monochrome Monday a weekly institution at school (and by 'institution,' I mean about five of us did it every week). While my days of wearing an entire bolt of tulle to studio are (sadly) over, I still get a kick out of wearing tone-on-tone color combinations (as evidenced here and here); there is nothing that will make you feel quite so striking as wearing a single 'signature' color for a day - and of course it doesn't hurt to pull out your boldest shade of lipstick.

Somehow the end of our time in Paris has completely snuck up on me, and we're leaving tomorrow! I have absolutely loved our time here, but I am (of course) so excited for our next, rather unexpected, destination. It's not a stop we'd originally planned on making, but now that it's imminent I am really looking forward to it. Tomorrow's going to be another looong travel day, made all the worse by the recent additions to my baggage (oof!), but I've got a fresh post scheduled to go up while we're off getting fresh stamps in our passports.

*Yes, my college friends have gone on to be incredible fashion designers. No, I have done nothing cool with my life whatsoever.