detail-oriented

striped shirt - thrifted / braided yellow belt - H&M / wool pencil skirt - vintage, thrifted / tights - Target / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / purse - birthday gift from mom, Banana Republic / brogues - Primark

Oh hello there! I know, it's been ages since I posted anything here on the blog (even my mom chided me on my slow posting), but things have been pretty hectic around here these last few weeks. While my poor blog's been collecting internet-dust, I've been off starting a new job, moving to another sublet here in Brooklyn, going to birthday parties and housewarmings, apartment-hunting (and finding!), and generally giving my unlimited Metrocard a run for its money. We really haven't found a way to integrate taking photos for the blog into our new routine, but I decided to give it a shot yesterday morning in the three minutes before we ran out the door to a meeting with a real estate broker. Of course, it turned out that our adorable studio sublet isn't actually big enough to take a full-length photo, so you'll have to use a little imagination to picture this outfit in its entirety. Hopefully things will settle down a bit soon and I'll be able to get back to blogging with a bit more regularity.

bestriped

trench - H&M / striped shirt - H&M / braided belt - vintage, thrifted / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / red jeans - thrifted / brogues - Primark

Some photos from yesterday, offered (almost) without comment. I wore this for a rainy day of thrifting with Tania, who is completely awesome and has successfully made me just the teensiest bit sad that I'm leaving DC soon. (I mean, honestly, anyone who sends you home with amazing homemade cookies is a true friend.)

again

brass whistle necklace - vintage via etsy / cat print blouse - Zara / wide leg jeans - Gap / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / ring - Amsterdam shop / brogues - Primark

Stockholm waterfront again (as seen from a different island), hair down again (which, BTW, thank you all so much for your sweet comments about the hair yesterday! I am already feeling more comfortable with it.), and what is essentially the same outfit as this one, again. I am getting to that stage of traveling where I'm feeling a little uninspired by everything in my suitcase - I may have petulantly cried, 'I don't know how to get dressed anymore!' this morning (talk about your first world problems). Fortunately, this favorite image seems to be making the rounds on Pinterest again, and since both this blouse and my wide leg jeans were clean, I decided to pair them up and call it an outfit (again). I think I prefer the earlier version just slightly due to the darker denim, but for another day of walking (and more walking), this look proved highly adequate.

Happy weekend!

the blues

necklace - vintage, Brooklyn flea market / blue button-down - thrifted / watch - Arkonaplatz flea market, Berlin / overdyed skinnies - Zara / brogues - Primark / polish - Rimmel #310, Sunset Orange 

I love the color of this shirt, but I think I'm going to have to make some adjustments to the fit once I'm reunited with my sewing machine. For now it is pretty enormous, several sizes too large overall with a hemline that reaches mid-thigh, and yesterday I considered getting it to look reasonably tucked in to these jeans to be a serious accomplishment. I suppose someday I might actually become more discerning about how well my thrift store finds fit before purchasing them, but for now I'm happy to hide a few extra yards of fabric in the seat of my pants for the sake of a cheap blue blouse.

white out

necklace - Forever 21 / silk blouse - mommed / tote - German convention freebie / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / jeans - UO / brogues - Primark  

I'm absolutely worn out from a long day of Major Life Decisions (MLD(tm)), checking out multiple art supply stores, and maybe (just maybe) staying up a little too late watching TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze (Best line? 'Babies! They're BABIES!'), so I'm afraid I don't have much to say about these photos.  After discovering to my surprise just how much I liked occasionally wearing my shirt untucked a couple of weeks ago, today I thought I'd try out the oh-so-casual half-tucked look; I don't hate it, but the results didn't really wow me. Hard to say if it's me, or just this particular blouse. I also started out wearing my white linen blazer with this outfit, but tucked it away in my tote bag after a particularly warm U-Bahn ride. I'll have to give that pairing another shot once the weather cools down a bit.

I'm also hideously behind on answering emails and comments from the last week or so - I'll be tackling those tomorrow, but in the meantime, my apologies if you've been waiting for a response from me!

ombre

necklace - vintage, Brooklyn flea market / ombre blouse - thrifted/ bracelet - gift from another Emily / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / overdyed skinnies - Zara / brogues - Primark

This is not what I'd originally planned to wear for today's special thrift edition of EBEW - I'd had an awesome, 100% thrifted outfit in mind for about a week now. Unfortunately, the weather was not interested in cooperating with my plans (which included shorts, again), and this morning all I wanted to put on were some jeans and a sweater - and somehow, despite the fact that about a third of my current wardrobe is second-hand, all of my jeans and sweaters were purchased new. Suddenly, my cold, rainy day seemed like the perfect time to go check out the massive second-hand store down the street from our apartment (how I'd resisted its gravitational pull 'til now, I'll never know). Suffice to say, I hit the jackpot, and it took enormous willpower not to bring home more than might reasonably fit in my suitcase for the rest of our trip.

This sheer, ombre blouse was one of my finds of the day - I love finding trendier items like this while thrifting, because it lets me try out the trend with very little financial investment, and once I'm over it, I can always re-donate. For now, I'm looking forward to trying out some more daring ways to wear this blouse, along with my other purchases. (Just wait 'til you see you the crazy printed pants I bought - hello, Man Repeller!)

If you'd like to see some of my favorite thrifted looks, click here, here or here, and to see all my outfits incorporating thrifted items, click here. Also, be sure to head over to Everybody Everywear today to see how other bloggers styled up their favorite thrifted items.

jumping the gun

necklace - Anthropologie / silk shell - vintage, thrifted / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - homemade from vintage fabric / tights - Target / brogues - Primark 

A confession: I may have been so excited that this month's Everybody Everywear theme is yellow that I jumped the gun a bit and wore mine a week early. Between the fact that I haven't had the last two months' EBEW items and that yellow is my favorite color (and a close second favorite to wear, right after pink), I admit that I am especially excited to participate this time around - and that I might have done a small happy dance when the winning theme was announced. Not to worry though, despite my early start with this skirt, I still have plenty of yellow in my bag for next week!

Tomorrow is yet another moving day - packing up my suitcase on a weekly basis is really starting to wear me down! Fortunately we'll be in our next place for a month, so we'll get a little more time to settle in (not to mention a proper kitchen, woohoo!). I'm really looking forward to this next one - it's one of my all-time favorite cities, and Chris has never been, so I get to show him around. I'll have a scheduled post up tomorrow (featuring some actual hot weather - finally!), but I'll be sharing pictures from our amazing new home on Thursday.

shorty

necklace - vintage, great-grandmother's  / pink striped sweater - H&M / gray v-neck - Target / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / jeans - UO / brogues - Primark

With this outfit I decided to challenge myself a little by highlighting something about my body I'm still working on really loving - my height. Or rather, my lack thereof. As a kid, I grew fast. I hit my current height at ten and was taller than everyone in my fifth grade class - and then, I just stayed there. At a little over 5'4" (I confess - my driver's license claims I'm 5'5"!), I'm certainly not unusually short, but I doubt anyone will be describing me as a 'tall drink of water' anytime soon. (Case in point: both these 'ankle' length jeans and my 3/4 sleeve sweater have to be seriously rolled up to fit that way!)

Since I'm not too likely to get another growth spurt, I've been working on getting more comfortable with my stature, and doing my best to resist the idea that looking taller (and/or thinner) should be my first priority when choosing what to wear. To that end, with this outfit I tried to break as many rules for shorties as I could - I've got horizontal stripes, a boxy top layer, a long shirt that cuts me off at the hips, cuffed jeans, and flat shoes. I even eschewed the lengthening effects of a long pendant in favor of a shorter vintage necklace. According to a million 'dress your figure' magazine articles, everything about this should be unflattering, but while I don't look tall, I do look like me.

(And for all my fellow arch nerds, that's Stephen Holl's Sponge Pavilion I'm standing - nay, trespassing - in front of. That's right, I will totally break the law for you guys.)




To learn more about Dress Your Best, and to find other bloggers who are participating, please check out this post at academichic.