hello handsome

necklace - Anthropologie / jacket - Forever 21 / striped shirt - thrifted / overdyed skinnies - Zara / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / loafers - vintage Bass, thrifted / yellow dog - American Lab Rescue

I'm sorry for the major photo-overload today - but can you blame me with this handsome guy by my side? We're spending the next few weeks in a temporary sublet in New York, and unfortunately we can't bring Winston up to join us until we find a more permanent home. Since we knew it'd be a few weeks 'til we saw him again, I thought I'd bring him out to co-star in some outfit pictures we took over the weekend, and he was a total champ! I think he was honestly pretty bored by the whole procedure, but I did manage to encourage some goofy faces out of him (and, ahem, myself) with a little ear-scratching.

long shadows

dress - vintage, thrifted & hemmed / belt - vintage, thrifted / shoes - Target

I hope you'll forgive me the slightly melancholy tone of this post; in many ways, these photos feel to me like a lament for the summer that's nearly past. While I'm sure the season of heat and humidity is far from well and truly over here on the East Coast, the days of simple dresses, sandals, and long shadows seem to be rapidly disappearing. Today there's very nearly a chill in the air, and with it the anticipation of change. We move to New York this weekend and begin in earnest the search for jobs and apartments, setting out on an entirely new chapter in our lives. While I am excited about these changes (and particularly about seeing the end of suitcase-living on the horizon), I will miss the last nine privileged months of wholly unstructured time.

secondhander

jacket - thrifted / dress - vintage via etsy / belt - vintage, thrifted / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / boots - Peter Kaiser, vintage via rummage sale

I didn't realize until putting together this post that everything I wore today is second-hand. It's silly, but wearing outfits that are entirely made up of items that are homemade or second-hand always gives me a little sense of satisfaction.

Today it was lovely and cool (and, ahem, seriously rainy - hence the porch photos), so I jumped at the chance to bring my favorite boots out of storage. I went to a rummage sale in Princeton* last summer with the way-too-specific-to-ever-work-out hope of finding a pair of vintage, cognac leather boots with a low heel and some kind of detail at the ankle, and immediately fished this pair of mint-condition boots made in West (!) Germany out of a rubber bin filled with shoes. They were my size, and they were.... $2. This is what dreams are made of, my friends.

*For any NJ readers, it was the annual White Elephant sale at the hospital - seriously, do not miss it!

crazypants

Berber earrings - gift from Tunisia / tank - Target / belt - vintage, thrifted / pants - vintage, thrifted / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / ring - Primark / sandals - Target, thrifted 

I am exhausted; after a long day of travel, hauling suitcases up and down stairs, and doing a serious amount of walking in our new city, I can fairly say, my everything hurts. Knowing that I was unlikely to wear much of anything noteworthy on a moving day, I did have the foresight to take these photos yesterday on our last day in Berlin, but I ought also to have just written a post about them then. As it stands, I think my body is currently siphoning vital fluids from my brain just to maintain basic functioning; it remains to be seen just how much blog-juice I can muster at the moment.

Let's stick with the obvious - these pants? They are insane. I found them on my recent Berlin thrifting trip, and despite the fact that they are objectively rather unflattering (and that boyfriend predictably loathes them), I kind of love them. I think the print is amazing, and they're perfectly swishy and light enough for hot days. They seem so much like the kind of thing a super cool, confident woman might wear - and since I certainly hope to be one of those when I grow up, it only seems sensible to start practicing now.

On another note, I'm glad so many of you liked the sock-bun video! It really is the coolest trick, the fact that it's so easy is a big part of why I tend to do it every single day. I feel I should have included a disclaimer though, I am definitely not the inventor of the sock-bun technique - I heard about it from a reader a few months ago, and there are a wealth of other videos on Youtube that show different ways to do it. You can even use the sock-bun as a no-heat curling method!

happiness

striped linen top - vintage, thrifted / cream silk blouse - mommed / pink silk blouse - thrifted / orange ombre blouse - thrifted / yellow silk top - Mango / olive blouse - Target / blue blouse - thrifted / cat print blouse - Zara

...is a blouse rainbow in your closet.

awkward

necklace - Forever 21 / blouse - Target / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / shorts - thrifted & hemmed / sandals - Target, thrifted

If I look just the slightest bit awkward in these photos (by which I mean, more so than usual), it's because there was a guy going back and forth between the door immediately over my left shoulder and a van across the street the entire time we were taking these pictures. I try not to feel too self-conscious while taking pictures, but this was... awkward. He definitely thought we were pretty odd, but I told him if he didn't want random American bloggers taking pictures outside his place of business/residence, next time he should try not painting his building such a sunny color.*

Since the theme of the week seems to be sharing my outfit inspiration, this one is definitely inspired by this look from Kendi, right down to the aqua statement necklace. Sadly, adorable heels are in short supply around here, but I'm always happy to add some extra bling to an outfit with these braided gold sandals.

*I told him no such thing.

too cool

sunglasses - thrifted / necklace - vintage, great-grandmother's / tote - Forever 21 / chambray shirt - Banana Republic, thrifted / dress - UO / belt - vintage, thrifted / ring - Amsterdam shop / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / woven flats - UO

We're staying in (I think) a pretty hipster-y area of Berlin, and I spend a good deal of time on the U-Bahn observing the impossibly cool girls of the city. These are girls with inscrutable tattoos and long hair that's completely buzzed on one side, and nearly every single one of them is sporting just the most perfect-fitting, perfectly worn-in jean jacket you've ever seen. I will probably never look anywhere near as cool as these Berlin girls (let's be honest, I dress up to visit buildings - 'cool' I am not), but I did decide to borrow their jean-jacket style with this chambray shirt for a late-afternoon picnic in Treptower Park. I think I'll definitely be wearing this shirt as a jacket more often from here on out; I loved the extra dimension it gave to an otherwise simple outfit, and the extra coverage it gave to a dress that can sometimes feel a bit like the express train to Boob City - although given that I was the only girl in the park who hadn't stripped down to her bikini or bra (or, ahem, gone bare - those Germans!), perhaps I needn't have worried too much about modesty.

ich bin ein

earrings - handmade by Carie of Pretty Little Mountains, won in giveaway / purse - Athens tourist shop / tank - Target / skort - UO / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / woven flats - UO 

...Berliner!* After riding a total of seven trains and one bus yesterday, in what was absolutely the most epicly bad in a recent string of rough travel days, we're now happily settled in to our new home in Berlin. I love the energy of Berlin, so I'm really looking forward to spending the next month getting the know the city a lot better - and the fact that we don't have to pack up and move again for a while sounds pretty good too!

*Why yes, I do mean that - I plan to spend the entirety of the next month covered in powdered sugar.