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!

double jeopardy

necklace - vintage, great grandmother's / blouse - thrifted / tote - Forever 21 / belt - vintage, thrifted / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / shorts - vintage, thrifted & hemmed / woven flats - UO

Ever since pinning this outfit of Tania's a few weeks ago, I've had this vibrant blue and yellow color combination on the brain. I've been daydreaming more than I ought to admit about pairing this incredible blue knife-pleated dress Emily sent me right before our return to Europe with a pair of marigold heels I have in storage (the perfect outfit for an upcoming birthday?), and when I stumbled across this bright blue blouse during my rainy day trip to the thrift store last week, I was all too happy to pay three euros for it. It's pretty big (I actually had to watch out that the hem didn't peek out below the edge of my shorts!), but I love the way the color looks with just about everything I own, and I think it will transition nicely into fall.

Unfortunately I think these shorts may be known as 'the bee sting shorts' forevermore - I got stung the last time I wore them, and today our afternoon picnic was plagued by bees! Despite their inexplicable interest in my face (why, oh why must they always hover right by my face?) I managed to escape uninjured, but Chris was stung in the leg. Fortunately he seems to exhibiting even less of an allergic reaction than I did.

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.

inspired

earrings - Anthropologie / pink striped sweater - H&M / purse - Athens tourist shop / braided belt - vintage, thrifted / shorts - Target / geode ring - H&M / gold filigree ring - Amsterdam shop / woven flats - UO

This outfit was inspired by an email I got from a reader. And by inspired, I mean copied in absolutely every detail. That's what 'inspiration' means, right?

You see, about a month ago I got an email from a very sweet reader from Iceland* named Gyða - she had just come back from a recent vacation in France, where she'd picked up this same pink striped sweater from H&M and, remembering this post of mine, worn it on a visit to Versailles.


Seriously, how cute is this girl?

She was even sweet enough to have a friend snap some photos of her there and send them to me (and to let me share them with you guys - thanks again, Gyða!). I was so flattered by her thoughtful note, and I just loved the casual way she styled her sweater with cutoffs and a braided belt, so I decided to recreate it with similar pieces from my suitcase! Sometimes it's nice not to have to even think about what to wear in the morning, and this outfit was just perfect for a sunny afternoon spent sightseeing around the Bundestag and strolling the entirety of Tiergarten.

*Which is incidentally still the coolest place I have ever been in my life, hands down.

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.

DIY dreams

After Winston, the thing I think I've been missing most on this trip is being able to make things. I've been filling up my notebooks and Pinterest boards with ideas for projects at an astonishing rate, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite recent DIY ideas - inspired by this blouse and brought to life with a little help from polyvore. Now I can't wait until I have access to proper thrift stores and my beloved sewing machine!

pre-mixed

earrings - Topshop / striped shirt - H&M / overdyed skinnies - Zara / brogues - Primark

I distinctly recall declaring (to Chris, ever my captive audience) about a month ago that I did not like garments sporting mixed-size stripes. Clearly I spend a lot of my time pondering deep issues. While I like mixed stripes in an outfit composed of separates, and I like stripes of mixed orientation in single garment (see, the greatest skirt ever), I have long disliked garments in which the stripes dramatically change size and spacing. I like to tell myself that it's because they're the boxed cake mix of print-mixing (I'm a firmly from-scratch girl), but in truth, they just remind me far too much of a short-sleeved (ugh), mock-turtleneck (double-ugh) sweater from Express that I wore to death in middle school. So I said it - I hate pre-mixed stripes.

But then, mere seconds after this momentous declaration, I saw a girl wearing this shirt in Florence, and I had to completely reverse my position. It turns out I love pre-mixed stripes when they change both size and color. Within a few days, I had seen "the shirt" (and started referring to it as "the shirt") twice more and was sold. I pinned it (and its Zara cousin), I pined for it, and last week I finally paid for it. I've worn it three times already, and we are in love.


And of course, I couldn't resist showing off (once again) how well our apartment matches my outfits. Everyone's balcony should have at least one bubblegum pink wall.
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knots

necklace - vintage, Brooklyn flea market / dress - H&M / belt - vintage, thrifted / purse - Athens tourist shop / red T-strap sandals - UO

I've been trying to brainstorm new ways to wear this comfy maxi dress - I love the ease of wearing dresses in summer, but have found they don't always lend themselves so easily to the heavy remixing necessitated by travel. Inspired by Jentine and Coury's chic skirt-knotting, I decided to tie it up in the front for an afternoon ramble through Montmartre. I loved the new, more figure-conscious shape the knot gave my dress, but I think I still have some learning to do when it comes to skirt tricks as my knot turned out a little awkward and bulky. I also discovered this might not be the best style to rock when climbing lots of stairs and hills, although having your knees tied together is definitely one way to do some serious resistance training!

Also in knots is my stomach; I made up a batch of cold-brewed iced coffee for this morning, and although I haven't had any caffeine in weeks, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to drink a huge glass of it more or less undiluted, eat only a little yogurt cup for breakfast, and then hop on the Metro. Glurgh. Suffice to say I am now feeling more than a little shaky. Looks like I'll be scrapping my ambitious dinner plans in favor of curling into a ball in bed with the latest episode of Glee.

EDIT: I also wanted to thank you guys for your sweet comments on yesterday's post - I'm hoping to answer them individually later tonight, but I just wanted you to know that I really appreciate your kind words and understanding about the occasional awkwardness an outfit can inspire.
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highlander

earrings - Anthropologie / scarf - gift / watch - La Mer / ring - Primark / cardigan - Primark / tank - Anthropologie / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - Zara / tights - Target / brogues - Primark

Ok, so I'm not actually in the Highlands (and I'm not the Highlander), but I am in Scotland! After a fairly smelly nine and a half hour bus ride yesterday, we arrived last night in Edinburgh, and took advantage of the surprisingly great weather today to go out exploring. The old town is exceedingly cute, and everything is compact enough that we can walk pretty much everywhere. We snapped these pictures in Greyfriars Kirkyard, after paying our respects to Greyfriars Bobby. As far as I can tell, Scotland's two biggest tourist industries are tartan and ghost stories - so far we haven't really indulged in either, although the pub where we had dinner last night does claim to have their own house ghost. I've also noticed a serious abundance of charity shops within walking distance of our apartment....

After seeing (and freaking loving) this kind of pink, pumpkin, and cognac color combination on both sartoriography and fancy treehouse this past week, I decided to try and style up a similar color story with my new favorite skirt and a pink tank. I really loved the core combination, but I think it got a little lost after adding the navy cardigan and (especially) the yellow scarf, so I'll definitely be trying it again sometime with more neutral outerwear. I'm also going to be on the lookout for some rusty orange tights, so I can wear them with my pink skirt for even more pink-pumpkin love.

 
The new stars of my traveling wardrobe - the brogues. Comfortable enough to walk in all day and they go with everything. Best £8 I ever spent.
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