Hey, Lawrence Welk

Friday's ensemble... I've worn this dress twice before on the blog, but never without a cardigan or sweatshirt over it. It kinda makes me feel like I belong on The Lawrence Welk Show. There's just a bit of a hippie 1970s folk singer vibe happening.

Dress - Erin Fetherston for Target

Sandals - Jessica Simpson

I redid my blog header over the weekend. It's nice to change it up a bit so I don't have old photos hanging out up there forever. Bye, old header!

Gigantor chevron

Yesterday it was 83 degrees! Hooray! Going for a walk in the sunshine makes my stupid cold die a little bit, right? Wait... that's vampires not colds.

Necklace - thrifted

Dress - thrifted vintage

Sandals - Sketchers

This is another dress I found in the Halloween costume section of Arc's last weekend. It's thrifting nirvana out there right now kids, so take a trip to the thrift store this weekend and score some weird stuff (e.g. a bright green polyester chevron dress that caused one of my co-workers to call me Judy Jetson.)

The Closet Menagerie

Here's yesterday's back to work getup... it's still surprisingly warm here (like 75 degrees.) I'm all for a warm fall! Winter is loooooong enough without getting started early.

Necklace - vintage

T-shirt - Bitten by SJP

Skirt - thrifted

Sandals - Old Navy

I found this swan skirt for $1.99 the other day while thrifting at Arc's and I thought it was funny because I already own a sweater with swans on it. I have no particular affection for swans, but they're fine. 

I think it's funny when animals become trendy. When I was in high school elephants were everywhere. For a while it was deer. Then horses. Then it seemed to be foxes. So weird. Trendy animals... I don't get it. Which isn't to say I don't love animals on clothes. I do have a tiny menagerie in my closet...

reindeer sweater and horse cardigan

koala sweatshirt and wolf cardigan

swan sweater and tiger print dress with tiger head

crane print blouse and whale sweater 

Colossal

I'm a bit behind on blogging, but I spent the last two days in pajamas, so I'm actually only one outfit behind! Here's Friday's getup:

Sweater - thrifted vintage Joyce Howell

Skirt - Target

Shoes - Minnetonka Moccasin

Sweater detail:

I spent the weekend planting grass with Nate in 15 big galvanized tubs (part of our wedding centerpieces), then waitressed a wedding on Saturday, and worked 12 hours on the patio on Sunday. I could tell I was getting sick on Saturday and woke up feeling like shit on Sunday but I had to work anyway. Monday I stayed home with a fever, stuffy nose, and sore throat, Tuesday I went to the doctor and found out I had a regular ol' cold but combined with a terrible ear infection - which is why I had a fever and thus felt so awful. I just went to the little Target Clinic thing instead of my regular doctor and she was shocked when she looked in my ear. Not only because of the infection, but because I've had four ear surgeries. She was like "Wow! Your ear is really made of stitched together scar tissue, huh?" Yep, it is. But it works for me! Well, most of the time...

Backwards

This is one of those outfits where I just wanna walk backwards all day. But I can't so instead I'm going to show you the photos in backwards order today. I have four sweaters or jackets with awesome backs, and I never know if people see them or not. Not that it really matters, but I feel like this outfit would be boring without the quilted detail.

Jean jacket - thrifted, DIY back

Dress - thrifted vintage

Sandals - Franco Sarto

Interesting back things... you're frustrating yet awesome.

Crabby patties

Yesterday was a very long day indeed. I left the house and 15 hours later I came back (I had to waitress after school). I figured if I was going to have to run around the restaurant all night after working all day, I had better wear flats to keep my feet in good shape. Super comfy skirt and gladiators =  pajama levels of comfort. Luckily every Wednesday is half price burger night, so while it's busy, it's also easy because I don't have to worry about doing entrees that come with soups and salads - it's just a lot of slinging hamburgers. Just like Spongebob Squarepants.

Shirt - thrifted little boys Cherokee

Necklace - thrifted

Skirt - thrifted Ralph Lauren

Sandals - Steve Madden

Circus tent

Yesterday...

Glasses - Prada

Necklace - garage sale (found by my mom!)

Cardigan - thrifted J. Crew

Dress - thrifted newstock Target

Sandals - Frye

Today I'm deciding to be thankful (for everything) and focusing on things around me that I can control, rather than things that are out of my control. Some strange things have happened to people close to me very recently (a stroke, an assault which led to a restraining order, a natural gas leak, a house fire, the discovery of a dead body) so I'm trying to be positive and not let it stress me out. So toodles for the day, I'm feeling too weird to write much. But at least I'm dressed chipper! Life is a circus and apparently I'm the tent.

Facing facts

Yesterday's ensemble... every time I wear a marching band or military type jacket or vest at least one kid at my school tells me I look like Michael Jackson. Or Janet.

T-shirt - American Apparel

Vest - thrifted Target sample

Skirt - thrifted Ann Tijan for Kenar

Boots - Modern Vintage

The boots:

Yesterday after work, and after running some errands and then actually going running - I started a project I've been dreading. The Great Clean-Out and Reorganization. TGCOR. It sounds more official if you give it an acronym.

Nate and I are getting married soon and we haven't found a new place to live yet! We've looked at some houses but we don't want to buy one until we love it and that just hasn't happened yet. So Nate will most likely be moving into my tiny condo after the wedding. And while he doesn't own a lot of stuff, he does own some stuff. After living here for over 8 years, stuff has gotten stashed places when I'm in a hurry and now I have all these disheveled areas that are just wasting space. Yesterday I tackled my crafting/sewing area. I condensed it into about 50% of it's original space and have a huge bag of stuff to donate to Arc's. Round 1 of about 10 of TGCOR is done. Now I just have to tackle my coat closet, walk-in closet, drawers, kitchen, garage, etsy stuff, etc.

I wish I was a minimalist, but I'm just NOT. I'm just trying to be less of a maximalist? Probably not a word. They say what your house (or room) looks like is a reflection of your mind space and apparently my mind has always been busy. I enjoy a chaotic, eclectic aesthetic! Hey, I'm better than I used to be - in high school I collaged my entire ceiling! 

Uber casual

Here's Friday's uber casual look...

Polo - from the golf club

Sweatshirt - Obey Propaganda

Jean short - thrifted

Shoes - thrifted Minnetonka Moccasin

Saturday I worked a wedding for the photo booth...

Dress - thrifted vintage

Shoes - Linea Paolo

And Sunday Nate and I babysat Henrik and Peder so my sister and brother-in-law could go see Singin' in the Rain. It was fun but those two are a handful!

When you ask Nate to babysit, he will make sure the babies sit. On him, apparently.

Patti

I feel like this is a very bloggy outfit. Chambray shirt, statementy necklace, patterned pants, big ol' platforms. Yikes.

Shirt - thrifted newstock Target

Necklace - TJ Maxx

Pants - thrifted The Limited (altered by me)

Shoes - Franco Sarto

Pants detail... these were cropped flares but I skinnified the bottoms. Skinnified. Not a word.

Yesterday was my mom's 60th birthday! Yay! Unfortunately she lives 6 hours away so I didn't get to see her but she's coming up soon and my sister and I are going to take her to see a musical. We've already seen so many with her, it's hard to find one we haven't seen yet! Should we embarrass her and put up a photo of her? Yes! This was when Nate and I went to visit my parents in August. 

Hey, ladies!

Yesterday's outfit marked the return of the kooky lady skirt (if you haven't read that post, you should because I made a really idiotic comic for you!)

T-shirt - Target

Skirt - thrifted vintage

Shoes - MIA

After work I biked home at super sonic speed, drove to the country club to bartend on the patio until it closed, then went upstairs to waitress in the dining room. It was a long day (especially because I'd waitressed the night before too!) But all in all, it was a good day. After all, how could it not be with these crazy ladies following me around all day? This whole week is gonna be nuts!

Four cents

What I wore yesterday...

Sweater - thrifted vintage Joyce

Shorts - thrifted The Limited

Sandals - thrifted Dr. Scholl's

I've had this little vintage anchor sweater for about a year and half now... I'd say I've gotten my twenty five cents worth out of it... since I've worn it six times now, it's down to about four cents per wear! 

I love it when I can find stuff like this sweater! So cheap and cute and unique! It's the hunt for things like this that makes it easy to give up shopping for new clothes all together. Plus it's kinda nice to go somewhere like Target and not even be tempted to wander over to the clearance rack. I've just taken that option off the table. Easy peasy. Even with the wedding coming up, the only new clothing thing I've bought was a handmade necklace from etsy. And I know it was made by the artist herself, so I'm ok with it. 

Navy and needles

Yesterday it was 105 degrees. Ew. So I skipped riding my bike and took the bus. I wore a maxi skirt since they're annoying to bike in anyway.

Shirt - American Eagle

Tank - little boys Hanes

Skirt - thrifted vintage aileen

Sandals - thrifted DeeGow Boutique

After work Nate came and picked me up and we met with the coordinator from our wedding venue and our wedding caterers. I was really scared they were going to ask me questions that I hadn't even thought of and overwhelm me with tiny details - but they totally didn't! I'm actually feeling confident that we've thought of almost everything and now we're down to kinda last minute stuff to worry about. Phew!

Over the weekend, Nate got a new tattoo. I bought it for him for his birthday/for quitting smoking. It's been over 3 months since he quit cold turkey! Woo! I'll show you a photo of it once it's healed. It's pretty bad-ass and Nate drew it himself.

The Vikes

I felt the need to rock one of my vintage MN Vikings shirts before their first game on Sunday. I'm so excited for football season! It's silly to watch football for like 9 hours in one day, but they're often my only day off and such fun lazy days with Nate and usually involve an elaborate dinner we made together.

Blazer - thrifted little boys

Vikings shirt - vintage via www.sideburns.etsy.com

Shorts - thrifted The Limited

Shoes - Ralph Lauren

One more very important thing happened this summer that I never blogged about...

My nephew Peder was born at the end of July! He was scheduled to be born by c-section since he was breach but he tried coming into the world ass-first a bit earlier than expected so my sister had the c-section a few days early. He's pretty awesome so far. He's always furrowing his brow like he's very concerned about what he's seeing. It's funny how even as small as he is, he's different from Henrik as a baby.

Nate and I are babysitting both boys next Sunday - should be quite an adventure! 

White out

The kindergarten kids start today and I'm so excited! They're so ridiculously cute and tiny! I've already seen several crying moms leaving the building :(

T-shirt - Beck.com

Bangles - thrifted

Skirt - thrifted Liz Claiborne

Sandals - Seychelles

A bit more wedding crap... a few weeks ago Nate and I went to visit my parents in Lake Geneva, WI. We scanned a bunch of my childhood photos for our slideshow and then did some wedding woodworking. Fun in the barn on the lathe!

We made 15 mini bats that are part of our wedding centerpieces. Then I woodburned them all. We didn't have time to varnish them all but my dad is doing it for us. It was super fun!

Some of the bats...