Rosie

The sleeves of insanity sweater today... I've never worn this sweater with this skirt because the colors are very similar but not the same and I though it would drive me nuts. But it doesn't. Good enough. 

Sweater - DKNY (previously worn 1, 2)

Skirt - thrifted vintage (no tags)

Tights - ??? But they're dark brown, I assure you! 

Shoes - thrifted newstock Target

The deets...

I stopped by the Optiz Outlet in St Louis Park last night because all their winter coats are 90% off. So I got this cute wool Kenneth Cole coat for $35 (down from $345)! Woop! Now's the time to go buy a coat for next year! I don't own a black coat so I thought it was a smart choice. My go-to winter coat is pastel yellow tweed so it gets a bit gross since I ride the city bus twice a day. 

Don't worry, I put a hat, scarf, gloves, big socks, and boots on before I walked to the bus stop but I just took this photo quick so you could see it without all the cold-weather accessories in the way!  

Mickey and Eames

Glasses - thrifted vintage American Optical, lenses replaced

Blazer - thrifted JH Collectables

Shirt - thrifted Mickey & Co.

Skirt - American Apparel

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

I can never resist an old Mickey Mouse shirt or sweater when I find one at the thrift store. So two weeks ago I stopped in an estate sale that said the person was a Disney collector. She sure did have a TON of shirts and sweatshirts but most of them were too big and too modern for my tastes. I wandered around the house and stopped in the basement. Next to the furnace, I saw a chair that was buried under a small filing cabinet, some linens, and a cushion. I pulled the stuff off the top and tried to remain calm as I looked at the chair. I flipped it over and there I saw a paper tag and embossing in the fiberglass - Herman Miller. It was an Eames! I plunked down my $5 and got the hell outta there, trying not to scratch it as I shakily loaded it in my tiny hatchback. As stupid as it sounds, I've always dreamed of finding an Eames ridiculously cheap at a garage sale or thrift store and now it's happened! Wooooop! It's fun doing research on it too! I've learned it's a DSS 1956 in Seal Brown fiberglass (which is a rare color) with stacking legs. And worth $300-$400! 

Weddings and Vegas, not Vegas weddings

Saturday night I had to work a wedding for the photo booth out at a farm in Stillwater. It was in the middle of nowhere. The guys who set up the booth gave me a call and warned me that the booth was running on a generator under a tent and the gravel road leading up to the tent was entirely made of deep mud. Fun... so I brought "Mariah Carey" the boot and a sandal to wear during the reception...

Dress - thrifted vintage Alfred Shaheen
Watch - thrifted vintage
Right sandal - Steve Madden

But I also brought the galoshes... and I'm glad I did! It was muddy and I had to wear bug spray and the lights on the booth attracted every moth in the midwest, but it was still fun! The decor was really eclectic and cool and very much my style, the bride and her family were awesome and they tipped me like crazy! So the 50 minute drive and mud hike was totally worth it!

Boots - thrifted Northerner

I don't smoke but couldn't resist this vintage Camel watch. It was $3 and all it needed was a new battery!

On Tuesday morning I went to see my orthopedist and he says I can take off the boot! I can even start biking and swimming, but no running or jumping until August 1st. I can walk a bit, but here's the kicker... I have to wear heels. At all times. Even around the house. Not skyscrapers or anything, but like a wedge heel, which helps keep some pressure off my healing calf muscle. It feels weird wearing shoes inside and walking around the house. But I'll take it!

Here's what I wore, first day sans boot...

Shirt - thrifted vintage (going in the etsy soon)
Short - thrifted Old Navy
Sandals - thrifted vintage Dr. Scholl's

I was tempted to keep this awesome glitter graphic shirt, but I'm not really a Vegas kinda girl...

Though it does remind me of Chrissy from Three's Company, which is a plus.

Lumberjill

Necklace - thrifted vintage
Tank - Target
Wool jacket - thrifted The Woolrich Woman
Bangles - thrifted
Black watch - Billabong
Green watch - thrifted vintage
Jeans - Gap
Heels - Simply Vera

Yes, I know the time on the two watches is different. I have my Michael Kors watch that I wear a lot, but the other watches I own, I stop them when I'm not wearing them so they aren't just using the battery sitting in a drawer for weeks between wearings. So I just set them when I wear them. It only takes a few seconds and saves me from having to get the batteries replaced. Sweet. The black leather one is an old Billabong one from back in my snowboarder days and it has a dark brown and light brown strap that came with it as well! I found the green one at a thrift store for fifty cents. It has skiers on the strap, ice skaters on the face, and an ice skate that rotates around for the second hand. It didn't work when I bought it but figured it was worth the risk for fifty cents. I found a new battery on Amazon for $1.25 and now it works! I also have similar ones I bought the same day, one with tennis players and one with horse racing. Amazing.

Anchors Aweigh

I'm not usually into the whole "nautical" look, but I couldn't resist wearing this little anchor sweater! I found it over Christmas break at a resale shop that was going out of business in a town in Wisconsin that's so small it's not even a town; it's an "unincorporated township." It cost $0.25. Score!

Glasses - thrifted American Optical, lenses replaced

Cardigan - thrifted vintage (no tags)

Anchor sweater - thrifted vintage Joyce

Necklace - thrifted

Jeans - Gap

Shoes - thrifted Minnetonka Moccasin

Sweater detail (look at the little knit rope!)... and showing you that it's short sleeved, which will be cute when it's not 5 degrees out. 

Unfortunately everything else at the little shop sucked, which was too bad since everything cost a quarter. Seriously. But it's one of those weird small town in the middle of nowhere things... like when I spent 10 hours wandering home from my parents house in WI last summer, stopping at a ton of tiny thrift stores. Often times, unless someone recently cleaned out 50 years worth of clothes, most of the stuff in the store is going to come from Wal-Mart, because Wal-Mart is the only store around. Eh, as they say, I'm in it for "the thrill of the hunt" anyway, so I don't mind digging through terrible clothes for an hour and only coming away with one awesome $0.25 treasure. It's still a "win" in my book!

Cold nose. Warm heart.

This sweatshirt is insanely awesome (duh!) and it was instantly one of my favorite shirts ever! I found it at the Arc's Value Village in St. Paul for $4! Unfortunately I found it in August so I had to wait what seemed like FOREVER to wear it... but it just seemed silly to wear before it got a bit cold here! Anyhoodle, I am in love with it and won't ever sell it, not even for ONE MILLION DOLLARS. We are in love, me and this sweatshirt.

Sweatshirt - thrifted
Skirt - DIY
Tights - Target?
Shoes - Sam & Libbey (inherited from sister)

True. Very true.

Summa Summa Summa Time

It's the first official day of summer! So I dressed the part (even though I was not doing much other than going to the doctor and Target today...) 

T-shirt - Target

Necklace - thrifted

Belt - World Market

Jean shorts - thrifted Lee (cut-off by me)

Shoes - DSW (sorry, I don't know the brand, they didn't have a box and there is only a logo on the shoe, not a brand name... um, bad marketing?)

In EXCITING news, I got a new car! Carl the car has been retired after 11 years and over 130,000 miles of service (and I drove it for three years after it got totaled in a hit & run). The new ride... 

 

I like to call him The Narwhal (because he is grey and has a unicorn horn on top) or Miracle Baby (because he almost didn't happen). It's a 2011 Chevy Aveo hatchback and I love it! So little! Amazing gas mileage! HATCH. BACK. Yaaaaaay!

9 or 29

I dressed so fancy yesterday, I felt the need to be casual today.

 Jean jacket - thrifted GAP kids, overbleached by me

T-shirt - thrifted

Jeans - GAP

Boots - Seychelles

I finally remembered to take a coat and bag photo today... this is pretty much what I look like when I go to work every day (well since the beginning of March, when it started to warm up and I could put away the REALLY thick coats). I tried to rock this coat indoors, but I've come to terms with the fact that it's more of an outdoor coat and a good transition piece for when it's not freezing but not warm yet. Oh, yeah, it is snowing today. Snowing. Today. And I have a bad attitude about it.

I found this vintage bag on Spool 72. I've been waiting for the PERFECT brown vintage leather school satchel for like three years. I kept being tempted to buy a new Cambridge one or something similar but waited and waited and waited instead. The shape of the bag looks a bit funny in the photo 'cause it's stuffed full of paperwork and my lunch and whatnot, so here is the glamour shot from Spool 72:

When I saw this one I knew it was the one. The girls from Spool 72 found it at a barn sale in Kentucky. And now I will carry it to work for THE REST OF MY LIFE. And when I die, people will fight over it. Which is too bad, because I'm going to be cremated then BURIED IN IT.

Black and tan... and brown

When I thrifted this sweater, I immediately knew I wanted to wear it with this dress and really hoped they would look as good together in real life as they did in my mind...

Glasses - Prada
Cardigan - thrifted Liz Claiborne

Dress - Rodarte for Target 

Tights - TJ Maxx

Shoes - Zigi Soho (DSW clearance)

Some pattern mixing detail and my $10 clogs (they were on super-clearance and I had a $20 off coupon!) The sweater is dark brown and tan and the dress is black and tan, the tights are dark brown and the shoes are black, FYI.

I had a relaxing day off yesterday, I spent most of it cleaning and organizing and I always feel much better after a good sprucing up... I also stopped by an Arc's Value Village since it was 50% off day (which was where I found today's cardigan, some vintage Pyrex bowls, and an original 1976 printing of...

for eighty cents! Shel Silverstein is the cutest!

Psst... everything in my etsy is still 25% off until Friday, so tell your friends, your readers, and your mama. Just follow the instructions at the end of this post! And thanks to everyone who's browsed and ordered, I'm slowly inching closer to a new Macbook!

"So expensive."

I was antique shopping with my mom the day after Christmas and after digging through a big rack of vintage clothes decided to buy only one dress. My mom said, "I really like that beaded cardigan, too bad it's so expensive." I hadn't even seen this awesome cardigan that was displayed on a dress form! It's sad that we both thought $30 was expensive... I realize that is the price of an average cardigan at say, Target, as opposed to this vintage hand-beaded one so we had nothing to complain about!  What can I say? I guess being frugal is in my genes! Luckily I was feelin' cashy since my grandma had just given me some Christmas money, so now it's mine-all-mine!

Glasses - Prada
Cardigan - antique shop in Hebron, IL
Tank - little boys Fruit of the Loom
Jeans - GAP
Shoes - thrifted Enzo Angiolini

Cardigan detail shot... there are sooooooooo many seed beads! It's insane! The tag inside says "Gene Shelly's Boutique Internationale. Hand decorated in Hong Kong."

Yes I am wearing this fancy pants beaded cardigan with a little boys undershirt. Some things never change.

New vintage (shirts and capes and dresses!)

Updating the etsy with all this and more tonight and this week!