Flowers and desserts

Today will be the last of the warm sweaters. I swear.

Cardigan - Ralph Lauren Denim & Supply

Tee - JC Penney

Pants - thrifted Banana Republic (altered from long flares by me)

Shoes - thrifted newstock Mudd

Yesterday I met my friend Megan for our weekly lunch date, but instead we went to the Macy's Flower Show. It smelled insanely good in there. I haven't seen or smelled real flowers in months! We also stopped by the Yogurt Lab on our walk back and I got the best fro-yo I've ever had in my life (a little bit of salted caramel flavor with Oreo pieces, a little bit of salted peanut flavor with cookie dough chunks, and a little bit of birthday cake flavor with sprinkles. Amazing.) 

We also passed this on our walk there... There's a bike sharing program here called Nice Ride and this was their big publicity stunt to celebrate the return of spring and their bikes! It's a pretty cool program; if I didn't have a bike (or four, actually) I'd totally use them. 

My kinda sign

FYI, I've had this asymmetrical cardigan since 8th grade...

Hair scarf - thrifted

Sweater - Esprit

Oxfords - thrifted

Jeans - Gap

Shoes - Minnetonka Moccasins

Today was the first day I didn't wear my big ol' boots to the bus stop. It was only 25 degrees this morning but it's supposed to be in the 40s later. Woo! Plus, I saw my first official sign of spring! There's a man who rides my bus in the morning and he has a huge tattoo covering his left calf, which I see all spring, summer, and fall because he always wears shorts. It is a scene of fully nude pole dancers, and we are talking about some graphic detail on these ladies and their um, lady bits. Today he wore shorts for the first time since last fall! Spring! It's happening! Not from the sight of an early flower bud or a robin, but from the annual appearance of the stripper leg. 

PYT

I was in the mood to wear a shorts suit a la Angus Young today, but it's still too cold. So cropped pants are good enough. And a Michael Jackson tee to keep things extra coooooool.

Blazer - thrifted JH Collectables

T-shirt - thrifted by Nate!

Cropped pants - Target

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

I got to hang out with Henrik for a few hours yesterday. He's getting so big and has so many teeth now! I'm heading back to Wisconsin from Friday to Monday for Easter with my sister, her husband Luke, Henrik, and Nate! I haven't been home for Easter in 12 years. I was always waitressing an Easter brunch up here so I couldn't go visit the parents. I'm excited to see what Henrik thinks of the whole thing! Oversized bunnies! 

Brownie points

Today...

Cardigan - Old Navy

Dress - vintage via church garage sale

Bangles - thrifted, antique shops, etc.

Tights - Target

Shoes - Michael Kors

I had an interesting weekend... my first shift at the golf club went well! All the staff and members were super nice and it's very similar to the other golf club that I worked at for 9 summers. 

Saturday night Nate and I were just hanging out and we noticed a light coming from my neighbor's outside door because his door was open and the screen on the door was wide open. It was 1am, 15 degrees outside, and he's in his 70s. So we crept up to the screen door to see if we could see anything. He was on the couch, clutching his chest, and we couldn't see him breathing. I called the police to come check on him because I didn't want to start randomly yelling and banging on his door to see if he was just asleep with the screen open in 15 degree weather all night or if he was dead. The police showed up and he was just sleeping but they said they were glad I called because it did look suspicious that his door was wide open when it was so cold and it would have been dangerously cold inside his condo by morning. Geez!

Then Sunday Nate and I went to a state forest, just to walk around for a bit and look for some deer antler sheds. And my car got stuck. In the snow. In the middle of nowhere. For a long time. Luckily we got pulled out and also stopped at an antique shop on the way home. 

Excitement, all around! 

Estoy nerviosa

I'm hoping this is the end of the line for the warm sweater train that has been going on for months...

Sweater - Sparrow

Shirt - thrifted

Pants - Old Navy

Shoes - Target

Gaaa! I'm nervous to start my new summer job! Well, excited and nervous. It's annoying to learn all new menus, computer systems, ways of doing things, and where things are, etc. I guess that's why I stayed at the last golf club I worked at for over 8 years. Once you've learned everything, it's easy-peasy.  After school I've gotta run off the bus, grab a snack and my new work shoes and run out the door to be there by 4:30! It's gonna be a long day! Wish me luck!

Discs

I can't call these "studded shoulders" as they're not studs, they're discs. "Disced shoulders?" I'm making it a thing.

Shirt - some boutique in Seoul, Korea

Scarf - Target

Watch - Michael Kors

Cropped pants - Target

Shoes - Ralph Lauren

OMG, I had to go buy black pants and black tennis shoes for my new summer job yesterday (yeah, I didn't own black pants. Haven't for years.) I'll thrift a couple more pairs of pants when I have time but I wanted to just go find a pair with no long search because I've got to start work tomorrow. So I went to Old Navy. I have not been in a "mall-type" store in YEARS. It was depressing. It smelled like plastic and there were just rows and rows and rows of the same shit in every size and every color and it just made me think of how all this crap is gonna be in a landfill. Buy your polka dot jeans today, for tomorrow we die.

I bought my stupid $20 pants any way but it reminded me of why I pretty much only shop at thrift stores (yeah, and the occasional basics like jeans and tees from Target or J.Crew). You could really outfit an army of trend monsters in that store and made me want to stop shopping for new things all together. It wouldn't be hard, 90% of what I own is thrifted anyway, it's just so hard to find pants and shoes at thrift shops, especially when you need them today, so I get lazy! 

Oh the irony. Nothing I'm wearing is thrifted today, for the first time probably ever.

But it's one of those things that is easy to make excuses for... I bought this shirt on vacation, so it gets a pass. This scarf was $6 and I'll wear it forever. This watch was my reward for getting my dream job! I needed black shoes for the photo booth because my last pair (which were my sister's hand-me-downs from 14 years ago fell apart finally!) Sigh, one day I'll stop with the excuses and stop buying things new. Just not today, I guess.

P.S. Being hard on myself for no reason is one of my favorite hobbies, apparently.

Mr. Roger's cardigan

Couple things... #1 It's Fred Rogers' birthday so I felt the need to wear a cardigan today. #2 I would have done the sneakers and chinos with the cardigan today to really bite Mr. Rogers style, but... #3 New dress! New custom dress. Custom sized and customized by me as well. It was originally supposed to come with cap sleeves and was below-the-knee length. After seeing the versatility of my brown sleeveless shirt dress I decided to make this one sleeveless and knee length too!

Glasses - thrifted vintage American Optical, lenses replaced

Dress - c/o eShakti

Cardigan - Only Hearts

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Shoes - Seychelles

Here's what it looks like on it's own. I'm excited to dress it up sometime or dress it down with different cardigans, jackets, blazers, etc. The sparse embroidered dots are so cute and I love the collared neckline!

The only thing that sucked about this dress experience was DHL, the shipping place. They put a note on my door on FEBRUARY 28, that said they missed me and would try to deliver again on Monday. They didn't. So I called and they said they were missing a digit from my address (um, the first delivery attempt was correct, so how was the 2nd attempt to "the wrong address"??) So I waited again. Nothing. So I called them. Again. And they told me that my "address doesn't exist." Um, I've lived here 8 years and pizza guys, UPS guys, friends, etc have all been able to find it without batting an eye. I assured them that I did in fact live at that address and 20 days after their first delivery attempt, I got my dress. Geez Louise! Get your shit together DHL! 

The winter of our discontent

I want to punch the weather in the face. Unfortunately it doesn't have a face so I'll put on a cozy sweater, grin, and bear it. For now.

Sweater - SWE via crazy outlet store

Necklace - my mom found it at a garage sale

T-shirt - Target

Jeans - Gap

Shoes -  thrifted Santorini

It is 2 degrees out today, -8 with the wind chill. And stilllll snowing. If it isn't nice out by the time baseball starts (13 days!), I'm gonna freak out! On the upside, I got a summer job at a golf club over the weekend! I'll be doing a bit of waitressing, a bit of bartending, and a bit of the bev cart. Perfect! I start training on Friday after school so I can learn where everything is before it gets crazy busy when the golf course opens!

A grand

Well, this is my 1,000th outfit on the blog... (actually, more than that because I started the blog in April  2008 but didn't start putting them on Flickr til September 2008 when I started working at my school. And Flickr says this is #1,000, so we'll go with that and forget about the early summer outfits.)

I think this outfit is a kinda perfect for this landmark. Are Army jackets kinda trendy? Sure. Are they also kinda a classic at this point? Yes. Is mine one-of-a-kind though? You're damn right. That's my dressing philosophy I guess... a bit of what's current, a bit of classic, and thrifted and one-of-a-kind when at all possible!

Glasses - Prada
Shirt - thrifted vintage Army issue (customized by someone, long ago)

Polo - from when I was a bev cart girl at a golf course

Jeans - Gap

Boots - Rockport

The awesome back...

This weekend was fun. On Friday I hung out with Nate and his two roommates and we gave Molly (the 13 year old Basset Hound) a bath and then proceeded to dress her up... 

On Saturday we went out for Ethiopian food with a few friends. Nate had never had it before and didn't mind it but doesn't love it like I do. Sunday we were lazy all day and watched 28 Up (we started with 7 Up last weekend) and have been slowly working our way through them, but they just keep getting longer and longer!

Slouchy hat, crisp shirt

It's Friday, I work at an arts school, and I haven't worn a beanie to work since December! Sacrilege! I gotta take advantage of the casual dress code for the rest of you schmoes stuck in corporate wear.

Hat - thrifted newstock Target

Blouse - thrifted vintage Gant

Jeans - Gap

Shoes - Madeline

Hat and shirt detail...

It's alllllllmost the weekend and I've got a job interview for a summer job at a golf club on Saturday. Here's hoping they're decently cool and won't refuse to hire me just because I've got a few visible tattoos... a seahorse on my forearm does not hinder my ability to make you a vodka tonic but you never know with these country club types! Ugh, have I mentioned how much I hate applying for jobs? Especially ones like this where you can't just email a resume and cover letter. You have to fill out their specific application, with like a pen, what??? Is this the 1800s? Let me quick go get my feather and ink pot.

Stitch it up

Just because it snowed again last night, doesn't mean I can't bust out some springy colors today...

Glasses - Prada

Sweater - hand-me-down from a friend (no tags)

Oxford - thrifted little boys Cherokee

Belt - thrifted

Pants - thrifted Banana Republic (altered by me from long flares)

Shoes - Plenty by Tracy Reese

Work has been kicking my ass this week. We made it through most of the winter without any major outbreaks of flu, strep throat, or lice hitting the school. And now this week, everything has been falling apart and it's just been BUSY down here. On Tuesday there were kids sitting on the floor in my office because every cot and chair was taken. Lots of puke and fevers, some stitches... I'm ready for a day off! Spring break, where are you??? However, if there was a game show called "How Many Stitches Does This Wound Need?" I would totally be world champion. Someone develop it. I need to win fabulous prizes.

The Teds

I feel a bit like a modern Teddy Girl today...

Jacket - c/o Jacob

Necklace - TJ Maxx

Polo - from when I was a bev cart driver at a golf course

Belt - thrifted vintage

Jeans - Earnest Sewn

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

Necklace detail... I assure you they're real diamonds. Of course they are. ;)

Woop! It's my dad's 60th birthday today! He was born on Friday the 13th. 3-13-53. I'm jealous. Three is my favorite number and he has so many in his birthday! I wish I could go home and visit but it's a 6 hour drive and that makes a weekend visit all but impossible. Well not impossible, but I'd spend 12 hours driving and be there about 24 hours total. Hopefully I can go home some time during spring break.

Trivia last night was super fun. First we went to this Irish bar called Keegan's but when they started trivia, they said it was ALL going to be questions about Ireland because of St Patrick's Day this weekend. Um, no. I don't know shit about Ireland. So we left and went to The Leaning Tower of Pizza. Much better! Normal trivia! We didn't win (some team that had EIGHT PEOPLE on it won, um, we had three) but we did win one round so we got a bunch of chocolates as a prize. 

Buttons and racing stripes

Today... a very green day but still a lot going on... plaid, buttons, stripes...

Dress - thrifted DBY

Jacket - Free People (old)

Tights - DKNY

Shoes - Pink Studio

I love the back of this jacket...

A million gold buttons...

Over the weekend I made about two gallons of crab bisque (sorry, I don't have a recipe to point you to - I've been making it for years so I just wing it at this point!) and I wish I was at home eating leftovers right now. It's snowing again and I'm not gonna stop whining about it until it hits 60 degrees! On the upside, Nate's friend from VT is here and we're gonna go play trivia or bingo or something tonight! It's always fun when someone comes to visit on a weekday because I tend to be a pretty boring homebody during the week.

Double the stripes

Today... some double stripes!

Cardigan - thrifted (no tags)

Anchor sweater - thrifted vintage Joyce

Jeans - Gap

Shoes - Minnetonka Moccasins

I had a really fun weekend. It was my friend Megan's birthday so we went to Marvel Bar which was cool but expensive and crowded so we only stayed for one drink. I got the Olivetto (which is made with olive oil and an egg - it's delicious!) Then we went to some other place I forget the name of because apparently it's uncool to have a sign with the name on it. Sunday Nate and I went to an open house but weren't thrilled with the house once we saw it.

I took this outfit photo on Friday morning and then forgot my camera AND my coffee at home. I was too annoyed to blog when I got home from work, so here's Friday...

Cardigan - thrifted vintage (no tags)

Polo - from when I was a bev cart girl at a golf course

Jeans - Gap

Shoes - brand worn off

The barn door

Glasses - Prada

Sweater - thrifted vintage Kentfield Casuals

Necklae - my mom found it at a garage sale

Skirt - American Apparel

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Shoes - Seychelles

The farm sweater is back. I don't know why I love this sweater so much. Maybe just because it's fun and maybe because I love the barn at my parents house so much. My parents do not live on a farm. But when we moved to Wisconsin from Chicago, our house was surrounded by overgrown fields and we only had a gravel driveway. We spent all our summers riding 3-wheelers through the fields and shooting archery at hay bales. 

Then slowly, houses popped up in the fields and roads were paved and then more houses and more roads appeared and suddenly my parents are in the middle of this very suburban-type neighborhood with a lawn that's well over an acre and a huge barn in front of the house. It's weird and awesome. The downstairs part is full of motorcycles, mopeds, a muscle car or two, jet-skis, and huge industrial tools that belong to my dad. The upstairs, was turned into a sports bar of sorts by my brother when he still lived at home. There's video games and a pool table and darts and even an old Pachinko machine. It's awesome and I hope my parents never move!

Ahhh, this past summer in the barn...

Mr. Cool

I kinda love this outfit. The mix of fancy Missoni scarf (found it last year for $24 down from $300) with ripped jeans is preeeeeetty awesome if I do say so myself. I've had these jeans forever and the holes happened naturally and keep getting bigger (pre-ripped photo here from 4.5 years ago). 

Scarf - Missoni

Blazer - thrifted vintage JH Collectables

T-shirt - American Apparel

Watch - thrifted Star Trek

Typewriter key bracelet - gift

Jeans - Earnest Sewn

Shoes - Seychelles

Add in two of my other favorite things... The Enterprise watch and the bracelet says "So it goes." from back in my Vonnegut obsessed days (still love him, forever and ever)... and it all adds up to a pretty good day (well, except I have to go for my yearly get-poked-in-the-lady-business appointment later, TMI, I know.)

Y u no declare snow day?

This vintage letter sweater (still sans letter) was also on my list of wintery things to wear before it stops being wintery. Don't worry, it's plenty wintery here. At my bus stop, the snow reached the bottom of my skirt. Not kidding. Thanks snow drifts!

Cardigan - thrifted vintage Dehen

Blouse - ? old as hell and no tags

Skirt - American Apparel

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Shoes - MIA

Seriously, my school never has snow days (which, I guess, is fine. It's MN, we have pretty damn good snow removal services here). But I never got snow days when I was a kid either - maybe twice ever. One time when I was in high school, some boys whose dad owned a construction company used a bunch of bobcats to push all the snow on our superintendent's street into his yard so it looked like we got a ton of snow and would get a snow day. It did not work, unless by "work" you meant "got suspended from school." 

Purpley

I haven't worn hardly any colored tights this winter... for some reason I just haven't been in the mood, so I've pretty much just been wearing black tights for months. But this dress needs a bit of color so I wore purpley lipstick and purpley tights. 

Glasses - thrifted vintage American Optical, lenses replaced

Dress -  vintage via www.areyoutakingmeout.etsy.com

Tights - Target

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

Collar detail:

On Friday Nate and I made sushi again, and I actually remembered to take a picture before we ate it all...

On Saturday we went to some 50% off thrift stores and then went to see our friend's new house! It was really cute and made me want to find a house even more (I've been itching to get out of my tiny condo for years - I want an extra bedroom for all my etsy/screenprinting/sewing stuff and my own garden!) Sunday we layed around watching Breaking Bad forever and Nate went and got his tattoo touched up (mine doesn't need it). Now it's snowing (again) and supposed to keep snowing all day, all night, and all day tomorrow too. This is your last warning, winter. Get off my lawn!