Lemons. Lemonade. Etc.

Yesterday...

Cardigan - thrifted vintage (no tags)

Polo - from the golf club

Seagull pins - thrifted vintage

Jeans - thrifted Armani Exchange

Shoes - Plenty by Tracy Reese

Little seagull buddies...

Today... more bright yellow for the first day of spring (allegedly.)

Fleece moto jacket - Jacob

T-shirt - Target

Pants - thrifted vintage Bleyle for Hooper

Shoes - MIA

Plaid problems

Today... wearing what are clearly my new favorite pants.

Rugby shirt - thrifted boys Polo Ralph Lauren

Pants - thrifted newstock Target

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

I've worn these pants at least once a week since I got them. I was looking for a vintage pair of navy and hunter green plaid pants FOREVER and I found a lot of pairs but never in my size. So when I found these ones at a Salvation Army for $6 I was super excited!

Plus they're much less conspicuous than my other pair of plaid pants...

Now if only I could find a red pair...

Fauna a.k.a. I attempt to wear floral pants in the fall

These pants kinda scream "SPRING!" but I decided to try to fall/winter them up a bit. They are corduroy, so I think they can work in the colder months too. Plus it's still like 40 degrees here so I don't need boots/socks yet. I hate socks so try to put off wearing them until absolutely necessary.

Sweater - thrifted vintage Boundry Waters

Pants - thrifted little girls Lands End (resewn by me from long flares)

Shoes - Bakers

I am wiped out. Last night Nate and I did some repairs on his bike. After volunteering and working on other people's bikes for a few weeks, we finally got around to working on the rear derailleur and gears of his bike which weren't shifting smoothly and skipped a sprocket. But now it's all ship shape! Then we collapsed into a pile on the couch, watched Happy Endings and The Mindy Project on hulu and went to bed. I guess I'm still adjusting to waking up at 5:15 instead of 6:30 every morning. Hopefully next week will be easier. 

I haven't done yoga since before I tore my calf muscle this summer. It's very relaxing and energizing at the same time in the mornings but MAN are my legs sore after doing yoga on Mon and Wed morning and doing a Jillian Michaels DVD on Tue and Thur this week. I feel like I'm walking all wonky. I hope I don't look too ridiculous.

The plaid pants

It's time for the annual to biannual wearing of the crazy plaid pants...

Necklace - Target

Cardigan - Bloomingdale's (inherited from aunt)

T-shirt - Target

Pants - thrifted vintage Bleyle for Hooper

Shoes - Seychelles

Last night Nate and I volunteered at Cycles for Change again. Last time we were stripping unusable bike frames for useable parts, but last night we got to repair a whole bike! It was just a little girls bike, but we replaced both the tubes and tires, fixed the non-functioning brakes and replaced the brake cables and housing (working on brakes is my favorite thing to do!), replaced the rusted-out chain, steel-wooled all the rust off the crank, put pedals on, and generally oiled everything up so it was all moving and functioning again. We took it from a rusted piece of junk that was donated and didn't work, to something that will make a little girl very happy in under two hours! It was really fulfilling!

Tonight I'm volunteering at an Arc's Value Village, helping to unpack and label things for their "Merry Thriftmas" season. I don't know what is up with me and volunteering so much lately. I like to volunteer and all, but with four jobs, I usually don't have time. Lately things have just been working out though, and I love it! Maybe because these are two places I really believe in and volunteering there is actually fun!

Blue and blue and blue

I didn't really think of it until now, but I wore all blue yesterday too. Hmm, guess I must be going through my blue period. 

Oxford - thrifted vintage GANT Shirtmakers

Jeans - Target

Wedges - Franco Sarto

It's officially jacket weather and this one is my favorite for fall...

Jacket - thrifted vintage College Town

Shirt detail... I love the pattern!

And the invaluable denim wedges...

Ooh, and a group pic from the MN Blogger Meet-Up (photo c/o Two Birds)!

Just a nerd and her wrench

Well, I'm only at work for 2.5 hours today but here's what I'm wearing regardless:

Glasses - thrifted vintage (lenses replaced)

Shirt - J.Crew outlet

Necklace - Blend Creations

Pants - thrifted Banana Republic (shortened and de-flared by me)

Shoes - Target

This cute honeycomb looking necklace is also a functioning hex wrench, no big deal.

Peachy keen, jellybean

Oxford - Isabella Sinclair

Necklace - J.Crew outlet

Pants - thrifted J.Crew

Shoes - Aerosoles 

Yep, I'm wearing my comfiest and most old ladyish shoes today and I don't care. Actually I do care because these pants are a bit long so I always wear them with heels. When is someone gonna figure out a way to have a professional looking hem that you can pin up or leave down depending on what height of shoes you are wearing? Maybe that's why cropped pants are so popular - you don't have to worry about your hems dragging if you decide to wear flats. And if you wear heels, you're already wearing flood pants so who cares?!?

Heyyy, Jenna

I didn't realize until I started typing the outfit details that both the shirt and pants are J.Crew... Heyyy, Jenna Lyons. <3 you. Feel free to send me a sample of everything from Spring '12. And thanks for the educator discount, though I'm still too poor to buy most of your stuff unless it's thrifted or on uber-clearance.

Oxford - thrifted J. Crew
Necklaces - both thrifted
Bangles - thrifted, garage sales, etc
Pants - thrifted J. Crew
Shoes - Baker's

Left arm, right arm...

This whole look was inspired by this photo from glamcanyon... which I pinned and then realized I could recreate with pieces I already own, just in the opposite color scheme and with stripes instead of dots...

My look is most definitely more obnoxious, but I'm into being brash. Happy weekend!

Pink pumpkin

I'm apparently on some sort of a pants bender lately... I think it's just because I'm trying to adjust to it finally getting cold here.

Cardigan - thrifted It's Pure Gould
T-shirt - Target
Wool pants - thrifted
Shoes - Bongo

I had an excellent five day weekend! Thanksgiving went great, I spent all day Friday screenprinting, Saturday I took my first trip to a spa (first massage! first eyebrow waxing! first facial!) then Saturday night Nate came back to town and went to dinner with my family, and Sunday was my nephew, Henrik's baptism. Since Henrik was born I've seen more of my parents than ever (well, since I went off to college at 17). It's pretty nice seeing them more than two or three times a year (it's a 6 hour drive each way, so that's why it's difficult for us to see each other for just a weekend, especially in the snowy winter)!

It's Friday, Friday

Ok, not really but I don't have to work the rest of the week, so it's my Friday!

Necklace - thrifted
Cardigan - Old Navy
Tank - little boys Fruit of the Loom
Pants - Express (like 10 yrs ago)
Shoes - thrifted newstock Target

My parents and little brother are coming up for Thanksgiving, so I'll be spending all day Thursday cooking. My sister still isn't allowed to do much after her c-section, and the rest of the fam will be driving six hours to get up here, so that leaves me to make the dinner! Which I'm fine with, I like cooking and making a turkey is about the easiest thing on Earth. Stuffing, veggies, mashed potatoes - all easy as pie. Actually, my sister is allowed to make the pie. So I'm excited to see the fam, eat too much, watch some football and most importantly snuggle the Henrik all day:

 He's just the cutest baby ever, no big deal.

My pants are brighter than your pants

It's colored pants day on Everybody, Everywear so I busted out my bright red-orange ones and resisted the urge to pair them with all neutrals like I did last time I wore them. There are quite bold on their own, but today I decided to just run with it and pair them with my favorite red cardigan.

Cardigan - thrifted vintage Marella Knits

Tank - little boys Fruit of the Loom

Pants - thrifted J. Crew

Shoes - Nicole (hand-me-downs from a friend)

I think colored pants are really fun to wear and feel like I need to pick up a few pairs of colored skinny jeans as well... like kelly green ones! I'll keep my eye out for some. I really only have a few pairs of colored pants (well, assuming we're not calling black, camel, brown, blue jeans, grey, etc as colors...)

Some colorful pants of the past:

Go check all the other colorful pants!

Rad plaid

OMG dudes, rollerskating was the craziest thing ever. We went to The Roller Garden in St. Louis Park, and it was R&B/hip hop night and you have to be over 25 to get in. It was insane! Have you ever seen someone breakdance on rollerskates? Crazy! There were so many characters there. Everyone was so good! I think a lot of them are regulars and it was so fun to see so many different styles of skating. I was seriously blown away. I also got to skate to some slow jams with an ex-boyfriend and I ran into the only person I've ever fired. I think he's gotten over it though, since he didn't yell at me when he saw me (besides, he soooo deserved to get fired and he knew it). Anyway, everyone go rollerskating!

 Cardigan - Bloomingdale's brand (inherited from aunt)
T-shirt - Target
Pants - thrifted, Bleyle for Hooper
Shoes - Zigi Soho

Ze shoes:

Tonight I'm going to see some short films at a local art school (including one made by my friend Matt  who is majoring in film!) I'm dragging Mr. T along, so some of the friends will finally get to meet him. Then we're going to the SXSW send-off concert because I got free tickets because I am awesome. The end.

P.S. I stole these pants from Rupert Bear. I hope I don't get attacked by rabbits later. I'm allergic.

Seeing Red-Orange

Today is one of those days. Already. I am grouchy and tired and it is too cold. Getting up when it is still pitch black outside and turning on the news to see it's -3F is getting old. And I have three more months of it. I was hoping a super warm and soft cardigan and bright pants would help turn my day around, so we'll see. My day may also get turned around if I get to go watch our school's staff vs. high-school basketball team game this afternoon at the Target Center. I'm pretty sure the staff will win because one member of the staff is a former Harlem Globetrotter, our principal is playing and he's 6'8" and another teacher played college ball and is 6'10"... sorry 16 year old boys, you are going down.

Yes, my pants are the exact color of Crayola's Red-Orange crayon.

Cardigan - thrifted

Brooches - thrifted
T-shirt - Target
Pants - thrifted J.Crew
Clogs - thrifted Carlos Santana

Shoes and pins:

Why in the world is Carlos Santana making women's shoes? I had no idea he did until I thrifted these clogs last year. So strange.

EDIT: I do get to go to the basketball game! The kids are super excited to play on the same court as where the MN Timberwolves play and I'm super excited because I have to bring my EMS bag...

which matches my pants! Now I'm double awesome/nerdy!

The Royal Tenenbaums

 Hair scarf - thrifted
Camel hair blazer - thrifted
Seed bead necklace - thrifted
T-shirt - Target
Pants - Express (10 years ago)
Shoes - Bakers

I couldn't figure out why I kept getting a Royal Tenenbaums vibe off this outfit this morning and then I realized...

Richie    +    Pagoda    =    Christine

I also don't know why I keep wearing bold pants... it's a phase I guess. A phase that will have to end because I don't think I own any more crazy colored pants (but I did dream that I thrifted a really cool brown plaid pair and woke up disappointed). I tend to go through phases a lot, usually with food. This summer, I ate a mango every day for about two months. Haven't touched one since (maybe because they are out of season). Right now I want to eat brussel sprouts every day, but it usually only happens like three times a week. Does this happen to anyone else? I mean, except for like five year olds.