Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Green Gingham


 The last time I wore this outfit, I was disappointed I didn't get pictures. Then I found this picture on my iphone. So, today I purposefully have worn this outfit to post here. My daughter has no problem taking silly pictures of herself, tons of candid iphone shots (see above) but, try to get her to focus on the task at hand, outfit photos, and it rarely works.



So, I did it myself again. I thrifted this green gingham button up a month ago and I love wearing it. It makes it feel like spring in spite of the snow. And to me the pop of orange adds just the right statement. I was brave and wore cropped pants and no socks! I was on tiptoe to try and get in the leopard flats.





 I also love this orange, or should I say tangerine, mixed link necklace. I bought this necklace 4-5 years ago at a deep discount store for about $3. I really remember being drawn to it even though it wasn't particularly fashionable at the time. Now I think it is very en vogue.


Shirt: American Eagle-thrifted
Pants and belt: J.Crew
Shoes: Banana Republic Outlet
Necklace: Fazhion Kraze- once in Hamilton, now out of business.


Monday, April 23, 2012

Utility


It's a crazy busy time in the life of a person involved in teaching at a college or university. My students are stressed and overworked; I can't see my desk for all the piles of papers that need to be graded. But, I want pictures!!





And getting outfit pictures are low on the list of priorities, so sad because I have put together some great outfits recently, highlighting a thrift or two. This set of outfit photos I did mostly myself, out of utility. I had to bribe my daughter for this one. She took it, handed me the camera and said " I'm too little to take fashion blog pictures". Well, okay then, I'll do some myself!



I love these pink (rosebud) cords from J.Crew they are comfortable and can be  easily dressed up or down giving off a mostly casual vibe. When I woke this morning to a couple of inches of snow, I thought these are the perfect piece to keep me warm and keep me from going crazy trying to deal with the weather. This outfit has only thrifted jewelry. All others I purchased in a store  





I think these two gold tone necklaces look great together and the gingham camp shirt and utility jacket keeps them from looking too over the top. Not that I would care, I just really like the element they add to the outfit. They are nice necklaces, I think I thrifted each for about $3.  One doesn't have any markings but the double link one has a tag Erwin Pearl. I did some research and come to find out it is a US jewelry manufacturer that has been around since the 1950's. They do fine jewelry as well as costume. This is clearly costume but, I could tell it was well made. A quick look online and I found it here


Shirt: Mossimo-Target
Jacket: AE-TJ Maxx (old)
Cords: J.Crew
Necklaces: Thrifted
Booties: Payless


I'm linked up at Monday Mingle, check it out!monday mingle



Wednesday, April 18, 2012

All in a day's work

I love my job, I think I am so lucky to spend my time doing something I love and help to shape minds in the process. And there is so much beauty that surrounds me on a typical day.


Payne Creek


What I do changes daily, weekly, by class, semester and there is a lot of variety. (there is a point to all this...)

Kingsley Creek






...and earlier this week I took my class out to study stream ecology and I came back with my outfit pictures (thanks to a willing student photographer). This may not be the most fashion forward post but it is a window into a typical day in my week.
Skirt and shirt: LOFT
Boots: Hunter

Monday, April 16, 2012

Confessions of a closet hoarder.




Or maybe that title should read confessions of a clothes hoarder. Either way, I have to confess I get really nervous watching the show Hoarders on A&E,  and I think "is that going to be me"?
  
Scared look of admission?

It usually prompts me to either: turn off the TV (ignorance is bliss?), reorganize my closet or ceremoniously box things up and put them in the trunk of my car. Where by weeks pass before I really, really decide I want to donate them to the local charity. Or end up carrying it all back into the house.


The whole point of this banter is to confess that I've had this crochet sweater since high school. I've seen this type of knit all over recently and I thought "aha, I think I have something like that" and what do you know, I pulled it out of my closet and wore it here for you to witness.


The worst part is that I tried recently to give away some of daughters baby toys and oh, did she find objection to that! 


Dress: Target-converse
Booties: Aerosoles
Sweater: OLD<25?
I'm linked up at MondayMingle check it out!

and at Harper's Happenings

Friday, April 13, 2012

Pretty, patterned pencil skirt:

This was an outfit day low on thrift goods and very basic effort. It’s interesting how blogging has made me redefine the way I get dressed. Rather than just throwing on a top, a bottom and a pair of shoes; I look the outfit over, layer, reassess, remove and repeat. And I do this again and again until I’ve decided an outfit is interesting and blog worthy.






I think the most interest in this outfit is the print of the skirt:


I love that it reads as a subtle animal print.



I did mange a cute necklace.
   
not much of a smile

 
But, the posed pictures are a bit of a sham because I didn't wear those pretty heels (remember it's still cold and wintry here)! I instead wore my trusty Frye durango's. Sans tights of course and was quite warm and comfortable.


Pencil skirt: J.Crew Factory
Blouse: J.Crew
Necklace: not sure, maybe thrifted
Shoes: old   Boots: Frye

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Still Winter here







As much as I'd like this post to be an awesome styling of my newly thrifted yellow jeans or my cool printed mini, it's not. 


Sunny Easter Sunday afternoon
The reality is...it may be spring according to the calender but, spring has not really arrived in upstate New York. A few weeks ago we were teased with near 80 degree weather and the sun was shining in full force this weekend. 


However, this morning I woke up to this:


and this...


  
Hopefully it explains why my outfit post looks more December than April:


 But, let's face it as I walked across campus: I was warm, I was not alone (a sea of black leggings, North Face and Brown Frye) and I got to restyle my boots with this buttery soft leather skirt I thrifted:


A nod to spring was accomplished by a turn of the cuff and a pretty pop of coral:




So, if I can't wear pastel, I'll just enjoy all of your pretty posts and know that my day will be here soon.


Wool Blazer:J.Crew (2007)
Shirt:J.Crew-thrifted
Leather skirt-thrifted
Boots: Steve Madden (2009)


I'm linked up at http://transatlanticblonde.blogspot.com/ for what I wore Wednesday, check it out!




Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Weekend Hunt: Colored eggs and colored jeans!

Happy Easter Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the glorious and wonderful holiday. I spent some time on the weekend coloring Easter eggs and hunting for colored jeans! My daughter then hunted for the eggs and found them,all!

Here they are! Dress: crewcuts, Vest-thrifted


The eggs..... and the jeans!


I've been on the hunt for a few weeks now for some colored jeans;
I'm really loving this trend for spring.  These are the yellow jeans I found this weekend, now I'm just playing around with styling them or possibly try to fade down the bright, bright yellow.  What do you think? I think the nautical striped shirt is a real natural as a neutral for this trend. Any suggestions would be great, in the meantime, I will pull something together and post it for you to see! Happy Monday, check out the link to MondayMingle.

monday mingle

Friday, April 6, 2012

Thrifted Vintage Purse(s)



A few months ago I was reading one of my favorite Canadian blogs and in that post, Jentine of my edit blog, suggested she was in a purse thrifting slump. Then she thrifted a beautiful green Gucci clutch. 


This got me thinking about thrifting purses and some of the bags I've acquired over the last few months and I thought since I rarely remember to hold a bag/clutch/purse in my outfit pictures that I should do a separate post on just these:






Vintage Coach Purse 1980s


Vintage Dooney & Bourke

Vintage Beaded Bag 1960's


Vintage Italian Leather Clutch

Leather brass toogle Clutch
I might add that this post was additionally inspired by the Vintage Coach bag I thrifted Wednesday evening for $1.49! I did some research and learned that it is from the 1980s based on the serial number pattern (xxx-xxxx). And, the leather and hardware suggests it is from the lightweight bag collection Coach introduced to appeal to US customers in the south and west in 1986. I think what I like best about it, as well as my own original Coach bags, was that it was made in the United States and not China! 




I'm linked up at meetvirginiadesign.com Meet Virginia Design check it out

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Layering

I thrifted this Land's End shirt dress about a year ago and I've worn it only a few times. 




I really like it, I like the fit and feel but, sometimes when it is worn tied with it's "self belt" I come off looking like a "mature lady who lunches". Not. Cool. No offense to the "ladies who lunch" but  that was not the look I was going for. 

I wanted a more modern preppy vibe and this is what I came up with after I thrifted this nautical brown striped J.Crew shirt.  I added the belt to pull it all together with my knee high brown boots. The coat is my usual spring topper and I liked the way the entire look came together.


 Much. Better.


Dress:Land's End-thrifted
Shirt: J. Crew-thrifted
Belt: NY&Co-Spring 2011
Boots: Frye
Trench Coat: Banana Republic


I'm linked up at transatlanticblonde check it out!


http://transatlanticblonde.blogspot.com/p/what-i-wore-weds.html