The Wild Side

Many times, while thrifting, I will find treasures that I simply cannot part without.  Most pieces I have to dig through every inch of the store to find, but some simply glimmer as soon as you walk through the door.  Take this coat, for example.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a huge sign on the thrift store right down the street from my house (and the one where I've had some of my best vintage finds) that read "Winter wear: 50% off!"  Fair enough, I could always use a few more sweaters & coats.  I went inside, half expecting not to find anything, but as soon as I saw the coat rack, this vintage authentic 60s fur coat immediately caught my attention.  The fur is from a company in France, and the coat was hand constructed by an American  tailor.  

What I love most about wearing vintage is creating stories behind the clothes you buy.  This coat, I imagine, belonged to a young woman who was classy, timeless, yet also on the cutting edge of fashion and was not afraid to shock, both in her wardrobe choices and personal life.  She married young, traveled the world with the love of her life, and eventually settled down in Italy, always remaining a true vixen.  How her coat got here, in Virginia Beach?  Well, in her last few months, she sent her beloved wardrobe from her years as a fashionista to her granddaughter, and the luggage was lost along the way, never to be reclaimed.  The clothes finally, after all of these years, ended up my teeny tiny thrift store. Ok... a girl can dream, right?

Do you guys love the coat as much as I do?  Well.. good news! It will soon be availble for purchase on my Etsy store, along with this lovely 70s black dress! That's right, I'm finally opening one, and I wanted you guys to be the first to know! You can email me if you are interested in reserving the dress or the coat once they go up when I launch the store, hopefully next weekend (I just need to get midterms out of the way)! Prices are to be determined.  Eeeek, I'm so excited and cannot wait to show everyone all of the wonderful things I've been collecting the past couple weeks (months and months, really) for the store! And of course, many of the clothes featured in past posts will eventually be available.

Outfit details:

Fur coat: Thrifted

Dress: Thrifted

Tights: Hue

Earrings: Thrifted

Shoes: Steve Madden

Currently playing: Bon Iver, "For Emma"

Pretty Video & Pretty Blog

Pretty Video:

This video makes me want spring even more! Isn't it dreamy?  I wish I could just pop behind a tree and appear with a new vintage dress every time!

Pretty Blog:

Meet Shelby Ballou.  You've met her before, if you've been following me for a while, because she's the amazing photographer behind the pictures on my Vintage Coat post.  She definitely has an eye for art, and one huge way we connected was through music.  We went to the high school together but didn't really talk or know each other, but we knew of each other, that kinda thing.  Anyways, we were friends on Facebook, and I recommended a music video to her, we bonded, and began hanging out, and now we are the best of friends! She's one of the people that I come to first with exciting news, and she was the push I needed to start this blog.  So, I am very happy to announce that she has decided to transition her lifestyle/ photography blog, Moment of Clarity, into a documentation of her growth in style as well!  She's a jeans/ hoody type of gal in the moment, mostly due to the fact that she has to walk quite a ways to her classes, usually in the snow, and usually pretty early in the morning.  She has decided that she would like to evolve her style and gain more inspiration from the blogging world! So add her to your blog roll, leave her super nice comments/ emails, & welcome her to fashion blog community! I promise, she is one of THE sweetest people I've ever met and completely honest and real, as you can tell by her latest post. I LOVE YOU SHELBY.

Meet Mr. Cuddles

My outfit for today isn't too, too exciting, but I've been challenging myself to find a way to wear this blouse.. it's been sitting in my closet all season! The color is kind of hard to work with, but I figured that since it's such a vibrant shade of blue, why not stick with it and have an outfit based on shades of blue?  Of course, I had to add some black & white to break everything up and not look like a smurf or something.

Also.. I think the time has come for you guys to meet the fabulous Mr. Cuddles.  Yes, he is truly fabulous.  I've never, ever met a more attention-craved animal in my entire life.  We've had him for about 8 years now and I can't imagine life without him! If you just look at him in a certain way, he will start meowing and run over to you to get some lovin! He just can't help it! And when Patrick comes over.. oh my god.  He goes crazy! He immediately starts purring and meowing over and over and over and follows him around and sits on his lap! It's so cute :) Also, I don't think the pictures do his size justice.  Mr. Cuddles is HUGE.

Outfit details:

Hat: H&M

Blouse: Thrifted

Shirt: H&M

Skirt: Thrifted

Tights: Hue

Shoes: U.O.

Currently playing: Joe Pug, "Hymn #101"

Walking the wharf

Today was amazingly nice outside.  It was about 50, but felt way warmer because of all of the snow days we've had the past few weeks.  I ventured out in this slip dress, vintage '50s swing coat lined with a beautiful fur collar, some wonderfully comfortable wedges, and a vintage '30s beaded collar & bracelet.  An inappropriate outfit for such a casual day, but sometimes, the most of casual days simply cry out for a special outfit.  This coat was the perfect find for me.. Emily from The Daily Fashionista and I went thrifting a few days ago and both agreed it could not be left in the store!  The coat was made in Virginia sometime in the '50s (but possibly earlier), making the piece that much more unique to me.

I'm sorry that I really don't have too much to say today! I opened at Starbucks several times this week, usually with school directly after, which is why I've been slacking on the posts this week.  I'm extremely tired right now and I'm glad that I get to sleep in a little tomorrow!  Also.. thank you, once again, for concerns on the broken nose! It's looking so much better right now, and although you can barely tell from the pictures, I just have a small scratch left (you wouldn't believe how much that cut bled when it happened!) and a bump where the break is.. the bump is kind of hard to see, but you can definitely feel it.  Ok.. enough grossing you guys out! This is a classy outfit and I probably shouldn't be discussing details on my broken nose on this post... Oh well, that's me in a nutshell I suppose!

Outfit Details:
Hair pin: Forever 21
Vintage '30s collar: Thrifted
Vintage brooch: Thrifted
Vintage '50s coat: Thrifted
Vintage slip dress: Thrifted
Vintage Bracelet: Thrifted
Wedges: T.J. Maxx 

Currently playing: The sound of Patrick talking, and talking, and talking!  :)

Apartment Inspiration, Part I

I know that I haven't posted too much the past few weeks, but I promise there is a reason to this madness! I've been working on two projects that you will see very soon (hopefully!) and school work has become insane as midterms approach.. and I've been getting more hours at work, which is a blessing but I've been left with virtually no blog time! Plus.. having a big scrape and huge bump on my nose along with countless bruises and scratches isn't very inspiring to get up and take pretty outfit pictures. But I am doing much better & thank you so much for all of your "get well" wishes! Alas... here are some photos that are giving me some really great, unique ideas for decorating our future place & what we will be looking for! 

The last picture is the one that most reminds me of Patrick and I's future apartment.  I feel like it has all of the elements we want.  First of all, what won him over with this picture is the guitar hanging on the wall.  He probably has some critique to say about it, like "Too bad it's not a Martin D-35 with a sunburst finishing..."  I don't even know what that means.  Anyways.. I love how it's a nice combination of modern and vintage, which I feel describes us to a tee.  The books are a necessity, and if you noticed beautiful books and bookshelves were in a few of these photos.  Yesterday I discovered an amazing antique mall practically in my backyard (how did I never know about this???) and there was a vendor with the most beautiful vintage books that I will have to start buying little by little to fill tons of bookshelves!

*all photos courtesy of We Heart It

When outfit photos go wrong....

Boy, do I have a story for you guys.

Yesterday, Patrick and I only had a few hours to spend together for Valentine's Day.  I opened at Starbucks and got off at 11 and he had to be at work by 4.  We had planned on going to a nearby park to take some adorable pictures and then go to his house to cook an early dinner.  At the park, we proceeded to take the adorable pictures:

After these pictures were taken, I saw two tree trunks side by side and thought it would be cute if we stood on them.  Patrick stood on one and I set the timer and got the camera ready, and went to stand on mine.  As my luck has it, the tree trunk wasn't anchored to the ground, and as soon as I stood on it, it slipped beneath my feet and I did a full-on face plant to the ground.  Yupp.  Here's a pretty embarrassing picture that the camera caught:

Don't worry, I actually started laughing when I saw that picture! I'm chuckling now just thinking about the whole incident!  It was the first time that I've ever had a bloody nose, and it was a pretty bad one! Thank God Patrick was there with me, he took such good care of me and remained so calm!  The first thing I said after "I've never had a bloody nose before" is "I don't want to get blood on my clothes!" to which he replied, "Ah, a true fashionista! Your fellow blogger friends would be proud!"  And sure enough, he made sure that not a drop of  blood got on my clothes.. not even my beloved white heart tights!  What an amazing boyfriend!

We got back to his house and his stepmom got me all cleaned and bandaged up.  For about 3.5 hours, Patrick and I just were just laying down and watching movies.. Zombieland and The Notebook, to be exact.. a pretty strange combo.  Afterward, I was fine to drive home and I went to bed around 8:30.  I still feel a little sore, and I'm pretty sure my nose is broken or at least fractured.  I'm kind of swollen and bloody, so there won't be outfit pictures for the next week or so, sadly! Unless I get really courageous.  

Have you guys ever been hurt while taking outfit pictures?  Sara from Swing the Day Away told me via twitter that she once scraped her shin up pretty bad after slipping on some ice! Makes me feel like I'm not the only one, haha!

Outfit Details: (Wish I got better pictures!)
Dress: Thrifted
Tights: H&M
Headband: American Apparel
Shoes: Etsy


Currently Playing: J. Tillman, "Master's House"

And the winner is...

Using Random.Org, a random number generator, I found a winner for the LondyLoo giveaway! Congratulations, Karla! I sent out an email! I hope you enjoy the LondyLoo headband as much as I know you will!

Vintage Coat & Vintage Photos

So, for everyone who says it never snows in Virginia Beach.. here's more proof! Yesterday morning it was coming down like crazy! And about 4 hours later, it was super sunny and all of the snow melted.. VB weather for ya.  Anyways, I got this coat from my thrifting adventure yesterday, and I'm glad that I took pictures because I was a stupid girl and put it in the wash because I didn't want to pay for dry cleaning.  STUPID! It's pretty much ruined now.  I know, I know.. I've learned my lesson.  Sigh.

Don't forget to enter the LondyLoo giveaway that ends tonight at 9 p.m!

On another note, a couple of days ago I spent the morning at my grandmother's house and I wanted to see her wedding pictures, because I've been dreaming of a vintage wedding dress (no, I'm not engaged, but it's so fun to think about!).  So we dug up the pictures and ended up finding tons of pictures from the 40s, 50s, and 60s.  All of the pictures of the little girl (except the first picture) and the wedding pictures are my grandmother, along with the graduation picture (her dress looks like a wedding dress there, too.. wish she would have kept it!).  The rest of the pictures are of her friends and relatives.

 

Playing With Light

My artsy boyfriend had such a blast taking these photos! The lighting was great, and he would direct me to move half an inch to the right, tilt my head about seven degrees to the left, etc.! So cute.  I am such a lucky girl to have such a supportive boyfriend! When I was going through all of the pictures we had taken, I made him sit through as I picked out my favorites and he picked his favorites from those and from those we picked the ones to make the final cut.  There were that many good ones! He is awesome and has such a great eye! I can't wait to get my Nikon and see how far photography takes him!

This morning I woke up and it was FREEZING and I just wanted to throw something comfy on.  I hadn't wore this dress in a long time, and as soon as I put it on I remembered how soft it was! And warm!  Ahhhh.  The perfect pick.  I couldn't decide between tight colors today.. I was going to go with red, but I'm glad I went simple today.  Sometimes you have to let the accessories do the talking, and this is definitely a statement necklace if I ever had one! I love that it's not obnoxious, however.  It says "Hey, I'm here, and I'm beautiful, and shiny, and know I'm all that, but I'm not going to get in your face about it."  

Tonight we are just taking it easy! I had a busy day.. work 4:30-8:30a.m., class & studying from 9:30a.m. till 4:30p.m., and errands after that. Patrick works at a marina and they have a boat show coming up so he's been working nonstop! It's nice to just relax for a while and sip some hot tea while cuddling up!

Outfit Details:

Necklace: Buffalo Exchange

Dress: Charlotte Russe

Leggings: Forever 21

Boots: Sam Edelman

Currently Playing: Elliot Smith, "Coming Up Roses"

*Don't forget to enter the LondyLoo giveaway below! It ends Thursday at 9p.m.!