welcome to college; installment 2

This isn't much of an interesting post, since school hasn't officially started and therefore I haven't even bothered to wear anything other than jeans and a t shirt all weekend, but I wanted to show off my new "home."

I pretty much transplanted the majority of my stuff from my room at home here, although my big cat painting thing won't stay on the wall...bummer.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with how it looks, although I must admit that it's all a bit pink, but I like it. I still haven't gotten used to the setup, and not being able to see my family every 5 minutes is a bit of a shock, but I guess I'll get over it once the school year starts...which happens to be 9:30 tomorrow morning!

I'm a pre-med and English major, so my schedule looks a bit stuffed, but I'm really quite excited to get into my routine and see if college really is all that they say it is :)
Ok, I don't want to bore you with personal stuff, so here are a couple of quick shots of my room (At least my half, lol, having a roommate is new for me too! I like it though, it would be so lonely if I was in a single!)

So here's my bed and all my junk...

my little dresser and a bunch of stuff

above my desk...

on my desk (my grandma gave me the baby seal, because she wanted me to have something of hers! so adorable, i love her :)

... and another on-the-desk shot

so voila! there's my room in a nutshell; I might reorganize later in the year but for now it's good :)

back to school

Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that I'm safely moved into university as of today, and I am already loaded up with activities and figuring out where everything thing is and whatnot; college is far from simple when you've never lived away from home! I miss my family a whole lot, but I'm really excited to get this year started so I can feel comfortable on campus. It'll probably be a bit quiet on here for the week, but once I get settled I'll resume blogging, and may actually do more outfit posts ;)
Alright, it's already so late, so I've gotta get to bed, but hopefully I'll be back very soon!

warm my heart

My favorite season by far is autumn. I have nothing against the other seasons (besides winter, which i detest...) but fall is just so much better than any other time of year! I can't get enough of the way the changing trees look when the sun is going down; the smell of leaves and woodsmoke and spice. Picking pumpkins and apples and mugs of hot cider, halloween and thanksgiving and staying warm with wool blankets on long car rides. Sunrise, and even better, sunsets...nothing can beat it, especially here in new england where we are all about the change of seasons.
One of the best things about the transition from summer to fall has to be the cool autumn air and the richer colors and cosier layers that serve as inspiration when the world outside ceases to be an oven. The summer is nice, but so limiting because all you want to wear is t shirts and flip flops. Spring is alright, but always seems to be rainy or just a milder second winter. Autumn, therefore, is my season; the one I wait for without fail, until the first leaves begin to carpet my lawn and the neighboring farms again boast of a bountiful harvest.
So, with autumn in mind, I found some really cool stuff at salvation army today, including this sweet romper that I can't wait to pair with knit tights and oxford flats when the weather is cool enough.

i also found two pairs of 70s jeans that are totally rad (yes, i just used the word rad, lol) Now I have a small collection of 70s denim, but I'm still on the lookout for the perfect pair for me.

I also bought this autumnal print at the thrift store for my dorm room, and am debating whether or not I should buy a little love seat sofa that has been waiting there as well...it is absolutely one of the most hideous things I have ever seen on account of the fabric, but it is the perfect size and shape for snuggling up on, and is so ugly it's almost charming. I might just go back and get it for my room at home; for $50 it's a steal. I promise I'll go take a photo of it to show you if I get back there before I leave for school!

I was also having a dilemma with my lack of shelving, as I read a lot of books and will undoubtedly need a storage space at school, but my mom had a brilliant idea to use the shelves from the beautiful cabinet my great-grandfather made, and they are perfect! It's cool to be able to bring along a piece of my family history to college; it's so much more meaningful than the walmart milk crates I was going to use.

Now that I have professed my love for the upcoming season, I need to reassess my fall wardrobe...I'm really feeling the separates thing as opposed to pretty little dresses, possibly because simple single layers are boring me as of late. I still need to pack up 90% of my stuff for the big move, and I have no idea what I should bring! I should be fine though, I just need to sit down and do it and I'll be fine :)

she comes in colors everywhere, she combs her hair, she's like a rainbow

so yes, i did end up going back to the estate sale i was talking about last time, only there were many, many more people! there was considerably more elbowing my way around, but i managed to find this sweet 50s dress/night gown and a big sewing box full of cool stuff.
then, today i went to my favorite thrift store and picked up this adorable little vintage peach pink dress, an awesome pair of italian woven leather shoes, and a pair of sandals that look a bit like saltwater sandals.

the men's shoes fit me great, and they are just what i was looking for in fall/winter shoes! they also make a great clack sound when i walk because the heel is stacked wood. the estate sale dress/night gown is sheer but a substantial material, and i think i'm going to wear it for halloween this year...but what i'm going as is a surprize for now ;)

a day in which the sky echoed my words

once again, an unfortunate sounding "estate sale" turned out to bring me some great stuff, and for mad cheap!

sometimes things are just meant to be. let me count the ways...

1-we pulled up to the sale after waiting at my brother's school for his football practice (it was cancelled...damn) and NO ONE is there. usually a bad sign, right? nope, this meant that there was very little jostling of arms and things when maneuvering around the home. YES

2-we go inside, at first not much looked too promising...how i was wrong (thank god). then we head upstairs...KA CHING VINTAGE CLOTHING COLLECTION! and everything was like, $5??? YESYES

3-the true stroke of fate, after seriously only 5 minutes in this place i have a nice little pile set aside for me and as i go to pay the grand total is $20 (WIN). and it gets better, because i ask who lived in the house and i am told a 90 year old woman named GENEVIEVE (yeah that's my name, holy hell weird!) had died and left all her glorious things for me to buy, haha. now that is fate!

the only true "vintage" dress i bought was this blue 50s/60s pleated number. it reminded me of 500 days of summer (which i have to talk about in another post, so i don't rant, lol). i've been craving all those beautiful blues from the film, though!

next i picked up this sweet little pink striped/lace accented/rosebud buttoned day dress. no tags, but i think it must be 80s? late 70s? it's in good condition if it is old!

my favorite piece by far has to be this ADORABLE (caps are necessary) white sailor blouse! the label Lover is old hat by now in the blogging community, but i lusted after that sweet (but exorbitantly priced) sailor blouse for months, and now i think the one i have here (for $5! ok, enough gloating, i'm bad, lol) is way better! it has the perfect almost-elbow length sleeves, a nice sized sailor collar, and pretty little details. and i wasn't all too happy with the split collar on the back of the lover shirt anyway, so i'm really glad that this blouse is sans unsightly split!

i also picked up these two interesting little purses in the basement of the home. i love the saddle style of the black one, and the fact that the strap is long like an across-body bag. and i wanted a picnic-basket type purse for some time now, and i like the gold/white combo. the picnic one is also vintage, judging by the label.

so yeah, other than waiting for my brother's football practice in a thunder/lightening storm, today was a good day =) and i might just go back tomorrow, because i left behind piles of nubby vintage sweaters and some good dresses that i'm now regretting not buying...haha!

i won!

hi there, just wanted to let you guys know that i won the giveaway featured on Blooming Leopold!!! i love this girl's blog/ style, and am psyched to have won!

i rarely win anything (except once i won a raffle at a car show and got some fuzzy dice...lame), so i'm super excited about winning this, especially since the prize is amazing and handmade :)

alright, i have a few more posts planned for this and next week, and then things might get a bit quiet as i adjust to life at college! i cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by, but just looking at all my things packed up and ready to go makes me excited for school again. now i just need to figure out what clothes i need, since closet space is severely limited! i should be fine though. alright, till next time!

the summer of '69

question:
where do these items take you to?

platform shoes...

...a leaf and turquoise necklace...

...a peace sign and a mood ring?

the woodstock music and arts festival...although we are 40 years late, haha!
saturday marked the 40th anniversary of the woodstock festival, which i know was romanticized over the years, but, like any good music festival, has become iconic, and i can't help but think if it as a pretty cool event!
my mom was too young to attend, but my aunt did go, and she said it was great, but very dirty and rainy (and they forgot food when they went, so they ate raw corn from the farm, lol)
my mom also let me borrow the ticket she has so i could show you, and this beaded headband from when she was my age
long hair and tie dye; peace people!

midnight d.i.y.

is it just me, or do you always come up with great ideas in the middle of the night? it seems like i always have crazy ideas when i should be in bed, and i end up staying up all hours to finish projects.

this happened to me the other night, and inspiration struck in the form of this button less, too long chambray skirt i bought at the salvation army last week. i picked this up praying for a button down style with an a line cut, but it turned out to be a straight ankle length skirt, missing three of four buttons and pretty frumpy. the material is that awesome, so soft light blue denim that i've searched forever for, so i figured i could alter it, and for 6 dollars i couldn't leave it behind...hehe

i planned on making a knee length a-line skirt with the buttons down the front, and i'm pretty pleased with how it came out! i might add a few buttons (i don't want to flash anyone!) but i wore it to the mall yesterday and it was just as comfortable as a pair of jeans. alright, here's how i fixed the darned thing!

first, i needed to find some buttons! i have an extensive (inherited) collection of buttons, and sifting through these gave me a few ideas. did i want girly white? fabric covered? plain? i ended up leaving the silver button that the skirt came with and adding three other silver ones; it looked the most versatile. i can always change it up if i want!

so i added the buttons, and needing to fix the straightness i tilted the skirt a bit and voila! a-line, haha

i chopped off a few inches from the hem to make it a bit more polished, then hemmed the bottom and...

here we are! a finished, easy to do d.i.y.!
since i'm not too eager to give up my softer colors, i wore the skirt with a linen 50s/60s blouse i thrifted the same day as the skirt. (sorry no outfit shot, it was so gloomy out yesterday!) this was really fun and easy to do, and now i actually have a skirt in my closet that i can wear! haha

p.s. i also thrifted a pair of nylons, haha the package was too cute! oh, and a christian dior nightgown! totally epic!

tiny dancer

isn't it funny how some things work out, like when you blow something off but end up checking it out anyway, and it turns out to be pleasantly surprising?

that's how it was yesterday, when i was on my way to the thrift store with my mom. i usually check the newspapers for weekend estate sales, but after going to so many that were misleading in the advertisements (a few old sweaters and ortho shoes ARE NOT VINTAGE people, sheesh. don't lie to me!!) i decided that unless i actually go by a sale that looks promising, i won't bother hunting down the undoubtedly disappointing ones that advertise. so that's what i did this weekend; looked in the papers and saw some that might be promising, but blew them off for my trusty salvation army.

so there we were, driving down this windy road, and what do i see? an actual estate sale, and not only that, the exact one that i blew off! we had a crazy parking spot at the end of the road, and had to walk up a steep hill with people whizzing by in their cars. the house had a lot of cool stuff, although there was a lot of playboy in the basement...and sketchy old men buying said playboy...eww...

but other than that i got some AMAZING steals, making out like a bandit as always ;)

the people who lived in this home had a lot of antiques, and i wish i could have taken more home!two photographs of victorian ladies; there were so many victorian styled things in this house!a thick stack of vintage life magazines! i can't wait to read these, they're from the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60'sa sweet green vintage hat/ headband

two cool vintage perfume bottles

vintage tins

a hat holder and a stapler, lol

some books (i love the covers!)

pretty gloves that go with the best piece of all......a beautiful 1950s wedding dress!!!!!! ahhh!!!too bad no one i know is getting married soon! i need a good way to store this... haha

oh, and here are some of the fabulous things i wasn't able to take home :( oh well, i hope someone else gave them a good home!

whew, so much stuff! alright, goodnight people