Hope Chest: Fall(ing) for Pyrex

Hey everyone, 

Hope that you are having a fabulous and thrifty Thursday. 

Things have been pretty cray on my end - work and school, school and work. I feel like I'm constantly tired, honestly. 

Hopefully, things will calm down soon because I feel like I've been super boring lately and don't have time for the blog - which is how I relax. 

I do love these pictures though - I took them last weekend when I was home for the weekend. I shot them actually in my parent's backyard - where I grew up running around as a little tyke, so it was good to be traipsing through the corn with my amazing 2.5 quart Pyrex dish.  

Isn't this gal a beaut? (I don't know why I assume this dish is a girl - it just sort of happened - sheesh, next thing you know, I'll be naming my dishware.)

I found her at a  tiny thrift store at school for $5. She is in such good shape too, definitely not used too many times.  

When I found it this was the conversation that went down with the roomie. 

Me: "OOOO! *picks up dish* AMY, OHMYGOSH - LOOK!" 

Amy: .... 

Me: *holds out dish and smiles like a small child with candy*

Amy: "You know we walked here, right? And that campus is about a 15 minute walk away?"

Laura: "Yes." *holds the beautiful Pyrex dish out further and smiles wider*

Amy: "Girl, you have a problem."

She'll be thanking me when we have dishes to make baked ziti in next year. :) 

Today I'm linking with Lara's Vintage for Thrifty Thursday. Head over and check everyone else's thrifty finds! 

 xoxo, 

Laura 

Melmac Monday: A Green Thumb

Hey everyone, 

Sorry things have been slow on the blog front - school and work has been crazy hectic. Also, I was home this past weekend, so I didn't get much work done. My goal is to get at least two outfit posts in this week, but we'll see how that goes. 

I have some lovely Melmac via Etsy today that would getting Kermit the Frog singing. I have been obsessed with green lately, and I'm not quite sure why. I recently bought a green sweater, skirt, and dress! And that has definitely transferred over to my Melmac obsession. 

So, enjoy these green little lovelies! 

Limes 

Leprechauns 

I won't tell you how long I attempted to spell "leprechauns" (even with the help of spell check) before I asked Amy. You know you have an awesome roommate when they spell random words for you without questioning what the heck you are doing. 

 

Grass

Veggies

Mike Wazowski

Have a green Monday everyone! 

xoxo, 

Laura

P.S. If anyone would like to host a Melmac Monday, shoot me an email! I would love to feature your plastic prettiness! 

Wings to Save

Hey everyone, 

I have a special guest here today on the blog; one of my really good friends, Tighe (pronounced like "tie") is in a band called Wings to Save and I recently got to interview him about the process of starting and performing in a band. 

Me: Can you tell me a little about how Wings to Save got started and who is all in it?

Tighe: The group is really a melting pot of styles and backgrounds, we were all in different bands in the past.
Eventually, one way or another, we left and started looking for something.  Laurel, who is our bassist, and I 
had been looking for some new musicians for several long months with no success.Finally, we got in contact 
with Ben and it just snowballed from there. The pieces just kept falling into place.

I sing in the band. I came from a hardcore band, and I still love heavy music. However, I truly enjoy all genres and WTS has been a breath of fresh air. Laurel Balogh is down on the bass. She played in some bands in the past, as well, but has really flourished in the style that we have. Ben Buffington plays guitar and contributes in vocals. He originally had a solo project through high school that was pretty rad. The dude has a great story to tell. Matt Rauch also plays guitar. Matt....well, he is unique to say the least, but I love the kid. He came from am awesome band called Shotgun No Blitz. Finally, Sam Renner is holding it down on the drums. He is the guy with all of the touring experience in his old band Called Yesterday Is Waiting. He has really helped us progress. Unfortunately, he is just helping us temporarily due to upcoming schooling. 





Me: What are you guys working on right now? 

Tighe: Right now we are actually in the studio recording our debut EP. It is sounding amazing and we are so stoked to release it! Look for it this fall.



Me: What are you excited for as a band?

Tighe: Honestly, I think we are all just excited to hit the road and meet new friends. The bands that we get to play with are all awesome people. Its a big family. And we can't forget the fans. Seeing new faces in the crowd is great. And seeing people starting to pick up the lyrics and sing along means so much to us.

Me: Tell me about Cole's Song (which you can listen to here)

Tighe: Cole's Song was written about a friend of mine suffering from leukemia. It really hit home for me because Cole was the last person that you could imagine being in this situation. We really wanted to help out, so we figured that music is the best way to spread the word. So, all profits made from iTunes downloads, hardcopy purchases, or any other form of the song will all go to THON in Cole's name to support cancer research.

Me: What is the best part of being in a band?

Tighe: The best part about singing in the band is the chance to really interact with a crowd during a show. Its so much fun when a crowd sings with you. We can all share a mic!

Me: What advice would you give to those that want to start a band?

Tighe: My advice to anyone starting a band would be to take your time and write music that comes from the heart. Too many people just start releasing music that means nothing to them just because they can.

Me: Are you guys doing any shows soon?

Tighe: We have several local shows scheduled while we promote this new album. Once the album is released, we will be hitting the road for some awesome out of state tours, etc.

Hope everyone enjoyed this little interview. If you want to learn about Wings to Save, check out their Facebook page! Also, if you purchase Cole's Song on iTunes all the money will be donated to cancer research via THON, so definitely check that out. 

All pictures were taken at Wings to Save recent show by Shining Light Photography

xoxo, 

Laura 

Melmac Monday: The Complete Set

Hey everyone! 

Hope that you are having a really awesome Monday night. 

My Mondays are, as my friend Alli says, 50 Shades of Cray. So I love taking a little time to just chill and blog after a long day. 

I have been finding some really awesome Melmac complete sets on Etsy lately, so I thought I would share some of the ones that I wish I had the money to snatch up. 

Colonel Mustard

Lavender Brown

Blue's Clues

Orange Blossom

Mad Men

Also, I have shared a lot of my Melmac collection and when I'm at school, it is harder to go shopping to add that collection. (Also, if I were to do that, my mother would shoot me when I came home for Fall Break.) 

So, if you have any pieces of Melmac in your collection that you would like to share on a Monday, shoot me an email! 

xoxo, 

Laura

Flower Power

Hey everyone, 

Hope that you are having a wonderful Thursday! 

 This past week has been pretty awesome. Yesterday, was Mountain Day! That is one of our school's quirky traditions. What happens is that there is a day that everyone gets off of classes and we all go to Lake Raystown for a day of fun! The thing is that no one knows when it is! It is kept by a secret until 5am that day, when everyone is awoken by horns, music, and screams of "IT'S MOUNTAIN DAY!" Then everyone goes back to sleep until about 10am and then head over to the lake. It is the BEST! 

Isn't my roomie so adorbs!? I'm loving this head shot of her. 

Amy and I had a roomie Mountain Day because boys are lame and sleep-in. Heehee. So, we had a great time playing mini-golf, taking pictures, and getting our feet wet in the lake. I'll be sure to post some photos soon.  

Also, Amy and I had a wonderful time tonight for a roomie and smoothie date and then just hanging out in our room, reading Harry Potter and jamming to some of our fave songs from when we were younger like BSB (oh my word - how is this song 12 years old! Feeling so old right now) and some jams from the Lizzie McGuire movie. 

I have such an amazing roommate.

Amy's Outfit:                                                                                         Laura's Outfit:     
Dress- Thrifted                                                                                    Lace Shirt - Thrifted 
Belt - Delia's                                                                                       Skirt - Thrifted - (Remixed here)
Shoes - Famous Footwear                                                           Belt - Thrifted
                                                                                                            Shoes - Thrifted 

Also, I'm linking up for Thrifter Thursday over at Coffee and Cardigans. Check it out! 

 xoxo, 

Laura 

Hope Chest: Favorite Mug

Look at me go! Getting two "hope chest posts" done semi-closeish. Awesome. (Check out the others here and  here). 

The other day I talked about my favorite accessory  that was thrifted this summer, and today I'm going to talk about my favorite piece of house-ware item that was found during my "summer of thrift." 

And that would be this wonderful and amazing Les Misérables mug. There are so many things about this mug that make me want to smile with glee and do funny little dance. 

1.) It is Les Mis - one of the best musicals of all time. (Seriously, it is the second longest running musical ever.) I saw at the Fulton Theatre when I was in high school  and it is just SO. GOOD. If you ever get the chance, please see it. (And if you don't cry during "I Dreamed a Dream" or "On My Own", live you probably don't have a soul.) 

2. This mug was thrifted - on a fun trip with my roomie and gal pal, Amy- for 30 cents! Three measly dimes. That is it. 

 3. This mug has a copyright of 1986. My first thought was, "Awesome. It is still in good shape. I bet that is about the time it opened in NYC..." 

 4. ...I was wrong. Les Mis didn't open on Broadway until 1987. But, it DID however open in London's West End in 1985. (Thank you to Wikipedia.) I looked at the bottom of the mug when I got home and read "Made in England." 

5. I put it all together and FREAKED OUT. This mug was purchased during the first year of Les Misérables in London's West End -where it is the longest running musical - over 25 years ago. And I purchased it for 30 cents.  

And all those reasons are why I adore this mug. 

Thrifting rules. 

xoxo, 

Laura 

P.S. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I am indeed a choir/musical nerd. I embrace it. 

Melmac Monday: Simple

Just some favorites today: 

hearts

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur

gold medal

there were birds all around...

artsy fartsy.

"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me." -- Carl Sandburg 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Best Thrift Find of the Century

Hey everyone, 

I have been really looking forward to introducing to you one of my favorite thrift store finds of all time. 

It is this bag!

Isn't it just amazingly cute? I still can't get over it. 

And I found it by such a fluke. I ran into one of my favorite thrift stores with one of the high school interns this past summer, looking for jars to make butter in for when we were talking about the Butter Battle Book, at Day Camp. We went downstairs to the Bargain Basement and there it was...

for $1.60. 

Yeah. Just let that sink in a little bit.

$1.60!!

I grabbed it faster than a speeding bullet. I never heard of the brand, but I could tell it was good quality and it still had that new purse smell. (An even better scent than 'new car.') 

When I got home, and I spent about 20 minutes just staring at this purse and clutching it to my chest, I looked up the brand. 

I found their website and discovered a couple of things: a.) Their hands bags are gorgeous. Seriously. I am not getting anything out of this, they really are beauts. b.) I was right about being good quality - their bags are all leather - they even have a special line made of recycled skins. c.) THEIR BAGS AVERAGE AT ABOUT $300.

Yeah. Remember, how I paid $1.60?

Let's put this in perspective: 

For $300, I could buy all my college textbooks for a semester (*sigh*)

For $1.60, I couldn't even pay for shipping for one book. 

For $300, I would have about half what I needed to purchase these amazingly weird Christian Louboutins.

For $1.60,  I could get a pack of googly eyes to make my own. (That needs to happen, btdubbs. It is on the  Pinterest.) 

For $300, I could work for 30 hours.

For $1.60, I could work for 10 minutes. (Yeah, I did math right there.) 

Anyway, I'm sure you get my point...

I really love this bag. 

Bag - Thrifted - originally from Latico Leathers

Dress - Thrifted 

Necklace - Thrifted 

Shoes - Thrifted - originally from Payless

Have a great and thrifty weekend everyone - hope that you find a totally awesome deal, too! 

xoxo, 

Laura