Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Life Lately: Friends and Family


Life has been pretty great lately - just enjoying my last semester of school!
Enjoy some of these little glimpses. 










My friend, Erica and I//Amy just hanging out in the backyard//The Mountain Day crew//Silvia and I dressed up for a 90's party//my niece's and I got temporary tattoos at my dad's work picnic//and I got a very temporary pink strip//Amy and the beautiful sunset on our way home for break//I got the cutest exam kit from my church

xoxo, 

Laura 

Monday, October 28, 2013

Coffee and Cardigans


Happy Monday, everyone! I hope that a fabulous weekend was had by all!

On Friday, I had the chance to guest post over at Callie's lovely blog, Coffee and Cardigans, to talk about professional wardrobe - check it out! 



Entire outfit was thrifted


xoxo, 

Laura 

Friday, October 25, 2013

Felony Melanie


Hi everyone! I hope that you are having a wonderful week! I know things have been pretty silent around here lately - things are just so busy! Class, senior decisions, projects, friends visiting, talent shows to win - my friend Kara and I won a talent competition the other night; our act was signing "Hall of Fame" by the Script. It was a lot of fun, plus all the proceeds went to Alex's Lemonade Stand, so it was a great cause 

As I said, friends were visiting - like this gal right here, Melanie! She is one of my dearest and most hilarious friends. I don't get to see her all that often, so when I do, it is a big treat!

She let me snap these lovely pictures of her; doesn't she just look so awesomely badass? I got this shirt from PersunMall and while I really liked  it, it didn't quite fit me right. And when I saw Mel wearing it, I knew she should have it - it looks so good on her, right? 













On Mel:
Leggings: Macy's 
Necklace: Laura's: Thrifted
Ring: Thrifted
Earrings (going up the ear): Forever 21, Target, Thrifted, Rite-Aid 
Boots: Original Salzburger in Austria 


Thanks for letting me show one of my stylish friends! I'll be sure to share the other (completely different!) outfit that Mel wore for our little photo shoot. 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Monday, October 14, 2013

My Thrift Story


Hey there everyone!
I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. My little fall break was pretty swell: getting to see family and friends, sleep in a little, and go shopping. 

However, I did have all these grandiose plans to do a photo-shoot everyday, so that I would have a bunch of photos for the busy weeks coming up.

Yeahhhh, well, the massive amounts of rain that we had pretty much prevented that from happening. 

However, I had a really long and stressful day with the promise of a taxing week to come. So, I decided to just relax for a half an hour and blog. 

I was talking to one of the gals in my office and showing off one of my new thrift finds (a gorgeous PA Dutch spoon ring for 50 cents!) and I had mentioned that my mom was with me when I got it. And she asked, "oh, does your mom thrift too?" And I while I was answering her it gave me the idea to share my thrift history. I honestly can't believe that I haven't shared it already and I have been blogging for almost 2 years (now that is crazy). 

I actually dug in the archives to find a paper that I wrote my freshman year of college (which was four years ago- even more crazy). I had to write a paper about something that we "believed in" and I wrote about second-hand shopping. I read it and a lot of it still applies so, if what you are about to read sounds a little essay-ish, that's because it is. I did fix it up a little bit because my writing has improved in 4 years - thank goodness!

I believe in secondhand shopping. Whether it is going to the local Goodwill, a bazaar in the basement of a local church, or waking up extra early on a Saturday morning to race to that yard sale down the street, secondhand shopping is something that I have always found challenging, but extremely enjoyable. It is like going on a treasure hunt, but instead of finding gold at the end, you instead find a beautiful vintage dress that is only $4. 

I was raised by a wonderful and cheap mother. If my clothing was not extremely on-sale from a department store or hand-me-downs, then they were probably from a thrift store. Before I was too old to protest, I was put into “Mennonite” dresses, cotton turtlenecks, and jumpers, and other equally heinous things to put on an elementary school girl living in an age when low-rise jeans, crop tops, and any other Lizzie McGuire inspired clothes were in style. (Ironically, I would probably love some of those things, now - oh, the floral print I had!). In my pre-teen world, there was only so long a girl could dress like this and not be ridiculed to the point where her self-esteem disappears altogether. When I was probably about 16, I reconnected with a long lost childhood playmate - she admitted that she thought I was Amish because of the way that I dressed. 

            I took matters into my own hands. There was no way that my mother was going to even consider buying $50 jeans from American Eagle, no matter how much I begged. Although, I didn’t want to keep looking like an Amish girl either. I remember being around seven years old and shopping with my mother and aunt - thrift shopping is a family affair- at a church’s bazaar. I had grabbed some really crazy 1980’s secretary-style dress and fell in love with it. I rushed to show it to my mom. My mother, who is not a fashion expert, looked at me like I had lost my mind. The dress was probably about ten sizes too big for me. She had rolled her eyes and told me to put it back. I protested, saying that if she could just cut it off for me and throw a belt on it I would have a really cute dress. As much I begged I did not get that dress, but it did not matter: That was the point when I became hooked. 




The picture above is the Whitman siblings circa 1995: I'm the teeny blonde one, but the outfit that my sister is wearing showed up in my closet about five or six years later - when it was definitely not in style anymore. (Side note: isn't my brother's sweater THE best?) P.S. Let's hope that my sibs don't murder me for posting this - love you, guys!  


My “fashion rebellion” started in middle school. It was supported by my cousin; she understood the horrors of what I wore - some of my clothes were probably once hers. She would give me different fashion magazines and I would scour them fully, learning about Betsey Johnson, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, and Michael Kors, about a world I never knew existed. Instead of being jealous of the beautiful purse in Lucky that was $520, I would go hunting at a bazaar or Goodwill until I found something similar that was in my budget- a budget that was $500 less than the bag in the magazine. 

In high school, I would thrift to find those Hollister shirts and jeans that had some fancy label on the back. I thrifted to fit in. I did this despite the fact that even then I knew that I didn't love those clothes - I wanted to be wearing things inspired by Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn, my fashion gurus. I wanted to wear vintage dresses and blouses on the daily. But high school, especially in hindsight, can be a cruel place. So, I bought my Aeropostale at Salvation Army for 75% less than in the stores. 

Then I went to college, a liberal arts college at that. Suddenly, I was surrounded by people who didn't care what I wore because there was probably someone who was wearing something more "out there" than me - my friend Sharon dressed up like the Pope once, but that's another story for another time. Anyway, I made friends who didn't care that I thrifted - in fact, they usually would join me on the trips. I started dressing for me - whether I stood out or not. And I realized that I loved it. And I wanted to share my love - and that's when I started my blog. 

I finished that paper four years ago with words that I still 100% believe today: "The true reason I believe that I love secondhand stores so much is because it makes me proud of what I am wearing. It feels more creative and expressive than the cookie cutter things in the display windows at the mall. That’s what fashion is supposed to be about: expression of your true self."




Sheesh, sorry that got a little long there - if you stuck through it and read that all, thanks! 

If you have any further questions about my love of the thrift, leave a comment or send me an email! 

Have a fabulous night!

xoxo, 


Laura 

P.S. I copy and pasted a lot of this - so the size and the fonts became really funky. I finally got it into one font and size - but the size was a little smaller than normal; my apologizes
 





Tuesday, October 8, 2013

We Can't Stop and We Won't Stop (Matching)

Hey all! 

Guess what? (No, not chicken butt.) 

TOMORROW WE GO HOME FOR FALL BREAK! Huzzah! 

My plan is just to relax, go thrifting, have a wine/movie night with a friend, seeing the family, and read 'just for fun' books - I just got the 'Orange is the New Black' memoir. 

Just two classes and work and then I'm free! 

Now, let's talk about these outfits - Amy and I went nautical one day! It was so fun - I loved the little theme that they we had going. 

So, I'm off to watch the Office with the housemates - we are going through the whole series. We are in late season 2/season 3; you know- when Pam and Jim are still in that 'awkward flirting, but not together' phase. Ooo, some of the best times. 

Have a great night everyone! 









Amy: 
Tank/Necklace: Forever 21
Skirt: Thrifted
Shoes: Hand-me-downs









Laura:
Shirt/Shorts/Belt/Cardigan: Thrifted
Shoes: a bumps and bents grocery store - so random, I know. But, they were $2, so whatever. 
Earrings: Church rummage sale 




Oh, us in our natural state of being:


xoxo, 

Laura + Amy 



Saturday, October 5, 2013

A Lazy Saturday...


Today is a day for:

 cleaning while blaring guilty pleasure songs (like this)

snuggling up on the comfiest couch ever and writing

re-arranging my room 

reading just for fun books

editing pictures 

homework 

getting enough done to watch Harry Potter 7 part 2 tonight

What a wonderful Saturday. 





Have a great Saturday, everyone!
xoxo, 
Laura