06.19.12

I haven't posted in a VERY long time, but I thought I would start back since school is out and I have some more time on my hands. I've decided to go with a new format for each post - a picture from each day and a post to go with the picture.

I've recently started decorating our house, which has been a ton of fun. And it's been really nice to finally have somewhere that feels like home, somewhere to make OURS. We've moved around A LOT the past couple of years and haven't been able to plant our roots anywhere.

I went thrifting yesterday, which is one of my favorite ways to spend the afternoon. And I found a couple things for the house. Along with a pretty awesome shirt. One of the things I found was this pitcher, which has initials carved in the bottom, which makes me think it was handmade. We have this huge bookshelf from IKEA that is a pretty huge disaster zone right now and it looks perfect on one of the shelves. And it is slowly turning into something we can stand to look at every day.

It's the little things that make a house a home.

thrifting thursday - wearing nothing new.

Hey guys! I just finished packing the last of our twenty-five shoe boxes and my hands are killing me from all the rubberbands I had to stretch. So I'm just going to share this pretty awesome TED talk the wonderful husband found the other night.

Watch. Enjoy. Take something from it.
And please let us know what you got out of the video! I'd love to talk about it.

little things.

Do you ever get really excited about something and it just makes your day or week?

Well I put together this outfit today and made Nate take a picture of it so I could remember it and recreate it later. Am I lame or what?

What made your day today?

ps. I posted this on the blogger app and it sucks so that's why the formatting is nonexistent.

why i thrift.

So. I get pretty passionate about a few things, and one of them is personal style. I'm a big believer in putting time, effort and thought into how you look everyday because I believe that how you choose to present yourself to the world speaks VOLUMES about who you are as a person.

Because my personal style is so important to me, I have developed quite an, um, fondness for shopping. I love clothing, accessories, shoes, make-up and all you can do with them! I'm a pretty artistic person and because don't always have time to sit down with a paintbrush and canvas as my creative outlet, I have found that I can funnel some of that creative energy through the way I dress.

In order to keep my individuality and to be able to constantly satisfy that part of me that wants to be creative with my personal style and use it as a way to express myself, I have had to really stop and look at how I shop, and had to be very intentional about the way I do so. One of the biggest intentional choices I have made in the past year is to start doing as much shopping as possible at thrift stores. And as I have become a more avid thrift store shopper, it has become something in which I very strongly believe. I no longer do it just because I can find some good deals, or because there are really great unique pieces in thrift stores. There are SO many more reasons why it's important to me. And this post is going to be the first of many where I hope to start sharing this important part of my life with y'all.

But for today, I just wanted to show you why it TOTALLY pays to thrift. I don't know how many of you go to your local thrift stores or buy clothes from them. But I do know that I personally know a lot of people who have attached quite a stigma to shopping at a Goodwill or something similar. And I used to be the same way. Promise! There was a time when I only shopped at the mall and you would have had to have paid me money to get me to go in a thrift store. But after some time and after a good bit of heart change, I realized I was TOTALLY not above wearing someone else's clothes. And that I am no better than the people to whom I'm donating clothes. And I'm doing a lot of good for society and the environment by helping produce less waste when I buy re-used clothing. And I'm doing a lot of good for my family when I'm saving money on clothing. And when I spend less on clothes, I have that much more to put toward things that are more important.

But anway. Enough preaching. Here are some pictures of some stuff I wear that's either vintage or thrifted. Please excuse the quality - I took them with my iPod!

So here's an outfit I wear pretty regularly. This is a vintage 80's shirt from Goodwill for $3. And I've had at least three people ask me where I got it.

Can you guess what was thrifted here? If you guessed the dress, shoes and purse then you're right. I got them all from Goodwill together for $10 total. The dress is a Target brand, which I normally don't buy at thrift stores, but it was in perfect condition. This goes to show, though, that you can find a wide range of items.

Here is a vintage 80's sweater I got at Goodwill for $3.79. It's still in excellent condition and it is totally my style. Finds like these are why I thrift. Because I know I'm not going to find them anywhere else.

So if you've read this far, I am not at all trying to sound all braggy-braggy. I'm not trying to be, like, "Look at me! I buy used clothes and that makes me better than all y'all who don't!" I'm really just trying to share something with you guys that's important to me and help y'all understand WHY it's so important. And maybe, just maybe, if you've never tried it...you might get the guts to do it. Because, if nothing else, I think it's a ton of fun just to go try on some of the crazy clothes you might find and get some good pictures! And Nate and I like to go on the weekends together and see what kind of random things we can get into. Because you really never know what you'll see or find at a thrift store.

And if you're interested in more information, here some links you can check out:

The Tyranny of Trends (a great article on fashion, trends, and the impact on society)

Adored Austin (one of my favorite bloggers who is a serious thrifter)

my edit. (another of my favorite bloggers who is thrifting inspiration)

Thank y'all for reading! And please leave comments! I would love to hear what you have to say on the subject. And any questions you might have. I want to keep this topic going, maybe even start a "Thrifting Thursday" or something. Who knows? But only if I feel like it'll go somewhere! It's kind of a leap from the personal blogging that I've been doing, but it's something that's been on my mind for awhile now. So FEEDBACK PLEASE AND THANK YOU! :)

it's my birthdayyyyy!

Well, not technically. It was actually on Monday. But I've been busy. I don't have much time right now. But I just have to stop by and say that I am SUPER excited for three reasons.


ONE.
Nate got me a great new leather purse. Pictured here:

 
TWO.
I got some new birthday chucks from the parents!

THREE.
I got a ton of money to use on new books for my nook. The first book I'm getting ready to start reading is "The Happiness Project." A few more I bought are "One Thousand Gifts," "Still Alice," and "Pictures of You" by Caroline Leavitt. If any of y'all have read any of these, let me know how they were or what you thought! I'm pretty excited to get started on them!

PS.
Look at these awesome birthday cupcakes Nate's mom made me! (I LOVE penguins, btw.)

And the great card that came with them and surprised the mess out of me with confetti!

Basically, I'm having a pretty great birthday week.
More in-depthness to come soon. Promise! :)  

i carried a watermelon.

So, how was your Fourth of July weekend? What did you do that was special?

Nate and I had some craziness; but overall, ours was pretty good.

On Thursday night, Nate and I were on the way to get dinner and run some errands when we experienced some pretty serious car troubles. We had to call our friends, Ryan and Steph, who were AMAZING and came all the way to the mechanic's to pick us up. But it was a blessing in disguise because we got to go to dinner with them when we hadn't seen them in at least a month. :)

On Friday Nate got a call from one of the guys at the shop. Me, being the GENIUS that I am, locked the car using the security system and didn't leave the key FOB with the key. So of course, when they tried to get into the car they couldn't. So Nate had to come all the way back home to get the rest of the keys and take them over to the shop.

After that trip, we went to our new favorite spot - JASON'S DELI!

Nate is in LOVE with their salad bar.

And I am absolutely addicted to their Chicago Club.

smoked turkey, bacon, provolone, organic spinach, roma tomatoes, smoked red pepper cilantro aioli, herb focaccia. <3

Pretty yummy.

We went down to Columbia this weekend to see the family.

On Saturday morning, Nate and I shared a watermelon that was quite delicious.

chloe jumped in my picture.

nate loves his knives.

After our tasty breakfast, we spent the day with Nate's family. We went shopping with his sisters. He actually came too! I got a pair of silver sandals from Payless for only $6 and a pair of nude flats from Target for $12. Which was SUPER exciting because I love love LOVE shoes, but don't like to pay a lot of money for them. And you just can't find shoes as cheap as you can find clothes.

We were supposed to go to my grandma's house with my parents for dinner on Saturday night, but her power went out, so we all met and went out somewhere instead. After dinner we got to go by my parents' house and look inside! They're doing a ton of renovations and aren't living there right now and we didn't think we'd be able to go in because the hardwoods had just been redone. But we did - and it looks great! I can't wait to see the finished product! :)

On Sunday we went to church and lunch with Nate's family. His sister, Jen, and her husband brought their little girl over so we could give her the birthday present we got her. We had to miss her third birthday party because it was the day Nate's back went out and we had to rush to urgent care. :(

Being the teacher that I am, I have to get her a book every year. This year was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. And we just happened to find a floor puzzle to go with it on clearance!

opening her gift!

working on her puzzle with aunt "smeshmie"

all done!

We also had a belated birthday celebration for Nate. And his mom baked his absolute favorite. Carrot cake. It was AMAZING.

After all of that, we packed up all our things, loaded up the dogs, and headed to my grandma's house for our second try at dinner. Everything worked out and she fixed a wonderful meal consisting of roast, string beans, squash casserole, homemade rolls, tomatoes, and quite a few other things. And for dessert?

homemade cherry cobbler!

We came home Sunday night and spent our Fourth pretty low key. We had some stuff to figure out regarding the car situation and we were exhausted from our long weekend with the family so we ended up heading to a small farmer's market and getting a ton of fresh, local fruits and vegetables and then finishing up our grocery shopping, fixing dinner and eating together and spending a relaxing night watching Cosby reruns.

But we had a great weekend full of family, friends and celebration. We had watermelon, ice cream, cake and cobbler. We got to worship freely in a church of our choosing. I'd say we had the perfect celebration of our Independence Day. :)

chloe says bye! :)

two years.

So Nate and I have been married for two years now. And I almost can't believe it. We've made it out alive and both in one piece, which is good. They have been crazy years - full of highs and lows and twists and turns - and I wouldn't trade them for the world. And now we're heading straight into year number three. And I can't wait to see what it has in store for us. :)

I have been wanting to go to Savannah, GA for the LOOOOOONGEST time now. So my wonderful hubby booked a weekend for us right in the middle of downtown to celebrate our anniversary. The trip was perfect. And I have a feeling we'll be going back.

And now for the pictures...

This was the restaurant in our hotel where we had the most delicious dinner!

I was surveying all the options...

BIG. EXPENSIVE. Boats.

Pretty view. :)

Us in front of the pretty view. :)

Us again.

The hubby!

The Marshall House. I loved this hotel. But I don't know if I could ever stay here now that I know it's supposed to be haunted.

Trying to get a picture of the church...

One of the twenty-four squares in Savannah. Beautiful!

I fell in love with the trees.

And I took a lot of pictures of them!

City Hall.

More trees. :)

The city market.

I found a thrift store! And an awesome new purse!

More city market.

:)

Girl Scouts fo' life!

It took me a really long time to get a picture of the Girl Scouts emblem. So Nate napped on the bench.

It was SO hot I almost jumped in too.

Our lovely room with our big, comfy bed.

Goodbyeeeeeee Savannah!

Hello Tybee Island lighthouse!

This house was for sale. And I absolutely love it. So if someone would like to buy it for Nate and me and move it to Charlotte, that would be AMAZING.

<3

I saw this ring at the festival down by the river and fell in love with it and Nate bought it for me and I was SOOOOOO excited. :)

Nate passed out after going to the gym so he could pig out on dinner.

I FINALLY got a picture of the church. With my freaking iPod. 

The view from our hotel room!

The view from the beach on Tybee Island!

So yep. All in all, we had a GREAT trip. And could not think of a better way to have celebrated our second married year together. Now onto number three... :)