Work Wear Inspiration

Hey guys! sorry it's been quite around here I've been a little busy lately. Among other things I got a second job, one that's more on track with where I'd like to go career wise, which is awesome. Anyway after getting said job I immediately thought, what do I wear? My retail job has a pretty strict and limiting dress code so going into an office where the dress code is pretty casual has made figuring out work outfits a bit... difficult. I want to look young and hip but also put together and professional. For now I'm trying to put together the most business casual outfits I can with my current wardrobe. The plan is to work with what I've got and  slowly add to my work wear wardrobe with thrift finds and the like. My current wardrobe isn't crazy inappropriate but I've suddenly become very aware of hemlines and necklines, which sits some of my favorite staples on a sort of fuzzy "is it? or isn't it?" appropriate line. Anyway in a pinch I've been pinning work wear outfits like crazy for inspiration. One of my big inspirations so far has been Tanesha from  Girl with Curves who's style is generally pretty office appropriate and very chic.  Anyway here are some of my favorite work wear pinspirations:

Girl With Curves

Girl with Curves

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Girl With Curves

Girl With Curves

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Girl With Curves

Girl With Curves

Girl With Curves

Add caption

 Girl with Curves

And I get dressed

See Anna Jane

Kendi Everyday

Blonde Bedhead

source

source

via pinterest

via pinterest

j.crew via pinterest

Thrift Hurl

I'm back with another thrift haul! This one is significantly smaller as it's a roundup of the goodies I've found in just the last few weeks, but it's quality not quantity. And away we go!

1. Vintage Thermo Serve Set

I saw this set at the Salvation army and thought it was too cool to leave behind. I love the caddy it comes in and for 7 bucks I couldn't say no.


2. Vintage Chalkware lamp

I didn't actually find this piece, a close friend of my mom's gave it to me. She rents out a space at a local occasional sale and this piece didn't sell at the last sale, so she gave it to me! How nice is that?!?! I'm obsessed with Reglor lamps and though I'm pretty sure this is not a real reglor it's in the same style and I'm obsessed with it. I definitely would have paid retail for it so it was amazing to get it for free. If you're ever in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area you should check out Flamingos, it's an occasional sale full of affordable vintage finds and just happens to be where my mom's friend sells her wares. Her spot is in the stairway to the basement, so make sure to check there if you ever happen to go on a sale day.

3. Dansk

After years of looking I found not one but TWO Dansk pieces, in the same day! I found the pitcher first at my local goodwill. It has some nicks and the braiding on the handle is coming undone but other than that it's pretty nice. I thought the braiding on the handle might have been a camp crafter gone rogue, but after googling a bit I found a lot of other pitchers have the same thing. Kind of a weird touch but cool. The little sauce pan I found that same day at another thrift store. Two dansk pieces, of the same color, at two different thrift stores? It must have been my lucky Dansk day. Unfortunately it didn't come with the lid, but beggars can't be choosers. Both these items came out to about $14.00 which is a pretty good price.


4. Vintage Green lamp.

I found this lamp at the Goodwill and pretty much had to have it. I like the style and the cool glaze. I didn't come with a lampshade so now I have to find a good shade for it. I've seen similar style lamps with drum like shades before so I might go with something like that. Or maybe a cool fiberglass shade. I'm not sure so if you have any ideas please share!

5. Lady Head Vases (I don't know what these are called)

My mom's friend also gifted us these vases from her booth. Some of them have a few chips but they're still really cool.


* As always I'm linking up with Sir Thirft-a-lot's Thriftasaurus link up.

Pastels and Put-Put

Crop top & Sunglasses: ASOS Skirt: River Island (via Asos) Shoes: Target (old)

 

           

          Last Sunday the boy and I went to Artist-Designed Mini-Golf at the walker. Basically it's a whole mini-golf course full of quirky holes. Unfortunately there was a two hour wait! But we decided to suck it up and wait it out. So we walked around the sculpture garden, Loring Park and saw an exhibit at the Walker. You get free admission to the walker with your mini-golf tickets, unfortunately all of their exhibits were under construction so the only one we could see was an exhibit on Edward Hopper, which was really interesting. I've never been to the walker's normal collection though so that was a bit dissapointing. Guess I'll have to go back another day to tour the museum. Anyway this season I've really been into the ladylike midi skirt trend. This is the first of a few that you'll be seeing on the blog as the summer rumbles by.  I really like the outfit and thought it worked well for the day. The only thing I would change is the shoes. I like my old target flats but sandals would have been better, I really need to invest/ find at the thirft store some good flats and a comfy pair of sandals. I didn't relaize until this summer just how few summer shoes I really have.

Insta-May

I know things have been pretty quite around here, so I'm trying to jump back into posting this month. With that in mind I decided to kick off my back to posting with the easy blogger cheat post, my month in instagram photos. But, I did actually have a pretty eventful month so It's not a complete cop out. And hey maybe I'll make it a monthly thing, we'll see. So here's my Insta-May:

//I went to the last day of Minneapolis Comic Con with the boy, I couldn't go to the whole weekend due to work scheduling but the last day was fun. We got to see the Doctor aka Matt Smith as well as Sean Patrick Flannery and David Della Rocco from Boondock Saints. Sean Patrick Flannery is awesome, he had some amazing stories and was hilarious. I'd definitely go again next year, hopefully for the whole weekend. // It also started to get nice out so we finally ventured outside to Indian Mound Park in St. Paul. // Finally went to a few estate sales in May as well, I saw this cool ballerina thing but didn't buy.//

// Mid May I went to the first annual Twin Cities Burger Battle with my bestie. Tickets weren't cheap but you get free sliders and beer along with live music, plus all the proceeds went to charity. There was a lot of waiting in line for sliders and we probably took a few years off our lives for ingesting so many tiny burgers, but it was a lot of fun. //

 //More venturing outside at Lake Calhoun. // My dog really likes popcorn. // Patio dining on my mom's birthday.//

Architecual Excellence: Frank Lloyd Wright's Southern Florida College pt. 1

A little over a year ago my mom and I went on a little vacation to Florida to escape the (incredibly) long 2013 winter ( it snowed here in May last year, MAY!). You can see my first post here of our time in the Florida Keys. We also spent time in Disney world/ Universal Studios but i'll probably only ever show bits and pieces of those pics. Anyway the main reason we went to Florida was to go on a tour of Florida Southern College that has some Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings. We also saw some cool Sarasota style mid century ( and one newer) homes, another post with those is coming soon. Anyway here's a look at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings from Southern Florida College.

Thrift Haul!

It's been awhile since I've done a thrift haul partly because I've cut down on my thrifting and partly because I haven't found a lot of amazing things lately. I've been thinking more practically and that I need to clean, organize, and donate the stuff I already have before acquiring anything new. So I wasn't really doing any heavy thrifting for a couple months. Of course during those months I didn't actually make any cleaning and organizing progress so... that's still a work in progress. But, some spring cleaning is definitely in order (only a few more weeks till spring y'all, hopefully). Anyway I've made my way back to the thrift stores in recent weeks so I figured I'd share some of the things I've found recently and that I found a while ago but have yet to share.

1. Cathrineholm bowls.

 I got both of these bowls at a vintage store near Milwaukee last fall. I went on a mini road trip there to visit the SC Johnson HQ where they have some Frank Lloyd Wright buildings (more on that in a future post). Anyway we went to a flea market near Milwaukee and though it was a cool market there were hardly any of the vintage goods we were looking for. But, we had noticed a sign for an antique store nearby so we went and I found these bowls for $15 buck (total). The lady that ran the store wasn't really into mid century stuff so she had great reasonable prices. The bowls aren't in the best condition but for $15 bucks I couldn't say no.

2. Chalk Figure Wall Art

I don't exactly know what these are called but I stumbled upon them a couple months ago at Value Village and had to have them. It's not often I find such cool kitschy stuff at the thrift store so when I see something I like I pounce. These are also in rough condition but I actually don't mind that. They're totally cool and were pretty cheap so I'm totally OK with the cracks and nicks.

3. Embroidered Wall Art

I fell in love with this embroidered wall art when I first saw it on Smile and Wave (here and here) . So when I saw it at Savers a few days ago I knew I had to get it. It's huge but I really like it, just have to find a place for it.

4. Kitchen Wall Art

I  saw this while browsing a new Goodwill in my neighborhood. I really like the graphics, colors, and look of it.


5. & 6. Friendship and Jadeite

I pretty much only pick up Pyrex if it's in a pattern I like/love. I see a good amount of it but I just don't think it's worth it if I'm not into the pattern. I do however love the friendship pattern so when I saw this bowl I immediately grabbed it and true to it's name it came with a couple of friends. Tucked inside the larger friendship bowl was the smaller friendship bowl and a slightly larger Jadeite bowl!!! I've been looking for Jadeite in thrift stores ever since I saw Martha Stewart's envious collection in a magazine and wanted to start collecting it. Though I've seen it a lot at Antique/Vintage stores I've never popped on them. So I was very excited to find this one hiding amongst the pyrex.


7.  Target Frame

I bought two prints from my best friend earlier this year and have been searching for frames for them ever since. If you're into the art you can buy some of her prints here on her Etsy page (NSFW). I found this one and originally had it in mind for another print but this one ended up working in the frame better.  It's a simple frame from target that I got at the salvation army, the salvation army and goodwill are good places to get cheap Target frames (at least in my neck of the woods). I may find a better frame for it in the future but for now I like it and the search for a frame for the second print continues.

8. Taylorstone "Cathay" Dishes

I've found a couple other dishes in this pattern before, so when I saw a good amount of it at a local thrift store I knew I had to get at least a couple of the dishes. Of course I ended up getting the whole set. Unlike Savers and the Salvation Army this thrift store doesn't bundle like dishes so I was afraid it'd be more money than I wanted to spend. But after adding up all the prices It ended up being fairly reasonable. I don't have a complete set but I'm definitely on my way!


As always I'm linking up with A Living Space, Sir Thrift-A-Lot, and Remnant. Be sure to check out all their cool finds too!

Winter break

Dress: Thrifted Leggings: Target Boots: Payless

I wore this dress a few days ago when it was warm enough to break from my usual winter pants situation.  Unfortunately right after 10 or so inches of snow were dumped on the city and we're now gearing up for our third polar vortex. I hate winter. Anyway, I really love this dress although it's a bit short. It may actually be more of a tunic type situation if I was average height, but at 5'1 it's still long enough on me to wear as a dress. I've been dying to find more shirt dresses since finding this one, I haven't had much luck but they're definitely on my to find list.