The Beach

Dress? Elan, Winners (very similar here) Necklace? Thrifted Bracelets? My Oma's and the crazy lady at The Ex

For many years while we were growing up, we spent two blissful weeks every summer at a rather ramshackle cottage in Ontario's cottage country. They were my two favourite weeks of the year. Bedtimes got relaxed, some sugar and processed food made it into our diets and we went Sauble Beach almost every day. Unfortunately for my boy-crazy teenage self, my parents' idea of beach time was swimming for a few hours before the crowds even hit the beach. We would sleep in until 7:30 (no, I am not making that up to make the blog post more entertaining. We slept in until 7:30... during the year we woke up before 7...), eat breakfast and make it to the beach before 9. Then we would attempt to tan our white little bodies and jump the waves until 11... at which time we would head home. Leaving the beach just as the cute volleyball boys started arriving was almost torture. Why were my parents so backwards?
This year my brother, his wife and their baby are in Canada for vacation and our family is up in cottage country again. We are staying in the same charming cottage along Sauble Beach we rented two summers ago. In the spirit of latent rebellion I am eating sugar packets and canned foods all day, sleeping in until noon and going to the beach whenever I feel like it. It feels good.

(Fully aware that 7 pictures per post is a little excessive. I apologize. Also, in the water pictures I seem to be missing a male counterpart... someone make my day and Photoshop Fabio frolicking in the water with me...)

Vested Interest

Vest? Gap, thrifted Skirt? Seven, Winners Purse? Tignanello, thrifted

I have a little board on my Go Chic or Go Home page where I collect images of items I want to thrift. To be honest, it is not a crazy or huge collection of pictures. I want to keep it pared down so that I can actually remember what I am specifically looking for in the thrift store. I also put items on the board that aren't too 'out there'... Crazy is already naturally attracted to me at the thrift store, I need to be reminded to look for some basics sometimes too... 

It's been handy to keep a small amount of images as inspiration for the thrift store... it keeps me focused. My ultimate goal would be to thrift a perfect fit white blazer... That goal seems to be eluding me right now. Blazers are usually an easy thrift but white ones seem to have a hard time making through the decades unscathed. Once people learn to stay away from chocolate and wine when they are wearing a white blazer, I may finally succeed in my mission. Question is; will they ever learn?

Happily for me, the denim vest I put on my GCOGH board was an easy find. I walked into a thrift store, went to the denim jackets, bought the cutest one and cut off the sleeves. Bam. And just like that I upgraded from a thrifty blog to a thrifty/D.I.Y. blog... 

Cutting sleeves off denim jackets to make a denim vest... I know. I'm so crafty. 

Coffee Date

Shirt? Thrifted (very similar here) Skirt? Joe Fresh Belt? Thrifted Collar necklace? Thrifted (similar here) Shoes? Frye, Winners Wristlet? Thrifted

I'm just tired. Or in the words that Matt famously overuses, 'Stick a fork in me, I'm done.' And I feel like I should have lots to talk about because I like this outfit and there are plenty of things that have been going on but I can't seem to be able to write eloquently about anything. Trust me, I tried.
Maybe you should just come over for coffee today and spare me writing a post. And when I say 'come over for coffee', I obviously mean 'clean my house and fix my TV remote'. And after my nap (that will take place as you clean), you may bring me a sparkling water and I might regale you with stories of my youth. Or we can just sit on the couch comfortably and watch TV together... using the fixed remote for our viewing convenience...

Heat Wave

Skirt? Ralph Lauren, thrifted Belt? Roots, thrifted Top? Marc Cain, Plato's Closet (similar in orange and black) Sandals? Marc Fisher, Winners Cardigan? Joe Fresh Necklaces? Sparkly one is J. Crew, the rest are thrifted

I think we just broke the heat wave this morning. Which is good because it was getting quite gross and muggy over here. It was so hot that the waist band of my work shorts was wet with sweat everyday.

Now before you think that last statement was just a random and slightly awkward observation, I should clarify that it is actually a thoroughly tested way of noting the temperature. Years ago I ran a landscape crew with two of my closest friends (and yes, let me pause to say that we basically got paid to hang out together for 10+ hours a day and it was a summer of many good memeories... sigh.) and we had a way of determining how hot the day was based on whose waistband was sweaty. We all know that the weather man and the truck thermometers were clearly not to be trusted, but the waistband test was accurate every time. If the one girl's waistband was wet, it was warm outside (yes, she was our sweaty friend), if the other girl's waistband sweated through, it was hot and if my waistband got sweaty, it was time to take water breaks every half hour and ask the ice cream truck to follow us around... in a non creepy way. So, based on our theory, this week was really hot...

And yes, I do kind of feel like I broke girl code by telling that story as blog fodder. But I'm pretty sure we were all pretty proud of our sweaty waistbands. Work hard. Sweat hard. Eat ice cream.