The Downside to Thrifting: Vintage Alfred Angelo

Hey all - I didn't really have a blog post planned for today, but then something happened last night that broke my heart. 

 I have a small confession to make: I have been keeping my eye out for my wedding dress. Now, I can tell you I'm no where close to getting married. At. All. 

However, I'm also a realist. I know that I will want a vintage dress and I know that I will want to thrift it - I wouldn't be me if I didn't. Now, I'm not going to thrift store to thrift store, wedding dress shopping because for someone who isn't engaged, I ain't got time for that! But, I do usually just look through the gown section, see all the Princess Di, poofy 80's craziness and move on to the dishware section, dresses, or whatever department I need to checkout. 

So, last night after taking some outfit shots with Amy, I headed over to one of my favorite thrift stores right near my house - they have a "bargain basement" where most of the clothes are a dollar. I was doing a little searching for a new blog segment (more to come on that later!) 

In the Bargain Basement, I always do a first sweep in the dishware (got to keep my eyes out for some Melmac and Pyrex!) and then head over to the dresses. I turned the corner and literally gasped out loud. There was this gorgeous vintage lace wedding dress. Now, it was fairly yellowed, but the detailing was beautiful and the price was just $2. I figured if fit, I could do something with it; when I looked at the tag and saw that it was Alfred Angelo   - designed by Edythe Piccione: who, I discovered through simple research, was Angelo's wife, who started designing for the company in 1935. 

Now, honestly, I felt a little odd trying a wedding dress on so, I did what thriftaholic would do - texted my most reasonable friend to talk me out of it and went to look at shoes. I walked around the whole store - twice. But, I couldn't get my mind off of that dress. 

So, I gave in. I tried the dress on. Well - I attempted to try the dress on. It was tiny. Now, I'm definitely used to finding too small vintage clothing, so I just sighed, sent up a little hope that it would go to someone who would love and respect it, and put it back on the rack. 

I was back in the dressing room trying on a really cute sweater when I heard these kids yelling through the basement. I then heard this boy who was probably about 12 or 13, saying "OH GOSH, IT IS A DRESS!" I exited the dressing room and walked over to the furniture room. But, I kept hearing this child saying "IT IS ONLY $2. I'M GOING TO GET IT. IT IS ONLY $2!" 

Now, I can only imagine what a pre-teen guy wants with a vintage wedding dress, but I can assume that it has future of dirt or fake blood instead of be transformed to its former glory. 

I'm telling you, they just don't make dresses like that anymore. I wish that I could save all gorgeous vintage clothes - especially wedding dresses, something that someone wore on one of the most special days of her life - but, unfortunately, I don't have the room, money, or sewing skills to fix everything. Plus, I'm pretty sure that my mother wouldn't be too happy if I did. 

However, I have to say - this one hurt. It is so easy to hope that a gorgeous vintage item goes to someone who respects it when you are unable for whatever reason to purchase it, but to know that it and its history won't be appreciated - it can really wound a vintage purist. 

So, I thought I would share the two pictures I snapped of it so that its history, previous owner, and beautiful style would get a little bit of the respect that it deserves. 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Fergalicious

Oh hey there, everyone! 

I hope that you are all having a beautiful start to your summer season! 

Things are going really well since I got home from internship training. Some of the great things going on include: 

- getting to see one of my best friends, Maggie after she returned from U.A.E. after 4 months of being abroad. 

- giggling with Bethany and Maggie after getting some yummy ice cream. 

- working on my sermon for July - it is about Esther. 

- heading up to school for the weekend to help out with alumni weekend. 

- watching 'Toddlers and Tiaras' as a way to detox from a super creepy 'Law and Order SVU.' Does anyone else need to watch something truly terrible after  watching something scary? Also, 'Say to the Yes: Bridesmaid Edition' after watching CSI if it is a crazy weird one works too. 

- reading Harry Potter...again. 

- watching Warm Bodies with a friend at her cabin. 
- filling a friend's room with balloons when he was out of town. 
-taking these pictures with my amazing housemate - thanks, Bethany! 
- and finally finding a lot of really awesome thrift finds including this great vintage dress for $5 and these amazing 'Fergalicious by Fergie' slip-ons that are still in stores for $1.50. Got to love half-off day. 

Dress: Vintage: Thrifted 

Belt: Thrifted 

Shoes: Fergalicious by Fergie: Thrifted 

Bracelets: Clothing swap 

Headband: Kohl's (old) 

Oh. Because I had to: Enjoy. 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Life Lately: Summer Home and Traveling Adventures

the most amazing doughnut ever from a new coffee shop in town//my niece's end of the year concert - she is growing up so fast: her 10th birthday is today! Happy Birthday, hon! Love you!//aunt and niece dresses//play-doh night with a gal from the office who let me crash with her over graduation - best. thing. ever.//my mom got me shoo-fly pie - yum!//the most adorable high school interns ever//selfies on a Sunday morning/vintage pillowcases//a card from my cousin - can you guess what it says on the inside? Hint: 500 Days of Summer// oh - I randomly chopped seven inches of hair off. What do you think?//sunset on the Fox River in Illinois//mini-golf//this little guy scared the crap out of me when he showed up in front of my cabin door in Iowa - he just wanted to get out of the rain//T-dogg and the Diesels heading back to Illinois from Iowa

Roommate Adventures Compliments of thredUP!

Happy Friday everyone! 

Does anyone have any exciting weekend plans? I'm still in Illinois for internship training and will be here until Wednesday. 

Amy and I got to take these pictures before I left Pennsylvania last week and we had such a blast trying out my new camera lens! I really am so blessed to have such a wonderful roommate and friend - without her, college would not be the same.  Lurve you, girl! 

So, when thredUP, a new online consignment store, contacted me and offered me a gift card to promote their store, I knew that I wanted to split it with Miss Amy for a.) just being awesome  and b.) all she does to help me with TTL. Plus, picking out clothes online when it is midnight and you are sleep deprived  from finals studying is quite a hilarious adventure in itself! 

When we got together to take these pictures, it was quite interesting. To get to the industrial background for Amy's shots, we had to walk through - ummm-  a more sketchy part of town. Now, we were fine because we were together, but we sure did look quite out of place in our fancier duds. We just had to watch out for the 'railroad goths.' 

And then we went to a little forest/park place near by for my shots. Welllll - let's just say, while I enjoy being outside and doing outdoorsy things, I'm not a nature expert by any means. Which is why there are about 15 outtakes on my computer (side note: blooper post soon?) that show me freaking out and expressing my rage at me leaning against a tree with leaves on it in groups of three. Yep. I remembered the "leave of three, let them be," a little too late. I went home and jumped straight in the shower - if it was poison, it seems to have worked because I'm currently itch-free (*knock on wood*). 

Anyway, we really liked thredUP's website - you can sort by size or style. Plus, their prices are comparable to most consignment stores, which is great for broke college gals like us! So, check it out and you too can have an awesome friend photoshoot! Just,hopefully without the sketchiness and nature problems...

Amy: 

Top: c/o thredUP (Ann Taylor) 

Jeans: Forever 21

Shoes: Trash to Treasure: at the end of every year, our school has a thing called 'Trash to Treasure,' where people can donate things, so they don't get thrown in the trash (that does happen). So, in the dead of night - hey, we were up late studying anyway - we go and donate some of our old things and see if there are any treasures that we can claim as our own - Amy hit the jackpot this year. 

Owl Ring: Gift from Laura: Thrifted 

Puppy Ring: Amy's boyfriend got this for her out of a vending machine. If they weren't so adorable, they would be revolting. (JK!) Couple photoshoot soon? I think yes...

Bird Earrings: Gift from a friend: Handmade 

Laura: 

Top: Thrifted 

Skirt: c/o thredUP (Alfred Dunner)

Necklace: Thrifted 

Sandals: Thrifted (Wal*Mart)

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! 

xoxo, 

Laura 

This post was a shop review for ThredUp.  In agreement to do a review for them, we received a gift-card at no expense to us to pick out merchandise of our choosing. However, our opinions expressed in this post are all genuine and honest. 

Iowa Stubborn

Hey hey everyone!

Hope that you are having a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day. My weekend was spent traveling to Illinois and then I was off to Iowa for a weekend conference that was held at a camp. It rained the whole time, but it certainly was an amazing time. I got to see a bunch of old friends and meet a bunch of fantastic people. 

Now, I'm in Illinois until the next week for internship training, so I will be showing little tidbits of my travels soon enough. It certainly is wonderful to get away from home for a little awhile and be with wonderful people that I don't get to see that often. 

 These pictures were taken by my mother before I left  and this was one of her first encounters with a DSLR, so I think that she did pretty well. This is what I wore to move some of my things over to my house for the summer. This outfit was perfect to keep things comfy and cool while moving items back and forth. 

Well, I best keep this short, I'm quite tired from the drive back from Iowa and soon I will start making absolutely no sense whatsoever. 

Shirt: Vintage:Thrifted 

Shorts: Gift from my sister: Thrifted 

Sweater: College bookstore 

Shoes: Thrifted 

Bandanna: Stolen from a guy friend.  

Have a great night all! 

xoxo, 

Laura 

P.S. The post title comes from me being a musical nerd. 

Going to the Chapel...

Hey hey everyone! 

Hope that you had a fantastic weekend!

My weekend was spent up at Juniata seeing all my senior friends graduate, which was amazing and a blast. 

However, it was also kind of an eye-opener - I'm graduating in a year. Crazy, that's for sure. 

Anyway, these pictures were from a couple weekends ago from a family wedding. It was at a such a gorgeous place - I wish I would had my new camera, but it hadn't come yet, so these didn't get as good as I would have liked, but you get the gist. 

I thrifted this dress this semester and I really like it - the fit is just perfect and I thought that it would it would be excellent for a special occasion like this. 

Well, I'm off to watch Pitch Perfect for about the umpteenth time with my housemate. That's right y'all, I all moved in! It feels good to be settled in for the summer. 

  

Dress :Thrifted 

Shoes : vintage Steve Madden: Thrifted 

Purse, Necklace: Thrifted 

Have a great night everyone! 

xoxo, 

Laura