#StylishPittsburgh and life lately

YINZ! Long time, no see.

First off, I was so excited to see a unified effort with Pittsburgh bloggers, Insta users, and clothes wearers on #StylishPittsburgh day, which was Tuesday. A few amazing ladies took the time and effort (Niki and Tori) and actually made it an official citywide proclamation. Talk about getting official!

I think the Steel City is long overdue to shed itself from the permanently attached Steeler jerseys that have become synonymous with Pittsburgh's sometimes backward fashion sense.

Here are a few of my favorites: (among SO MANY good ones)

A photo posted by Aire (@sparkleeveryday) on Jul 28, 2015 at 4:23pm PDT

A photo posted by KENDALL_YEAMAN💕 (@kendall.yeaman) on Jul 28, 2015 at 12:47pm PDT

Downtown has style too #downtown #pittsburgh #boutiquelife #fashion #stylishpittsburgh #fishnet #skirt #fall #preview #picoftheday #photooftheday #model #hair #braid #shopsmall #local #look #love #loveit

A photo posted by Änna Ciaccio (@anna.ciaccio) on Jul 28, 2015 at 8:48am PDT

To be honest, the day had slipped my mind until morning of, so I tried to get creative with my style and hoped for the best. My choices were kinda limited considering 1.) It was hot enough out to melt, 2.) It had to be work appropriate and 3.) I haven't bought ANY new clothes lately.

Sadly, a lot of that money has been going toward skate gear instead. Crazy, I know.

My attempt:

I'm a little sad I wore my cute outfit yesterday, but tried to remix some old duds today. Pics coming soon. #stylishpittsburgh

— Kate (@thriftburgher) July 28, 2015

Print mixing old pieces: Blouse from first job; floral skirt from college. #putabirdonit #stylishpittsburgh #ootd pic.twitter.com/USxAjMg3TK

— Kate (@thriftburgher) July 28, 2015

Typically, I'm not really about the grainy iPhone look, but it was better than nothing, right?

In other news, I'll save most of the "I know you missed me, guys!" drivel. I've just managed to keep myself pretty busy lately. There's roller derby, but I've also opened an Etsy store (!!) with vintage goodies, and there's just general summertime activities that have filled up my schedule. Oh yeah, that full-time job I have also eats up some of my free time. ;) I'll work the blog back into my routine, I swear! I have good intentions. :)

I haven't mentioned the Etsy store much here yet. It's been an ongoing side project thus far. Since I find so many fun goodies at thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets on my own anyway, I thought I'd start a curated collection to share with others. I'm a little behind on listing things, but it's a very exciting project for me!

The store is called There's Waldo, named after my cat, of course. But more on that later.

This weekend, I'm looking forward to: A family reunion, peach picking, flea market shopping at Trader Jack's, and possibly some outdoor roller skating. Hoping to finally enjoy the sun that's been nonexistent most of this summer!

Let's Converse (About Converse!)

Oh, hai guys. I've missed you! Mark and I quickly snapped these photos on our way home after having dinner with friends. We were chasing the daylight a bit.

WARNING: I LOOK LIKE AN ASS IN THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS because I don't know how to prop myself on a ledge. I figured the outtakes would make good fodder this time around.

Outfit: Dress and denim jacket, H&M (old); pins and shoes, thrifted.

Anyway, isn't it weird some of the trivial stuff that you remember from years ago? Well, the way I got these shoes is kinda like that.

I was a freshman in college, shopping at Goodwill on the South Side with some new friends, when I found this score for $4. (For those of you keeping score at home, this happened almost nine years ago.) I always had imagined having the quintessential pair of canvas Converse shoes of my own, but never around to buying them.

A lot of my college friends I had then liked shopping at Urban Outfitters. Clearance racks were all I could really scrounge there, so finding something that could easily sell there for 10 times what I paid at the thrift store made me euphoric. I can't say these are shoes that I wear often, but I haven't ever had the heart to get rid of them because it reminds me of a time that a thrift store find made me feel like I fit in.

In my life, I've rarely had situations where I've felt I could relate to others. I always felt misunderstood.

I recently unearthed these from my closet, and all of those thoughts came back to me. I also thought, wow, how timeless Converse really are! These things never go out of style, huh?

Hope to be seeing more of you all on the blogosphere soon.

Remixed Summer

Now that my blog has been become more than just a novelty to me now, I've been trying to challenge myself more style wise. This outfit is the result of some of those style challenges.

I'll be the first to admit these photos aren't the best quality. But going home on my lunch break and utilizing the handy self timer on my camera on the back deck was the only way to capture this outfit the day I wore it. Sorry, uninteresting location and harsh lighting. Hopefully you'll forgive me.

My favorite part of all this is that I utilized two pieces that are big summer staples of mine, an old chambray shirt and my daisy dress, and combined them. While the dress is awesome, sleeveless dresses in the office make me feel a little naked, and it's getting too hot to put a cardigan on top of everything.

OK. So this wasn't all my idea, either. It was a few other bloggers, like The Passionista and Delightfully Tacky, that gave me the tied shirt idea. I was hesitant initially, but now I'm totally sold! It's a great cover up alternative without feeling sweaty and nasty.

Outfit: Dress (worn as skirt), Target; Chambray, Old Navy; Shoes, Toms (similar).

What kinds of things have you been trying to evolve your style?

Time Travel Tuesday: Foxy Grandma

There are so many beautiful things about the first photo of my grandma with two of my uncles.

First is that darling swimsuit she's wearing. I absolutely love it. It's cool to know she wore the high-waist swimsuit style that's gotten really trendy again over the past few summers.

There's also my Uncle Rege, on the left, who's picking his nose. Classic.

But I think what I love most about this is that this is a new side of my grandma I never saw, as a young mother, probably not much older than me.

She died when I was 14, so while I knew her well from a grandma-type perspective, I never got to look through these photos and ask her about them when I was going through shoe boxes of old photos at my parents' house a few years ago. I only knew her with white hair, a perm, who was almost always sipping on a cup of coffee when I saw her. I know she hated being photographed when she was older, so she might have been the same way here, trying to look away from the camera. Or maybe she saw something in the distance. Who knows. I'm not even sure where they were, but my mom said her family went to New England beaches a lot as kids.

From the how old my uncles look here, I'm guessing this was taken in the mid-1950s, perhaps even before my mom was born. (My mom is four years younger than my uncle on the left and two years younger than my uncle on the right.)

I started digitally archiving family photos a couple years ago, but never got around to putting the scanned photos into albums to distribute. Someday soon, I hope. I even considered doing interviews with family members to bring a more detailed narrative to the photos, but that, of course, would take a lot of time and effort.

I just love that this moment was captured because the expressions in it are so candid. The second photo is cute too, but I mostly put that in because my grandma's face can be seen in it. I hope these are photos that can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Do you have any photos like this of older and/or deceased family members when they were younger?

Flower Child at the Farm

I visited my co-worker at her family's farm, Paskorz Berry Farm, over the weekend.

It was a beautiful place, tucked behind some houses and hills. I've been a huge fan of berry picking and canning over the past few years, so it's really exciting to know someone whose family owns a farm. And there's the whole utilizing locally grown foods, too.

Overall, my weekend was insanely busy. Friday night I went to the bar with a really old friend from elementary school who's moving out of the area, and subsequently ran into a bunch of other high school friends. And then on Saturday, a friend from Portland, Oregon was unexpectedly in town for the weekend, so we had brunch at this place some of my friends keep raving about, made our way to the arts festival for a little bit, and went to the Strip, a cluster of indoor/outdoor vendors and market goodies. That was all before seeing Kim at the berry farm, although briefly, because I didn't want to force her to pick berries when she was already out on the farm all damn day.

She was happy to take pictures, though, so I am thankful. I didn't really plan on photographing this particular outfit, but it's something I've worn a few times in recent weeks because it's bright and comfortable.

On Sunday, I cleaned the hell out of the house, my dad and the in-laws came over, and we cooked on our new grill for the first time.

Hopefully this week I'll be making some strawberry jam, from this very farm.

Outfit: Dress, Modcloth; Cardigan, J. Crew Outlet; Shoes, Toms (similar); Sunnies, Avalon (secondhand store).

What did you do over the weekend?

Monochrome Beach Getaway

Pictured, clockwise from top left: Square Sunglasses; Sleeveless Chiffon Checkered Top; Modcloth Seren-Depp-ity Tee; Nylon Backpack; ASOS High Waist Denim Shorts in Black; Birkenstock Arizona Flat Sandals; Maxi Skirt; Modcloth Off to the Ocean one-piece in Anatomy; Modcloth Riding Down the River swimsuit top, and bottom; Topshop White Contrast Sunglasses.

I don't have any beach trip plans this summer. While I normally don't care for the beach, I'm really craving it right now.

For someone like me, there's usually not much to offer at a beach. I am self conscious, and I'm too pasty to ever tan properly. Most of my experiences at the beach include burning like hell the first day, and then sitting underneath an umbrella with a gallon of aloe for the rest of the trip.

But I don't know. There's the warmth. There's the salt water, slowly adding highlights to my brown hair. And my favorite part is the food, particularly fresh lobster and salt water taffy.

I haven't been to the beach for ages. It's been five years, I think. But a beach getaway would be swell right about now.

Anyway, I've been trying to stray from black and white in my wardrobe because it's something it's a simple go-to color scheme I often find myself wearing. But for the beach, I think black and white could be fun, and a contrast from what most people would be wearing at the beach: Bright colors, florals, animal prints.

For now, I'll be taking a little beach getaway in my mind, maybe with a fresh desktop background.

What are some of your favorite beach wear staples?

Polka Dotted Stripes

This was my garage sale chic shoppping outfit this weekend.

While simple, this outfit broke one of my biggest longtime "rules". Since college, I've almost never worn shorts. It's about being self conscious about my legs, as I've talked about before.

But seriously. These shorts are comfortable. I got them at an Old Navy sale for $1.50 a few summers ago. (I also have another pair in a muted orange color I bought the same day.) And since it's now officially summer weather, complete with ridiculous humidity and temperatures in the 80s on a daily basis, wearing pants simply isn't an option.

I also love mixing prints. Polka dots and stripes are seriously the easiest things to pair together.

The shorts were happening. Screw stupid perfect body expectations.

Even with the insane number of skirts and dresses I now own, I'm hoping shorts will be making a more regular appearance this summer.

Outfit: Shirt, thrifted; Shorts, Old Navy (old); Shoes, Toms; Sunnies, Avalon (secondhand store).

Do you face challenges on becoming more body positive?

PS I now have a Facebook page for the blog. Like it if you're cool!

ModCloth Sale: Campfire Chic Inspired Outfit

Pictured: Bonfire Stories Tunic in Red Gingham;
Shop at the Antique Store Jeans;
Sweet Sentiments Bag;
Cement Our Friendship Boots.

ModCloth sales seriously kill me, at least in the sense that all my money disappears when their sales happen.

This Memorial Day Weekend sale they're having (30 percent off!!) was good enough to not only warrant a post, but also create Polyvore account. I think this outfit was partially inspired by the fact that I've been dying to go camping lately. It's gorgeous outside. Hopefully Mark and I can go exploring in the woods sometime next month.

I'm not sure how functional these items would be in the wilderness, but I can dream, right?

I'm definitely considering buying the top and the boots. We'll see if I follow through.

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend!