Thrift Trick: The Right Side of the Tracks

Friday, May 25, 2012

The Right Side of the Tracks

Ahh, the cliché splendor of the railroad tracks. But, you know, they still evoke that contemplative feeling. Standing on them at almost sunset to snap these pictures rendered me peaceful and pensive. Not a soul was in sight; the weather was perfect.

The outfit (much of which is thrifted, of course!)

--Gap vest (a gift) shown here and here

-My great grandmother's vintage bracelet shown here

-Owl pendant shown here

I was happy to bust out my Chuck Taylor high tops. You absolutely must, on occasion. The gold clutch you see is from the 1950s and was 25 cents at a yard sale. The best part was the backstory; the woman who sold it to me claimed her grandmother wore the clutch on her 50th anniversary dinner with her grandfather. :)

Finally—it’s a picture of me smiling with my teeth! I know, it’s weird next to all of the closed mouth smiling I’ve been doing. If you are a regular reader of my blog than you likely may know that stepping in front of the camera to put together outfits has helped me deal with some of the body image issues I have; constantly struggling (to no avail) to change my shape and size. Though I’m moving to a healthier place with all of that mumbo-jumbo, it’s no secret to those who know me in real life know that I SHOULD have had braces as a child. Alas, my family couldn’t afford it at the time, and my crooked smile was always something I wished I could change about myself.

I’m never ashamed of my smile in person—I love smiling. But for some reason, seeing the crooked eye teeth in my grin in photos was a little too much for me. I’ve since decided that I’m coming clean and I plan to throw at least a few of my imperfect smiles in each week…

Dress up a hat with a vintage scarf, or a scarf and a pin!

This hat, a white straw trilby hat, was ONE DOLLAR, from Dollar Tree. I purchased it, along with an identical navy blue one, last month! To make it extra special, I took a lovely gold vintage scarf from Hope’s Outlet and wrapped it around the base, tying it into a knot and then pinning the loose ends with a vintage gold pin. I love the way this turned out.

In fact, I love it so much that I’m a little sad to see this golden scarf with beautiful floral embroidery go. If you don’t pick it up from the Hope’s Outlet located on Glade St. in Muskegon this week, I may come back to fetch it myself!

Get the scarf for yourself at the Glade St. Hope's Outlet location, as early as Saturday by 2 p.m.!