All aboard!

Outfit Details:

Trains Scoop Neck Dress: Cath Kidston (sold out)

Wide red belt: Pinup Girl Clothing

Kimchi Blue T-Strap Skimmers: Urban Outfitters (now half price!!)

Grandma readers: Urban Outfitters

JumpFromPaper Travel Fever bag (knock-off): AliExpress (try eBay or the original)

Watch ring: Mom's

First things first... the bag.  JumpFromPaper bags look really neat in person, but they photograph even better!  I really love this one.  I feel like a bad person because I've bought both of my JumpFromPaper(-esque) bags from eBay type sites - and I know neither is actually the real deal.  They're really similar to the real thing, but there are subtle differences with the decorative aspects (especially on the suitcase one).  Unfortunately, real JumpFromPaper bags are pretty pricy, and even though I want to support businesses like theirs, I'm also a selfish American who wants cool features at cheap prices.  So eBay and AliExpress (the latter of which you should use at your own risk - I had a fine experience, but many do not) won out in the end.

The print of this dress is so charming.  I feel like I need to be going on a trip whenever I wear it.

I feel like it's kind of okay for me to wear obviously-fake glasses because I actually do wear glasses/contacts.  Maybe not as tooly.  Maybe.

We're having a bunch of extended family over today for a belated July 4th celebration while my grandma is still in town.  Patriotic pictures will be forthcoming.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

xox Sammi

Happy 4th!

Outfit Details:

Gingham dress: Forever 21 (and Forever 21+ version here)

Necklace: Forever 21 (old)

Wicker purse: Chicwish

White flats: yeswalker

Charm bracelet: Mom's

Okay, I will admit it: this is not what I'm actually wearing today.  I took these photos last week when I had some downtime.  My truly patriotic outfit is reserved for our party on Saturday, so I will be taking photos of that and sharing them later.  This was the most patriotic outfit I had in the set of photos I took in advance.  So you will just have to wait for more Americana attire.

Also, these were a weird set of photos.  I really didn't like many of them at all.  Usually I have a problem with not being able to narrow down photos, but I had the opposite problem with these.  Which kind of makes me think I don't love this dress.  It's cute, but it's one of those dresses that I'm just not in love with.  Fine for casual, everyday wear.  But not for special things, I don't think.

I do love this charm bracelet, though!  It was my mom's, and before that I think (?) it may have originally belonged to my grandma.  The charms are hard to see, but they're so adorable.  One of them is a water well with a little handle! 

I think we're going downtown to see fireworks tonight and hear the RPO play, if the weather holds up! Not the most exciting 4th of July, but at least I'll be with my family.  :)

Have a wonderful holiday!

xox Sammi

Periwinkle

Outfit Details:

Dress: dELiA*s (old)

Floral garland: Urban Outfitters

Black flats: jcpenney

Unicorn ring: I'm Your Present (free with purchase)

My camera battery died as I was taking these photos.  Luckily, it was my favorite time of day, so the lighting was decent and I was able to get some that I liked.  I enjoy looking like a flowery ballerina.

Not much else to say today, really.  I'm working tonight at the Independence Day concert for the orchestra here.  It's a bit of a drive, but it'll be fun if the weather holds out!

Have a lovely Wednesday.

xox Sammi

L'amour

Outfit Details:

Cutout Dress (L'Amour Nanette Lepore): jcpenney

Jelly flats: J.Crew (old)

Heart ring: Urban Outfitters (sold out)

Daisy ring: Mom's

This is the dress that I mentioned in yesterday's post.  I wasn't planning on getting a dress from JC Penney (is it JC Penney or jcpenney?  Has this changed?  I never know), but when I saw this one in the juniors section, I knew I had to at least try it on.  I love the shape and vibrant color, and the print is so interesting, with the hand-drawn anchors, lions and daisies. 

I thought these two rings were really appropriate for this dress (and the name of the line)!

I learned a really valuable lesson about sizing the day I got this dress.  Specifically, a lesson about not getting hung up on sizing!  This dress (and whole line) is from the juniors' section.  When clothes are cut for a juniors line, they really aren't well-fitted for larger bust or hip sizes.  Logically, I know this, but there is a certain amount of vanity involved when shopping for me; not only do I want to look good in clothes, but I do get a certain satisfaction about knowing I am a size ___, etc.  There have definitely been times where I don't want to buy something in a size larger, because I don't want to have to think of myself as wearing a size 10 (instead of my normal size 8)!

When I went to try on this dress, they were out of size 9, which would be my first pick for my size in the juniors' section under normal circumstances.  So I tried on the size 11, thinking it'd maybe be too big, but could work.  To my shock, I couldn't even zip it up!  I really loved the dress though, so I decided to try it on in a 13 for kicks, expecting it to be too big.  Lo and behold, the dress was pretty much perfect on me.  It looked great, but I definitely felt bummed about having to wear a dress that was two sizes larger than what I thought my normal size would be.

And then I tried on a different dress from the ladies' section.  They were out of my normal size 8, so I took the size 6 they had into the dressing room, assuming it wouldn't even zip.  It ended up fitting perfectly.  So here I was, able to wear both a size 6 and a size 13.  I'm fairly certain the other dress I tried on probably ran a little big, but it just goes to show that you can't get too hung up on the size you wear.  Because I've bought quite a number of vintage items on Etsy, I've gotten pretty good with knowing my current measurements, which has been helpful.  But when buying items in a store, you kind of just have to take a chance sometimes, since we don't have universal sizing.  I know people who cut out the tags in their clothes, which I think is a good self-confidence booster, but I think I can just be secure in the knowledge that you never really know what'll work until you try it on.  :)

I love these little jelly shoes.  I bought them 2+ years ago, before jellies were back in fashion.  I'd like to think I was ahead of the curve on that one.  But I guess it was just that J.Crew was, really.

My grandma is coming up from Florida today!  She's here for the 4th of July, though we're not doing really anything exciting that day -- we're having our big family party on Saturday instead.  But I don't get to see my grandma very often, so I'm looking forward to spending time with her!  

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

xox Sammi

Moments from the weekend

I've had a very enjoyable last few days.  The weather has finally been nice again, so I've been trying to take full advantage of it.  Instead of an outfit post today, I'm sharing a few photos from my weekend.  I've hopped on the Instagram train at the suggestion of my blogger friend, Rebecca of The Cinnamon Slipper (if you don't already follow her, you should do so immediately), and I'm making an effort to use it more.  I am enjoying the filters more than I probably should.

For instance, I'm so in love with this photo.

I have no pictures from Friday, but I reached a (very small) milestone and finally got my learner's permit!  I don't know if I've really talked about the fact that I do not (yet!) know how to drive... it's sort of an embarrassing thing to admit in many ways, because I don't like being dependent on people, and a girl who is nearly 25 should be able to drive herself around.  But at least I've taken the first step!  Now for the hard part.  I'm going to have to sign up for a driving school, because I don't think I'd handle learning from either of my parents very well; simply put, it's a situation that gives me a lot of anxiety, and I tend to lash out in those kinds of instances.  So I think it's better if I learn from someone I don't really know well and that I won't act like a crazy person around.

After going to the DMV (twice, because their website is - of course - so confusing that it's hard to find what documents you need to bring with you... and we left my birth certificate at home the first time out), my mom and I went out to run some fun errands.  I needed new BareMinerals makeup, and I ended up getting a new dress in the process, courtesy of my mama!  :)  You'll see that in tomorrow's outfit post.  After that, we got a ton of fabric flowers so that I can make my own flower crowns!  I'm super excited to do this.  I'm hoping to start this week, or maybe next.

After my shift at work on Saturday, my mom and I headed to a moving sale.  This sale was being held by my beloved former voice teacher, Cara, and oh my goodness, it was amazing.  My voice teacher has also directed countless productions and has often done her own costuming for her shows.  She's also a lover of all things vintage.  So there were countless beautiful finds at her sale!

Amazing beautiful hats.  I managed to snag four of these beauties!

Gorgeous lilac gown

Vintage nightgowns and wedding gowns

How I lamented that my feet are not size 5 and 1/2!  These were exquisite.  Look at the heel!

Amazing peachy pink gown with floral embellishments

Close-up of the hats - I especially loved that green one in the upper left corner!

This is now mine!  I have a smaller wicker purse, but this one's the real deal.

Cara also has several vintage magazines and fashion books.  This one was a style book for menswear (from 1905!!) that door-to-door salesmen would take to show styles and fabric samples.  The swatches were still intact!

This womenswear catalogue was so lovely, too.  I just love seeing all the old illustrations and styles from different eras.  This particular catalogue was from the mid-1930s!

After all was said and done, Cara gave me an incredibly generous deal on my haul, which consisted of that wicker handbag, four of her hats, two fur collars, and a vintage pink lace petticoat!  I was only sorry I couldn't spend all day looking through all of her pieces (and couldn't afford to buy them myself)!

Post-shopping, Steven and I went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, a quasi-Vietnamese place, where we had our standby dishes: sweet and spicy rice with chicken and pineapple for me, and pho for him.  Afterwards, we went out to get Steven a new TV for his apartment.  It is huge and awesome.  I am currently watching Golden Girls, and Bea Arthur is absolutely enormous on this screen.

Yesterday, I was finally able to take new outfit photos because of the nice weather, and Steven and I went out to a Greek restaurant we love:

It was so nice to be able to sit outside (it's right along the Erie Canal) and eat.  We walked along the canal afterwards, and saw some bird friends...

I love that one goose with her neck outstretched!

... And then we went to get some frozen yogurt.  I'm obsessed with key lime pie flavored ANYTHING, but especially this froyo. 

And then we spent the rest of the night on his couch.  I have off of work for the next couple of days, but have a lot to do.  My grandma is coming to visit from Florida for the 4th of July, and there's a lot to do before then.  Sorry for the lack of outfit post today, but I figure that people might get tired of that all the time anyway.  At least it's something to break up the monotony.  :)

I think GFC is gone by now, yes?  Hopefully you can still import all of your blogs to Bloglovin'!  If you aren't following me there yet, I'd love it if you would!  

Have a great Monday! xox Sammi