What We Wore: Tights and Boots and Blue

Fall is definitely in the air in Boston today! It's going to get up to the mid-seventies later, but the morning was certainly crisp. We have been stocking up (haha, we love that pun every time) on tights for the cooler weather and had also scored a couple of pairs of gorgeous boots on clearance over the summer, so we possibly jumped the gun-- it still being technically August-- on the autumn thing.


Does anyone else feel like doing laundry is like going shopping all over again? We finished five loads yesterday and in one of the black loads (we did an all purple/pink load, an all teal/blue load, two black and one white. Ha!), we found this cute, cute little smocked-elastic-waist v-neck cotton dress that we had completely forgotten about picking up (at Marshalls, probably?) recently. We were like "what the heck is this?" But we're thrilled we decided to be super-productive and plunder the depths of the hamper, because it is magnificent with the bright tights, boots, and new-by-us statement piece (OK so it's not huge or anything, but still, multiple strands are a stretch for us). We know the whole thing is pretty matchy-matchy, and frankly, we like it that way.


Earrings and necklace with vintage jet faceted glass, a gift from our dear friend IVStuffs and IVJools at etsy aka InspiredVintageJewelry- check out her blog!

Left hand: our David Anderson leaf antique bracelet, plus a luscious "end-of-day" charm bracelet in blues by us. Filigree ring from MetroStyle and pretty lilac sapphire engagement ring by JewelsCurnow at Etsy.


Right hand: Awesome new double-serpent crystal ball ring from the Oregon Country Fair, and studded faux leather cuff, totally pilfered from our just-about-teenage son (someone should really talk to us about this...)


We're terribly excited about our new faux-snakeskin scrunchy boots from Famous Footwear, complete with almost- perfectly reasonable walking heel. Oh, yes.


Are you apprehensive or pleased about the impending change of seasons? Are you feeling it yet where you are? Summer is our absolute favorite season of all, but boots are our absolute favorite footwear of all, so we're kind of OK with it.

End-of-Summer Trends We Ended Up Loving

We bought a maxi dress! We had questioned the sanity of such an item on our short little frame, but we found the perfect one that we don't step on (even in flip-flops). It has a Grecian-inspired, drapey empire-waist bodice with adjustable straps (woot!) and in an absolutely divine peacock print. Really, we just love it-- and best of all, it was half off at that dreaded T-conglomerate, for $14.99. It was marked a size 2, which is possibly why it was the only one of its kind on the clearance rack. Remember, never believe the label- try it on if there's any possibility it could fit!) Here's a really terrible picture:


The print is turquoise, teal, periwinkle, spring green, bright violet and seafoam. Luscious:



We also thrifted a statement necklace back in June at Raspberry Beret, which we paired with (our first wearing of) our new psychedelic flower-patterned mesh surplice v-neck at the office on Friday (on the bottom, our orchid tiered hippie skirt). We doubt we'll be owning a bib necklace or anything else enormous in the near future, but layers of chains and teal-and-sea-green glass beads are just fine by us. We're flouting the petites-can't-wear-bold-jewelry rule:


It seems like the big-necklace trend will still be huge (ha, ha) for fall, and we recently saw (in September's 15th Anniversary InStyle) teal referred to as a fall color (? really?) so hopefully this will last us a while before we look hopelessly out-of-fashion. (Like we'd really care...)

What are your favorite trends that are continuing on from summer to fall? We discovered that our maxi dress looks adorable over a body-conscious teal sweater (from the same thrifting trip as the necklace) as a jumper, with our fake Frye motorcycle boots from Famous Footwear beneath, so we'll be wearing it well into the colder weather (it's also a magnificent just-hanging-around-the-house dress, as the empire waist and cup-and-strap construction mean braless is a possibility even for those of us who are more largely endowed and can rarely enjoy the non-constricted luxury).

While we usually advocate vintage thrifted and/or handmade, we have to admit that we're drawn to the clearance racks at the demonic T. Aren't you? Definitely hit them now, as they're transitioning out for fall items, so you can probably find a lot of cute stuff. Also, some of the dorm decor isn't so awful-- we just grabbed a microfiber "storage ottoman" in black, for $19.99, which is now housing our dumbbells so they're not just lying around the living room waiting for us to do something about this teacher arm! Check it out (bottom left/center):


(Yes, we are obsessed with purple).

Ooh! We forgot to mention that our Tar-geigh has all of their house brand (Prospirit) Balance Balls on clearance for $5. We got one for home for an office chair, and we're thinking we're going to go back and grab a blue one for the office, if we can convince them it's professional enough! Hooray for working the abs while you're required to be sitting on your arse!

Enjoy the last of your weekend!

Thrifty Etsy Finds: Statement Necklaces $20 and Under

We're not entirely sure that we personally are planning to rock this trend we're seeing everywhere with the giant necklaces, but only because we rarely wear necklaces, fixated as we are on chandelier earrings and with our propensity for low-cut tops; no reason to draw the eye there further, we surmise.

However, because we love our readers so and assume that some of you are fashionistas in the sense that you must.have.one.of.those. which is totally fine, we bring you thrifty Etsy statement necklaces.


We're sad the mini won't publish in html because we'd love you to be able to click to link to the shops from the photo; to be able to do so, check out our Etsy finds (on the right) or our public favorites here. But we'd like to also feature the artists individually (top to bottom, left to right):

$20- Vintage Gunmetal Nail Pendant Necklace from LifeTravelsDesigns in Florida, who is a jewelry designer in addition to vintage collector and also runs the shop RuthEyes from which we (coincidentally, really) found
$10 Vintage Orange Cabochon Necklace (Amberina/Gold tone) which has us drooling a bit, even though we don't technically wear orange.


$15 "Orange Fiber Statement" by SoulInChains of Vine Valley, NY, is a fabulously upcycled felted-sweater necklace with fantastic and multitudinous beadwork. She says "This has to be one of the most wonderful things I have ever made." We adored her at first sight!


$18 "Connect the Loops" by BeMyShark in Brooklyn is so.freaking.cool. that we can barely stand it, likely due to the fact that she used all of our favorite colors and managed to make something awesome out of trash (plastic bags!). We would like to announce our dorky, ridiculous fandom. We also totally love her offering
$15 Structure and Shape which has ruffly trash. Girl after our own hard-edged girly heart. How totally punk is wearing garbage? Like, the epitome.


$12 Bamboo Flower Necklace by Ashlee of Rose Marie's Bijouterie in Salt Lake City, who named her shop after her stepdaughters (cue awww). Lots of statement pieces in the shop, like
$12 "Rian" Coral Enameled Necklace whose flower pendant is 2" in diameter... A good "statement pendant" size.


$10 "Funky Feather and Vintage Necklace" by HaKniK from Da Bronx (um, sorry about that) is wicked, wicked awesome (we say that here in Boston- it's a synonym for very), who says "I LoVe fashion. The frivolity of it all. The never-ending cycle..." Ah yes, as do we; hence the blog. We try not to take ourselves too seriously either.


$17 "Angel Eyes" by JenGlo of Gloucester (MA represent!) is a kinetic sculpture in a necklace. Way cool. We also love her
$10 "Full Circle" necklace - a stainless steel disc with a crazy-cool pattern, on a vegan leather cord.


$9 "Statement" by MrsJabberJaw of Bridgewater (er, somewhere) includes earrings (wow! what a steal!) and reminded us a great deal of something that Erin of Work with What You've Got might wear (and makes! Check out her Etsy shop too at LoveErinDesigns)


$9.95 Multicolor blue-green pewter pendant on a seven-strand cord by Mindielee of Torrance, CA (Mrs. Torraaaaance... heh) is stunning and shiny and measures close to 2" wide. The designer, who has many other bold necklaces in her shop, says "I dream of swirls, colors and patterns in my sleep." As do we, darling, as do we.


Hope you enjoy these picks! We found them all, in case you care, by searching simply "big statement necklace" in handmade and then vintage, and sorting within both categories from low price to high. Thankfully Etsy has made the search function a little bit more newbie-friendly, so it's a bit easier to find what you're looking for, in our opinion, regardless of the mega-controversy regarding search-engine optimization... (we'll admit that we don't think our own shop has been found by anyone in months so maybe we're suffering unwittingly from the changes).

Happy Bold-Jewelry-Shopping-and-Rocking!