Goodbye, 2012!

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for sticking around, for reading, for commenting and messaging, for posting and being all-around awesome people! I am so excited and thankful for all the wonderful, amazing people through this weird little thing! Is that incredibly saccharine and trite? It think it might be, or maybe it only is if you don't mean it. 

2012 was the weirdest year for me, full of some really weird, sad, bad-luck ridden days (break-ups, dead crows, a case of shingles), and also some of the most fun (summer driving, visiting the best ladies ever, exploring abandoned buildings, getting a cat). Either way, I'm pretty excited for 2013! I think it's a way better number all-around, I think it has a good personality. In the meantime, I thought I'd do a quick post looking back on the past year. I don't feel entirely confident in my personal style, I still feel like I don't know how to describe it, that my mood of what I want to wear changes so much each day, but in looking back on the past year I feel like I've had some of my favorite outfits yet!

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A Fresh Coat.

Over the past two years I've managed to amass a pretty decent collection of coats. My favorite coat was stolen last winter, a black one, so this year especially I've been on the look out for coats that will get me through the winter without bringing my spirits down because I have to cover up my outfit. My coral J. Crew from several years ago is one I end up in a lot, but sometimes the brightness of it is oppressive, and it's something of a fancy coat really.

Coat: c/o Modcloth, sold out two days after it got here, ugh! But you can find a similar one here, which I actually think I want MORE now! Also similar, Dress: Madewell, Tights: J. Crew, Shoes: DC Footwear via Zappos, Bag: Vintage, estate sale, Beret: I think it's my dad's actually.

I picked this one almost right away, the second I saw it, as a gift from Modcloth because I've started to become a parody of myself, working polka-dots into every single outfit possible. I was actually quite good and photographed it right away (something I'm generally pretty bad about these days--I've been recycling outfits a lot more this year than before because I carry my camera and tripod with me thinking that if I have a free second I can grab some quick shots--this doesn't usually happen) and realized when I went to upload this post that night the coat had sold out, ugh! 

I also got caught pretty bad taking these!  I think people are probably starting to notice there are a few brick walls in my area that I tend to favor--this is one of them--but this time I didn't realize the people behind those windows were in there and could see me! I'm starting to feel less awkward about the whole thing, after five years it's about time, partly because it seems like more people are aware of blogs better these days and so explaining it isn't quite as painful as it was before. 

The sad thing about this outfit is I probably won't be throwing it on again anytime soon since we've been buried under some serious snow. I know it's a stupid thing to complain about, and a silly thing to wish for, but I was quite content with last years winter with hardly any snow! I'll regret this statement, I'm sure.  I've also worn these poor shoes down to nubs, the heels are tragic from turning them into my dancing shoes, but thankfully they are at the shoe repair shop being patched together!

Hats in Waiting.

Coat: J. Crew circa 2008, Dress:Custard Heart Vintage, Boots: Nine West circa 2006, Bag: Vintage/thrifted, Hat: Vintage/estate sale, Lipstick: NARS Schiap

Remember this spot? I wanted to get back to it in the summer, and the fall, when there were leaves and things and I could wear a summer dress on the dock but I never quite made it back. Finally I got back there on a day Jess and I were spending the day thrifting and trying to find a spot to take some shop an outfit photos. It took a bit of wandering to find it again, but I'm glad I know where it is well enough now to go back!

(Got my grump on, apparently!)

This outfit is a little bit ridiculous, between the hat and neon coat, but nothing else seemed to do that day. I got the hat ages ago, last March, at an estate sale with Jess and had to tuck the thing away for the entire summer before I knew I'd  be able to wear it again! It's kind of huge and insane, but I love it a lot. I have the original box, complete with a note written on the top of it by the owner detailing the date it was bought and what else she got that day.

And then the dress, which is a dream! I've been looking for a 60s cream lace shift dress for ages, but every time I thought I found one it didn't fit, or something was weird about it, or it was way, way out of my price range. The second this popped up over at Custard Heart Vintage I made it mine. And then it arrived on what was truly a no-good day, just in time to cheer me up!

Pictures taken by Jess. Check out her shop for a few hats and coats we photographed at this location as well!