Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Magic Garden

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These photos were taken on our second day in Philadelphia, since then I've become completely enamored with the Magic Gardens and their corresponding murals throughout the city. We've been spending most weekends and evenings after work walking around and strolling down unexplored side streets. It's kind of my favorite thing right now. When I leave the hotel we're currently calling home, I know I'll miss walking out the door and having so much right there. But I'm excited, too, to have our own space again, to look out on to a park, and to get to know a new neighborhood in a different part of Philadelphia. Life is exciting.

This outfit is a long-time favorite, a go-to for casual days when I want to feel more dressed up, though it's never made it to the blog before. I grabbed this skirt off an IG sale last summer, and I love the volume and pattern, it lends itself so easily to a variety of color pairings.

Get the look: Vintage Skirt: Mikasa Su Casa IG sale // Necklace: Avalon Exc. (similar) // Sandals: Seychelles (c/o) // Bag: Thrifted (similar)// Stamped bracelet: Thrifted (similar) // Skinny Bracelet: Studebaker Metals // Crop: Aeropostale (c/o)

Monday, July 21, 2014

This Weekend

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This weekend we:
1. Went to the farmer's market in Rittenhouse Square and bought a huge bouquet of flowers.
2. Signed the lease for our new place, which looks out onto a little park and will be within biking distance to my office.
3. Walked to Jinxed on South Street.
4. Walked home.
5. Walked back to South Street to meet up with friends at Tattooed Moms (thank you all for the recommendation).
6. Got tipsy.
7. Woke up late, grabbed coffee from Joes, and watched dogs in the park (creeping on other people's dogs is my new favorite hobby. Chris's too.)
8. Drove to the Fishtown location of Jinxed, bought a camera (found a roll of used film in it!).
9. Burnt butter on the stove in our hotel room and smoked up the entire floor, which we're dealing with now. Cooking in a hotel room really isn't ideal.

... Oh, and we watched The Pizza Underground play on Friday night surrounded by really excited college students. We felt old. But it was still fun/funny for a little while, until all I wanted to do was listen to Lou Reed not sing about pizza. And I was carded for cigarettes today (not for me, I don't smoke, never have), which should have made me feel young, but mostly made me feel inconvenienced because I didn't have my ID and somehow made me feel older.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Black and White and Red

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I'm not gonna lie, this dress makes me feel all kinds of bodacious. And sometimes that's what you need, one dress (or tee, or sweater...) in your closet that makes you feel - regardless of the opinion or presence of anyone else (though Chris digs it too) - like a million f'ing bucks. This is it for me. I like the '90s vibes it gives off paired with red heels and an oversized and destroyed denim jacket, toned down a notch or two with silver accessories to match the zipper.

We spent this past weekend (and the days before it) walking all over the city and going to apartment viewings and we are both mentally exhausted. The good news is that we're just waiting on approval for a cute little place in South Philly, so I'm keeping busy by keeping my fingers crossed and stressing myself out thinking about it. But let's not kid ourselves, I can't wait. We paid a visit to Terrain out in Glen Mills on Sunday and both left with visions of an even more plant-filled apartment in our heads. I may kvetch about how much I hate apartment hunting, but the thrill of having a new space to decorate and make into a home can't be denied.

Get the look: Dress: New Old Fashion Vintage (c/o) // Jacket: Estate sale (similar) // Heels: Kelsi Dagger (c/o - similar) // Ring: UO (similar) // Earrings: Vintage (similar)

Friday, July 11, 2014

Philly So Far

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Greetings from Philadelphia! We're currently packed into our little studio in Rittenhouse Square (watching "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything - Julie Newmar" - a long time favorite) with one very unhappy cat. Zeph is a good traveler, but not so cool with suddenly living in a room 12 floors up. Little buddy does not like heights and starts shaking every time I hold him and even remotely approach the window. He likes that we brought his favorite sweater, though, (we call it his mama - you can see how ridiculous this is here) and has finally become comfortable enough to sleep with it on the chair in the room, and not buried beneath the bed. I feel pretty terrible for moving him and taking him away from his birds. He used to like to sit on the counter in the kitchen of our Pittsburgh place and look over the back yard, I'll miss coming home from work and seeing him watching the finches and robins out the window.

But 48 hours in, we dig it. Chris and I spent our first full day in Philly weaving our way through the Italian Market area looking for "For Rent" signs and getting sufficiently sun burnt, maybe a little grumpy, tired, and hungry. But so far, so good. He found a great barber shop with the sweetest dog (see above), and we stopped into a little cafe in the same area for lunch that was cozy and -- most importantly -- had air conditioning. We've found a few leads for places, but we'll see. We both just desperately want to find an apartment and get settled in.

Today we're checking out a few more neighborhoods we've had on our radar and hopefully scheduling some more viewings together before I start work on Monday. I hate apartment hunting, and after this move, I feel as if we'll be settled for awhile. We better be at least, because, man I don't want to have to do this again. I hate how competitive it is, having to look at a place with a bunch of other people who are also desperate to find somewhere to live. Trolling Criagslist and Zillow and HotPads, and all the others constantly, hoping something new will turn up. I'm so thankful to at least be able to be here while we look, the temporary place is a godsend, but I know we just want something that feels like home.

This weekend we're planning to check out more places, but taking a break on Saturday to hit up the beach. I can't wait! It'll be nice to have a day to chill out a bit before I jump into this new position and before Chris hits the pavement on his own to look at apartments. I'm looking forward to packing up the cooler, grabbing my swim suit, and hitting the road early to get to the coast for a day at the ocean. If you need Zeph, he will most likely be chilling under the bed.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Contempt-o

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I am a sweaty mess. Right now I'm sitting amidst the rubble of our apartment, half of it in boxes, the other half scattered frenetically on the floor, shelves, etc. I didn't make myself dinner tonight, opting instead to drown my stress in ice pops. Moving is madness. This is always something I manage to forget as soon as we're settled in. Only to be remembered when the process repeats itself. There's no perfect way to do it, although I'd say we've become quite good at it. Worlds better than the disaster that was our move to Pittsburgh (which found us practically shoveling stuff into the back of a truck), at least. The cat has caught on, he's hiding in his carrier as if to ensure we won't forget him. He's been microchipped and is sporting a fancy new collar, I'm feeling paranoid about him somehow escaping and have been having cat-themed stress dreams for weeks.

I went on a last-hurrah thrifting date with my friend Bess this weekend, which was the perfect way to spend most of Saturday. I found a couple of tee shirts, a nice cashmere men's sweater (for $3!), a few little accessories, and a wealth of '90s floral dresses, this one included. I had a wave of nostalgia when I read the tag: Contempo Casuals. Oh how I loved that store as a pre-teen! My mom hated it. Going so far as to call it "Contempt-o".

I didn't wear this anywhere special, just to run to Home Depot and grab hotdogs with Chris, but it was a relief to get out of the cut-offs-and-tank uniform I've been sporting lately. Only one more day and we're in Philadelphia. Whoa.

Get the look: Dress & bag: Thrifted (similar & similar) // Sandals: Seychelles (c/o) // Necklaces: Black Crystals (c/o) // Sunglasses: Missguided (c/o) // Bracelet: Studebaker Metals

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Yellow Daisies

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I can't express enough how much I appreciate all of the comments and thoughts left on Tuesday's post, we're so, so excited for everything that lies ahead, and even more enthusiastic now after having read all the glowing reviews and recommendations of/for Philadelphia. Today is my last day at my current job, and it's bittersweet (and a little weird). I'm sad to leave my co-workers, but after so much anticipation and months of interviews, I'm ready to get started and just get there already. I'm really excited to have a few days of down time (yeah right) before my first day of work. I didn't do that last time, and I'm looking forward to being able to gather my thoughts, get inspired, and spend some quality time with Chris before diving in. And by quality time, I mean frantically looking for a place to live (although our temporary place will have AC, I'm not sure we'll ever want to leave). We haven't decided on a neighborhood yet, we've visited a few that we really liked, but it'll come down to finding the right place. I am hopeful that I'll be able to ride my bike to work again. After a couple of years of a long and winding (but pretty) commute, I'm looking forward to maybe spending less on gas and living a shorter distance away.

I've packed up most of my clothes at this point, leaving out a (relatively) small selection of items I'll be taking with me to our temp housing. We carted so much unnecessary stuff with us to Pittsburgh (like a box of utility receipts from 2007, what?), I'm determined to not relive that same mistake with this move. I've been attempting to pare down my wardrobe for ... the past year, actually, now that I think about it, and I'm slightly embarrassed at how hard it's been to get rid of certain things, so it's been a cathartic experience bringing those big bags to Goodwill. I had hopes of doing another yard sale before we left, but at this point I like the idea of just getting rid of it all once and for all much better (plus, I won't have to spend my Sunday sitting amongst my things in my yard).

This outfit includes a couple of the staples I've left out to bring with me to Philadelphia. Basically, this is the summer version of this outfit. I wore this last week on a slightly cooler day when I was feeling particularly under the weather. I don't get sick very often, but when I do, I get sick. The three days following were spent attempting to work from bed, but failing pretty miserably. Actually the only thing I did manage to accomplish was getting Chris sick. Two down for the count.

Overalls might not strike you as a "staple," but the baggy fit and light-weight denim of these make them ideal for days where I want to be more covered up, or need something a little sturdier than a sun dress. Overalls on adults will always be a little ridiculous to me, I mean, I can't take myself too seriously when wearing the adult version of Osh Kosh, but they're fun and I like how they look with a crisp crop top.

Get the look: Overalls: Vintage thrifted (similar) // Crop top: Aeropostale (c/o) // Sneakers: Converse All Leather // Choker necklace & bracelets: thrifted // Long necklaces: Black Crystals (c/o)

+ Save 15% off your order from Black Crystals w/code 'ORCHIDGREY'

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

It's Your Ship, Baby, Steer It

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So, it's time for me to tell you exactly why I've been so stressed out/anxious/excited/cagey: We're moving. To Philadelphia. In a couple of weeks under two weeks.

(If you'd like to know what I looked like as I typed that, please refer to this - I am both Louise AND Tina, at most times actually.)

It's crazy. I feel crazy. We're crazy. Unghhhh... I've been obsessing trying for a week and a half to figure out just how to announce this. How, exactly, to express my/our excitement and sadness, nervousness and over-the-moon-ness (not an actual word) regarding this next chapter in my/our lives, without coming off as... I don't know ... ungrateful? I don't know. What I do professionally is sort of in the public eye as my work is published on the Internet, so announcing any major change like this kind of makes me uncomfortable, there's always so much more going on behind the scenes, so much I don't talk about. I know I shouldn't care, but I think all anyone ever wants is to be understood, so it's hard not to care how people perceive your decisions. The last time I made this sort of announcement people thought I was being all cute-sy and coy about where I was going, when in reality I was just terrified of jinxing myself, of talking about my new job and something not working out. Anyway, what I've realized is that there's no perfect way to do it.

We're no strangers to packing up and moving for the right opportunity, that's exactly what we did when I was hired at ModCloth, after all. We packed up our lives and pointed our compass in the direction of a place we knew nothing about, and it was -- by far -- the largest leap of faith/risk either of us had ever taken. And after a bumpy first year, it worked out, things were really hard emotionally at first for the both of us, but moving to Pittsburgh was so, SO worth it. And while we always knew in our hearts that PGH would be temporary, we really came to love it, especially over the past year and a half. But the thing with temporary stuff is that eventually you leave whatever it is behind, no matter how painful it might be to do so. Our first inkling that our time here might be drawing to a close more quickly than expected came a while back when we found ourselves staring down the possibility of living separately, Chris in New Hampshire, where there were more career opportunities for him, and me in Pittsburgh, where I have a stable job in my industry. But neither of us wanted to go back to long distance (we spent the first two and a half years of our relationship 100 miles apart). It didn't help that, each time we visited home, it became more and more difficult to come back. We're fine with living far away from our families, really, but as we get older we want to see them more than twice a year.

Around the same time that all of this was going down, I came across an amazing opportunity in Philadelphia -- a bigger city with more jobs, that is six hours closer to home -- and applied. And after months and months of interviews, I got it. I got it! And so, after a great deal of deep discussion, polling of family and friends (who are most likely really sick of hearing about all of this), and some major gut checking, Chris and I agreed that this job is my next step and Philly is our next step. And so, starting July 14th I will be joining Free People as an Editorial Specialist. Obviously this decision was a difficult one, and one that I did not take lightly. ModCloth is an incredible company and one that I am very proud to say I have worked for, and of course there's a part of me that's sad to see it in the rear-view mirror. But it's time for me to move forward and for us to be in a city that can offer us both the opportunities we need to grow. Moreover, Pittsburgh will forever hold a place in our hearts as a city that challenged us, charmed us, frustrated us to no end, surprised us, and -- ultimately -- won us over. Part of this is summer talking (Pittsburgh turns on the charm in June and July), but we're going to miss this place. Hard.

We're currently in the process of packing everything up, and "overwhelmed" doesn't even begin to describe it. We'll be moving into temporary housing while I start work, which will give us time to apartment-hunt in person. Right now, we just want to find a place to live. It sounds silly, but besides the friends we made here, the thing I'll miss the most is our Pittsburgh apartment and neighborhood. We love this space and if we had it our way, we'd lift it up and plop it down in Philadelphia. But, knowing what I know now about relocating to a new city, I'm excited to start fresh. To approach Philadelphia with open arms rather than apprehension. It certainly helps that we've been able to visit a few times, that we know more about the area, and that we actually have some friends already there. I'm excited to explore, to meet new people, and to push myself creatively in a new position with a brand that has such a strong identity.

Pittsburgh has us until the 9th. Until then, we'll be visiting all of our favorite spots, spending as much time with our friends here as possible, committing every square inch of our apartment to memory, and having backyard bonfire parties and eating s'mores until we can't stand them. Oh yeah, and maybe doing some packing as well.

Wish us luck, and if you're a fan of Philly, tell me about it! I want to know all your favorite things. Also, tell me about beach spots, because oh-my-sweet-god, we're going to be near the ocean again!