hitting the trails

 

i remember not liking camping that much when i was younger. or at least being neutral about it. not really pumped to go, but not totally distraught at the idea. but many things, like dogs and dishwashers, have started to appeal to me as i age and finally make sense. i get why my mom was so jazzed about sleeping outside.

i went camping to rickett's glenn a few weeks ago with some friends. fear of rain and thunder (and more specifically, rain and thunder causing trees to fall onto our tent) caused us to skip out on our first night but we woke up before the crack of dawn saturday morning and drove up in the mini-van. judging by the way we packed into that van, you would think we were moving out west with all our worldly possessions ala oregon trail. in which case my mini van would be a Conestoga wagon. the van was PACKED and we squashed our friend matt in the very back - when i looked in the rear view mirror all i could see was his cowboy hat.

we spent the weekend hiking the trails, splashing in falls, being surprised by how cold it was (pro: no sweating! con: no swimming.), eating food, napping like sardines packed into one tent, making pancakes over the fire, trying to start fires, finding good fire poking sticks, talking about fire, throwing cheese-its in the water (which i'm sure no park ranger would advise) to see if they float, racing our cheese-its down the river, and just generally reveling in the freshness of the air/greenness of the trees/mightiness of the falls. summer in the city is wonderful, but there's something amazing and perfect about being in nature. i think it's the trees.

let's not forget about the weirdness

 

did i mention that sometimes while scouring the shelves at thrift stores, you stumble on some amazingly weird stuff? stuff like this little inexplicable beauty? that's another perk to hitting the thrift circuit. 

how i thrift

 

i thrift on the regular. it's an addiction. i love the hunt- sifting through racks of clothing, honing my eye for neat housewares among the half-burnt candles and mugs that say 'florida'. it's way more rewarding to find a three dollar dress among the racks then to waltz into kohls and pay twenty bucks for something tons of other people have. (not to knock on kohls because, seriously, they've been killing it recently. lauren conrads line is out of control in the best possible way.) 

i consider myself a semi-pro thrifter or at the very least and seriously experienced vet on the central pa thrift scene, and i therefore feel qualified to dish out my thrifting tips: 

1. know what you're looking for. this could manifest itself in a lot of different ways. know what colors you're into, what types of fabric you like (pass on the poly-knits for this lady), and what styles you're into. i'll typically approach a row by going to the colors i want, then doing a feel test - literally running my hand along the clothes to see if anything catches my eye. or hand. you know what i mean. i also like to have a clear inspiration for what i'm shopping for. if i pick up an item, i think does this look like something that would be in the wardrobe of the pushing daisies cast? would anthropologie stock this? could i wear this to a summer party in new england circa 1970? that helps me to weed out anything i might just be attracted to because of the price tag and focus on building a cohesive wardrobe.
2. check for pit stains. maybe tiffany gave this tank top to goodwill because she sweat a little too much on the dance floor. check the pits before moving to the register.
3. think about what you already have. can you wear this top with bottom already in your wardrobe? or do you have to buy something else to go along with it? make sure it works.
4. totally inspect furniture. are there springs hanging out under the couch? is the fabric itchy? weird stains on the flip side of the cushions? do a little detective work.
5. if it makes your heart leap, buy it. it's not going to be there tomorrow and then you'll have heartbreaking dreams about that beautiful red vinyl top table with chrome details you left behind because you weren't sure about the logistics of getting it home. just buy it.

what are your personal rules for thrifting?

slim pickin'

 

  there is nothing more summery and perfect than picking fruit. my grandparents used to have a blueberry bush in their backyard and after spending an afternoon swimming in their pool or picnicking under the willow tree in their side yard, my grandma might give me a little green container to take to the blueberry bush and fill up.

i haven't picked any fruit since then and a few weeks ago my friend jonah suggested going to pick strawberries. my roommates beth and keiran joined and we trekked half an hour outside of the city to linvilla farms. with visions of sweet summer berry picking, we all dressed completely inappropriately for the weather. it ended up being super chilly - so much so that keiran and beth grabbed some makeshift winter wear from my car to warm up (keiran actually has a rug around her shoulders.) we picked strawberries and cherries, ate probably twice as many as we actually picked, and made faces at the thousands of babies who were also there picking berries. seriously. berry picking is prime baby watching turf.

when we got back we made strawberry salads and a strawberry crumble and strawberry pancakes and then bagged up the rest and froze 'em. i'm hoping to make some strawberry balsamic jam later today - seems like a worthy use.

dream couch

 

  i saw it from across the room and suddenly every love song i had ever heard made sense to me. this couch was one hundred percent love at first sight, especially when i discovered it was fifty percent off the already bargain price. the west shore salvation army always has glorious furniture pics - i've had to physically restrain myself on multiple occasions. if i gave in and bought ever piece of furniture that caught my eye, i would have enough to furnish a large country manor. that blue chair in the picture? i would have snatched that up. the orange chair? would have also been coming home with mama. (thankfully, my friend mercedes snatched it up a few short days after i was there.) but i have restraint. i'm a reasonable person. i have held back many times in the past and suppressed my urge to splurge.

but this was a dream couch. it has weird birds on it! and the colors! it's not some brown and orange floral number that are a dime a dozen at my regular thrift haunts. it's the dream couch. so i took it home and now it will rest in my future living room. as soon as i secure a future place to live. that might be an important first step.

harrisburg house tour

 

 harrisburg house tour does not disappoint. especially when you combine all your philly roommates with your parents friends and allow them to day drink over an eight hour period of time. beautiful, magical things happen.

 

secret garden

there's a spot on campus that we refer to as the secret garden. considering temple has 36,000 students, it's probably not that secret. but we like to think it is. it's tucked away behind the 7/11, next to a banquet hall used for various campus events and, unlike the grassy area by the bell tower, there's hardly anyone ever there. you have to descend a few steps to get there and the sloping hills surrounding the secret garden are covered in greenery. it's a pretty sweet spot for a city campus.

it's also a pretty sweet spot for impromptu picnics. we've been trying to squeeze in as many activities as possible the past few weeks, before our lease is up at the end of june and everyone leaves. 'everyone' isn't really 'everyone'. but it's some major players. and the end of june isn't even our real expiration date. beth is moving home june 18th to work at camp, then moves to austin in august for grad school. keiran's starting to shuffle her stuff back home the second to last weekend in june. christine is slowly pushing things into trash backs from her move back to new hampshire. even though the people are still here, watching the packing happen is sometimes enough for me to start to feel sad.

i'm no better though - i took home my first load of stuff last week, including the saggy bean bag will all love to hate. it's literally like sitting on the floor, the beans are so smushed. our downstairs walls were covered in posters and paper since the first week we moved in and when i took them down on Monday, you could see clear outlines where the pictures used to be, protecting the wall from the slight sheen of dirt found elsewhere. the house is starting to come apart. pretty soon it won't be ours.

so we're filling our remaining time with picnics and bike rides and spontaneous brunching and wine'n'wigs nights. which i think is the only option. because the other options are solo wine-drinking and crying to episodes of 'cheers'.