june gloom. an outfit post.

let me tell you a little something about summertime here in the south bay. generally speaking, the weather is REALLY nice throughout the spring, mostly sunny and warm with an occasional cold and rainy day, then as soon as its actually summer, everything turns grey and muggy and freezing cold in the morning and (if and only if the marine layer burns off) hot and humid in the afternoon. this lasts all summer right up until around labor day when the weather gets nice again and stays that way until christmas. 

this phenomenon is usually referred to as "june gloom" and has been very much in effect for the past couple weeks. now im having a hard enough time these days just dressing myself in general, but dressing myself for church on a freezing cold morning that may or may not turn into a hot and gross afternoon (which it did) is the kind of challenge that really just makes me want to shrivel up and die. or less dramatically, just stay in my pajamas. 

but i have a very, very, VERY strict "no pajamas outside of the house" rule in this family, so this is what i ended up wearing to church this week:

dress: target,  blazer: vintage, scarf: gift, tights: target, shoes: vintage, pokemon badges: sanshee.com, bracelet: tiffany, glasses: zenni optical 

i have to admit that i felt very accomplished after putting this outfit together because i managed to pull of an entirely monochromatic palette, and these days "monochromatic" is about as close to a "color story" as im able to get. this was also one of those super rare outfits where i really love every single piece. id really like to someday have an entire closet filled entirely with things i love and nothing else, but ive got a lot of work to do before i get there. 

the dress is a new hand-me-down from my younger sister, i recently helped her with her laundry and she gave me like, seven or eight dresses (my sister has a lot of dresses), and this one is definitely my favorite and will be getting a lot of wear this summer. the blazer is by far my number one greatest thrift store find EVER: i had been wanting a velvet blazer for YEARS, but could never find one that fit right (ive got fairly broad shoulders for a lady), until this one turned up at a $5 bag sale. it fits perfectly, has usable pockets (hard to find on ladies jackets), AND my sister and i split the bag, so i ended up getting it and a few other things for $2.50. the scarf was a christmas gift from my mother-in-law, and i love it because its so light and gauzy and perfect for this weird transitional weather. 

my favorite parts of this outfit though are my pokemon league badges (please excuse my upside-down earth badge):

james surprised me with them a long time ago, but i didnt have the right jacket to put them on until i found this black one (i actually have a slightly embarrassing number of jackets for someone born and raised in southern california). 

and these shoes:

which first of all are fantastic because theyre dancing shoes, so theyre SUPER comfortable with their low, sturdy heels and padded insoles(!), but second of all, i bought them on my very first road trip out to visit james when we first started dating (one day ill tell the whole story but today is not that day). 

not only did i feel fairly attractive in this outfit (a rare occurrence), but i also got to wear two of my most favorite thrift store pieces at the same time, which was pretty awesome. 

whats your best thrift store find? id love to hear about it.