Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Over the Weekend Part 1: Portland

pre-post note: I've started linking to items I've bought that are available online, it won't be a lot because most of what I wear is second-hand, but maybe you'll find it helpful?!
Dress: thrifted ($4)
Belt: vintage gift
Bag: thrifted ($10)
Sandals: c/o PacSun spring break crew
Necklace: c/o Dolly and Boy
outfit photos: chris
These photos are actually from Friday, when my weekend started. Chris has Fridays off, and we've been enjoying having the day together since I haven't been working full-time. We decided to take a day trip up to Portland, ME, which is only about an hour from us (and a 45 minute drive from where I grew up) and one of my all-time favorite cities. Since I knew it would be another summer scorcher, I opted for a breezy linen dress, easy sandals, and a frizz concealing straw hat. This hat is seriously my favorite thing ever, don't be surprised if you see it in a lot of upcoming posts. It had been sitting on a shelf at the skate-shop where Chris works for ages so I decided to finally make it mine after trying it on every single time I went in. I have been looking for a straw hat for a long time, but had very specific requirements, mainly I wanted one that was flipped up all the way around. I love Brixton hats anyways, Chris has a few that have held up so well over the past few years.
Anyways, we origionally intended to catch a ferry out to one the islands in the bay but got there too late, so instead we spent the day wandering around the Old Port, eating grilled lobster sandwiches and sipping beer at a pub overlooking Casco Bay, and lounging around the waterfront. I know this will probably sound really gross to a lot of you, but I love the smell of low tide, fresh fish, the docks, and seaweed, downtown Portland possesses all of these smells. Chris and I would move there in a heartbeat if we could find jobs, I love it so much. I think that has been one of the most difficult aspects of post-college life so far: reconciling the necessity of being in or near a large city for career purposes, but really feeling much more of a connection and pull with a place that has more of a small-town aesthetic but does not support the kind of career I want. Life! Anyways...
After traipsing around downtown for a couple of hours, we met up with some friends in Scarborough and headed to the best-worst-place-in-Maine: Old Orchard Beach. No local in their right mind ventures down to OOB, it's trashy, loud, and frankly, kind of gross. It's the butt of many jokes, most of which are too inappropriate to post on this blog. It's the home of "Palace Playland" and an unspectacular boardwalk, along with a host of the kind of shops that will sell you a Bud Light string bikini and by-the-dozen shot glasses. Somehow it manages to be both a dream and a nightmare, the people watching is phenomenal! We wandered some more, ate terrible/wonderful food (mile long franks and fries), and tried to avoid the hoards of pre-teens out on group dates.

I feel like the past few days have been so crazy, I have SO much catching up to do!