Humans of Philadelphia

The other day I was lingering around Walnut Street, trying to take some street style photos for another project that I've started working on.  As I was lingering in the area, waiting to find the perfect person to photograph, someone else came up to me, asking to take my photo.  I have been photographed as street style before, but never actually on the street (last time was at a book signing with Scott Schuman/The Sartorialist).  I was photographed for a new project called Humans of Philadelphia, a Facebook page created to document Philadelphia in a similar fashion to the Humans of New York page.  If you have a moment, definitely check it out!

Skirt: Express, Philadelphia Premium Outlets
Shirt: Kanvas, Popmart
Purse: Betsey Johnson, consignment shop
Belt: G.H. Bass & Co., thrifted
Necklace: Chicos, gift

Doc Martens

Oh, Doc Martens... I have always loved wearing my Docs, ever since my mom gave me her old pairs to wear when I was in middle school.  I used to walk around wearing her Docs with a bright pink leg warmer on one leg, a bright green leg warmer on the other leg, and some random but usually pretty interesting skirt.  I was always a shy kid, but I wore what I wanted to wear.  My style has definitely evolved since middle school, but I still have fun with wearing Doc Martens on the occasion, but this time in a slightly less flashy manner haha.

I wore this outfit to go to one last meeting for my place of employment this summer.  We have monthly meetings to just update everyone on what changes might be made soon to the store, and since this is my last week working there, it was nice to see everyone in the same place for one last time.  The usual uniform for the store includes jeans, a denim shirt, a specific tie, and a denim apron.  Denim on denim on denim.  It's definitely nice to go to work for once without having to wear our usual denim uniform haha.

Dress: Forever 21, thrifted
Jean Jacket: American Eagle, Philadelphia Premium Outlets
Shoes: Dr. Martens, hand-me-down from my mom/thrifted
Belt: Express, Philadelphia Premium Outlets
Sunglasses: Ray Bans, local consignment shop, The Attic

Craigslist

I have always been a scavenger, searching for deals in every place possible.  I spent a lot of my childhood at flea markets, auctions, yard sales, and thrift stores with my mom, which definitely influenced me to continue the habit of scavenging through thrift stores and finding cool things in every place possible ever since then.  This summer I have started scavenging Craigslist’s free postings more than anything else.

I had always heard about Craigslist but had never actually used it too much because it always seemed like a sketchy place.  In recent years I admit that I have been entertained by reading Missed Connections on Craigslist (I even had one written for me…), and started browsing the free postings for furniture and other cool miscellaneous items. 

 

Since the beginning of this summer, I have acquired 2 vintage trunks, 20+ articles of Victorian-era clothing, clothing patterns from the 1800s, a tv stand for my apartment, a box full of free books (with lots of books on philosophy), among other items, all for free on Craigslist. 

 

I think I’m going to start sharing more of my experiences with Craigslist and some of my various finds from thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets, and Craigslist on this blog because I really am obsessed with finding great deals.  

But to start off, here are some tips for finding things on Craigslist.

1. Don’t always expect to find the perfect item on Craigslist. 

When you’re looking for used items in general, you really need to keep an open mind because one man’s trash can really be another man’s treasure… but that trash can sometimes use some work, whether it be a time-consuming DIY project, or just a little bit of a cleanup.  Even though the antique trunks I found are fantastic, they still need work with cleaning and restoration.  Also, the tv stand I acquired through a craigslist ad needs a little bit of touch up from broken sections and areas of the paint chipping. 

2. Respond to the posting as quickly as possible

When it comes to free items, a lot of people are eager to pick up just about anything.  There have been multiple occasions where I have responded to an ad and driven a distance for the sake of getting an item, but upon my arrival the item has already been taken.  Some people respond to postings within minutes of the time that they were posted.  I know when I responded to the posting for the free antique trunks, I emailed the ad as soon as possible and assured them that I would be there within 30 minutes, so they were polite and reserved the trunks for me.  It doesn’t necessarily always happen that nicely though.

 

3. Be aware of your surroundings.

Since I’m living outside of Philly for the summer in a more rural area, I feel a lot safer responding to these postings.  If I was living in Philly and responding to these free postings, I might be a bit more skeptical of what neighborhood or part of town I might be entering.  In the more rural area I live in, I feel safer with responding to the postings, but still sometimes like to take someone with me in case it turns into a sketchy situation.  The antique trunks and Victorian Clothing are my favorite finds to date, and in order to get those items I responded to the posting and picked up the trunks after 11pm on a Friday night.  Nighttime pickups can definitely be scary, so I brought someone with me in case the situation turned bad.

 

This Ken doll was kind of creepy to see when first arriving to a posting for free books. 

4.  Have fun!

I have had so much fun since I started responding to these postings.  It’s honestly more about the thrill of the hunt than anything else.  When responding to a few of the postings I got to talk to some awesome people.  I responded to a posting about vintage miscellaneous items and the owner of the items and I were sharing stories of some of our best finds.  I didn’t find much at that stop, but I got to hear some great stories from a fellow scavenger. 

I will start to share some more tips on thrift shopping, yard sales, and some of my finds soon!  I’m also working on opening an etsy shop to sell some cool, vintage items.  

Blobfest

Blobfest is an event held every year in Phoenixville, Pa, where the cult classic, The Blob, was filmed. I have been obsessed with this movie since I've been a kid and have had the intention of going to Blobfest for years now. This year I finally found a friend with a similar, geeky interest in sci-fi films to attend the festival with me and finally make my dream of attending the festival come true. Every year the festival has an event to reenact the running out of the theatre scene from the movie in the theatre where it was originally filmed. I didn't attend the running out of the theatre event on Friday, but I did attend the street fair and creature double feature screening of the movie, and a second sci-fi classic film, Them, in the Colonial Theatre where scenes from the The Blob were originally filmed. Not only was it awesome to see the movie in such a historic location for the film, but the crowd for the sold-out showing of the movie was so awesome. The whole crowd was applauding at random times and yelling out funny statements throughout the whole movie. I also really enjoyed that other people like the opening song from the movie as much as I do... I would also like to note that I did wear my Steve McQueen shirt to Blobfest in order to be as cheesy and fan-girly as possible. I loved every minute of the event. It was such a dream come true for me.

and I leave you with some iPhone/instagram photos from the event... if you feel like following me on instagram my username is @tfarnsworth

  My friend Chris and me in the blob

 Standing in front of an old car while wearing my Steve McQueen shirt.

The day after Blobfest, wearing my new Blob shirt.

Fourth of July

I took these photos with my cute dog, Newton, before heading out to a Fourth of July party tonight.  I decided that I should be cheesy and wear red, white and blue, so I wore the star shirt that I had to buy to wear to work this week and my red high waisted shorts.

The party I went to tonight was enjoyable.  We just hung out in my friend's backyard with a fire pit that was set up in his non-functioning in-ground pool and set of some fireworks throughout the night.  I'm usually more of a people watcher at parties so it's always fun to observe what shenanigans my friends are getting themselves into.  It was a good night except for the fact that my hair now reeks of smoke.

I hope you all had a great holiday!

Shirt: Old Navy
Shorts: thrifted

Seeing Stars

I'm keeping this post nice and simple today with just two photos.  I wore this outfit out to dinner with two of my friends.  Usually about once a month we head to this restaurant that the three of us absolutely love because of the amount of food that you get for the price.  It is just so, so good and we always have a great time when we're there.  Today at the restaurant we were about ready to leave when someone in a dog costume (it kind of looked like Goofy, but not quite), came in and started dancing for a group of older ladies.  My friends and I were dying of laughter and were joking that the person in the dog costume was going to start stripping.  All in all, I would say that it was a good night haha.

As far as what I'm wearing, the dress was purchased on sale at Target.  It's from the Kate Young designer collection for Target and I was so excited to buy this one for one thing, because it has an adorable peter pan collar, and for a second thing, I actually know stylist Kate Young's father.  It's great to see how well pulled together her collection was, and how it suited my style so well with the predominantly black and white collection.

dress: Kate Young for Target
shoes: vintage men's dress shoes, thrifted
purse: my mom's hand-me-down

HMS Duke

I wore this outfit to go apply for a summer job.  I had applied for a lot of jobs with no positive responses, but today I walked into a store after having seen a posting online and was offered the job on the spot.  So I have a job at a cute store to look forward to this summer!

As for my outfit, I have a bit of an obsession with polka dots.  I seriously can never have enough of them.  I bought this dress on sale at Urban Outfitters not long ago.  This tote bag, by Duke & Winston, I found at a rummage sale over the weekend.  I actually had the chance to interview the owner of the Philly-based brand, Duke & Winston twice previously.  Most of their merchandise is for guys, but they do have some t-shirts and other merchandise for the ladies.  The brand is named after an adorable bulldog named Duke and Winston Churchill.

dress: Pins & Needles, sale rack at Urban Outfitters
shoes: Black Poppy, sale at Pac Sun
sunglasses: Ray-Ban, local consignment shop
bag: Duke & Winston, rummage sale

White Lace

Hi.  It's been a while, hasn't it?  This past year in college I didn't really have anyone to ask to take pictures of my outfits, and setting up a tripod either inside a tiny dorm room, or outside on the streets of Philly wasn't necessarily a great idea.  I did, of course, take the occasional selfie which you can find on my instagram account (@tfarnsworth) if you really care (though I doubt that all 16 of my followers do haha).

The air conditioning in my family's house has been non-functioning lately and the repairmen came today to work on it, though it won't be operational until tomorrow.  I'm just so tired of this heat by this point.  It's cooler outside than it is inside of my house, so I am writing this while sitting on my back porch, watching my dogs run around and the sun begin to set.

dress: H&M, thrifted
shoes: miss me, rummage sale
earrings: vintage, rummage sale

Philadelphia Flower Show

 Big Ben

Flowers on the inside of the yellow submarine

Alice in Wonderland exhibit

Last weekend one of my friends invited me to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show with him since he had an extra press pass (meaning that I was convinced to do some reporting on camera for him as well... I now realize why I'm not into broadcast journalism, haha).  The flower show this year was called "Brilliant!" and was themed after Great Britain.  At first I was unsure of how the theme would be this year, but once I saw the exhibits, I immediately fell in love with it all.  From the mock-up of Big Ben to a yellow submarine, all of the exhibits channeled British culture really well.  I especially enjoyed the exhibit with the sculpturally stacked umbrellas and also the Alice in Wonderland exhibit.