Dressing for Fall

My law school buddy, Erin and I filled a shopping cart before hitting the dressing rooms. 

The leaves are falling, the air has a chill to it, pumpkins are sprouting on everyone's front porches, Starbucks has pumpkin spiced lattes and facebook feeds are filled with adorable babies in corn mazes and pumpkin patches! Fall has fallen and I am so happy to be experiencing the joy of a real season for the first time since we left for Guyana over two years ago!

Here in Sacramento, fall consists of chilly mornings and evenings and occasionally an overcast day. Not time for peacoats or our central heat to be turned on but certainly time to put the fuzzy blankets on the couch and get out our scarves and sweaters. The only problem was, we didn't own any scarves or sweaters. Before now our locales did not require that we have proper fall attire (San Diego and then jungle of South America are not scarf climates). We had lived perpetually in flip flops and hoodies. Now that we are "professionals" (ha!) Tim and I decided we needed to update our wardrobes with cold weather clothing. We were seriously lacking any grown up looking layers. However, we are also still on a post-Peace Corps/student budget. Alas, what to do?

The solution, of which I am quite proud, was two trips of patiently gleaning the Goodwill in the fancy part of Sacramento. I am happy to say we spent $175 and outfitted ourselves quite nicely for fall.

Yes, we looked crazy! But our diligence was worth it.

Disclaimer: this blog contains self-indulgent photos taken of ourselves (selfies) with an iPhone. 

The Loot (not all pictured):

Tim: 2 sweaters, 1 sweater-vest, 3 long sleeved collared shirts, 2 pairs of trousers, one pair of dress shoes.

Chelsea: 4 sweaters, 3 dresses, 1 pair of kakhi pants, 1 shirt, 2 blouses, grey cowboy boots, brown knee high boots, purple flats, nine west gladiator sandals and one vintage pink blazer.

Many of the items we found were unworn with tags still on them, some are brand-name (Tim scored a lot of Banana Republic) and most are quality material (we even found real cashmere sweaters)! It took time, effort and patience to sort through the thrift store but I am so glad we did. It makes no sense for us to spend gobs of money to buy new clothes when we can buy practically new items that people give away for a fraction of the cost. Check out some of our fall fashion, all for under $175!