This Is Not A Blog About Nail Polish

It's Friiiiiiday, and that means............... nails, usually. But not today - ohh no, nope, not today. MY BODY HAD OTHER PLANS FOR ME FOR THIS WEEK.

So when you move to a new home, what's the first thing you do? Unpack your shit? Hang up your clothes? Go explore your new neighborhood? Develop a cyst that rapidly becomes infected and leaves you unable to do anything except cry in pain for a few days?

If you picked that last one, you'd be on the same page as me and my body right now.

Yep, it's been a great week. As if being lonely wasn't enough, I've also been yelled at by my new neighbors, confronted with a new dresser that appears nearly impossible to put together, and spent an evening in the Urgent Care unit at a Medford hospital while a doctor tried to figure out if this *AWESOME BRAND NEW CYST* was infected or not. Spoiler alert: It was, but the doc didn't know it. So. I was sent home from the hospital on Tuesday night with a prescription for antibiotics that would prove useless as the pain became worse and worse over the ensuing 24 hours. Oh, did I mention I don't have any health insurance right now because I am between my Canadian insurance and my company's insurance? Because that's true.

On Wednesday night when the pain was becoming unbearable, my mom and I decided together that I ought to go back to Pittsfield to have the issue treated by a doctor at the hospital that my mother works at. So on Thursday morning, my dad was once again on the other side of Massachusetts, picking me up from the apartment I'd only been at for 3.5 days, and bringing me back to Pittsfield for a bit of an emergency procedure. Don't worry, I will spare you all the (very gory) details.

I'm doing fine now, thanks. A million times better than I was at this time yesterday, that's fo' damn sho'. Just... what the eff, you know? Did this really have to happen the week I moved in? Did it really have to happen in the tiny window of time that I'm uninsured? CAN I LIVE?

Anyway, I'm relaxing/recuperating at my parents' house for the weekend. It's remarkably nice to have the option to do this again - it's been years since I've been able to feel like my family is just a drive away. Makes me feel a little more... safe, I guess.

I do have lots of pictures of some recent things that I've been wanting to share on my blog, but life just keeps getting in the way, and now my camera/camera cord are back in Medford. Stick with me guys, I promise things will return to some version of normal sometime soon. I hope.

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Ye Olde Moving Day

Yesterday was sorrrrrt of a rough day for me. I ended up moving into my apartment on Sunday instead of Saturday, thanks to a slight delay in the arrival of my belongings in Massachusetts from Seattle. Once my stuff arrived and my father and I packed it all into his truck/trailer in Western Mass, it was a completely law-abiding pace the entire drive east to the Boston-area. One can never drive too carefully when there's a demi-precarious trailer full of my entire life bouncing around behind one's truck.

Once in Medford, my rock star of a father helped me move everything as only dads can, while my new roommate and her boyfriend both also earn co-MVPs for helping me move in ALL of my things without my even asking them to!! Seriously, so nice of them.

The big hiccup in the move-in was when several tenants in the apartment building took turns yelling (no, really, yelling) at me because apparently a) one of the two elevators was broken that day, and b) there is a rule against moving in on Sundays. Of course, if I'd known that, we certainly wouldn't have been bogarting the sole elevator for 20 minutes or moving in that day - I'm not an asshole, as you guys hopefully have picked up on - but they were livid. LIV-ID. No amount of my apologizing calmed them. In fact, we've even been promised a fine for our misdeeds. So... Welcome to the building, Bail! Ugh. Apparently there are a lot of rules in this apartment building that I need to study.

... But the reason that I think everyone is so serious around here is because this building is pretty freaking nice. There's a gorgeous lobby, a community party room that can be rented out by tenants, a pool, and even a little gym. My apartment unit has a balcony, a washer/dryer, hardwood floors in the main area, and I even get my own bathroom. (Oh, and the apt also comes with a seemingly very nice roommate with an equally kind boyfriend.)

After my dad left (which, I was told later, he did NOT want to do), I spent the rest of the evening opening boxes and slowly putting things away. Between the symbolic (dramatic) drive east to Boston, getting yelled at by strangers, and unpacking alone in a room that's now just my bedroom... not gonna lie, I cried more than a few times. In fact, for most of the day I was feeling like little more than a helpless, emotional clusterfuck.

But as the hours went by and my belongings became less and less scattered around the room, breathing became a little bit easier. I started to notice how rather pleasant the steady rush of traffic sounded, down in front of my building on the parkway. Then as it became darker outside and I readied myself for bed, I could hear crickets begin to chirp from the nearby river banks.

It wasn't the most brilliant series of pleasant thoughts of all time or anything... but they helped me end the night with a little more peace of mind than I'd had all day.

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A Massive Massachusetts Recap!

I thought a run-down of my recent time in Massachusetts would be good for me - to both relive the memories as well as share some pictures with you all!

After the planes, trains and automobiles I had to take to get to the east coast, I finally arrived at my sister Mallory's house in Pittsfield on Saturday June 7, where I immediately found my niece and nephew playing in their driveway while their dad (my brother-in-law) Doug tinkered away on a new "toy" in the garage. Doug is constantly finding/buying/fixing up toys like 4-wheelers, John Deere Gators (more on that later), and - his newest project - a Pennsylvania Panzer. The kids love it... and so does Doug.

We spent that afternoon playing outside - it was a gorgeous day with sunshine and hot temperatures. That evening after the kids were asleep, Mallory invited some of her friends over and we played some cards and drinking games out on their deck. And by "played drinking games" I mean that I nursed a single Twisted Tea drink for about 3 hours while playing Asshole (that's how I roll).

One exciting surprise that was waiting for me in Pittsfield was my good friend Sarah (who you may remember came to visit me in Vancouver earlier this year!). Sarah currently lives in Missoula, MT where she attends school for physical therapy, so imagine my surprise and delight when we realized that we were both in western Mass at the same time! She promptly invited me over to her mother's house for a potluck dinner with some other excellent ladies. It was a delicious and fun evening with good food and wine - and especially nice because of how unexpected it was.

The first Thursday of my visit was a special day because my nephew Cohen was graduating from his pre-Kindergarden program. Living on opposite coasts means I typically miss out on things like this, but it was timed perfectly with my visit :)  The group of 4- and 5-year-olds sang us a few songs before receiving their end-of-the-year binder full of all of their pictures and projects from the year. Cohen is getting so bigggg!

Showing off his end-of-the-year notebook:

Tierney found the toys in the classroom and got right to work playing with them all in the corner:

The next day (Friday June 13) I headed across the state from Pittsfield to Boston in a brand new Chevy Cruze rental car.

My friend Kim would be getting married the following day in Lincoln, MA (at the beautiful Codman Estate), so my plan was to turn the whole weekend into an Eastern-Mass friend-fest. That Friday night, I caught up with my faaaabulous friend Kara at her Cambridge apartment before we headed out for a night of bowling with our friends J-rod, Derek and Adam. I was way, WAY worse at bowling than is reasonably excusable (I bowled a 48 my first game and a 69 my second game), but it was sooooo muchhhhh funnnn. Why on earth don't I go bowling more often?? I could OBVIOUSLY use the practice.

The next day I made my way to my friend Steph's new condo in Canton, MA to get ready for the wedding that evening. Getting dolled up with friends is way more fun than getting dolled up alone. I wore a colorful tie-dye/floral inspired dress...

.  definitely a picture from last year  .
.  look how sassy my bent leg is  .

... with the pair of white wedges that I showed you guys in this blog. Accessorizing such a colorful dress was a blast. With pink, purple, mint, green, yellow, violet, and navy all represented in the dress itself, color options for accessories were pretty much endless. I went with a purple and aqua-inspired theme, with a navy/rhinestone bracelet (a recent Salvation Army find), mint-rhinestone silver Forever21 earrings, and a slim mint-turquoise stretchy Forever21 bangle that I've had for years.

I also wore a dainty little ampersand ring from Forever21.

I found that beautifully violet-hued, dazzling blue clutch at American Apparel back in May. I own a wallet in the same color, but I needed a clutch to fit a camera/phone/etc for the wedding. It took me an afternoon of scouring every store along 4th Avenue before deciding upon this one.  My nail polishes were Luminous Tulips by Sally Hansen (on my fingernails) and Endless Blue by Sinful Colors (on my toes).  Endless Blue is a gorgeous bright blue that looks amazing against white sandals, by the way. I borrowed that polish from Mallory, but Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue (shown above) is a close dupe. For perfume, I only packed one option for my trip - Bright Crystal by Versace (not an affiliate link). It's a versatile enough scent for day/night/wedding/beach/winter/summer, so it was a good choice for travel. (Travel Tip Sidebar: I save all of the boxes for my perfume bottles, to make it easier to travel with them. If you don't have a travel-sized version of your favorite perfume, you can just throw the large bottle back into the secure box that it came in, wrap that box up in a t-shirt, and then pack it away into your suitcase.)

To finish off the wedding guest look, I straightened my hair and put it into a side fishtail braid. Would you believe I never got a detailed picture of my full outfit/makeup/hair/accessories? Because I didn't. But here's a close-enough look:

.  this is not my picture - i stole it from the beautiful babe in the center of this pic  .

The Codman Estate was an absolutely stunning wedding venue. It's a historical site with a dreeeeamy Italian "secret" garden and a great barn for dancing.

.  the garden, site of the ceremony  .

.  beautiful bride kimbo and her handsome dad!  .

.  kim and sam mid-ceremony  .

And here are the newlyweds arriving at their wedding reception!

.  whoohoo!!!  sew happy  .

Kim was a radiant bride, Sam was quite the dashing groom, and the bridesmaids all looked like Grecian goddesses. The weather was a bit iffy at first - but just when it seemed inevitable that it would rain upon the wedding ceremony, the sun began to come out. By the time we walked across the estate property to the reception tent area, it was a beautiful and warm sunny day! There were yard games, delicious appetizers, good wine, good music, and a BBQ-style buffet that was a huge hit. We had a blast dancing up a storm and playing with the party props that were brought out onto the dance floor at some point during the night. Each guest even got to take home two insanely delicious, homemade chocolate chip cookies as favors (a personal touch, care of Miss Kimberly herself). An after party at the hotel with a million Dominos pizzas was exactly the right way to end the night. The next morning I drove back west to Pittsfield and dropped off my rental car.

Back in Pittsfield, I enjoyed a night out for a spectacular dinner with my grandmother (aka Gram) at Mazzeo's Ristorante in Pittsfield, where we each had a feast of pan-seared scallops with sautéed spinach & oven roasted tomatoes (finished with a lemon wine butter), mashed potatoes, salads, and bread. Gram even kicked it with a glass of white wine, that feisty gal! It's always great to chat with my Gram - she's a real wealth of knowledge, and I adore picking her ear about "the old days." She just turned 94 (!) this week, and though her sight has failed her at this point, her mind is still perfectly sharp, and she continues to enjoy life. This summer she actually made the decision to put her house on the market and move from her home into an assisted living community. It will be good for her to finally rid herself of the burden of maintaining a home. That can be a real bitch, with all the yard work and lawn care and dusting and painting and snow removal. Not to mention the laundry and cooking that also needs to be dealt with. It was probably a tough decision for her to make, but ultimately I think she'll feel extremely relieved to no longer have to deal with the house.

That night after dinner at Mazzeo's, she and I talked at length about family history and she even showed me a detailed family tree document that her own second cousin had been working on. It was incredibly interesting for me to pour over the tree and learn more about the family members who preceded my grandmother (and me!) in her lineage. Sometimes I feel ashamed and disappointed in myself for not caring about these kinds of things when I was younger and had more time to ask my Gram questions about her and her family. I wish I knew more about her siblings and parents and late husband (my mom's father). I try to really absorb everything she says when we're together. If your grandparents are still around, you would do very well to ask them as many questions about their lives as you can while you still have the chance.

And now I realize I just wrote an awful lot about my Gram. Can you tell I love her? :)

Before leaving Pittsfield for good, I made a trip out to Windsor, MA with Mallory, Doug, Cohen, and Tierney to pick up a new John Deere Gator for Doug's arsenal of toys. The man who owned the Gator had amassed a solid collection of Man Toys himself - his barn garage was FULL of tractors, John Deeres, ATVs and skidders. All of which Cohen could identify, by the way. At 5 years old, he is already a boy genius when it comes to trucks, tractors, Gators, and whatever else Doug brings home.

Once home with the new Gator, the kids got to work putting it to some (parked) use in the garage:

.  note the seatbelts. safety first  .

On Thursday, June 19, in preparation for an epic bachelorette weekend for my good friend Abigail, I said goodbye to my family...

.  me and tierney girl, the little angel  .

... and rented a car in Pittsfield to drive it out to Boston. The rental "car" ended up being the biggest Dodge Ram truck that anyone has ever seen, but it was all they had for me at the Enterprise. Knowing that The Largest Pickup Truck of All Time wasn't an ideal vehicle for me to take across the state and into Boston, the good folks at the Pittsfield Enterprise comped me a half a tank of gas for the inconvenience. However, they weren't anticipating the struggle of trying to park a gargantuan truck in the Enterprise Parking Garage at the other end of my trip, so that created a bit of an obstacle once I actually arrived in Boston. Height limits for parking garages aren't something you typically have to think about when casually renting a car, but now I know better.

From Boston, it was off to Kennebunk, Maine for the rest of the weekend to celebrate Abigail's bachelorette! We had a great crew of ladies with us for our stay in a freaking mini-mansion right on the water. I'd never been to Kennebunk before, but it's a cute little New England beach/port town about 1.5 hours north of Boston.

The house was incredible, with an amazing kitchen/stove, a grill, full walls of gorgeous windows with beautiful views, a deck on every level of the house, a million bedrooms, several luxurious bathrooms, a grand piano, a subzero freezer, and really interesting artwork throughout. It also had a grassy backyard that ended up being perfect place for us all to lounge in the sunshine.

The house was even within walking distance of all the parts of town we wanted to check out. The town itself was full of cute fish restaurants and markets, beachy souvenirs and nautical-inspired home decor and fashion.

On that Friday night, we all put together a fabulous spread of food in a potluck-gone-right:

While we were making food, we realized there was a massive fire of some sort burning outside in the not-so-distant distance, so we ran up to the third floor deck to see what was going on...

It did end up being a house fire - some sort of multi-family residence was badly burned, we found out the next day. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the amount of smoke the fire produced was really remarkable...

On Saturday (June 21), we decided to forego the beach and instead opted to spend the day at our McMansion, where we could enjoy the sun as well as all the conveniences of our luxury vacation home. It was an excellent decision. We were able to relax in the backyard in our bathing suits, bask in each other's company, do plenty of chatting and mimosa-drinking...

 And toasting to our bride!

.  abigail is the babe in the stripes!  .

.  cheers!  .

After a perfect day in the sun, we watched the sunset from the third floor deck... a much nicer sight to see than a blazing house fire:

That night we all had fun pre-gaming at the house by playing drinking games while getting ready to go out to Federal Jack's, one of the best bars for 20- and 30-somethings in the Kennebunkport area. Federal Jack's was also the go-to spot for a random wedding's after-party as well as another bachelorette party that night, so there were a lot of people celebrating in the bar that evening. We met some interesting characters, and made our presence known - as gaggles of bacheloretting ladies tend to do. The night ultimately ended at the house around 3 AM when just a handful of us were still up and putting in a fabulous dancing and singing performance in the kitchen, much - I'm sure - to the delight of our housemates. Don't worry though - Abby was among that late-night handful of revelers. :)

The next morning, we needed to be out of the rental house by 10 AM, so then it was back down south to Massachusetts. My friend Jenna (whose wedding, you may remember, I was in last summer) had generously volunteered to feed and house me for the remainder of the night, as I'd be flying out of Boston the following day to head back to Vancouver. The two of us spent the rest of that Sunday afternoon sprawled shamelessly across the couches in her living room, trying to regain a bit of strength and energy (and dignity) after a fabulously draining weekend. Then, as if she got her second, third, and fourth winds all at once, Jenna set about preparing a feast for us for that night - chicken, pork chop, garden-fresh salad, wine, roasted vegetables, salmon... Ermergerd. She's such an incredible cook, guys. You are a lucky person if you are ever invited to be a guest at her table! Though you might not want to bring your man with you, because she will inevitably make you look like a chump cook in comparison. We were joined that night by Jenna's hubby Dan, as well as Kara and her boyfriend Kyle. (Sorry Kara, but I guess that means Kyle's probably been judging you.)

It was a satisfying conclusion to a long and jam-packed trip. By the time I got onto my plane at Logan Airport the next afternoon, my Dramamine-induced drowsiness was exactly what I needed to settle me in for my long journey home!

Thanks for reading my re-cap. I'm aware it was the length of Moby Dick.

Who else is doing some traveling this summer? I'm thinking of taking another trip very soon - just a weekend jaunt to somewhere warm, like San Diego, Hawaii or Las Vegas. Where should I go?? What should I do??

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Having Fun Around Vancouver With My Mom

I've said it before that having visitors here in Vancouver is a fabulous reason to be a tourist in my own city. My mother's visit this past weekend was no exception! Before she arrived, I made a big list of potential things we could do. By the end of her visit, there were several items crossed off - plus some bonus activities that I hadn't even thought to put onto the list!

After arriving from Seattle in a rental car on Thursday evening, we hilariously (not) spent about 20 minutes circling all around my neighborhood looking for a visitor parking spot before we gave up and parked her car in a parking garage for the night.

I'd taken Friday off from work so that we could spend the day exploring. My big idea was to take her to Capilano Suspension Bridge, which is a big suspension bridge inside of a great wooded park in North Vancouver. There are shuttle buses that leave from several points throughout Downtown Vancouver that will take you right to the bridge for FREE, and we were fortunate enough to score the best bus driver ever for the trip - a lively, microphoned gentleman by the name of Jimmy (who I hope to never forget). Once at the bridge, it is a big costly to gain entrance - $35.95 for adults - but completely worth it. BC residents: For the price of an adult admission, you'll receive an annual pass that will allow you free entrance into the park for the next year! Just show a BC-issued piece of ID at the Visitor Center. This is an awesome perk and you would be a damn fool not to take advantage of it! I've gone to Capilano Suspension Bridge three times now on my initial $36 purchase.

Anyway, enough about the cost of admission - here's a bit of what you can see on the inside of the park!

Here is the bridge itself, which you can walk across to get from one side of the park to the other. 

It's 450 feet long and 230 feet above Capilano River below:

Once you cross the bridge, you're in the middle of a beautiful rain forest of tall green trees, ferns, and both dirt trails and boardwalks leading you throughout the park. Looking up, you see that there are also bridges strung high up in the air between the trees - the park's Treetops Adventure!

.  treetops adventure, featuring ya girl... me!  .

This is the "Cliff Walk" - a walkway built directly into a cliffside. The walkway juts right out from the cliff over the Capilano Canyon below. Not for chumps.

Later that day, we stopped into the Vancouver Marathon's Health, Sports, and Lifestyle Expo, where marathon runners could collect their race packets and check out a bunch of vendors. There, I saw more "energy food" than I ever knew existed, tried coconut water for the first time, and was given a free pair of socks. Not bad.

On Saturday morning, we went to Abigail's Party for breakfast (one of my favorite breakfast spots) and then set off on an adventure to try to get to Grouse Mountain for a ride on the mountain's Skyride gondola. We knew it was rainy with no view at the top, but we happily took the gondola up the mountain anyway...

Once at the top, there is a lodge with lots food options, a theater (where we watched a few short films about the mountain), a gift shop, and a large fireplace that was a perfect place for drying our sopping wet shoes later that afternoon. Through the lodge, there are a series of paths leading hither and yon (there are plenty of random things to do up there), but the activity we were most interested in was checking out the grizzly bear habitat.

YUP. 

Two BC grizzlies (one from the West coast and one from the inlands) have been taken care of by the people here for about 15 years now. The two bears were hanging out in their "post-hibernation" fenced-in habitat area that day. We spent a good amount of time watching them and taking pictures. I'd never seen a bear like that before - especially not that close!

Sunday was marathon day! I dropped my mom off at the starting line around 7:45 in the morning and then headed back to my apartment to wait till her part of the race was running through my part of town. Around 10:30, I headed out to join the crowds of people cheering on the runners who were passing through my Kitsilano neighborhood. About an hour later, I spotted my mom coming through:

She was looking pretty good, if you ask me! This was at around the 25 km mark (in Canada, marathons are marked in kilometers instead of miles, and 26.2 miles is about 42.2 kilometers), so she still had quite a ways to go. But looking good, nonetheless! After I saw her here, I made my way to the finish line downtown, to make sure I wouldn't miss her finishing. Here's a look at the course map...

I did manage to see her finish, though she didn't see me or hear me yelling for her amidst the crowds... 

That isn't her official time, I'm sure she'd want me to tell you. I think that her official time was closer to 4:25. I'm sure she would also want me to tell you that her best time for a marathon is 3:14 (ish... I might be off by 5 minutes or so).

She was pooped after the run (obvi), so we took a cab back to my apartment and put her straight into a hot shower. It was a rainy, chilly day, so she was chilled to the bone after running 26 miles! After relaxing for most of the rest of the afternoon, we took a walk to Granville Island so she could see the Public Market there (it's amazing), and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Sandbar. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you might know that The Sandbar is one of the best restaurants in Vancouver - a top notch place to get incredible seafood. I ordered a few oysters, and an entree of scallops and prawns in a citrus cream sauce, served with coconut rice and vegetables. #nom

Monday morning, bright and early, my mom get into her rental car and set off back towards the US to catch her flight out of Seattle. It was a great trip - I'm so glad that she got to see the beautiful place that her daughter has been living for the last year and a half! I will return the favor next month, when I take a trip back to Massachusetts to visit as well as attend a wedding AND a bachelorette party. Speaking of which... I have some fun outfits to plan for that trip. Hey-o!

Do you have any visitors coming your way soon?
Any trips planned for yourself this summer, or weddings to attend?
What's your favorite local place to take a visitor?

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Lovin' On Vintage T-Shirts

Pay no attention to the lack of blogs this week... A touch of mental laziness has come over me recently.

Let me start this blog about vintage t-shirts by telling you a little about my dad. My dad is a multi-talented musician (singer, guitarist, pianist, banjoist, harmonica..ist... etc!!). He played in several bands with his friends in high school and beyond - and to this day still performs and plays out at bars around Berkshire County back in Massachusetts.

Some of his cool band names include Bad Habits, The Moore Hill Gang, LYNX, and The Prohibition. There are definitely several more, but those are the ones I can name off the top of my head.

Alright so what does any of that have to do with awesome vintage t-shirts? Well AS EVERYONE KNOWS, every good band has a great t-shirt. And that means there was a pretty sweet stash of old awesome t-shirts in boxes at my parents' house... which I inevitably got my hands on, as teenage daughters do. And then I wore the shit out of them!

Here are some of my favorite vintage t-shirts from my dad's current stash:

The two LYNX t-shirts and the Moore Hill Gang shirt were on heeeeavy heavy heavy rotation for me in college. The lighter-grey LYNX tee (which I favored because it was more worn-in than the other) has a trillion holes in it at this point, and the Moore Hill shirt has faded quiiiiite a bit since college. Here I am rocking that one 10 years ago back in early 2004:

.  #tbt  .

See how much brighter it used to be?! Imagine how much better it must have looked when it was in its prime...

You can see from the first picture that band t-shirts were not the only vintage tee I was interested in owning. The old school Orioles shirt is one of my absolute favorites. That one also has special meaning because it is from the era in which my late uncle Mark played for the Orioles.

There were many more of my dad's t-shirts that I used to wear over the years, but I literally wore them out to the point that they were filled with holes and no longer salvageable. I mean, even the ones I've still got are filled with holes, as you can see. My dad acted irritated that I was swiping his shirts, but I have a feeling he was also a little proud that his daughter thought his t-shirts were cool enough to steal and wear. Or at least that's what I tell myself to feel better about destroying his precious memories.

Here's an honorable mention vintage tee...

This awesome Science t-shirt was given to Dave by his good friend Joey. Dave's enormous muscles and general manly bulk prevented him from fitting into it comfortably, but lucky for me - it's just my size! I don't know the story behind this shirt - where it came from or how old it is. But it's got a totally vintage feel, and for me it's special because David is a scientist, so it's kind of like I'm reppin' my man when I wear it.

Now, I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to have a dad with awesomely personalized old band t-shirts, so here are my top tips for getting your hands on a great vintage tee yourself:

1.  Ask your parents/aunts/uncles if they have any old t-shirts in a random storage box somewhere. I mean, might as well start with them, right?

2.  Don't shy away from the t-shirt sections of the thrift shop. Check the women's and men's sections, and be sure to browse through all of the sizes - not just the one you think is your size. You just never know what you will find!

3.  Browse eBay.

4.  Fake it till you make it. If you can't find an actual vintage tee that suits you, tons of stores/sites sell shirts that they've made to look vintage. Look for intentionally faded logos of iconic brands, bands, or teams, and you can't go wrong! If you can't find any that you like, and want to DIY a vintage feel, try following this Pinterest tutorial that I've seen all over the place.

In terms of caring for your vintage tees, I have a few big tips... not all of which I follow myself. #DoAsISayNotAsIDo.

1. Keep them in a cedar chest or use some other form of cedar-esque protection to guard your shit. Moths want to eat your vintage t-shirts SO bad, you have no idea. They are really connoisseurs of finely aged cotton goods. Those little bastards.

2. Wash your shirts inside out, in cold water. This will help protect both the logo and the fabric color.

3. Don't put your t-shirts into the dryer. Just don't.

Do you love vintage tees as much as I do?

If you have a favorite vintage tee of your own, what is on it?

How do you like to style your t-shirts?

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