Modern Vintage Shop & Social

A friend at work sent me a link for this event last week hosted by Quarter Life: The Beltway's Best Vintage and Thrift. When I saw that the event involved food, other vintage lovers, and shopping, I immediately took the day off of work so I could go. 

Never mind that it was in an area that I'd never heard of. Never mind that I've rarely ventured in DC outside of the monuments and museums. Also, never mind that I had never navigated the Metro by myself nor was I about to drive right into the city during rush hour. Ah, but minor details!

The rain almost turned me into a bum that day, but I wasn't about to waste a vacation day sitting in sweatpants perusing Pintrest. So I put on one of my favorite vintage dresses, slipped into my red rain boots, and decided I was going, gosh darnit!

My genius plan was to drive to Alexandria and park there to ride the Metro to Capitol Heights. After trying three separate stops until I finally found one with parking, I clomped in and got my adventure off to a great start by accidently putting twenty dollars on a fare card. Again, minor detail. I would use it for all the future trips I would make into the city. The trip itself was surprisingly smooth, and I arrived at Nana with plenty of time to spare. 

In fact, I was that awkward first person to the party.

But the gals at the shop were so sweet and welcoming, and Miss Lisa and I discovered a Pennsylvania connection almost right away. Not to mention the place was adorable, and they had cookies...and beer...and hummus...and cucumber sandwich things. 

Rockin' the rain boots. Photo by Lisa.

People starting trickling in and soon the place was abuzz with new and old friends and vintage lovers squealing over all the fabulous clothes and jewelry. The best thing about being at an event with fellow bloggers was that you could pull your camera out and start snapping photos and there were no weird looks.

Overall, it was a great time and I made some new friends (hey Thrift and Style, Tulle and Combat Boots, and Naja Diamond!) And I walked away with a lovely new purse--photos coming soon.

I left with a little extra bounce in my rain boot step, arrived at the Metro to go home, and realized that I lost the fare card. Which still had 17 bucks on it. I hiked back to the shop with no luck, and back to the station to buy a new one. 

So, you're welcome whoever found a free gift on the ground.

I would say it was worth it.

A Change of Pace

What do you get when you have a couple who gets married in the middle of the summer and moves to a new place, a husband who doesn't start work until the end of the summer, and a wife who doesn't have a job yet? 

You get an extra long honeymoon.

That's basically what the past month has been for the Brodie Abode. And it has been awesome. A month to settle into our new home, become familiar with the area, explore the mountains, and explore the city. See old friends, make new friends. Go to bed at 1 and wake up at 10, with mornings spent lazily drinking coffee and catching up on my blogs.

It's been grand, but would you believe me if I said I was ready for a change of pace?

Ian officially started his job today, and I have a couple interviews lined up this week. It's time to ditch the leggings and tank tops and put on a suit (maybe a new pencil skirt?) and make my way into the world as a working woman. It's that feeling where, towards the end of the summer, you were ready to go back to school. Which, incidentally, is happening today at Penn State with the start of classes...and I'm not a student for the first time in 20 years? 

We had a fantastic last weekend of honeymoonin' at home, and it turned out to be more fun and exciting than we had originally planned! On Saturday afternoon we navigated the Metro to meet my brother and sister in-law and a PSU friend in DC. This consisted of parking in a shady mall, hiking across the shady mall parking lot and across the highway to the farthest station away from downtown.

An hour and a half later, we arrived at Dupont Circle for dinner at the Bier Baron, a rustic pub-like restaurant that had 500 kinds of beer.

I found a vintage store called Meeps. Pretty much made my night.

And we got our first taste of city nightlife.

We rolled home after a long Metro ride back, complete with a random run in with a State College friend (which induced lots of screams and squealing) and proceeded to sleep until 11:00. Whoops.

We awoke to texts from our new friends Matt and Erin who had free tickets to the Phillies/Nationals game. So I experienced my first major league baseball game--AND got to wear red. It was great.

And then the rain came, and after five innings we peaced out. I decided that all baseball games should be five innings. The perfect amount of time before I get antsy!

Then we came home and Ian made hot sauce.

It was a very productive weekend!

And guess what...

We got our wedding photos!

I hope you're as excited as I am. Not sure if that's entirely possible, but let's just say they are perfect. Let the wedding recaps begin!