Field Trip: the Great Pennsylvania Adventure!

The Great Pennsylvania Adventure, (or GPA, if you wish), was pretty phenomenal and exciting. As a result, this post is pretty long. There are lots of pictures though, so look at those and scan through my rambling as you please!

After living in Pennsylvania for two and a half years during the time I attended Villanova for my Masters, I haven't once returned back to visit. When I moved home to Long Island in October of 2011, I was very frustrated with Pennsylvania. I hadn't been able to find a job there that I could support myself on, I was far away from my family, and it was perplexing to me to live somewhere that's so hot over the summer without any beaches to go to. It sort of seemed like a lonely, landlocked hell. A year and a half later, I find myself waxing poetic about my time in PA. I miss living down the block from Milkboy Coffee and being able to walk up the street, get a cup of coffee and some food, and sit, people watching in an artsy Laptopistan. I was lucky enough at the time that my other half was willing to move his life down to Pennsylvania and have that adventure with me. He too, had become disenchanted with Pennsylvania and the struggles of starting over somewhere new, without the comfort of family and old friends. We made new friends, though, and we've only realized how important they are to us after so much time being away from them. Last week, we decided it was time to take a mini-vacation and revisit our old haunts along the Main Line and spend some quality time with good friends further south, in Oxford.

yours truly, in heaven.

Our first stop was Villanova, where I fulfilled my Alumni duty of spending money I didn't have in the bookstore. The campus looks wonderful with the many changes they've made to further "beautify" it since I graduated. Check that off the list. Next up we headed to our former home of Ardmore and had lunch at Milkboy Coffee. I was disappointed to not see any of the baristas I remember from when I was a regular there... but alas, times do change. 

PHASE TWO after the jump....

Dreams of Camping

While I do understand the appeal of using rugged products for urban life, (via Range Rover commercials where the safari SUV is navigating Manhattan), nothing compares to going off the pavement and using products with utility to reconnect with the natural world. I've never been camping for real, and every fall I get the urge to try it. I love hiking and being in the woods, and I generally prefer being as far away from large crowds of people as possible, so camping is extremely appealing to me. This year I've vowed to finally get out in the woods, pitch a tent, and warm myself by a campfire. In my dream camping universe, these are a few things I would have.

Montana Canvas, based just north of Yellowstone National Park, makes all of their camping products right here in the USA. They also have all sorts of camping stoves, bedrolls, saddle packs, and whatever else you could imagine needing out in the grand old wilderness. I'd have no problem cozying up in their Wedge Tent after an evening of drinking cocoa by the campfire in my trusty Stanley thermos.

For just about a hundred years Stanley has been making super durable and functional thermalware. Because let's be honest... nobody wants lukewarm coffee or cocoa on a chilly night. Or cold feet.

Keeping warm while camping is a preoccupation of mine, and I'm pretty passionate about socks. I think it goes along with being passionate about good boots, but the right socks for the job can make life a thousand times easier. I have a pair of these Fox River Mills Outdoorsox, and they are absolutely brilliant. The company started in Wisconsin in 1900 making socks for lumberjacks, whom I'd imagine have pretty high standards. Their wool wicks away perspiration and moisture to keep your feet dry, so you never get clammy feet. They are extra cushiony as well, perfect for keeping your feet comfortable on a long day of hiking in the woods, or chopping down trees, (your choice). 

Campfire time in your warm socks with your awesome thermos seems a little lacking without being wrapped up in a blanket. Pendleton's National Parks collection of blankets are perfect for this task. The Yosemite and Glacier Park editions are my favorites, but they all have amazing, retro stripes and prints in each park's official colors. For the times at home in between camping adventures, this blanket would look beautiful on a bed as well. 

No camping supply list is complete without a sleeping bag. The Sportsman's XL Camp Sleeping Bag from LL Bean is big and roomy -- great for someone like me with a dog who likes to snuggle up under the covers, or just someone really tall.

This is all really great, but it definitely seems like a lot to carry. Enter Topo Designs, whose clutch collaboration we explored previously. Topo was started by a couple of dudes in Colorado who love doing things outside and wanted to make quality gear that could keep up to their standards. All of their bags are both rugged and multifunctional, but for my camping-fantasy purposes, the Klettersack would likely serve me best. You can fit plenty of stuff inside, and it has leather lash tabs on the exterior to hook on extra gear if necessary. It has a laptop sleeve inside as well, for keeping it rugged once you return to your more urban pursuits.

Mark my words, my camping fantasy will come true this fall. When it does, photos and anecdotes will surely follow. In the meantime, I will continue to dream about all of these goodies and try to hide my credit cards from myself. 

As always, I'd appreciate any input or suggestions on camping supplies, as I am clearly a camping fangirl/newbie.

Montana Canvas

Stanley

Fox River Mills

Pendleton

LL Bean

Topo Designs

Vintage Treasures, Handed Down

What's better than vintage goods in excellent condition? Free vintage goods in excellent condition. Thanks to a keen eye and some basement and family garage sale snooping, I've uncovered my fair share of oldies-but-goodies from mom, dad, aunt, and grandparents that they'd more or less forgotten about. Let me preface this post by saying that I realize that most people don't have designer stuff by brands like Pendleton and Cartier lying around their homes. However, even a brand X item that's 30 or 40 years old and in reasonably good shape can be an amazing conversation piece if the vintage feel and timeless style are on point. Anyway, this is a sampling of my favorite finds.

My dad received this Pendleton shirt for Christmas in 1950 and he was kind enough to let me have it. It's a bit oversize for me, but paired with black skinny jeans, my Fox River socks and Blundstones, it's the ultimate chilly day outfit. What one would pay for a 60+ year old Pendleton shirt in perfect condition, I have no idea, but I love that it was my father's, and I love that it has a bit of a story to it.

I saw these two gems at a garage sale at my aunt and uncle's house in July. I spotted the black envelope clutch and gasped, as it was literally just days earlier I read about how hard these were coming back for fall via Celine's minimalism and Coach's Legacy collection. The clutch is by Koret, all genuine leather, and probably purchased some time in the 60's. The scarf is bright and cheerful, and the fact that it has so many colors makes it really easy to pair with a multitude of things.

Gem of all gems: my grandmother's Cartier tank watch. It had been laying around for quite a while, unused by anyone, because the original leather strap had snapped with age (the watch is from some time in the mid 70's). The simple solution was to get the strap replaced, obviously, and I've been wearing it almost every day since. It likely would have cost me a few hundred dollars to get a genuine Cartier replacement strap, so I opted for one from my local family jeweler that looks exactly the same for $15. Elegant, understated, and classic, and free. Yeah... most importantly, free.

I have a fascination with skeleton keys, which I think many people share. It's interesting to me that these keys were once a normal household thing: doors locked, keys opened them. A pretty simple concept, but the keys have been saved over the decades because they're actually quite beautiful on their own. This box of assorted lead skeleton keys, magnets, and tie clips is my father's from his childhood home, but he didn't mind if I took the keys and used them for necklaces. I put one of the keys on an old, long silver chain, and it gets a lot of attention any time I wear it. No complaints here.

Apart from the joy that comes from finding an old treasure, it can be a really wonderful bonding experience to talk to people about when they got something and what sorts of adventures they've had with it. I don't think it's materialistic to attach some sentimental value to such objects, I think it's human nature. It makes me sad that so much of our family/social histories are being stored on computers these days, so I find it extremely rewarding to make human connections over found/saved objects. The sense-memory that we've attached to these objects is even more valuable than the objects themselves, and it would be a shame to let that slip away.