Adventures in Thrifting Part 33: Elephant Parade & Spread the Kindness Link Up On the Edge #829
Happy Friday, y’all! We made it through another long and tedious week. It has been absolutely crazy around here these past few weeks. It all started with the insanity of some awful text messages my son received from a classmate three weeks ago. After a police report was filed and I had more phone calls with the school than I ever cared to have, that nightmare situation has finally calmed down and hopefully resolved for good.
My child was fine throughout the ordeal, but it was an incredibly stressful experience for me as a parent. The high level of stress naturally led to a breakdown in my immune system which eventually transitioned into a terrible head and chest cold that tormented me for the entirety of the following week. Now as the third week is coming to a close, I’m feeling much better except I’m completely exhausted. Like the kind of exhaustion where walking feels like I’m wearing weights around my ankles and each step forward feels like it requires the strength and energy of a super hero.
The good news is…I am a freaking super hero! The evidence is in the fact that I’m still standing and getting one heavy foot in front of the other in addition to attending sporting events, driving kids to all the places they need to be, and cooking for a party of thirty followed by baking cookies for an entire football team. But like I always say, if you’re not doing, then you’re dying. So I just keep doing all the things with a smile on my tired face!
But enough whining from me. Life is life and it delivers us all sorts of unexpected things at inconvenient times. We can improvise, adapt, and overcome or we can simply lie down and quit. But my momma didn’t raise no quitter so here we are.
Now let’s talk about one of my favorite de-stressing activities…adventures in thrifting!
I have long been a fan of elephant motifs so whenever I spot something featuring the image of elephant, my interest is immediately piqued. They are just such fascinating and beautiful creatures that universally symbolize strength, wisdom, longevity, protection, and family loyalty across many different global cultures.
The elephant-headed deity Ganesha is worshipped in Hinduism as the god of wisdom and prosperity, patron of new beginnings, and remover of obstacles. In Buddhism, a white elephant represents purity, spiritual power, and mental strength. Chinese cultures believe that elephants can bring good fortune, peace, steady growth, and the ability to discern right from wrong while Japanese folklore connects elephants to wisdom and the spirit world. Often viewed as reincarnations of respected tribal leaders, elephants symbolize leadership, communal wisdom, sovereignty, and strong matriarchal family bonds in some African traditions. People from Thailand and Myanmar view white elephants as deeply sacred symbols of power, royal prestige, and divine blessings for monarchies.
For me, elephants represent quiet strength and confident stability. They are social, intelligent, and inherently peaceful by nature and generally avoid conflict until they can’t. Then they tap into their size and strength and let their powers be known. Much like I did when I was confronted with the unacceptable text bashing of my child. We always use the term “mama bear” to describe how human mothers voraciously defend their children. But I think I prefer to be a mama elephant instead! Cool, calm, peaceful, and quiet with the ability to stomp and crush if necessary.
Now onto my elephant parade outfit. I found this fun elephant print ruana on a thrifting adventure about three years ago and knew I needed to have it. The neutral colors have made it a versatile addition to my wardrobe, making it very much worth the $6 it cost me.
I paired it with these newly thrifted elephant print joggers that cost $8 and a striped peplum tank top that I picked up on sale from Old Navy this summer. I wore and photographed this outfit way back at the end of June and found the pants were actually a bit too warm for the summer humidity but I do think they will be a great addition to my fall and spring wardrobes.
I kept the entire outfit in this same neutral black, white, and tan color palette adding my black rope sandals, a tan straw hat, leopard print flea market earrings, my preloved wooden elephant necklace, my secondhand wooden zebra necklace, and a very old black chunky beaded necklace that I bought at Talbots probably 25 years ago.
Other than the trousers being too warm, I absolutely loved the way this outfit came together and will surely wear it again in the spring. While these pants would be wonderful for a fall outfit as well, I think our very short-lived autumn weather has already passed as most nights and mornings now are dipping down close to freezing temperatures. I’m going to blink and there will be ten feet of snow on the ground…not the climate for elephants!
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I hope you all have a terrific weekend ahead! We will be attending a local Punkin Chunkin’ event tomorrow morning. Archie’s school technology club has built their own trebuchet to hurl a pumpkin into the St. Lawrence River.
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
14 Comments
Nancy
What a weeks you had! But I’m proud of you how you handled it! Your kids are so lucky to have parents like you and Jeff! I do love print mixing when it is in a kind of monochrome way. But I hardly wear prints these days anymore. I hope you will have a peaceful weekend!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Nancy! You’re such a great friend and I appreciate you so much. It has been a rough few weeks but we keep going forward with positivity! I hope you have a wonderful weekend as well!
xoxo
Shelbee
Joanne
I love the elephant motif! So far we’ve been lucking out with some pretty nice and mild fall weather but it is supposed to get quite chilly this weekend so I know it’s probably only a matter of time…
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Joanne! It is super cold here today but the following 10 days are going to be sunny beautiful fall weather in the 50s-60s. I’m going to enjoy every minute of it before the snow comes!
xoxo
Shelbee
Marsha Banks
I’m so glad things have calmed down for you. You truly are a rockstar! I love your saying and need to keep repeating it! We have the coolest Ganesha at the museum. It’s a happy little one! Can I just say this is the most fun outfit ever! I love the different prints and how they play together so well. Oh, and I just heard this the other day on the radio. They’ve discovered when elephants die, that they provide nutrients for a certain kind of grass needed for the biosphere in their particular part of the world. So, these beautiful animals continue to give after their deaths. Thanks for the link up, my friend!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Marsha! After reading your comment, I love elephants even more now! What wonderful creatures they are. I really need to take a road trip in your direction on of these days! I’d love to visit your museum, too, and see this happy little Ganesha. What fun!
xoxo
Shelbee
Gail Is This Mutton
Definitely a super hero Shelbee!
Love the cute elephants. I once rode a bare backed elephant, very briefly, in Sri Lanka.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Gail! I rode an elephant at a circus about 15 years ago and I did not like it at all. They are very tall animals and I am very afraid of heights!
xoxo
Shelbee
Laura Bambrick
I love how you leaned completely into the elephant theme with this outfit! The thrifted ruana and joggers were such fun finds, and I love your comparison of yourself to a “mama elephant”—calm and peaceful until someone messes with your child!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Laura! I bet you’re like a mama elephant, too! I hope you have a wonderful week ahead, my friend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Ros @ Sweet Kind Life
Woohoo to being a super hero! And, those shoes from the park are so unique! Thanks for sharing your story!
xo Ros
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Ros! I really appreciate that! Have a fantastic day.
xoxo
Shelbee
Celia Duarte
What a fun thrifting adventure — that elephant parade outfit is adorable! I just created my uploadarticle account and celebrated by reading feel-good posts like this.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Celia! I really appreciate that. Have a wonderful day!
xoxo
Shelbee