Mixing old & modern in Old Town Alexandria

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! While most people choose to go out of town during long weekend, we decided to visit Old Town Alexandria, a hidden gem just 20 minutes outside of Washington, DC. If you love history and old town charm, you’ll definitely love this place. 

My choice of a more modern style was completely unintentional, but made for an interesting (or so I’d like to thing) contrast with the historical architecture in Alexandria:

Guess top (similar) // Elizabeth & James jeans (similar) // Kate Spade heels (similar) // Louis Vuitton Alma BB

I’ve actually had that top for over 5 years now, but can you believe this is my first time wearing it? Don’t be so quick to dismiss an old piece in your closet next time, you never know when you’ll fall in love with it again. Unless it’s ripped or stained or otherwise unwearable. Then in that case toss it.

Outside the Carlye House

A second style tip, shop your local consignment/resale shop for gently worn designer goodies! I’d never pay full price for those jeans, but $30 and I’m all like TAKEMYMONEY. And they still had so much life in them too! A lot of my favorite pieces are actually preloved – bags included.

Anyways, enough about my outfit. Old Town Alexandria if full of historical establishments, cute shops, good eateries, and a beautiful dock. The best part is there’s plenty of parking, and everything is within walking distance from each other! We visited the following places:

• Fontaine Caffe and Crêperie – Reminds me of a Parisian cafe and they had delicious crepes of all different flavors. Perfect spot for brunch!
• Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum – An 18th century apothecary with all its original furnishing and goods still intact! I felt like Harry Potter walking into an apothecary to buy his potion ingredients!
• Paper Source – If you’re a stationary or crafts fan you’ll love this store. They sell cute items here that aren’t sold online, and I’m still mourning over this cute cat calendar I missed out on :(
• Marina & Waterfront Parks – This was a nice area to walk around in, plus there was a really cool guy playing glass harps (think Sandra Bullock’s talent piece in Ms. Congeniality but 1000 times better) here!

Savory crepe with smoked salmon – yum!

A lot of those bottles still had stuff in them!

Dragon’s blood and unicorn root were really ingredients they used back in the days

Glass harps! He played the Star Wars theme and a couple Mozart pieces, it was incredible!

Hope you enjoyed this post, and I’ll have a skincare post coming up later this week! <3