John Lofgren Monkey Boots Shinki Horsebuttt - $1,136 The classic monkey boot silhouette in an incredibly rich Shinki russet horse leather. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - $395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Schott 568 Vandals Jacket - $1,250 The classic Perfecto motorcycle jacket, in a very special limited-edition Schott double rider style.
Nope, they must be looking over the IA border - that's us.
You're lucky to work in a 1927 building. We tear ours down in Des Moines just willy nilly.
We are fortunate to have a lot of old buildings still standing and still being used in our downtown area. I hope it continues to stay this way.
And you just have cornfields in Iowa and nothing else, right?
You don't???
I find that baking while listening to some good music is wonderful. Alternatively, just sitting down with a good book with classical music playing the background, my kitties snuggled beside me, and a warm chocolate chip cookie straight from the oven and a cold glass of milk sets the world aright again. Simple pleasures.
A sod house would probably have been cooler this past week ...
I love your idea for a thread, and I do think about this rather often. I stick to vintage clothing and a general neat/sharp appearance because I find it motivating. It's far harder to lounge around in a suit and tie than in casual wear, and not just because lying down in a tie is a tad uncomfortable! I'm dressed nicely today, my one day off from work this week, just so I can get more cleaning and organizing done at home. It's worked; I've never cleaned a neglected e-mail inbox so quickly as in a favorite fedora, vest, and tie, as seen below. I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten as much done in a T-shirt and jeans.
At work (a scenic railway) I find even more place to let the vintage values inside me out, and even expose others to them. In the spirit of hard work and knowing one's trade well, I worked extra hard to learn the route I conduct over, and its history for giving informative talks and relating everything back to our lives today. Another thing I find vital to a vintage personality is having the strength to take responsibility for yourself (unlike our lawsuit-happy blame culture of today). So, between knowing my route and believing in personal responsibility, I won't yell at a passenger if they lean out of the train a bit in a place I know they're safe. I tell them not to in the areas I know are risky, and I caution them to pay attention to trees and such. But I let them have their fun, and I don't believe in compromising the fun atmosphere of my trains out of fear of someone suing someday. I caution and control everyone enough to make passenger injury risk negligible, and I extend the legalistic, anything-in-the-name-of-security work ethic no further than that.
More than those, though, I try to exude optimism, willingness to be a hardworking small cog in a bigger machine, love of vintage culture, and all-around respect everywhere. The more modern standards decline, the more I feel challenged (and motivated) to stand strong and be myself. At the end of the day, the possibility that I made someone else look at the good things of the past and see their value makes up for not fitting in with the world today.
-Steven
