Trinkets & Treasures

Issue 128, featuring an interview with Isabelle Marchese

Hello and welcome to the newest edition of The Girl’s Guide! This post is too long to view as an email, so go ahead and click over to browser or app view. If you missed the most recent newsletter, find it here.

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Your Trinkets & Treasures

If you’ve been reading The Girl’s Guide for a while, you know that I LOVE to talk about thrifting and finding good stuff secondhand (in fact, you can read my guide to estate sale shopping here!). But I also love to give you readers a chance to show off your secondhand finds to inspire the rest of us!

So without further ado, here are your amazing finds!

“Most of my art collection came from INSANE estate sales in the DFW area! Each piece was under $200… Table, mirror and everything on it came from other estate sales including the buck taxidermy in the reflection!” - Ali-Jae

“My favorite bag find was this vintage tapestry bag from France — I get asked absolutely every time I go out where I got it and have to be annoying and say it’s vintage from an estate sale. It was $40!” - Sophie Taylor

“This is my favorite Marketplace furniture find — a very very old French chair with the original upholstery and down filling. Bought it from a woman on marketplace whose grandfather lived in France and furnished his whole home with very old antiques, so it’s probably hundreds of years old. It was $200 and probably worth a lot more.” - Sophie Taylor

“A kind older woman sold me an entire storage unit of antique European furniture for $200. Probably about $6000 worth of furniture in there or more! I sold about $1000 worth of the furniture and kept the rest, one of which was this pine piece.” - Sophie Taylor

Kayla Panchak thrifted the communion cup and plates, as well as books and candlestick centerpieces, for her wedding.

“I found this linen/cotton top at Goodwill (H&M) and had no idea it was part of a matching set until I saw someone in DC wearing a skirt with the same pattern! So of course I had to find it on Poshmark to complete the look.” - Madeline Schultz

Kayla Panchak says she “lucked out majorly” finding her wedding dress at a Goodwill in California.

“One of my favorite paintings I snagged by going early to the Long Beach flea market — I believe it’s Polish from the 1800s and was $180! Nothing particularly special, I just love it.” - Sophie Taylor

“I found 12 Lenox Christmas salad plates for $12 at my thrift shop in the DMV… turns out they’re $75 to $85 per plate!” - Katelyn Shelton

“I got these 2 beautiful mixing bowls. (I think there's supposed to be a third one in the set but oh well). I always snap up anything I find in this butter yellow color. It is like adding a ray of sunshine to your home. Also, my 5 year old is in the stage where she only wears princess dresses, and you can find some gorgeous ones at Goodwill. This white Rapunzel dress I got recently is particularly pretty.” - Emma Freire

An adorable made-in-Japan dandelion mug thrifted by Tryn Haney.

Art thrifted by Laurel Fowler — her research indicates the artist, Maria Castillo, has work displayed in the national art museum of Puerto Rico.

The cutest daisy plate thrifted by Laurel Fowler.

Interview with Isabelle Marchese

Today’s interview is with Isabelle Marchese, an American University graduate who is putting down roots in the DMV! You can find Isabelle on Instagram and X.

What does your life look like right now?

At 25, I feel the more fulfilled and stable than I ever have before. I got married to my husband, Nino, in June of last year and we just closed on a condo, making us first time homebuyers! We have ambitious renovation plans for summer; thankfully, my husband is incredibly handy. I’ll be focusing my efforts on creating vision boards, hoarding new plants, and sourcing mid-century modern furniture on Facebook Marketplace.

“My husband and I had a fairy tale wedding nestled in the mountains of Italy.” - Isabelle Marchese

I have a job that I absolutely love at Americans for Tax Reform, where I manage our healthcare, budget, and education portfolios. Outside of my job and relationship, I spend most of my time tending to/training my Australian Shepherd, Indi, and cooking. Two years ago, we became properly radicalized by the “crunchy” movement, so I slowly began making nearly all my food from scratch. Cooking is my escape: I have become obsessed with learning the scientific processes involved in cooking, using unusual ingredients, biohacking our gut microbiomes, and creating my own recipes.

I never expected to be at this stage of my life at 25, but I feel incredibly blessed for it.

Where do you live and what do you love about it?

I have lived in DC/Northern Virginia for almost 8 years (yikes!). The property my husband and I bought is in Alexandria, Virginia, a quick walk to Old Town! I love this area for this moment of my life. While DC gets a bad reputation for being a city full of class presidents and valedictorians, I find that fact charming (most of the time). It makes it easy to have interesting conversations with people. Probably for the best, there are not many areas in the country where you can have electric conversations about philosophy or health policy with strangers. I’m sick though, so I love it.

“I got married to my husband, Nino, in June of last year and we just closed on a condo.” - Isabelle Marchese

Admittedly, we have no intention of staying in this area longer than we must. We dream of having a lot of land, privacy, and never paying state income taxes again. My husband is a part-time student at Antonin Scalia Law School. After he graduates, we will re-evaluate our living circumstances. In the meantime, we love visiting Real America™, especially our friend’s property in West Virginia with a private shooting range.

What’s your advice to someone considering having a small wedding?

When we began planning our wedding, we vowed not to be limited by obscure traditions and unspoken expectations. We did a lot of things out of the norm, but perhaps the most unique one being that we had a very small wedding.

My husband and I had a fairy tale wedding nestled in the mountains of Italy. We rented out a large villa, where all 25 of our guests stayed for four days, and had our wedding there. We had a harpist, an incredible Nonna-made multi-course dinner, and a view to die for. The best part? Including both the wedding and our honeymoon in Venice, we spent half the average cost of a wedding in the U.S.

“When we began planning our wedding, we vowed not to be limited by obscure traditions and unspoken expectations.” - Isabelle Marchese

Going small frees you up to spend more money per person, making the day more special for both you/your fiancé and those closest to you.

Most of all, there is so much less pressure. You are with those closest to you. Who cares if the transitions aren’t seamless? Who cares if you mess up your first dance? Who cares if the power goes down for a moment? Who cares if you change into your pajamas during the reception? All those things happened during my wedding. And nobody cared!

I don’t recommend burning family bridges to have a small wedding, but if you can make it work, do!

What's the biggest lesson you've learned in your 20s?

I suppose this is not a specific lesson, but in my 20s I have adopted many of the core principles of Stoicism — the ones I believe align with my Christian faith. In your 20s, it is important to learn how to regulate your emotions, act confidently in alignment with your values, and accept the parts of life that are genuinely out of your control.

Most of the mistakes one makes in their life revolve around a lack of self-control: saying harmful things in the heat of the moment, indulging in temptation, making long-term decisions based on a brief period of anger, sadness, or even happiness, etc. Discipline over your emotions is both virtuous and will eliminate problems you would have created otherwise.

Further, keeping a clear-enough mind allows you to evaluate your decisions in a more objective way. More specifically, you will be able to make decisions based on how they align with the values you proclaim, less encumbered by your emotional state.

Bulletin Board

ISO ROOMMATE: My roommate and I have a single bedroom available starting March 1 and are looking to add an additional housemate to our Capitol Hill row home! Our house is a few blocks from Lincoln Park, a 7-minute walk from the Stadium Armory Metro, and a 15 minute walk from Eastern Market. We have a great landlord who is a Believer, good neighbors, a backyard, a renovated kitchen, and a spacious downstairs. We have a shared full bath upstairs, a half bath downstairs, and an in-unit washer and dryer. Street parking available. An ideal roommate would be a Christian, conservative woman in her mid-late 20s looking to sign a one-year lease. No pets or smoking. My roommate works from home a few days a week, and I am often out of the house for work or evening activities. We are both low-drama gals who enjoy occasionally hosting friends, are involved in our churches, and have active social lives. Room pictures attached. Please note that the room does not come furnished, although a lofted bed frame is available if desired. Rent is $950 a month plus utilities. - Madeline Peltzer

*REPLY TO THIS EMAIL TO GET CONNECTED ABOUT HOUSING*

The Haps

My Latest Book Review

If you had told me 10 years ago that I’d get paid to share my thoughts on books, I wouldn’t have believed you! But I have just published another book review with The American Conservative on an extremely important topic: the food industry. Fat And Unhappy: How “Body Positivity” Is Killing Us (and How to Save Yourself), by Tristan Justice and Gina Bontempo, is a book that could not come at a more crucial time. Find my full thoughts at The American Conservative here: Body Positivity’s Big Fat Lie.

Taylor Lautner Gets Meta

Hollywood loves getting meta lately. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, roughly one million Deadpool spinoffs — it’s like everything’s got to have a gimmick. Well, the gimmick behind the new series Taylor Lautner: Werewolf Hunter might just pay off, even if only thanks to the army of Twilight fans thirsting for content like Edward thirsts for blood. “After wrapping the final ‘Twilight’ film… Taylor is drawn into a secret society of werewolf trackers who need his unique expertise,” the series synopsis reads. Read more at Variety.

Here are more links to what I’m reading and watching lately:

• Exasperated Children (Saturday Evening Post):

  Katrina Hutchins
  is a finalist in the famed Saturday Evening Post’s short story contest with her piece about mother-daughter piano lessons.

• Brideshead Revisited (Plex): I just finished reading Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, so I had to check out the 1981 miniseries to tell my book club if it’s any good (it is).

• It’s Not Too Late to Ban Online Sportsbook (Commonplace): Jude Russo writes on the evolution of gambling and what it’s doing to all of us.

• How to Be a Real Girls’ Girl—According to Women Who Live It (Substack): I’m honored that

  Freda Donnelly
  included me in her roundup!

• How Tucker Carlson’s Nicotine Pouch Became the Latest Front in the Culture War (Politico Magazine): Your boyfriend’s cheating on Zyn with ALP. Ian Ward explains why.

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