Meet Daenel Vaughn-Tucker

Daenel Vaughn-Tucker started her blog as a way to keep in touch with friends and family after she moved away. As it turned out, she didn't end up moving -- and neither did her blog. At www.livingoutsidethestacks.com, Daenel writes about fashion, faith, food, crafts, photography, product reviews and more. Her followers include friends, family and former students, as well as people she's never met, but who have become her friends all the same.

"We've never met face to face, but we've been through engagements, marriages, deaths -- it's a community," says Daenel, or Dani, as many call her.

One of her favorite topics is fashion, and it's evident in the carefully chosen ensembles she wears to work each day at Kent Library on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

"I'm very big on thrifting," she says. "There's got to be a way to show how you can look cute by mixing things from Target and Walmart and the Salvation Army and Goodwill. You can come up with a nice outfit and no one will be able to tell."

Dani grew up mostly in Italy -- her dad was in the military, and years later, she would follow in his footsteps by serving in the Army for four years. She went on to earn a degree in American history, and it was while she was teaching history and working as a graduate assistant in the library archives that she decided to pursue a master's degree in library science

Cutline Email/Stock:Daenel Vaughn-Tucker inside Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University. (Laura Simon)

"I like helping students; I like the search," she says. "I like that moment when a student is not sure what they want to do their research project on, and as we're talking about topics, something catches their attention. They have that moment of 'Aha -- I found it!' I really enjoy that."

In her spare time, Dani enjoys photography, crochet, drawing and spending time with her family, which includes Tony, her husband of 20 years, and their five children and four grandchildren.

Dani is also a survivor of thyroid cancer, and she says beating it gave her a new perspective on life.

"What I learned, and that I tell my kids, is to do all the things, and don't be afraid," she says. "Do one thing in life -- nothing crazy or dangerous -- that you can look back and say, 'I did that.'"

Read on to learn more about Dani.

__Describe your perfect cup of coffee:__

My perfect cup of coffee is the morning cup that I share with my friends on Instagram and Facebook. It sounds silly, but about three years ago, I started posting a picture of my morning coffee and wishing my friends a good morning. People started responding (mostly on Instagram) by posting pictures of themselves with their cups of coffee or tea. Later on, a friend of mine who I went to school with in Italy started a coffee group just for sharing coffee pictures. It's now evolved into a coffee/coffee mug swap. In the years since I've started doing this, I've been blessed to witness some incredible events: engagements, births, deaths, graduations, new jobs, promotions, cancer diagnoses and survival. It's funny that something so ordinary has built an extraordinary community.

__What is your most treasured possession?__

Only one? Besides my wedding set? I'd have to say my camera, a Nikon D3100. I often say it's the best gift The Hubs has ever given me, and that includes our children. For sentimental items, it's my initial necklace. It was given to me by my kids many years ago for Christmas -- purchased at the school Christmas store when they were in elementary school. Now they're in college (or soon will be), and it just takes me back to those days of popsicle stick picture frames and macaroni necklaces. I wear it almost every day.

Daenel Vaughn-Tucker inside Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University. (Photo by Laura Simon)

__How do you like to spend a day off?__

A typical day off for us, The Hubs and me, starts with breakfast at The Hickory House. We like eating there because it feels like we're eating at home, but without the cleanup. Then we run errands, you know, take care of stuff that we couldn't get to during the week, and then we go to one of our favorite stores: Annie Laurie's Antiques. I think we're there every weekend. We like to go because it changes so much. One of my favorite finds is a vintage beaded clutch that I have sitting on my end table in my living room. It's so pretty that I can't even carry it. I just look at it. And we like to go to the river and talk. Funny thing, after living here for almost three years, we finally discovered the benches. When it's warm we sit there and talk or people watch. Sometimes I like to take my camera with me and take pictures of the Mississippi. Simply beautiful.

__What is your guilty pleasure?__

My guilty pleasure is definitely Pepperidge Farm Chesapeake Cookies. And Boston Baked Beans. The candy, not the beans.

__What style or beauty tips do you swear by?__

Always wear a pattern. And if you really want to have fun, wear two. I like clothes. And shoes. And purses. I used to not like skirts or dresses at all. Now I absolutely adore them. So every payday, I like to take $20 and go thrift shopping for cute skirts and dresses. Did you know you can find items with the tags still on them and they're cute?! I very rarely pay full price for skirts and dresses because I like them so much that I'd just be handing over my paycheck. However, my shoes and purses are a different story. I will save and budget for those items because they're the workhorses in my closet. My shoes have to be comfortable and cute, while my purses have to be able to carry all of my stuff and still look stylish. And, last but not least, accessories: mix costume jewelry with the real stuff. It looks so posh that way.

__What inspires you?__

My family. The Hubs is a go-getter. Every year he sets goals for himself and, usually, before the year's end he has either accomplished or surpassed them. The Boy is very much like that. He's very goal-oriented and makes lists and spreadsheets for everything. I wish I could be that organized. My girls are more like me, but more of how I wish I'd been at their age: they're incredibly self-confident and they find humor in everything. But, more than anything else, all of them have a level of compassion for others that I find admirable. They're definitely the "take their shirts off their backs and give it to someone in need" kind of people.

__Tell us one thing you're really good at and one thing you're really bad at:__

I think I'm a good writer. I try to make things relatable, funny and interesting. I think I do a good job of that, especially when it's a topic that I enjoy. It shows.

I'm really bad at math. Like, really, really bad. I stopped helping the kids with their math homework when they were in elementary school. They didn't suffer for it; they're all better at it than I am. I have to give credit to their father.

__What song will always get you on the dance floor?__

Oh gosh, The Hubs and I will always dance to "Le Freak" by Chic. Really, how can you listen to that song and not want to get up and spin around the floor?

__What's the last good book you read?__

"Sarah's Key" by Tatiana De Rosnay. I read it many years ago, but the story has stuck with me all of these years. It's one of the few books I've had to read through tears.

__What talent would you most like to have?__

I would love to be able to capture emotion in a photograph. You know, the kind of emotion where you're left thinking about a photo long after you've moved on. I remember seeing a picture of my grandmother when she was younger, maybe in her 20s, and she looked like Billie Holiday. Her hair was pulled back into a bun at the base of her neck and she had a flower tucked behind one ear. She had this distant look in her eyes. No one knows the circumstances of the photo or why it was taken, because no one ever bothered to ask. In those days, kids didn't talk to their parents the way kids do now. And my grandparents are long gone, so I can't ask them. Anyway, I always imagined she'd just finished singing some soul-stirring song and a photographer caught her just in that moment and left us with this beautiful but mysterious picture. I want to be able to do that.

__If you wrote an autobiography, what would you call it?__

Hmmm ... "Living Outside the Stacks."