pho king spring

I haven't taken pictures pretty much all week. I've been really lazy and sort of depressed. These were taken Saturday, the day after the Violator party. As always, dirty hair, smudged makeup, yesterday's clothes, sunglasses. The hangover outfit.

J and I slept in a little, cleaned up the worst of the mess from the party, and then went and got pho. Pho is, without a doubt, the best hangover cure in the entire universe. I'm serious. A bowl of rice noodles in that delicious broth, some meat and as much hot sauce and jalepenos as you can handle and you'll feel fine. The hot sauce and jalepenos are crucial. They get all the nasty toxins out of your body.

depeche mode shirt - vintage, jeans - gap, shoes - converse, sunglasses - found/stolen in oly, depeche mode necklace - from a coworker

I really am glad winter is over. This was the first day of spring, and it was a perfect spring day. I'm excited for summer (like crazy excited...all I want to do is swim and sunbathe and dink outdoors and go hiking, all of which totally go together and can happen at the same time) but I also think I'm going to really enjoy spring and am going to try to not waste any of it. I want to take advantage of every moment of this gorgeous in between-y weather. I kind of love how one day it's gorgeous and the sun is shining and the next day it's raining really intensely. Those changes make me excited.

(so I should mention that although pho king is an actual restaurant, that is not where we went. we went to the shitty little pho place next to the convenience store and the laundromat. and evesdropped on an old couple. and then I brought my mom lunch. I just think it's funny that "pho king" is pronounced the same as "fucking". also, sorry about the quality of that first photo. it was taken on my phone, in my car.)

dm

If you know me at all or have read this blog much, you've probably realized I'm pretty into Depeche Mode. I may have a bit of an unhealthy obsession. But they really are, in my opinion, one of the greatest bands ever. And Violator is certainly one of the best albums. Seriously, go listen to Enjoy the Silence and Personal Jesus. Right now. Do it.*

Anyways, since Justina and I are both completely in love with the band, and also dorks, we had a party on Friday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Violator's release. It was kind of small, but everyone dressed Depeche (to the best of their ability) and we decorated with black and purple, lots of tulle, a huge poster, and some red roses. Justina made a cake and we drank Depeche Mode themed cocktails. It was both ridiculous and amazing.

depeche mode shirt - vintage, jeans - thrifted/diy, lace tights - urban outfitters, shoes - thrifted, depeche mode necklace - christmas gift from a coworker

*Sorry I can't embed these, but here's links to the videos for Enjoy the Silence and Personal Jesus.

i wear my wardrobe

I joined weardrobe! Finally. It seems really cool, although I'm having a hell of a time figuring out how to set a profile picture. Well, it seems pretty obvious but it's just not working for me. Anyways, there's some super fashionable people with great photos on there and I'm pretty excited about it. Check it out/follow me? I'll probably end up posting photos there first since I don't bother writing much. I take a little more time with a post on the blog.

Just so this post isn't ALL words, here are two pictures I took over the summer with a vintage Yashica 35mm SLR from my mom's aunt. The photos make me miss being unbearably hot and having dirty toes.

so you know glue guns? like, of course you do. well, maybe not. that would be like, cool or whatever. but you probably do. right?

cardigan - thrifted, fur collar - thrifted, shirt - old, skirt - thrifted, tights - target, shoes - target, bag - vintage dooney & burke, watch - stepdad's dad's old one

I actually wore this a couple days ago but didn't post it because I've been really busy because I had to clean my entire craft room (it was a MESS) so I could have a party last night. The cleaning was accomplished, the party was ridiculously fun (I drank way too much), and now I'm finally getting around to blogging.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about fur, but I eat meat and wear leather so I think it would be a little silly to really have a problem with it. I don't think I would ever buy fur new, but secondhand is different. Someone else already bought it. And all those sorts of excuses. Whatever, this collar is soft and warm and pretty and I can put it on lots of different things. I have no idea what kind of fur it is.

thrifted velvet and a plaid coat

So I wore this outfit for no special reason. I'd been rather a slob the last couple days and felt like dressing up. I also picked up a bunch of dresses and some other stuff at the thrift store and decided to wear this velvet dress. Which I totally love. It's a little big for me, so I might try to take it in, but it's lined and that makes tailoring a bit harder. I also decided to put my hair in pincurls. It kinds of reminds of the pictures of silent film stars Rhiannon sometimes posts. I had a bit of time before work, so I went out to the woods behind my house to take some photos. I also love the giant hood on this coat. It's kind of fairytale. It's funny dressing up for no reason though. A bunch of coworkers asked me if I had a date or was going to a party after work. I felt silly telling them that no, I was bored and curled my hair, and I just bought the dress so I felt like wearing it. I'll have to post some of the other stuff I got at the thriftstore soon too.

coat - silence & noise, dress - thrifted, shirt - target, tights - target, shoes - target

ice cream, walks on the beach, used record stores

These are all things that make an excellent day for me. They are also things I did with my two favorite people on Saturday.

shirt - vintage depeche mode, cutoffs - thrifted/diy, tights - dkny, shoes - converse, purse - vintage coach, sunglasses - found/stolen in oly

We got gelato first and were attempting to take a group picture by resting the camera on the car when a stranger came out of his house and offered to take one for us. So nice! It was kind of awkward, and we felt a little silly, but it was really sweet. And look how cute Justina and Amanda look too. Amanda's hair is pretty much my favorite ever (although she always has rocking hair) and her bag is really cool too (it converts from a satchel to a backpack). I love Justina's hat (she wears hats really well) and sweatshirt (I have the same one in grey). The perfect kind of slouchy outfit.

After gelato, we headed to Ballard and wandered around on the beach and pier. There were SO many people out: playing in the sand, flying kites, barbecuing, playing frisbee, in sailboats, and just walking like us. I'm not surprised. I think in Seattle we truly take advantage of nice weather because we have so many dreary, grey days. A nice day, especially on a Saturday and one of the first of the year, means parks and beaches will be packed. I love it though, it makes me happy to see so many people out and enjoying themselves. This girl, for instance, was just sitting on the rocks right next to the water reading by herself. And of COURSE there were kids building dams, since it's like the funnest thing ever, right?

Even though it is still winter and I needed a coat by the water, the sun felt SO good. I really notice how much light and weather affects my mood. In the winter, when I hardly get any light (daylight savings does NOT help), I get much more depressed, and in the summer I am usually much happier.



After hanging out at the beach, we hung out in Ballard for awhile. There's a really good used record store there called Jive Time and I picked up a few records and a bunch of tapes. The guy that works there (I think he's the owner, he's the only person working there everytime I've been in the store) is this really sweet older guy. Really soft spoken but you can tell he really loves music and knows a ton about it. I had a long-ish conversation with him about Kraftwerk while I bought a Kraftwerk tape the first time I was there. After that we went to an antique mall, where I didn't find anything and Amanda tried on some funny glasses and then we ate at Jai Thai.

seattle underground

Have you ever thought about how you never go out and see the sights in your own city unless you have guests from out of town? It's nice to have an excuse to do all the tourist-y things you wouldn't be caught dead doing when you have an excuse.

My grandparents visited for a couple of days, so one day I had off, I took them to Seattle and we went on the Underground Tour. Which is basically a series of tunnels underneath the sidewalks in the oldest parts of Seattle. You see, the city was built on a tide flat, so downtown would be flooded twice a day. To solve the problem, they decided to knock down some hills and use the dirt to raise the level of downtown between 10 and 30 feet. However, there were already businesses there, so they filled in the streets but left the sidewalks at their original level. This meant you had to climb down a ladder to get from the street to the sidewalk and into a shop. Eventually they covered the sidewalks and paved them at the street level which meant the original 2nd floor was now the 1st. The plan was to fill in the tunnels later on but that never happened. So now, they have tours which go through the tunnels and are rather informative and attempt to be humorous. Honestly, I got bored and just ended up taking masses of pictures. Rubble and ruins are so attractive to me.

For the Seattle World's Fair (or the Yukon-Pacific Exposition, I honestly can't remember) they put these skylights in the tunnels, which were apparently still in use. Above is the view from below and below is the view from above (confusing, yes, I know).

coat - silence & noise, sweater - target, tshirt - pacsun, jeans - gap, shoes - thrifted, bag - vintage dooney & burke

graph paper

cardigan - target, shirt - target, skirt - thrifted, tights - gift, shoes - target

Unexciting work outfit. I like the shirt. The skirt fits awkwardly. Must find better fitting black pencil skirt.



Do you ever feel like your style wants to go in a million directions? One minute I want to be all dreamy and vintage, the next badass with lots of leather, maybe totally class, or simple and modern. I can't make up my mind.

nostalgia for a time and place i barely remember

coat - old navy, flannel shirt - gap, sweater - target, jeans - urban outfitters, boots - thrifted

I wore this outfit to work and a coworker, who lives in the same town as me, said I look really country/redneck, like I belong in our town. He's one to talk, wearing Carhartt's and driving a lifted truck. I always like this style of coat because it reminds me of the army coats the mods wear in Quadrophenia (the Who used to be one of my favorite bands). I like its wrinkled shapelessness. I'm thinking more about what kind of style there is in my hometown right now. It's interesting, because there has always been this strange balance of hippies and hicks. Now there's a lot of yuppies that work for Microsoft as well, but they don't really count. The heart of it all is definitely the combination of hicks and hippies. Strangely, they manage to get along here. I know several people who bridge the gap, who simply can't be put in a category. You think logging is a strange occupation for a hippie? I do too, but it seems less strange here. I think my nostalgia for my hometown the way it was before I was born and in the first few years of my life is getting the best of me. I really think it's an amazing place. Maybe I should make it a goal to get more of the awesome local shit on the blog. There are definitely some good places to take pictures around town. Unfortunately everyone knows me and I will definitely get questions if I'm toting a tripod around taking pictures of myself.

By the way, I just heard about a weekly silent film thing happening in Seattle. I think Amanda and I are going to try to go. Rhiannon of liebemarlene vintage has totally gotten me interested in silent films. She posts amazing photos of silent film actresses and is making me want to learn way more about them.