repetition

tank - gap, jacket - cotton on (australia), jeans - urban outfitters, shoes - converse

I love housesitting, but only when it's somewhere great like my aunt and uncle's beautiful house in Seattle, with a view of Greenlake. I get paid to watch cable, eat their food, and hang out in the city? Um, best job EVER.

This is a super simple outfit, in fact I wore it another time recently, with my new Talonalia necklaces and some different shoes. I love these necklaces. I've gotten all sorts of comments on them. Most people think they're amazing but my boss said they were creepy. Usually I don't post outfits I've worn before, but I like these pictures, and in real life, I do repeat outfits. I do that a lot less since I started this blog, but it's silly to think you can wear something totally original every single day. I've always loved just throwing on something tried and true, something I know fits, is comfortable, and I look good and feel confident in.

tank - gap, jeans - urban outfitters, jacket - cotton on (australia), shoes - thrifted, necklaces - talonalia

Independance Day (or Happy 4th of July a month and a half late)

tee - pacsun, jeans - gap, shoes - converse, headscarf - thrfited, lip color - target red by l'oreal

Independance Day always feels a little bit fifties to me so I played that up this year with the silk scarf, cats eye makeup, and red lips. I don't love this lip color as much as some of my other red lipsticks but it's pretty good for longwear. It doesn't dry out my lips too much and really stays like it's supposed to. Is it a little ridiculous that I have many many different colors, formulas, and brands of red lipstick? I only buy red or deep raspberry colors. Well, I do have one nude lipgloss for when I want to look sort of sixties, but other than that I stick to reds.

When I focus on my makeup/hair more than usual, I tend to stay with a simpler outfit, like the jeans and tshirt I wore here. Now, I gotta say, I'm pretty damn happy with how my eyeliner turned out. I'm not exceptionally good at the winged liner, I must admit, but I rather liked how it turned out! And the little pomp works better when my bangs are too long, like they were getting back then.

Boy, it's weird to write about stuff from nearly two months ago! I mean, here it is, almost the end of August and I'm writing about the 4th of July. Which I spent in Des Moines (WA not IA), with Justina and Liam. We watched fireworks by the water, shot off our own, ate homemade cherry rhubarb pie, and drank beer. It was a proper Fourth, if you ask me.

international treats in the foothills and woods

tank - old, flannel - thrifted, jeans - urban outfitters, moccasins - minnetonka, tote - old navy

This was another one of those fabulously summer-y days. One of my oldest friends, a girl I've known since we were infants, someone who was like a sister to me for most of my childhood, was back in the States from Denmark, where she lives now. Her mom threw her a party so she could see all her old friends and we could all meet her new husband (she moved to be with him). It was lovely, her husband is a really nice dude, and it was great to see her. She's only lived there for a year (maybe two?) and she already has a Danish accent! We teased her mercilessly about that. There was a great combination of traditional Danish food and good old American burgers and such. And they had a bonfire and we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, which the Danish husband had never had. Imagine that!

taste of summer

skirt (worn as a dress) - used to be my mom's, belt - thrifted

It seems summer came and went in mere days here in Washington. It's still August but we're already having days cool enough for sweaters and tights. And it didn't get hot until mid July. So that's what, one month of actual nice weather. And even that was intermittent.

Yesterday's cold temperatures make this photo almost heartbreaking to me. I miss those few hot days! I miss throwing on something breezy and no shoes and just hanging out. This is one of those things that I really just wear around the house, although I did go to the grocery store for pizza ingredients in this outfit. I added sandals and a chambray work shirt to the skirt/dress and rainbow colored leather belt (which I love, by the way. it's kind of goofy but perfect for the summer). The pizza was delicious, cooked on the grill, with apple, spinach, provolone, feta, and carmelized onions. YUM.

I had been planning a show/party at my house for the next day, with a couple of my friends' bands playing and such, but ended up having to cancel it because two of my friends got arrested! We only found out the night before the show was supposed to happen and they had already been in jail a whole day and we had no idea if they were going to get out in time to play. Since their band was the one I really wanted to have at the party, we cancelled the show. They got out the next day and totally could have played but by that time we'd told everyone not to come. The whole thing was pretty funny, especially when I got pulled over right after finding out they were in jail. It definitely made me a bit more nervous when I was talking to the cop, but it ended up being no big deal. I had a break light out, and the cop warned me there was a lot of drug activity so I should be careful. Which I totally already know since half the kids I went to high school with are on heroin now and I found a bunch of used needles in the woods by my house when I was walking my dog.

workkk

These are a few less than stellar photos of outfits I wore ages ago. Work appropriate stuff is so boring.

cardigan - thrifted, matt & kim shirt - concert, skirt - thrifted, tights - gift, shoes - converse

dress - discount store, tights - target, cardigan - thrifted, shoes - converse

shooting elephants and tigers

dress - gap, necklace - ghana, shoes - pf flyers

I always feel like I'm on a safari when I wear this dress. Thought a necklace from somewhere exotic would go well, so I wore this great string of glass beads from Ghana. My grandparents gave this to me, and they got it from some relatives we have that are from Ghana. It's beautiful. The translucent red rectangles have swirls of milky white in them and it feels so cold on your neck when you first put it on. It's surprisingly heavy and I enjoy the way it does drape softly but sort of has a shape of its own. More than clothes, I have a lot of emotional connections to my jewelry.

ducksss

So I know it's been ages since my last real post. I've been busy with life, both good and bad. I've been alternating between extreme happiness--days filled with sun and friends, booze and good music; and sadness and lethargy. I'm trying to focus on the happy things, and there's a lot of that so it's not too hard, but I have been bummed a lot lately too. The combination of the two, and the lack of any sort of middle ground, has definitely contributed to my not posting. When things are going well, I'm too busy doing really great awesome fun rad things to even think about blogging. I'd always rather be swimming or drinking or going to shows than sitting at home writing a blog post, as much as I do enjoy blogging. I never ever would choose my computer over living my life. But lately the days I would usually blog, the ones where I'm sitting around at home doing nothing, or after work and I don't feel like going out, I've been in too lousy of a mood to want to write about clothes and junk.

But enough whining, and enough excuses. I'm back now! I just needed to hash that out, for myself, and it was good.

tee - pacsun, skirt - thrifted, necklaces - talonalia, boots - thrifted rockport, sunglasses - thrifted humphreys

This is one of the spots I like to eat lunch on nice days when I'm at work. It's by a river and a bike path and there's a little bench that's really nice to sit on. Sometimes there's ducks to watch and once I saw a heron. I sit on the bench and read and it's usually my favorite part of the day. Especially when there's ducks. Did I mention the ducks?

They're so cute!

I've been too busy enjoying summer and turning 21 to blog. Pictures have been taken, in abundance, and I'll be back with a vengeance when life awesomeness dies down.