lumberjack luxe

Ok, I might have a slight problem with alliterative titles, but they're just so snappy and fun I can't help it. Do you guys love me despite my cheesiness? I sure hope you do, but I understand if you kind of forgot I existed since my posting has been so sporadic and infrequent lately. All that aside, I hope we are still (internet) friends!

velvet dress - thrifted, flannel shirt - boys section of thriftstore, tights - target, boots - thrifted

I suppose this is another one of those entirely thrifted outfits I didn't notice until I blogged about it. That happens a lot actually. Anyways, I felt kind of lumberjack-y with the buffalo plaid and work boots, but that was perfect because I wanted to tone down the inherent fanciness of a velvet dress. This particular dress I almost consider a pinafore or a jumper since I never wear it without some kind of shirt underneath. It's a little too big for me, making it perfect for such outfits, and the general style of it, with the wide straps and straight across neckline just some girlish and cute and well, like a pinafore.

Also, I cut my hair! FINALLY. Good god, it was ridiculous. A week before I cut it, I bleached and dyed the bottom six inches or so bright pink. It was cute, but I think I only got a cellphone picture of it in a braid, which I will try to show you sometime. I'm so so happy with the cut, which my wonderful and talented cousin did for me (she's about to graduate from the Aveda Institute and I am so happy and proud of her). I haven't played with styling as much as I would like, but I am definitely wearing fewer ponytails and I like the way it looks just air dried and kind of plain.* Basically, I'm in love with having a normal length of hair. Crazy cat lady status may have been pushed back a few years!

*Something I've noticed recently is how fresh it looks to wear something really cute and kind of dressy with minimal makeup and unstyled hair. You all know how much I love eyeliner and my usual going out hairstyle was a topknot for quite some time. But I've started noticing that when girls wear say, a miniskirt and heels, as long as they keep the cosmetics toned down, it looks really great. So that's something I'll be trying.

mustard at last

sweater - american rag, skirt - thrifted, tights - target, bag - coach, shoes - target

I know I've shown this particular spot behind my work a billion times, but there's this heron that hangs out here. You can see it, although it blends in a bit, in the bottom picture, sitting on the second log. I like when I see this him, he sits so still on that log, it kind of relaxes me.

The sweater I'm wearing I bought a few years ago but I've never worn it much. It's kind of a difficult piece for me, with the big kimono sleeves and gathered waistband. I've worn it with jeans in the past but always thought it looked kind of funny that way. The proportions were off. Finally, the other day I decided to try it with my fav gray wool skirt, and um, I'm pretty sure everything goes with this skirt. Seriously, this is the first time I've been totally happy with this sweater, so...YAY.

happy halloween kids!

Well, a week or so late...but what where YOU this year? I was David Gahan from Depeche Mode of course, and Justina went as Robert Smith of The Cure. Of course we had to pose with our friends Casey and Jordyn who were dressed as Prince and Lady Gaga. No one really recognized me, which wasn't too surprising, but I think it was a good last minute costume. I had intended to be Scary Spice but we lost our Posh and Baby and decided to skip it for this year. Maybe another time!

We went to the High Dive to see Liam's band, the Fabulous Downey Brothers play. They're always fun but they were especially great dressed as giant eyeballs. They're fantastic, and I think everyone should be listening to them! After we went to a party in West Seattle? I think, thrown by some people Liam and Jordyn know. It was pretty ridiculous and I drank entirely too much and felt miserable the next day.

To work, I wore not a costume, but a spooky themed outfit. Black velvet, lace, and a spiderweb fascinator, with eye encrusted shoes. Yeah, the fascinator is a cheap halloween decoration from work, simply bobby pinned to my hair, and the shoes have googly eyes glue all over them. They were a hit at work, with my boss even taking a picture of them so we could use them next year. To sell googly eyes, of course. I think they're rather fun, and from a distance have a sort of crocodile skin texture.

velvet dress - thrifted, lace shirt - target, purple and lace tights - target and somewhere, fascinator - bf, shoes - diy, purse - vintage coach

Should you ever want to make your own such shoes, whether with googly eyes, sequins, buttons, plastic gems, happy meal toys, or whatever you can think of, just make sure to use E600 glue. Not a single one came off all day. I used two packs of 200 assorted size googly eyes.

I'm back!

. . . with heavily edited, vintage looking, hopefully dreamy, autumnal photos.

To me, early fall is one of the best times for vintage. There's the always awesome back to school vibes, the nostalgia of the summer ending, falling leaves, it's all kind of dreamy. And I love fall clothes and colors, mustard and knits and corduroy and gray and all those lovely things. Later in fall, like now (these were taken in early/mid September if I remember correctly), I start feeling more gothy. My grays turn from soft to deep charcoal and start getting paired with blacks and I start wearing dark lipstick again. Unfortunately, I seem to miss the best of this season, the early fall, each year. I jump too quickly into the dark late fall, which is really unavoidable after daylight savings time ends. This year especially, since I didn't have a camera for much of it (I'm now borrowing my stepdad's, until he notices and asks for it back), I feel like I missed.

dress - thrifted, belt - vintage, tights - target, shoes - steve madden

But I had a few good days, and a few good outfits. I had many more outfit ideas that I didn't get around to using, but hopefully next year I will really grab onto that month and a half period of loveliness. This dress is new, I found it while shopping in Seattle with my cousin and his english wife. They were only here for a day, so I took them to Pike Place Market and Capitol Hill. We came home to meet my parents for dinner at the Grange, which is a lovely restaurant with really fresh, seasonal, and local food. (Do excuse the wonkiness of this photo, I think my cousin was trying to be arty.)

tank - gap, skirt - thrifted, tights - ??

not dead yet

My lovelies, this sucks. Both my camera and my computer are currently out of commission. I feel like every other blog post these days is whining about why I can't post. I swear, the second I get these things fixed, I'll get the ball rolling again. I really do miss blogging. In fact, I feel so guilty about not doing it that I haven't even been able to read my favorite blogs, so I'm also missing my bloggy friends. Posting should resume soon! In the meantime, I'm drinking wine in the bathtub while reading Infinite Jest and finding cute art in dive bar bathrooms.

summer's end

dress - vintage (london), belt - thrifted, shoes - steve madden

Although I think we're going to have a lovely fall, with warm days turning into brisk nights, a sort of bright and energetic fall, I'm already missing summer. But I think I'm missing the summer that I didn't have, the summer I only glimpsed in fleeting moments like this, twirling alone as the sun went down. I think I spend too much time being wistful, dreaming about things to come or times that have passed, while I miss what's going on right now. So while I will certainly be posting some end of summer dreamy nostalgia posts, hopefully I'll simultaneously be looking forward to fall and enjoying all that comes with that. It is a great season.

desert sun

I don't know why I never can blog in real time, you know, actually post things close to when they happened, but here I am now talking about my mini-trip to E.WA. It was really nice to just get away, away from the stress of having to things. It was nice having people feed me and take me places and show me things and to just chill and say, read a magazine or whatever. It was great to see my cousins, they are getting so gorgeous and grown-up it's just insane. The girls are starting high school and middle school this year and it's like...I remember when they were babies. Shamefully, considering that they're only four hours away, this was the first time I've really spent time with them in quite awhile, so it was good to sort of get to know them again. Arielle, the older girl, is turning out to be such a beautiful and sensible girl, I know things are going to be great for her. And Emma is so mischievous and fun, she cracks me up.

dress - target, sandals - gift from a, purse - thrifted coach, denim jacket - thrifted, lipstick - revlon cherries in the snow

In the evening of the one full day I spent in Benton City, Arielle and I went on a little walk on the trail behind their house. I think it's an old railroad? It was beautiful, hot but with a dry breeze. It's dusty in a fragrant way and even though it's not super flat (there's a mountain behind their house and some trees and stuff) it feels HUGE. I kind of felt like I could take deeper breaths than I can at home and I looked up and out more. I don't know if that is just the landscape there that made me feel that way, or the vacation mentality, but it did me so much good.

It makes me realize that I really need to take time and do the things I want to do and see things I want to see. There's so much SO CLOSE and I don't get out and explore. I mean, this was just two days in the middle of the week that I had off, and I often have those two days off, but I NEVER do anything with them. I need to start, every chance I get. I'm still super into world travel (seriously thinking about going to Iceland for Iceland Airwaves or Georgia, the country, to visit my friend Aly) but I kind of forgot about traveling in this country. I want to go on roadtrips and visit the South and all sorts of other things. I need to go back to NYC and I need to go to California and I just need to see this whole great big amazing country I live in.

thriftscores: dishes

I went to the thriftstore recently and found a BUNCH of really great stuff. I've been paying a lot of attention to the homegoods section of my local Value Village because lately they've been having some nice stuff. It's always one of my stops and I often find silly mugs, but lately I've been finding some incredible dishes.

First up is this absolutely amazing tray and dish set with orange flowers. Oh man, I saw this and my heart about stopped. I snatched it so quickly because seriously, how had no one bought that already. It's by Schmidt Porcelana out of Brazil and I think it's vintage though I'm not sure. It certainly looks it. I'm guessing it's some kind of hors d'oeuvres serving set and I almost just bought the large one (I'm planning on using it in the kitchen to hold commonly used spices and condiments) but I couldn't bear to break up the set so I bought the six little guys too.

Next are these adorable mini Pyrex baking dishes. They are SO small. The little red ones are probably about 2 inches square and the blue rectangles are like twice that. I love the solid color look on these Pyrex, instead of a pattern. I think it's kind of neat.

Finally, here are some of the fancy dessert plates I've been collecting. I like pretty mismatched dishes but in this case I've been buying twos. I kind of like the set of six I've collected, they look rather nice together.

I also bought a dress to alter and a few chairs. Hopefully I'll show you those soon.

mini roadtrip

dress - converse/target, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach, rucksack - army surplus

There's something about summer that makes me like little pink sundresses. I rarely wear pink in other seasons but a nice soft pink with a stripe or something is just about perfect in the hotter months. Of course I try not to go all out twee and like to pair such things with black boots or a ratty jean jacket.

I wore this when I went over to E.WA to visit the fam. I had to work first, but brought all my stuff to work with me so I could leave right after and drive late at night to my cousins'. This big swiss army backpack is the one I took to Europe and was much bigger than I need for a quick trip over the mountains. But I was housesitting in Seattle right after I got back and it made way more sense to just pack for both since I was only going to be home to sleep for one night in between.

kimono

kimono top - liberty of london for target, tank - target, cords - gap, shoes - steve madden, peacock feather earrings - gift from j, purse - thrifted coach

Pretty sure this top was actually meant as a robe, since it was in the lingerie line of the Liberty of London Target collection. I bought it at the same time I bought that slip I wear all the time and love so much. I've definitely worn it as a robe when I'm chilling in pjs or whatevs, but I always intended to deploy it as an actual top. And I think it works well! I was going for a sort of bohemian vibe and wore my favorite feather earrings. They are the greatest! I'm planning on making some more feather earrings because they are SUPER simple and you can make them way cheaper than people sell them for. I actually have a lot of jewelry projects kicking around in my head right now.

Detail Week, Day 5

I haven't been to as many thriftstores lately, but I did find this cute bangle awhile ago. Finally dug it out and wore it the other day, even though bracelets usually get on my nerves. While I was sitting in the car before work, I notice that the price tag was still on the inside. I think I may have actually haggled it to a lower place. The bangle itself is darling, a cute blue floral fabric under resin.

Blue Floral Bangle

Detail Week, Day 4

I wear these little shorts under a lot of skirts and also as pajamas. I like to wear something like this under skirts just in case. I keep planning on making some little bloomer style shorts out of cute fabric. I am also a big fan of tap pants. Anyhow, I snapped this picture in the morning after I woke up. A plain t-shirt or tank and slightly frilly shorts is my favorite sleeping outfit. Other than possibly liberty print slips.

Sheer Chiffon Shorts

blogging disaster

Dudes, tragedy has struck. My camera, my trusty little friend, is broken. It's my fault, I tried to set it up on a post on the side of the highway for some self-timer action on my trip back from E.WA, and it fell, and now the lens won't go back into the camera body. I'm hoping I might repair it, but I'm also shopping for new cameras. Thinking about a serious upgrade.

I also flaked on blogging the last few days. When I was in E.WA the internet connection was spotty at best and I didn't feel like writing. Then I was housesitting and I got distracted by watching endless episodes of Cupcake Wars and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. And then when I got home from that, I realized I forgot my laptop charger there. Now that I have it back, expect a lot of inspiration posts and old photos until I get my camera fixed/buy a new one. I've been shooting some film, so I'll probably post that, and also I never posted pictures from my Europe trip.

So this isn't a gazillion words with no pictures, here's the note I found on my car the other day. One of my co-workers left it there, but I didn't notice until I stopped at the store on the way home. Glad it didn't fly off!

Detail Week, Day 3

All this summer has had notes of fall. It's never really gotten hot and I've been incorporating a lot of my fall fashion staples into my summer wardrobe. Shoes especially. I don't think I've worn a single pair of sandals this summer. And as you can see, there's already some confused, pretty colored leaves dropping off the trees. I am enjoying sitting outside during lunch every chance I get. I figure I better soak up as much of the limited sunshine as possible. I haven't been sitting in my usual spot by the river though, because it's in full sun and I get sweaty and I feel gross when I go back inside. I don't mine being sweaty outside, but sweating inside is disgusting. Instead, I sit in the grass in half sun/half shade between the parking lot and the trail and read about genius tennis players who like to get secretly high.

Nude Oxfords with Fall Leaf

your weight gain is my clothing gain

I had the coolest thing happen last week! I was wearing my favorite blanket skirt at work, and I went to put something on hold at customer service for a customer. The customer my co-worker was ringing up noticed it and told me she really liked it. Then she looked a little puzzled and asked me where I got it. I told her Value Village of course, and she started laughing and told me she had donated that very skirt to Value Village. It was so weird to meet someone who had gotten rid of something I chose to pick up. It was cool because she still liked the skirt, it just didn't fit her anymore. So she was really happy to see that someone else wore and loved it, and she told me she thought it looked good on me.

tank - target, skirt - thrifted, tights - target, cardigan - uo, boots - thrifted

Detail Week, Day 2

You've never seen this skirt before and I don't think you'll ever see it again. It was a hand-me-down I never bothered to try on and when I finally decided to wear it, it was so ill-fitting I took it off and tossed it in my give-away bag as soon as I got home. Still, I liked that it buttoned up one side and had pockets.

Hand-me-down Velveteen Button Skirt

shirt skirt

tank - gap, shirt (worn as skirt) - gap, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach

I saw this look on some amazing looking girls' blogs and it just kinda stuck in my head for a few weeks. I couldn't wait to try it, although I was a little wary about it. I mean, wearing a shirt as a skirt? Kinda crazy, possibly unflattering. But I loved it! I threw on some little sheer lacy shorts underneath just in case, but the only time I had a problem was when a button popped open while I was carrying drum shit to my friend's car after his band played at the Comet. Otherwise, sitting, standing, moving around . . . no problem. And I really like how it looks! Now I'm looking at all my button-up shirts and evaluating their skirt potential. I can definitely see doing this again. It's cool because when you're buttoning the skirt it looks like, oh no, this isn't going to work, why does it look so saggy on my but and weird all over? But then you kind of lift the arms up to your waist and the back part folds over so there's no extra fabric and you tie and it's like it's meant to be. I would recommend though, if you're going to try this, that you use a shirt that is fairly large. It doesn't have to be huge, but don't use something that is close fitting when you wear it normally, especially if you're small on top like me.

blog note: i'm driving across the mountains tonight to visit my cousin for a few days. i may or may not blog while i'm gone, but i have been experimenting with scheduled posts, in the hopes that i can avoid long blogging breaks. 

Detail Week, Day 1

After finishing up that 30 Days of Fun, I realized that I really like having ongoing series on my blog. It helps me to focus, makes me update more consistently, and gives me something to blog about on days I don't do/wear anything exciting. I don't want to just prolong things like 30 Days of Fun (although I think I will repeat that one every July) so I decided to start my own little series. This is the first time I've done something like this without stealing the idea from another blogger, so I decided to start small with a Detail Week. For seven days, I will post one picture showing some small detail of my day, whether it's something I wore or something I did. I may do regular posts throughout the week as well, or I may not.

Bottle Cap Necklace made by Allison (etsy)

crafternoon mimosas

shirt - weekdays (denmark), shorts - old, tights - macy's, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach

Last weekend some friends invited Big J and me over to the house they were housesitting to do some crafting.  I posted the little alien guy I made earlier in one of my 30 Days of Fun posts but we also played games, like Apples to Apples and the always fun Jenga. My friends made puppets and we all drank mimosas and listened to old music.

I've definitely been obsessed with tights with shorts this summer. Seeing as it's kind of impossible to go bare-legged in this frigid climate (seriously need to get out of the PNW if I ever want a real summer again) it makes a lot of sense. This particularly short pair of cutoffs is my favorite, despite the fact that they're nearly uncomfortably tight. I don't really wear them without tights though because...well they're just too tiny.

thrifty fun

lace shirt - target, jeans - uo, shoes - steve madden, purse - thrifted coach

Last week or something, I went vintage shopping in the U District with my awesome former co-worker Allison. I didn't find anything I liked (at least not anything that fit), but it was so much fun hanging out with her. She got some really cute stuff, like amazing petticoat she blogged about a few days ago and the cute skirt she's wearing in the photo below. We also went to Value Village the next day, where I found a pretty silk dress for my mom, some plates, and a few hangers. Super exciting, right?

30 Days of Fun (28-30)

Friday, Day 28: Painted my toenails.

Saturday, Day 29: Had crafternoon mimosas with friends and sewed a little puppet guy.

Sunday, Day 30: Went to dinner with Big J and L-Train and ate a lot of sushi.

Dudes, I can't believe this is over! Making sure I do something fun every day has been really cool, even if sometimes all I could manage was eating something bad for me or watching something entertaining. I certainly think I could have done more fun things, but maybe I'll just keep it up and do something fun every day for my whole life. Yeah, sounds good to me.

let the wild rumpus start

tee - urban outfitters, cardi - urban outfitters, cords - j.crew, shoes - steve madden

I'm obsessed with ankles this summer. I'm all about rolling up pants and wearing them with flat shoes and of course, there's my recently discovered affinity for long, ankle-grazing skirts. This summer I have really not been baring a lot of skin. It's just not hot enough to run around nearly naked. So I'm going with more subtle touches of summer, like the previously mentioned ankles and skipping socks. I'm still wearing tights though, as long as they are thin or sheer. It's just not warm enough most days for bare legs.

30 Days of Fun (25-27)

Tuesday, Day 25: Ate chips and watched Buffy.

Wednesday, Day 26: Went vintage shopping with my lovely co-worker Allison!

Thursday, Day 27: Ate a cupcake from my boss who gave them to our department because we just finished an insane move.

I gotta mention that Allison, that cutie I went shopping with on Wednesday, has her very own blog. She just started a few months ago but gosh, she posts some good stuff. Check her out at note to self.

siamese, portugese, dirty knees, look at these rookies around us, aren't you glad you found us?

xxl tee - pacsun, jeans - gap, boots - thrifted, necklaces - talonalia, purse - thrifted coach

This picture was taken verrrry late at night after I got back from a series of seriously small-town events. First there was Duvall Days, the annual local festival. A bunch of local bands played, including my friend's band before, during, and after the lame fireworks display. After, the guys in the band and some of their friends/roommates from college who were visiting for the weekend wanted the full Duvall experience, so we all went down to the Duvall Tavern for the Country Living Festival, had a few beers, and then went to Brodie Nation, which is this whole other local music festival down by the Tolt River. I saw pretty much everyone I went to high school with, which is terrifying, but also hung out with some of the few I was happy to see. I hurt my knee and got really muddy though when I stepped off the road to get out of the way of an oncoming car, and instead of stepping into the bushes like I thought, my foot went straight down into the ditch and my other knee hit the asphalt. It really really hurt. It also got my boots pretty dirty but I have this thing against cleaning them. I like seeing them get dirty and wear out. When I bought them at the thrift store they looked brand new and now they're skuffed, dirty, have paint on them, and the loops in the back are half ripped off from me pulling too hard to get them on.

30 Days of Fun (22-24)

Saturday, Day 22: Had an actually really nice day at work.

Sunday, Day 23: Celebrated my birthday with homemade apricot crisp in mason jars, eaten at the beach.

Monday, Day 24: Made friends with this little guy on my lunch break.