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.

a fair day

skirt - h&m, shirt - thrifted in finland, sweater - target, shoes - pf flyers, purse - clothes swap, fascinator - greenwich market, hair feather - ben franklin crafts

There is something I just love about parades and fairs and other ridiculousness, especially when they're not huge. This is the second year I've walked in the Derby Days parade, next to this aaaamazing pink Cadillac (my boss' car!), and handed out candy. I also had to work the kids craft booth until we ran out of supplies, but then I was free, finally, to enjoy the fair. Called up some friends, found the carnival rides, ate snowcones and curly fries, and just generally enjoyed the total awesome-ness that is a small town fair. Although this one has a shocking amount of spandex, since it is centered around a series of bike races. Yucky!

I was obviously really feeling the whimsy of a parade/fair and dressed in a way that reminds me of a Dr. Suess character crossed with a children's librarian. Bright colors, patterns, hair accessories, and just general sweetness. The teal and black striped bit in my hair is a hair feather, which we sell at work. I kind of like the look of them, but I didn't leave mine in for long. Those things are damn pricey, so I'm glad I got mine for free. They wanted us to wear them so everyone would know to buy them at the store. I felt more than a little ridiculous later that night when I went to the Blue Moon, a total dive bar, to see my friends' band, So Pitted (again) play.

30 Days of Fun (19-21)

Wednesday, Day 19: Worked on a cone prototype for a food related business venture which was semi-successful.

Thursday, Day 20: Chilled with the fam and drank beer.

Friday, Day 21: Had more than enough reading material at lunch.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm reading Infinite Jest right now, but I also tend to pick up a copy of Spare Change whenever I see someone selling it outside Trader Joe's. It's actually my favorite paper and the articles are really great. I read something about the history of blood transfusions (first happened in the 1600s! with lamb blood!), the cover story actually. Between this, the Stranger, and online news, I never get real papers. Which is a bit of a shame. I used to read the New York Times a lot, but that just doesn't happen anymore.

flannel shirt - thrifted from little boys section, skirt - thrifted, lace tights - fred meyer, boots - thrifted, purse - coach

Um, you guys, how ridiculous is it that it is fucking JULY and I am still wearing tights?? Sure, they're sheer/open weave ones, but I have only gone barelegged a few times this year and that? Not cool. Summer is totally my favorite season and having it be so lousy is really depressing. On the bright side, it means I can wear favorites like this flannel year round, but come ON, I haven't even gone swimming this year! whine whine whine . . . I bet you are totally sick of hearing about me complain about this weather, especially if you live in the rest of the country where it is unbearably hot, but no matter how miserable you think that heat is, I would trade in a second. I just want a real summer.

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

Today was my birthday! And I went to Jetty Island with the fam and had a great day. I've been wanting to go to the beach and hang out lately but our weather has been so lousy. Finally the last few days have been nice and I thought a picnic on the beach would be great. But then I woke up this morning and it was raining and cold and grey. We decided to stick it out anyhow and drove up to Everett and took the tiny ferry across to the island. Seriously, that ferry is mini. Cutest thing ever, and the trip across takes about a minute.

We had a great picnic, with sandwiches and cheese and olives and veggies and hummus and crackers, which my mom put together (she read my mind and had exactly what I was going to suggest she get) and I made little mini apricot-ginger crisps in mason jars. We put a candle in one, just for cuteness. It was all delicious and perfect. Oh, and my mom also got a bottle of Orangina which seemed super nostalgic and I loved it.

Eventually the sun DID come out and it turned into a gorgeous day. I even had to wear sunglasses! But I got some sand in my eye and one of my contacts came out and I couldn't find it so I was kind of weirdly half blind. If you don't wear contacts you probably can't imagine what that's like, but it's kind of surreal. It's not like one half is blurry and one is clear, it's more like you can never find the blurry or clear spots and they're all mixed together. It was weird.