le bonhomme de neige français

This has been an especially snowy winter this year but I've bitched about it for the most part. Working and having to drive to work makes the prospect of snow less exciting than it has been in the past. But when it snowed the other day I knew I wasn't going to have to go in, so I was able to chill out and enjoy it. Justina and her brother came over to play in the snow. It took a little convincing to get him to come and even longer to figure out how to have fun like kids do, but we ended up making a snowman. And let me tell you, it is the raddest snowman ever.

Meet Jacques Cou-snow, the French snowman. He is tall, wears an orange hat, and has a mustache. He also likes le snow and escargot. Because he's French. And made of snow.

sweater - stepdad's, skirt - urban outfitters, tights - forgot, boots - thrifted, hat - gift from j's mom, purse - thrifted coach

I also had the most perfect breakfast tea party with myself yesterday. It was cold outside and warm inside, and I made a pot of tea and some toast and used a pretty cup and plate. I don't eat breakfast very often but I think if I made it cute like this all the time, I might more often.

snowy hangover

Ok, finally back, again with older pictures. Also, even though these are from almost two months ago, guess what? There's snow on the ground AGAIN. Ah, winter. Will you never end?

tee - borders&frontiers (designed by tavi!), hoodie - american eagle, jeans - gap, boots - thrifted

So this was New Year's Day. I was hungover, like seriously seriously hungover. I was supposed to head down to Olympia to see some bands play that night but I had to go home first and once I crashed on the couch, well, there was no getting back up. Napping was way more important. Hungover outfits, for me, always mean some kind of cool graphic or band tee, jeans, and a hoodie. There should be sunglasses involved, but it is winter and I cannot find any of mine. Supposedly Washington state buys the most sunglasses, which seems bizarre because we're known for our grey, rainy weather. But then we have a sunny day and no one can find the sunglasses they haven't needed for weeks and must rush out and buy a new pair. I definitely get surprise blinded pretty regularly. 

Obviously, I really needed sunglasses this particular day. My mom insisted that we should go for a walk, and as soon as we got up the hill and out of the shade, the sun was insane. Snow plus sun plus hangover equals headache, so I made her snap a few squinty pictures and headed back inside. It was beautiful though, and I took a few pretty snow pictures later on. 

The shirt was a gift from Amanda for Christmas. It's so cool that she bought it for me because I've been meaning to get one for ages, which she didn't even know. She just saw it and thought I'd like it and bought it for me. Such a good friend. Oh, and please please excuse the mess that is my hair in these pictures. Again, I was hungover, I wasn't bothering with a hairbrush. Hair and makeup are whatever remained of the previous night. Anyways, here's some pretty pictures of the snow.

guys, I've been an absolutely wretched, deadbeat blogger lately. It's been, what? two weeks since I last posted? So not cool, and I know it. I'll get back on the wagon I swear. I don't know what's killing all my motivation but I'm gonna have to snap out of it at some point.

Festivus for the Rest of Us

dress - thrifted, coat - uo, tights - target or something, oxfords - aldo, purse - thrifted coach, necklaces - talonalia

I think I may have talked about our Festivus party, but this is what I actually wore. I was definitely going for a 90s Elaine-y vibe in my outfit. Obviously the dress, but the shoes also reminded me of the lace-up, flat, menswear-y shoes she tended to wear. Of course, to be totally faithful to her look, they ought to have been chunkier and probably worn with some scrunched down socks. And my dress should have been much longer. But the spirit was there, I think.

This was our elegant Festivus pole. No decorations, since tinsel is distracting. I only wish we had a bigger pole, but this thing was cheap and better than the PVC one we started with. At least this is metal! Also, you can see our half finished game of Seinfeld monopoly right there, which is basically all we did.

Again, I'm pretty sure I talked about this before, but the next morning it was snowing and Justina and I hung out at Ugly Mug and went record shopping at Neptune. My mocha was made with Mexican hot chocolate and it was soooo yummy good. They have some really great "creative" drinks and dishes there. It's an unassuming place but probably my favorite cafe in the Seattle area. The girls that work at the counter are adorable and really sweet too.

Picasso at the SAM

sweater - stepdad's, jeans - urban outfitters, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach, glasses - zenni optical, lipstick - revlon really red 

I went to the Seattle Art Museum with my mom, grandparents, and family friend/mentor right before Christmas to see the Picasso exhibit. It was incredible. Our family friend is an artist and probably one of the best people I could have gone with. We spent hours, really taking our time, which might have been a little annoying to my family since they got done so much earlier than we did. But I wanted to look at every single painting, drawing, print, and sculpture. 

My favorite has always been his cubist period, with those dark, monochromatic palettes and geometric angles. But seeing things in person got me a lot more interested in some of his brightly colored works and more organic forms. It's amazing that one artist was able to work in so many different styles. I think most interesting of all where the sketches and prints. In those, you could see elements of later paintings and, I felt, get a deeper view of his process. They're also not something you see as often, so it was cool to have that opportunity.

We got there a little early and had some time to look around the rest of the museum. We looked at a little bit of African art, but I mainly stayed in the modern section. I think even as a kid, that was my favorite part. The museum has been updated and expanded in the last couple years and I really do love the redesign, but it's nice to see old favorites too. I remember this Rauschenberg from long before, when the museum was just a dinky little thing and it was easy to see everything in a day. I don't think you can really do that anymore, unless you go real fast maybe.

These pieces are by a woman name Cris Brodahl and I thought they were really amazing. She uses something called chemical porcelain and also uses the same technique in her paintings, creating these cool raised layers. I didn't have as much time to look at her work as I would have liked because right after we discovered this gallery, it was time to line up to get into the Picasso exhibit. So I just snapped these quick pictures, but hopefully I'll see more of her work in the future.

country christmas

Usually I wear something sort of dressy and "pretty" in a traditional way on Christmas. This year I kind of went a different way. I had just bought this shirt (I buy things for myself while Christmas shopping for presents for other people) and thought the colors were kind of holiday appropriate but it was also pretty western/cowboy-ish. I wanted a high-waisted skirt that wasn't black and wasn't very long to wear with it, which I didn't have. So I took this grey skirt which is NOT high-waisted, hiked it up a little and belted it, giving it a bit of a paperbag waist feel. I liked having a good half inch of the skirt showing at the top of the belt because it made the belt stand out more. When I tried it with the belt right at the line between skirt and shirt, it was way too busy and looked blah. To round out my country Christmas outfit, I threw on my clogs (seriously love these things) and pinned up my hair in milkmaid braids. I am loving the braids now more than ever because I can finally have them cross in the back before going around and meeting at the top of my head. It's a much smoother and understated look than the crown of braids I used to (and still sometimes) do.

This description is pretty indicative of the way I put together an outfit, at least the ones I blog. I certainly do still throw things on without much thought, but when I put a little effort into how I look it's kind of like fitting puzzle pieces together. You try two pieces together, they work or don't, you try something else, it doesn't work with what you started with but you like it more, so you scrap the first thing and build off what you have now. I rarely plan an outfit out fully before I get dressed unless it's something I've worn before because I never know exactly how things will work together. I like to have enough time to play with my clothes and enjoy the process. Usually I have some idea, a theme, inspiration, or single piece of clothing to build off of but that doesn't always end up in the finished outfit. What about you? How do you put together an outfit?

shirt - uo, skirt - thrifted, belt - thrifted, tights - garage sale, clogs - jeffrey campbell, purse - thrifted coach