minty moon

I'm loving half moon manis lately, especially in weird, non-traditional colors. This one was OPI Gargantuan Green Grape with Sally Hansen Wedding Glitters. I used Seche Vite topcoat and ORLY Bonder base and it has lasted an entire week and still looks decent which is amazing for me. I must be really hard on my hands because my nails almost always start chipping around day 3 but this combo holding up impressively!

kishi bashi - - - bright whites

the magnetic fields - - - your girlfriend's face

fair day

I love fairs. Ridiculous fried foods, rides that make your stomach go all topsy turvy, lights and color and retro graphics all over the place! They always have such a sense of romance and whimsy and childishness that I absolutely love. Add in cute animals, an absolutely gorgeous day, and some fun friends, and I'd say the day was a success. Especially when an Instax turns out this good. Do you see that color coordination between our outfits and drinks? Perfection.

dress - target, shoes - steve madden, purse - thrifted picnic basket w/ thrifted scarf, sunglasses - topshop (london)

I obviously was feeling the vintagey vibes of a state fair, while J went for the carnival clown craziness. It's weird but I definitely love both of our outfits, although for different reasons. I think my outfit is one of my core styles. I don't have a style, that's for sure, but this kind of simplified vintage is something I feel really comfortable in. And god, the color of that dress? LOVE. I get such a kick out of the wacky stuff J wears. I mean, girl has balls, right? Those pants are a disaster, but a disaster that she is totally making work. She is making me lust after some platform sneaks, that's for sure. Oh, and her hairclip? One of our friends from Japan made us each one! So kawaii!

tyrannosaurus style

wearing: thrifted dress, talonalia necklace, diy spike haircomb, red lippy, thrifted boots, & everyday glasses

I made this crazy cool haircomb ages ago after seeing the tutorial on the always amazing Honestly WTF. One of the spikes fell off before I ever had a chance to photograph it so it sat languishing in my jewelry box until I finally remembered to dig out my E6000 and glue it back on. I'm actually glad it sat around for ages because the shiny brass spikes tarnished a little and look SO MUCH COOLER. It's perfect with my Talonalia necklace both because of the tone and because the spikes remind me of dinosaurs (yes, I know tyrannosaurus rex is not one that has spikes, shut up, blog titles don't need to make sense) which are, you know, ancestors to birds. Yeah, I think about weird connections way more than I should!

lorde - - - royals

my favorite cold remedy

. . . is a Hot Toddy. I'm sick right now and this is the only thing making life worth living at the moment. Sore throat, headache, sniffles . . . I've got it all. If you're feeling similarly under the weather, mix grated ginger, fresh lemon juice, honey, and whiskey with a generous splash of hot water. It's basically DIY cough syrup.

MS MR - - - bones

rainbow dotty nails

sally hansen - lacey lilac, ulta - celebutante, loreal - not a cloud in sight, l.a. colors - (no name blue), sally hansen - pretty in hot pink, revlon - frankly scarlet, revlon - eclectic, sinful colors - rise and shine, revlon - peachy, essie - meet me at sunset

Oh my gosh, this was the most fun manicure I think I've ever done. Even after it had chipped beyond ignoring (I'm really bad about removing my nail polish when it starts to look raggedy), I was still getting compliments every day. Super easy too! I picked out five pairs of polish colors, a light and dark shade of a similar color and painted two coats of the lighter color and then dotted on the darker color with a toothpick with the tip broken off to be less pointy. I've also used bobby pins for dots before, so look around and see what would make nice sized dots. No need for a special dotting tool! I still can't believe I have enough polish colors for a design like this. I did realize I have a few holes in my collection. Pinks and greens are kind of scarce or funky, so I picked up a cheap bright/light pink (the one I used was a little too hot pink in my opinion) and a basic light green. A lot of my older polish has shimmer which I am not so into these days.

I couldn't stop myself from editing this picture with LINE camera. LINE is a chat app that is really popular in Asia (I think) and I started using it while I was in Japan. There's a lot of games and other fun apps that go with it, including the most ridiculously fun photo editor. I love all the silly stickers and decided to bling this one up. You may see more pictures like this in the future because I find it endlessly entertaining.

retail therapy

recent purchases: 2 black & white print dresses, dark teal jersey dress, black pencil skirt, ghost world comic, giraffe print heels

I went to Fantagraphics, the comic book store that shares a space with Georgetown Records, with a friend from work. We met up to check out the button maker store in the neighborhood and popped in to look at comics and I ended up picking up a few things, including Ghost World. I've been meaning to read that for ages. Also, I recently scored a way marked down basic black pencil skirt at Target (it has a cool zipper detail on the pocket) and picked up a few dresses and some shoes at the thrift store.

Is there anything worse than when a favorite blog ends? (There's tons of things worse, obvi I'm just making a point.) Whether it fizzles, posts slowing down until there's nothing or it ends with a dramatic "this is my last post EVER and here's why," it's a big dissapointment. Sometimes the blog is revived later and sometimes the blogger you loved resurfaces at a new home but usually that post you're so excited to see after months of inactivity is a goodbye, thanks for reading, and sorry I haven'tposted lately but I don't need this anymore.

Well...this is not that sort of post. I still love to blog (although you may see me posting regularly somewhere else in the near future) and I'm determined to get it running smoothly this time. But I have been thinking about why people blog and why they stop, and this post will serve as a memorial of sorts to blogs I loved and lost. I miss you, I don't blame you, and thanks for not betraying your once loyal readers by deleting your blog when you were done with it...we might not be.

amethyst from the trailer in instax

Sorry for the long absence guys! Life has been crazy lately! I went to Japan, roommates moved in and out, my car died and I bought a new one. This ring I bought right after getting back from Japan (as if I didn't do enough shopping there). I got it at the Trailer Park Mall down in Georgetown. Every time I go, I seem to forget a camera, which is a shame because it's really neat. Someday I'll remember, and show you guys all the cute little vintage shops and art galleries run out of vintage Airstreams. It's adorable!

yellow spring

chambray shirt - thrifted (little boy section), chiffon skirt - target, tights - hansel from basel, bracelets - thrifted mostly, shoes - steve madden

I took these pictures at least a week ago, before the official start of spring. And then what do we get for the first few days of spring? Full on winter weather, that's what. My parents' had snow and it's been freezing. But it's finally starting to look like this every day and I can't be happier.

I bought myself a bouquet of flowers today, on an impulse, while picking up wine at TJ's. I think spring is making me crave living, growing things. I've been researching terrariums like crazy and have plans to make a mason jar version. I also went to the thrift store on saturday and found an old glass lampshade, like for a pendant light. It's huge, all beveled glass and aged brass, and I'm going remove all the lighting components and use it on top of some sort of tray or dish for another terrarium. It's so big though, I don't really have anywhere to put it, so I'm also hunting for a pedestal table of the right size.

braids!

shirt & tights - target, skirt & boots - thrifted, sweater - icelandica (reykjavik), crystal - diy

I think I discovered my new favorite hairstyle to keep my hair out of my face at work but not tie it up severely, and not surprisingly it involves braids! I love a good side braid, but whenever I wear my hair in one, all the hair on the opposite side falls out really quickly. But this! This is perfect. I simply divide my hair like usual for a braid, but I then braid one of those sections, before braiding all my hair, using the braid as one of my three sections. It keeps all the loose hair in and looks really neat. Unfortunately it's really hard to take a picture of your own braid, but it's super cute!

the joy formidable - - - this ladder is ours

the young evils - - - dead animals

chambray & chiffon

skirt - target, shirt - thrifted, sweater - icelandica (reykjavik), necklace -diy

I think this might be the best manicure Ivve done yet! It was several weeks ago but gosh I loved this outfit. The skirt is mustard-y and chiffon, the shirt is chambray from the little boys section at the thrift store, and the necklace I made from stuff at work.

valentine's cards

This is a fun little Valentine's card I made for a swap with some lovely ladies at work. I stuck a heart shaped doily to the patterned paper and gave it a good spritz with spray adhesive. Peeled the doily of, doused the thing in gold glitter and stuck it on a kraft colored card base. Now I have to work on some ATCs for another swap!

seafoam and silver

revlon jaded, sally hansen xtreme wear celeb city, seche vite top coat

Here's a closer up shot of nails you may have noticed in my post on Tuesday. I've been really into painting my nails lately, but I don't like to just paint them one solid, boring color. Last week it was triangle tips, and now we have silver on seafoam. I use tape on designs like this and I've found that the type of tape frame shops use for securing artwork to a mat works really well and doesn't hurt the base color. It's called Micropore tape and I buy it at work. You do have to peel it off right away though, as the color can seep through the tape.

instalife

right to left: 

bizarro pepper, mixtape from a friend in AZ, Liam's makeup for a FabDownBros show, gravlax at IKEA, katsu burger, my cat Jack, roomie's pup Mona, Snoqualmie Falls, ice up in the mountains, me, still unfinished crochet project, instax in the snow

roomie friends

Sometimes I get frustrated with my living situation, but I really do like living with people and I like the particular people I live with. I like that we have roomie dinners sometimes, and take the dog for walks, and sit on the porch for hours in the summer. My roommates do surprisingly sweet things for me every once in awhile, things I wouldn't expect. Things like buy me ginger ale when I had food poisoning, or wake me up to coffee and waffles to thank me for a small favor. Occasionally I come home to some little gift left just inside my door; a chocolate bar, a tape picked up on a weekend trip, or a book they thought I'd like. 

So thanks Spike. Thank you for remembering that I was interested in this book, and thank you for leaving it for me while you move on to your next adventure. We'll all miss you here in the house, miss having you above. Good luck in Montana.

a few of my favorite things

Source: roseaposey.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

This image is powerful on its own, but be sure to read this brief description by the photographer. I think it's really helpful to examine what kind of judgments we make based on women's clothing choices. These judgments can be really harmful and the way we dress has nothing to do with our moral character, intelligence, or worth as a human being.

I love the science snippets Annika at The Pineneedle Collective includes in her outfit posts and this list of fake science facts is particularly good.

I read an excellent short story by Elizabeth Barker earlier this week, while sitting on my back porch smoking a cigarette with glitter covered fingers. Other than the fact that the story is a summer one and it was cold and dark and very much a winter night, it was perfect. And then the next day I got a splinter at work and thought of this story and I didn't really mind that it hurt.

Melancholy pieces like this one from the Frenemy have really been resonating with me lately. I might be in a funk but sometimes it's good to listen to sad songs and feel everything so hard it hurts.

You should definitely read this history of sequins from the Smithsonian. They used to make them out of gelatin! Which would melt if it got wet or hot, so like, if your dance partner was nervous and had sweaty hands, he could leave sequin-less handprints all over your sparkly dress.

I really need to get better about writing thank you notes. When I do it, I do it well, but I often procrastinate past the point of politeness and then feel awkward. But remembering how my best friend's mom called me "such a nice girl" when I sent her a quick note thanking her for allowing me to crash their thanksgiving dinner when I was a holiday orphan makes me want to write them all the time.

It doesn't appear that she's posted in awhile, but I love Erin's style on Work With What You've Got. It's kind of exactly what I want to wear in the summer, when I get sick of twee sundresses.

warm spinach breakfast salad

You guys, this is like the BEST food I've ever come up with. I don't have a real recipe, but basically you chop up a few slices of bacon and fry those until they're starting to get crispy. Throw in a ton of spinach and cook until just wilted. Dump spinach and bacon onto a plate and fry an egg (or two!) in the remaining bacon fat. While your eggs are frying, sprinkle some dried cranberries, walnuts, and blue cheese over the spinach and bacon. Top with your fried egg, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. When you eat it, break the yolk so it mixes with the balsamic to basically create a vinaigrette on your plate. It is seriously SO GOOD.

ana tijoux - - - 1977

and the fog finally lifts

As I was walking across the parking lot on my lunch break to pick up my takeout, I glanced up and saw this. Sometimes you just have to stop and go "dang, life is pretty." That may not be the most poetic reaction, but I'm just glad I notice these things, you know? It's a stop and smell the roses kind of thing, you sort of have to put some effort into it. There's times where I try not to be constantly snapping pictures, but I think the urge to document helps me look around, and see what's really there. I get weird looks and comments sometimes from people passing me by while I take pictures in a parking lot, or of a puddle, or whatever. But I just feel kind of bad for them, because they're not seeing it.

  sweater - icelandica (reykjavik), chambray shirt - thrifted from the little boys section, chiffon skirt & belt & tights - target, boots - thrifted, crystal pendant - diy, nails - ulta bam-blue-zled & revlon fashionista w/ seche vite topcoat

I also managed to snap a few detail shots of what I wore today. I haven't been able to get full outfit pictures because I lost my damn camera. And my whole purse. Quite awhile ago, actually, but I thought maybe it was just hidden under all the junk in my car. I finally cleaned that out and no. Not there. I could kick myself. I checked a couple places, but seriously, it's been ages. So that sucks. But I do really like this outfit. It's very textural, with the fuzzy wool and light chiffon. Lastly, I finally perfected the triangle manicure, which I love and first saw on The Dainty Squid. Kaylah has some killer nail art! When I did my nails last night, I thought the base color was a mid grey but it turns out it's kind of a denim-y blue. The triangle color is a dark teal, which I loooove.

glitter break

I have some cool stuff to showall you lovely people, but right now here's a quick shot of my glitter covered fingers. I was working on a project out on the back porch until pretty late and didn't bother to wash my hands when I stopped for a cigarette. I couldn't help but notice how cool my hands looked, shining in the porchlight

a few of my favorite things

Source: etsy.com via Rachel on Pinterest

This brought back memories of sneaking out of my parents' house in high school. I used to tell the boys who picked me up to wait at the end of my dead end road and text me and I would walk out to meet them, but they always didn't listen, or forgot, or were dumb boys and pulled into my driveway anyways, making me run as fast as I could out of the house, hissing "I told you not to come down my road!" and hoping my parents weren't woken up by their car headlights.

Oh my god, nail art inspired by book covers? LOVE it.

I don't remember how I stumbled on this comic but when I did I couldn't stop reading it until I finished. I didn't know a comic about architectural anomalies could be so compelling, but it was beautiful in a small and quiet sort of way.the 

This series of photos taken from airplane windows would be gorgeous even if I didn't know what was depicted. But right now they're just making me want to go somewhere.

I've seen this posted a few different places but I think this photograph does an excellent job of examining the weird judgment of women's clothing choices so many people seem to think is ok.

el perro del mar - - - i was a boy