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.

pretty parlor

A couple weeks ago I went shopping with my roomie in Seattle. We hit up a few vintage stores and bought a few things but by far my favorite was this shop. Pretty Parlour is a beautiful, fun place to shop, and while I didn't get anything on this visit, I'll be returning. It's one of those places that is just enjoyable to browse and everything is displayed to perfection. The petticoats hanging from the ceiling are particularly lovely and they have a store kitty and gal working there had outrageously fun personal style. And they have a shop kitty which is always a good thing.

georgetown

tee - depeche mode concert, skirt - thrifted, tights - target, denim jacket - thrifted, moccasins - minnetonka, bag - thrifted, earrings - handmade

I found a bunch of older pictures I forgot to post this summer. These are from when I first moved into my new place (I promise once I get curtains/clean up, I'll show off my room), back in June. They were taken while exploring Georgetown, the artsy neighborhood a short walk from my more boring home base. The dilapidated buildings down there are some of my favs and have actually made at least one previous appearance on the blog.

pink glamour

tshirt - old navy, velvet trousers - asos, purse - thrifted dooney & burke, clogs - jeffrey campbell, lips - revlon really red, glasses - joseph marc, nails - smoke screen from ulta

I am trying to become the kind of woman who can wear pink velvet trousers with complete confidence. I am not there yet, but I think confidence in clothing is one of those fake-it-'til-you-make-it sort of deals. Just wear that impossibly glamorous thing you love, and act like it's totally ordinary. You may totally self-conscious, but pretend you're not for long enough and that'll just fade away.

My first outing with these amazing velvet pants (found through the lovely Sal's awesome Insomniac Sale Pick  feature on Already Pretty) was a bit of a trial by fire. I finally got the correct size and decided I wanted to wearing them right away, damn it. I got dressed with nothing planned for the day, thinking maybe I would just hang out and read a book, and be quietly glamorous until I got used to the crazy things and would brave other people seeing them. That may sound a little wussy but pink velvet, wide legged, high waisted trousers are quite a thing to rock. But at the last minute, J and I decided to go see a comedy show in Seattle, which is how I found myself walking down the street on Capitol Hill, by myself (we were late so I let J out while I looked for parking), in pink velvet, pretending my damn heart out that this was not weird.

And you know what? I still felt weird by the time I got to Neumos. And that's ok. I was less aware of myself while Jon Benjamin made us laugh, and by the time J and I were eating burritos outside our favorite burrito place, I was feeling pretty good. Now, whether that confidence will stick around, I'm not sure, but I'm proud of myself for rocking these crazy pants.

I also got new glasses! I love how thick and square they are and the color is great. So happy to not be taping my old ones together every day. Red lipstick was a must with such glamorous pants, but I kept the rest of my outfit simple. A fitted tshirt balanced the voluminous pants and heeled clogs gave me some height. 

Justina also looked super cute of course! My cousin Riley recently cut her hair and put some temporary pink in it which was super cute and she needs to do permanently. Hint hint. Soft pink with blonde is one of my absolute favorite hair things. Too bad the color doesn't show up in this picture. Also, I must remember to get a picture of her bag next time. It's the same soft pink I can't seem to get enough of, with skulls. It's perfect.

uwajimaya love

A trip to Uwajimaya and the International District always includes foreign candy, bubble tea, weird art supplies, FRUiTS magazine, and cute friends. So nostalgic, and so much fun!

snow day

We finally got snow! And I proved I'm not a grownup yet by skipping work and having fun. Well, actually, I got stranded in Seattle and, knowing how everyone freaks out at the sight of snow in this town, elected to wait it out until it at least stopped coming down. Seriously, we don't handle snow well here. People get really stupid when they try to drive in it.

peacoat - old navy, scarf - gift, pants - gap, boots - thrifted

Here you see the mysterious and rarely seen Abominable Snow Rachel! This delightfully cozy scarf holds onto snow astonishingly (and chillingly!) well, so I looked ridiculous by the time I returned to my friend Shane's apartment. We thought it was pretty much done snowing and went out for a walk to check it out but it continued the entire time. The city looked absolutely beautiful, all soft and quiet. At least a couple inches accumulated while Shane and I were walking (the Abominable Snow Rachel was his idea, by the way) so when we got back to his apartment we found one of those cheesy fireplace videos on Netflix and made hot cocoa. Eventually, I got brave enough to drive home, which turned out to be not very scary. Still, I'm glad I didn't drive while it was actually snowing, and instead enjoyed it. This is the first snow we've had all winter, and I'm guessing after it clears up we won't get any more. 

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 - ??

so jai pitted thai

Today was spent being lazy, painting my nails red, and drinking gin until ShyGuy (he's not actually shy) picked me and Big J up to go to Seattle and see L Train's band play at Neumos. They're called So Pitted and I'm liking them more and more. We saw them play last night too, at the Blue Moon, but that was a bit last minute since they were filling in for another one of his bands.

I liked them, the other bands...not so much, so we left and tried to find something to eat. Unfortunately the mexican place we wanted to go to was closed (not surprising on a Sunday night near midnight) so we went to a thai restaurant that's open late. Even though I stuffed myself with delicious curry (Jai Thai also has amazing "Country Style Pad Thai" which I had a few bites of and decided is way better than the regular stuff), I am now eating a yummy and cute cookie Big J made for me as thanks for lending her my car when she was in a pickle. 

All that tastiness paired with hanging out with my bestie, an old friend who I'm just starting to see more of, and assorted friends/acquaintances/cute boys at the show has put me in a fantastic mood.

shirt - designed by tavi, cutoffs - diy, polka dot tights - target, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach

This picture was taken on the scaffolding we've been using to refinish the shingles on our house. I thought it looked neat so I climbed up there right before heading out for the show. I think it makes for a kind of neat picture. I've started cuffing the sleeves of this shirt and decided I really like cuffed tshirts because it reminds me of greasers and The Outsiders. I also really like this shorts/tights combo, but every time I wear tights with shorts my mom thinks it's so weird. She never says it looks bad but she just seems kind of puzzled. Today she kept asking me if the show I was going to was "very casual" and telling me I looked "nice but casual. This is from a woman who hates to dress up and was at the time wearing stained shorts and a tie dye tee.

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.

lost in forgetfulness

90s dress - thrifted, cardigan - urbout, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach, glasses - zenni optical

This outfit sure had a lot of thrifted elements. This was right at the beginning of the fall. My college student friends all wanted to go out the night before and celebrate and take full advantage of the last day that could do that on a weekday without having to go to class hungover the next day, so we went to a bar in Ballard. The night before I had some knee socks on too, and at work before going out, I had a longer skirt worn over this dress. So basically, I got three outfits and two days out of this one dress. I stayed at Amanda's house and we went to a rather sweet cafe maybe 20 minutes walking distance from her house the next day. 

On our way back we walked through Gasworks Park (have you ever seen 10 Things I Hate About You? remember the paintball scene? it was filmed there) and took pictures. This was one of the last days I felt comfortable with bare legs this year. It was a cool enough for a sweater but I didn't terribly miss tights or tall socks. This kind of lazy day, drinking coffee, eating sandwiches, going to the park, with your best friend is one of the best things in life, for realskies.

And, to top it all off, we found this Christmas tree ornament hanging in a tree outside my friend's apartment. It was a little early at the time (these pictures have gotten kind of lost for more than a little while) but now it's only just past the proper day.

piecycle pie oh my god yum

tee - depeche mode concert, sweatshirt - old navy, beat to shit denim jacket - thrifted levi's, blanket skirt - thrifted, tights - target, shoes - aldo, purse - thrifted coach

I still go hang out at my spot by the river on my lunch breaks, usually to smoke, but damn is it cold now. Snow and everything. So weird. Anyways, later at Shane's we watched a ton of tv and ordered pie and this time I actually got a picture of the pie guy. He's a cutie! We got sweet potato, and he gave me some tips on making good pecan pie for Thanksgiving. He's even willing to share his knowledge. Good god, I've been talking about food a lot lately. Blame it on the holidays!

pie guy (aka my new husband)

shirt - alternative apparel, skirt - urban outfitters, scarf - gift, tights - target, cardigan - urban outfitters, boots - thrifted, bag - vintage dooney & burke

Dudes, you can get pie delivered until 3am Friday and Saturday nights in Seattle. Via bike. By a cute boy who makes and delivers all the pies himself. I am so in love. After seeing the Normies play in the CD with my new coworker (she just moved here and is pretty cool), we went back to Amanda's apartment to order a whole fucking peanut butter and chocolate pie. God, it was incredible. Actually, Justina, Amanda, and Tony went back and ordered the pie while coworker and I got burgers at Dick's. I'm introducing her to as much Seattle stuff as possible. Tonight she saw the neighborhoods of Wallingford, Capitol Hill, and the Central District, drank Ranier, and ate at Dick's. I think I'm a pretty good tour guide. But guys, the Piecycle is AMAZING. So damn incredible. He's only been doing this for a month but the pies are INSANELY GOOD. I'm shouting I'm so excited about this pie situation. Oh my lord, not only are the fillings crazy good, but his crust is the flakiest and most delicious I have ever tasted.

So I got this vintage purse at VV the other day, where I scored BIG on purses. Three really nice Dooney & Burkes (kind of becoming a favorite brand?) for less than $20. Plus a wool skirt and a tweed shift dress, which I'll have to show you soon. I've worn both already but just haven't blogged them. Anyways, love the kind of doctor bag vibe with this purse but the interior pocket situation is abysmal. There's a lot of them, but they're way too thin to jam anything into. So all night I'm rooting around in there trying to find my phone, or lighter, or camera and just totally dumping cigarettes and change all over. I kept losing my keys 5 seconds after putting them in there. I THINK, though, that it is cute enough to justify keeping it despite the annoyance. It has shorter handles which I removed because they are awkward with the long strap but it's really cute with those, so I'll have to use them next time. Other than that, I just found my favorite (only) ridiculous acid washed tee so I totally wore that and this floral silk skirt. And my black boots, of course, since last week at the same house I wore heels and had a bottle broken over my fucking FOOT which was not pleasant. A friend also poured his entire beer over the same foot the same night. Unfortunately, foot and shoe mishaps are still happening as this house seems to have a mysterious gold paint leak somewhere and for the second time in two weeks I discovered gold paint on my clothes when I got home. While last week it was just a tiny smudge on my (brand new, dammit) tights, this week I had not only several small and one large spots on my tights, but also huge drips and smears all over my boots. Not sure what to use to clean them, but hopefully I'll be able to get it off.

40s of PBR

Hey kids. You ever have one of those days when you just LOVE your friends so much, you can't believe you're lucky enough to have them all in your life? I've been feeling that like mad lately, so I thought I'd throw up some pictures from my 21st birthday, since just about all the funnest people I know where there. We went to Fremont, hit up a few different bars, got in a fight with some dickface, and played Seinfeld Monopoly at Amanda's apartment. There was also a lot of boy-on-boy kissing, talking to random people, and WAY too many pictures taken. Here's a few.

The people in the group shot are (left to right, back to front): Michael, Shiloh, Shane, Amanda, Shaun, me, Liam, Justina, Spike, and Aly. Yeah, they totally rock. I don't know how well you can see in these pictures, but I wore a black sequined tank from Target, a thrifted black pleated skirt, ballet flats, sweatshirt, and my trusty vintage Coach purse. I had an amazing time, and it was fully worth the whole day hangover the next day.

solstice

Again, this one is from awhile back. Specifically the summer Solstice. We went to Fremont, skipped the parade, but did check out the fair stuff going on. Fremont (a neighborhood in Seattle) is pretty well known for the Solstice parade, and also for the fact that there is a lot of nudity at said parade. So yeah, I saw a lot of naked people, especially of the "don't want to see that" variety, both with body paint and entirely bare. But there was also a lot of really great stuff, like this totally rad old man doing a live action video game. He held the frame and puppets were controlled by the joystick. It was the happiest thing I've seen in a long time. Also, we saw a really cute boy in a band. I think the band was called Ravenna Woods, but I'm not sure. Actually, there were a lot of cute boys, wearing a lot of flannel, all day. For being the summer SOLSTICE, it was a really chilly day. My friend Liam also bought this hilarious skull headed staff to replace one his friend had stolen from a party. Nothing livens up a walk around the city like voodoo staff.

shirt - buffalo exchange, cardigan - urban outfitters, jeans - urban outfitters, sandals - contributor by rachel comey, bag - liberty of london for target

I felt that wearing something rather dreamy and ethereal was appropriate for the longest day of the year, despite the lousy weather. And I woke up with a kind of crazy hair action going on which I rather loved. Added a braid and threw it up in a messy bun. I actually have a dress that's very similar to this shirt, but I need to fix the smocking at the waist. It actually used to be my mom's and it's really beautiful.