holiday party - tacoma style

dress- target, boots - thrifted, fascinator - diy

We went to an extremely fun holiday party in Tacoma, thrown by our lovely friends Brady and Sid. Their apartment was so cute and they put up masses of lights and even had one of those cheesy fireplace videos projected onto their non-functional fireplace. And so much good food and drink! Eggnog, fondue, meatballs, ham, and an adorable cake J brought. We had a white elephant gift exchange, which ended up being a pretty funny mix of things. I think the hot item was a dog shaped cookie jar. I got the cutest little handmade, beaded ornament. Brady pulled out some classic Christmas records to keep the mood festive and it was just a really really fun party.

xmas prep

sweatshirt - cairo via urban craft uprising, dress - thrifted, tights - target, boots - thrifted, purse - thrifted coach

These were taken back in December when I was getting ready for Christmas. Every year, J and I get gross seasonal drinks at Starbucks and then head to Molbaks to wander, look at pretty stuff, and buy a few overpriced ornaments. It's delightful. The holiday season really is one of my favorite times of year and every year I wish I had more time and did more things. This year was no exception, in fact, I think it's been the worst yet. Way too busy with work and stuff to do all the things I wanted. Half my decorations either never got put up or waited until Christmas eve and I only made a few things. Christ, I didn't even send out cards this year. But there's no point in whining about all that. I DID do and make some fun things, which I'll be posting on in the next few days. And I'm determined to make the rest of the winter a fun time too. Ice skating anyone?

I used to love getting fresh, real trees at Christmas but my mom's allergies make that kind of selfish now. Instead, this year I satisfied that urge by wandering through the trees at Molbaks for quite awhile and picking out my pretend tree. I liked this kind of funky one and hung up a little felt fox on it, just for fun.

The huge expanses of poinsettias are also rather fantastic. J liked these pink ones best but I think my favorite were the multi-colored ones. They have so many kinds! We spent quite a long time there, just kind of wandering.

A couple days before we went to Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle. That's where I got the sweatshirt. It was fun but I didn't find anything for anyone else. Still, Christmas shopping downtown is always delightful and the lights were fun and we had a good time.

This year, my winter style has been a slightly odd mix of grunge and holiday pretty. These two shopping days, layers for extra coziness were the big idea. Big sweatshirts, flannel, wool, tights, ugly hats, and weird prints.

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.