Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day was filled with holiday cheer, good food, and loved ones. I had a wonderful Christmas. I enjoy giving presents to people very much and this year I feel like I did good. I also made a tasty chocolate cake with choco-peppermint ganache and crushed candycanes which was received very well.

I promised a winner of the contest today, and I do not break promises. I had a total of 5 people enter the contest (thank you all!). I wrote the names on paper and threw them in a hat (the H&M one I wore to the Depeche Mode concert, if you're curious). Mixed them up reallllly good, and drew one.

Congratulations Sally, from The Other Scrapbook! You are the winner. I'll need you to email me your mailing address and then I'll get your prize in the mail as soon as possible.

My cousin also cut my bangs today. (I took my dress off and hung out in my tights and my uncle's tshirt so I wouldn't get hair all over my dress while she cut it.) So much better, amiright?

fuck fashion

shirt - vintage depeche mode, jeans - gap, shoes - thrifted

Made gingerbread houses with Justina today. Kind of not caring about fashion right now. I feel like going back to a jeans and t-shirt life. It's sort of awesome to not give a shit about what you're wearing. I'm sure I'll get over it though. At least I've got nice jeans, an awesome pair of shoes, and some sweet band shirts so I'm not wandering around looking like a total loser. Anyways, here's my gingerbread house.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the contest. I decided I'm going to randomly pick the winner on Christmas. So you've still got a cople days to enter if you haven't already!

brings out the thug in me

peacoat - old navy, sweatshirt - american eagle, shirt - pacsun, jeans - gap, shoes - thrifted

I kind of felt like a hipster douchebag today. It was something about the combination of big coat, skinny jeans, pointy shoes, and awesome glasses I guess. I mean, I liked my outfit and felt comfortable in it, but I almost felt like I was trying too hard to be "cool". Except I so wasn't. This was a totally thoughtless, thrown on outfit. The jeans and shoes are kind of standard on days I don't work, and the big coat is starting to be necessary. So whatever, right?

buffalo plaid and stripes

Who's excited for Christmas? I know I am! I love decorating and taking pictures by the tree makes me really happy. My mom and I decorated the tree over a couple nights after work since I'm never home during the day. We were kind of tipsy and it was hilarious. Our tree may not look perfect, but I like it that way! I only wish it wasn't a fake tree. I really miss going to the tree farm down the road and picking out and cutting our own tree. I loved the evergreen smell and even kind of liked the chore (which was always mine) of watering the tree. I will admit, fake trees are a little easier, and certainly cheaper.

shirt - thrifted, skirt - thrifted, tights - gift, socks - target, shoes - converse

Usually my work outfits are pretty boring but occasionally I wear something cute. I wear this shirt too much but hey, I'm from Seattle and it's cold, so I wear flannel. Can I tell you something awesome about these tights? They have fully formed heels, just like socks. For some reason, I think that's really cool. Especially because the toe and heel is all black while the rest of the foot is striped. Maybe I'm a freak, but I get such a kick out of these tights. Also, stripes are awesome.

glasses - zenni optical

I got new glasses! Finally. I love them! They look all black in this photo, but they're dark brown with a sort texture-y pattern. Kind of tortoise shell-esque but not exactly. I didn't wear them during the day because I was already wearing contacts when I got the package, but I had to try them on and snap a picture once I got home from work. Also, my bangs are pinned back because they're wayyy too long right now. My cousin is trimming them next week though, so it'll all be good.

p.s. I'm leaving the contest open for at least a week more. There haven't been many entries so be sure to enter as your chances of winning are still really really good. I need a little more time to get all the stuff for the prize together. Go enter now! I promise you'll like the suprise prize.

outfit, apology/explanation, recommendation

sweater - stepdad's, skirt - secondhand, tights - dkny, shoes - target

I actually wore this outfit the day before Thanksgiving, to work. Usually my work outfits are really boring: same gray work pants, plain shirt, cardigan. But my work pants were dirty that day, so I decided to wear a skirt. I liked feeling a little dressed up at work (although the baggy sweater kept it feeling casual) but those shoes are not meant for wearing on your feet for 8 hours. The first 6 were fine; the last two, hell. I also really dig how cheap this outfit is. Sweater was free; I stole it out of my stepdad's closet, skirt was either thrifted or a hand-me-down, I bought the tights at a garage sale for really cheap, and the shoes are from Target and probably the cheapest pair they sell.

I'd like to mention that I apologize for boring/crappy pictures recently. I hate how early it gets dark because it means I very rarely can get outfit pictures outside or in interesting locations. I'm sure you're sick of seeing the same spot in my hall, my front door, and that one wall in my bedroom, but they're really the only places I can get a halfway decent shot. I'm definitely looking forward to spring, not just for warmer weather, but for better photo opportunities.

One more thing: I saw Fantastic Mr. Fox on Saturday and it was amazing! Seriously, go see it. Gorgeous. So well done.

Happy Thanksgiving! (almost a week late)

If my computer hadn't gone all craptastic on me, this is the post I would have posted on Thanksgiving day, or the day right after. Above is my food. It was delicious. Below is my outfit.

sweater - american rag, jeans - gap, shoes - thrifted

I adore this sweater. The color, the awesome batwing shape (I think the sleeves connect somewhere around my waist), the lacy detailing, the cute little crocheted balls on the drawstring, the smocked waist. Really, everything. I don't usually pay full price for clothes, but I'd just gotten paid and I fell in love with this. Not my usual style, but I think that's cool too. Definitely makes me want some high-waisted seventies bellbottoms.

The jeans are also new. Gap jeans are officially my new favorite for skinny jeans. They fit amazingly. I'm not sure I love them with the sweater, but I do adore them with the shoes. The jeans/shoes combination makes me feel like I need a guitar. In a Bob Dylan sort of way.

By the way, I think only four people have entered the contest, so you still have a really good (understatement) chance of winning. Enter!

100 posts! (and a contest)

Wow, I can't believe this is my 100th post! And nearly a year of blogging as well. I'm digging it more than you can imagine.



So in honor of my 100th post I thought I'd have a little contest. I'm not telling you can win, except that it's a surprise package of some of my favorite/awesome things.



To enter the contest, simply leave a comment telling me what your favorite outfit/picture I've posted. I've posted a selection from the last year but if you remember one that is not in this post, feel free to share it. The contest will be open for about 2 weeks. Make sure you leave your email address as well so I can contact you if you win. I'll also post the winner on the blog.

alone at a party = awkward evening

cardigan - thrifted, belt - thrifted, tank - gap, skirt - jack by bb dakota, tights - dkny, shoes - target, necklace - thrifted, earrings - claire's, watch - vintage

Tonight I went to blogmeetblog at BoConcept. It was really fun! Kind of awkward at first, since I went alone, but I met a really nice couple i hung out with for the evening and bunch of interesting people. I actually didn't take any pictures while I was there...not sure why. But it was a really fun event and everyone looked amazing. It was hosted by Needle+Thread and The Clothes Horse and they did an amazing job putting it all together.

Anyways, I just got this skirt last week when I was shopping with Justina. I found it on sale for $10, down from $50 at Macy's. I also got a sweet sweater and a pair of jeans from the Gap, which I love. I obviously love plaid, so this skirt makes me really stoked. And the belt is just so freaking pretty. I picked it up at Value Village on the way to that Deftones party a couple months ago and it's one of my favorite thrift store purchases.

plaid, plaid, plaid

jacket - target, sweatshirt - volcom, flannel shirt - thrifted, hat - target, jeans - pacsun, shoes - converse

I took three pictures today because I thought it was funny that everything I was wearing on the top half of my body had some sort of plaid. The sweatshirt pattern is pretty faint, but it's there. Anyways, I really apologize for the lack of blogging lately. School has been kind of crazy and my hours have been increased at work (which I'm actually really stoked about). Ugh, also, I got in a car accident on Tuesday. It was very, very minor, but now my door is stuck locked and I have to climb through the passenger side door instead. So wearing skirts is not really happening right now.

Anyways, I don't have a whole lot to say, other than that I'm really excited for Blog Meet Blog, a northwest blog meet-up that's occuring next Friday in Seattle. It should be really fun!

nineties nostalgia

sweater - thrifted uniqlo, tank - gap, jeans - express, shoes - thrifted

So today I went to Seattle to visit Amanda again. We decided to make a trip to Ballard, but the weather was terrible so we ended up just going to a bookstore where I looked through a book about grunge. It had a short introduction and then was just all photos of bands and grunge kids on the Ave and such. The photos were great, and I loved the outfits. Totally Seattle. It's funny because I used to hang out in the U District all the time when I was a kid and I remember it being like that, but now it's just all college kids and overpriced stores instead of street kids. Anyways, I'm rambling. Since it was so terribly windy and rainy (apparently someone died from a falling chunk of tree tonight) we just went back to Amanda's apartment and hung out until the power went out and I went home. Where we surprisingly had power.

I picked up these sweet shoes at Value Village when I was looking for stuff for my Halloween costume. They're half a size too small but I wore them all day today and they were pretty comfortable. I really dig the pointy shape and buckles at the ankles. They didn't have laces when I got them and I think I got longer ones than needed but oh well.

happy halloween!

tunic - diy, leggings - silence & noise, boots - thrifted/diy, ray gun - diy

So . . . Halloween. I was a space cadet. I made all of my own costume (as well as Justina's alien costume) except the leggings. I made a sweet ray gun out of a cheap nerf gun from Target and had a lot of fun shooting people with it all night. The boots I got at Value Village and spray painted with silver spray paint. I also had a little glowstick that had a flashlight at the end. Earlier in the evening I had a lot more stuff on my belt, but they got annoying. I had a few little pouches I made to hold my stuff, and a row of extra darts for my ray gun. It looked pretty badass, if I say so myself.

My costume was very much inspired by Barbarella. Obviously it's not a copy of any one outfit she wore in the movie, but I wanted that same badass space tramp feeling. Ha. So I also decided to go with a retro sixties feel with my makeup. I was sort of copying Edie Sedgewick's makeup, but unfortunately it was a bit of a mess by the time this picture was taken. The eye makeup started out more intense and I had nude lips, which made the whole thing work a lot better.

We started out at a party at Harry's place, went to a house party Michael's band was playing at, left there and went to a party with some friend of Casey's for like 5 minutes and then went back to Liam's house. Quite a fun night.

Unfortunately I had been planning on going back to Amanda's that night and had left all my stuff at her place. So I had no clothes to sleep in or wear the next day. Justina kindly lent me a pair of jeans, which I slept in along with my sweatshirt, minus a shirt underneath. The tunic was too uncomfortable to sleep in. The next morning I needed shoes to wear since the boots ended up being really uncomfortable and rubbing silver off onto everything. So Liam lent me these giant sneakers. I think they look so funny with Justina's skinny jeans. We went out to breakfast Sunday morning at this diner in Des Moines which was fun and delicious and then I hung out with Amanda in Seattle and went to Pam's kitchen for tasty tasty Trinidadian food.

pumpkins!

sweater - stepdad's closet, jeans - express, shoes - converse

liam and his pumpkin, justina and her two small ones, and me and mine

As we do each fall, today we went to Two Brothers Pumpkin Patch and picked pumpkins. It's my favorite; it's small, local, family owned, and they have calves! These two were seriously the cutest things ever. Their names were Gabby and Cassie. After picking a punch of different pumpkins and gourds, we got some caramel apple cider took a walk on the trail to look at all the pretty leaves. Then Amanda had to go home, but the rest of us went back to my house for chicken soup and pumpkin pie (made from the tiny sugar pumpkins my mom grew in our garden!) and watched the Exorcist while we carved our pumpkins. It was kind of the perfect Fall day.

maybe if i wasn't sleepy i could come up with a clever title

tee - pacsun, cardigan - thrifted uniqlo, hat - target, jeans - old navy, purse - vintage coach, shoes - converse

Today had some of the most intense rain I've experienced in a long time. It felt very Seattle so I decided to go with that feeling and dress a little grunge-ish. These jeans kind of fit weird (no curves, like they're made for boys) but they're pretty much all I wore in high school. All the fading and holes are completely natural (I hate pre-ripped, pre-faded jeans). I also really like this hat I wore a lot last winter. It looks better with bangs though. Which, I know, are way too long. I actually cut them after taking this picture. I'm not great at cutting hair, but they look ok. And I can finally see!

facebook status: Rachel loves candy corn.

cardigan - thrifted, shirt - old, pants - gap, shoes - pf flyers

It kind of looks like I'm yelling at my hands but really I'm about to eat a bunch of candy corn all at once.

I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I've had this nasty cold or something that's just been lingering around and all I want to do is sleep. I skipped school twice this week. But I'm feeling better now, and I hung out with my dear friend Tommy who is living down in Olympia now, so I'm happy.

I promise a more exciting post shortly.

happy birthday shane!

tee - vintage depeche mode, skirt - thrifted, tights - target, bag - thrifted dooney & burke, shoes - target, watch - step grandpa's

I went into Seattle today for a little surprise birthday party for my friend Shane. A group of us met outside his apartment and then rang the doorbell and shouted "surprise!" We had pie and played jenga and mario tennis.

The Depeche Mode tee is a requirement on the 10th of every month since it is the anniversary of seeing them live. Justina was disappointed I didn't wear the shirt I got at the concert, but it was dirty. I picked up this skirt at Value Village a couple days ago. I'm a little worried it makes me look short, but I really like it. It's hard to go wrong with a nice pleated wool skirt. I don't know how I survived without black flats for so long. Well, I guess I just wore sneakers with everything, which was frustrating. I feel like the weakest part of my outfits are usually my shoes, but shoes are damn expensive! Nice ones at least. I have the feeling these flats will be worn to death and that their death will come quickly considering how often I wear them. I also got this bag when I got the skirt. I really like the navy with tan trim. And usually I really hate Dooney & Burke bags, but this one actually looks nice. It was priced way too high but I did a little sneaky switching of price tags (bad, I know) and got it for $4.

lighting fires at school....not a pyro, it's for a class

shirt - thrifted gramicci, skirt - secondhand, tights - dkny, flats - target

I wore this today at school. There's nothing very exciting about it, although I'm really liking how I've been wearing jeans less often. This blog is serving it's purpose of forcing me to dress better. Yay! I was super stoked this morning when I found my case full of cassette tapes and actually had something to listen to on the way to school. (My mp3 player is dead, the only radio station I listen to, KEXP, is having a pledge drive, and I don't have a cd player in my car.) I ended up listening to the first mixtape Justina ever made for me, back in freshman year. It was my christmas present and she had no idea what I listened to (crap back then) but she made a really good mixtape all the same. And it has held up surprisingly well. At least half the bands on it I still listen to and like, and the other half are all funny or nostalgic now. I also fired my first piece for ceramics class yesterday. It was a raku piece, so we got to do it outside. Raku is awesome. It's definitely one of my favorite techniques because it's so unpredictable. You never know how the glazes will turn out. I also love that charcoal black the bare clay turns. So pretty!

I burn that gift to doll and let it shine before

Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of the release of Deftones' first album, Adrenaline (which was recorded in Seattle). To celebrate such an important date in history, Michael, Spike, Justina, and me all went over to Michael's mom's house to watch Deftones videos, eat cake, and drink in the middle of the day. Justina's brother has a Deftones live in Hawaii DVD, and last weekend we went to Neptune Music and Michael found a Deftones VHS. Justina also made a Deftones themed cake and brought a picture of Chino she drew back in 8th grade, and Michael and Spike picked drinks they thought Chino would like (we ended up with a Heineken mini-keg, Corona, and mimosas). After getting thoroughly drunk in the early afternoon, Justina and I went over to the hippies' house with my dad to sober up before driving home.

shirt - thrifted, belt - thrifted, leggings - silence & noise, flats - target, watch - step-dad's dad's

I felt like latex leggings were pretty appropriate for a Deftones party. Amanda gave these to me for my birthday, since I'd been joking about getting some shiney leggings, but I actually rather like them. They make me feel kind of like a robot with synthetic rubberized skin. I wore them with this men's XL flannel shirt I got at the thriftstore awhile back. The belt was also from the thriftstore, but I picked it up on the way to Seattle because I couldn't find any of my black belts. This one is rather wonderful, I love the little gold tone buckle. It was definitely a lucky find, as I was expecting to just pick up a plain, servicable, black belt. I also, after talking about my lack of black flats, picked up a pair at Target. They were cheap and surprisingly comfortable for Target shoes, so I'm pretty happy. Now all I need is a decent pair of black heels.