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!

siamese, portugese, dirty knees, look at these rookies around us, aren't you glad you found us?

xxl tee - pacsun, jeans - gap, boots - thrifted, necklaces - talonalia, purse - thrifted coach

This picture was taken verrrry late at night after I got back from a series of seriously small-town events. First there was Duvall Days, the annual local festival. A bunch of local bands played, including my friend's band before, during, and after the lame fireworks display. After, the guys in the band and some of their friends/roommates from college who were visiting for the weekend wanted the full Duvall experience, so we all went down to the Duvall Tavern for the Country Living Festival, had a few beers, and then went to Brodie Nation, which is this whole other local music festival down by the Tolt River. I saw pretty much everyone I went to high school with, which is terrifying, but also hung out with some of the few I was happy to see. I hurt my knee and got really muddy though when I stepped off the road to get out of the way of an oncoming car, and instead of stepping into the bushes like I thought, my foot went straight down into the ditch and my other knee hit the asphalt. It really really hurt. It also got my boots pretty dirty but I have this thing against cleaning them. I like seeing them get dirty and wear out. When I bought them at the thrift store they looked brand new and now they're skuffed, dirty, have paint on them, and the loops in the back are half ripped off from me pulling too hard to get them on.

a fair day

skirt - h&m, shirt - thrifted in finland, sweater - target, shoes - pf flyers, purse - clothes swap, fascinator - greenwich market, hair feather - ben franklin crafts

There is something I just love about parades and fairs and other ridiculousness, especially when they're not huge. This is the second year I've walked in the Derby Days parade, next to this aaaamazing pink Cadillac (my boss' car!), and handed out candy. I also had to work the kids craft booth until we ran out of supplies, but then I was free, finally, to enjoy the fair. Called up some friends, found the carnival rides, ate snowcones and curly fries, and just generally enjoyed the total awesome-ness that is a small town fair. Although this one has a shocking amount of spandex, since it is centered around a series of bike races. Yucky!

I was obviously really feeling the whimsy of a parade/fair and dressed in a way that reminds me of a Dr. Suess character crossed with a children's librarian. Bright colors, patterns, hair accessories, and just general sweetness. The teal and black striped bit in my hair is a hair feather, which we sell at work. I kind of like the look of them, but I didn't leave mine in for long. Those things are damn pricey, so I'm glad I got mine for free. They wanted us to wear them so everyone would know to buy them at the store. I felt more than a little ridiculous later that night when I went to the Blue Moon, a total dive bar, to see my friends' band, So Pitted (again) play.

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.

do the puyallup

On Wednesday Justina and I went to the Puyallup Fair with Liam and his friends Spike and Ben. I hadn't been in a couple of years because Puyallup is kind of out of the way and fairs are expensive, but we missed the Evergreen State Fair this year and I really wanted to go to a fair. I love fairs!

shirt - gap, jeans - pacsun, purse - vintage coach with vintage silk scarf, shoes - pf flyers

I got this shirt when I was shopping for work pants. It was on sale and I really like it, even though it's a little big. I like the way it looks like I'm wearing a guy's shirt though. And the white color and cuffs with the blue shirt is just awesome. I'm still loving the PF Flyers. They are ridiculously comfortable and just look awesome, in my opinion. Favorite sneakers ever.

The boys played games but didn't win anything, and we ate tons of cotton candy and other junk and went on lots and lots of rides. We rode all three roller coasters, even the super old one where you think the car is totally going off the rails.

justina and me

spike and liam

ben flipping me off while wearing a poncho

Sandblast Day 2

Sunday less of my friends were hanging out at Sandblast, but Tommy did come by and we explored a little down by the river. I had to leave a little early (obviously not early enough) to go to the No Doubt concert.





I've really been liking red lipstick lately. I'm not sure why, usually I'm more about heavy eyeliner, but nice red lips are just about my favorite thing ever these days. I like it when it's perfect, and I also like it when it's a little messy, and I love using stains that make it look like you've been eating strawberries or popsicles all day. In this picture I'm wearing an "Illuminating Lip Lacquer" by Physician's Formula in "Retro Red." It's sort of like a gloss, except pretty long-wearing and highly pigmented, but it doesn't dry out your lips like some long-wearing lip colors do. Also, it's shiny all on it's own, so you don't need a second gloss on top of it.



I took some photos with the Yashica while I was at Sandblast. I'm starting to like using it a little more, although I wish my lenses from the Minolta worked with it as well. But I'm starting to like the style of light meter it uses, which I used to hate, because you don't have to turn the camera on or off, just press a button to check the exposure. I'll definitely put those up when I get the film developed.




dress - vintage/hand-me-down, shoes - random gladiators, sunglasses - thrifted humphrey's, purse - mom's (vintage coach), camera - vintage yashica

I finally took good pictures while wearing this dress! Oh man, it's like my favorite dress ever. It's soooo nineties, with the small floral and the short skirt and it's just perfect. The princess seams and lacing in the back make it fit so well and the skirt is wonderfully full. Which, as I've mentioned before, is a hazard on windy days, but it twirls so perfectly. I want to go swing dancing in this dress, except I don't know how to swing dance.

Sandblast Day 1

This weekend was the annual Sandblast festival in Duvall. Every year they build a giant sand sculpture by the river and there are booths and music all weekend long. I volunteered again to help with the kids' activity (this year it was drawing on animal shaped chalkboards with chalk pastels). My friends' band played on Saturday, as did another band from my high school. Sunday was more the old hippy bands, which I actually enjoy more at this sort of thing. I got to see a bunch of people I don't see that often, who I adore, and we hung out, drew on the chalkboards, swung on the rope swing, listened to the bands, and went to Ixtapa for dinner. (As we were walking back to our cars, I noticed a fire next to the sidewalk, which we put out with stomping and water bottles. There was a garage sale sign on fire, which had caught the bark around a bush on fire, and it was very what the fuck.)








shirt - fred meyer, shorts - diy cutoffs, purse - mom's (vintage coach), necklace - vintage pewter, sunglasses - thrifted humphrey's, bracelets - diy/found, rings - great grandmother's

I never talk much about the jewelery I wear, since I wear the same stuff daily. I'm not going to get into it much now, since I don't actually have pictures that shows it off well, but expect a post about that soon. The leather string I have wrapped around my wrist I found a couple days ago, and then lost again. Oh! I saw these deer in the parking lot on Saturday.