better late than never

I just found this picture J took of me when we went pumpkin picking this fall and thought I'd share it. I don't get a chance to take many outfit pictures without a camera to do the whole self timer routine. I'm still just using my phone as my primary camera, supplemented by an Instax and a 35mm Yashica. Taking lots of pictures of myself, I generally know how I want them to turn out but it can be really fun sometimes to see yourself through someone else's lens. J always takes good pictures!

I don't think I've mentioned it on this space yet because I just haven't been blogging, but I moved back home. My living situation and roommates got worse and worse after the best roommates ever moved out and eventually I couldn't take it any longer. I think I made the decision around the time someone I lived with told me she wished something horrible would happen to me. Caring, compassionate people right there. sigh. Well, since I've moved home I have yet to fully unpack and one of the things I have not unpacked yet is all my jewelry and accessories. Looking at this picture, I miss that stuff. I sort of took the unpacking slow to see what I really want and need and I think I absolutely need all my baubles!

ann + chuck = 50 years

dress - target, tights- target, boots - modcloth, cardigan - uo, bag - thrifted dooney & burke, sunnies - target, necklaces - talonalia and handmade (a birthday gift)

Last weekend my mom's whole side of the family (minus my aunt from New York) ventured across the mountains to celebrate my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. We went to some wineries in Woodinville and then had a lovely dinner at the Grange in Duvall before heading back to my parents' house for brownies, more wine, and to look at old pictures. It was really wonderful to have everyone together and my grandma brought some old pictures I had never seen before. They were such a cute couple.

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 - ??

summer's end

dress - vintage (london), belt - thrifted, shoes - steve madden

Although I think we're going to have a lovely fall, with warm days turning into brisk nights, a sort of bright and energetic fall, I'm already missing summer. But I think I'm missing the summer that I didn't have, the summer I only glimpsed in fleeting moments like this, twirling alone as the sun went down. I think I spend too much time being wistful, dreaming about things to come or times that have passed, while I miss what's going on right now. So while I will certainly be posting some end of summer dreamy nostalgia posts, hopefully I'll simultaneously be looking forward to fall and enjoying all that comes with that. It is a great season.

pumpkin picking

Last weekend a bunch of friends all went pumpkin picking together. Two Brothers Pumpkin Patch in Carnation is the place to go. I got so much shit for wearing heels to a pumpkin patch but these clogs were too autumnal to pass up on a day like this. Yeah, their first wearing they got super muddy, but I had no problem in the muddy fields and gravel road. Pushing the wheelbarrow full of pumpkins? No problem.

This cardigan belonged to Harv Adams. According to the Etsy seller I got it from, it dates from the 40s, and Harv lettered in basketball. This outfit is pretty much all new purchases, but a lot of it thrift and vintage. I found yet another floral nineties dress. This one laces up the back like my black one.

Pumpkin picking is ridiculously fun by the way. We carved Jack'o'lanterns and watched scary movies later, and ate pumpkin chili, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin cupcakes. Man, so good. 

letter sweater - vintage, dress - thrifted, tights - target, clogs - jeffrey campbell, bag - vintage dooney & burke

fallen leaves

shirt - vintage, sweater vest - second hand, corduroys - j.crew, shoes - converse

Some more autumnal goodness. This photo could have been cropped to show my outfit better, but I loved the way the reddish leaves looked against the green grass in the foreground. I actually wore this a couple weeks ago, probably right after I got these corduroys. When I bought this vintage floral shirt, I thought it would be great for summer, which it totally is, but the yellow color is awesome in the fall too. Layering it under the vest gave it a little more shape. The thing is pretty boxy on its own.

lunchtime walking

cardigan - urban outfitters, shirt - old, cords - the gap, sneaks - vans

It's starting to get kind of cold but while the weather is still somewhat nice, I'm trying to eat lunch outside as much as possible. As long as I find a bench in the sun, it's quite tolerable. I know pretty soon I'll barely see the sun. As it is, it's usually dark when I leave work, so this hour I have for lunch is the best time to be outdoors. I'm trying to soak up as much sun as possible before it gets totally winter and dark because I know how depressed I get without the sun.

I just cut my bangs a couple days ago, well my cousin cut them for me 'cause she's awesome. I don't think you can see them very well in this picture, but they're much shorter than usual. At first I was kind of freaking out and thought I'd gone to short. I'm so used to long shaggy bangs! But once I showered and got a little used to them, I kind of changed my mind. I like them short!

Also, I'm wearing one of my two new pairs of corduroys. God, I love cords. Fall is the best season and right now, I think fall has the best clothes! My fashion concept for this fall is back to school/collegiate/professor. All corduroy, tweed, knits, and elbow patches. Pencil skirts and knee socks play a pretty big role as 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.

cha-ching

    

coat - gap, cardigan - thrifted, tee - pacsun, pants - gap, shoes - pf flyers, pewter bird necklace - vintage, scarf - mom's, bag - mom's

This was another work/school outfit. With colder weather, I'm definitely definitely dressing better, as I predicted. I got this coat several years ago and don't wear it very often, but I'm not sure why. It has a good shape, has a nice collar detail, fairly warm, and has a pretty lining. I love this necklace. A friend of my family's gave it to me years ago and unfortunately two of the little birds' tails have broken off. I still love it. I've started carrying this bag more because it fits all my school stuff; watercolor paints and paper, lunch, books, etc. And I stole the scarf I'm wearing in my hair from my mom. It's long and fairly thin so I just wrapped it around twice and tied it in the back.

I got paid yesterday, so who wants to go shopping with me? Haha, actually this paycheck is earmarked for school stuff, but the next one is totally going to be a shopping spree.

summer = officially over

coat - old navy, sweater - thrifted, where the wild things are tee - urban outfitters, jeans - pacsun, shoes - converse

Labor Day was super rainy and grey here so my mom and I decided to go shopping. She usually doesn't like to shop much, but I really needed some pants for work (my first day was yesterday). We're not allowed to wear jeans and I discovered that I really don't have any non-jean pants. Well, I've got those corduroys I wore the other day, but they're so baggy and sloppy I didn't feel like they'd be appropriate. So I convinced my mom to go to the Gap with me and found some nice dark grey pants. I really dig them. I also got a couple shirts; a nice blue button up, a sheer green ruffled top, and two tank tops. There was a bunch of clearance stuff, plus they had a sale where if you bought more than three items, all your stuff was 25% off. Pretty sweet.

if only they knew helter skelter was about an amusement park ride

corduroys - delia's, tshirt - pacsun

Sunday was a ridiculously lazy day. I cleaned my room on Saturday and was kinda digging the clean and made bed and neat room. It's amazing how awesome a clean room is. Since summer is thoroughly over here now (so sad) the rain has started and it was cold and yucky. Perfect weather for slouchy corduroys though. I spent the whole rainy, yucky day reading up on the Manson Family. I've read Helter Skelter several times (first when I was about 11) but I ended up rereading some bits and pieces of it and doing some research online. There's so much I don't think we'll ever know for sure about how it all went down and what everyone's roles were.

in through the window, around the back, through to the front, and off jumps jack

A couple days ago I taught my friend Tommy how to knit. He's been bugging me the entire time I've known him to teach him, but we never got around to it. He was housesitting up the road from me and road his bike down to my house so I could teach him. We found some yarn and needles and I taught him how to cast on and then how to knit. He picked it up really quickly and has surprisingly neat stitches. After he got the hang of it, I decided to pick up this double knit scarf I hadn't worked on about a year.