The 300

Ok, so less than a week ago, I threw in a counter on my blog. Seriously?!? More than 300 people read this in less than a week? I mean, I know there are blogs that get 10,000 hits per DAY, but I seriously thought about 7 people read this! Who are you? How did you get here? I'm majorly curious. Anyway, my Thanksgiving was shitty, and what I was thankful for was that the rest of my days are better than that one. I may share the reasons why it was so shitty, but not right now. Oh, the fresh pain!

Anyway, I sewed my poofy skirt on Wednesday and here I am wearing it Cruella Deville style! And check out the bad ass side zips. They're so big and heavy. Anyway, it turned out okay, I may throw a more poofy tulle skirt on under it when I actually wear it to puff it up more.

Ooh, and the best part of Thanksgiving was that I crocheted this cowl in like 3 hours. Then I wore it. Cause it matched! I just added a big wood button to it a few minutes ago so now it's even better! I may make a few of these and throw them up on my etsy. And if they don't sell, then, oh well! I'll just have to wear them!

I finally got around to entering Chictopia.com's Back to Basic's contest. It ends in like 2 days so there's no way I'll win, but whatevs. This is as basic as I get.

Besides, I still haven't spent my gift certificate for Modcloth.com for winning the Daddy Likey Halloween Costume Chronicles contest. I know, it's like free clothes, but I'm just waiting for something I LOVE and NEED rather than just picking up a few things that I just like. Anyway, I need to go photograph some stuff for my etsy and screenprint some shirts... but I don't want to. I want to be lazy. We'll see... and let me know who you are, readers!

Whoo! Day offs!

Yay, I have today off and everyone else has to work (well, everyone I know). I've already been to the grocery store to get the stuff I need for Thanksgiving with the boys tomorrow and have been crafting all morning and will continue to craft and sew all afternoon! Go me! I also need to screenprint a few t-shirts at some point, but I think I'll put that off til like Friday.

I covered an ugly plastic bangle I got at a thrift store for a quarter with thread. I think I will make several of them and wear them all at once. Attempt #1 = success. I also taught myself to crochet. I've known how to knit for years and my grandma tried to teach me to crochet when I was little and it made me really mad and frustrated. I'm just not that dexterous. But, now, attempt #2 = success. I will have to rip it out and start over cause I started too tight, but pumpkin orange giant crocheted cowl, here I come!

I'm also covering some spheres in thread just like I did on the bracelet. A necklace at some point perhaps. Success #3. I am also going to go upstairs and start sewing a poofy skirt out of this fabric with one of these big industrial zippers on each side. Whoo! Hopefully it will turn out and I shall update you with success #4 photos soon!

Ok, laterz, must go sew and cook and crochet and cover things in string and do whatever else my little heart desires, including wearing this all day (I have a really bad habit of wearing my knit hats REALLY low over my eyes. I can barely see where I'm going when I snowboard. It's ok though, I can see just enough.) Have a good thanksgiving and don't let your family make you feel like a wierdo (is this a universal problem or is it just my family? my grandmother still calls me "ragamuffin" cause, well, she doesn't get it...)

ooh, P.S. up next on the crafting/sewing list? fixing up a pair of sandals I got for $1 at a outlet store, sewing some sequin pants (once I am done with the poofy skirt with bad-ass zips), and scrubbing my new vintage train case with a Mr. Clean magic eraser and praying to the stain gods that it comes out immaculate!

Also, coming soon in vintage finds, a crazy military Jerrell (from Project Runway) inspired hat! and fur collars to wear with EVERYTHING!

Dancing!

Friday night I went to the Dance Band CD EP release with Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. So fun! So much sweaty dancing! I love Dance Band and if you live in Minneapolis, you NEED to go see them. So fun, so danceable, so cheap! Saturday was waitressing for the first time in a month. It was fun to see everyone again and make some spending money. Whoo! I only have to work today and tomorrow and then I have Wed, Thur, and Fri off! A bunch of my friends and I are going to do Thanksgiving dinner together, since a lot of us are from far away and don't go home till Christmas. Well, whatever we do it will be better than last year's Thanksgiving. Like six of us got together and were watching football and drinking beer. We realized it was like 2pm and we hadn't eaten lunch. So we went to the only store that was open. Walgreens. Two frozen pizzas for lunch. We kept watching football and drinking beer and playing darts and pictionary and whatnot and before we knew it, it was midnight. So we're sitting around going, "Wow, this is sad. We didn't even eat dinner on Thanksgiving! Could this be any more pathetic??!?!" Just then my friend Chris spoke up, "Yeah, it could be worse. Today is my birthday." So this year, while there will be football and beer, there will also be turkey and mashed potatoes and not being SO pathetic.

So here's Thursday's outfit - skirt from Thailand given to me by my friend Matt. I love it.

 Friday's outfit where I am wearing a really ugly brown disgruntled Mickey sweater. I also love it.

And pretty much how I looked all weekend (and how I would like to look all winter, but alas must change clothes) Laterz, must go running then go watch football with the pals and divvy up the Thanksgiving responsibilities.

Trying hard not to say "I'm foxy"

Lookie what I found at a thrift store!

And what is that background? My kitchen wall... full of polaroids.

I am shallow

Daily existential crisis... I should not care about clothes. Again, try as I may to think of it as a form of expression and blah blah blah, I just feel shallow. I am finally reading a book my brother-in-law gave me for Christmas like 3 years ago. It's really good in a Oprah sort of way but reading all day about a midget harboring Jews in Nazi Germany while tending to a confused weeping teenager who tore something in her knee during gym and had to go get x-rays and an MRI makes my life seem so small. Don't worry, I encounter this problem all the time. The worst was when I got back from volunteering at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic and refused to eat anything but like rice and water for a month and gave a LOT of excellent clothes away.

Also, I know there is nothing I can do about it, cause well life is messy but I hate that I have to spend so much of my day maintaining my life. And I don't even have that much maintenance. I can't even imagine the time and effort it takes for girls who dye their hair or go tanning or wear foundation and etc. This whole showering, laundry, doing dishes, cleaning and vacuuming thing is the pits. I think I've figured it out-- all things involving soap inherently suck but are oh so necessary on this continent. Boo.

Ok, now that that's all out, here is my little scarf which you could see the beginnings of here I had some old grey yarn about and just knitted it plainly, now I'm weaving some hand spun (not by me) yarn through it and I'm not done yet, but you get the idea. I knitted most of it during football Sunday at Kai's -- Hi, not only am I the only chick in a room of nine dudes, but now I'm knitting during football. Geez, bring on the jokes boys. I really need a friend who's a girl. At least Megan and Megan, my two bestest ladies are heading to town for Christmas so I'll get to see them for a few days and drown myself in some estrogen.

Also here is a blurry shot of me when I left for work this morning...

And a shot from about two hours ago...

Oh, how I evolve during the afternoon! I'm motivated to try to look like a responsible adult in the AM, but by the time I get home from work I'm cold and want to wear moccasins not heels and this is how I wind up wandering around. (Yes, I am wearing a little boys plaid jacket, a faux furry vest, pastel plaid scarf and vintage moccasins. All at once.) Sorry to the people in my life who only see the night me.

And just so I feel less shallow, here is my absolute favorite pair of shoes:

Oh, baseball, how I miss you! I am already mad at the Minnesota winter for keeping us apart. You are my favorite little shoes and thank you for all your base running this summer. But I'm sorry to tell you that if the house was on fire, you'd have to get in line behind the Kors and Maddens and Docs and vintage heels. You'd be a gonner babies.

blah, blah, blah

So here is the outfit I wore on Wednesday with the pin I made on Tuesday.

The outfit that got puked on, on Thursday.

The crazy ruffle I wore on Friday that prompted the children at my school to call me a clown, a princess, and a turkey.

As for the weekend, the highlight was going to see The Hold Steady at 1st Avenue. I LOVE them. I've seen them four times and it is always awesome. Craig Finn is so strange and adorable. Spent most of the weekend wandering around in this (well, when my friends weren't stealing it and wearing it around.)

Seriously like 8 dudes wore this on Saturday night. On the street. In public. In a blue plaid cape. Seriously, I have the best friends. And I know, this wasn't in the coat showcase, but I swear I'm done buying coats (ok there is one other one I got like a month ago that I haven't photographed and showed off yet). I found this at a thrift store for $7 and couldn't resist. Blue. Plaid. Cape. And it's reversible!!! There is a smaller, finer blue plaid on the other side. I almost bought a second one that was very similar but just plain blue. But I resisted. See how good I am? Real post tomorrow, this is just a quickie. I just went to grocery store for first time in forever and now must go running so I can make a delicious dinner.

ice in the air

Yeah, it's raining ice and the boy has a printmaking class until 10pm. Thus, I am being a shut-in, eating french toast for dinner, knitting, sewing, drinking Cabernet and hanging out by the fireplace. So pretty much, the best most ice filled night ever. I swear I have something more exciting planned for that grey soon-to-be scarf. I just need to knit some more before it takes shape and gets good.

Also, I'm making this little flower-ish pin thing.. only thing is I don't know what to do with the other side??? Leave it? Put some of these beads on it? Which ones? I'm confused. I must just pick one and if I hate it, I can always rip it out. Actually, after looking at the pictures, I'm pretty sold on the pearls. Must go attach them!!

P.S. Here is the outfit for today, wherein I resurrect my old college habit of wearing a tube top around my waist, thus creating a two tone shirt! Gotta love fall and it's opportunities for odd layering. Boo to you state of Minnesota, I wanted the day off for Veteran's Day. I will forgive you if you give me at least one SNOW DAY!

Two days, too many necklaces

Friday... too many necklaces.

Monday... too many necklaces.

I swear, I only wore one necklace all weekend. I ought to get in the habit of photographing my weekend outfits, but I'm never home. I spend all weekend at the boy's and bartending and at Kai's watching football so I never take any outfit pictures. Anyway, last Christmas my grandma gave me a bunch of beautiful brooches that she inherited from her aunt who never had children and thus spent all her money on jewelry. I am too scared to wear them. Thus the brooches on my pearl necklaces are crappy thrifted costume jewelry. I need to photograph all the real brooches. They are just beautiful and so old but in perfect condition! I also need to get in the habit of photographing my outerwear sometimes. I have way too many coats and way too many scarves and way too many mittens and gloves (but no hats, they squish my hair, thus I only wear earmuffs, although my earmuffs were STOLEN from a bar last year by a drunk girl who tried to buy them from me and when I said no she stole them later, boo. I often like my outfit better with all the bundled layers and need to take pictures of it. Bottom line, more and more pictures). And don't steal people's earmuffs.

Stuff is neat

So the political party was so much fun! I may have drank one too many "Baracktails" but managed to function at work all day on Wednesday. So fun screaming on the porch, hugging strangers on the street, feeling ok with America for once.

So I try to run 4-5 miles on Mons, Weds, and Fris but yesterday I totally ditched cause I was playing DIY. I will never be as adorable as this girl from Copenhagen Street Styles but hey, that doesn't mean I can't copy her scarf thing.

 So I had a bunch of soft bright pink jersey left over from when I sewed a Goddess of Love costume for a play last year. Since it was the only fabric I had that was free, soft and seven feet long, it was perfect. Taaa-Daaa! I slapped on a crazy expensive French oxford shirt I inherited from my aunt, a black dress since I don't own a black skirt (well, I do have a big poofy tu-tu like one, but not a normal black skirt) and my brown Anne Klein boots. Bam, time for strange looks at work and all over downtown. Whatevs, I think I look pretty normal today. 

Oh, and here's my boring a little-hungover-from-Baracktails-and-staying-up-till-three-AM-to-see-if-Al-Franken-won-the-senate-race outfit from Wednesday.

Side note - Why do kids get so many bloody noses? Seriously, I have kids coming in every day and now that the air is getting drier, it's several times a day. Just gushing blood. From their face. In my office. On my chairs. On the floor. I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better. Is it spring yet?

I love Halloween and voting!

So, here is the Frida Kahlo costume. Ugly? Yes. Still awesome? I think so. The joys of having a boyfriend, I can rock a unibrow and mustache. 

My parents were up this weekend but spent Friday and Saturday night at my sister's house. They know how passionate I am about Halloween (they were the ones who raised me thinking everyone started preparing for Halloween in August. We always made our own costumes, well my mom would with our help, and we also always had a huge party for all our friends in my parents huge spooky barn that was built in the late 1800s. There were games, food, candy galore and a haunted house in the attic of the barn. It was quite an undertaking every year.) Here's Monday's outfit (I know, one day late for Dia de los Muertos):

Calavera T-shirt - FutureLint (aka me!)

Skirt - thrifted Liz Claiborn

Shoes - BCBG

And today's VOTING OUTFIT!

Scarf - thrifted

T-Shirt - Fake Target

Dress - thrifted Divided

Boots - Seychelles

I feel so lucky that my precinct is well equipped for voter turn out. I went at 4pm when I was done with work and was in and out within 15 minutes! Whoo! Now I am off to Ryan's to get ready for tonight's "Political Party". All my friends are political nerds and several of them work in politics. We'll all be glued to the TV, watching the results roll in... again. Don't even get me started on the 2000 election, we gave up and went to bed when the sun came up. This year I'm making homemade soft pretzels which are awesome and my friends always want but I only make a few times a year cause they are a pain in the booty (or in the hands, dang does kneading suck) and they take forever to make. I'm also mixing up a few batches of blue cocktails, or "Baracktails". Har har. I'm off and will hopefully be yelling cheerful things at the TV and not naughty words! I'm pretty sure Obama's got it in the bag, but you never know and don't even get me started on that pesky Al Franken vs. Norm Coleman race. Laterz!