Lost in the woods

Oh, if only my newly thrifted dress had pockets for breadcrumbs! Ok, sorry, got swept up in the Hansel and Gretel of it all. Here I am, queen of the squirrels. I LOOOOOVE this dress even though it was missing the ribbon from the front (I wonder what it looked like? It will make me nuts!) Luckily I happened to have like 20 feet of vintage red ribbon from an antique store laying in my ribbon drawer (I know, I know) so I threw some of that on the dress before I left this morning!

T-shirt - Target 

Dress - thrifted (vintage ribbon added by me!) 

Pants/leggings - GAP dance pants (this dress is a little short and I work with children and teens after all! I'll probably change into black tights when I go over to the boys house later tonight.) 

Boots - thrifted Colin Stuart

Oooh, and the other thing that's going to make me nuts... this dress. Also thrifted. No tags. No brand. No fabric info. No idea when or where it's from! I'm suspecting it's not very old based on the silhouette of the skirt, but who knows?Mystery clothes... makes me crazy!

   Dress - thrifted 

Cable knit tights - TJ Maxx 

Boots - Seychelles

P.S.

Okay, add-on to the last post. While posting new etsy things, as always, I realized that there are a few things I just can't part with (at least not yet!)Like these! What do you think? Are they all keepers? Should I shorten that polka dot one? These first two make me want summer NOW, and the last one is a sweater dress, so that's okay for winter! Whoo! 

P.P.S. - Sorry for the nut-job hair. After taking clothes off and on for hours, it get's pretty disheveled. I start out looking fab and look like Teen Wolf by the end. Eh, whatevs.

Wordle!

Have you ever heard of wordle? It is rather awesome, it looks at your blog, then breaks down all the words you've used and puts them into a little graphic. The words you use the most are the biggest (I'm pretty sure it leaves out things like the, at, and, in) It's so cute and fun! Here's mine! (click on it to see it bigger and make your own.)

Apparently I say "like" "one" "just" and "get" a lot. I figured it would be "thrifted", "cute", "fun", and "laterz". Apparently I don't know myself too well!

Real posting will resume tomorrow. I had yesterday off work and spent all day yesterday working on photos for my etsy. I got a few new things up (and already sold one this morning!) but I need to go put more of them up. They are photographed, I just have to measure and describe them, which is the least fun part. Boo! (yeah, why isn't boo bigger? I'm always boo-ing on things! What can I say? I'm a hater.)

I like what I like

 Cardigan - Polo Ralph Lauren
Dress - thrifted vintage Romantica by Victor Costa
Shoes - Rampage

The other day while wearing this at work, the principal asked me, "where does you fashion inspiration came from?" I had no idea how to answer. Some people have a definite style, they're  preppy, or bohemian, or trendy, or whatever. I don't know. I just like what I like and wear what I like, and try to keep it to cuts and styles that flatter my figure. However, I'm all over the place! I don't have a style! But then I thought of Iris Apfel and how she is the coolest woman on earth and just wears whatever she likes.

And although I will never be even one hundredth as chic as she was and is, I will continue to wear what I like.  On Thursday I liked to wear lots of neon with black.

 Necklaces - thrifted
Shirt - Target
Dress - Express (seriously need to get on that whole "I don't own a black skirt" thing cause I've been wearing this old dress under things WAY too much)
Tights - Target
Boots - Charles by Charles David

On Friday I liked to wear a twist on a prep school kinda look.

Blazer - thrifted

T-shirt - Tagret
Shorts - Target
Tights - TJ Maxx
Shoes - hand-me-downs from sister - Unlisted by Kenneth Cole

 Today since it is below zero and yet somehow sunny, I like to roam around looking like this:

And soon I will be wandering around in these little babies. I found an original pair of American Optical horn rimmed glasses for EIGHTY CENTS! Oh yeah, these babies are going for $200 on ebay!!! Thankfully, I have not one but two friends who work at optical stores. Whoo, new glasses!

Bye kids, go like what you like!

The letter "s"

Here's the deal:

If you want to play, leave a comment on this post letting me know, and I'll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on..

Yay, the lovely Stephanie @ My Answered Prayer gave me the letter S:

1. Soup! Ok, it's mostly a winter thing but I eat soup like every day. Yeah, once in a while I'm lazy and go for the can, but mostly I make them myself and then freeze them in individual glass bowls. Last week Ryan and I made crab bisque (it's his specialty). It is SO delicious but not very healthy (what with all the butter and half and half). So I only eat tiny bowls of it with a salad.

2. Sandals – Ok, mostly a summer thing but here's a secret - I HATE SHOES! Er, I HATE SOCKS! I'm SO excited when I get home to take off my socks. I wish I could wear sandals year round, but don't want to live somewhere warm, so that's never gonna happen.

3. School – Well, my school. It is the most progressive, interesting, and successful school I have ever worked at or attended. I am so proud to work there and happy that I have a job that I look forward to every day.

4. Sewing! I haven't had too much time this year to do it but once I start, it's hard to stop until I'm done so I wind up staying up till like 4am. Once of these days I'll stop having like four jobs and have time to sew.

5. Staying busy! Ok, tying this on to the last one… I have four jobs. Job #1 I'm a school nurse. Job #2 I waitress and bartend on weekends and in the summer. I could quit, but I've been there for almost eight years! My boss is like my second mother, I love all the chefs, and I would just miss it. I

can't quit (until my boss retires, which will probably be within a year or two). Job #3 I have a "client" on Thursday nights. He is a 21 year old boy with a rare chromosomal dislocation. I've known and worked with him and his family for six+ years. He's my favorite person in the world and I'll probably have him in my life until I die. Job #4 Ok, and it's not really a "job" but my etsy store keeps me busy - screenprinting t-shirts, finding, photographing and measuring vintage clothes.

6. Screenprinting – I'm seriously amazed at how awesome screenprinting is. I love that it's crafty, but with professional looking results. Seriously, so fun!

7. Sailing – the boy has a sailboat. It's so fun to just be out in the middle of a lake, no engine, no exhaust, just the wind. I'm even starting to know what I'm doing!

8. Singing – provided no one can hear me. Seriously, I have a TERRIBLE voice. I don't even have a nice speaking voice. Go watch a Scarlett Johannson movie. I have her voice. Exactly. I've been told it many times. It's deep and it's awful. However, I will sing at the top of my lungs in the car, in the shower, and you may get me to do some karaoke, provided I've had a few cocktails and I get to sing the boy parts.

9. Straws. I love drinking out of straws, all drinks should have them.

10. Sunglasses – I love vintage sunglasses. I have like 20 pairs (cause they were all like a dollar and I tend to lose them).

I could throw down like a million more, but it only said ten, so there you go! Everyone comment to play! It's fun!

Scatterbrain

I'm back! So Vegas was okay. It was about 60 degrees there everyday, which was nice. We saw Cirque du Soleil's LOVE, which was awesome and had amazing costumes. As for the strip... just not my style. So much drinking, so many naked pictures being handed out on the street, so much smoking indoors, so many homeless, SO MANY douchey frat boy types, etc. We went to downtown Vegas and that was better. Yeah, it was old, reeked of stale cigarettes, and was kind of run down, but I loved it! The old smoking neon cowboy, the kicking neon cowgirl, the Golden Nugget, it was just cute-tacky Vegas not douche-bag trendy-naked-drunk Vegas like the strip was. On the plus side, the food was amazing and the casinos were neat in a Disney fake-reality sort of way. All in all, I had a pretty good time and didn't lose my dignity or all my money. I may post pictures, I may not. I just have a lot involving the boy and his family and don't want to plaster their faces all over the internet. Here is what I wore today... hmm, maybe should have jumped on the patriotic bandwagon and rocked some red, white, and blue but didn't really think of it until I saw all the cute outfits on wardrobe_remix. Eh, here's what I wore today because of this post on Kingdom of Style. I WANT those big yellow pants... but these are as close as I'm gonna get. I found these giant khaki pants at a thrift store. They're too big so I've got to cinch them quite a bit with a belt, but it just makes them bigger and puffier. They're pretty awesome but really do bad things to my figure. Oh well!

Scarf - TJ Maxx
T-shirt - Target
Vest - thrifted (relativity)
Pants - thrifted The Limited
Shoes - Steve Madden

Laterz kids, and just for you, here's my favorite part of the trip... (well, along with LOVE and the fact that I found a coon-skin cap!)

100th post (and still nothing to say!)

Seriously, 100 posts? Wow! Anyway, here is yesterday's outfit which is kind of '80s stand up comic/ventriloquist dummy looking. I ventured out in the cold only because it was Matt's birthday and he's been one of my best friends for 9 years. The boy and I took a bus to the bar but had to walk (run) home. It was -30 F. It was unpleasant.

Blazer - thrifted from little boys section

T-shirt - target
Bow tie - going out of business tux rental place
Yellow necklace - thrifted
Square locket necklace - thrifted (and still containing the photo of an old man)
Jeans - CK
Shoes - Bongo

It is also freezing today (like -10) and yet I am wearing this little dress. I wanted to wear it "as is" once, but I think I'm going to shorten it to just above the knee. I know, it's the third day wearing a men's bow tie in a row. I don't know what that's all about.

Bow tie - going out of business tux rental place
Dress - thrifted
Maroon tights - TJ Maxx
Footless socks - Target clearance
Sequin shoes - thrifted

I will be MIA until Monday or Tuesday, since I am going to Vegas tomorrow morning. I haven't been looking forward to it much because I'm just not a "Vegas" kind of girl, but this cold snap has me drooling over the idea of 65 and sunny. I'll have lots of nutso photos to post when I get back on Monday, so until then, laterz blogland!

Lovely things

I am in love with this sweater. I don't know why. It's too big, it's brown brown brown, has two horse heads on the front, and two horse heads and a horse shoe on the back. It is UGLY. I LOVE it. I tried it on three ways to see how to wear it tomorrow... I still don't know! I think maybe the purple? or green? no purple, cause then I get to wear that old bow tie on my head. 

Anyway, remember back in November when I wore this...

and was talking about my somewhat wealthy great-aunt who never had children and spent all her money on jewelry? So I was given six brooches, which I was too paranoid to wear. Well, I'm still scared to wear them, but I finally photographed them. They are from the '20s to '40s... my grandma wasn't too sure on the exact dates. Here they are in all their glory!

Oh, and the nutter poncho I traipsed around in all day.

Poncho thingie - thrifted
Jeans - Earnest Sewn
Shoes - Target

Laterz kittens.

Lace, saris, and lace

Here is today's outfit. I seriously have too many blazers. I mean, I just don't wear them all, I have several that are very similar to each other, etc. So I'm wearing a blazer for the third day in a row. I'm trying to weed out a few I can toss on my etsy, just to get them out of the closet.

Lace blazer - antique shop
T-shirt - Target
Pants - GAP
Shoes - Bumper

On Wednesday, the boy and I went to see Slumdog Millionare. It was AMAZING! I can't remember the last time I saw a really good, interesting movie. This one is SO, SO good! Go see it if you haven't already!! While I am on the subject of India, I thought I would post a picture of one of my favorite things in my house...

I found it at a little boutique that was going out of business. I was meeting up with a friend for dinner and she called to say she was going to be like a half hour late. So I popped around the corner to a store I'd never been in that had huge 80-90% off signs all over it. It was fate. I found this, which they called a rug and had on the floor, but I call it art and hang it on the wall. It's made of vintage saris from India. It was hella expensive, but at 80-90% off, I could swing it. This is the same store where I found this skirt (which was also crazy expensive, but I could afford it on sale). They only had one skirt... and it was a size two!! See? Fate!

P.S. The boy and I are going ice skating tonight... I know, vomit, it's so adorable. What can I say? It was his idea and I'm a good skater.

Disorganization!

I am neither organized or totally disorganized (in life, at home, at work, in apperance, etc) I'm more just a little discheveled. Constantly. When I started this blog, I didn't label any posts, cause well, I didn't know what I was doing. Since it is supremely slow at work today (fine by me!) I finally labeled everything. So now you can hop around the site if you are specifically looking for one aspect of the blog. See... my attempt at late organization (which would have been SO much easier if I had just done it from the start). But aren't all things? I know I should spend like five minutes every morning cleaning up where I spilled coffee and putting the dishes in the diswasher, but somehow I never really learn and wind up with disaster kitchen by the end of the week, which then takes WAY longer to clean (Run on sentence, run on). Anyway, here is the outfit for today. 

I know, the look is very "horses" but whatever. I'll pretend I'm British and ride horses and move on. Don't want to bore you with a long post, so I'm off (or I am reading a really good book and want to go do that... Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer = good and fast read)

Blazer - thrifted
Ruffled top - thrifted
Pants - $2 on TJ Maxx ultra-clearance
Boots - Diba (DSW clearance)

My love for you is... full of ice right now.

Monday...

Earrings - gift from the lovely  fraeulein_2eck
T-shirt - Target
Vest - thrifted at Fake Target
Belt - Old Navy clearance
Pants - Kohls?
Shoes - crazy $2 outlet store

 Tuesday...

Scarf - TJ Maxx
Cardigan - Only Hearts
Lace dress - thrifted vintage!
Tights - crazy outlet store
Boots - eBay

 Wednesday...

Plaid blazer - thrifted
T-shirt - Target
Jeans - Old Navy
Shoes - thrifted Enzo Angiolini

Now that that's out of the way, I will let you in on a little secret. Minneapolis is the best town EVA! Joanna posted today about Portland and how people who live there are obsessed with it (and some other "cult" towns). So, I grew up in Chicago, and I love it there too, it's just so dirty and full of trash in the street and smog, and etc. I considered moving to Colorado, but it's just too many white hippies for me. Clearly, Minneapolis is the best city ever... at least as far as I'm concerned. Would it be fun to live in NY? London? Yes. But they don't seem livable to me... too expensive, too big, too much. I like that I'm just a one hour drive away from farm land and cheap antiques but we're also a very diverse city. Anyway, Minneapolis - We're always lingering in the top for water and air quality, we're the most literate city, one of the most active... I could go on and on (are we the 19th most livable city in the WORLD? Yes!) People just get scared off by the cold. Was it -15 degrees the other day? yes... I kind of like that aspect, it keeps all the rif-raf in LA and only the believers come here. Four seasons, lots of culture. There are museums, LAKES (and more lakes), we have the most parks and green spaces per capita, WE RULE (we just don't cram in down your throat like, ahem, portland*cough). Oh, and yay for us for being one of the only "blue states" that isn't on the coasts. And for us, "in these tough economic times" (sick of that phrase already)passing a tax INCREASE to fund clean water, air, and the arts... YAY!!! Anyway, I love you Minneapolis, you are the only one for me. I like that you are a well kept secret, hidden in the "fly-over states."

If you share this love for MPLS, go buy a shirt!

Where do you live? What do you love about it? I'm feelin the need to travel soon (SPRING BREAK!) Where should I go?

2009 has been a lazy year thus far

Hmm, I can't decide if I'm excited to go back to work and be back in the usual routine or if I'm going to miss my days of sleeping in and eating cookies all day. We'll see. For now I think I'm excited for regular life and schedules again. I bought like ten new books to read at work when it is slow and I'm excited to see the kids again. Here is the only other outfit picture I took over break...

 Hat - thrifted
Sweater - thrifted
T-shirt - American Apparel
Pants - Kohls??
Shoes - Bongo

I know, I know. I'm wearing a hat. I am not a hat person. However, I've had this little hat that I got for $2 at a thrift store for a while. It smelled bad so it's been airing out on a hook in my bathroom for months. I decided to finally wear it. Seriously, I wear some odd stuff out in public and there are varying reactions. I wore this hat out on Friday with a few friends. It is magic. Seriously, like 20 guys came and talked to me (I have a boyfriend. He was there. He found it amusing.) TWO guys sent me free drinks. It was very strange. Anyway, any single ladies out there, go get yourself a similar hat and just wait for the magic. I think it's just a good "in" for a guy, you know, just a way to start the conversation.

Anyway, my New Year's Eve was okay. Nothing earth-shaking. Just another night in with the boys, only in slightly fancier clothes. I spent today making a few necklace charms.

Yeah, that's a sperm whale, Bambi, and some honeycomb. I don't know either. I was bored. Then the Vikings lost and I was sad (but not surprised). Ok, must get to bed now as I can no longer sleep in till 10. or 9. or 8. 7 is pushing it. 6:30, here I come!

OOOH, and P.S. it looks like our senate seat is going to...

 

 (well, after a few more lawsuits anyway.)