The hippest girl in all of Wisconsin

Hey doods! Sorry I have been gone for so long, but well I have 16 days off work and I am doing exactly that - not working. Not doing my huge to-do list. None of it is urgent, so whatever. I'll get to it! I went home to Wisconsin for six days, which was relaxing. Saw a few old friends, hung out with the fam, and Cash (my brother's Bull-Mastiff which looks super scary but is just a big nerd:

One of my favorite things in Wisco, is that the next town over USED to have the Circus Museum... now they do not. But there are still elephant, clown, and giraffe statues all over and all the drinking fountains look like lion heads, and you have to put your head in their mouth to get a drink. This poor giraffe was not made for this climate, though I do like how they made him festive with a wreath necklace:

My other favorite thing to do is look for things I'll one day get from my parents (once I move out of my tiny condo into a real house). I already have a huge stash of stuff in our barn (yes, we have a barn, no we don't live on a farm). Next on my list of things I want, no neeeed to have one day, this cuckoo clock that is hanging in the basement:

Alright, regular posting and blog-reading will resume on Monday, but until then HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm off to a masquerade party at J-Rod and Brittany's house!

For the party:

For when I'm cold (mask made by me!):

For when I drink too much champagne, and decide I need to be tranny-Batman:

 Dress - crazy outlet store by my house

Tights - Target

Shoes - Linea Paolo (Nordstom's Rack)

Have a fabulous yet safe evening everyone! And THANK YOU for a fabulous year, it really does mean a lot to me that anyone reads this and thinks my little frocks are fun!

Vaguely Intellectual Thursday

After yesterday's Vaguely ethnic Wednesday (which I totally made up), here is today's Vaguely intellectual Thursday (which I also made up):

 Glasses - thrifted American Optical horn rimmed glasses

Shirt - thrifted Target SAMPLE

Belt - thrifted

Skirt - thrifted Target SAMPLE

Tights - the dawn of time itself?

Shoes - Modcloth, free courtesy of Daddy Likey!

Le belt de awesome:

I'm finishing up all my holiday t-shirt orders and just screenprinted my first apron:

My sister is a crazy Martha Stewart-like woman. She's an interior designer who loves to cook, bake, garden, and just basically be perfect. She has a bunch of aprons, but they are all too beautiful for her to wear... so her husband asked me to screenprint her a white one, so she can dirty it up and then wash it! They love Mad Men, so I drew up a Betty Draper for her apron (and made it in robin's egg blue to match her kitchen!)

Last night was my book club meeting, which is endlessly awesome and hilarious. We spend an hour discussing The Old Man and The Sea (we picked a super short book because of all the insanity around Thanksgiving and a lot of my friends have grad school finals now). Then we spent an hour and a half discussing what book to read next (answer: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction this year)

Trivia of the day:
How many kids have puked in my office so far this week?
Five!

She's my Rushmore

Tuesday... At first I was wearing the orange pants in the morning, but as I was walking around getting ready for work, I thought I looked a little too "I'm trying to look like I fell out of a Wes Anderson film", so I changed into the blue pants.

Blazer - thrifted

Pins - thrifted

Oxford - Polo Ralph Lauren, inherited from aunt

Pants (orange) - thrifted

Pants (blue) - Express

Shoes - Bass, thrifted

Vaguely academic looking pins:

It's finally not in the negative temps today!!! That's right, it's one degree out, wahoo! Vaguely ethnic Wednesday....

 Tunic - vintage via www.XhereliesbootsX.etsy.com

Necklaces - thrifted

Pants - GAP dance pants

Shoes - Bongo (got them on crazy clearance at DSW for $2 a few years ago)

Baby it's cold outside

Only five more days of work, then I get two weeks off! Had a lovely weekend, I'm still getting used to the fact I don't have to waitress on Saturdays any more... some friends and I went to Midway Contemporary Art's Monster Drawing Rally. They bring in artists for one hour each to draw or paint, or whatever their medium is. They make as many things as they want to in that hour. As they finish them, they hang them on the wall and then you can buy them for $35. There were a few I wanted, but if more than one person wants a piece of art, you draw cards to see who gets to buy it. I lost them all. Then we went to a bar, where my friend JJ runs karaoke on Saturday nights. It was ridiculous. Sunday was football and gyros day!

Collar - thrifted

Vest - thrifted DKNY

Shirt - Old Navy, years ago

Jeans - Earnest Sewn

Clogs - thrifted

It is snowing and freezing and supposed to be -20 tonight! I think my fireplace and I are going to be good friends this year!

Tiffany & Co

Well, I'm back! Flying home for the wake and funeral went smoothly despite a big snowstorm. It was all beautiful and terrible, but I'm so glad I was able to go.

I'm disappointed I missed Spirit Week at my school, I had a really awesome Clark Kent outfit planned for "Superhero Day" but oh well... today is color day, where each grade was assigned a color to wear. I didn't want to support any one grade, so while it was tempting to try to wear EVERY color, I decided to wear turquoise since no one had that color...

Dress - thrifted

Tights - TJ Maxx

Shoes - Modcloth

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend, sleeping in, doing a little screenprinting, cooking with the boy, and watching some football with friends. Guuuuh, and I don't know WHAT to get for Chritmas for my mom and dad... trying to think of presents for them is the pits.

love and sadness, grace and bravery

Sorry dudes, going to be absent for a few days... my aunt Carol died on Thursday. It's for the best really, she's had an aggressive and incureable cancer for seven years and fought a brave and graceful fight right up to the end. She was in so much pain lately; I'm glad she is free from that now.

She is my godmother and was a big part of my life growing up. The heiress to a spice fortune (exotic!), she married my dad's brother 28 years ago (my mom was pregnant with me at their wedding!)

She was always the definition of glamour and grace to me. My mother is a very simply styled woman who never bought anything fancy or extravagent for herself, always saving up for my sister and brother and I and our educations. I love her for that, more than I can say. But my aunt? She introduced me to the world of fashion, travel, and the finer things in life. She brought me a kimono from Japan when I was six and I thought it was the most special thing on earth. She gave me a diamond when I was confirmed in 8th grade and it made me feel like an adult for the first time, trusting that I could be responsible with such an expensive gift.

I babysat her three children all through high school and always looked forward to seeing what sophisticated dress she was wearing to what fancy party. I will never forget all the days spent swimming with her in the lake, toboggoning in the winter, spending the night on her condo's balcony in Chicago that overlooked the Lincoln Park Zoo - listening to all the animals after it was closed for the night, and picking raspberries every summer for hours at a time.

So rest in peace, Aunt Carol, and see you on the other side.

Hey Mickey! (actually, scratch that, that song is annoying)

I'm sure you all know by now I don't take clothing too seriously, and in case you weren't convinced already, I give you Mickey Mouse:

 Cardigan - Bloomingdale's brand (inherited from aunt)

Mickey t-shirt - thrifted

Pants - Target

Shoes - Chinese Laundry

Well, it's official, winter has hit Minnesota (I know, talking about the weather - how droll!) That cold that lingers in your toes for hours after getting inside has arrived. Oh well, gives me an excuse to use my fireplace (I'm lucky, I know!)

Designer duds

I hate that word, "duds", so ridic. Anyway, I don't really have that many "designer" clothes... I'm just accidentally wearing a lot of them today...

 Cardigan - Marc by Marc Jacobs (Plato's Closet, consignment store)

Blouse - Anna Sui for Target (clearance)

Watch - Michael Kors

Pants - Marni (Garment District, consignment store)

Shoes - thrifted

Hmm, I really should have taken a close up of the shoes... they are entirely covered in sequins and I wondered why they were at the thrift store- they looked like they had never been worn! The first time I wore them I figured out why - they are SO SLIPPERY! The bottoms are crazy, I don't know what they are made of - but it feels like I'm trying to walk down the bowling alley lanes... I'm pretty sure I'll fall down in them at some point today, and that will be the end of our time together. I'm wondering if I like sand the bottoms? IDK, probably not worth it to save $2 shoes - but sequined $2 shoes...

Today I yodel, yesterday I growled

I am a big fan of today's outfit:

 Blouse - Thakoon for Target

Sweater vest - thrifted

Skirt - thrifted Liz Claiborne

Tights - TJ Maxx

Shoes - Bakers, forever ago

Yesterday, I woke up SO SO tired and just out of it... I thought making an actual breakfast would help, instead of just eating peanut butter toast in the car like I usually do... well I successfully forgot about it when I ran upstairs to do something and burnt it which is why my house looks vaguely smokey in the picture:

 T-shirt - Target

Necklace - thrifted

Skirt - Marc by Marc Jacobs

Tights - TJ Maxx

Shoes - thrifted Enzo Angiolini

Lacking any ideas or inspiration, I decided to do Kimberly's inspiration calendar, which called for a black top with a dramatic skirt. Well, this skirt is saying something, and I'm hoping it's more "I wish I was Gwen Stefani" than "I'm a circus dominatrix", but when you're working with so many stripes and buckles and zippers, who knows?!?!

More importantly, I wore these shoes that look like a duck? made of snakes?

Oh! And in "the most exciting news of, oh I don't know, MY LIFE" front - I AM GOING TO SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA FOR SPRING BREAK! Which means, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO shopping under any circumstances. No going out to eat. No concerts. Keeping up with stocking the etsy, etc. $1200 plane ticket and I want to have some $$$$$$$ to blow while there. I am DYING with excitement!  I'm going there to visit one of my best friends who teaches English there! Huzzah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!