Holidaze

Ooooookay! I disappeared for a bit, didn't I? Well I've got two special outfits to show you to make up for it! First, my Christmas dress!

Dress - thrifted handmade (the same as the orange one)

Blazer - thrifted JH Collectables

Pin - thrifted

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Shoes - Unlisted by Kenneth Cole (hand-me-downs from sister)

Nate came home with me and got to meet my extremely large and loud extended family. I was sad I didn't get to see my nephew Henrik on his first Christmas (they stayed in MN), but my sister made sure to take lots of pictures of him. He has no idea what Christmas is but it sure seems like he LOVES it:

I also got to meet this little lady:

My brothers new dog, Marley! Tory didn't want his Bull Mastiff, Cash, to get lonely, so he got him a little friend. Aww, look at the odd couple, taking a little afternoon nap:

And tonight's New Year's Eve outfit!

Shirt - Gryphon

Ring - vintage via flea market

Skirt - Zoe D. 

Shoes - Simply Vera

I missed the whole "bare midriff" thing the first time around. I was too young and too well behaved to attempt such a thing, so I figure now is a good time to try it. I'm 30 and this is two inches of my stomach, deal with it. Yay! Happy New Year everyone! I'll be back to posting regularly once I go back to work on Tuesday!

Feliz Navidad

I thrifted this very summery dress a few weeks ago and decided to just wear it anyway and try to winterize it a bit! I feel like I should be singing "Feliz Navidad" in this dress!

Cardigan - thrifted Target sample
Dress - thrifted vintage (no tags)
Belt - thrifted
Tights - Target
Heels - Tracy Reese

I've got a half-day at work today and then I have SEVENTEEN days off! Wahoo! Which is good, because I still have to buy quite a few Christmas presents and I've been putting it off until next week. I hate crowds and I figure it will be less busy everywhere if I can go during the day while everyone else is still at work. My posting will probably be sporadic for the next two weeks as I go to do Christmas with Nate's family in Marshall, MN and my family in Wisconsin and Illinois. But I'll pop in from time to time and finally update some vintage stuff on my etsy. Have a fabulous winter break dudes!

It's "90s Day"

It's '90s Day for "Spirit Week" at the school where I work. Went for a bit of a Rayanne Graff vibe... just realized I forgot to tie my brown flannel around my waist before I took these photos, so just use your imagination! There are five tiny braids in my hair, secured in those little animal and flower Goodie barrettes.

Barrettes - Goodie (from high school)
Thermal shirt - Maurices (circa 1994)
Overalls - thrifted GAP (bought them for a 90s party a few years ago)
Tights - Target (they had a hole... so I added a few more)
Socks - Target
Boots - Dr. Marten's (I saved up my babysitting money in 8th grade for MONTHS to buy these)

I graduated high school in 1999 so the '90s were really my formative years. I carried a Kerokerokeroppi lunch box as a purse. I worked at a movie theater when I was 15 that reminds me very much of Empire Records (oh the drama! There were two gay guys from my school who worked there at a time when it was a HUGE deal that they were "out." Other workers, NOT me, did whippits on the roof during breaks. We used our keys to play all the arcade games for free when it was slow in-between movies. We also all sat in the huge ball-pit in the arcade after our shifts and talked forever. Titanic came out and sold out every show for like a month so it sucked trying to clean out the theater between showings. Our boss drank vodka out of a coffee tumbler and threatened to kill herself and all of us a few times. She scheduled employee-only midnight showings of Boogie Nights and Chasing Amy. After the place was robbed at knife-point, I stopped working there... but I still have like 50 more crazy stories about the place.) I went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner before the Homecoming dance with a bunch a friends. I wore a slip as a dress to the "Snow Ball Winter Formal." There was a bomb threat the last day of my senior year and everyone was scared there would be a school shooting when we evacuated out onto the football field. Instead we spent the day signing yearbooks and our whole senior class got out of taking three finals. I pierced my belly-button. I dressed up as Ginger Spice (along with 4 other friends who dressed as the rest), drank a jug of juice mixed with tiny airplane bottles of booze stolen from my friend Amy's parents, and went to a Spice Girls concert tipsy. I learned to like black coffee in 8th grade because it seemed the cool thing to do at the time. My art teacher let us watch MTV in class and everyone cried when they announced Kurt Cobain was dead. I had my first kiss in 8th grade on the chairlift of the ski hill where I spent every evening, all winter long (he is now gay.) I covered the entire ceiling of my bedroom with stuff I cut out of magazines. It was the '90s. It was so-called awesome. I could go on and on...

Me, but shinier

Today is "Celebrity Day" for Spirit Week at my school. Last year, I dressed as Mary Kate Olsen and scared all the kids. Well, at least one classroom of kindergarteners and their teacher, who saw me in the hall and didn't recognize me and thought I was a "crazy homeless lady." This year I didn't put in much effort because it's HARD to look like a celebrity! Most of them just wear regular clothes and I certainly can't get all Lady Gaga at work. So I figured celebrities are like regular people... only shinier. Enter sequin dress.

Long sleeve tee - Target
Dress - Hayden Harnett
Tights - Cynthia Rowley
Shoes - Unlisted by Kenneth Cole, inherited from sister

Tonight I'm taking my sister to see Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella for her birthday (which is tomorrow)! I'm super excited, we LOVED this musical as kids. And I can get "educator" rush tickets for only $30 (instead of $65-$93). Whoopie!

Fun fact: The previous middle school where I worked did this musical and I costumed it! HUGE pain is the butt, sooooo much sewing for very little money, but it was worth it to see kids actually care about something and practice it every day until it was perfect. Cute!

Also, I added a bunch of art to my little homegoods etsy shop

 

Clark Kent/Superman

It's Spirit Week at the school where I work and today is Hero Day! I dressed as Clark Kent/Superman!

Glasses - thrifted vintage American Optical, prescription replaced
Blazer - thrifted Oleg Cassini
T-shirt - vintage/DIY Superman logo
Oxford - Target
Belt - thrifted
Pants - thrifted Express
Shoes - Dr. Martens

I made my own Superman logo with screenprinting ink and fabric and then hand-sewed it on a t-shirt. I probably won't have a reason to wear a Superman shirt again so this way I can just remove it when I'm done without wrecking a shirt!

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird... it's a plane... it's CHRISTINE!

Odd jobs

 Friday night I engaged in some tag-team babysitting of my nephew with Nate.

It was really fun and Henrik was pretty good. He was fussy for a bit, but he's only 7 weeks old, so that's to be expected! I started babysitting in 6th grade and never got to do the sitcom staple of the ol' "babysitter secretly invites her boyfriend over and spends the whole night making out." Well, it wasn't a secret that Nate was there and we were too busy feeding and burping and rocking and diaper changing to make out, but still! It counts!

Saturday night I had to work the photo booth for a same-sex marriage. I thrifted this dress and another one in kelly green last week! They're homemade, fit perfectly, and I'm going to make the green one my Christmas dress for this year! Yay!

Blazer - thrifted little boys, safety pins added by me
Dress - thrifted handmade
Tights - Cynthia Rowley
Shoes - Unlisted by Kenneth Cole, inherited from sister

Sunday I finally got to relax a bit so Nate and I made brunch, drank mimosas, and watched football all day! Today is the beginning of Spirit Week at the school where I work so I had to wear my school shirt today, which was perfect for a comfy last Monday at work before winter break! Four more days then I get 17 days off! Working at a school? Totally rocks!

Sweater - thrifted men's Winona Knits
Seagull pin - thrifted
T-shirt - from work
Jeans - Gap
Shoes - Target

Photo fails

Sorry this post is late, I soooooo did not have time to take an outfit photo before hopping on the bus this morning. I was busy being awesome (aka eating leftover pizza for breakfast.) The breakfast of non-champions, frat boys with hangovers, and me.

Sweater - thrifted Liz Claiborne

T-shirt - Target

Skirt - thrifted Banana Republic

Tights - Target

Shoes - Michael Kors

I'm excited! Tonight Nate the Date and I are "playing house." AKA babysitting this little fellow while my sister and her hubs go out to dinner with some friends. Pretty sweeeet. Do you think they make that hat in my size?

I did remember to take a few photos at the parade last night... yes, that first one is the Target dog, pinocchio, and a princess with blue hair riding a whale. So what? Also, a snowman baseball?

However, I failed to take a photo of Daniel and I AT the parade, so here is our cold-noses, warming up the car shot! Heeee! We've gone to the parade together every year for the past nine years!

Random pairings

For some reason I felt the need to match my collar to my shoes and my bracelet to my socks today...

Glasses - Prada
Fur collar - thrifted vintage
Oxford - thrifted little boys Cherokee
Bracelet - vintage necklace from flea market
Jeans - Gap
Socks - Target
Shoes - Bakers

Actually, this isn't a bracelet, it's a vintage necklace I got at a little flea market in WI for $2 last summer!

Yay! I'm excited! I'm taking my special needs buddy, Daniel to the Holidazzle Parade tonight! We go every year and it always kicks my Grinch butt into Christmas mode. The whole parade is really pretty because everything is made of Christmas lights. But Daniel doesn't care about that part. He just cares about the end when SANTA comes on his big light up sleigh. It's adorable!

Cross-eyed

Every time I look at this dress, it makes me dizzy. I still love it though! I'd share a detail shot of it but I don't want to be responsible for causing widespread and massive seizures.

Cardigan - Old Navy
Dress - vintage via church garage sale
Tights - Target
Shoes - thrifted newstock Target

Last night was the employee party for the photo booth company where I work (mostly just weekends in the summer) to celebrate successfully getting through a busy "wedding season" this summer. We had a few beers, a ton of pizza, and played indoor bocce ball (which was fun but nowhere near as good as outdoor bocce ball, IMO. I like the challenge of the dents, twigs, tree roots, and squirrels of playing bocce ball on a lawn.) They also had a silly award ceremony for a few employees, where I was named "Rookie of the Year:"

As Ralphie's dad in "A Christmas Story" would say, "It's a major award."  Also, yes, I am grinning like a bastard and giving the double thumbs up in that photo. Classy!

Navy, baby

Oxford - thrifted vintage Juster Woman
Necklace - thrifted
Belt - thrifted
Skirt - thrifted little girls Cherokee
Tights - Target?
Shoes - Plenty by Tracy Reese

Today is one of those days when I look around at all the other people, bundled up in their parkas and long underwear under their pants and I'm like, "Man, I am such a fashion blogger." It's 15 degrees outside and snowing and I'm rocking tights and heels (though I did wear boots for my long walk to the bus stop... gotta protect the suede shoes!) But, I think I'd be doing it regardless. It's like they say, "You can take the girl out of the blog, but you can't take the blog out of the girl." Ok, no one says that, but it's true! Besides, I'm Norwegian. I don't get cold (well, until it inevitably hits -20 here, then I will whine like everyone else.)

8-year-old me is very happy

The 8-year-old version of me would be very happy with this 1980s Esprit skirt, because at the time, I thought pink and black together were the height of sophistication. Then my neighbor friend, Lil, told me that only hookers wore pink and black (or worse, red and black) together. That was the end of me wearing my uber-cool black swimsuit with pink roses on it. I didn't want people driving by as I ran through the sprinkler in the yard to think I was a hooker (not that I knew exactly what that meant, but I knew it was bad.)

Blazer - thrifted JH Collectables
Shirt - JC Penney?
Skirt - thrifted Esprit
Tights - Cynthia Rowley
Shoes - Seychelles

I'm taking back the pink and black color combo. Sorry, Lil. Clearly I'm a hooker.

Rock and rock and roll

I'm selling my screenprinted t-shirts and some screenprinted canvases tonight at "The Great Rock and Roll Swap Meet" at The Hexagon (a local bar/small concert venue). There's a bunch of local bands (Umami, Red Pens, Still Pacific and Bottlekids) playing too and it's free!

Cardigan - inherited from aunt, Bloomingdale's brand
Tank - little boys Fruit of the Loom
Belt - from a Target dress
Pants - thrifted, Bleyle for Hooper
Shoes - Seychelles

The most exciting part about it is I'm done screenprinting for a while! I made a ton of shirts and art and now I can stop coming home from work at 4pm and screenprinting and heat-setting until midnight every day. Whew! Plus I'm not expecting to sell anywhere near the amount of stuff I made at the sale tonight, so I'll have some inventory should another event come up that I want to go to (and for all the last minute etsy orders I tend to get, right before Christmas)! Yay!

I don't believe in time

Cardigan - Target
Necklace - Shabby Apple via Two Birds giveaway
Skirt - thrifted vintage
Tights - TJ Maxx?
Shoes - Michael Kors

I won this necklace from a Two Birds giveaway... unfortunately it is just a necklace, not a functioning watch... um, what? I must say that I am baffled by society in general, but who the heck would pay $64 for what is essentially a broken pocketwatch? I have one that I bought at a garage sale and it was fifty cents and it's made of real gold! Regardless, I'm still glad I won as it is a really pretty necklace. I set it to 10:10 (which most catalogs do because it makes the clocks look "happy" because they are "smiling.") Why do I know this? I don't know. I have a "thing" for analog clocks. I have seven in my house. SEVEN. In three rooms. People come over and if I don't have the radio on, they always comment on the insane amount of ticking in the house. I like the sound.

Necklace and skirt detail: