Winning is Everything

Today at one in the afternoon I was making French toast in my bathrobe while watching 30 Rock on Netflix. Sorry, no photos to document my oh-so-productive morning. But I did get dressed just after that. Took about 3 shots outside before it became clear that it was too dark out and the wind was making my hair stick to my lipgloss.

I'm usually not the world's most adventurous dresser, at lease not by blogger/fashion industry standards. But today I give my outfit a six or seven on the weird scale. Green, purple, blue, suede on suede and yet ANOTHER Hot Topic t-shirt. I'm not sure what it is, but lately I've been hitting my stack of graphic tees pretty hard.

Any other children of the eighties out there who watched Jem ? Once in high school two of my friends and I went as Jem and the Holograms' evil nemesis band, The Misfits, for Halloween. Sample lyric to one of their songs: "Mischief, we're makin' mischief, makin' mischief. Yeah, we're really makin' mischief!"

We wore these exact outfits. I'm not much of a seamstress, but I did fashion a giant cotton zebra-print nightgown from Value Village into a skirt and collar for myself (I was Pizzazz, the green-haired one), and another collar for "Stormer" blue-hair on the right. We had the wigs, the weird face makeup, everything. Down to the one lime green sock Pizzazz would wear, though it's not pictured here. 

May I recommend the "List of Jem characters" wikipedia entry to any and all? Makes me think the writers/creators were most certainly on some kind of drugs. Though it's kind of making me reconsider my "I'm not having kids" stance, just so I could have a daughter and name her Jerrica (like Erica, but with a J). It also informs me that a later addition to The Misfits was named "Jetta." Which is, unfortunately, no longer edgy or villanous sounding, but fortunately, is hilarious.

Goodwill Anne Taylor cardigan, Hot Topic t-shirt, secondhand Wilson's Leather skirt, Target tights, Target boots

I SAW 41 OWLS ON THE WAY HOME. This is big. Huge.

Have any of you ever wondered where I get my weird and random titles from? Today's is brought to you by one of my favorite new discoveries, whenparentstext.com. I have literally read every submission they have. And the owl mention is oh so appropriate considering my shirt today. (Originally I was going to call this post "Owl always love you." Better? Worse?)

I needed something to spice up my uber-simple outfit today, so I'm breaking out the fuzzy boots. I only allow myself to wear them during the months of November through February, and they've been pretty highly ignored this year, so I decided to give them a spin. Also, my shirt was not only a Goodwill find, but my old roommate actually bought it and I once intentionally went into her dresser to find it and then never gave it back. If you're reading this, Tori, I still plan on letting you borrow the gray purse and I'm giving you my black knit hat so s'all good, right? 

I know how popular owls are right now, so here's a close-up of the print, which is actually raised velour that feels nice when you touch it. Also, no one is allowed to touch it but me, cause that would be weird. 

Thanks to all my commenters and my slowly growing number of followers. Remember, owl always love you!

Sorry.

Guess cardigan from Labels (consignment), Roxy t-shirt from roommate's drawer from Goodwill, Celebrity Pink jeans from Buffalo Exchange, Report boots for Christmas years ago, $5 Pike Place Market leather bracelet

I make awesome decisions in bike stores.

In this photo, the shoes are purely for styling suggestion purposes. I've spent the past couple of days watching 30 Rock on Netflix and doing this:

In case you're wondering, I'm doing art

This is the actual footwear I've been bumming around in:

Picture taking was horrific today. Many weird face shadows and not wearing makeup today related problems. Now here's some pieces of possible future art:

Value Village cardigan, Goodwill dress (Target brand), JC Penny tights, Payless Shoe Source shoes, Gap slippers

You're Pretty Good Looking (for a girl)

It's my 200th post! Woo hoo!

Hm. I already regret saying woo hoo, but I'm going to leave it.

I thought I would commemorate this fine moment in what will surely become a beloved, lucrative, highly famous blog very very soon (pretty please internet?) with my very first remix post. If you've been in my archives at all, you've surely noticed a certain item of clothing that makes very frequent appearances. I am wearing it today, in fact, and just posted it a few hours ago. It's my black mini with the secret snakeskin print. It's not actually secret, it's just that the skirt looks plain black in some photos, but it has a slightly shiny texture/print of snakeish persuasion all over it. See?:

I apologize that this is essentially a close-up of my butt. It was the best example I could find.

I've seen a lot of remix posts, and honestly I don't always get what qualifies an item as often-worn for some bloggers. Sometimes it comes off a bit like, "Look how thrifty I am! I've had this skirt a WHOLE YEAR and I've worn it four times!!!! I r so cool yah." And in my mind I'm thinking...if I had something for a year and wore it four times, that would mean I should probably get rid of it since it's not getting enough use.

I hope you all recognize that I'm exaggerating a bit here. And I in no way mean to criticize any ladies out there doing remix posts. Personally, I've simply noticed a discrepancy between what I consider "wearing something all the time" compared to what other people mean by it. So, without further ado, here are some ways I've mixed my snakey skirt.

Here is is in it's first appearance on my blog, in my fourth-ever post. Go here to see it...and get a taste of how much my blogging style has changed.

My devious memory card made this one come out wonky, but I kind of love it. Circa June last year.

The first time I ever took an outfit photo outside. Also my first time wearing two belts. From August.

I had just gotten these blue tights, and was in the middle of moving into my current apartment. September.

I tend to go kinda casual with this skirt, but it has lots of fancy-dressing potential. This was November.

A History of the Skirt: It was a skirt at Macy's. My mom and I went shopping one day. I tried it on. She bought it for me. 

Fun Facts: 1.When I first got this skirt, I was just getting into more flowy, loose silhouettes, and tended to wear it with untucked t-shirts and cardigans. Now I more often go for a tucked in top. 2. My archives feature this skirt, by my count, 18 times. I estimate I've worn it at least twice as many times since last April, since I used to be pretty sporadic about picture-taking.

Thanks to everyone who's been with me so far, and I hope you'll stick around for the next 200 posts and beyond. U R so cool. I mean it!

Stephanie

Live every week like it's Shark Week

I've worn this exact outfit three or four times over the past couple of weeks, and I really wanted to document it since I never, ever wear sweatshirts anymore. Somehow I managed not to get any pictures on those occasions, so I intentionally wore it again today and went out in the freezing cold and got photographic proof once and for all. I'm coming around to the idea of hoodies lately after a several year long moratorium on them, but what I really want is one without any print or logos on it. This one I got long ago when I used to work at Old Navy. It's one of my few pink items, and the lion on the back is killer. Unfortunately, it's usually covered up by the hood, so I showcased it for you.

Speaking of Old Navy, I was noticing the intentional imperfections on the hem of this garment, and it reminded me of a story. Some customers will try all sorts of tactics to get a discount when you work in retail, as I'm sure many of you know. One day I was working at the register and a lady brought up a women's striped polo shirt with similar holes and fraying at the hem. It was the "look" back then, and obviously (to most people) intentional. This particular customer, for whom English was not a primary language, kept pointing at the holes and insisting she should be able to purchase it at a discount, since it was damaged. I'm not sure why she would want to buy/wear a shirt she considered visibly worn and holey, if she wasn't aware of it as a trend, but I'm pretty sure I spent about ten minutes trying to convince her the shirt was supposed to look like that. 

The snow that fell a couple of nights ago looks really pretty on the trees and such. Not so much on the grocery store and dumpsters. This is the best view I can get from my deck, though, so you'll look at it and you'll like it. 

Old Navy sweatshirt, Macy's skirt, old tights, Target clearance flats

Disclaimer: this post is totally unrelated to fashion

Yesterday Joe and I went back to our hometown to get in some decent practice for our upcoming show. We have been running through our set pretty much every day, but since we both live in apartments I can't sing the way I need to without really annoying anyone in an adjoining apartment. A friend let us use their house for practice and then we popped into a local coffee shop/pottery painting establishment where another friend works for an improptu practice show in front of about four or five people. We killed time walking around town, and found some funny items in an antique mall. Including a creepy doll (it was two or three feet tall)...

And this supposedly "antique" Space Jam cookie jar. And yes, careful observer, your are correct. That price tag does indeed say $85.

Then we hung out at the coffee shop until our friend Joe got off work. I know, it is very confusing and inconvenient of me to have a boyfriend AND a friend named Joe, but it can't be helped. 

Friend Joe was telling us about a girl who came in that day that was so beautiful that she made his heart beat faster, and we chastised him for not talking to her. Turns out, she had been painting a mug and didn't finish, so she left it there to finish another day. So he left this note in the mug for her to find.

This is him reading the note aloud to me, Joe, and our friend Kirk (I'm totally sure he won't mind me posting this, even though I didn't ask if I could):

This is Kirk writhing on the ground, overcome by the awesome/awkwardness of it. 

Friend Joe wasn't going to leave his phone number on the note, but after some cajoling he relented. WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Probably nothing, but he gets Awesomely Sweet and Kinda Dashing Guy of the Day Award in my book.

Who likes to rock the party? We like to rock the party.

What to do with a cardigan handed off by a friend who was moving away, but is too big? Well, thanks to this post (which I just realized is from exactly one month ago) by Elaine at Clothed Much, the solution is simple: brooches. I tried it once already (see it here) and it worked out pretty well. This time I used three vintage pieces handed off to me by my mom instead of the Lord of the Rings gold leaf. It's nice to find a use for my brooches, since usually they just hang around in drawers or on my dresser, and no one gets to see them. My mom did get me a jewelry tree for Christmas, so they get to be displayed now, but jewelry is meant to be seen, worn, and loved. I usually wear very little in the way of accessories, so I've been trying to challenge myself lately and bring out one or two items here and there and get creative with how to wear them.

This is my "OMG, and then he was all, like, WHAT? and I was all..." pose

Lots of rain means pretty shiny streets and sidewalks.