I'm Free, To Do What I Want, Any Old Time

Elissa gave me this tank a while back (during TxSCC!) and I said I would wear it with a tank top and pettipants. But after finding this amazing bandeau for 5 bucks at the Nordstrom Rack, I took it one step further...



A year ago I would never have had the body confidence to wear this, but I've lived and learned a lot in that year.



It reminds me a bit of an old fashioned bathing suit! It's bare without being over the top and it's really fun. I seem to dress for fun a lot these days.



It was a big hit at work. I can't think of higher praise to be honest, than when my co-workers like something. They are just as obsessed with sartorial choices as I am, and when they love something it always makes me grin from ear to ear!

Also, sometimes I wear a lot of rings. And by sometimes, I mean MOST times.





P.S. Good luck to sweet Kendi and all her friends embarking on the latest 30x30 re-mix! Can't wait to see what you guys do this go round!

Tank, Free People, gift from Elissa
Bandeau, Nordstrom Rack
Pettipants, Underworks via Amazon.com
Shoes, Nordstrom Rack

She Bangs, She Bangs!

After over a year of hemming and hawing and being turned down by one stylist, I found another who agreed cut bangs for me.



So far it's a love/hate relationship. For the first week, it was mostly hate. But I was prepared for that. I take a while to warm up to pretty much any change at all when it comes to my hair.



I ultimately went ahead with the change because I was so tired of bumping the front that I dreaded having to style it, but didn't know what else to do. With it all one length, anytime I wore it down, it was in my face all day...sticking to my lip gloss, obstructing my view and I ended up touching it so much it had to be washed the next day. I'm not great with braids, and headbands give me a headache. I've had bangs before and loved them for years so they seemed the most obvious and simple solution.



And so far, it's worked. I can wear it all down, no problem. And I can do that for 2 days before it gets dirty enough I need to put it up, and then I do a topknot or ponytail for a couple days and wash again on night 4. It's a bit more often than I'm used to washing, but I can work with it. Plus I've even skipped the flat iron a couple days, and I haven't been able to do that for YEARS.




It's very... dramatic. The bangs make the rest of it look even longer. And I think they make me look younger. I already look younger than my age, but I'll take it. I think I'll probably keep them for a while.


Tunic, Target
Skirt, Preswap-swap with Elissa
Tights, We Love Colors
Boots, Buffalo Exchange
Bangles, Buffalo Exchange

Mannequin, Yeah, I Did It Again and Again

The level of ridiculous I can get away with in my everyday life has skyrocketed. Because I can wear whatever I want...I wear whatever I want. This skirt was picked up at the swap by Elissa, but she decided to pass it on to me. It is much sparkly-er in real life than it comes across online.



When she handed it to me I wasn't sure what to wear it with, but my motto is "when in doubt, wear a band tee" and that pretty much always works out for me.





My other motto is something about washing my hair almost never.



So...I dressed my first mannequins at work the other day. I choose "floral" from the options Stephanie had put together and here is what I did...



Stephanie tweaked a couple things, but overall my original concept was kept in tact. Not bad for a first try! I'm pretty proud of them!

I Let the Melody shine, Let it Cleanse My Mind, I Feel Free

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I had a pretty good one myself. I went to a couple of parties, got a haircut (by which I mean, had the dead ends trimmed, you know how I do) had some friends over to watch excessive amounts of Dollhouse and topped it off last night by watching Julie & Julia with my sweetheart.

The weather has been great. We’ve had the heat off, and last night we took the electric blanket off the bed for the week. We are expecting some temps in the 70s even! I jumped at the chance to wear this tunic again. It was hands down my best score at the swap, and the fact that I also grabbed this jacket, which is the perfect cut to show off the figure flattering cut of the tunic is a great bonus.



I don’t think the light let the pictures really captured this, but those are my latex leggings. I actually need to do laundry and am out of regular leggings. I briefly considered not wearing this combo, but then I thought, why not? Black leggings are black leggings, these just have a bit more pizzazz to them!



That bag is huge, and a great shape, but made from this really natural sort of leather. (Nathan said last night that it feels like skin, by which he means people skin. And as creepy as that is, it does. It is so super soft and luxurious.) But it is like a stain magnet. I have not ever carried it much, because of that. And in fact I think I go on and on about it ever time I DO carry it. Last night I treated it with leather wipes, and it took 6 wipes to get the entire bag really well oiled. 6! But I thought about it and maybe I just need to really commit to oiling it every night for a while, perhaps that way I can speed the patina process way up. Is that a crazy idea?



The necklace I am wearing is a reworking of this necklace



I got bored, as I often do, and removed all the bears from the chain, worked up a pattern with some turquoise beads and had a do over.



The other necklace was more delicate, and maybe more wearable even, but this one feels more fun, and more substantial, and I like substantial.

Jacket, swap
Tunic, Zara via swap
Tank, Target
Leggings, Target
Boots, Steve Madden via Zappos
Necklace, self made
Bag, Hayden-Harnett

Some Girls Won't Dance To The Beat Of The Track

I am joining the ranks of bloggers before me who have embarked on that great and noble challenge known as the “no buy”. *Sigh* It seems I got a taste of shopping there for a minute with Christmas, and it may have gotten a little out of hand. Not a LOT out of hand mind you, but enough. And I have enough things. So from today until Feburary 28th, I vow to purchase no new clothes, accessories, cosmetics*, or, and here is the real hurt for me…books.

I’m not excited. I don’t really want to do it. But I feel like it’s what I need to do to get control. AND I might add it’s a pretty weak challenge compared to some of those who have gone before me.

That said, I think I dressed for tomorrow’s cold, today. Today seems to be the one odd warm day this week (highs in the 40s!) and I’ve dressed for the days in the teens. I even paid attention to the weather report! But it was cold in the HOUSE when I was putting my outfit together, so that explains it.



I am always so proud when I manage to layer dresses. It’s a skill others seem to have in spades, but I am seriously lacking. I just don’t get it very often. But this black lace dress seems to be the exception and if fact, I only wear it as a bottom layer or with a jacket or sweater.



I think boots with a high heel would have been more appealing visually, but I just wasn’t feeling it. For some reason cold weather makes me want to wear flats. And these are lined with flannel and exceptionally warm in the leg.



Sugar Free Red Bull. It’s the first thing I have every day. My stomach is too sensitive for coffee, I don’t really like Diet soda and there isn’t really enough caffine in it to get me going. But Sugar Free Red Bull is love. It’s sweet and fizzy and sharp and perfection. When I gave up soda for Lent last year, I said “soda, but not red bull”. And I missed soda SO MUCH. But I could never give up my Red Bull.



How cute are those together? I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!



I love how LONG these are. They look great with short or long hair, up or down, and are light as a feather but make quite a statement.

*the exception will be concealer, foundation and mascara if I run out and only if I run out. No upgrading or changing.

Top dress, Xhilaration at Target
Bottom dress, Jovovich Hawke for Target
Jacket, Vintage
Hoodie, Old Navy
Leggings, Target
Belt, swap
Socks, Sock Dreams
Boots, Vintage
Bag, LUSH
Purse Charm, self made
Bullet necklace, self made
Crystal bullet necklace, prairieoats at etsy
Earrings, Misketch (Hey Toots) at Etsy

I Can't Help Drink You Up Cause You're My Happy Hour.

I know it’s slightly off topic, but my copy of Cheryl Cole’s (Girls Aloud) solos CD “3 Words” finally came last week, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I love it. I had read mixed reviews and the glowing reviews were mostly from hard core Aloud fans. But I really love it.



It’s a really solid album. Not quite R&B, not quite pop. It’s Pop & B. ha!~

Anywhoodle. I got dressed. Again.



I like this outfit a LOT, but I would (will) like it better if (when) I had my grey jacket. I ordered this same jacket in grey from Target.com about 2 weeks ago, but it’s on backordered. I cannot wait to get it. I had Pilalex get the same jacket and my hope is that we will show up in them on the same day soon. Because that always amuses me.



I still fold the waist band of this skirt over pretty much every time I wear it to shorten it several inches, but it works so well, and is so easy I am not going to bother having it tailored for now. I’ve been saying “for now” for about a year, by the way, so I’m pretty sure “by now” means “ever”.



The wearing the belt backwards for more impact was a trick that a couple of the girls at the swap showed me. I was trying to make a too-sweet for me dress work (it just really didn’t) and they had me try this. It may not have worked for that dress, but I did tuck the trick away for later use. And it looked great in pictures, and would have worked for a club, but I have to admit that I changed belts before I left. These looked good but felt restrictive when I sat down, and I sit pretty much all day, so I changed into something with elastic.



I put my little bat skull on a longer chain last night, so it is almost the same length as the bird skull. I love having a jewelry kit and the skills to make changes, because I get bored pretty fast. And because change is fun! And I can always change it back.



Jacket, One Star by Converse
Blouse, Forever XXI
Skirt, Target
Tights, Target
Belts, swap and Target
Ankle boots, Payless
Handbag, Reby C at Etsy
Necklaces, mrd74 at Etsy

Swaptastic Tunic

This outfit is my favorite from the swap.


(I normally crop, but the dog looked so sweet, I didn’t)

That tunic is amazing. It’s a silk cotton blend and I just love it. It had a tiny button and a little thread loop button closure, but it was never going to close over my boobs, so I cut them out.



That little jacket is not something I ever would have picked out at a store but I tried it on on a whim and loved it. A black tank and black leggings with my black riding boots completed the look. I knew as soon as I saw Connie try it on how I would wear it. I could not believe my luck when she put it back!



I didn’t get any jewelry shots. Last night was not a great night. On the way home I was sitting at a stop sign when someone turned left, into my car, head on. I know that doesn’t make sense, and that she should have turned around my car into the other lane, but she didn’t. Anyway. I was wearing my bat skull, my bird skull and an awesome hand piece I made from chain that was sort of like the piece I made for Halloween but toned down. And it broke in the accident. Bummer. I’ll make a new one tonight hopefully. I loved it.

Tunic, swap
tank and leggings
Boots, Steve Madden via Zappos
Bat skull necklace, mrd74 at Etsy
Bird skull necklace, mrd74 at Etsy

Dallas Area Swap, Stage Two Planning

Tina and I are meeting again tonight to discuss setting up a DFW swap. As a recap, you bring gently used items and you trade with other girls. It's not set in stone yet, but we would probably use a "ticket and take turns" system for the first few rounds (You get a ticket for each item you donate to the swap, we take turns selecting items). After that, the leftover items will be sort of free for the taking (but be fair! No grabbing everything to sell to Buffalo Exchange!). Items left after that will be given to Goodwill.

Right now the swap participants look like this:


A hole means someone said you were interested and did not leave size info. If you suspect you are a hole, please e-mail me at erindyan @ gmail.com. Right now it looks like everyone has someone to trade with if most everyone shows.

If you are interested, please comment, (or email) and let me know your dress, pant, blouse and shoe size (I know it varies, but for instance, I tend to be a 4/6 or a small/medium in MOST things) so we can get a feel for the numbers!~ Also, if you have feedback somewhere (ebay, etsy, make-up alley), let me know so we can add that to your info. We don't want anyone to get left out, but we do want to try and screen just a bit.

Dallas Area Swap?

Tina and I are thinking of setting up a Dallas clothing, accessories and shoe swap for the ladies. We are aiming for FREE because we think charging goes against the principal of a swap.

You bring gently used items and you trade with other girls. It's not set in stone yet, but we would probably use a "ticket and take turns" system for the first few rounds (You get a ticket for each item you donate to the swap, we take turns selecting items). After that, the leftover items will be sort of free for the taking (but be fair! No grabbing everything to sell to Buffalo Exchange!). Items left after that will be given to Goodwill.

If you are interested, please comment, (or email) and let me know your dress, pant, blouse and shoe size (I know it varies, but for instance, I tend to be a 4/6 or a small/medium in MOST things) so we can get a feel for the numbers!~ Also, if you have feedback somewhere (ebay, etsy, make-up alley), let me know so we can add that to your info. We don't want anyone to get left out, but we do want to try and screen just a bit.