Birthday Bummer

Saturday was Nathan’s birthday, and we had plans to meet a friend for dinner and drinks and then meet a few more friends downtown to see a couple bands play. Now, normally when I go see shows with Nathan, I am going to be with him or as a favor. But I’m not going because I want to see the band. There are exceptions of course, and the band playing Saturday was one I actually enjoy, so I was pretty disappointed when I ended up not feeling well and having to go home after dinner while Nathan and everyone else went out.

But I looked really pretty at dinner…



I wore a jacket and I thought it looked great, but the AC in the restaurant was not working so well and I ended up not needed it at all.





I got this dress so I could dress up a bit for Nathan’s birthday, because I like to dress up, and I like to be pretty for both myself AND Nathan. I am also extremely budget challenged right now, so I had to scope out a really good deal. And I did. This dress is a satiny number, it has its own slip and the slip has a wee bit of tulle to give it some volume. And I got it at Target. For $24.99. That’s right, $24.99. Unbelievable.



I plan on wearing it just like this to at least two more parties or events over the holiday season because the combo of the jacket, necklace and dress is just perfect! I love the way that pendant pops against the colors of the dress.





That big, dramatic necklace is actually a chain I got at a thrift store for about 50 cents and a focal piece for Michael’s craft store. I about died when I saw it. I love the result as well, it looks so classic and expensive.



Dress, Target
Jacket, Forever XXI
Necklace, self made
Bag, Vintage and thrifted
Tights, Merona, Target
Shoes, Payless

Naked Earlobes

I forgot to put on earrings! I am always so uncomfortable from the moment I realize I forgot to put on earrings. I just feel naked without them.

But look at my sassy outfit!


Check out those heels. I almost never wear them anymore, because they are too high for my old lady feet to deal, but oh my goodness, they are so cute, and such high quality.



I think they are the most perfect grown up Mary Janes I’ve ever seen. I like that they have a substantial heel, and the leather on them is so nice. They even have leather wrapped heels.



Not bad for a bargain store, yeah? And honestly, as far as heels go, they are pretty comfy. I can handle them for one day at a time. I just can’t wear them several days in a row like I used to. I’ve had these for at least 3 years I think, and they still look almost brand new. And I used to wear them non-stop.



I did not have such good luck with the tights though. I went with the cheaper brand (Xhilaration vs Merona) and I noticed a HUGE difference in quality. I’ll not buy them again. They are really no sturdier than plain old panty hose and I’m too clumsy for that. I need a tight with some strength and substance to it!~



I took a lot of pictures today.



My good friend Bernadette also has this dress. I am not one to care though if we have the same things. I am never upset when I turn up at work or a party in the same dress as another girl. I tend to be more amused and then interested in the different styling choices we both made. I know I shop at big stores and chances are someone else I know did too. Bernadette styles this dress completely different than I do, and I enjoy seeing that. Also, she has a better butt, and fills it out a little better than I do. True, true.





That used to be a necklace from Old Navy. I rearranged some of the beads, and shortened it. I never once wore it as a necklace. I just never felt right in it, but as a bracelet, I wear it a lot.

This is my favorite combination of necklaces right this second. (Due to change in 5,4,3,2…)



I’m still very proud of how the multi-chain necklace came out and I am just so in love with the locket watch.

Dress, tights, belt and shoes, Target
Multi-chain necklace, self made
Bracelet, self made
Watch pendant finkgifts.etsy.com

I’m wearing tights until they make me sweat.

(Sorry for the quality of the pictures. I’m still learning, and I hate that sometimes my indoor pics come out so blurry.)



I know there are those who disagree but I am personally on the tights train until it just gets WAY to hot to continue. I love the look of a black tight.And I love the fact that I don’t have to shave every day, ha! My least favorite thing about warm weather is all the shaving it entails.



I didn’t love or hate this outfit. I felt pretty and it was comfortable. I didn’t feel AMAZING though. I have quite a few outfits that make me feel really great, and I guess that sets the standard pretty high. I have recently been reminded that most people just sort of wear clothes. They don’t put anything into it, and they don’t really get any thing out of it. Clothing brings me so much joy, and I have this whole sub-culture (you!) that feels the same way, I often forget that clothes are merely functional for some.



Erin over at Haute Hardware made these, and Nathan dubbed them “Naughty Nauticals”. We all found this deeply amusing. Then, for reasons unknown, they failed to sell at like, 3 different shows. They were so cute!~ And so low priced!~ And “Naughty Nauticals” is so fun to say! What was happening? So Erin gave them to me, and I have enjoyed them very much and take THAT girl who eyed them for 20 minutes but was unable to make the EARTH SHATTERING decision to lay down all of ten bucks for them. (I cannot even tell you how frustrating it is when people hem and haw over a pair of 10 dollar earrings that your friend HAND MADE. It’s a uniquely irritating experience. As evidenced by all the BOLD CAPS I just used. ) People are weird, y’all.

Cardigan Belt and tights, Target
Dress, Old Navy
Boots, Arturo Chang
Bag, Abro
earrings, HauteHardware.Etsy.Com

Better in Real Life

Sometimes I will wear an outfit all day and LOVE it. I feel great. Sexy, sassy, confident, and fun. And then when I see it in pictures…eh. This is one of those outfits.



I seriously loved wearing it. And I’ll probably wear it again (next Winter, I suspect it won’t be cold enough again this Spring in time for me to wear the knee-highs over tights.) But I don’t feel like it translated well to pictures. I STONGLY suspect this can be attributed to the 10 pounds of depression weight I have put on over the course of my, and now my husbands lengthy unemployment. I’ve vowed to work on it. I don’t think of myself as “fat” by any means, but this is above my “happy weight”. “Happy weight” is that weight where you are thin and fit enough to feel good about yourself and you don’t have to devote every minute of every day struggling to stay that size. At happy weight one can still have onion rings sometimes, but one also feels killer in their favorite tight pants.

At any rate, I do feel better about the way it looks sans jacket in pictures (although in real life I think the jacket looked really cute). I just feel you can better see the actual shape of my body, which, I’ll just say it, is nice. Really. I am not one to brag, but I also got really tired of hating on my perfectly good hourglass figure a long time ago.



I really loved the accessories today too.

Key earrings, one of the first things I “made” when I got back into jewelry making. And by “made” I mean threw on a fish hook.



My signature necklace (I’ve sold a few of these in the turquoise at church, and sometimes at service or Wednesday night community, there are 2 or 3 people wearing it at once. It just fills my heart with untold joy to see that) in brown.




And a super fantabulous necklace with a locket watch I got on etsy. I mean, super. I have tiny wrists and so traditional watches look really dumb on me. And I looked for a while on etsy before finding this one, for $20 bucks even! $20 bucks. Such a steal. I’ve worn it every day for almost a week.






Jacket, Dress, tights and knee socks, Target
Boots, Matisse
Earrings and bird necklace, self made
Watch necklace, finkgifts.etsy.com

Denim Jacket Failboat

I didn’t love this outfit. I didn’t hate it either. I just didn’t love it. I think I might have loved it on someone else, but it just wasn’t very “me”.



And I am 98% sure it was the jacket.



I don’t like denim jackets, really. I only have this because all the books tell me you “should” have a denim jacket. I also don’t love the light wash on it.

I do like random neon lights in my pictures though!



And this necklace Lara over at Fashionate made me.



And my favorite “Love Erin Designs” bird earrings.



And I love the skirt.



I will try this outfit again really soon, but with a different topper. I think I might like it that way.

Jacket - Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker
Skirt- Target
Tights, Target
Boots, Matisse
Bag- Steven by Steve Madden
Earrings, Love Erin Designs at Etsy
Necklace, handmade by Lara

Bunny Love

I still love this dress.



It’s just really flattering, the bunny print is fun, and it’s appropriate for work OR play.


*I am wearing The Plum Tights of Controversy*

I normally wear it with a blazer from the same collection, or my baby biker jacket. And what’s funny is that I was trying to branch out so as to not bore you AND practice mixing and matching, and yet it seems I’ve never worn the blazer + bunny dress combo on the blog!~
But this is the blazer:


(I think I must have worn that blazer a lot right before I started the blog. I think of it as an overused piece, but have featured it all of one time.)

and my biker jacket…


But since I’m trying to spin things, I wore it with the little black and white dotted H&M jacket.



Jacket, H&M, secondhand
Dress, Erin Fetherston for Target
Obi Belt, Fosuism Boutique at Etsy
Tights, Target
Tee, Walmart
Boots, Arturo Chang
Bag, Steven by Steve Madden

ETA Bunny Print for Sal:

Old is New Again

Speaking of wearing things in a different way…I love this dress, but I tend to wear it with the same couple of things. My Alternative Apparel cardigan or a Temperly London for Target jacket I like. But the cardigan is in the hamper, and the jacket is in the dry cleaning bag. So I had to branch out.



That’s the only shot I got of the blazer open. I had a long day and I just wasn’t thinking. It looks like I am brushing my hair back but if you look closer you can see I’m on the phone. I was talking to Alannah. (I always try and remember to hold the phone away from my face because if I don’t, I break out.) But seriously...how long are my legs in this dress? What's not to love?



I felt really good in the outfit. I felt stylish.



I’m wearing my giant Cicada earrings again, and missing my old co-worker Lucinda, who hated them SO MUCH. She had a code. If she hated it, she told me it was “Interesting”. If you are reading this and you still see her, tell her I miss her face!





Jacket, Vintage
Turtle neck, Steve and Barry's
Dress, Urban Outfitters
Tights, Target
Boots, Matisse
Bag, Steven by Steve Madden
Earrings, Chain Chain Chained at etsy

Loves Me Not

I love this dress, it’s from Loves Me Not at Etsy. She’s such a doll. I can’t recommend her enough.



When I bought it, it was a romper, but it was too short in “the rise” as my mom would say, so rather than part with it, I took it to the tailor and had it made into a dress. I love it. But I can’t really breathe in it. Ha!~ It’s very fitted, plus I always cinch it with a belt. BUT I never feel so skinny as when I wear this dress.

Also, I’m serious. I love these shoes. I know I already said that but they are so perfect. Perfect color, perfect fit, perfect wedge, perfect design. LOVE.





The only thing that made the outfit not perfect was the fact that I managed to leave the house without so much as a hoop earring. NO JEWELRY but the rings I never take off. I felt NAKED.

I got this bag for my birthday. It was drastically on sale. It’s Steven by Steve Madden. The leather is the nicest leather I’ve ever seen. Nicer than the leather on my Gucci bags. Buttery soft, yet really strong. It’s also a really nice tribute to the Gucci Hysteria, which as you know, I adore. At a MUCH MUCH MUCH lower price point. I just love it. It looks like a really well preserved vintage bag, and it's a great size. I can get a full size hard back novel in there!


(no flash)

The pictures just really don’t even do it justice…


(flash)

Dress, lovesmenot.etsy.com
Cardigan, Alternative Apparel
Belt, Target
Tights, Target
Shoes, Dc Martens
Bag, Steven by Steve Madden

New Dress

Kelly got me a gift certificate to Target for my b-day. And I got this dress. So Kelly got me this dress.



THANK YOU Kelly. I LOVE it. I felt so FUN in this dress. And so PRETTY. I love love love a new dress. I even left it on when we met friends for dinner and normally I love a chance to change into a second outfit.



Look at the adorable racer back!



These are still basically my all time favorite earrings.



I didn’t wear them for a while because I felt like I really needed to wear my own stuff, to advertise by example. But I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job getting my name out there now and I am excited to wear some of the stuff my fellow jewelry artists have made. These are by Chain Chain Chained over at Etsy, and she has great customer service. I also have matching necklace (but I would never wear them together!)

Cardigan, She Bible at Bona Drag
Dress, Target (gift from Kelly)
Tights, Target
Boots, Vintage
Belt, Target
earrings, chainchainchained at esty.com

Black and Brown

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before but I love black and brown together. Specifically an all or mostly black ensemble with brown shoes/bag/belt.

Naturally I loved this outfit.



The dress is one from mark that is not on the website yet, I was able to get it early as a rep. It’s super comfortable, so soft and I felt really good in it. PLUS, it has a low back, all the better to showcase the tassel I put on the necklace I made myself a while back!



(I am not going to lie, I am uncomfortable with how large my behind looks in that picture, but am secure in the knowledge that it is not, in fact, a large behind)



I love my new Docs. I have officially ruined my feet after years and years of daily high heels. I can no longer wear them as often as I once did, and as a result I had to get something that I felt stylish in, and were comfortable for more everyday wear. These fit the bill. (Even though one of my BFFs hates them, I Lu U Autumn!~) I love the wedge, because it lets me FEEL like I’m wearing heels, and I love the details of the leatherwork on the heel.


Dress, mark
necklace, self made from recycled materials
tights, Target
Shoes, Doc Martens
Dog hair in shoe pic, P. Bitty Johnson