How Strange It Is To Be Anything At All

I've been dying to show off this skirt since I got back from Texas! Even though it's only Forever 21, I found it at a Buffalo Exchange and I feel as if I really "earned it" by weeding through hangers of garbage to find gold.

I'm still trying to get a hang of getting any decent shots in the new place. I also keep forgetting my parents gave me a tabletop and fullsized tripod yesterday that I have yet to experiment with. I think a steady hand, combined with natural lighting, will do the trick. Problem is, we have so much to do during the day, what with the moving, unpacking, and painting that we hardly even have time to eat, let alone take pictures! I suspect I'll fall back in the morning blogging schedule by early next week.

Speaking of next week, I'm picking up my two darling cats (Wumpus and Henry) this weekend. They've been living with their "grandparents" for the past six months, due to a job that required extensive travel three weeks per month. But now that my priorities have shifted towards furthering my education, I'm home for good and they will be too! Expect epically adorable posts and cat hair adorning all my outfits.

Tanktop: H&M

Skirt: Forever 21, thrifted- Buffalo Exchange (Austin, TX)

Tights: Walgreens

Shoes: Thrifted- Philly AIDS Thrift (Philadelphia, PA)

Sunglasses: Forever 21

Five Green Queens and Jean

Aside from the actual pains of painting,it makes it IMPOSSIBLE to try and get any decent photos, since any bare walls are lined with newspaper and painters tape. Thus, I have only one useable picture of what I wore to a family passover sedar tonight. And even this looks super grainy and awful. My apologies- I'm still figuring out the settings on this bloody camera.

Tonight's outfit is the result of having a small, incohesive  bundle of clothes stored at the new apartment and trying to make some semblance of an outfit in the five minutes I had to stop at my old house, between painting and picking Ray after work. I knew I wanted to wear this skirt I picked up at the SXSW American Apparel factory flea market. After trying on a few ill-fitting shirts, I decided to play it safe and grab a basic tanktop. The rest was merely picking what I had at my disposal; this is the only belt I could locate, other than my studded belt, which would not pass with my grandparents. And while we're on the subject of finding clothes, where the held did all my tights go? No seriously- if you've got them, please give them back. These were the only pair I could find. I'm glad they were able to work with the outfit, but they're absolutely awful- they've got multiple runs (despite only wearing them one time), they constantly slip down so it bunches at my ankles, and if I don't line up the plaid perfectly straight, it makes my legs look all wonky.

I think it's fair to compare this outfit to my view on family dinners like tonight's- I like it, it was fun, but it's far too much of a hassle and I'm glad to be done with it.

Oh crap, I have another sedar tomorrow.

Painting Playlist

Sorry for no outfit posts lately. As I mentioned in my last update, I just moved and the past couple days have been spent unpacking and cleaning up the place. Today I've done nothing but paint our living room, so my "outfit" consists of a ratty old v-neck and my pajama pants. I'm also covered in copious amounts of green paint. I'm going to dinner at my grandparents tonight, so I should hopefully have a post-worthy outfit ready for tomorrow's update. In the meantime, here's a quite stellar playlist of what I've been listening to while painting this rainy morning.

Create a MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Everything Old Is New Again

Does the background look different? Well get used to it- this picture was taken in the kitchen of my new apartment!*

Why the asterisk? Because technically it's both my new apartment and my old apartment. I rented this apartment in 2009, and after looking everywhere for a decent apartment, Ray and I decided to call my old landlord to see if he had anything was available. Lo and behold, my old place hadn't been rented out yet, so I'm moving back in! Talk about a surreal experience... I'll be MIA for the next few days, moving everything in, unpacking, painting, and getting various services set up. But it'll all be worth it, because my cats Wumpus and Henry are finally coming back to my apartment! They've been living with their "grandparents" because my current house doesn't allow pets, but they're finally coming home. And I can guarantee there will be oodles of pictures!

Given that today's activities all revolved around moving errands, I thought I'd be smart and wear jeans, rather than a skirt or dress. But then....one thing led to another, and all of a sudden I'm in heels and a dress shirt that I'm terrified to get dirty. This is a fairly polished look for me, but I've been making a conscious effort to wear allllll of my clothes, not just my trusted favorites. I bought this dress shirt about four years ago for an interview. I got the job, and I never wore the shirt again, until today. I'm glad I forced myself to make it work, because I love the end result and it's only got me more excited to dig up the treasures lurking at the back of my closet.

Shirt: H&M
Wifebeater: H&M

Scarf: American Apparel

Jeans: Forever 21

Belt + Buckle: Thrifted (Sweet Jane- Philadelphia, PA)

Shoes: Payless

Bag: (Product) Red - via Village Voice swag bag at SXSW

Sunglasses: Forever 21

Here Should Be My Home

Today is one of those stressful days where everything's going wrong. Or at least, everything's not going very easy. I started the day by dropping my digital camera and more or less breaking the zoom, to the point that it was unusable. $300 later, I've got a fancy Nikon Coolpix L110 that I can't really afford and still isn't as nice as I was hoping to (eventually) upgrade to.

Ray and I spent the past few hours viewing various houses and apartments with only moderate success. It seems that no one in Philadelphia has any decent 2 bedroom homes for rent, despite our reasonable budget. Luckily, my outfit today masked the lackluster mood I was put in. When in doubt, fake it.

 Tanktop: Forever 21

Skirt: Bebe- Thrifted (Buffalo Exchange, Austin TX)

Tights: Forever 21

Boots: Ariat

Sunglasses: Forever 21

Chairman Frank

**Preface- I apologize for the terrible quality of these photos. I'm not sure what's up with my camera- maybe the wrong setting? Maybe the lens is dirty? I'll investigate more tomorrow**

Sorry for the late update today. I've had my hands full puppy sitting my friend (and future roommate)'s dog, Frankenstein- a.k.a. Frankie, Frankels, Frank and Beans.

Today's look is all about comfort. Chasing around a ten pound Chihuahua in a dress and stiletto heels didn't seem to practical or appealing, so I donned the poncho I picked up in Austin. None too surprisingly, it's ridiculously comfortable. I paired the otherwise casual look with wedge boots to add height, texture, and play shapes.

Poncho: Thrifted (Buffalo Exchange- Austin, TX)
Tanktop: Forever 21
Jeans: Forever 21
Wedge boots: Spring
Sunglasses: Forever 21

Welcome to: Stuff You Should Know

Ok, well, designers you should know. But I couldn't resist the chance to reference my absolute favorite podcast ever. Enough chitchatting, let's get to the fashion porn!

I

I love the light, airy feel of Dahlia's 2010 collection. While they've certainly seized the flowery, high tea chic looks rampant on both runways and city streets, there's a harder edge lurking beneath (as evident by the sweet acid wash Lee jacket/poncho in the top right).

Lordy, lordy, lordy. Am I in love with the understated versatility of shades of gray in Gentle Fawn's Spring 2010 lookbook, or is it just the breathtaking photography? I think it's safe to say it's a little of both.

I've been upping my skirt and dress game lately, but underneath it all, I'm most comfortable in a pair of skinny jeans, my Sambas, and a t-shirt. I'm not big on ironic/retro/humorous shirts and I absolutely despise text (unless it's a band shirt), so Heavy Rotation's unique abstract designs intrigued me right away. Even better? They offer a T-Shirt of the Month Club, providing a new (unpredictable) thread once a month for every 3, 6, or 12 months, depending on your subscription plan.

Sing with all your heart...the Queen Is Dead

Have you ever had one of those days where you try on a zillion outfits and nothing seems right? You start off with one clear cut idea in your head, and by the time you're dressed, you went from a yellow leather skirt and zebra print shit to denim cutoffs, tights, heels, and a rando t-shirt. And after all that indecisiveness, outfit changes, and general tearing out of one's hair, that final look is so simple that you're amazed you never paired it together before.

Well-BIG SURPRISE!-that's what happened a few hours ago.

Shirt: Heritage 1981

Shorts: H&M pants I cut up last summer

Tights: Forever 21

Shoes: Xhilaration (Thrifted from Philly AIDS Thrift)

Sunglasses: Forever 21

SXSW Clothes Hustle

This is probably an incredibly ignorant understatement, but who knew Austin was such a clothing mecca? Between the oodles of vintage boutiques and SXSW-related American Apparel factory flea market, I left Texas with three times the clothing I entered with.

If you ever want to see sheer hipster mayhem, check out an AA flea market. No seriously. When you mark shirts down to $6, socks to $1, dresses to $10, and offer a free t-shirt to badge holders, you may have to throw a few elbows, but you'll come away with a monster score. Here's what I got for $30:

Denim pencil skirt

 Mesh tank top

 Polo dress with cool bleach burns

 Mesh body suit

Leaf print scarf as seen earlier today. Who knew AA made such sweet scarfs?

Thigh high socks. I forgot to get a picture of my pair, but you get the idea. I mean, they're socks.

 MAYHEM.

Unfortunately, a lot of the vintage stores were either overpriced or had been picked clean already. I simply was not prepared for the Austin Buffalo Exchange. The Philadelphia store is pretty small and lately has been kind of steeply priced. They also have been adding more new merchandise from smaller designers. [Don't get me wrong, it's cool to find a shop selling Blood Is the New Black shirts, but do they really belong in a thrift store? There's a zillion boutiques in Philadelphia for that.] The Austin location, however, was HUUUUUGE and most items were priced under $10. I literally bought as much as I could carry.

Forever 21 skirt

OK, OK, OK. I know. It's a poncho. I bought a poncho. But I swear to god, I THINK I can pull it off. And if not, it's basically a glorified Snuggie. Who doesn't love a Snuggie?

Bebe leather skirt

Flower print lace blouse

 Gap leather skirt

Flower print button-up dress

S

Score of the friggin century! I can't wait to rock this random 60s dress all spring.

G

Gap leather skirt from today's post.

Officially stoked for spring and its requisite warm weather!