my fingertips are holding onto the cracks in our foundations

Hello and happy (belated) holidays! I am probably the worst blogger in the history of man; all the time I've been off so far has consisted of me sleeping in too late, getting too much coffee, and

generally avoiding posting because I wanted to put up something decent before the end of the year! Idiotic, I know, so here I am, with a crappy little self portrait I drew last night at 1 am, just because I was bored, haha.

So, if anybody is still out there, did you get everything you wanted for the holiday? I did pretty well, but I nearly cried when the boots from anthropologie came out of their pretty white box and refused to go on my not so pretty giantess's feet...I warn you to order a size up if anyone was intending on getting them! I think they are marked a 40, which is a 9 (I think) but the store says that is a ten...which means I can't even exchange them for a bigger size because they don't come bigger...bahh it makes me so mad, they were perfect! Someone please cut off my toes so I can wear them? Yes? No? Alright I'll just exchange them for something nearly as awesome...bah.

OK, I won't make any promises that I can't swear by, but I am pretty sure that I'll be better at this whole blogging thing in the new year! Look, a resolution that I can keep!

If I don't see you, happy end-of-the-first-decade that I can actually remember (I was too young to truly remember the nineties, haha). And I'll be turning 19 on January 10, can you believe it? The end of my teenage years is a year and three days away...that's so depressing!

p.s. I got some much needed itunes giftcards and last night at around 3 am I bought myself the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack-go out and do it too, it's awesome! And that isn't even the sleep deprived crazy girl talking, just listen to it, it's great :)

UPDATE: here's another drawing I made the other night, this time of my friend jen, who is my most stylish, world-traveling, cool friend :)

style like you

Ok, real quick post here, but how cute is this chick?

I can't figure out if she is endlessly cool or endlessly annoying...but I really like some of the stuff she has to say.

Like the whole repeat outfits thing, and the comparison between new york shopping vs. paris shopping, pretty damn accurate!

P.S. exams start this Saturday for me, wish me luck!

(photograph borrowed/stolen from stylelikeyou.com, it is not in any way, shape, or form mine! don't sue me!)

be my baby

Sorry for the hiatus; it's been a busy past few weeks, and with finals coming up and last minute holiday preparations I can't see the end of the craziness anytime soon!

I pinky swear I'll be back to posting regularly as soon as I'm on break, so if any one's out there hold on for me for another twelve days? Please and thank you!

For now I'll leave you with a little (okay, huge) holiday/birthday wish list (some of it is just wishful thinking on my part, but dreaming is free, right? haha). I can't believe how fast time has gone by!!1) a leather backpack, preferably vintage. I've been on the hunt for one forever, but I think I'm just too picky about the size and style and way too wish full about the price! This one's from here; it isn't exactly what I had in mind but it's pretty close. 2) A pretty vintage blue dress. Ever since Rhiannon did a post a while back about her search for the perfect vintage blue dress, and since I saw 500 days of Summer and fell in love with the idea of an all blue wardrobe, I have been dying for a sweet blue dress! Can't you just see one like this with black tights and heeled black oxfords? Or leather boots and a thick long sweater? So many possibilities; a dress like this is the holy grail of dresses!3) An octopus ring from here. I already have a pair of earrings from this site that my mom gave me for my 18th birthday, but I've been wearing a lot of rings lately and an octopus tentacle ring would be a perfect additions to my collection of quirky silver jewelry. 4) These boots from Anthropologie are the epitome of cool in my book. The heel is sturdy, the craftsmanship is flawless, and I could totally go for a strong boot for the winter. Too bad the price tag is a bit steep, but here's to hoping! 5) Some albums for my collection! I've been pining away for Johnny Cash, Elvis, Elton John, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones all Autumn, so having the vinyl counterparts would be pretty spectacular. Youtube just doesn't so the music justice.

6) Lola by Marc perfume. It smells wonderful!

7) Benefit's Posie tint. Such a great color for the lips!

Alright, so that's pretty much the extent of my wish list. All together it could be the perfect outfit; vintage blue dress, leather backpack, and chunky heeled boots, posie tint as the only makeup and lola perfume on my wrists, a cool ring and listening to my favorite albums!Perfection! I also want a few good books, some DVDs, and anything high waisted, light blue, cranberry red, knit and wool. Oh, and some black oxford flats. Although I wouldn't mind an all expenses paid trip to Paris, or a shopping spree for Lover, Lyell, and Chloe! Please? Haha, happy holidays everyone!

doctor doctor!

This weekend I was able to make it out to my favorite vintage store, and I found this amazing vintage Doctor's bag, just waiting there for me! I have had Doctor bags on the brain lately, as I let a really cool one go back in May (stupid me...haha), sot was pretty amazing that this happened to be in the store! I wasn't going to get it at first because it was $45 and I'm a bit short on cash, but my mom gave it to me the other night as an early Christmas present, and I couldn't be any more excited :)

I can see this working really well as my new winter bag. It's perfectly worn in black leather that holds its shape, and since it's so huge it can hold my hat, gloves, scarf, and an entire tissue box! lol

Thank you mom for the awesome early gift <3

I feel so professional with it. Someone get me a stethoscope and some band aids! Haha!

black and blues

So here is the dress I wore to the sweet sixteen last weekend! (Gosh, that was only a week ago! It feels like ages!)
I initially fell in love with it a few weeks ago, but it was a bit pricey so I left it and mulled over whether or not it was worth the cash (damn Anthropolgie, making such beautiful expensive clothes!). But then I got my first few paychecks burning a hole in my pocket, and knew that I wanted to spend them on something special ;) I'm slowly building up a collection of their beautiful dresses, and I'm pretty ecstatic, to say the least!
I love how it is unconventionally blue and black, and with the velvet bustier it's magical! The tulle is stiff enough to hold shape too, which is exactly how I like it. The only downfall with this dress is that it runs pretty big; I should have gone down a size because it fell down a few times over the course of the night. I wore my polka dot J Crew tights as I said before, and had my hair up for conveniences' sake. Next time I wear it I'd try doing my hair the right way; a strapless dress deserves long hair worn down! I felt very Karen Elson ish, which is always a good thing!
I also wanted to say that I'm sorry for being such a deadbeat blogger as of late; but I promise good things are to come, including Christmas (or Hanukkah, or whatever) wish lists and maybe something a bit more eloquent that I have had in the works for a while. We shall see...

whirlwind

My slacker ways are becoming a bit too much; I really need to establish a schedule for blogging so I don't lose the five people who read this (counting family members, lol).

So I've been busy busy these past few weeks, getting my spring schedule set for school, finishing up fall rowing and starting winter conditioning, hanging out with the family on weekends (I'm a terrible college kid, all I want to do is stay home and watch TV with my little brother!). And going to as many high school football games as possible! I feel like I missed out on that part of high school, so I've been catching up on all the crazy sports fueled Friday nights that I can :)

I also went to my little cousin's super sweet sixteen party last Saturday, and I forgot to charge my camera (stupid me) so we had to use a disposable...which I have yet to get developed! It was at this fancy restaurant on Coney Island, NY, and I was channeling the latest Lula in my outfit choice. I got this bustier black velvet and dark blue tulle dress from Anthropologie, and I wore my J Crew polka dot tights so I didn't freeze! If only I had Karen Elson's beautiful red hair :)

I was so tired that night from getting up to row at 4:30, so I don't even remember most of what we did, but I know I had some fun. So: pictures, if they came out, will be up here shortly! Whew!

you promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, now you just say oh romeo, yeah i used to have a scene with him

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween! Mine was fun, although the day was way longer than I would have liked. I had to get up at 4:45 to go to my rowing race, and then I didn't end up going to bed until 2 am. That's a 22 hour day!

Oh well, I had fun though, trick or treated for a bit and stopped at a friend's house, then went to the grandparents to show them our costumes, haha. Not very eventful, but pretty decent :)

My stupid camera died before I could take any good, nerdy blogger photos pf my costume, so you'll have to bear with me in the awkwardness of some of these! Maybe I'll do a re shoot when I have more time! Some kind of re creation of the film stills, perhaps?

If only I had the young Leonardo DiCaprio for that ;)

So, how did I do? Pretty good recreation of the character, no? I have on that 50's nightgown from a few months back and the hot topic wings; not a perfect rendition but I worked with what I had.

Can't wait to see some of your costumes!

lyell is my love

I got a package in the mail the other day from Urban Outfitters, and I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was! I opened it up and found this amazing Fletcher by Lyell silk romper; I completely forgot I asked my mom to order it for me as soon as it went on sale! I got it for something crazy like $15; such a super deal!
I showed it to my grandmother and she said that it was of really good quality, and the fabric reminded her of something she had way back in her day! She also told me that it was something that a girl would wear with a matching skirt, and to keep my out for for one online, and sure enough U.O. has a skirt and the romper together on one of their models! My Grandma is such a smart woman :)
So yes, it's safe to say that I officially love Lyell, and I can't wait for more of their Fletcher stuff to go on sale at Urban! (because my teeny tiny paychecks simply won't cover an actual Lyell addiction!)

p.s. The silk is nothing like what I thought it would be; it's actually really substantial and gorgeous! Do check it out if you get the chance!

juliet, the dice was loaded from the start

Oh, two posts in a day! I almost forgot to show you what I plan to be for Halloween; Juliet from Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet"!

If you haven't seen this yet, please do so! I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I thought it was beautiful and really original, and the musical score that went with it was pretty great as well. I absolutely loved the ball scene where Juliet is wearing that angel costume, so that's the scene I'm going to try to recreate. I know that 99% of the girls at my school are going to be dressed really sexy or slutty, but I'm sick of that to tell you the truth. It seems like being a whore for Halloween has become every females' prerogative, and i think that's really messed up and sad. It ruins the fun when you are dressed up like a pirate hooker and can sincerely say that there are at least 25 other pirate hookers hanging out with you, and 50 or so more hooker type costumes within sight. Halloween is about originality and becoming a character, not being a skank! Ok, rant over, but that's why this year I won't be buying a lame store bought, overpriced costume with a too short skirt!

So the costume was a bit difficult to put together, especially the wings! No one seemed to sell feather wings, and then they would be fuzzy or the feathers would be going in the wrong direction. I finally found the wings at Hot Topic of all places, and they're only little bit different than the one's in the film, but they're close enough! All I really need is the dress now. I have a 50s nightgown that looks pretty similar to the dress in the movie, but i need to figure out a way to make it more empire-waisted and less sheer. Maybe I'll wrap and pin a white piece of fabric around my waist and up around my shoulders, kind of like how the dress looks?
The makeup and hair is super simple, so I have that down pat. The only thing that I have to worry about is no one knowing who I am! That doesn't really bother me though, haha.

Ok, so tell me what you're going to be for Halloween? If you're being a sexy store bought hooker, I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me for ranting! See you later!

(photos found off of Google Images, not mine)

the girl with the sun in her eyes

Hello hello, I have not abandoned you! I've just been so busy lately! I don't even have much time to write anything here since today is both my little brother Andrew and my Grandmother's birthdays! Instead I have a bunch of pictures of the things I have found lately! Happy birthday Andrew and Nonny!

Here is what I wore the other day; the shorts are new from Anthropologie, only $10 on sale! They're a great heavy weight for cooler days, and work the best with tights. I also bought a plaid bustier and some nail polish, which I'll debut later!

I also got a few vintage plaid shirts when I went thrifting, and I'm almost done with all the apples I got when we went apple picking a few weekends ago.

I wen to the mall with my mom to look for birthday gifts and got these polka dot tights from J Crew, and some makeup from Sephora. I'm really into the heavy eyebrow thing right now, like Camilla Belle, so I got an eyebrow pencil and got a sample of Posie Tint for free! I heart free samples!

I never got around to photographing myself in the dress I got at the NYC clothing show, so here it is! It's a B. Altman 50s dress, with a peter pan collar and sweet little rhinestone buttons, and 3/4 sleeves with a little poof on the end where they tie! I adore it; such a great Autumn dress!

I also ended up thrifting last weekend and got some really good vintage finds! I ended up finding this 50s/60s day dress, an awesome velvet and lace Jessica McLintock 80s dress, and this absolutely stunning sheer dress that may be from the 40s or earlier; I don't know how to date this one, but it's definitely really old! It reminds me of something Chloe might put out; I have definitely seen something like this before but I can't put my finger on it!

Well, that's pretty much everything I've gotten in the past few weeks, and it will be all that I get for the next few as well! I'm going to go get ready for the day (I didn't get up till 11 this morning, I was so tired form the week and going to my brother's homecoming football game last night! They have won every game so far; go Panthers! haha) Hopefully next post won't be so long overdue, and I can actually put something coherent up here for you guys!

Have a good weekend!

post haste!

I knew that my mom mailed me a package last week, but by the time the post office closed for the weekend it still hadn't arrived! I eagerly awaited the whole weekend, wondering what on earth she could have sent me. The wait doesn't matter too much, because I got a sweet surprise this morning instead, with a vintage romper/swimsuit from Duchess Vintage on Etsy! I've been hunting like a mad man for months for one that fit me, and this fits the bill. Too bad the seasons have to change; if I could go swimming right now without freezing to death, I totally would! Now
I'll dream of lakes and rivers while I shiver under three quilts tonight!
Thanks Mom :)
(P.S. I can't wait till the warm weather rolls around again so I can wear this out; I have a long winter ahead of me!)

dark star

Hello! So, here's a little rundown of my Friday in NYC. I literally had to run from class to catch my train, so I just grabbed whatever clothes I felt like I wanted to wear and rushed out the door. So I guess I was feeling a bit goth Friday on morning? It probably had to do with the cloudy skies, but thankfully those cleared up as soon as we got on the train! Once we got to New York, I really wanted to see if any of the book stores carried Lula, so after a quick walk through Bryant Park we found a little magazine store that carried it! I finally have my copy of Lula Nine, and it is so great! I love all the red heads; I always wished I was red haired, or at least blond, but I guess I'm happy being a brunette :) We eventually made our way over to the clothing show, but I only got a photograph outside. It was pretty cool this year, albeit a bit expensive. Some sellers were trying to sell 90s rayon floral dresses for almost $200! Considering these are abundant and crazy cheap at Salvation Army, I really hope no one bought them, lol. There were some good deals though, and I managed to buy one really great fall dress, soon to be debuted here! It was crazy packed in there, and I was trying to stick to a list of things I want, but it was difficult to find all the pretty little 50s dresses I had in mind! There was a lot of fur, plaid shirts, and sequins; none of which I have a problem with, but not what I was looking for. The dress I got makes up for it though :) I got home exhausted, but with the new Lula and a great little dress, I'm definitely happy, and can't wait for the next show!
floral dress: fredflare.com, lace shirt: free people, tights: target, shoes: forever 21, bag: vintage coach
P.S. I threw together some clothes that represent what I want to be wearing more of this fall, mainly dark florals and purples and blues. All inspired by the show and Lula Nine. Don't my Lula's look good together? I'll try to channel the inspiration as much as possible in the next few weeks!

paper doll

So, here is what I wore on Monday (and I can't even remember Tuesday, so I'm assuming I didn't wear anything all that great). The dress is vintage, from that same store that I got my awesome boots at (woot!), the cardigan is J Crew, shoes are Chloe (lovelovelove, but so painful, lol), belt is thrifted, and necklace was handmade by my mom when she was about my age! I wear this thing everywhere, and people constantly ask me where I got it/ what it means. I just think it's cool, and it reminds me of mom when I'm away. :)

Other than the obligatory outfit shots, I wanted to let anyone who lives near New York City/ has some free time this weekend to check out The Manhattan Vintage Clothing
Show! I went last year and it was so cool; basically a bunch of Vintage dealers show up and have booths stocked full of really awesome vintage clothes/shoes/accessories. It's alsmost like a bazaar of vintage! The only downside is that most of the stuff is priced pretty high (dealers plus new york equals crazy prices!) but since the recession has hit everyone hard I'm thinking some stuff might be priced to sell...all the more reason to make it out there for some hard core vintage viewing! Unfortunately there's no photography allowed, but I promise I'll try to sneak some shots when I go this Friday! I'm so excited, and I'm on the hunt for a sweet little blue dress like Liebemarlene posted about. Fingers are crossed that I find some cool stuff!

these boots are made for walking

Do you guys have a place that no matter when you go, you always leave with something amazing? I do, and although I've only been there three times, each time I've left with a treasure, and for really cheap too!
Today I was able to cross off that long-awaited wish list item, the perfect fall boots! I initially didn't see these packed away under a table at my luckiest/favorite vintage store, but when I saw them I literally stopped in my tracks and grabbed them. I didn't even think that they would fit, but they do! I'm so excited, I've wanted a great pair of boots, preferably vintage, for the longest time, and I just happened to find them today! I can already see that these are going to be my favorite shoes, perfect for all the fall things that I'm so psyched about (especially pumpkin and apple picking!). I also crossed off a long awaited fall activity this weekend; attending a cold Friday night football game complete with eating way too many pumpkin flavored things and drinking hot cider. Sooo good.
Oh, and you know what the best part is about these covet able boots? They were twenty cool dollar bills. Now that's a deal ;) So many great fall outfits are whirling around in my head, I gotta go write them all down before I forget!
I think I'll outfit-post tomorrow, we'll see how my brain feels after all the work I have to get through tonight. Yuck, haha.

UPDATE:
wow, just went on urban outfitters and found the exact same boots for nearly $300!!!
so glad i got them, lol!

au revoir, September!

Well, seeing as it's the last day of September I thought I'd wish it adieu and welcome October, my favorite month, to the blog! I wasn't planning on posting anything because I have been bad about taking outfit posts (who wants to when all you have for a backdrop is cement and ugly furniture?) and I never even got to photograph the estate sale finds from 2 (!) weeks ago, but I decided I needed to assure you that I am alive, although I have an ear infection/sinus issue going on, and I will try very hard to put up something worthwhile in the next few days!

Other than illness and feeling uninspired, I am really excited about fall activities, and I hope I have time to do them all! Apple and pumpkin picking and Halloween are really high up on that list, so if I at least get to do those three things I think I could be content ;)

Awfully blurry farm photograph by yours truly, scanned pinhole negative.

beetle juice, beetle juice, beetle juice!

So, last night was Prez Ball, and it was so much fun! I ended up not wearing either of the dresses that I thought I might, because I went to Anthropologie and found this one instead! The other too dresses were pretty, but one was too plain and the other was poor quality. So when I saw this dress on the rack, I knew it would fit really well and would stand out from the crowd. I've wanted this dress for long time, and I'll totally wear it again, so it was money well spent.
I lovelovelove the back lace-up detailing, it's totally awesome! I kind of felt like a ballerina/circus performer/lydia deets from beetle juice, which, in my opinion, is pretty rad! I also loved the heels, which were from my sophomore year formal, but I ended up in flip flops the entire night, since dancing in heels is next to impossible and a hazard; a girl I know got gashed by some unthoughtful girl's stiletto :( Overall, it was a really fun night, and I really had a lot of fun dressing up for an occasion again; I don't get to do that often enough!
I think I'm going home tonight to see my little brother, and that means I can finally photograph all the goodies from the estate sales of last weekend! Have a good one everyone :)

i heart new york

As promised, here are a few of the sights I was able to see on my too-short trip to NYC! We only had about an hour of free time, so our freedom to roam was confined to a few blocks. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed walking around and seeing so many people; coming from a small town, the thought that I was surrounded by so many individuals was frankly mind-boggling, to say the least!

Tonight is my college's fall semi-formal aka Presidential Ball aka Prez Ball, and I have a few dresses to choose from...still not sure what I should wear, lol! I'll try to photograph each and the final decision for you guys, they are pretty edgy compared to what I wear on a daily basis, so it should be interesting!
See you all soon...