Sunlight Through the Trees

Worn on Thursday 23 Dec 2010 – Christmas Eve Eve

So I forgot about these photos from a few days before Christmas.  I was at the airport at 5am… blah.  Not the earliest flight I’d ever taken but definitely the earliest in a long time.  Usually if I’m up at 4am it means I never went to sleep, it was a bit odd getting up without the sun!  Soo sooooo dark!

For a different look I folded down the top of the my over the knee boots.  And also to make getting through airport security easier, shoe removal in the US ugh.  Scarf removal too, I forgot about my tiny little scarf and I had to go back and send it through to be X-rayed!

Anthropologie sweater, Old Navy shirt (under there somewhere), BGD/Urban Outfitters skirt, Assets tights, Jeffrey Campbell boots.

Sunday Boring and Cozy

I have a quick question for everyone: do my photos look overexposed/too light? I’ve been testing the blog on different computers and I know individual display brightness is a factor but in general I’m finding the photos to be significantly lighter than on my screen— a MacBook Pro with brightness kept standard (exactly in the center) whenever I edit photos.  Is Apple standard brightness just darker than other computer manufacturers or do most people keep their screen’s brighter than factory settings?  

Well anyway, before the holidays I did some experimentation with old and new things:  

I wore my grey moccasins for the first time!  I’ve had them for a while but never wore them as anything other than slippers.  I got them from Rue La La for $25 in August I think.  My friends all love theirs and I definitely like them but I think they could use a little more support.  I put some Dr. Scholls insoles inside for my high arches.  

I did some work with bokeh and my J.Crew zipper bracelets.  I wish it were a little smoother, but I definitely don’t expect an entry level lens to have near-perfectly rounded bokeh… no matter how good it is!  

And I did a little bit of self portraiture too.  Oh dear, I do look tired.  I’m always underslept during the holidays, too much to do!  

I don’t know what I’m wearing yet on New Year’s Eve, do you?  I think I’ll be having a rather quiet one for a change… consisting of me going to my friend’s and eating any and all available food (her mom’s been cooking)!  Whatever your plans, best wishes for the new year!  

Baby Owl Goes to the Gift Exchange

Worn on Tuesday 21 Dec 2010

I haven’t worn this dress since October, but I’ve been wanting to try it out during the winter.  It definitely looks more like a skirt with the cardigan buttoned up over it.  I just tucked in the shoulder bow ribbons and tied the waist ribbon over the cardigan.  

I wore this to work and then to the holiday party I was most looking forward to this year with my friends from high school, middle school, grade school, kindergarten, and pre-school.  Okay, I only went to pre-school with one of them but we’ve all been friends for a long time!  Our 2010 family photo, silly edition:

And yes, my friends are still making whoo whooooo noises at me, despite the fact that those really are quail feathers!  

Merry Christmas, everyone, happy holidays, I wish you good company and a good night!  

J.Crew cardigan, Leifsdottir dress, Assets tights, Frye boots.  

More Uninspiration

Worn on Thursday 16 Dec 2010

Sorry for the blogging delays this week, you know, the holidays… Hopefully I’ll have another one tomorrow!  And I’ll use the queue and hopefully hopefully have a little bit more time over the weekend! 

So last week I was having a really uninspired week.  Because this jersey sweater thing is actually loungewear.  And I’ve almost but not quite worn this before.  I went through all of my sweaters due to the sudden actual winter weather… and ran out of everything that wasn’t a sleeveless blouse.  I had a pile of laundry the size of Mont Blanc, seriously.  Holiday stress probably zapping my creativity… that and the abscessed tooth that’s about to need a root canal (please I hope not, I have no dental insurance).  Going to the dentist today, I hope they can try to hold me over until January when I think I will have at least some dental insurance! 

I hope everyone is enjoying time out of the office, but if you’re in the office like me I wish you a slow enough day that you can write a blog post if you want (like me)!

LOFT lounge cotton jersey open cardigan thing, Anthropologie shirt, J. Crew skirt, Target belt, HUE tights, Frye boots. 

A Little Bit of Snow

Worn on Tuesday 14 Dec 2010

Oops, you cannot see much of the detail of I’m wearing at all, I forgot to account for the different lighting because of the snow!  I was a little distracted because my beloved tripod finally completely died, it’s been half-broken for around five years.  A lot of my photos from the past week have been serious fails.  But I ordered a replacement and it just arrived yesterday, I haven’t even had a chance to use it yet.  

I’m actually pleased with these photos, though!  They were taken with my newest lens, an early Christmas gift from my cousin.  It’s the entry level Canon 35mm but it is fantastic.  More useful than my 50mm and so much better than the kit telephoto!  Serious love.  

Francesca’s Collections tee shirt open cardigan thing, J.Crew shirt (you can see the sequins a little bit at least), BDG/Urban Outfitters skirt, Assets by Sara Blakely tights, Arturo Chiang boots.  

I’ll Be There With Bells On (Literally)

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday by ModlyChic this week is about holiday party attire!  I bought two sweaters and a dress this month.  The dress is a present to myself, and I’ll probably wear it Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  I might even wrap it for myself to open too, I’m silly like that!  
 
1. Which holiday party are you looking forward to attending this year?  The best party every year for me is also the smallest and probably the most casual.  I know, a bit shocking.  I am really looking forward to the Secret Santa party my friends from high school have every year.  I think we’ve been having it since sometime during middle school!  It’s always girls only but this year we’re doing something different and having an actual dinner (pot-luck style, and I’m looking for a wheat-free, vegetarian, lactose-free recipe— if you have any of those let me know).  I guess now that we’re into our twenties some crazy people go to sleep and get up for work the next day.  Personally I’d just skip the sleep, but I’m a half-crazed insomniac all the time.  

2. What is your go-to holiday party outfit?  I actually… don’t have one.  What usually happens is that I try to plan something but it doesn’t work and I end up switching a lot of it last minute!  I think I was actually better at holiday dressing when I was under the age of five… 
 
I tend to wear pajamas dresses festive seasonal attire as I check out the latest technological gadgets… 

 

and almost always black…

 
 
and red!  Especially red accessories! 


3. Do you go dressed in something that would be impractical to wear at any other time of the year?  Do I ever dress practically?  :)  I don’t wear Christmas sweaters, although I had and loved bell earrings when I was younger.  I don’t know what happened to them now, I should definitely comb through my jewelry boxes!  

This is what I wore on Christmas Eve last year

Rodarte for Target before I was seriously taking photos of myself.  It’s not impractical, but honestly it’s a bit boring.  Although it could have just been me, I was majorly ill last year :(

4. If you are going to a house-party what gift will you bring to the host/hostess?  Alcohol.  Santa Margherita, Bombay Sapphire, or something else like that.  And gifts for the children (if there are any).  Maybe local gourmet chocolates or candies, but definitely nothing more if it’s catered or a dinner party.  

(a Merry Christmoose mimosa from last year)

5. If you could buy only one trendy piece to update your holiday party wardrobe, what would you get this year?  I am really tempted to buy this J.Crew belt, it’s on extreme sale right now.  I know, it’s totally insane but I feel like it would actually be versatile.  Wear with a dress, a tee, over a jacket…  it could totally transform an outfit!  

I desperately wanted a silver snakeskin Katherine Kwei bag too, it’s much too expensive now though.  I really regret not getting it but I have to give other people presents, not just myself! 

Last Week

Worn on 9 Dec 2010

It didn’t look too much like December last week although it was certainly cold and windy enough!  Sunny, windy days are actually my favorite although standing around outside without outwear is definitely not.  Luckily I just bought two wool sweaters!

This is one of my new J.Crew sweaters from the 30% off sale, I think it was $30 down from $88?  If there’s anything you’ve been eyeing from J.Crew they currently have extra 30% off sale (it’s the last day) and a ton of sweaters are priced in the $30-50 range!  I think I now own five winter weight sweaters, so I’ll actually be weather-appropriately attired this winter!  Now I guess I just need to work on long-sleeved shirts and better tights! 

J.Crew sweater, shirt, belt; LOFT skirt; HUE tights; Deena & Ozzy (Urban Outfitters) shoes. 

P.S. I have no idea what happened to that fake deer’s head… it looks kind of creepy now. 

Impending Potential Hairstyle Change

So I’d like to apologize for the dreadful state of my hair lately.  It’s a little scraggly and wild.  My regular hair cut is Monday and I’ve been doing some serious thinking about it.  Why so serious (and admittedly seriously silly)?  

 I might get bangs.  Like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction kind of bangs.  

For reference, me with bangs:  

My shutterbug friends and I in Uniqulo in Japan on February 11, 2008 (gotta love the flickr embedded metadata).  (Umm what am I wearing?)  Unfortunately no photos of me with straight up blunt bangs exist on this computer.  These were originally blunt bangs that got long so I swept them off to the side a bit.  

And again in Ireland, August 22, 2009:

Ehh, you can’t see them because the wind blended them in with the rest of my hair.  Yeah, you got me, this photo is mainly for Caitlin— I’m trying to tempt you into Ireland on the cheap (it was my friend’s and my graduation present to ourselves).  We managed it after being poor, hungry, studied-abroad-halfway-across-the-world, denim-wearing-every-day (eek!) college students for four years, it just took a budget and a plan! 

I was thinking about having them cut last time at the salon… but I still don’t know.  Since I actually did some thinking about it instead of just making an impulsive decision, I realized I’ve actually had bangs for at least 70% of my life.  And I might actually miss them?  What?  I know, bangs can be such a styling bother, especially for curly hair/humid climates.  And I don’t know about bangs when my hair is this short.  Maybe when it’s longer?  I have always loved Anne Hathaway’s in The Devil Wears Prada.  

What do you think, should I have bangs cut on Monday?

Friend Friday: Connections

Fashion/Beauty Friend Friday this week is about connecting with readers, a subject that is near and dear to my heart (if only in my mind, since my face to face non-blogger friends are like whaaat?).  If you are reading this you are probably also a blogger and part of a group of people that I consider my blogger friends.  I might even talk about you like I see you all the time (if you’re a fashion blogger then I actually do— in photos!) to someone I see face to face.  And I adore you all.  And I’m so glad I know you (if only through the blogosphere).  And now you are going to potentially unfollow because I’ve just revealed to you what a serious creeper I am.  Okay, end confession.  Alex is a super creeper.  Let’s move on to the Friend Friday five!  

 Hi blogger friends!

1. How important do you think reader connectedness is to the success of your blog?  
There are tons of successful blogs that aren’t super connected and I don’t think it’s absolutely essential (at least 90% off all readers are lurkers anyway, aren’t they?), but I love love love being connected!  At least, I hope I’m connected?  Or at least accessible.  When someone leaves me a comment or a message or a tweet it’s nice because then I think that I’m not just here yelling (okay typing) to myself.  

2. What do you do to draw readers in and create that writer-reader bond?
I actually don’t purposefully try to draw readers in.  In fact I probably drive them away with my creepiness hahaha :)  I am always focused on my writing, however.  I’ve been developing it for at least half my life and I’m always trying to improve.  

Truthfully I’m continually second-guessing, and probably third- and fourth- and fifth-guessing my writing.  Welcome to the mind of someone who majored in politics!  Correctness, “rightness”, fact-checking, making sure that your writing is tight and there isn’t any wiggle room for your words to be misconstrued… all very important for that major.  So if I ever sound like a press secretary or political debater… well I hope I don’t but if sometimes I sound weird now you know why!  

And I never know if I’m being too personal or not personal enough. Or how much to reveal, what to reveal, if I should even reveal anything at all?  Do I have strong voice?  Do I even have any voice?  These are things I’m always pondering when writing for the blog.  

3. What is one way you could improve this connection?
Respond.  To.  Comments.  In.  A.  Timely.  Manner.  Seriously.  I am so so so so so bad at this.  I really need to set up an email system with the comments or something.  I tend to occasionally lose track of them and respond to one like four days later…  I mean, it totally couldn’t have anything to do with the disgusting amount of email I get from fashion retailers, could it?  :)  

4. Is there a blogger you think does a great job creating that writer- reader bond? Why?
I think Terra, also known as Stylish White Female, does a really great job.  I enjoy reading about her adventures in PGH!  And she always replies to comments.  Her book recommendations are great too, and I appreciate her writing skills— girl has such strong voice!  

5. What do you do to cultivate new readers? How do you get them to your site in the first place?
I don’t actively look for them.  I’ve found new blogs to follow and gained a few new readers from wardrobe_remix on flickr but that’s more about sharing your style and seeing what other real people (no professional shoots or shots) are wearing.  At least to me.  I’ve definitely said before that a huge amount of people find me through twitter, and I do always post my posts to my personal twitter account.  And actually, anything you really want to know about me can be found by stalking my twitter and maybe some strategic stalking of my friends’ twitters!  So if you’re curious follow away

Stop Telling Me You’ll Be Back

Worn on 3 Dec 2010

Thoughts:  Okay, that was not enjoyable.  And I still keep intermittently getting the error messages.  Not fun.  I’m definitely going to consider moving my blog off tumblr.  

In other news, I think I’m ready to start replacing all of my tights with Spanx/Assets.  The waistbands of my HUE tights roll/slide down a lot and none of my Spanx do.  Getting to be more expensive though, I think they’re around $25 each.  Maybe I should try We Love Colors again?  I know a lot of bloggers love those.  

So glad to bring this scarf out for winter… even if it is 28 degrees.  I love the little buttons and bows sewed onto the one end.  The wool is also very soft.  I think I purchased it for €38 which wasn’t too bad at the time I got it and I really regret not buying more.  I don’t even want to think about the import taxes from Ireland!  

C&C shirt, J. Crew skirt, HUE tights, Avoca scarf, Frye boots.