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Stop Telling Me You’ll Be Back

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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.  

Black Velvet

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Worn on Sunday 28 Nov 2010

Thoughts:  I have had this blazer for six years.  Actually, maybe seven… I can’t remember well enough.  I retired it for a few years after the blazer craze so I don’t think it’s ever been photographed.  It’s really more of an outwear blazer, it’s bulky and heavy and the velvet is backed with something to give it structure, I think.  

I have also had these boots for six years… I guess I was really feeling some throwback purchases last week?  My feet were really feeling the abuse of the holiday weekend so I decided on flats for the last day to save my poor toes!

Gap blazer, LOFT shirt, BDG (Urban Outfitters) skirt, hot/cold sensing tights from Penneys in Ireland (do these things even work?), J. Crew boots.  

Help: Wide Angle Lens Distortion

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I don’t know about you, but wide angle lens distortion is a frequent issue for me.  In fact, it’s probably the #1 problem I have with photos and very difficult to see on an LCD.  So what is wide angle lens distortion?  It’s a form of perception distortion and I think Wikipedia does a better job explaining than me, but essentially it’s caused by the distance and angle at which an image is captured.  If you’re shooting with a normal lens (generally 50 mm for digital SLR) lens distortion will be a lot less of a problem.  I adore my 50 mm, it produces much sharper and better focused images… but it isn’t practical for my style blog photos because I have to be so far away from the camera to get a head-to-toe shot.  So I use my kit standard telephoto lens.  It’s not that good, I know, but I think most of us use these because better glass is so cost prohibitive.

The above photos have thankfully been corrected, but let’s see the original second photo (it’s been cropped and the exposure corrected (experiment with automatic settings gone wrong) but is otherwise untouched):

Whoaaaa.  Yikes.  See the distortion?  It’s my own fault really, I should be more careful not to place the camera badly.  Then I wouldn’t have a tiny little head and a huuuuuge body.  The lens was definitely tilting up toward me when I took this photo, accounting for the majority of of the tiny-head-huge-body problem.  And I was using the 18-55mm at 28 mm, which is definitely at the low end and also contributing to the distortion.

So how do we fix this?

I recently discovered PTLens after downloading and messing around with a bunch of other plugins I didn’t really like.  PTLens is a $25 standalone app (trial version for 10 photos is free!) and plugin for Aperture/Photoshop/iPhoto.  I’ve been using it with Aperture, it pops up nicely within the application.  It’s way worth the money for me, I take a lot of photos of buildings when I’m traveling and distortion is very evident on all those straight lines.  If you take photos indoors and your walls/windows/doors ever look crooked PTLens will save you there too.  PTLens has a database of lenses and their correction calibrations, all you have to do is select your lens and hit OK:

It’ll pick up the camera make and model, and the lens focal length for you.

Just a note: it’s better to work off an uncropped image.  I worked off the original but forgot to get a screenshot, so I reopened the cropped finished image in PTLens and fine-tuned the rotation, giving you the above screenshot.  The grid function in PTLens is far superior than Aperture’s straighten grid (at least to me), so that’s another point for PTLens.

So thankful for this app!  If you frequently have issues with distortion too then PTLens is way worth it!

Double Leopard

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Worn on 18 Nov 2010

Thoughts:  Is belting a scarf… totally over?  I’ve never actually belted a scarf, um… conventionally (remember this crazy idea?).  Not that only belting one side of a scarf is standard or anything.  And it’s not even a big fluffy scarf.  But I thought I’d try it since I’ve never really done a belted scarf although I frequently see it on the blogs.  

I also decided to match my scarf and shoes although I don’t really know how that came about.  I especially like these leopard shoes with my brown HUE tights, I think that’s actually where the whole look started.  Then I added some purples and some more leopard, and there you have it! 

You may have noticed those crazy little hearts to the left of my photos… they’re the Hypeed inspirations hearts (yes I’m trying out Hypeed, I never want to write any sites off before exploring them thoroughly).  You can just ignore them, I know most (if not all) of you are not on Hypeed.  

J. Crew shirt, LOFT skirt, Lauren by Ralph Lauren scarf, Target belt, HUE tights, Deena & Ozzy (Urban Outfitters) heels.  

Fall Dark and Light

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11.7.10 – Sunday

I had a very enjoyable Sunday last weekend!  I met up with my friend from college to go get some quality Asian food and got to meet her room mate… and spent wayyy too much money on Asian groceries, but really, I have to remind myself that I’m not in Asia, it’s going to be more expensive.  I wish I could just go to Asia regularly enough that I could buy groceries there, I really miss the baked goods!  

I’m also debuting my new herringbone textured tights, and seriously— highly recommended!  The waistband is non-binding but also stays up.  Incredible.  And I don’t I have to squish myself into them, which is the feeling I get with some shapewear tights.  

I’ve worn this skirt many times (many that I never photographed as well), and while it’s really a summer skirt I think it does pretty well with tights too!  I’m looking forward to trying it with burgundy tights soon!  

Francesca’s Collections cardigan thing, LOFT shirt, J. Crew skirt, J. Crew ribbon belt thing, Assets by Sara Blakely tights (Target), Sofft shoes.  

Sunday Fall Outing… from a week ago (oops)

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10.31.10 – Halloween – Parade

Aaaaaaaand this is what happens when I have fifty minutes to be showered, hair washed, and out the door.  Forgot my lipstick, hair sort of flying… My friend texted me asking if I wanted to go to the parade at 1:30… and it was 12:40.  I barely made it and I have no photos without the coat — I was just wearing a boring aubergine shirt anyway.  But in other news, I’m appropriately dressed for the first time this season!  It was the first wool coat day of the season as well, and I would have worn gloves but I hate taking photos while wearing them, some weird thing about not being able to feel the camera or something.  

J. Crew coat, Burberry scarf, J. Crew shirt (no photos, oops), Odille (Anthropologie) skirt, HUE tights, Mossimo for Target boots.  

The parade actually occurred on Halloween this year!  It was the first time I’d gone in years.  

Serious commitment: some of the people in this band danced to Thriller while some played.  

I ate some very delicious Irish shortbread. 

I very secretly and blindly took this photo.  I’m glad I got it because I loved this woman’s coat.  Where have I seen it before?  I’ve seen it somewhere but I can’t remember.  

She was also wearing very cool cowboy boots (right).  Another sneaky photo.  

Left the parade behind the Red Hat Society.  I didn’t get a photo of the red sequin beanie though.  

My friends and I once walked through this cemetery to creepily peer in the windows of a house we wanted to rent (it was totally empty anyway so maybe not that creepy).  It was a lot bigger than we thought — we’re talking $3000+/month kind of bigger so that was a no.  Fall seems to be going so fast now, half the leaves are already on the ground…

Sitting in the Yellow Leaves

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10.28.10 – Thursday

Finally!  This is where the new header came from.  I think I’m going to keep it… until it’s winter, then I’ll make a new one.  Anyway.  Recently — okay not that recently, I’m totally behind with this post, Terra (Stylish White Female) blogged about vegetarianism and faux fur and Kendra (Closet Confections) scored an amazing faux shearling jacket.  And I might have seen some other posts about fur but I can’t remember.  So I thought… it’s really past time that I think about wearing fur/shearling/leather.  And I have no idea how I feel about cruelty to silkworms.  I really enjoy my silk pieces. 

I actually own… not a lot of fur, but more than you would probably expect, considering its cost.  I own: 

  • magenta rabbit scarf (not kidding), gift
  • black puffer with coyote ruff, gift
  • pink woven rabbit scarf, purchased in fall 2007 from a local boutique that went out of business last year
  • black rabbit scarf, a gift  

I’m fairly certain that’s everything.  And I gave away the magenta scarf last year.  It didn’t really go with any of my coats and it wasn’t the type of scarf that you could just throw on with a sweater.  

So…. about fur I already own… the animal is already dead, I may as well honor it by wearing the scarf/coat/whatever and thanking it for keeping me warm.  And I would probably buy vintage fur as well (same idea, it was killed a long time ago) but I would never buy new fur.  I wouldn’t care if someone else bought new fur, but I feel… it’s too unethical (I can’t believe I just said that) and I wouldn’t be able to wear it without feeling sad.  Something that probably no one on the interwebs knows about me is that I was a vegetarian for almost a year in college, and vegan for about a month and a half.  I have two digestive disorders meaning (1) I cannot eat anything and (2) I cannot eat anything.  I am not supposed to eat a huge list of things (although sometimes I do anyway).  And when I say not supposed to eat I mean I’ve had gastrointestinal bleeding kinds of not supposed to eat.  The list includes about 97% of vegetables… so you can guess how that didn’t quite work out for me.  I dropped to 0/2 from 4/6, was dizzy and falling asleep all the time…   And I really like vegetables.  All I really want to do is eat a spinach salad.  

But. 

Anyway. 

I own a lot of leather.  

…thoughts for another day.  

Cardigan Part One: Daytime

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10.19.10 – Tuesday – I Don’t Know Why It Is So Warm

This is the first time I’ve ever worn this cardigan with something other than pants and the first time I’ve ever worn it open.  I think I would definitely like it better with a belt, so I changed for night later and added one.  

My friend is convinced that the title of this post should be Springtime for Hitler (yeah she was in theatre) because it looks like spring and apparently my sweater is Nazi red.  Yeah, not really sure that I saw it either.  But speaking of Hitler and Nazis, I just started reading Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut and and of course I’m totally obsessed.  I predict that I’ll probably finish the book by tomorrow.  I’ve read a lot of Vonnegut and even heard him speak — probably the best commencement speech ever!  

I’m messing with the blog layout again, and I may change the header.  I also enlarged the photos by 80 pixels and I’m finally using flickr for real!  Sorry about the mess though, it’s likely to continue all week.  

Banana Republic sweater, Anthropologie shirt, J. Crew skirt, Sofft shoes.  

Strangely Summery

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10.?.10 – October Something

I forget when exactly I wore this but I think it might have been almost a week ago, maybe more?  I’ve been really terrible with keeping track of my photos lately.  I remember it being really warm, almost 80 degrees and I was trying so hard not to look like I walked out of the month of April when I got dressed!  But I don’t think I succeeded, oh well, it really was so hot for fall!!  I’m also playing around with flickr, sorry about the random image viewing!  

J. Crew head to toe, except for shoes (Sofft).  

The First Real Scarf of the Season

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9.9.10 ~ Thursday ~ A Real Post at Last

A little overexposed, I’ll remember that for the next time I decide to take photos at dusk/7pm now that the weather is changing :(  

I love the versatility of this skirt!  I’ve had it since March and worn it countless times!  I can’t wait to wear it with burgundy tights again, and I might even try it with black lace tights!  It’s my last full day in Toronto, I’ll have some photos up soon (but dismal outfit photos, no tripod and no furniture over 3 feet fall in the hotel room). 

Antik Batik scarf, J. Crew shirt, belt, and skirt, Sofft platforms.