Through the looking glass

Outfit: Dress as skirt: American Apparel/ Shirt: Urban Outfitters/ Shoes: Chelsea Crew via UO/ Necklace: Ruche/ Earrings: Self-made/

I'm not sure if I feel super about this dress when it's worn at a skirt, but I love having an extra way to wear something and the extra length that pushing it down gives me, since apparently this has turned into the summer of longer length skirts.  I don't know how much of this change is just the subtle way that trends influence you, since even when your immediate impulse is not I-need-that-and-need-that-right-now, you still get used to seeing trends around and they become more familiar.  Another part of this shift in length might be that in the past I've kept a firm grip on leggings to add a layer of comfort and modesty, even in the summer.  Over the past few months of taking pictures of myself and scrutinizing myself to figure out what gets posted, I've grown more comfortable with the way that my body looks and more at ease with wearing things that fall outside of my comfort zone of personal rules of flattery and more okay with baring the skin that comes with leaving the leggings off. 

Or it could be that I'm overthinking this, and I'm just getting old :)  And well, it's not a good idea to wear any more clothing than I absolutely need to and biking in Houston summer.

Hearts all a-flutter

Outfit: Dress from Asos/ Shoes from Lulu's/ Necklace from Ruche/  1st picture taken by good friend/co-worker

It was with great glee that I met up with some of my friend/labmates for drinks at the bar in a nearby university (I'm kinda jealous, and wish my school had a bar/ fun gathering place).  In addition to cheap drinks and good company, I also got to see one of my labmate's baby (and consequently practice my picture-taking skills on a subject that can't complain).  In exchange (and because she had just bought the same camera I have), she snapped some pictures of what I was wearing.  Naturally, my favorite one is the one where I'm cracking up.  I feel like it's characteristic of me- cheerfully awkward.  Also awkward?  Yeah...in the place where I stopped off to get some of the details of the dress (because it looked like no one else was over there), I wound up sort of in the way of someone's bridal portraits.

Beauty is painful

Outfit: Dress, belt from Target/ Shoes from Urban Outfitters/ Bracelet from Hawaii airport/ Bag from Ruche

This is definitely one of those dresses where I feel infinitely more awesome in it than I feel like it photographs, I think in part because it's a different silhouette for me and makes me feel slightly more like a grown-up (even though in real life it is also still terribly wrinkled).  But let's talk about something that hopefully distracted people from my wrinkles instead!  A couple times a year I get hit by the impulse to make my hair look intentionally pretty (what I now mentally think of as Monk's style) and pull out the curling iron.  And then I burnt myself on the chin (fortunately the bottom) typical Heather style (I'm known for injuring myself in creative and unusual ways and my boss jokes about Heather-proofing parts of the lab).  I was complaining relating the story to a friend who replied "Did your hair turn out? If so, worth it!"  I still feel like a bit of an idiot, but at least it's not a super obvious mark, and I have photographic evidence :)

I'm not going to lie, I am really glad that today's Friday, more so than usual- I know everyone's busy, but I find it really hard to reset sometimes when I have to been in lab every day for a couple weeks straight (which happens all too often to grad students), and after completing a time/labor-intensive first stage of an experiment, I'm (at least in theory) planning to spend most of tomorrow not at work, so that A) my Dad doesn't tell me I shouldn't be staying in lab until 10:30 multiple weekend nights and B) I get to spend some time with the boy before he takes off for a week and a half of traveling.  Instead of being good grad student Heather, I'm hoping to be the Heather that manages to do laundry and clean the bathroom and maybe fits in some time at the sewing machine- I'm half done with a dress reconstruction that I've been thinking about for at least a year, and I'm super excited to finally be doing something about it!

Home

Outfit: Skirt: Ruche, Shirt, Shoes: Urban Outfitters, Necklace: Clyde's Rebirth, Bracelet: Hawaii Airport

I hadn't planned on there being so much time between this and the last posts, but we wound up with a slightly longer vacation in Mexico than had been planned.  Spent mostly in the Cancun airport.  After having a hard time getting out of the country (we missed getting up to the check-in counter by a couple minutes and had to be on stand-by all day to get out to Cancun) I was less than delighted to have to do the same thing heading home (this time it wasn't our fault- the flight got canceled and they didn't schedule us to go out until two days after our original flight).  Needless to say, I'm delighted to be back home and getting back into the normal routine, or I will be just as soon as I recover from my vacation :)  Mexico itself was pretty awesome, and my brother's wedding was amazing, I just wish I had spent more time on beaches and less in the airport!

Trendy

Outfit: Shirt: Urban Outfitters, Skirt: Loft, Shoes: Chelsea Crew via Lulu's, Necklace: Ruche, Bracelet: Self Made, Clutch: No idea, so there's a 90% chance it's from Target

I quite enjoyed wearing this shirt, even though the boxy cropped cut is way trendier, and less my typical silhouette (seems like I keep doing that), and I actually felt kinda cool (maybe its the whole mostly neutrals thing Sal over at Already Pretty was talking about the other day-I'd link up, but I'm actually doing this from my phone stuck in purgatory aka the airport).

Unfortunately, it makes the boy uncomfortable (reminds him of Beetlejuice), so I refrained from packing it for our trip to Cancun. Y'all, my brother is getting married this weekend, and I couldn't be prouder or more excited about it (except if we had been able to get on our original flight, and we were already on the beach with some snazzy umbrella drinks :)

Being brave

Outfit: Dress as skirt: Gap, Shirt: Shop Ruche, Necklace: Jess LC, Bracelet: Modcloth, Shoes: Lulu's, Belt: BR

I think that starting to be brave and bold in what I was wearing (and posting it on the internet) has helped to open this up in me.  This outfit, with it's loose undefined top and drop waist on the dress is not a sillouette that feels easy to me, and wearing it out of the house is hard for me, but rewarding.  All that practice in taking chances with this small daily choice is paying off.    After years of missing dance and doing nothing about it (and rationalizing that it was too expensive an indulgence on a grad student salary), I decided to throw myself back into ballet classes.  The boy told me how proud he is of me, and that I'm brave for being willing to put myself out there in this way and go after something even though I feel like I'm flailing.  I felt sick before the first class, not knowing what to expect, but knowing that I don't in any way resemble a dancer (except for my good feet).  My body doesn't move in all the same ways that it used to, even a few short years ago, but mostly, coming to class feels like coming home.

This necklace tells me exactly what I need to hear sometimes. Be brave.  I had admired these Jess LC necklaces since I first saw them, but for the longest time wasn't sure what it was that I wanted to wear around my neck- it's good to be thankful, and yes, also to be present and dream big things- these are things I need to remind myself of often.  But I realized that being brave has been what I've been most intentionally striving for over the past couple years.  Brave enough to take chances (like introducing yourself to that cute boy at a party), to not shut down in the face of the loss of a loved one, to throw yourself into something even though it'll make you uncomfortable.  Brave enough to live and love fully.

The best tree on the bike path

Outfit: Dress as skirt, belt: Target, Shirt: Marc by Marc Jacobs via Gilt, Cardigan: Banana Republic Outlet, Oxfords: Wanted, Necklace: Ruche

I bike past this tree every day (well twice a day), and I love it.  My usual path to work isn't hideous, but it's not necessarily the most picturesque, so it delights me that there's this one big random tree (with a couple other trees hanging out nearby so it has friends).  And I love this yellow belt. It makes everything better, or at least more colorful, which is frequently the same thing.

Gosh, it's weird looking at this pictures-they're from a couple weeks back, and just never got posted- and remembering how chilly it was that day, compared to the weather we're getting now (ie 90s until September probably).  Also, I didn't try to pose to cover up my scabby knee.  However, I did need a lot of attempts to A) get even that much of the tree in the picture (and that's not even the entire tree) and B) get myself on my bike in the frame appropriately (my helmet is hidden in this picture, but yes, I wear one every time I'm on a bike, much to the dismay of my hair).

Sunny shiney sunshine

Outfit: Dress, Cardigan: Anthropologie, Shoes: Gap, Belt: Ruche, Necklace: Urban Outfitters

I have long been a fan of flowers- getting them, trying to keep them alive on my balcony, photographing them, painting them, etc.  Since today is Floral Day on Everybody, Everywear (check out everyone else at the main site), I gleefully threw two of my favorite floral patterned items yesterday (I couldn't pick just one).  Now that we're on the cusp of the absolutely blazing part of summer, every morning when I get ready I want to wear the lightest weight thing possible, so it might not have been the best idea to wear both of these summer favorites at once, since they'll be seeing a lot of wear this summer, but I couldn't resist.  

I attempted to go one step beyond that and track down some florals for my backdrop (although getting them in the frame didn't work out as well as I would have liked, due to the lighting and not wanting to be in the way of foot traffic).  And then I got intimidated out of my spot by a teenager texting, staring at me, and continuously moving closer.  When she sat down on my bench I decided it might be time to leave (also there was a hot dinner waiting for me at home prepared by someone else, which is awesome).  On the side of making me sound like less of a coward, I was able to withstand the previous being stared at really hard (why yes, I do see you looking behind you to look at the weird girl taking pictures of herself.  All four times that you did it. Is it because you think her hair is fabulous?)  Actually, I did really enjoy trying out a new hairstyle (tutorial via Cup of Jo), which I think suits me more so than wearing both braids wrapped over my head.  The really exciting part was the part where the bf complimented it when I was getting ready in the morning- although it's not as bike helmet friendly as I would like.  Are the flowers blooming where you are?

Long time coming

You would think that it wouldn't take me over a month and a half to put together a post using pictures that I didn't even have to take (or process for that matter since they came to me beautiful already by way of the adorable Suze of Miss Vinyl Ahoy.  Unfortunately, if you thought that, you'd be wrong.  I still have vague good intentions of finishing up the wrap-up post on TxSCC, but in the meantime, I couldn't wait any longer to put up the best pictures ever seen on this blog (and number 23 on the list of why I want to get a DSLR).  I struggle with other people taking my picture (and not spending the entire time making ridiculous faces), but it was pretty spectacular having someone who knew what they were doing taking outfit pictures.  I didn't get a huge number of pictures with the other attendees, but I'm so glad that I got one with Suze.

Outfit: Dress: Vintage via Etsy-Finders Keepers, Cardigan, Bag: Anthropologie, Necklace, belt, ring: Ruche, Shoes: Target

I can't remember if I've said this before, but it bears repeating. Meeting people at TxSCC was the best part of it all- I was worried about being the awkward shy kid in the corner, but after sending a tweet Suze's way she looked all over for me and even enlisted the help of Amy of Stylish Year (who just finished her first year- go check it out). She then endeared herself further to me when she offered to take outfit pictures the next day of one my favorite outfits that I've ever worn.

Whenever I'm sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead

Before I forget to include this-getting dressed this morning, I was totally at a loss for what to wear when I remembered that one of the most fabulous people in my life ever, Vicki (who has posted here, just not recently) sent me an email this morning with a link to an adorable dress in an attempt to cheer me up (I haven't been at my best the past couple days), and it just so happened to be this dress! Except in a different color.  Which I will now have to resist buying.  So really, it was the most logical choice for getting dressed this morning.  In addition to having to teach her phone the word "cupcakey", she also quoted one of my favorite Neil Patrick Harris characters- "I've been trying to adopt this philosophy (at the very least it always makes me smile): 'Whenever I'm sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.'"

I have sometimes wondered what it would be like if I had started style blogging back in college- more time, more flexibility in my schedule, and most of all- the potential for neat (and safe) locations.  And somehow it took me six months, two beers, and canceled singing practice to realize that there is in fact a college campus ridiculously close to where I spend my days.  And for whatever reason, at least when I've walked through it (to get to the bar where I got those two beers for about $3 total, which is pretty amazing), it doesn't seem like there's a ton of people walking around.  Plus there are arches!

Outfit: Dress, Belt: Ruche, Skirt: Loft, Button-down: Victoria's Secret: Shoes: Target, Flower pin my hair is covering: Self-Made, BAMF Ring and Necklace: Clyde's Rebirth

Lots of arches!  Well, there are definitely a few people walking around, but for whatever reason, it seems like even a girl taking pictures of herself was totally not on their register.  As you can see below, I'm the one giving off the funny look, not the person who walked right past my camera totally unfazed.

I'm excited to get back to posting on a regular basis, since I know that I've been desperately lax on since I've been dealing with some extra stuff going on at work (a weekend conference, a committee meeting, and feelings of inadequacy).  But I'm even more excited about putting up pictures of my new bling from my favorite cat lady's etsy store (although the bf took one look at the ring and said "Is that a rock?  See, this is why I don't know how to buy jewelry for you!")  I've managed to collect some pretty interesting things over the past few years, and I am massively excited to be adding these two pretties.

In the last picture I'm working on my hand modeling skills

Two quick things on the internet that have made me excited to no end.  First off, one of the totally sweet girls that I got the chance to meet at the TxSCC, which I will someday re-cap, had tweeted the other day that she'd taken a picture that reminded her of me (totally awesome, right?) but then it got better and she mentioned me and posted the pic in a sweet as a cupcake post on her blog (check it and her out at Kara Moseby Photography).

I also got pretty giddy when I found out that the photo of me taken by Mai of the Fashionist was included in Erin's (Calivintage) Friday Favorites (and to those of you who've found me through this- hi ya'll!)

Outfit: Dress: Ruche, Cardigan: Urban Outfitters, Sandals: Lulu's, Pearls: Childhood dress-up stash, Bracelet: Hawaii airport, Clutch: Mom's

Pose: Monkeyface

Okay okay, truth time. I like to wear this dress a lot.  Even though it needs a slip underneath to be worn as a dress and sometimes (like today) I'm too lazy to deal with that.  On days where I'm totally frustrated by my closet it serves as a wonderful pick-me-up and pretty typically makes me feel like whatever I'm wearing is awesome (even if it's basically pajamas).  Naturally I needed to pair it with more lace (MOAR LACE!), which is great because while I think this cardigan is adorable I've struggled with wearing it outside of the closet (and keeping it on a hanger instead of thrown onto my stool in a huff.