Lately: life flailing edition

 Outfit:  Shirt, belt: Anthropologie/ Skirt, shoes: Target/ Necklace: Gift/ Earrings: Self-made/

I know, I know- I didn't write, I didn't call.  My dad even commented that it had been a long time since I've updated here.  The truth is that while I'm still interested in this little piece of the internet, but I've struggled with making time for it, and also with what I wanted to do with it.  In a lot of ways this outfit shows how I've been feeling lately- a little disheveled, a little blown around and pulled in different directions, and surrounded by things that I really love.  In the time since my last post I've:

-turned another year older
-had to buy a new bike
-gave a big talk about my research to people outside of my lab and thesis committee
-posted my first jewelry listing on Etsy (and completely failed at following through with it)
-sang a solo as part of my a cappella group's performance at the med school talent show
-sewed an awesome costume for a friend that looked a lot like the flight attendant outfit (we sang a Britney medley): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOZuxwVk7TU

I've also been doing a lot of science (and thinking more seriously about what will go into my first first author paper) and dancing my heart out with the occasional side of watching a zombie tv show with the bf.

I have managed to get dressed on most days, and I'd like to get back to taking pictures of what I wear sometimes cuz getting dressed is fun, but it's not something that I'm prepared to do at the expense of these other things.  So, consider this more of a hello again than a goodbye, but for now I'm considering it a pretty cautious hello.

Pajama day

Outfit:  Skirt: Handmade/ Shirt: Anthropologie/ Shoes: Target

Hey all- I know I haven't been very present on these here internets, since somehow the past month that I thought would be give me more free time (ie: a month off from dance class), turned into the opposite.  It turns out that coming home late at night is not conducive for taking outfit pictures in the evening (nor is being hangry) and the days are turning shorter (my phone's weather widget keeps telling me that the high for the day is in the mid-nineties, but it has in fact been cool enough to open up the apartment at night, which has been a blessed relief and it does feel like the weather is starting to change.  Now if only we could get some rain here in Texas!)  To ease my way back into taking pictures again, I thought I'd declare it Pajama Day and wear my jammies outside.  I'm only sort of kidding- this shirt was meant for apartment wear, and was initially categorized as such until I realized that I could find a happy medium between how much I care about undergarments being visible (kinda lots) and how visible my bra straps are underneath the lace detailing (fairly little).  And I may have made sleep shorts out of extra fabric from the skirt after I realized that I didn't have the heart to turn it into a dress (which was the original plan), since it seems like it goes with everything, and well...feels like I could fall asleep in it.

A place in the sun

Outfit: Shirt: Anthropologie
Skirt: Self-made
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell via Gilt
Belt: Anthropologie
Bag: Jess LC
Bracelet: Hawaii Airport

It'd be nice every so often to show up to pictures with my hair did, but after two go-rounds with the helmet (and ya know, the actually biking part) and work, it sometimes seems like taking pictures before work would be a better option-- but oh, the light that I'm sometimes lucky enough to get after work?  Trade-off totally worth it.  It doesn't hurt that bike commuting in the Houston summer is a pretty good excuse for not doing your hair :)

Happy outfit

Remember this skirt?  Well, dress worn as skirt, since the whole thing was a bit short for my liking, and the top part was triangles and thin straps, which doesn't work well for my shape.  But for some reason, I couldn't bear to give it up, and over time the idea of what I wanted it to look like as dress started to develop in my head (and I started compulsively doodling the idea on the margins of my seminar notes).

 

And now (finally) I have something that is much closer to the dress that's been living in my head for so long.  It still needs some improvements in terms of the fit on top, but I am positively giddy that it's at a point where I can wear it out (without a skirt underneath it, which is what I've been doing for the past couple weeks until I finally added on the bottom part this morning, because I have a hard time not wearing things simply because they're not finished if they're wearable).

Outfit: Reconstructed dress from Target/ Chelsea Crew shoes from Lulu's/ Necklace from Anthropologie/ Thrifted belt from Goodwill -- Photos taken by the boy

In addition to the epic poem I'd be willing to write to my dress, I think the belt is worthy of at least a haiku or something- after all, it is Everybody, Everywear thrift day (special edition!), and this belt is one of my few thrift finds.  I want to be a nifty thrifter- all the cool kids are doing it- but it's something that requires time (during normal people hours), patience, and a better knowledge of Houston.  Because most of the time when I stop by Goodwill, the only things available in my size are a bright red dress with fruit and ABCs that looks like it belonged to an elementary teacher.  And costs $8 (and are not crazy awesome dresses with the original tag on them that are made even more awesome when the neckline is altered by your friend- Sarah, I still totally covet that dress).  So I need to work on broadening my scope and put a little more effort into this whole thrifting thing, because I've been seduced by this totally awesome belt ($1!)- that and Everybody's doing it :)

Party time

Outfit: Tiered Fronds dress from Anthropologie, Shoes and Cardigan from Target, Necklace from Modcloth

I know I wear a lot of dresses that I'd be fine wearing to a party, but man does this feel like a party dress to me.  Unfortunately, it wasn't really a party day, unless you count presenting at lab meeting and running around the lab all afternoon as a party (woooo! pipetting!).  But sometimes you need a pretty dress to make the day feel a little less long (until your shoes start hurting your feet, which to be fair were totally awesome up until the last hour of the day and I'd totally rec them, my feet just slide around a bit since they're a little too big aaand it's hard to find 9 1/2s).  In addition to the awesome-ness of wearing a dress that already mixes brown with black (although you can't see it as well in these pictures as I'd like, wearing this also made me feel like I was celebrating my general shape.  Just because Dress your best week(s) are over, I haven't stopped thinking about which parts of my body I'd like to celebrate, and I've gotta say that once I started thinking of body parts I take pride and pleasure in, it was easy to come up with more than 5.  I know that so often when I start itemizing my body,* it's easy to do so in a negative way- who know that the opposite could be true?  While there are things that I'd be okay changing about my body (teeth with no cavities, a body that's still physically capable of going up on pointe), there are so many things that I genuinely feel positive about, even though I have often (and I'm sure will often in the future) get frustrated about (hair, skin).  To see how other people felt about this subject, check out this wrap-up post on the Academichics.  One of my favorite posts from this challenge can be found here from Kate of the Interrobangs Anonymous (people, it involves a lab coat, which is awesome).


*The idea of itemizing my body reminds me of some poem we read in school in addition to that one scene in Twelfth Night- does this ring a bell with anyone else or am I just making this up?

Love letter

 

Outfit: Sugar work skirt from Anthropologie/ Shirt, sunnies, and shoes from Urban Outfitters/ Necklace and bracelet from Modcloth/ Scarf from packaging from Clyde's Rebirth/

I threatened my friend earlier with the possibility of me being able to devote a love letter of a blog to her, and that's pretty doable- I feel like I could easily start up a whole new blog of love letters to the people in my life that I love, the people who inspire me on the interent (like the woman who's blog I'm dependent on for making interesting food and stylish ladies like Kendi and Monkeyface and a ridiculous amounts of other people), and the things in my life that I appreciate.  Right now though, a lot of my love might be taken up by this outfit (the cats woke me up in the middle of the night, so they're out).  After I threw it on, I thought I'd go up and take pictures, but was 90% sure that I'd end up changing out my skirt and shoes (because if we're being honest, the skirt is a little tight on me since I was so blinded by yellow skirt lust that I kept it even though it's a smaller size than what I need).  But after flouncing around in it, it won my heart, and I found I couldn't take it off.  Plus the shoes helped me to nominally tie in the scarf, which I've been sitting on since it came wrapped around my Clyde's Rebirth jewelry (which is a totally genius idea for packaging).  Again, I was totally charmed since normally I find it next to impossible to get things to stay put on my head when they go all the way around it (also it was the perfect answer to the question of whether I really needed to wash my hair this morning- it's cool, I washed it tonight after dance class).  Also one of the guys in my lab complimented me on my hair thing today, which means that it totally worked as a distraction from the actual hair (win!).

Bits of yellow

Outfit: On the breeze chemise and Daisy fay headband from Anthropologie/ Yellows and leggings from Target

I was positively giddy when I saw that this month's EBEW theme was yellow, since I'm a little infatuated with the color (I blame my college roomie and long distance bestie for this as well as my for my everlasting love for David Bowie).  I swung open the closet door with glee to figure out what to pick now that I've gotten over my "oh I can't wear that color phase." A couple years ago, my only yellow item was these shoes, since I couldn't resist the color and figured that this was the safest way to incorporate it.  Since then I've bought an embarrassing number of yellow skirts and wore a yellow bridesmaid dress (and no longer really feel like there are colors I shouldn't be wearing), but here I've used neutrals to set the backdrop for first and latest (and new favorite) yellow purchases.  Do you have colors you thought you'd never wear that you now love?  Tragically, my camera battery died, so I got to choose from about 5 pictures (and couldn't find any that showed off ma shoes without having and awkwardly angry face) (and forgot to change the light settings).  How did you celebrate yellow day?

These yellows previously:

Heatherina

 Outfit: Shirt: Modcloth, Skirt: Anthropologie, Necklace: Gift, Cardigan: Target, Flats: Gap

These aren't quite the photos that I had hoped to match up with this body part- the sun here burns quite brightly, even around 8 (which, embarassingly enough, is early for me to be ready to get out the door, and I anticipate being in lab for another hour or so, which is long enough for the sun to be gone by the time I leave).  Also, most of my action shots involve some pretty awesomely silly arm positioning or terrible facial expressions, which sort of ruins the image I had in my head while I was attempting said action shots.  In my head today's Dress your best was going to look a little something like this:

Image from: ballerina project tumblr

But it's been awhile since I've spotted my pointe shoes, and my body has changed quite a lot since I danced seriously.  What hasn't changed much are my feet- they can still point with the best of them, and they identify me in ballet class as someone with serious classical training.  I remember someone telling me my feet were pretty after a class (I was young), and I looked them over and said, no they're not in an offended manner (I was also embarrassingly bad at accepting compliments).  They're very picky about the shoes they wear, have a tendency to get cut into easily, and are now a terribly awkward size to find in stores (why don't more people sell 9 1/2s?), but I think I appreciate them more now- when I was younger I took them and all they did for me for granted.  These feet?  They can dance.  The rest of me is still catching up, but they haven't let me down.

I'd also like to give an honorable mention to my hair for looking awesome in a low three bun cluster today- I can easily see this becoming a regular summer hairstyle, since I have a little patience for doing something with my hair only to have it ruined by putting a bike helmet onto it.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Outfit: Skirt: Anthropologie, Tank, shoes: Target, Cardigan: Delias, Necklace: Urban Outfitters, Scarf (head): Modcloth


Or actually, it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Either that, or I just knew that I'd be finding a random pipe that matched my outfit.  My skirt might need some ironing (okay, a lot of ironing), since I may have gotten it in the mail and wore the skirt out straight away, but gosh I really love the way these shoes worked this.  I really need to remind myself to not just rotate my few favorite pairs of sandals and put my closet to it's best use!

The sun ain't going to stop you from shining

Outfit: Skirt, Tank: Anthropologie, Shirt: Victoria's Secret, Belt: Target, Necklace: Jess LC, Shoes: Lulu's

Light-weight buttons ups = summer cardigans.  Also, it's Friday night and I just got home from school, so I'm clean out of insightful thoughts (even though I totally had them on the bike ride home. I love bike rides).  Also, this is what I look like after a five-mile bike ride- a little shiny, a lotta wrinkled, and hair that just don't care, with a backdrop of one of the major highways in my city.  I feel like Houston is slowly growing on me (like mold), which is not to say that I disliked when I first moved here, but I feel like I appreciate it more these days.  I think that biking and seeing it at that speed helps, and I think I might (after three summers here) finally be getting used to the heat.

Fake dresses are the best dresses

Outfit: Dress: Anthropologie, Cardigan: Express, Leggings: Target, Necklace: Modcloth, Sandals: Lulu's

When I was in middle school, my mom passed down to me a golden birdcage that came to her by way of her mom.  This is not that birdcage.  I wore that necklace every darn day until (since I'm not meant to have nice things) I made the mistake of wearing it to one of the big football games at the high school and it came off my neck.  Devastated, I looked for it as hard as I could, but alas and alack- it was nowhere to be found.  Fortunately my mom didn't give me a hard time about it, even though it was hardly the first (or last) time I had lost track of important things (like my retainer. multiple times. in the cafeteria in elementary school. and searching through the trash is awesome.)  I resolved then and there to one day replicate this necklace when I could afford to have jewelry custom-made.  So when I saw this necklace for sale on Modcloth a couple years ago, I knew that it was meant for me-although I couldn't actually bring myself to wear it without feeling super self-conscious about it for most of that time (I'm much more comfortable with being outlandish and dressing the way that I want to these days).  I'm still waiting for the day when I'll be able to imitate the real deal, but in the meantime I'm glad to have this placeholder.

Unrelated sidenote- I have worn this dress/chemise and another one from Anthropologie about a gazillion times in the past few weeks- compared to the price of their real dresses, these fake dresses seem almost reasonable (especially if you can catch them on sale).

Doing it myself (with a little help)

Outfit: Skirt: Handmade, Cardigan: Anthropologie, Tank: Express, Shoes, Belt: Target, Necklace: Vintage via Etsy- Archives Vintage, Bracelet: Flower by me attached to gifted bracelet

1. It's time for the second edition of the Paper doll project, also known as one of those glorious days where I don't have to dress myself, and someone else makes that hard decision for the day.  I was pleased as punch by the outfit that Cassie picked out, and really enjoyed getting to style her (once again by picking out some of my favorite items she's used for outfit posts- and they're all thrifted).  Check out the links to everyone else's looks here!

2.  I made my skirt! After dropping some subtle hints (followed by some very unsubtle hints) to the bf that I'd appreciate having a sewing machine to make my own clothes (and replace some zippers that I've needed to do for quite some time).  It's an early anniversary present (which he knew I'd want to play with immediately, so he gave it to me as soon as it came in and making sure it arrived on the weekend).  I made it by combining this skirt that I first saw on Sarah (based off of a tutorial from Megan Nielson's diy maternity site) with some touches from this elastic waist band skirt (mostly the pockets), and my own desires (has two tiers of fabric, and it's not reversible, even though reversible things are awesome, cuz I decided I wanted a different style skirt from the other fabric I purchased).  I'm really looking forward to making more things (suggestions?) and awkwardly asking friends for their waist size so that I can make them all skirts.

3.  Bf looked at me getting ready this morning and said that he really liked it- I dress for myself, and I don't (often) ask his opinions on what I'm wearing (except when I'm actually planning an outfit out for a reason), so when he offers one up I treasure it (even when he says I look good while wearing a tshirt and leggings).  Bf approved ftw!