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.

Momentous moment

Outfit: Dress: Gap
Shoes: Chelsea Crew via Urban Outfitters
Bracelets: Self made and Hawaii Airport
Ring: Self made
Bag: Jess LC

Hey look! My first (real) maxi!  Believe me, it's not the first one that I've tried on, but it is the first one that I felt reasonably suited me- and a lot of that is due to the glorious color and feel of the fabric.  I've still got plans to make a couple of long-skirted things, which would allow me to combine the things that I like about maxis without dealing with some of the things that make me leery of them (seriously, why do so many of them have those triangle tops? That is eeeevil).  I'm not sure how practical this baby is for work (or biking into work- I ended up knotting it at the bottom to avoid gear entanglement and sadness), but I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can do with this (mostly because I'm head over heels with the color.  And the fabric.  And the fact that it's long-as in long for a maxi, since I was able to buy this in a tall size).

Other things that I'm excited about?  It's something that I've been thinking about for awhile now, but after making up pieces to sell at my school's Art Show, I'm now gearing up to open an Etsy shop.  My first (and now that I think of it, my last) endeavor into selling jewelry was in elementary school (I made those totally rad daisy chain beaded bracelets), but I've been playing around with things people might want to wear for years, and I'm excited to be moving in this direction.  Most of the things that I've been working on lately are wire-wrapped jewelry (like the bracelet and ring I'm wearing above), which I couldn't have done without taking an excellent class by Alicia of Dismount Creative, and I've also been messing around with headbands and other accessories.  I'm a little nervous about putting my stuff out there and whether it will sell, but for now I remain cautiously optimistic.  Have you made a leap into the business of selling things that you make, or other endeavors of the self-employed nature?  Any advice?

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 :)