t-shirt: Old Navy
jacket/blazer: thrifted
skinnies: Forever 21
flats: Target
necklace: gifted Kate Spade
That's right; the weather outside certainly is frightful. We got our first real snow of the season last night; now there's an inch or two of icy/slushy/powdery mix on the ground. Delightful (not). Get ready for these wonderfully lit outdoor alley shots (from last month) to disappear; it's time for me to make the switch to shooting indoors. Womp womppppp.
Also frightful this weekend was my intense anxiety level. I had probably the worst shopping experience of my life on Saturday, when I tried to buy a corset for under my wedding dress. Seriously guys, if you need a quick fix for hating yourself and your body, I highly recommend corset shopping for two hours. I apparently have weird proportions, so everything that fit around my stomach wound up giving me awkward and heartbreaking armpit fat, which apparently is a real thing. And everything that avoided the apparently-a-thing armpit fat was way too big in the stomach. I wound up buying a strapless bra and a stomach-only corset piece thing (kind of like this, only it goes from your bra line down to your hips, not from your waist down past your hips). They were way more than I wanted to spend, but I'll at least be able to wear both of them under other outfits. Plus, I now get to go up to my grandma's house and try on the dress again (I have to make sure the undergarments work, of course!) so it's not a total loss.
Then Saturday night, I had a host of wedding nightmares. Awful stress dreams about not having a dress at all (I walked down the aisle in a gray maxi dress and a cardigan), about being in the wrong venue, about the music not playing right during the ceremony...basically, everything was just wrong. Then I got a text from my sister; a fire on campus at our alma mater had destroyed the apartment I lived in my junior year. It was an attic studio apartment above a flower shop, and the entire attic just collapsed into the apartment below it. I was devastated; I had a lot of great memories in that apartment. Obviously the situation is so much worse for the students who are living there now; they lost everything they own. I'll be donating to the university's fund for them; if you have some extra cash lying around and want to do a little good with it, you can do the same here. Just select the "Ohio Parents and Family Endowment."
So between bad shopping experiences and dreams and sad news, my Sunday was shaping up to be a huge sulk-fest. But then I went to a meeting for a new project I'm working on and it honestly turned my entire day around. I left feeling excited, optimistic and refreshed. I don't want to go into too much detail on the project, because I'm honestly a little terrified that my contribution will be terrible, but if all goes well I'll divulge more in the spring.
Aaaaand that was my weekend. Here's hoping yours had more high points than low ones!
tank: secondhand
cardigan, gladiator sandals: Target
shorts: American Eagle
earrings: gifted (Lia Sophia)
Have you ever been so tired that your brain just kind of gives up? Yeah, that was me yesterday. For some reason, I've been sleeping poorly this week -- staying wide-awake until 11 or midnight, when I'm usually asleep by 10:30 -- and yesterday was nearly unbearable. I chugged caffeine at work all day, which kept my eyes open, but did nothing for my cognitive powers. I actually had intended to make this post on my lunch break, but when lunch rolled around I just kind of...forgot. And then forgot again that evening. And despite being exhausted after work, I couldn't nap and I couldn't fall asleep again at night. I'm feeling slightly better today, but I think I'm still kind of off. (So, my apologies if any of this post seems weird or nonsensical). At least we don't have any major plans for tomorrow; I'm going to sleep in as late as humanly possible!
In other news, this outfit is one of those I've-worn-it-three-times-but-never-manage-to-get-outfit-pics-for-blogging-purposes deals. Mostly because it's been an evening outfit, so it's usually dark before I get dressed. And I hate taking outfit photos indoors if I can help it. I finally just decided to throw the outfit on again for the explicit purpose of shooting blog photos, and I'm glad I did. This is a fun little semi-casual evening getup, I think.
And can we talk about those earrings for a sec? Since I went pixie-short more than two years ago, I've tended to avoid larger earrings. I thought they looked weird with such short hair. Then, Matt's mom got me these hoops for my birthday. I was a little hesitant at first, but I loved them the second I put them on. They just seem to work so well! Large enough to be noticed, but not so large that they seem silly with my hair. Hooray for having a future mother-in-law with such great taste!
Oof. I feel like I just hit another brick wall...My eyelids are starting to get heavy again. To the coffee shop!
blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
khakis, necklace: Old Navy
blazer, shoes: Target
A lot of people consider Friday the 13th to be bad luck. I used to be one of them, right up until the most recent Friday the 13th. It was six months ago, and I was asked the most important question of my whole life. And of course, I said yes. Ever since Matt decided to propose on a Friday the 13th, I've claimed it as my own personal good-luck day. Take THAT, superstition!
Okay no joke, that whole paragraph right there was just an excuse for me to let off a little excitement at this little milestone. My friend/coworker/bridesmaid, Hayley, commented that it seems like it's been much longer than six months. To which I replied, "That's probably because I have the whole wedding planned already." And while that is an exaggeration, it's a slight one. We've tackled the venue, the officiant (aka Matt's brother-in-law), the caterer, the photographer, the videographer (aka my office's video intern from last summer), the DJ/photobooth, the cake baker (aka Hayley, who grew up decorating wedding cakes in her mom's bakery), the dress, what the attendants will be wearing, and some of the minor decor details. All that we really have left is:
- making sure the bridesmaids/groomsmen place their orders
- picking out Matt's tux
- finding my undergarments, shoes and veil (the latter of which I will probably DIY)
- engagement photos (courtesy another friend/bridesmaid, Emily)
- DIYing the save-the-dates
- DIYing all the flowers and the centerpieces
- DIYing the invitations
- write the ceremony
- buy attendants' gifts
- GET FREAKING MARRIED ALREADY :)
Ugh. I hate when I start writing a post with intent to talk about something, then go off on a tangent about wedding stuff. I can't help it; I'm a woman obsessed. #sorrynotsorry
It's just as well, I suppose. These photos didn't turn out so great, but I really liked the outfit and frankly, my re-shoot list is way too long to add this outfit to the queue. C'est la vie!
tank: secondhand
cardi: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
jeans, heels: Target
necklace: Etsy
So a while back, my friend Hayley and her husband moved into their very first house (yay!). As she was packing, she mentioned that she had a bunch of clothes to take to Goodwill. Hayley has great style, so I told her to drop the clothes at my house so I could pick through them, and then take the leftovers to Goodwill for her. Imagine my surprise when she showed up with a literal carload of stuff--it was nearly 20 garbage bags of clothes, bags, bedding and random appliances. I couldn't keep most of it due to fit, but I did snag a few amazing pieces out of the bunch. Including this tiger tank.
This tank is one of those things that, if I saw it on the shelf, I wouldn't even consider buying it. But for some reason, it caught my eye as I was knee-deep in clothes in my living room (not an exaggeration) and I kept it. So glad I did! It's ended up being one of my favorite casual-wear items.
I can't think of anything else to write today without spewing a billion lines of wedding-related word-vomit (DRESS SHOPPING THIS WEEKEND OMG HOLY CRAP) so instead I'll end with the standard blogger-feedback-seeking question: Did you ever grab an item (purchase or secondhand) that you didn't think you'd wear but ended up loving?
Step 1. Find a Thing you really, really want.
Step 2. Realize that you have to wait X number of days to have Thing.
Step 3. Resign yourself to the established waiting period. Try to find distractions, or try to forget about Thing in the meantime.
Step 4. Jump for joy when Thing Day arrives!
Step 5. Realize you still can't have Thing.
Step 6. Go back to Step 2. Repeat as necessary.
In my case, Thing is my scooter. I bought it in January and put it in the garage and the back of my mind, where it's waited patiently for The Longest Winter Ever (capital letters necessary) to end. But the friend who sold it to me hasn't actually used the thing in more than a year, so it needs a lot of initial maintenance. So far we've charged the battery, filled her up with gas and fresh motor oil, and sprayed some cleaner into the carburetor. She tries to start, but just won't turn over. Our next step is to change the spark plug, but if that doesn't work, I have to wait until next weekend for my friend's "scooter guy" to get back in town and clean the carb out proper. I get that this is all part of standard maintenance, but I'm not very good with the whole patience thing. Especially when it's gorgeous outside and I'm still relying on public transportation and/or exorbitant parking fees to get to work.
So, distraction time! Short-attention-span-powers, ACTIVATE!
shirt: secondhand
cardi: thrifted
skinnies: H&M
boots: gifted (via Old Navy)
In other news, warmer temps also mean the return of cute clothes! Spring florals, skirts, cute sandals, here I come! I busted out the first of my springwear--a floral shirt-- by mixing it in with some fall/winter attire that's about to go back into storage. (I'm looking at you, boots.)
Storytime: I got this shirt from my friend Hayley. She and her husband moved from an apartment to a house, and like me every time I move, she found a bunch of stuff she didn't want to pack and unpack. Most of it was clothes, so I told her to drop it off at my house and I'd take whatever I didn't want to the thrift store.
She showed up with literally 20 bags of clothes, bedding, appliances, purses and even a dog bed. We do not have a dog.
Needless to say, I donated more than I kept. Fortunately, Volunteers of America was scheduled to do a neighborhood pickup the next week, so it all just sat in my living room until pickup day. Matt wasn't thrilled, but I considered it a price worth paying for otherwise free clothes. Hayley got rid of her stuff, I got new stuff and nobody had to schlepp to Goodwill. Everybody wins! Except Matt. He got nothing. The end.
Every once in a while, I'll stumble across a blog post or a pin or some other resource that makes me think, "Doy, why haven't I tried this yet??" Many times, those "doy" moments involve photography and photo editing. I'm still very much a pupil when it comes to shooting in my camera's manual mode, and self-photography is far from an easy way to learn.
I have a bad habit of fidgeting slightly out of place, which throws my focus area off and effectively dooms my photos to blurry, sub-par quality. But I don't always realize this right away, because my camera's preview screen is tiny and sometimes the photos look great until I upload them. This is especially frustrating if I was having a really great hair and/or makeup day on the original shoot.
When I uploaded these photos and realized that some of my favorites were a bit on the blurry side, I decided to take matters into my own hands with some RAW editor sharpening. I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with the result, but I'm still playing with the settings and figuring out what everything does.
I also used another "photo tip" I recently picked up. The tip talked about how wearing lip color can really make a huge difference on a portrait photo. I wasn't wearing any when I shot this, and sure enough, my lips were blending into my face just a tad. So I went in and bumped up the red/magenta hues in the RAW editor just a *wee* bit. The effect was only visible on my lips, and it was pretty subtle. But it made a huuuuge difference. I'm thinking I'll make that the topic of a Makeup Monday post soon (next week?).
blazer: thrifted
blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
skinnies, heels: Target
necklace: Etsy
I wore this a few weeks ago almost a month ago to a little date night with Matt at The Refectory. His sister and brother-in-law got us a gift card for Christmas, so we used it during a three-course prix fixe special the restaurant was having. It was heavenly, as always, and I was seriously regretting my choice of skinnies and heels by the time I hobbled out after dessert. I was pretty convinced they would have to roll me out, but I managed--somehow!
Actually, if I really wanted to stretch things and tie this outfit in to the "experimenting" theme, I agonized for a while over whether to wear a long or short necklace with this. It's silly, I know, but it was really bothering me. I even texted Emily for advice, because I thought the outfit was very "her." She actually suggested the long necklace, but I was stubborn and went short anyway.
I've discovered that when I ask people for advice, it tends to just be a way for me to gauge my gut reaction to your suggestion and figure out how I really feel. I did this recently by asking all my Facebook friends whether I should grow my hair for the wedding. They all said "grow it out!" and I immediately shouted NO! (in my head) over and over. So there's that.
Ok, so, abrupt subject change. It's honest critique time. Do these photos look a little off, thanks to my artificial sharpening/noise reduction attempt? Or is it all in my head? (And I promise, this isn't a "how do I really feel?" question. I really can't tell if I'm being too picky or not, haha!)
blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
cardigan: Express via DFWh
slacks: thrifted
flats: secondhand
necklace: The Limited
For me, most really bad colds usually have a turning point, or a hump. After days and days of feeling crappier and crappier, suddenly there's a day where you don't feel quite as bad as the day before. And then another. And that's when I realize, I'm getting over the hump. I think that's where I am now; I hope it is, because I don't know how much more of this going-to-bed-at-nine-every-night-and-still-waking-up-exhausted stuff I can take.
Of course, this week, "the hump" also means the same hump as everyone else's: Wednesday. Due to holidays, vacation days and sick time, this is the first full week I've worked since before Christmas. I'm not complaining, but man, that extra day seems like five this week :)
Today's outfit is another month-old gem from my stockpile of photos. It's crazy how much my hair has grown in that time! Well, I guess any amount of growth is significant when you have a pixie. Also, you can see my work badge in that first pic. Forgot to take it off at first! If you look reeeeeeally close, you might get a glimpse of my shoulder-length hair from almost two years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long!
I feel like I'm saying that pretty much every Monday morning. I never seem to get everything done on my to-do list for any given weekend. We were busy these past two days, to be sure. Matt and I helped friends move, went to an overnight football-watching/camping/fishing trip at our friend's dad's house, set up a new wireless router and sold my old iPhone on Craigslist. I also dyed my hair and got it cut. But I wanted to work on some house projects and clean and figure out why our printer isn't working, and I didn't get to any of that. Le sigh.
So anyway, these photos. For some reason, I had a really hard time getting them to focus properly. It was the first time I ever had a problem like that, and I was getting really frustrated. I managed to clean up some of the least-out-of-focus ones using the methods I described in this post, but they're still a tad blurry:
shirt: really, really old Alloy from high school (hahaha yeah you read that right)
blazer: thrifted
skinnies: Forever 21
booties: Walmart
necklace: InPink (giveaway win)
But they got really good after I convinced Matt to step outside and be my "mark" for focusing the camera:
Since then, I've figured out that I can use my spare tripod as a mark. And ever since, my photos have been coming out crystal clear! (With the slight exception of tomorrow's outfit, because that trick hadn't quite dawned on me when I took those. Oops!)
t-shirt: Old Navy
capris: Target
belt: came with the capris
sandals: Walmart
necklace: gifted
Well, these are the last of my outfit photos shot at the new house. I used the alley between our garage and our neighbor's as a backdrop. I've used it before, but only rarely. We were really close to a heavily trafficked road and I had this dumb (but given the events of the summer, totally understandable) fear of my camera being snatched while I was shooting.
All in all, these shots didn't even turn out 100% as great as I had hoped. The t-shirt isn't plain white; it's speckled with tiny, bright neon splotches. (You can see a close-up of it here.) I avoided the neon trend for a long, loooong time, but I've finally jumped on the bandwagon, albeit in a tiny way. I'm way more comfortable with small accents like flat shoes or a skinny belt than I am with big, flashy pieces.
So tomorrow I have to go in to work an hour early, meaning I'll be out my front door before 7 a.m. I'll try to have a post ready, and I want to post a little before-and-after of how the new house is coming along this weekend...but life, as usual, may have other plans. Gotta love deadlines and taking on more projects than really is wise, right? Story of my life.
shirt, skirt, belt (came with skirt): JCPenney
heels, necklace: Target
So I had these photos all edited and ready to post last week. And then stuff happened. And kept happening. And, just as the weekend hit and I thought I'd finally have time to get my life back in order, MORE STUFF HAPPENED. Sorry to be vague, but some things just aren't blog-appropriate (or blog-worthy), I guess. Suffice to say: I'm still feeling a bit frazzled. But I'm cautiously optimistic about this week, and especially about this weekend, so I'm just going to shake off the dust of last week and try to start fresh.
Easier said than done, perhaps, but I know I can do it. Confidence! Empowerment! Blah blah blah etc!
In other news, this skirt is one of my favorite items in my closet, but it's also one of the least-worn items in my closet? Any ideas why? If you guessed, "Because it's white and Emma is a huge klutz and always spills things," DINGDINGDING you're a winner. Thankfully, I made it through yet another day without any stains. It's like a miracle, you guys.
Also, I totes didn't mean to create what is essentially an all-JCP outfit, but I wanted to pair this skirt with a lot of bold color and grabbed this shirt without really thinking about brand. In fact, it didn't even occur to me until I sat down to write this post. Anyone else ever accidentally become a real-life model for a certain brand or store?
