t-shirt: Old Navy
cardi: Target
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: gifted (but they're also from Old Navy)
necklace: Etsy
I'm feeling list-y, so here's what's happening in my world lately/in my head today:
1. It's migraine week! Hooray! Not.
2. It's also "newsletter that takes a huge amount of my energy during the workday" week. As you can guess, numbers 1 and 2 do not mix well.
3. I recently decided to quit one of my regular freelance gigs. It was a really tough decision, as it's my longest-running partnership; I've been with this website for more than four years. I'm still kind of second-guessing myself about the decision, to be honest, but I keep telling myself that I need to stop stretching myself to thin and focus on the things I enjoy most: writing about fashion, shopping, weddings and the occasional "random" topic for a regional magazine, and this blog of course. Priorities! Learning to say no! These are important things.
4. I'm not very good at quitting things.
5. Matt and I are going to see Phantom of the Opera tomorrow! Sorry to bury the first non-complain-y thing so far down on this list. Anyway, we used gift certificates his parents got us for Christmas, so we snagged a couple of awesome orchestra-level seats. I'm stoked!
6. We're also planning a sweet bouldering trip! I don't like to discuss out-of-town trips on the blog before we go on them because safety, obviously, but there will be a recap coming up at some point...
7. Speaking of climbing, I took a massive lead fall at the gym last night and I can't stop thinking about it. (If you're not familiar with terms, here's a quick breakdown of bouldering vs. top-roping vs. leading.) I was demonstrating my lead-climbing ability to the rock wall manager (so I can do it with any staff person belaying me later). I was about 30 or 35 feet up, ready to clip in to a quickdraw at my chest level, about five or six feet above the last draw I had clipped in to...and the manager told me to take a practice fall. This means letting go. On purpose. And falling. On purpose. Given my position, I was guaranteed to fall at least 10-12 feet. I've taken practice falls before, but never with that much distance. And letting go is always a scary and difficult thing. You basically have to override your survival instinct (because falling from a decent height is very anti-survival, I'm told) and trust that the person belaying you will catch you. As it happens, the person belaying me had a bit of slack on the line, so I wound up falling something like 15 feet. It doesn't sound like much, but when you're freefalling and being caught just by a harness around your waist/thighs, it's really freaking scary. I may or may not have screamed loud enough to distract the basketball players on the court next to the wall. It may or may not have echoed in the resulting dead silence for a moment. Still...I kind of want to do it again.
8. I feel like I should say something about this outfit. Er...I like stripes. And comfy cardigans. And skinny jeans. And tall boots. I think I need more tall boots. (Then again, who doesn't?)
Lots of photos today, so I'm going to keep the words short and sweet. So Ohio has really ridiculously bipolar weather, and when seasons change things can get really crazy. Forty degrees one day, 80 the next. That is not an exaggeration. So we Ohioans often have to switch our wardrobes from hot-weather-wear to cool-weather-wear, often more than once in a week.
So this is how I styled an outfit — a new shirt and black bottoms — two different ways last month. The warmer-weather outfit I wore to brunch with some friends, on a day that reached a high in the mid-80s. The cooler-weather outfit I wore to a microbrew "festival" put on by my friend and some of his homebrew buddies, where the lows that night got down into the upper 40s, if I remember right. But there was a lot of beer there, so who knows.
shirt: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
shorts: thrifted J.Crew
sandals: Target
necklace, bracelet: Etsy (two different shops)
shirt, necklace: see above
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: Target
jacket: thrifted
So there you go. A warm-to-cool outfit in just a couple easy swaps. And now, I present to you an outtake, because my friend Ally always compliments my poses and I suspect she doesn't believe me when I say I take some real duds. Ally, this one's for you:
Don't worry folks, my neck isn't broken. And I'm not turning into an owl, either :) So yeah, hope that gave you all a giggle. Have a fabulous weekend!
shirt: Born This Way Ball tour
jacket: thrifted
skinnies, flats: Target
I'm sorry but you guys? That t-shirt is one of my most cherished pieces of clothing. I got it at the Lady Gaga concert here in Columbus two years ago, aka one of the most awesome nights of my life thus far. Definitely the best birthday present Matt ever got me :)
Anyway, I wore this Saturday night. Matt and I were visiting my sister, Abby, and her husband Bill in South Carolina. We went to a comedy club (The Comedy Zone in Greenville, for any locals) and saw a couple of regional touring comedians. The headliner for the evening was pretty entertaining, though (like my shirt. It was a nice, intimate little club, which was kind of fun.
Greenville itself was a really great weekend, despite the less-than-sunny weather that plagued us. (Fun fact: While we were gone, it snowed a couple inches back in Columbus. So it was definitely way nicer than back home, haha!) Abby and Bill took us to the shooting range, where I discovered my aim to be surprisingly not terrible for my first time :) And we had probably the most incredible brunch I've ever tasted in my life. I'm not even kidding, you guys. Little blueberry muffins instead of the standard pre-meal basket of rolls or whatever. The most garnished Bloody Mary I've ever seen. Cheesy crab dip that I could make a whole meal of. And eggs Benedict on sourdough bread two inches thick. Excuse me while I go wipe the drool off my shirt. (Update: The restaurant is called Liberty Tap Room, also in Greenville.)
We got back last night (Spazzy was quite indignant with us for leaving...for about two hours, haha) and I used today to kind of catch up – do all my laundry, get groceries, blah blah blah. Still, it was nice to have a day to just unwind and not feel rushed going back to work. Plus, three-day workweek woohoo!
