Brain, start working

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!

Summer to fall

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!

Mornings

t-shirt: DIYed
shorts: thrifted
fedora: H&M
sandals, bracelets: Target
necklace: Etsy
Mornings are so hit-or-miss for me. Yesterday I hopped out of bed the first time my alarm went off, jumped in the shower, did a little yoga, got ready, made coffee, wrote a blog post, packed a lunch and practically skipped out the door.

This morning, not so much.

No, this morning I hit the snooze. I have a bit of a lingering migraine, so I skipped yoga. (Really bad headache + downward dog = more pain.) I slogged through getting ready and practically took a nap on the floor of my closet as I was picking out clothes. I'm seriously considering buying a lunch today so I can take a 10-minute nap before I leave. I went to bed at about the same time Sunday night as last night...so what's up with being so sleepy today?

Anyway, I wore this outfit to a party last month. Like I said in my July clothes budget post, I was inspired to get a fedora. This is the first outfit I styled it with. The t-shirt is the one my team and I made for the Color Run last month. Yes, our team name was the Ninja Chameleons. We're awesome like that.

Ok, I think I'll nap for just a second now. Ugh. Is that coffee ready yet?

Photo tricks and an outfit

shirt: Old Navy
shorts: thrifted
sandals: Target
Hi folks. So I'm thinking that at least for the time being, you can expect a little photo-speak to accompany my outfit posts. Because half the time, I find the technique behind shooting an outfit more interesting than the outfit itself. Sorrynotsorry.

So I had Matt snap these for me quickly before we left for...uh...somewhere. For the life of me, I can't remember where I wore this. Oh well. Not important. I just turned the camera to auto and he clicked away. I love how even the auto-setting photos on this camera turn out so awesome!

The below shot is one I took just moments before we headed outside for the real photos. I had just gotten my remote and was going a little click-happy. I remember I didn't have time to set up my tripod and do a proper shoot, but I wanted to test the remote regardless, so I plopped the camera on my mantle and took a few snaps. This one turned out kind of cool, so I decided to post it. Dem collarbones. Girrrrrl...


So this is where the cool photography part comes in. I noticed when I uploaded this photo that if I corrected the exposure to my face/clothes, the windows were completely blown out. But if I didn't adjust the exposure, I was too dark. I remembered reading this tip for fixing the problem, and used that as a guideline for doing my own version of a fix.

Basically, I made two copies of this photo. On the first, I adjusted the exposure to properly display my face/body. On the second, I adjusted the exposure the other way, underexposing everything to bring out the details of the blinds. Then I just used the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop to select the blinds and copied them to a new layer. I dragged the new layer to the correctly-exposed photo, lined it up over the blown-out windows, and adjusted the opacity down of the blinds-only layer to about 80 percent so it would look more natural. Looking back, I could probably have under-exposed the blinds even more in my initial steps, but for a first shot I say this isn't too bad!


Top photo: Correctly exposed subject with blown-out windows
Bottom photo: Better-exposed windows with under-exposed subject.
So here's my question for you all: Would you be interested in reading tutorials on stuff like this? Or do you find that process a little dull and would rather read what I have to say about the styles/trends themselves? Or do you find both interesting?

Oh yeah, there's a birthday in here somewhere...

Hint: It's mine! And it's today! Things are still super crazy right now, what with filing insurance crap and tracking down receipts and making up for lost freelance work, but I made it a point to take this weekend off and just enjoy turning 25. Saturday we went climbing with a couple friends at the Audubon downtown for like four hours, and then we went to Dirty Frank's for a very late lunch. That night, we went out with some friends on to a new brewery in town called Seventh Son. There, I probably enjoyed myself a bit too much, because Sunday was a tad bit miserable ;)

Today, though. Today was pretty sweet. I slept in, then grabbed lunch at Panera and headed off to my spa day, courtesy Matt! I'd been trying to give myself a birthday spa day for a few years now, but something always came up to screw up my budget in April or May. This year, I had the appointments made and everything, and two days later my stuff got stolen. As I was lamenting the loss of my stuff and the cost to replace everything, I realized I would have to cancel my spa day yet again...but then Matt stepped in and made that my present! He's so awesome. I should mention too he spent all of yesterday taking care of my hungover self! I'm needy when I don't feel well. Like, really needy. Did I mention how awesome he is?

Anyway, here's what I wore out Saturday night. Casual but cute was my goal, and I think I achieved it pretty well!






shirt, shorts: thrifted
necklace: gifted
shoes: Target
belt: H&M
Now I'm off to meet my grandma for dinner. She's the sweetest :)

A casual night out

I wore this on Thursday to see the Hunger Games with a bunch of friends. Perfect outfit for a casual night out, if you ask me. Really, I could have lived in this outfit all weekend. I laid around the house and napped for most of Friday, before going out to watch the valiant effort of the OU basketball team that night. Saturday was errands and chores, and a gathering at a friend's house to watch the OSU basketball team make an awesome win. Sunday was more laziness, and dinner at our friend's parents' house. In all, a lovely weekend.








shirt: Marshall's
nude cami, boots: Target
shorts: The Limited
necklace: gifted from Matt
Funny story. If you didn't know, I'm a major klutz. If it can spill, break or fall over, I'll be the one to do it. So naturally, when I left the movie theatre and discovered splatters of greasy popcorn butter all over the front of this shirt, I wasn't entirely surprise. (No, I don't eat like an animal. I think I just rested the bag against my chest too much, haha.)

Anyway, the shirt wasn't ruined, thanks to an awesome tip I learned recently. You can get any kind of food grease (butter, oil, etc) out of clothes with just some dish soap. The kind with degreasing power (like Dawn) is perfect. Just dab a little onto the stain, dribble a few drops of water on it, and rub it gently to create a little lather. Let sit for five or ten minutes, then throw in the wash like usual. That should get the stain out, but you should always check it before throwing it in the dryer. Because, you know, fire.

Also, I'm about to create the post for Bloggers Take the Town (and linking up, obvs). Don't forget to link up your fun night out outfits!

Update: I had a fail moment this Friday. Instead of linking to the guest post that I wrote for Whitney of Between the Lines, I slept most of the day. Oops :( But it's not too late for you to go check it out! Click here.

May your past be the sound of your feet on the ground.

I bought Fun.'s new album, "Some Nights" last night (that's what the title of this post comes from), and I am so completely in love with it! It's so positive and upbeat, it was great background music as I was getting ready this morning. If you haven't heard of Fun., it's the side project of The Format's lead singer, and it's amazing. There's a commercial floating around out there (for a credit card maybe?) that features a single from the new album. It's the one that goes "Tonight we are young / So we set this world on fire / We go higher than the sun"

Anyway. Enough gushing about semi-obscure indieish music. But seriously...go have a listen if you get a chance.




sweater: old, maybe from Express?
black shirt and orange tights: Target
skinnies: Burlington Coat Factory
boots: Old Navy, gifted from my momma
black shorts: The Limited
If these outfits look familiar, it's because Kelly featured them on her blog, Enter Kelly a while back. It was a post about wearing an outfit from day to night. I wore the top outfit to work on a Friday, then switched it up a bit and restyled my hair for a drinks and a show with some friends that evening.

I talked about this last time, but these tights really are more rust-colored than orange in real life. But because I took the nighttime photos, well, at night...they turned out super orange. Oh, well. Still looks pretty good, if you ask me :)

Made it!

That's right folks, I am officially through my very first 30x30 challenge! I may have cheated a few times (bought a necklace, wore non-30 outfits in the evenings that I wore items from the 30 during the day, skipped days, added/subtracted items...haha) but overall, I'm quite proud of the accomplishment. And now, my closet seems 10 times bigger than what it did before the challenge, without even buying new clothes! That's fun.

items: 6, 15 17, 26
necklace: Figleaf
bangles: don't remember
bag: Boo Bags! giveaway win

I was originally going to wear jeans with this outfit to a cookout that our friend was having yesterday. But after snapping just a few outdoor photos in those long pants, I was sweltering, so I switched it up for shorts. Good call, if you ask me.

Oh, and this bag? I won it in a giveaway from Nick of Predictably Irrational. It's a Banksy print tote, and I absolutely love it! Very nice quality, very sturdy. I can tell I'll be using this bag quite a lot this summer! Nick is really creative with DIY-ing and makeover-ing making over items like Tshirts, too. (One of her more recent posts is a gorgeous Tshirt redo that is simply to die for!)

I know it's customary to do a 30x30 lookback at the end of the challenge. Well, I'm a somewhat traditional gal in many respects, so I'm busy compiling all my photos and thinking about what kind of reflections I want to...um...reflect upon. Stay tuned!

It's only Thursday?

Does anyone else feel like this week is just dragging along? And if so, do you also find it ironic that it's really been a short week, since most people had Monday off? Yeah, I thought so.

I think that for the next 30x30 challenge, I won't post outfits the day I wear them. It's too stressful trying to get up early enough to shoot photos, edit them, upload them, write about them and post them. Homegirl likes her sleep. Which is why today, this post is being written during my lunch break, instead of before I leave for work.

items: 8, 17, 26
cami: Marshall's
necklace: The Limited
bracelet: NYC Canal Street shop
rings: American Eagle and gift from my mom

I think I'm officially hooked on the trend of painting one nail differently. If you couldn't tell. I did a little mani-pedi last night while Matt was at the climbing wall with one of our friends from OU. I would have gone, but my head was still hurting a bit and I figured, let the guys have their guy time. Aren't I a good girlfriend? Haha

Also, I think I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I like these shoes. I've never worn them with shorts before, because they're so heavy. What do you think?

Also also, go enter my giveaway if you haven't yet :)

Saturdays are for relaxing, right?

Not today, apparently. After a little sleeping in (10? 10 is sleeping in now? God, I am old...) and a cup of coffee, I have been running errands all day. And now we're about to run out again, this time to meet some friends down at the lake and do a little one-night camping sesh. In our friend's old camper. Should be fun :)

items: 7, 17, 28
sunnies: Target

You get to see my sunglasses today, since I didn't put on any makeup. Hooray!

And now, I must run. Have a lovely weekend, all!

I'm baaaaack!

Whew. That's all I can really say now, haha. Before I go into details, I just want to say THANK YOU so much to the ladies who commented with their support and caring words. Mandy, Kara and Sharde: you guys made me smile. A lot.

Last week was such a huge emotional roller coaster for Matt and I. I was stressed to begin with because I put off my freelance work until I realized I had one week to do a month's worth of work (though I know that's entirely my fault). Then funeral stuff took all of our energy on Tuesday and Wednesday (that's all the more detail I'm offering there). Thursday was Matt's birthday, so we had a much-needed night out to blow off steam. Friday was exhausting because we went to bed late after being out half the night, and then we went to Matt's cousin's graduation party (congrats, Robbie!) and saw some friends.

This weekend, I've been doing nothing but freelance work. And a little shopping. Matt's gone camping/climbing at the New River Gorge--I was supposed to go, but I had too much work to do, which sucksss--so I was bored and engaged in some retail therapy. I did pretty well, between Ragorama (this amazing consignment shop that I've somehow neglected for the past 11 months), Old Navy and Target. I got two dresses, a shirt and four pairs of shoes. Yes, four. I had virtually no summer shoes other than flip flops, and let's face it. No matter how casual my office is, I can't wear flops every day. Look for photos of all those in the next few days/weeks!

Wow. Sorry for the rant, guys. Guess I had a lot to get off my chest. Here are some pretty pictures :)

Shirt: thrifted
Tank: Zenana Outfitters via Marshall's
Shorts: The Limited
Necklace: don't remember :(
Booties: Paprika via Burlington Coat Factory
Clutch: Laura Arens

I wore this to the bars a while back. Been hesitating to post it, because it deviates pretty far from my usual style. But I still like this, for a bars outfit anyway.

Best news? These are my last outfit photos with my old camera! From here on out, we're looking at awesome and gorgeous shots from the new camera Matt gave me for my birthday (which actually isn't for another three weeks, haha).

Also: See that mirror? My dad made it for me for my college graduation gift. I love it, because he made it. I just think that's awesome :)