eat plenty of lasagna until you know that you've had your fill

dress: vintage, altered by me -- vest: thrift, sleeves cut off by me :P -- scarf: thrift -- boots: thrift

I may have mentioned on here like thirty or forty times that I'm incredibly irreverent and silly. See Exhibit A above.



I had a wonderful day yesterday. Nothing that dramatically amazing happened, but the entire day was just a series of small-time awesome happenings. To start things off, I was wearing my favorite dress (seen here), and my morning train was a bit late, meaning I got to spend a few minutes sitting on the platform instead of my usual mad rushing.

Once on the train, I snagged a single seat on the upper level and enjoyed the air conditioning. When the train arrived in San Francisco, I made my way out of the station toward ModCloth only to realize that I'd left the book I'd been reading on the train. Since SF is the last stop, I could have just gone back to get it. But I realized that I felt relieved--liberated, even. See, I'd been reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. And I'd only ever heard good things. And I really wanted to like it. And I enjoyed the writing itself, but just found it... boring. Tedious. Did I mention that it's 1000+ pages with what must be a good 150 pages of 8 pt font end notes? Yeah. So I just left it there. I bought it with money from a psych study anyway, and it was only $10 to start with, so. Not much of a loss.

Work was a lot of fun yesterday. I had a varied set of tasks to attend to and enjoyed the inherent interest the diversity afforded. In case you're curious, I spend my days writing copy for newsletters and contests, writing tweets, writing product descriptions, keeping up writing team output stats, and working on a couple internal projects I've initiated.

Anyway, since the vegetarian catering we had at an event last Friday ran out really quickly, leaving many vegetarian employees hungry (not me of course; I am almost always in the front of every single food line), the lovely people of ModCloth ordered vegetarian catering for the entire office! It was, without a doubt, one of the best five meals I've eaten in my entire life. I had truffle-oil-infused macaroni and cheese, penne with killer pesto, and this absolutely amazing hot eggplant Parmesan sandwich on ciabatta with pesto and red pepper and melty cheese. I went all Liz Lemon--I filled up my plate to its maximum capacity and then went back to my desk to hunker down and eat it like I meant it. So good.

And the winning didn't stop there! I met up with my dear friend Matt for dinner, and we tried a great little Indian place that we found with the Yelp app on my phone. Nice work, technology! We've known each other since I was 13 and he was 11--just coming up on seven years of friendship, actually. He's like my honorary little brother or something. Okay, so now he's 18 and I'm 19, and we're totally peers, but still. Honorary little brother.

I stopped at CVS on my way home to get a couple things, and I treated myself to a red lipstick since I've been meaning to try it for something like a year at this point. When I went to make my purchase, I used a $5 ExtraBuck coupon, which always feels good in and of itself. But then my receipt printed with $9 in ExtraBucks. Whaaat! Like I said, little moments of awesomeness. All day.

When I got to my room, I saw that my mom had not only bought me new sheets since my old ones were all pilled and scratchy but had already laundered them! And, oh, yeah, my beautiful new Seychelles from Piperlime that I scored for 50% off had arrived, and they fit like a dream.

Pretty unbeatable, right? Goodness, what a great day. Ended it with a lovely phone chat with Bobby. Nice.

In closing, here's a picture of a cat that I drew in a bedspread.


Today's title comes from Ween -- "Roses Are Free," a truly bizarre food-themed song that is Sam's and my JAM. The lyric in question is in honor of the tasty (albeit not terribly filling) lasagna I had for lunch today.

i only play it for real

blazer: Moschino via Goodwill -- jeans: Levi's -- shoes: Taryn by Taryn Rose via Goodwill

Short, sweet, and shallow today :P

My picture is a little fuzzy today because it's from my Android, which takes great close-up shots but less-than-stellar outfit-distance photos. So, I'm not diggin' my jeans. They're just $40 Levi's jeggings, and they tend to bunch up like crazy at my knees (see photo). Furthermore, being jegging-y, their wash leaves something to be desired. I'm in the market for some great high-waisted jeans, preferably in a clean dark rinse. Any suggestions?

So I've been on a huge pink kick recently, and when I saw this blazer on the rack at Goodwill on Thursday night I got really excited. And then I took it off the rack and saw that it was a freakin' MOSCHINO blazer. For $8. Winning!



I wanted to keep it really casual today since my allergies are getting me down. And pants just sounded great--it'd been a while.

Today's title comes from The Brian Jonestown Massacre -- "Anemone," my official 2011 summer jam. Check it! You want to! Seriously!

the next time you say, "I wish I had been alive in the sixties"

This was the sixties:

But this was also the sixties:











When I was younger I used to say that I wished I had been born in 1947. I would have been there when rock and roll took the world by storm. I would have been there for Beatlemania. I would have been there for Monterey Pop, for Carnaby Street, for the Factory.

But I also would have been there for the height of the Cold War. I would be living in the constant fear of sudden nuclear annihilation. Seriously. My male friends would be drafted to fight in Vietnam. Some of them would die, and most would come back with incapacitating PTSD. If I'd gone to college, it'd be an achievement if I hadn't dropped out and gotten married by the end of my undergraduate years. Only during the 1960s did it become illegal to pay women less than men for doing the exact same job. And if I wanted to have children, I'd have to do so knowing that I'd lose my status at my job if I could return at all. There were riots, assassinations, hell, it took until 1964 for the United States to even protect the human rights of people of color.

What's more, I wouldn't have been there for Monterey Pop AND Carnaby Street AND the Factory. I would have been relegated to wherever I was and whatever letters I could send or receive and pictures I could get. And god forbid someone I loved fell ill. If I was born in 1947 and my father had been born in 1916, he would have probably died by this point in my life. With today's medicine, he's been in complete remission for about two years now and has even run several marathons to boot.

Loving vintage clothing, music, and movies makes it easy to idealize the past. Look how much more creative we were! Look how much better-dressed we were! But we probably weren't. People will look back on the present with the same soft-focus lens of nostalgia that we use to look at the past. So before you write off the present, just remember that even though there's all the conflict in the Middle East, all of the unequal distribution of wealth, all of the sex scandals, and countless other atrocious goings-on, today's society is the one you want to live in. I promise.

a fun place to eat!

shorts: thrift -- blazer: thrift -- shoes: thrift -- belt: thrift -- top: stolen from my mom five years ago

Hey guys, do you see what's happening in that photo? Do you see what I'm doing? I'M SMILING! Ce n'est pas possible! Laughing, even :)

After seeing all of Kristen Wiig's adorable boyfriend blazers in Bridesmaids (which was fantastic), I was eager to bust mine out for a day of adventures with my friend Bobby. We ate brunch at this diner near my parents' house that I've always secretly longed to try and he just randomly took me to. Nice. The diner advertises itself as being "A Fun Place to Eat!" and the whole thing is covered in these absurd signs with gruesome usage errors and gag-worthy jokes. It's awesome.


My new Taylor & Ng Catbear trivet/wall hanging. $1 at this little thrift store in Felton.


Most adorbs church ever, right? And these last two photos are from my brand new smartphone!

I managed to drop my old phone in the toilet on Tuesday night (damn back pockets...), and it seemed like as good an excuse as any to finally cross over. Of course, my phone still worked once I let it dry, but after such trials as falling 30 feet off a roof, spending a night in the bushes (there was a slug on it in the morning), and a previous aqueous adventure, I figured it probably didn't need any more of my abuse.

I'd been apprehensive about getting a smartphone because I'm already in front of a computer so often that taking a break seemed like a pretty good idea. But I found myself constantly wishing I could have access to the Internet and my email when I'm on-the-go, so I just went for it. I opted for the Droid X2 because it has a giant beautiful screen perfect for perusing blogs and ModCloth and reading Wikipedia and, once I figure out how, watching movies and shows.

The last week of my life has been positively absurd--two final essays, a final exam, moving out of my dorm, shifts at my job in the photo lab, seeing friends before they leave for the summer, and going to ModCloth all day. What I'm lacking in sleep I'm making up for in fun though! Life is awesome :)

I'm working on a serious-ish post I'm really excited to share with all of you! I think you'll love it. I'm aiming for Tuesday.

do you find this happens all the time?

skirt: thrift circa 2004, stolen from my sister -- blazer: thrift -- shoes: thrift -- top: American Apparel (from the awesome days when I had 5 friends working there and got anything I wanted for 50% off...)

Bustin' out my gamine game for my last day of school stuff! It's been a crazy day, but an awesome one. I'm finally done with all of my academic commitments for the year! Yesss.



So I'm pretty obsessed with this blazer. I bought it last Wednesday at Salvation Army for a cool $3.40. I really dig the color and shrunken fit, I just wish the material were wool instead of this plastic-y polyester.


Bottlebrush forever!

Caveat: the following deals with problems in arguments (i.e., logical shortcomings), not things in my life that I experience as hardships. I'm a ponderer, and these are ponderings. Not things that actually trouble me. Just saying that in advance.


Yesterday, I showed my friend Bobby the presentation I did last quarter about thrift and vintage fashion, and he brought up an interesting hole in my argument. If I derive such a sense of worth from the uniqueness of a garment, doesn't the fact that there must be others of it (barring hand-made items) somehow detract from the sense of authenticity I feel?

I want to say "oh my goodness, of course not!" but that wouldn't be true. Don't get me wrong, most of my value of and attachment to my thrifted clothing comes from the energy I put into finding it and the joy it brings me, but there's definitely a bit of a letdown when I see someone else with that item.

Oddly enough, I've had the very rare occurrence of seeing another person in the same vintage piece (sort of) happen to me twice in the last week. I saw one of my thrifted vintage dresses on eBay (can't for the life of me find the listing, but I tried), and last Thursday, Katy from Kansas Couture sported a seventies skort that I have in a different color. Seeing what I think of as "my" clothes on other people shocked me a bit, but I don't think it actually diminished my enjoyment of my clothes. What really gets to me is seeing another woman wearing a piece from a mass-market retailer, probably because it reminds me of how terribly Unoriginal and Unspecial my garment is.

Moving out of my dorm room this week has drawn my attention to just how much goddamn clothing I have. I can't help but feel quite materialistic. I'm surrounded by stuff, and I imagine that I love it even though I know it couldn't possibly love me back. I see many of possessions as extensions of myself. I think that's why it unsettles me to see other people wearing the same thing as me--I see it as them wearing my identity. Of course, they aren't. They're just wearing clothes, and I'm making up a crazy story.

Oh, and just for fun, here's a photo of me from five years ago. I've had the same Photobucket for six years, and it's organized by month and year. It's pretty cool to be able to see me and my life change with nice precise dates.


This was in my midi skirt, Converse Chuck Taylors, and pearls phase. Oh geez.

Today's title comes from New Order -- "Age of Consent," a song that invariably puts me in a great mood.

Thank You (Falettin Me Blog Mice Elf Agin)

First, an outfit, and then on to more important matters.



I wish the weather were still as summery as it was the day I took these photos! I'm in at the office on my lunch break right now, and rather dreary outside. But hey, at least the fact I can see that means that there are lots of windows in said office, right?



I absolutely adore this little camera necklace I bought from Forever 21. Isn't it the cutest? Perfect for a film camera enthusiast like myself.





Life is so good right now--new people, new job, incipient summer weather. This is only my third day working at ModCloth, but I know I'm going to love it. The office has a great open layout, and all of the employees have adorable dogs sitting beside their desks.

As I'd imagine many of you have noticed, my blog has been rather terse and inactive in recent months. I've provided a bevy of excuses along the way, all of which have been true. It's been one of the busiest times in my life.

But, beyond that, I realized yesterday that my silence may have had a lot more to do with my emerging ambivalence about blogging. Here's the thing: I am an incredibly opinionated, strong-willed, intellectually-minded, outgoing, and frank person. The fashion blog world encourages us to be inoffensive, apolitical, non-religious (well, it's more that nobody ever talks about not believing in God), lighthearted, and unfailingly positive. Yet poke around on IFB enough and you're sure to come upon a whole host of  posts encouraging new bloggers to Be Themselves and Bring Out Their Unique Individual Personalities.

The longer I blogged, the more clear it became to me that my readers' views did not necessarily line up with my own. Since I wanted to grow my readership, I tried to keep things as un-alienating as possible. In the very first days of my blog, it was almost painful for me to not comment on blogs I didn't like.  I'd add dozens of blogs that didn't interest me to my Bloglovin' feed because I felt so guilty ignoring people who seemed to enjoy my content.

Lately, I've felt like my blog completely elides my personality. What do you learn about me, really? Well, I seem friendly enough. That's true; I try to be kind as much as I can, but I'm also pretty no-bullshit. I won't lie to people to make them feel better. You learn that I'm a student and a photographer. Again, fairly neutral information. This one time, I even told all of you about my experiences with Bipolar II. But even that was the expurgated, de-politicized version. I told it without the teeth.

I've justified it to myself with the excuse that a fashion blog is emphatically not a diary, not a soapbox, not "public therapy." But why not? Who decided that? Blogging allows you total control over your content, and while you certainly can tailor that content to please your readers, I don't think it makes sense to allow the audience's desires to totally eclipse your own.

From this point forward, you can expect some content changes around here. I'm sick of having nothing to write about, and I suspect that you'll all find opinions a bit more engaging than "today I went to class and then to CVS and then I sat in front of my computer and wrote this and I'm a little sick but I'm starting to feel better and it's about 67 degrees outside" anyway. Hopefully.