oh so cozy cardigan and purse giveaway! and an outfit :)

I wanted to do something to thank my readers (past, present, and future!) for all of their support. In the four months that I've had this blog, I've reached a total of 80 followers over GFC and Bloglovin'. I've gone from zero comments on an entry to twenty. That may not seem like a lot to some of you, but to me, it's quite an achievement. There have been so many stressful times where I've thought about shutting the blog down for a few brief moments until I remember that writing this blog makes me happy. It's such a privilege and a pleasure to have your support :)


Anyway, I wanted to celebrate all of you by offering you a chance to win this versatile and classic grandpa cardigan! It seemed like the ideal thing to offer up since a woman or a man could rock it and, with a 44" bust, it would be awesomely oversized on a petite frame, nice and drapey on the average figure, and perfectly fitted on a fuller figure. It's a USA-made Lee brand cardigan in awesome condition.


And here we have the purse! I love how classy and classic this cognac kiss-lock bag is. It's extremely well-made and in mint condition. It even has the little tag that lets you know it's Francisco leather, whatever that is! I can tell you that Francisco leather is buttery-soft and has a perfect sheen. It has the main compartment with two slim side pockets--perfect for a checkbook or a phone.

To enter:
1) Leave me a comment letting me know how you're following the blog (GFC/Blogger, Bloglovin', or Facebook).
2) Tell me your favorite up-and-coming blog! Style or otherwise :)
3) Tell me your email so I can notify you if you win.
For an extra entry:
4) Mention this giveaway in a blog post or tweet, and tell me you've done so in separate comment :)

Open to international readers! 
Giveaway ends on 12/28

And onto the outfit!


dress: ModCloth -- boots: thrift -- cardigan: thrift -- coat: thrift -- bag: vintage Coach purse from Alex



I bought those boots on Monday and I'm obsessed with them. I can't tell you how long I've been wanting a pair of red leather boots. Anyway, I found them for $7.50 at my new favorite Goodwill! Yes!

The Salvation Army bell-ringer in the shopping plaza where I took those told me that I "looked like a girl in an 80s music video." That made me really happy because my dress was called "The Andie Dress" on ModCloth (as in Molly Ringwald's character in Pretty in Pink). Gotta seize the opportunity to say that 1) Andie and Ducky wouldn't work and it isn't mean to reject someone you aren't interested in and I'm sick of hearing people complain that she doesn't go with Ducky and 2) that dress she makes at the end is so ugly and does a disservice to all the awesome stuff she wears in the rest of the movie.


Alex and I are going off on our trip tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! Look forward to a post chock-full-o-pictures of our adventures. I've decided to change Photo Friday to Photo Sunday, too, since I think that will translate into me actually doing it  :P
Thanks again for all of your support! xoxo

maybe i'm just crazy

I'm sorry I didn't update much this past week (including a missed Photo Friday AGAIN, yikes). It's been a really intense week. Aside from studying for and taking finals, I had to completely move out of my room and into a new one in my dorm house. Thanks in no small part to the assistance of my friends, especially my dear friend Josh, I was able to move without too much stress. That was all well and good, really. It's just been a really awful week in very big ways for some people that I really care about. All of my concern, sympathy, empathy, anxiety surrounding all of that just hasn't made me feel particularly blog-y or inspired.

Anyway, I'm home with my parents now, and everything is all finished for the quarter. It's great to be home and to be out of school, but I miss my friends a lot. Two of my best friends smoke, and I often go outside and sit with them and drink tea while they have a cigarette. The conversations we have out there always really help me process the events of the day.

I spent a really good, lazy weekend with Alex. We're going on a trip together overnight on Thursday that will be really fun. I can't wait :)


blazer: thrift -- shorts: thrift -- top: took from my Mom in freshman year of high school -- knee socks: ModCloth -- shoes: MIA via Nordstrom Rack -- purse: vintage Coach bag from Alex

I'm wearing that same blazer I had on in the last outfit I posted here. Guilty! Oh well, it's one of my favorite pieces. Besides, having a style blog shouldn't be about never wearing the same garment twice.


Finally talked myself into wearing my knee socks in public. I didn't regret it a bit! And I didn't feel insecure, either. Just a little cold :P



Today's title comes from Best Coast -- "Crazy for You." I've been listening to their album on repeat all day... It's really infectious indie pop. Liz Phair meets Phil Spector meets The Ramones. Really, really dumb lyrics, but in a totally non-ironic, unpretentious way, which is kind of cool in its own right.

tintypes and a few other photographs

I'm currently studying for my American history final at the moment, but I found these in my student folder on the university server, and I thought I'd share them with you. They're some tintypes I made in my alternative processes class last spring. I'm actually really into alternative processes. I enjoy the sense of craft and tactility that is more or less lost in traditional silver printing and quite certainly lost in inkjet prints. I mean, I love the ease of digital technology as much as the next person (well, maybe a little less), but it's just not the same creative experience.

These are tintypes, which was a relatively low-cost and therefore popular photographic process back in the second half of the 19th century. I can't claim responsibility for actually creating the photosensitive plates we printed on--that honor goes to Naomi Vanderkindren, who led the workshop--but I did print and process them myself. I also can't claim ownership for taking any of the actual images. The ones of the woman with knitting are photographs my grandmother took of my great-grandmother and then printed on Kodalith film which I used to make contact prints. The one of me was made in-camera by my classmate Lucas.

These are in actuality about one quarter the size they appear here...


I like to think of this as a real piece of family history. My great-grandmother as captured by my grandmother as printed using antiquated methods by me. Four generations of sassy ladies!


This one came out very soft and overexposed. My face is blurry because it was a 10 minute exposure... and I am not very good at keeping still. Or not being a klutz. I have almost zero kinesthetic intelligence.


This one was printed on a plate Naomi had made over a year ago at the time, so it came out kind of dingy. But I like it anyway, especially after fixing it up a bit on Photoshop. On that note, all those speckles and imperfections you see are the result of the medium itself, not a dirty scanner. It's essentially dried photographic jello on a painted piece of tin. It scratches quite easily.

Anyway, since I can claim only partial authorship of the above images, I feel compelled to share with you all some of my other work using traditional processes.


gelatin silver print from b&w film, 2007


scan of c-41 negative, 2009


scan of c-41 negative, 2010


scan of c-41 negative, 2010 (this one isn't nearly so contrasty as it appears in this compressed, resized format)

Anyway, obviously still working out my aesthetic "schtick" with straight photography, but I've got time.

PS--check out some of Naomi Vanderkindren's tintypes, they're way better than mine. She's a pro with a great eye, creative approaches, and the technical skills to back it all up.

your light is so bright tonight

dress: thrift, $3 -- tights: Payless, $2 -- blazer: thrift, $8 -- shoes: Delicious via Ross, $14

If you've known me for more than about a month, you'll know that I'm really insecure about my legs. It's silly, I know, but I always feel like my ankles are disproportionately thick for my frame. My legs are kind of the last frontier of my adolescent body insecurities. Both these tights and these shoes usually make me feel really self-conscious since they draw attention to what I semi-affectionately refer to as my "borderline cankles." (Which, I'm well-aware, is a bit of an overstatement.) I almost never wear these shoes for that reason, and I've never worn these tights before despite owning them since August. Anyway, I'm really happy to report that I didn't feel cankle-y at all today. Even if I looked it. I loved my outfit, and I just didn't care. And this is not a plea for supportive ankle comments, either. I don't need them :) because I'm always feeling less and less insecure about them with each passing day. The blog has actually helped a lot. Taking a gajillion photos of yourself and posting them on the internet makes you get over insecurities pretty quickly.




The dress buttons down the back! And get a load of that bed head... oops. And I need to cut my hair.





I made you guys a Christmas/winter mix! I was inspired to create it after Kallie at Happy, Honey, and Lark posted one :) I wanted to host it online for streaming, but a lot of the songs weren't available online. Instead, I made it with mp3s for you to download. No viruses, pinky swear. You can download it here.

A Winter Wandering
1) The Leopards -- Dancing in the Snow One of the cutest, happiest little ditties ever. Alex always says it makes him think of cats dancing and playing the piano.
2) John Lennon -- Happy Christmas (War Is Over) Always a classic. Pro-love, pro-peace, and just a little naively optimistic.
3) Beach House -- All The Years Tender, ethereal, slightly foreboding. Perfect for snuggling.
4) Big Star -- Jesus Christ Corny, strange little Big Star Christmas song. But I like it.
5) The Apples in Stereo -- Winter Must Be Cold Another peppy winter ditty to break up the gloom of half of the tracks on here. Toe-tappin' good times. 
6) Jens Lekman -- The Cold Swedish Winter Classically weird Jens Lekman lyrics that tell a sweet, kind of depressing little story about needing someone to cuddle with.
7) Vince Guaraldi Trio -- Christmas Time Is Here Speaks for itself. Probably the best Christmas song ever.
8) Otis Redding -- Merry Christmas, Baby Otis Redding was one of soul's most talented performers. This song always puts a smile on my face.
9) Francis Lai -- Une homme et une femme (chant) The pretty, catchy, and simple theme from the film of the same name.
10) Angelo Badalamenti feat. Julee Cruise -- Falling The most lonely song about falling in love ever. 
11) Echo & the Bunnymen -- Ocean Rain A really epic song with an awesome vocal performance.
12) Arthur Russell -- I Forget And I Can't Tell (Ballad of the Lights pt. 1) This song is really warm and cozy. I'm addicted to it.


This time of year always puts me in a funny mood. Finals/projects, the shorter days, and the rain and the clouds depress me even as Christmas songs (well, ones I like), gift shopping, and family togetherness bring me that holiday cheer. I also miss Alex a lot. We just don't get to see each other a whole lot, but we're really used to spending a lot of time together. On the one hand, I don't really have the time or energy to spend with him, so even if he were here, I'd probably totally take it for granted. On the other hand, it always makes me a little sad to fall asleep all by myself after a long, rainy day. And it'd be nice to just have some company in my little cave-like room. And, y'know, I love him, and being around him makes me happy.

Today's title is from that Arthur Russell song in the mix :)

you'd better wise up

So, Photo Friday simply didn't happen this week. Oh well, there's always next Friday! Anyway, here's what I wore on Thursday.


blazer: thrift, $1 -- skirt: thrift, $3 -- top: thrift, $4 -- boots: thrift, $7

I was literally busy all day, so I didn't have time to go take good photos outside. I ended up snapping them in the art library in the brief break between my two lectures, and, while you can't see any detail in my lower half at all, the library does match my outfit pretty well. Florescent light sucks, too.



I bought this absurd  blazer at one of my favorite little thrift shops on sale for $1 back in October. I hadn't worn it yet... I've pretty much been working up the courage to wear it since I bought it, to be honest. I thought it was a lot of fun to wear, though. It definitely attracts lots of attention, which I like (because I'm a total attention junkie--I mean, I have my own style blog...) and makes me feel like a character in an Almodovar movie. This is also the only thing I've ever left the shoulder pads in, and I discovered that they make carrying my really heavy tote around a lot more comfortable, haha.



Anyway, I'm now all done with papers and projects. Two finals to go, and then I'm free! Hooray! Don't get me wrong, I love school, but I really need a break.

I had a really, really relaxing weekend. I didn't do anything productive, and I slept for 22 hours. I hung out with Alex on Friday night, and we woke up late and spent a few hours out and about on Saturday. I had to go back to my co-op house and clean the kitchen, and after doing that, I went out for dinner with Sam. Then I went with some housemates to go see Rocky Horror with the whole cast/yelling/midnight bit, and didn't get home until 3 or so. I went to bed at 4 am, and woke up at 2:40 pm. I don't think I've EVER slept that late in my life, haha. I guess I really needed it! Since then, I've just been reading blogs and eating. I've been eating a lot recently... Stress, holidays, etc. No guilt whatsoever though, I've enjoyed every bite of it.

My father, who is a cancer survivor, had to go to the hospital last night because his gastrointestinal tract became paralyzed. Freaky stuff :( But he seemed like he was feeling okay when I spoke to him on the phone. Apparently it may have been caused by some anesthesia he was under for a routine procedure recently. Whatever the cause, I hope that it doesn't happen again.

My dad always says that he's "grateful for modern medicine." And really, just thinking about it, it is pretty amazing. His pain last night was so bad that he had to keep himself from screaming. Six hours later, he was able to come home. Six more hours later and he felt good enough to speak to me on the telephone in a relatively cheerful tone of voice. And, of course, his cancer treatments have probably literally been a life-saver. It's just strange to think how far medicine has come in such a short span of time.

Anyway, tomorrow (well, I guess today, now) is going to be a day for studying and errands! Since I don't have class, I think I'll take advantage of the opportunity to spend some time off-campus. I love it here, but I take almost every chance I get to enter the (relatively) real world.

Today's post title comes from this song in Rocky Horror that's stuck in my head. It's called "Planet, Schmanet, Janet," and it's really ridiculous. And awesome. (That pretty much sums up the entire movie, really.)

we're all about each other

So, I spent the entire day today and late into the night yesterday working on a paper, so I'm pretty intellectually wiped and disinclined to write. Photo Friday is going to be Photo Saturday this week. I am bad at this whole weekly feature thing; damn my busy lifestyle! I think I'll stockpile some Photo Friday posts over break.

In the mean time, look at what I woke up to find on my Facebook this morning! Alex made it :D Be prepared for pukeworthy cuteness. It's from a day we spent in Monterey in February.



I think I'm going to get that haircut again, I just love it! Anyway, isn't he the best?

The song in the video and the post title is Peter, Bjorn & John -- Paris 2004.

And I am so sorry I haven't read like any blog posts this week. I'm seriously so busy. I've got a pretty relaxing weekend, though, so I'll do my best!

What are you up to this weekend?

facts versus romance

So, I SHOULD be fast asleep by now, but I got carried away with style sites. So it goes. Anyway, since I'm still up, I thought I'd just go ahead and post. Besides, doing it now will prevent me from giving into my impulse to tomorrow when I really should be working on my paper. Rationalizing? What? Never.


dress: thrift, $3 -- jacket: BP Nordstrom, expensive -- tights: Urban Outfitters, $10 (these are also on their third autumn) -- boots: thrift, $7 -- scarf: knitted by my mom, $ doting affection


My mom knitted me that awesome yellow circle scarf! She's quite the knitter, actually. In fact, she used to write a blog about it, long before I ever started this one.

My dear friend Sam actually borrowed this dress last night to perform a song in drag as part of a presentation on musical theatre in a class he's taking. In all earnestness, it probably looks better on him than on me. Anyway, I also lent him a wig, and as a thank you, he gave me this amazing eyeshadow palette with 50 colors that he bought but didn't end up using. Now that is a good friend :D I had fun doing my eyeliner today with purple eyeshadow.


Running to get in the frame on time.

I feel like I'm letting you all down with today's photos after all of the comments on yesterday's. Oh well! I can only do the leaf gimmick once, you know? Hopefully there will be plenty more good photos in the future.



I got a question yesterday about what kind of camera and lens I was using. For yesterday's (and today's) photos, I'm just using a simple little Fujifilm point-and-shoot camera that my father received from his company as a 15-year gift. I actually use several cameras, though, depending on who's taking the photos and what I have available to me. Sometimes I have a DSLR checked out from school, and I'll use that, but it's pretty hard to take good self-timer w/ tripod photos with a DSLR. Since I only have the kit lens available to me, the camera has to be a good distance away to get the whole outfit and not get crazy barrel distortion at the sides of the image, and that isn't always practical... especially in a little forest, hehe. Also, that Fujifilm camera takes 3 shots in a row with brief pauses in between, which allows me to change poses and facial expressions. Alex and I usually do our shoots with a DSLR (he just got one, hooray!).

In case it isn't obvious already, I'm not a big gear person. Gear does help, sure, but your photos won't just automatically be awesome because you took them on an expensive camera. It's all about manipulating the settings and knowing your camera!

Some pointers I have:
1) Set the ISO to the lowest possible (usually 64 or 100). This will make your photos much more crisp and detailed.
2) Set the white balance to custom if available. If not, opt for the setting that makes the prettiest images.
3) Don't use the flash.
4) Digital cameras tend to have bad light meters. To compensate for this, use the +/- settings on your camera. Experiment to see which ones pick up the detail in your outfit. It's often hard to get detail in both the dark and light pieces in your outfit, so don't be discouraged if this is tricky. Consider taking two shots, one for your black velvet and another for your white lace.
5) Look for soft, pretty light that isn't too harsh. Everything will look more balanced and evenly-lit.


Today's title comes from Rilo Kiley -- Science vs. Romance. Jenny Lewis is a goddess.

Thank you for all of your lovely comments! I am super busy this week, so I will try to return the favor just as soon as I can.

Sleepy time!