enjoy

I'm back from New Mexico! I have load of little goodies and photos to show off, but I'll do this outfit post first. Well actually, I picked this shirt up at the Target down in Santa Fe, so it sort of counts, ehhh?
No, not really.
I do love Coca Cola, though. I'm obsessive about it, actually. We have had, at times, 8 cases of Coke in the basement. All of which were mine. In fact, I'm going to quit talking about it now while I'm still ahead.

So besides the shirt (which was $9 in the men's section, and I cut to semi-flatter a smaller frame like mine), I'm also wearing old cut offs from last summer, a leopard print belt I bought at the second hand store a couple weeks ago, and new boots courtesy of the folks over at Wanted Shoes.

The style is the "Brave." I just loved them because of the off-white colour and the crochet cut outs. They remind me of Molly Ringwald as Andie in Pretty in Pink. I can see her wearing these with a calf-length floral skirt, jean vest, and bowler hat, smack talking Steff and all the other prep rich kids.

I chose the belt as my bit of whimsy for the outfit. Plus, I was going to the zoo so it seemed like the perfect occasion for such. It's still pretty chilly in Minnesota so I'm wearing tights with all my shorts and jackets over all my shirts. Come on, Mr. Sunshine! Shine on our little midwestern town.

I'll end this with a few "reading materials" for you good folks. The first is this little interview I did for an Indonesian fashion blog. The second is my university's annual literary magazine. I had a short story and a poem published in the 2011 issue & I'd be ever so thankful if you'd read it (via the link). My section starts on pae 31 and spans in page 34 if you take the time.

Okay, now into bed I go! It was back to work today and I forgot how much my job gives me headaches! Isn't that always the case, though?

In which I create shorts from skaterboy days relic

I made these shorts a few weeks ago using an old pair of jeans and studs taken from an old belt from back in my skater days. Below I map out the exciting process!



Step 1: The Pants. Yes, you can say that you're extremely disappointed that I didn't stone wash these myself. I'm not that cool, don't worry, I know.


Step 2: Cut & Destroy. I cut these into shorts and then grabbed a seam ripper, pulling on all edges, undoing some stitching, and creating a couple holes.


Step 3: Unconvering the studs. I cut the end off the belt and pulled the top layer from the bottom layer of the belt. This was a very old belt, probably 6 or more years old, so the glue allowed it to pull apart very easily.



Step 4: Attaining the studs. From here, I pulled all the studs off with a needle nose pliers. Not easy or enjoyable.



Step 5: Being frustrated with how few studs you've managed to pull, yet how many cuts and calluses you're getting on your hands.


Step 6: Setting the studs. The most fun you'll have with a needle nose pliers! The studs just popped in and then I pressed their backs in.



Final: Front with stud details on pocket and some seam ripper wear & tear.



Final: Back! With more studs and even more seam ripper wear & tear!



And here they are! In these photos, I'm also wearing an old sweatshirt from UO, AA socks, and Wanted oxfords in the Jag style. I won't be updating till next week, as I want to focus on enjoying the New Mexican sun and sand. Till then, lovelies!

the feeling you bring

At approximately 11:20am today, I completed my last final exam and headed off campus for the last time till September. When I got home I was literally jumping all over the place. Actually, I just headed out to practice my jumping after being scolded by David Mendolina yesterday for not knowing how to do so. The weather was blustery and overcast, and I was headed into work in a couple hours, so not many smiles were coming from me!



Photos like this don't really encourage you to come back to a blog, do they? (Faux) leather jackets make me angsty, what can I say?

For my final today I wore my favourite bengal striped button down from Macy's, sailor shorts by H&M, grey knee highs (scrunched down) from DSW, and oxfords by Wanted. I swear when I scooped these shoes up from the DSW clearance section a few weeks ago ($14!), they were a black/grey colour. Now they're a brown/grey colour. Maybe I'm going crazy....yes, that must be it. Shoes don't usually magically change colours on their own.



I've been going pantless for a few weeks now and it feels great! The warm weather (okay, so today was only 50°F, but I live in Minnesota & we take what we get, amirighh?) is such a treat. I'm hoping that New Mexico next week will be even better! I plan on basking in the sun without any jackets or stockings, sporting my SPF 60. Don't disappoint me, Santa Fe!


Giving the camera another one of my withering stares. See you on the flipside!

akward...reposted?

Maybe it's just me being silly, but I think blogspot hit a glitch & my last post along with many recent comments got deleted. But maybe not. Maybe this will just be a duplicate of the same thing. Who knows? It's Friday the 13th...!

Anyways, in case you did miss it, I posted this makeup tutorial type video of me being an awkward ass & mumbling on about nothing. Watch it if you please.

Ricky Nelson is my lover

Wow look! A new photo-taking location! After much grumbling and whining, the sun has finally made an appearance. Welcome, spring! The only downfall is that my old location has too much glare & awkward shadows, so I've had to seek out a new spot. In front of my garage door. I'm okay with it....in my old location, the garbage man would always inevitably drive by & smile and wave as I stood there like an idiot giving the tripod my best America's Next Top Model pout.


"And here we have a top-of-the-line cross-body bag by R&Em, in a gorgeous gold finish and gold stud detailing!" How's my Vanna White impression? I snatched this purse up at Macy's earlier this week for something crazy like 50% off. In the end I paid about $30 and then ran out of the store like a bandit. The designer is this super cute new brand called R&Em which I believe is only carried via Macy's. I originally went in looking for the Gig bag (I never thought I'd be saying this, but I really like the mustard colour!) but, alas, they did not carry that one. They also didn't have any Material Girl merchandise, grumble grumble. Whenever I go into a store looking for a specific something, I always come out with something completely different. In this case, I'm not complaining!


Whenever I go out to take photos, Moses likes to follow me. In my new location, he can amble on over & say hey whenever he wants (his leash didn't quite stretch to my old one). He was having a good time about it until I snatched him up lovingly and made him give a kiss or two for the camera. I'm always sticking the camera into his cute little face, and he totally resents me for it. I'm going to have to start giving him rewards (kisses? biscuits? peanut butter?) for putting up with the camera.

I haven't conditioned my hair in a while so it's crazy curly lately. I found this little sequin bow headband which I bought for Halloween 2009 when I was a kitty cat. It almost gets lost in all my hair, but it adds to the '80s-'90s look I was attempting to achieve. Plus, last night, I was told on 3 different occasions that I have cool hair. After the 3rd time, it was declared a fact. Apparently it's not even subjective now. I should've told them that it hadn't been washed proper for a couple weeks. Maybe they would've changed their minds....

These shorts are by the brand Minkpink via Modcloth. I scooped them up in an end-of-the-season sale and they're absolutely the best. I wish to wear them everyday! I love this designer like crazy & their new summer collection is amazing. The blouse is American Apparel with a mesh H&M lingerie top underneath. And I'm sorry that I'm constantly wearing these booties! They're my new favourites - from Steve Madden. Plus they work great with the new sock & heel trend which I've embraced. Ok, so it's an old trend...but it's only been recently that I caught onto it.
The lipstick I'm wearing is Lime Crime's "My Beautiful Rocket" with a thin layer of "Retrofuturist" over it.


Today I have my French grammar final. Next Friday I have my globalization final and then I'm done with school until the autumn! For the third week of May I'll be in New Mexico (!) and when I get back I'll be receiving my high school diploma. A lot of exciting stuff going on, huh? Does anyone live in New Mexico? I need to know where to go shopping! I'll be in the Santa Fe area.


Tonight I'm going to the launch of my university's literary magazine. I have a short story and a poem published in the annual issue, so I'm reading the poem and hopefully making a few connections with publishers. I'll post more about this later, when I plan on doing a catch-up post for all I've been up to lately. Until then, enjoy the spring and this Ricky Nelson song. Because there is nothing lovelier than Ricky Nelson.

lipstick & other vices

I recently bought six new lipsticks, and since I love playing dress up and making faces for the camera, I thought, "Why not post about them?" There's also the fact that it's May 2nd and there're little snowflakes in the air, so I've been choosing to stay indoors wearing thigh high socks and hoodies (except for an escape to the Mayday Festival yesterday, in which I froze my toes and fingers off, and ate a gyro [and as a side note for any locals - if you see me out & about, please say 'hey!' and introduce yourself!]).



I was super excited to try out Lime Crime lipsticks! I got three colours - Retrofuturist, My Beautiful Rocket, and Centrifuchsia, as pictured above. I'm now obsessed with these - they're super opaque, vibrant, and pigmented. They blend & layer well, as well. But the best part? The bright, glittery packaging (complete with unicorns!) and the fact that they smell like powdered sugar (and I love sugar).



My Beautiful Rocket is a tangerine-orange colour. It's super opaque, which is the best part, and I love wearing it with a thin layer of red on top. That being said, it looks brilliant on it's own. The idea of orange lipstick never really occured to me, but it's definitely a lot of fun and a nice pop.



Retrofuturist is a very true, all-skin-tone-friendly red colour. Reds are definitely difficult to find in the perfect shade (matching skin tones is such a hassle), so I must say this is probably the ideal red! It's got a great flapper-vibe to it because of how opaque it is.



Centrifuchsia is the last of the 3 I sampled from Lime Crime. It's a very deep neon pink which, due to its pigmentation, is hard to come by in drugstore quality make up. I feel like this one is particularly long-lasting and the colour is the perfect pop of girly-ness.


Next up, I gave the new Bite line at Sephora a whirl. Because I'm horrible at making decisions, I went for the pre-selected Crème Trio Set with Rhône, Pepper, and Bouquet, as pictured above. These lipsticks are definitely a lot more sheer than the Lime Crime one. They're very moisturizing, which is possibly my favourite part and they claim to contain antioxidant resveratrol. My favourite part is that they're free of synthetics and made with food-grade inredients that are safe enough to eat. The cases are super sleek and modern, however I feel like they could've highlighted a better selection, maybe with shades that would better compliment a wider range of skin tones.




The Pepper shade was very slightly darker than my natural shade - a dusty rose colour, a little bit on the browner side. This one is most certainly natural enough for daytime wear when I'm not feeling too bold. It accentuates my natural colour, but that's about it.



The Bouquet colour ended up being a lot brighter than the "soft pink" colour as described on the website. It's still very pretty but in order to wear it without my skin looking too washed up, I need to layer it with something a tad bit darker. It's a very lovely colour though, and I look forward to playing with it more.



Rhône was definitely the most pigmented of the trio. The others were a lot more glossy than this shade. It's a nice pink-berry colour and tame enough to wear for a casual day at work or on campus. I'm not sure how much I like this shade for my skin tone though, so I'm playing with layering it with other colours. It's like when you're painting and mixing a million colours together in order to find the perfect shade!


Anyways, there you go for if you're in the market for some new lipstick (and you should be!). Now, the cold weather is irritating-ly exhausting, so I must curl up in bed with my Domo plush and fall asleep. Let there be warmer days ahead!