Before the Mountains

Leggings. Something I haven't worn since middle school when my best friend & I hosted an '80s themed party. I've been wanting red velvet leggings for years now and finally decided to splurge on some from Romwe. I use the word "splurge" lightly in this case, seeing as these babies only cost me about $16. It was my first Romwe purchase, as I've never quite understood what all the hubub was about. It seems like everyone's and their mothers' closets are chock full of Romwe goods. It's too overwhelming to browse through, just loads and loads of stuff, so I've never spent much time on their site. But, it's all super cute and things are super inexpensive, which gets me to why I used the word "splurge."   I have issues with buying cheap clothes, especially cheap clothes that are direct designer knock offs made with less quality material and distributed by the thousands. I could get into huge arguments about this issue but the bottom line is this: the clothes are cheap, so people are inclined to stock up on them, but then only wear them once before they get passed onto goodness knows where. The whole concept makes me very uneasy. I mean, I have no problem buying second hand clothes, in fact that's what most of my wardrobe is, but it seems like it's starting to become excessive. People are consuming more and more stuff for the sole reason that it's cheap.   That being said, after buying this pair of leggings and being so happy with them, I went and bought a pair of the Gustav Klimt "The Kiss" ones, even though they're clearly a direct knock-off of Black Milk's original. I looked at both pairs & decided that I liked the placement and colours of the Romwe ones better. That and I don't remember the last time I paid $75 for a single garment. These leggings are so kitsch, they won't be an everyday staple and therefore paying $24 a pop isn't such a bad deal.   I paired the leggings with these blue Steve Madden buckle boots (with kick-ass chains on the heels) which I bought on sale a couple of years ago. I think these babies set me back about $20 - $35...not bad for a sale item! I don't wear them nearly enough, unfortunately. They're a tad big.   I am also wearing a shirt that I found at Everyday People a year or two ago for the low low price of $10. It's falling apart into pieces, which is such a shame because it's beautiful. Definitely one of my favourite shirts...plus the brand is "Campus Casuals" which I love! It most certainly was a campus casual for me, today. Whenever I put it on, I imagine some dirty hippie wearing it. Probably one that went to Macalester College and pretended to be poor when he was actually really wealthy and was trying to put that behind him and be independent of his parents, which is why he bought this crummy, psychadelic shirt. Yeah, I give a lot of my second hand clothes imaginary background histories.   My lucky charms which I wear almost everyday: my hamsa, my ankh, and my name in Arabic, a charm which my uncle picked up for me while on one of his tours of the Middle East. Numerous Arabic-speaking people have told me that if you sounded that translation out, it wouldn't sound at all like my name. Cheers for having names spelt different than how they sound!   It was chilly when I left for campus this morning, so I threw on my jean jacket. It still had pins stuck all over it from when I wore it last autumn here (my singular jean jacket doesn't get much wear, clearly). Some of the pins were taken off for other purposes, like Piglet and that red star, and some of them I only just recently re-attached. Also, aye yi yi, finding that post...it's always so weird when you stumble across photos of your ex-boyfriends...why did I post that on the blog? Did I really think he'd stick around long enough for it to be necessary to show him off on the blog?   Arrrrgh I have so much homework to do tonight...and this weekend in general! I better get started on that. I have too much energy right now, I can't sit and read a textbook. Today has been a weird day: I've been super hyper and overly chatty, yet with no one to really talk to. And then coming home from campus, there was a man who just stared at me for my whole 15 minute bus ride, which made me really uncomfortable and put me in some weird funk. I think I look slightly off in these photos, so apologies if I don't look my normal self! Anyways, must get going, lots to read, lots to study! xx