people need eachother - that's what life's about

Once I stepped off my bike, I realized that there really wasn't a nice breeze...anywhere. It was hot and sticky...again. But what's this? Leaves on the ground already?

My boyfriend bought me this dress (worn here as a skirt) when he visited Woodstock in June. I am in love with the skirt - it flares out wonderfully whilst spinning around (which, I learned, was not a good idea today...much too hot).



This year, I'm loving have longer hair that I can adorn with all sorts of things. Today, my accessory of choice was a sunflower.



dress - Good Times
shirt - vintage
shoes - Minnetonka
belt - thrifted xhileration
necklace - my own design



Ah, my trusty mocs. I was overjoyed when my parents bought them for me several summers ago after wanting a pair of mocs practically my whole life. They hardly left my feet that whole week. They are pleasantly cool in the summertime and warm in the fall - what more could you ask for?

I lost my heart...to a circus girl who ran away

Ever since I made that video a couple weeks ago, I've been itching to make another. My boyfriend left for college this morning so I've been trying to keep my mind off of it by playing around with the video program.

It's similar to the previous video in a couple of ways, but I hope you enjoy it none the less. Also, there seems to be an issue with this track from my music program...ignore the swit swit swit.

dress (worn as a skirt) - thrifted

top - vintage
hat - vintage
shoes - H&M
earrings (worn on shoe laces) - vintage

I had tons of sparkle on my top half, so I was looking for a way to balance it out somehow on the bottom half. At the last minute, I though back to this post and decided to mimic the bedazzled laces with a couple of my clip-on earrings. I will definitely be doing more of this from now on...

and all your future lies beneath your hat...

I find that the best thing you can get at a thrift store is potential. To be successful, you need to not just see one item as it is, you need to see all that it could be with a little attention.

My boyfriend and I perused two antique stores and a Goodwill yesterday. I spotted this dress on the racks at Goodwill and, liking the print, I took it down for further inspection. Well further inspection took me to the fitting rooms, and bam, fit like a glove. However, the silhouette and the pretty print were plagued by the twelve inch slits cut up the dress from the hem in six places. Even though I liked the length, those slits were too much to handle. So, when I got home, I promptly took out my tiny pins and got to work.







dress - vintage Serendipity
belt - thrifted xhileration
tights - Kmart
shoes - Steve Madden
sunglasses - vintage
hat - vintage



This gorgeous hat was a find from one of the antique stores yesterday. I am in love with the wide brim. It came with this fall colored ribbon already on it, but I think I may remove it and add my own.



My boyfriend is the man behind the camera again...and tomorrow is his last day before he leaves me for U of Rochester again...

love is real

It was a gorgeous day. Yesterday, I could even smell fall in the air...it's coming. Some leaves are even coming down in my neighborhood! I tried to focus my outfit on just those elements - summer slowly slipping into fall.





blouse - vintage
skirt - thrifted Gap
socks - Kmart
booties - Charlotte Russe
bow tie - Gap
purse - vintage
jewelry - vintage



Thank you to my boyfriend for taking these pretty photos.

seat a skeleton at every feast

I've been very productive lately, and I will tell you this for free, my last venture into the DIYing territory turned out loads better than the double batch of cucumber soup I made last night...



From the front, just another plain black tee...



Turn around and it becomes a sexy skeletal number.








It all started with a $2 shirt from the thrift store.

good times for a change

Um, summer is officially back! Well, I guess it's been summer for a while, but I mean nice summer...not too hot or too humid to actually want to be outdoors for more than thirty seconds at a time. There's even a cool breeze, enough so that wearing a light cardigan was comfortable.





dress - thrifted
cardigan - thrifted American Eagle
shoes - Piper and Blue
hat - vintage Middleton
purse - vintage
earrings - vintage
ring - thrifted

And now, for something new and exciting. I have made a short video in addition to just taking outfit pictures. Let me know what you think! (Edit: Wow, I just watched this and I guess I didn't realize how noisy the wind was in a couple of the shots! So sorry!)

I'm clearly no wizard with the movie maker program, but maybe with more practice I'll get a bit better! I'm glad I got to share the gorgeous weather with you!

I'll tell you everything about being free

Ever since Disney gave us Esmeralda I have been in love with gypsy culture. This outfit was inspired by the carefree and unconventional lives of the traveling people. I can't get enough of the bold colors and prints, usually found in their lush scarves and long full skirts. I am looking forward to more gypsy inspiration for this coming fall...





This outfit called for a pile of jewelry - several necklaces, an armful of bracelets, rings, earrings, and even an elephant belt (and for when the day is done, a calico cat tin to keep everything in).



You can catch a glimpse of my trusty photographer in the marching elephants below.



tank - thrifted Mossimo
skirt - thrifted
sandals - Glaze
scarf - thrifted
purse - thrifted
belt - vintage
jewelry - all vintage



I'm looking forward to exhausting this color palate come fall when the same colors will be reflected in the leaves. It is nice to see how well the rust and ochre look against the pretty green grass, though.

frilly socks DIY

Here is a wee DIY post for the frilly lace socks I wore here. It's fairly simple and the results are soooo cute! After that post where I lamented the lack of frilly socks on the market, several people commented that American Apparel does, in fact, sell some that are similar. These from AA are super duper cute, but the DIY ones are easy enough to make and cost a lot less.



Materials:

1. 1 pair socks - I used Basic Editions socks from Kmart ($3.99 for 2 pairs)
2. lace - I used garter material from Ben Franklin ($2.99/yard)
   
3. needle and thread (optional color)
   
4. scissors

Make sure you measure the lace around the circumference of the sock opening (and add a little bit for an overlap) to make sure you get enough. I bought a whole yard and ended up with enough to make two pairs.



I was shopping for lace and ended up buying the make-your-own-garter lace. This gives you a place to stitch (along the top at the elastic), and the "flare" of the lace is already there.

Step 1 - align the elastic of the lace with the top of the sock (or wherever you are placing it)
Step 2 - using a running stitch, stitch around the elastic of the lace starting in the back
Step 3 - make sure and leave a little extra to overlap once you have stitched all the way around
Step 4 - knot the thread and snip any loose ends
Step 5 - fluff lace for desired effect



Overall, these socks are simple to make and only cost about $4 a pair. I'm planning on making a couple more pairs, probably with different color socks, lace, or both. Let me know if you make a pair...I'd love to see!

It's hotter than you-know-what outside and we've had tons of rain so we are up to our ears in biting bugs! Hopefully the temperature and the humidity will die down soon so I can get back to posting at the semi-usual rate I've had to abandon for lack of good photo-taking circumstances.

I go out walking all day long

I think sunflowers are the happiest flowers...doesn't just looking at one want to make you smile? It's all the good things about summer made into one beautiful plant.



This gorgeous summery dress was given to me by my boyfriend's mom (she even had her senior picture taken in it). I love it. I love the long skirt (perfect for twirling in the grass) and the corset-esque top. It's the quintessential summer dress - you don't need anything else because it works all by itself. I usually don't like wearing white, but on a summer day it's hard to refuse the crisp coolness of the color.



I love the look of a wrist full of bracelets (a la Jack Sparrow). Sometimes, to add a little devil-may-care attitude, I like to wrap a necklace around my wrists to go with whatever bracelets I've chosen.



dress - vintage
sandals - Glaze
bracelets - my own design





My boyfriend and I went out wanting to have a picnic, but the mosquitoes chased us away again. At least he got a couple pictures snapped before we were completely eaten to death.