10 Days, No Dresses challenge - Day Two

So, dear readers, today I didn't put on anything but work-from-home gear. I had a big project to do and ended up not leaving the house at all.

I'll make it up to you, I promise. Perhaps by sharing some old poetry I found when I cleaned off my old laptop's failing hard drive.

Would that interest you? It's pretty angsty. I'd like to think I'm a happier person now...

10 Days, No Dresses - Day One

For realsies, I wore jeans today.



Also, it was so overcast today the streetlights came on at 2pm, so these pictures are courtesy of our apartment building hallway. What a lovely exit sign!



Outfit details:
necklace: gift from husband, it's a copper book-shaped locket
scarf that I'm holding in my hand: H&M
jeans: Torrid source of wisdom skinnies, dark wash, size 4
jersey asymmetrical trapezey top: Asos Curve, clearance, size UK22
lace cardigan: Target xxl, clearance, $8!!
awesome cognac brown peep toe heels of awesome: Frye, size 11, I've had them for years but hardly ever wear them because I hardly ever wear heels. But they are so cute!

Folks, this challenge is going to be HARD. I can already tell. I liked my outfit today, but all day I kept thinking "I bet I'd be more comfortable in a dress". When I got home, I couldn't wait to change into my PJs!

10 Days, No Dresses challenge

If you've stopped by this here blog before, you may notice that I employ dresses quite liberally in my wardrobe. You may even be able to say, truthfully, that I wear a dress nearly every day.

So, Monkey and I decided to do a challenge that would push us both in the direction of the neglected pieces in our wardrobes! For me, this is pants and skirts (trousers to you Brits. I do wear underwear.). For Monkey, it's dresses - go see her first day post, she's adorbs.

(via pudgy hands of doom, deviantart)

So, I own 3 pairs of jeans that are fit for actual wearing (and one pair for painting/getting dirty). I own a handful of skirts as well, but I hardly ever wear them. I'm not sure why - I think I just like dresses more, they are more comfortable, they require less constant-adjusting-throughout-the-day-anytime-I-sit-or-stand. I'm a busy and important person*. I don't have time for adjusting my clothing constantly to maintain my preferred state of Awesome.

But, I did just get 2 pairs of skinny jeans from Torrid, and they are comfy, and I have a few cute tops, and I want to get out of the rut of "dress, cardigan, boots, scarf = rebecca".

So, this week M-F, and next week M-F, I'll be wearing jeans or skirts exclusively. I'm also going to try to wear heels more often too, since they are also neglected.

Stay tuned for Day One's outfit - which I am wearing now, but haven't taken any pictures of just yet. Can you even handle the excitement?

*actual importance may vary

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am eating turkey and other accoutrements, most likely in my pajamas. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers, in the US and other places that aren't celebrating today. I hope you are all having wonderful days full of friends and foods that you enjoy, with absolutely no food policing or shaming or trying to be "good".


(me making stuffing, Thanksgiving 2009)

I know it's corny, but I'm very thankful to all of you! Thanks so much for reading my blog!

OOTD: Evans clearance tank and skinnies

I have really been enjoying my Source of Wisdom skinnies that I got from Torrid a few weeks ago. The other day (actually about 2 weeks ago when it was still sunny here), I wore this easy outfit:



I even got an outside picture of it!

Outfit details:
Grey and blush striped tank: Evans size 22, bought on clearance
Grey skinnies: SOW, size 24, torrid
Cardigan: Target Merona, xxl
Snood: simplybe.com

I'm squinting because the sun is bright! Yay bright sun. I miss you.

Sponge rollers: better than a curling iron if you are clumsy like me

Making my hair curly is a difficult and long road. It requires lots of product and drying with a diffuser to even look a little wavy, and even a curling iron can't really make it curly. Plus, I burn myself and make my arms tired every time I try to use one!

But, of course, I can't just accept the fact that my hair is straight and be happy with it, I have to try to change it. In this way, I discovered sponge rollers.


(via google images)

Sponge rollers are much better than searingly hot metal. They are soft, like teddy bears. They are forgiving. One can sleep on them - which is what I do. I roll my hair up at night, spritzing a little water on each section before rolling it. I put a scarf over it when I'm done to keep the rollers from falling out while I sleep.

This particular time, when I took them out in the morning, my hair was curled WAY tighter than I expected. I went with it!



The side view shows how awesome the curls were. Also, you can see how my winter paleness allows my veins to be easily visible beneath my skin. Kinda gross chin/neck vein!



I almost feel a little like a 50s housewife when I put rollers in my hair - it's such an old beauty trick! I think sponge rollers have been around for decades. My husband makes fun of me when I have rollers in too :) - but I really like the look. Also, my hair still looks great the next day, and I can pin it up easily with the then-looser curls.

Have any of you rediscovered a beauty trick that's been used for many years and found it to work great for you?

What's in my bag?

Monkey challenged me to a "what's in my bag?" post - I thought it would be fun! She did one as well, it's up over there and you should check it out! All I will say is it's very owl-tastic :)

Another fun thing is that when I opened the shades in our bedroom to get more light for the pictures I saw that it's SNOWING outside!!! This is the first time I've seen snow in many, many years. I'm so excited!!!!!! Can you tell?

My bag:


I got it at a garage sale for $3 about 4 months ago, and I've carried it ever since. I used to change my purses quite a bit, but this one is just about perfect for me so I've kept carrying it. It's a wonderful leather with leather patchwork on the front (some of the patches are actually hairy and that's weird and gross to me, but I try not to think about them).


I subscribe to the "many little bags" theory of purse organization, mainly because I don't want little things getting lost in the bottom of my purse. Clockwise from left: marimekko purse, H&M zipper pouch, "loop" wallet. Within these are painkillers, pepto bismol (a wonder drug!), lip balm, hand sanitizer, lens wipes, lady products, etc.


And here's everything together, clockwise from left:
Top row: marimekko purse,h&m zipper pouch, moleskine and pen, tissues, sunglasses in case (don't need to carry those anymore for a few months)
second row: checkbook, wallet
third row: box of business cards for my blog/etsy store (you'd be amazed how often it comes up in conversation and then I can just give a card!), cell phone, badge for work.

Like Monkey, I usually also have a book but I don't really like the one I'm reading right now so I'm not carrying it around.

What do you carry in your bag every day?

108 - Indoor photos are hard to take

With the daylight savings time change, mixed with the latitude of Seattle... well, folks, it's been difficult to get photos of my outfits during the daylight hours. I'm just too shy to ask a coworker to take a picture of me I guess!

So, I tried to make a home photo studio area using a thrifted sheet that I keep meaning to turn into a dress, and all the lamps we have in the room, plus the tripod.

The result: mediocre at best.



At least my outfit was super cute!

but it wasn't shiny like the pictures made it look:


And the only way I could keep my eyes from becoming huge flashes of light was from not looking at the camera, which, frankly, makes me look a little too wistful.



Outfit details:
Lace shirt: Ross, part of a dress combo
Dress: thrifted Avenue skirt turned into a dress
Boots: Target
Headband: etsy, ages ago, forget which seller
Curly hair: courtesy of sponge rollers worn overnight!

How do you awesome photo takers take indoor pictures that turn out so great? Glasses-wearers, how do you keep your glasses from reflecting the flash?

Happy 107th post!

Around these parts, we don't celebrate the 100th post like normal bloggers. NO.... We celebrate post # 107.

(This is mainly because I didn't realize that post 100 was actually post #100)

How do we celebrate post #107?

With a scarf on my head!



Outfit details:
Jeans: Torrid "Source of wisdom" skinnies, size 24. These are my new favorite pants. I like them enough to actually wear pants every once and awhile now!
Shirt: I actually forget!
Cardigan: Alloy XXXL
Scarf: from a clothing swap
Glasses: zennioptical.com

5 pieces that define my style

Stephanie over at Buttons, Bows & Brogues recently did a piece where she showed 5 pieces that make up her style. I am shamelessly copying this notion, because I think it's a neat idea!

1) Dresses with petticoats underneath



2) Glasses (I actually need them, these are all prescription glasses)



3) Boots



4) Scarves



5) Brooches/sweater clips


What about you? Could you boil down your style to 5 things?

No Buy November

I am accepting Monkey's challenge to not buy anything clothing-related for the month of November.

(I am making an exception for a coat and a bathing suit, because I've been looking for both of these for a few months now.) But, other than that, I will not be buying clothing or shoes for the whole month of November.

I think I can do it. I can be strong. Will you join us?

OOTD: Portland for the weekend

Two weekends ago Bob and I went to Portland to visit my Dad and little brother, who were in town for business. It was so great to see them!

We were able to find a pet friendly hotel, so we took Waffles with us.


I recently received this dress from Old Navy and it was so comfy I wore it in the car on the way down:




Isn't it awesome? I love the red and the print on the fabric. It's a cotton/poly jersey that's thicker than ON dresses normally are. I also got it in black - that's how much I loved it.

Outfit details:
Dress: Old Navy size 2x
Boots: Target Kaden size 11
Kneesocks: american apparel, "over the knee" socks
Wool coat: Target, a few years ago.

We ate at this awesome biscuit place that had a line out the door. Here's my dad and me in line:

(he ALWAYS blinks in pictures, it's impossible to get a not-blinking shot of him)

Then we hit up the Columbia river gorge area:

(me and my little bro at Multnomah falls)

And we also stopped at a fish hatchery:

chubby love!

There was a random bear statue there:


He was smaller than I thought he'd be. Maybe he was just a baby bear. Which is super sad. Sorry for the downer, y'all.