Etsy Favorites

Other people need to buy these things so I can stop being tempted by them.

Red Rose-Embossed Bag from A Few Nice Things

Studded Art Deco Flats from Selective Memory

Vintage Floral Tank from Ms. Tips Vintage

1950s “Librarian” Dress from Little Bee Vintage

 Houndstooth Pencil Skirt from Our Golden Owl

Faux Snakeskin Turquoise Belt from Pineapple Mint

1940s Striped Skirt from Small Earth Vintage

Vintage Lace Collars from Lush Threads

1960s Patchwork Bag from Day Glo Diva

Pastel Plaid Dress from The Vintage Cauldron

One of Those Days

Top: Forever 21

Skirt: thrifted

Socks: For Love 21

Shoes: Naturalizer

Bag: thrifted

I had the hardest time taking a good photo today, maybe because Jasen and I had to go to a different part of the carport behind our apartments for photos since a car was parked in our usual spot. How dare they actually use that parking stall to PARK a car! (Kidding, of course!)

This outfit is supposed to be mixing patterns, but looking at the photos, I see that the pattern on the skirt is so subtle it hardly qualifies as one. Maybe I’ll try a bolder pattern with this top the next time I wear it.

Happy Friday!

Thrifted Thursday No. 3

Dress worn as top: thrifted

Skirt: thrifted

Belt: I think thrifted, given to me by my sister

Shoes: thrifted

Bag: thrifted

I’m just going to come right out and say this is one of my favorite outfits that I’ve ever worn. And an elderly woman walked up to me and complimented it. I LOVE when that happens! I might have cheated a little bit as far as the “thrifted” requirement goes, but I don’t really think I did. I say that for two reasons: (1) the dress I’m wearing as a top came from Crossroads, which doesn’t call itself a thrift store, but this dress was used when I bought it and I traded some of my clothes for it, and (2) Hillary gave me this belt a long time ago and I’m pretty sure she originally found it at Quality Thrift, but I don’t know for sure; either way it belonged to someone else before me. Ugh, I write WAY too many sentences using the coordintating conjunction “but.” I’ve been noticing that in my blog posts. I don’t know what it means...I guess that I make a lot of excuses? I’ll try to stop, but I don’t know if I can. Oh. Whoops.

Choco Mint

Blouse: thrifted

Skirt: thrifted

Socks: Target

Shoes: Boutique 9

Bag: Tignanello

I guess I was thinking about chocolate when I decided what to wear today because there’s a lot around right now, left over from Easter — including two packages of these fair trade chocolate speckled eggs that I ordered from Divine last week, knowing they probably wouldn’t arrive in time for the holiday. They were delivered on Monday, so I’ve been gobbling them up.

Next year I’m going to have to look for these eggs in stores earlier. I asked on Divine’s Facebook page which stores in Pasadena sell them, and they told me Whole Foods and Ten Thousand Villages; however, there weren’t any left at Whole Foods by the time I checked there. Anyway, they are DELICIOUS! They’re definitely at least as good as Cadbury’s mini eggs, if not better. The main difference to me is that the shell seems to have a slight malted flavor, but otherwise they’re pretty similar. This makes me so happy because Cadbury chocolate products in the United States are manufactured by Hershey, which unfortunately does not use fair trade chocolate yet. But mini eggs are my favorite Easter candy, and among my favorite types of candy, period.

Um, well, yeah...I apologize if all that sounded too soapboxy and annoying, especially coming from someone who has a sizable clothing collection, if you know what I mean. I just really like those egg candies and fair trade chocolate. Moving on, I found the blouse I’m wearing at, where else, Quality Thrift, and my skirt came from Goodwill. I’ve been wanting to work more mint into my wardrobe, and I think this shade is really nice. I also had to buy this blouse because it has a Peter Pan collar. There’s no way I could pass that up.

  

Easter Picnic

Dress: thrifted

Top: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: belonged to my grandmother

Shoes: thrifted

The weather has been cloudy here all week — not too cold, just gray. It’s gotten kind of depressing. Today Jasen and I went to a park in Rancho Cucamonga for a picnic with Jasen’s mom, his sister and her boyfriend and my brothers. The sun had come out in Pasadena by the time Jasen and I left for Rancho, but once we got there it was looking gloomy again and the wind was picking up. So our picnic was pretty short and we ended up retreating to my dad’s house, where my brothers live.

I’ve been trying to take weekends off from blogging, but I really felt like posting yesterday and today because both days I got dressed for an event and cared about what I put on. Today I originally was going to wear a new-to-me vintage dress that I found at Quality Thrift, which didn’t work out because I didn’t have a clean slip to wear under it and it’s see-through. Instead I decided I had to work with this blue dress because the color is so Eastery.

I layered the polka-dotted top underneath since it wasn’t very warm out and added this pearl necklace that belonged to my mom’s mother. I should have gotten a close-up of it...I’ll have to do that the next time I wear it. My mom recently sent it to me because I had mentioned how hard it is to find a single-strand pearl necklace that isn’t so short it looks like a choker or so long it falls between my boobs, à la Thoroughly Modern Millie’s opening scene. This necklace is perfect! My grandma did have excellent, elegant taste, though, so I knew it would be.

Well, this is getting long. I think I’ll stop now and watch The Walking Dead with Jasen. We just got the first disc of the series from Netflix after reading everything through volume 13 of the comic series. I’m really curious to see how AMC adapted it.

Saturday Barbecue

Top: Forever 21

Jeans: CJ by Cookie Johnson

Bag: thrifted

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

It’s 11 o’clock at night, and Jasen and I just got back from a barbecue in Orange County. This top that I’m wearing has been hiding in my closet for a few months, and I’d sort of forgotten that I bought it. It may seem weird that such a bright top could get lost, but since my closet is organized by color, this top got wedged in among some other pink things.

I’m also wearing my CJ by Cookie Johnson jeans that I got WAY marked down when I worked for MyShape. They are so, so comfortable, though I’m getting a little tired of only wearing this skinny-leg style. I would love to buy a nice pair of high-waisted, wide-leg jeans, but it’s hard for me to find any jeans that fit right, let alone high-waisted jeans, which need to have a rise that’s the perfect length.

Ladybug

T-shirt: thrifted

Skirt: Cynthia Steffe

Tights: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Nordstrom about 15 years ago

Bag: thrifted

Of course after I found this polka-dotted J. Crew purse at Goodwill I had to wear it with red, black and white. This skirt kind of reminds me of a beetle, too, because of its shape and the overlapping folds. I guess dressing up like a ladybug is somewhat appropriate for Earth Day, if not for Good Friday.

Thrifted Thursday No. 2

Top: thrifted

Skirt: thrifted

Belt: thrifted

Shoes: thrifted

Bag: thrifted

I’m so excited that I found something with a heart print at a thrift store! Goodwill, to be exact. The skirt I’m wearing is a J. Crew one that I bought at Quality Thrift many years ago, and now that I think about it, my belt, shoes and bag are also all from Quality Thrift.

I guess that’s one of the biggest “secrets” to thrifting: finding some out-of-the-way place that you can rely on at least 75 to 80 percent of the time. And I guess I shouldn’t talk about my special thrift store on here, but what the hell. Quality Thrift is awesome.

Goodwills in general aren’t bad either, but some are certainly better than others and none of the Goodwills I’ve visited has been a good source of dresses. I have never found a dress at Goodwill that I could just buy and wear...but I will admit that if you can sew, Goodwill might be more useful to you because they have a lot of dresses made from interesting and pretty fabrics that could be restyled.

Which brings me to why I mostly wear skirts — for me, they’ve been much easier to find in thrift stores than dresses. Actually, there are several reasons that I wear skirts a lot, so I’m thinking about writing a post about those reasons. For now I’ll just say that it seems like skirts in good condition show up in thrift stores in abundance.

Feminautical

Top: Pretty Good, borrowed from my sister

Skirt: thrifted

Shoes: Pink Studio

Bag: Tignanello, found at Marshalls

Aw, man, stripes are so hard to photograph. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to wear this top that belongs to Hillary for a while. She lent it to me before she went to Australia. I think she also said there are more of her clothes in a closet at our dad’s house and that I could borrow them. I’ll have to look into that.

I love the crochet detail on this top, so I had to include a couple close-ups of it, even though in the back view you can kind of see my strapless bra. I thought the bra band would sit below the crochet panel in back, but nope! Oh well, I guess that’s okay. I don’t think it’s too obvious.

Little Black Boxes

Dress: Final Touch

Cardigan: Halogen

Tights: Hue

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

This outfit has a tidy, complete look to me, and I think it’s because of the three black, somewhat rectangular shapes at the top, center and bottom: my hair (okay, my hair is dark brown, but close enough), the waistband and the black saddle shoe sections. Does that sound ridiculous? Probably.

My dress is a few years old. I found it at Xi Clothing in Pasadena, which is a cheap little store over by Nordstrom Rack and Old Navy. I was drawn to the pattern on it, which is a sort of...tribal herringbone? I thought it was interesting. I added the olive green cardigan because I love green and gray together. 

7 Things

Mitzi of Atlantic Mermaid and Libby of Vintage Aplomb have passed on the Versatile Blogger Award to me, so I’m supposed to share seven facts about myself and then pass the award along to more people. Thank you for thinking of me, Mitzi and Libby! Here are my facts:

1. I love California.

We may have pollution, traffic and economic problems, but California is a beautiful state and I hope I can always call it my home. I’d love to visit many places, but I’m so attached to the beaches and mountains, feeling of freedom, variety of cuisines, cities and countryside, diversity and weather of California. So far I’ve lived here my entire life, and my parents also grew up here (their parents came from New York, Chicago and New Mexico). I took this photo when Jasen and I were driving down Pacific Coast Highway after visiting Berkeley one weekend.

2. I used to act.

For about five years in my late teens and early 20s I performed in several community theater and college plays. This is a photo of me as Sophia in Neil Simon’s Fools, the last play I was in before I gave up acting because I was starting grad school. I even met my husband, Jasen, through theater! We were both in a community college production of Cyrano de Bergerac. He played Cyrano, but I wasn’t Roxane. I just had two smaller roles. Another fun little fact: our first date was on Cyrano de Bergerac’s birthday, March 6^th. I wish I had some photos from Cyrano on the computer that I could share!

3. I hate raw carrots.

  Source: zoebakes.com

I can’t stand the texture. I think more people dislike carrots when they’re cooked, but I definitely prefer them that way. Gnawing on a carrot grosses me out.

4. I love buying and wrapping gifts.

Source: pacificscents.com

If I could do this for a living, I would. Whenever I have the chance to choose a gift for someone, I obsess over picking THE perfect item(s) for that person and wrapping the gift in a way that relates to him or her somehow. It’s so satisfying to perfectly fold and tape the paper, coordinate the ribbons or other decorations...and of course see the look on the recipient’s face when the gift is opened! Yes, of course giving gifts is generally pleasurable for people, but I REALLY love it.

5. I had a Road to Avonlea website in the ’90s.

  Source: koretv.wordpress.com

And it had fan fiction. Yes, fan fiction. I worked on it from age 14 to age 16. I eventually lost access to the site and it disappeared, although I have at least some of the fan fiction somewhere.

6. Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite writers.

  Source: coverspy.tumblr.com

I’ve read seven of his novels and plan to read them all eventually. My favorite so far has been The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The bizarre yet familiar world that he created in this book, the supernatural elements and the protagonist’s emotional journey driving the plot are, in my opinion, brilliant. I don’t think I’ve been sadder about finishing any other novel. I feel a connection with his writing that’s hard to explain, although I think there’s something introverted and analytical about it that I relate to. I also love his beautiful, precise, well-placed similes.

7. My sister is studying abroad in Melbourne, Australia.

  Source: bluebirdbayou.blogspot.com

Her name is Hillary, and I miss her very much. Hillary is five and a half years younger than me and majoring in anthropolgy. (She also, haha, used to work at Anthropologie.) She is one of the absolute nicest people ever, extremely smart and funny, artistic and gorgeous. She can even sing! She has a beautiful voice and sang “It Had to Be You” at Jasen’s and my wedding. She has a blog as well (http://bluebirdbayou.blogspot.com/) if you’re interested in reading about her adventures in Australia.

And the bloggers I’m passing this award on to are Brittany of not all who wander are lost, Brinny of NOT WITHOUT INCIDENT, Hope of Pansy Lane, Sian of Rebel Angel, Ciara and Stephanie of Roses and Pearls Vintage and Jenni of Stop Making Sense. I apologize if any of you already received this award or if awards like this aren’t your cup of tea, but I tried to choose people I thought might be interested in listing seven things!

PS: Does anyone know where this award started? I’ve been seeing it all over the place lately, and I’m just curious.

Craft Time

Top: thrifted

Skirt: thrifted

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Bag: Tignanello, found at Marshalls

Between the ric-rac and bright complementary colors of this outfit, I kind of feel like a preschool teacher. I found this top at Crossroads not too long ago, and I knew right away that I wanted to wear it with my bright blue skirt. For some reason I tend to think that I combine orange with blue too often, so when I come up with an orange and blue outfit in the morning, I’ll dismiss it with the thought “Oh, you wear those colors all the time.” As a result, I actually haven’t worn this color combination in over a month, which I discovered by looking at past blog posts.

Thrifted Thursday No. 1

Dress: thrifted vintage

Sweater: thrifted

Shoes: thrifted

Bag: thrifted vintage

I decided I needed to challenge myself to create at least one all-thrifted outfit per week, so my blog now has its first feature: Thrifted Thursday. I’ll allow myself to wear non-thrifted tights or socks if necessary in my Thrifted Thursday outfits, though, because I don’t own any thrifted tights or socks. I’m going to try to stick with thrifted shoes even though I don’t have many yet. I might have to cheat in that area at some point, but I’m at least going to try not to!

Today was absolutely perfect. I probably sound bipolar after my last post, but it was. I met Ani and Emily for lunch to celebrate Ani’s birthday, and after we ate we talked forever and walked around Urban Outfitters, Wasteland (they sell vintage at prices I definitely could afford if I had a job) and this weird $1 bookstore in downtown Burbank. We also visited Yogurtland, where I had their newish Guava Pineapple Tart flavor. It was SO good, but I like anything with guava.

I’ve blogged about the dress I’m wearing before, right here, but I’ll mention again that I found it at Quality Thrift for...$5.99! Their store doesn’t specialize in vintage at all, but it seems like every time I go there I find one or two cool vintage items hiding somewhere. I added the green pullover because I’ve been wanting to create a yellow and green outfit lately. I’ve been seeing this color combination on Chictopia and other blogs and I think it’s perfect for spring.

The overall ’70s look of this outfit was also inspired by Freaks and Geeks, which Jasen and I have been watching this week. I know it’s set in 1980-1981, but there’s some serious ’70s style going on in that show. I’ve seen so many cool color combinations that I want to try. I especially like the outfits worn by the Cindy Sanders cheerleader character and Maureen Sampson, the “cool” girl who hangs out with the geeks for a while. The female teachers wear some cute outfits too. I can’t believe that show was cancelled after only 18 episodes. It’s so smart and real and painful and I just love it.

On a Flower Trip

Dress: Velvet Heart

Skirt: Forever 21

Shoes: Target

Bag: thrifted

Yes, I’m wearing another rose-print dress. And I want more florals in my wardrobe. MORE! MORE! MWAHAHA! Okay, well, I really like them because I enjoy wearing very feminine clothes with my short haircut.

I mentioned right after I bought this dress from Crossroads that it’s too short for me, so my friend Ani suggested that I wear a lacy skirt underneath. I love the result! Although I’m trying to get away from Forever 21 and move more toward thrifting and buying vintage for various reasons, I bought the skirt that I’m wearing as a petticoat on Forever 21’s 100% for Japan day. They did it; they got me to buy from them that day. I just needed an excuse. I’m not sure if this dress was previously owned or not because Crossroads sometimes sells new items from Velvet Heart. It didn’t have a “new” tag and it was $14, so I think it probably is used.

As I write this, I have about 40 minutes to wait until the window starts in which EDD will call me and determine whether I get my unemployment check that was supposed to come last week. I probably filled something out wrong on the form and everything will be fine once I talk to them, but ughhhhh, stress! I can’t wait for this interview and the job interview that I have tomorrow to be over.

Cold and Lazy

Sweater: thrifted

Skirt: Forever 21

Tights: For Love 21

Shoes: vintage, Valley Shoes

Today was one of those days when you walk outside and think how sunny and nice it is until the freezing wind hits you, so Jasen and I decided to be lazy and stay inside. This is what I wore to do nothing but read blogs, bake cookies and watch more Mad Men. I almost completely failed at my first attempt to use a cookie press. I say “almost” only because I was able to make one good spritz cookie. After three cookie sheets of misshapen lumps, I gave up and decided to use the dough to make thumbprint-style cookies, pouring dollops of icing into the wells. At least they taste good.

Spring Me Roses

Dress: Betsey Johnson, found on eBay

Belt: thrifted

Shoes: Target

Bag: thrifted vintage

Jasen and I just got two more discs of Mad Men from Netflix, so with that in mind I pulled this retro Betsey Johnson sheath out of my closet. I know, I know, jewel tones on black again, but I tried to make it more springy with a really bright belt and tan accessories.

I don’t know why I’ve never worn this dress for a blog post before. It’s one of my favorites, especially because I had to hunt it down over several months. It was on the MyShape website when I worked there, but the lowest the price got on the site was about $200 before it sold out. I found the dress elsewhere online for about $200 after that and kept checking to see if it was still available, but I could never justify $200. Then I found it on eBay (pre-owned) for something like $60 including shipping. Yay!

I feel somewhat better about my EDD interview on Monday because today I got a call from a company to set up a job interview on Tuesday. It’s a copywriting job, not in fashion/retail but with web emphasis, which should be a pretty good fit for me. The commute would also be very short, just 20 minutes with traffic, and it’s an established company, so I’m hoping it works out.  

Under Investigation

Top: Urban Outfitters

Skirt: thrifted, Express

Tights: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Target

Bag: thrifted

I had to get out of the apartment today, so I went to three Goodwill stores. I only bought four items, which is good, but my feet are so tired. When I got home, instead of finding the unemployment check that I need to pay bills, which was due to arrive today, I was greeted by a letter from the California EDD telling me that I have a phone interview scheduled for Monday to verify that I’m looking for work. It also says that my check won’t be sent until after that interview. NICE! It’s a good thing I’ve been keeping track of where I’ve applied for jobs. Still, of course I’m freaking out that the number of jobs I’ve applied for won’t be enough. I know I’m very lucky to get decent unemployment benefits at all (California isn’t bad at taking care of its people in that area). But wow, there’s nothing like waiting all weekend to be investigated by a government department.

Disneyland Photos

The other day Green Tea and Cupcakes asked me to post some Disneyland photos, so here they are! Jasen and I got Southern California annual passes for the park last year before I lost my job and Natasha and her fiancé Mike also have passes, so we’ve gone to Disneyland many times over the past several months. My sister also had a pass when she was still in California, so I went with her too. I didn’t take any photos the other day when Jasen and I were there by ourselves, and I usually don’t take photos. I’ve tried taking outfit photos in the park a couple of times, but it’s difficult because it’s hard to find a good background where there aren’t lots of people walking by constantly. However, Natasha took photos on a couple of our trips, so all of these are hers, except the last one.

The obligatory “in front of the castle” shot

This is me being a freak in front of the Casey Jr. train ride.

The Dumbo ride was my childhood favorite. I still love it, but I can hardly ever convince anyone else to stand in line for it.

 Jasen and I in line for the SCARY Haunted Mansion

The last car on Big Thunder Mountain. That's Mike and Natasha in front of Jasen and me. Also, whoa, cleavage...sorry about that. I don't think I can wear that top in public anymore after seeing this. I was thinking about not posting this photo, but I like the photo, so my blog will have to be a little scandalous today.

Minnie’s house! And my pointy-looking butt. And, okay, yeah, this obviously wasn't taken by Natasha either, but it was taken on her camera by Mike or Jasen.

Of course I saved the best for last. That’s my sister and brother in front of me. This is our cheap photo of the photo that the Space Mountain ride took.

I hope these were enjoyable! I’ll be back to outfit posting tomorrow!