Cloche: Like Shells and Snails!

(I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so here are both! Also, randomly, these might be the most versatile tights ever. I love them so, they even have a little hole in the toe I've had to mend, and I could kick myself for not buying more of them. And they're almost 2 years old!)



I think my new loves are straw cloches. Not sure if there is supposed to be an accent somewhere on that word, or if the plural there is correct, but we will pretend that it is. Last summer I bought a straw cloche at a cute little French store in Woodstock, NY and I wore it a whole bunch. I've been looking at it sadly, longingly all winter long wanting so badly to wear it, but it's one of those things I think is only really apropo in warm weather.

Then, three (and more, but these are the three I remember while I am packing boxes, watching Harry Potter, and eating candy) of my favorite blogs: fieldguided, clever nettle, and leibemarlene all posted about boaters. Oh how glorious! I, along with many other readers I'm sure, needed one of my own!

Reminded of the squashed hats at Marc Jacobs for spring/summer 09, I trotted over to Micheal's and bought a flat looking hat in the crafty doll section, the kind I think you're supposed to glue flowers and things to and stick on a door. I attached it to a barrette and put some ribbon on it--I will photograph it later, as the glue is drying and I am just enough of a klutz to worry about getting glue in my hair!



Unfortunately, regular boaters do not like my head or face shape, and so when I found myself face-to-face with a pretty straw cloche, complete with black ribbon and a bow in the back, I had to get my grubby little hands on it. And it's just wonderful, and I have pictures of wearing it every day dancing around in my head--even if I hardly ever end up wearing it.

Uncooperative Ruffles.

Out of a gazillion pictures, this is the only one that didn't make me hate the world, so here it is. And it was an accident, at that! I think it's sort of funny, so I've decided to keep it and all. And for pure randomness's sake, here are some bullet-type points, which you may peruse and keep in your pocket if the mood strikes (or something):

-The Weather (large W) has done strange things to my sinuses. I pray to my penny loafers I am not getting sick.
-I have successfully chest hooped, and I am quite proud. I credit my new yoga pants.
- I plan an update for the store tomorrow, including selling things I planned on keeping.

Interruption: I have to say, selling vintage type things changes one's perspective on the whole thing. Suddenly, things I would have clung to before and treasured as fantastic finds are different. I keep thinking, Oh! I could always find something better. I wonder if this is just part of the way it is. There is always a more adorable and perfect vintage dress somewhere, and it's like you have to sell away all the others to find the one that is meant for you. Hahaa!

-I have watched this video about 47 times in the past 3 days. I am obsessed. It makes me so happy it should not be allowed! It's like a little pony.



I am very "into" strange and creepy houses lately. I keep doodling them in my journal (my favorite bits are the vines, I love the vines!).


found here.

Similarly, only not, I would be happy as a clam if I could dress like Matilde in A Very Long Engagement. Mostly, I am quite scattered! My outfits have been pleasing, in secret, to me at least. Although I have started a new job, and am beyond exhausted and have yet to figure out once again how to balance things. It's quite hard, I think, to get back into the swing of it all after a long while. But spring is coming, and I love skirts!

The Tale of Plaid and Lace.

It's been rainy and lovely. I am trying not to turn this blog into a perpetual comment on the weather, but I can't help it. Today is a bit cooler, and consequently I feel happiest about my outfit, at least since the last time I posted a full one.




I'm really lazy. Most of the time I just prop my camera on the stairs and take a picture, but this is getting to be a huge pain. Tripod, here I come! In any case, this outfit is a lot of things I love. You can't see it, which makes this post stupid, but I got the shirt at Anthropologie three years ago. I remember, because I bought it almost three years ago and have struggled with it ever since. I love it, and I loved it when I saw it--it also came in this gorgeous dusty-blue--and it was full price at 68$. Then, almost six months later, we went back to NYC and there it was! In the same store, sitting there, the last one in my size, waiting. Oh, a moment of bliss! It was also twenty dollars then. It's short in the waist though, so it's always been a bit of a problem. Latley, I've been trying very hard to find a way to wear it that I like, and I believe I've found it. It's a lot of stress over a lacey little t-shirt!


(I liked this sort of accidental shot because I think it's one of those weird pictures where you know exactly what I looked like when I was four.)

Also, I made a thing! Ages ago Emily at Some Girls Wander (and Inside a Black Apple, but I honestly frequent the former for inspiration more often just a bit, so there you go :P) made a post about things to do with vintage doilies and lace. I have a lot of these. I can't leave them behind at thrift stores and estate sales--I need to love them! And while it's really nice to have them filling bowls and things, her post on turning them into a scarf might have been the most genius thing in the universe. So I copied it. I had been meaning to for ages but never got around to it until last night. Eventually I'll add to it, but for now it's a nice little thing to whip up at 1am :D



(I <3 my bee)

Thanks Emily :)!

The Early Breaths of Spring.

I am still trying not to be too drawn-in by the nice weather, but if I were to be honest with myself, I am giddy with fifty-degrees and sun.







I haven't totally participated in spring outfits yet, I won't give up tights till it's totally necessary, and I still need sweaters and light jackets. Also, I am suffering from Phantom Coat Syndrome! It's so strange not to have one! I keep feeling like I've forgotten something.

I've also been having a hard time getting total-outfit shots, so here are some strange details! I've been wearing the funny lace collar backwards, I think it's prettier, and I love my floral sneakers so much I would talk to them if it wasn't totally strange.

Inexplicable Memories.

littledoe





memory takes some time to compose
itself into a story all of us want to believe,
although of course it wasn't like that.

-Richard Howard, from "The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus by Castor and Pollux" as it appeared in The Best American Poetry 2008, ed. Charles Wright.


Charles Anastase

(Also, updated Etsy yesterday, although there isn't much there anymore! I have some mending to do and a pair of shoes that I so badly want to keep, but they are too small, so I'll throw that stuff up over the weekend!)

<3>

Striped Sweaters.

For the past few weeks I've been trying to recreate this girl's outfit from The Sartorialist.


(I think this might actually be the most perfect outfit in the history of clothing.)

There was even a striped sweater at H&M that was the right sort of slouchy, unkempt sort, with stripes that I had been eyeing for weeks. But, as I'm trying to save money and not spend too much unnecessarily, I left it there after every visit. Then, I saw Alexa Chung on Garance Dore wearing said sweater, and I turned green with envy:



Then, a few days ago John and I went to H&M and the aforementioned most perfect sweater was on SALE! I grabbed it, after hemming and hawing about the difference between small and medium (I went with medium), here it is in all its inspired glory:





It is, in fact, everything I hoped it would be!

The Dark Spring.

I know that now that the weather is warmer (a note here: don't trust it! Not if you live where I do, in the Northeast, where it is almost always guaranteed that we will get one more snow storm in March right after it gets warm and our souls get all toasty and excited. Don't trust it, I warn you) I'm supposed to ache and hanker for all the little pastel and pretty light things that I've been pushing aside in favor of warm thick layers. The idea is that you pull on the edges of all the pretty little lace frocks, the incomprehensible cotton dresses, gauzy pointless sweaters and all that with pastel and color and a vivacity of patterns that make Easter eggs look like postage stamps.



But I'm feeling a spring that's a little darker. It's not exactly like fall, because then it's all about grabbing the heavy knits when we're not used to the shocks of cold, but it is the same kinds of colors--I think. Black at least, and maybe weird raspberries and browns. It's like, I want this spring to be made of the same materials as the last, but be in darker colors!





(I know, ahhh, I'm going to start saving the sources for these pictures. Originally I was just going to keep these inspiration things in my own little folder and it didn't matter, but now it does! I know that last one, at least, is from facehunter.)

The Cat is Out of the Bag! (Not that I keep cats in bags)

Now I feel like I might have built this up too much! I do that with everything really, with with other people and with myself! But it is too late to bother thinking much about those sorts of things. After months and months, I've finally thrown a etsy shop together!


(Click me!)

I know, for how long it seems I've been working on it, it's a bit meager and silly at the moment! But mostly, I have piles and piles of stuff I couldn't bear to leave behind at thrift and vintage stores and either 1.) never knew what to do with in the first place or 2.) never got around to wearing. So here it is, no better time to work on this sort of thing than when one doesn't have a day-job!

Eventually I'll throw a banner up, work on international shipping (let's see how I do with the regular kind first!), and have more stuff! I have a pile of blazers that is threatening to eat me alive if I don't tackle it first, so those have to go in! But for now, there it is, my little ugly deformed secret <333 So that is what has been taking up my time for the last two weeks (well, that and school)!

ETA 3/6/09: Aaand I just threw it into vacation mode :D I am a profound idiot and messed up something with my paypal, so it's going dormant for a day or so until I work it out. Oh dear! But other than that, it's working out well :D I'll let ya'll know when it's open again!

Awards Season?

Let's ignore the fact I haven't posted in ages (I swear I have a good reason! I'll tell you tomorrow, for now it is a secret). I have, over the past few weeks, been wonderfully gifted with some awards by other fabulous and wonderful bloggers, but due to my inherent forgetfulness and tendency towards what can only be described as--and I'm very sorry since it is an ugly word--laziness, I haven't passed these lovely awards on yet!

First, thanks and love to Pixie July of Sparkles and Crumbs, Casey of sing before seven, and Elvy of Caged Lilies*!



From Caged Lilies*

From sing before seven

From Sparkles and Crumbs

To honor these awards, here is a whole big list of blogs I think everyone should visit, fall in love with, and read forever <3

fieldguided
(I only recently came across this blog, but I read it all the way back to the beginning--I think, I might be lying, but I read it way back--and found is so inspirational that I must share!)

Luscious Letters
(Lorelle is one of my real-life bffs! She is wonderful. Every week we go on tea-dates and she is marvelously magical and delicious! Her writing prompts are really helpful--especially since I have a hard time writing without being in class--and I honestly think her positive-thinking and intentions posts are part of what has made this year awesome so far!)

Pansy Lane
(Pansy is so adorable that I want a squeeze her and be her friend! Her pictures are dreamy, crisp, and inspiring. Her blog was just born in February, but I can't wait to see more!)

small souvenirs
(My go-to blog for inspiration of all kinds. This girl has such an eye for the whimsical and striking, her blog makes me want to be quaint and silly and have pretty things!)

Abmiguous Alliterative Abomination
(I am insanely jealous that Amelia--I had to stop myself from being just too twee and copying literary devices and placing the truthful word 'adorable' in front of that--is only 16 years old! At her age I was wearing strange t-shirts and had a giant head and out-of-control hair. Her pictures are totally gorgeous, and I want to steal so many of her outfits!)

little boat
(First, her blog's name and her blogger name never fail to make me smile or chuckle. Her posts are adorable and thoughtful, and clever! It's a little bit of everything, and it makes me happy!)

Plain Jayne
(Eternally one of my favorite blogs, Jayne's posts are brilliant! I love that they are so long, because it gives me so much to read, I always want more! She posts piles of pictures, expertly picked and with wonderful commentary, I can't help but scour her blog for inspiration!)

Afeitar
(I can think of nothing but gorgeous, about this blog! It's everything I love in one place, perfect pictures, food I need to have and eat asap, and fearlessly wonderful outfits, and literature! Helen's blog is a natural stop for me, and so so lovely and a pleasure!)

Click Your Heels
(Never has a blog made me ache for hot weather so much! Rachael is constantly inspiring me with her outfits, making me feel I should cherish all the weather no matter what it is, because I'm going to want it when it's gone! She's just gorgeous and has the best outfits!)

le parapluie déteste la pluie
(I always sing this blog's name in a dramatic manner in my head whenever I read it! Inspiration perfection and boots to be jealous of, plus a cat! I want to be friends and hang out :D)

(I definitly had an entire paragraph here, I think the internet ate it when I hit post!) Also, this seems like a good time to exchange links! So many wonderful bloggers link to me and I am so grateful and appreciative of it, yet I can never seem to update my own list! So, if you have linked me please let me know so I might add you back! Or, if you'd just like to exchange links! And if I missed you last time let me know and I will fix my terrible oversight!