Black Friday Haul

Black Friday is totally one of my favorites.  I mean, a day committed to shopping - Awesome!  I try to make it pretty darn productive.  And this year was no exception. 
Over the course of the evening/night/morning, Mom and Dad and I hit several cities, malls and stores.  They totally love me.  From 9pm Thursday to Friday around noon, we roamed stores, spent too much money, and followed my spreadsheet.  (Necessary when you have this much to accomplish.)

Anyway, it was lots of fun and following is some of my loot.  (The rest is for Christmas presents.  Shhh!)

Pumps by Arturo Chiang and Nude Fishnets from Express

Dress and Shirt from J. Crew

Blouse and Slip set from Anthropologie

Jeans, Tank, and Cardigan by Old Navy

Dress and MORE tights from Forever XXI

As you can see, I managed to spend a ton of money and add so many cute items to my wardrobe. 

Now it's time to begin planning Christmas projects and following a strict Starbucks budget.

Halloween Festivities

Though it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, I've still been creating.  The msot recent test of my skills was for Halloween.  You may recall that Halloween is one of my favorites.  I love that I can wear almost ANYTHING my girly heart desires.  Last year allowed me a skirt so large I took two seats.  This year required a different challenge.

After SO much consideration, I decided to go with Miss Piggy from the Muppets.  I wanted a fun costume but one that would push me beyond just making a pretty dress.  Between the nose, wig, and make-up it was definitely a challenge.  But it turned out great and I had a lot of fun!

Picture by Kelsey Walsh

Sadly, the office (colored) photos are pretty blurry.  One of the many problems with working in a poorly lit, cold, buried basement...
But you can see the fun magenta, the hard-core make-up, and that piggy nose.

As I'm always looking for an excuse to dress up, I went to a club the following night.  As Miss Piggy is not a very dance-friendly costume (I think it's the train), I pulled out an old stand-by. 

That's right, Tinkerbell!  I think every girl under 5'4" has worn one at one time or another.

Liz was also there havign a blast in her Romy and Michelle inspired post-it dress.  It took her and her post-it pal DAYS to complete.  And they looked fantastic.  Santa was not part of OUR group, but how can I not get a pic?!

Lastly, I wore one final costume to take Josie trick-or-treating to Grandma and Grandpa.  They're the only ones who still give me candy...  For that last costume, I wanted to wear a coat and tease my hair.  I added my no-named slob of a "cat" and was ready to go.

And because no post is ever complete without a picture of Meghan, here's one of her torturing her legion of gingerbread skeletons.  She did an amazing job decorating!

As Christmas time rolls around, I hope to be doing more here.  My tree is up, my gift list is written, and my baking has started.  The only thing left is making fun Christmas crafts!

The seaweed is always greener...

I've had a piece of fabric from Ikea for several months.  I knew, I wanted to make a skirt with it, but since the pattern was big and bold, I knew it had to be carefully done. 
Finally, I got tired of waiting and just went for it.
And I love how it turned out.

 

The skirt is complete with pocket, bow, and a little PG-13 crab pinching.  I didn't plan it that way, but there's a stream of crabs swimming toward my bottom, pinchers at the ready!  Oh my!!!

And then because I'm mad about Liz's new chambray dress, from Land's End, no less, here you go.

 

I like the pictures with the bike racks in the background.  Liz's bf works for a small bike motor company and it a total fan of "self-transit".  Yeah, I just coined that term myself, cause the real word is escaping me.  But he likes biking and using it as a means of transportation.  And now that you know all of that about Liz's boyfriend, I'm off to bed.

Hey, remember that wedding?

Dear Liz, I must apologize.  I just found these pictures on my camera.  You know, 2 months after the wedding...

Following is an assorted summary of our royal wedding sleepover, including paperdoll wedding dresses, hats and rings, Liz's outfit changes, and afternoon tea.

Packing Tips

Yes, it's nearly a month since I packed for a trip back to Virginia for a wedding, but between the catch up I've been trying to do at work and fun celebratory weekends, this post hasn't happened til now.

But I wanted to make sure this got up at some point because one of my favorite things to do is pack.  I love the lists, the organization, and getting to see all my clothes together at once.  It's also the first chance I generally give myself to get excited about the trip and make choices about what I'll be doing.

In this case, I was going back for a weeklong trip to Virginia, where it was nice and warm, to a family wedding.  I was going to see all my grandparents, uncles, and a few historical tombs.  I was pretty excited.

My first step is always a list.  It allows me to plan out what I want to bring and forces me to think more and ensure I don't forget anything. 
I also make sure to have a fun dvd to watch.  Because as much as I love packing, it's nice to relax and do other things as well.

Then I lay everything out.  I want to make sure that there are lots of options for each piece in case things get dirty or I need to be a little more formal/casual/etc...

One thing my mother taught me that has always made a ton of sense is to pick a color scheme and stick with that.  It ensures that almost anything is interchangeable, and limits the accessories you need to bring.  It also helps you look impressively co-ordinated.

In this case, my casual stuff was a bright, bold color palette and my dress clothes were assorted corals and peaches.

It made it so easy to pick out sweaters and shoes when I had a small selection of color options.

And small is key because...

I like challenging myself with a weekend bag.  That's right, for everything, for the entire week.  My family tries to travel with carry-on only.  And in my case, I want a bag that I can lift into the overhead bins.  (I'm sure dad would help if I asked, but still...)  So I go small.

I make sure to pack tightly.  I've heard that rolling is the best, but in my experience, since my bag is so square, folding things tightly seems to work really well.

Also, a girl has got to have a luggage tag.  Cause they're cute and responsible.

Some things I also took into account:
 - I rarely get to see my grandmas, but they hear regularly about my dresses and sewing, so I wanted to be sure to bring some of my designs to show off.  They were very complimentary.
 - There were a lot of things I wanted to bring, but didn't.  The only part of my life where I tend to be minimalistic is in packing, apparently.
 - If I did have more room, I would have brought a pair of converse.  My feet were fine for the length of the trip, but I imagine sneakers would have brought that fine to fantastic.

I hope this helps you guys in your future packing endeavors!  And now that it's summer I'm much more inspired by my sewing, so I'll try to get some new pictures up.  I've got a dress and skirt that I'm very pleased to show off!!!

Meghan's Shoes

Meg came over for dinner tonight.  Just like normal.  It was yummy and we tried to watch Netflix and I got mad at my computer.  Again, just like normal.

What wasn't normal?  I didn't recognize Meg's shoes!!!  She always has adorable shoes, but these took me by surprise.  Of all my friends, she's the one who gets designer shoes first.  Darn her!!!

Getting towards the end

So I'm only 10 days away from the end of this project.  And I find myself excited for all the things I can get.  Or even just the possibilities of things. 
Some of it's just my excitement over spring coming and wanting pretty bright things.  (There are pretty bright things in my closet, but they apparently look less bright when I eye them every day.)  And some of it is jealousy over things my friends have gotten in the past few months that I could really see myself using.
Part of me, though, will be a little disappointed that it's over.  (A VERY small part, but still.)  It's somewhat liberating to just have to tell myself no.  I cannot get whatever item it is that I want at that given moment.  Instead I've been forced to "deal" without it.  To create an outfit and be comfortable without it.  I think that's good or me, no matter how hard it is or long it takes to plan out my outfit the night before.
I'll try to remember to get pictures these last few days.  Seeing as I'm in the home stretch, I shouldn't slack off.  Whoops.

I rescued a human

My brother sent this to me this morning and it made me cry.  It's so sweet and sad.  But judging from the interaction between me and my rescue dog, Josie, in the shelter.  It's not far off.

And as always, I know the Humane Society appreciates any donations they can get and since it seems fitting for the post...
http://www.seattlehumane.org/

Meghan makes dinner

Meghan owed me a delicious dinner.  And she really pulled through.  Like, really yummy, delicious, fresh, Pike Place Market food. 
Plus, there was beer, dessert AND candlelight to match it all.

And she had on a pretty outfit with an extra pretty skirt.

Also, Josie was really desperate for some food.  Like, really desperate.  Like "get up and perform" desperate.

Delicious!!!

Thanks Meg!

More Catching Up

A few outfits from the past week.

This is Josie's "momma, stop taking pictures and make me dinner" face.

And these are yummy, delicious, grapefruit scones. 

On that note, I need to go make dinner for Josie and Grace, my little girls.