This is me missing you

Hat: thrifted/Nine West
Tank: Target
Shorts: Boden
Wedges: Target

YOU GUYS I'M BACK! I've missed you all terribly. I'm kind of surprised at actually missing blogging; I thought I'd not want to come back to it but really I'm glad to return. I actually don't have a lot of outfit photos to share--the one above is from today--but I thought I'd post some other pictures from my trip.



I saw a ton of my heroes speak this week. Craig Thompson, Jane Lynch, and above, the one and only Jeffrey Eugenides. I'm incredibly excited for his next book, The Marriage Plot, which will be out this fall. He read the first paragraph and I am mesmerized, to say the very least. He was also funny! Everyone who spoke that morning was--also on the panel were Mindy Kaling, Diane Keaton and Charlaine Harris. Every person I mentioned in this paragraph has a book coming out this year.



Here's Rockefeller Center. I pretended to be Liz Lemon for a second and went blerg while my camera buzzed to life.



Thursday afternoon/evening was free time for us since the convention ended at 1pm. I took that opportunity to drag my boss to Central Park and while she looked for an I love New York t-shirt for her son, I wandered through the Met for a few hours. Amazing. I didn't get to see everything, of course, but I viewed the Egyptian art, Greek & Roman art, and 19th-early 20th century European galleries, which were my top picks. What an extraordinary place.



Jimmy Fallon, you guys. I met Jimmy Fallon. And he said my name! I just can't even. Seriously the highlight of my life week.



Our hotel was swank. It was my first time staying in a hotel room alone and by far it was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. I loooooooved it. By day two my boss and I were calling it "home" and I really did not want to leave.



On Wednesday night my three best friends from high school and I all met for dinner and this is what I wore.

Top: Anthro
Jeans: Walmart
Flats: Target
Bag: Target

It worked but my feet were still exhausted. And by the end of the day Thursday they were even moreso.



Cardigan: Target
Jeans: Gap
Wedges: Target
ID badge: sooooooo coooool

Here I am at the Dork Diaries steps. Adorable, right? The steps, not me. I spent 90% of the entire convention wearing this cardigan because it was freezing inside. Thursday morning I actually had to leave a panel because it was too cold in the room for me. And I never get cold!



There was an entire room (room is undercutting it--the place was massive) dedicated to shipping things home. Table after table of boxes filled with thousands of free advanced reader copies of books yet to be published, posters, free bags, pens and other swag. My boss and I sent home 40+ pounds' worth of books to our library.

I think it's fair to say that I was really underprepared for exactly how big BEA was going to be. The convention center it was held in is truly massive; the exhibition floor was split into three giant parts with conferences, panels and author conversations all simultaneously operating on two separate floors. I waited in line for James Patterson's new book--signed by him--for half an hour (for my mom, who flipped OUT when I surprised her with it!); I was 38th in line and by the time he started signing there were at least 150 people waiting. And that was in Hatchette's (his publisher's) booth; there was another section specifically dedicated to signings and that place was a zoo.



Really, though, my only major complaint was the crowds. I saw some amazing authors and met some great people and I'm already brewing ideas for how to integrate what I saw and experienced at BEA into our library system. But as much as I loved the trip and what we accomplished, I can say I'm glad to be home. I got very little sleep while I was there! I'll try to do a post of upcoming books you might want to look out for, but for the next couple days I'm just going to relax. Good thing it's a holiday weekend. At the latest you can expect an outfit post Tuesday. Maybe sooner if I feel like it!

Glad to be back, y'all. Fill me in on what I've missed!

Packing interlude

Well, y'all, I'm knee deep in packing and I totally am not taking pictures of my room who looks like it was hit by a clothing hurricane. And my outfit involves a slacker tee shirt and shorts. And slippers with penguins on them, because I'm cool like that. So instead, here are some random pictures from the last few weeks!



My dear nephew, baby L., is now three months old. Holy cow don't they grow fast. He fell asleep in my lap last night but he still weighs less than my cat.



Last night's sunset. It only took 4 minutes to figure out how to do manual focus on my camera so I'm improving!



The way I decide if I took a good picture is if I notice more in the photograph than I do in real life. This one did it. Even dying things are beautiful.



Birthday cake milkshake. Bad for my physical health, good for my spiritual health.



Some sort of alcoholic thing my mom had the other night at dinner.

So there's that. A couple quick things--I'll be in New York all week for BEA so posting may be intermittent to nonexistent. At the very least I'll still be doing outfit pictures and if I don't have time to post throughout the week I'll definitely post when I return! I'll be updating my Twitter obsessively both for work and for life and I'll still be checking my email. See you soon, ladies!

Graphic inspiration

Necklace: JCPenney
Scoop neck top: JCPenney
V-neck top: Target
Jeans: Walmart
Flats: Target
Nails: Zoya Dove



I think I've clarified once or twice that I have a bit of a girl crush on E. from Acadmichic. Her style is basically da bomb dot com and she mixes colours like no other. So when she offered up a challenge to style an outfit from a book cover, I had to jump in on it.



But what book to choose? The book I'm currently reading, How to Read the Air, doesn't have the most inspiring cover ever (though it is beautiful), and the only books currently in my room--which is in the middle of an eternal redecorating--are Middlesex and Half Broke Horses, neither of which stir the creative juices.

But yesterday a graphic novel I had on hold, Mister Wonderful, came in for me at work, and I was thrilled to see an outfit practically laying before me. Dark denim for the sky, a yellow shirt for the title. It was like a little spark, seeing this book.



And then I found this door behind the local overpriced-but-has-good-sales grocery store (you know that place) and it was like a sign. And THEN my poses weren't awkward for once and I finished my shoot in 10 minutes and very happy. It was like the stars aligned, all because of E. I can die happy now, and that's probably a good thing since the rapture is tomorrow. I might quit my job and sell my house* and wait on bended knee!



*haha I live with my parents

Semi-safety first

Necklace: antiques shop
Top: Target
Tank (underneath): Old Navy
Belt: Target
Skirt: JCPenney
Flats: Steve Madden via Nordstrom



This location is one of my favourites. It's part of an abandoned factory (where many other shoots have taken place) and despite being on one of my town's main streets, it's secluded enough that people aren't roaming around while I take pictures. Most of the time at least--I had a scare once here with a homeless man who chased my car down the driveway of the factory, and I didn't go back for months. It's a little scary when something like that happens.



Today I crossed paths with two dump trucks who were hauling dirt back and forth on the access road to the property neighbouring the factory, which kind of bothered me. Anyone who takes self-portraits for personal blogs (here's looking at you, Monkeyface) knows how awkward it is to come across random people while taking pictures, and it can be really, really hard to deal with. There's nothing wrong with it, of course, but some self-photographers automatically feel self-conscious when other people are watching. Even when my parents watch me take my own pictures I feel very uncomfortable.

So this is the life of a self-photographer. You drive away from creepers and hide behind trees when trucks come by. Always keep your keys with you and don't take candy from anyone. Also, if necessary, a tripod makes an excellent weapon.

Growing pains

Cardigan: Target
Top: Target
Pants: JCPenney
Wedges: Target



iPhone and I have rapidly moved past the honeymoon phase of our relationship. I must've messed up the alarm clock because it was set to 8:17 pm and I woke up late. Also, the BEA app I downloaded isn't saving my agenda no matter what I try. But I can't be mad for long because my ESPN app just notified me of the final score of the Phillies' game by playing the Sportscenter theme song. I do like that.



Ok, I love it.



I'm lucky that I was able to shave off a good five minutes of my morning routine by planning this outfit. I pulled out the pants and top last night, then just threw on a cardigan (literally the first one I grabbed off the hanger) and some shoes. I didn't even pee before leaving! How did I not have bile poisoning? I'm the luckiest gal on this earth.

myPhone

Necklaces: antiques shop
Sweater clip: estate sale
Cardigan: Gap
Dress: Ann Taylor
Heels: Ross



I've finally joined the 21st century by purchasing an iPhone. I broke down--or rather, my phone broke down--and I really didn't want to go to New York without a smartphone! Now that I've had half a day to play with it (I'm an expert on the subject now don't you know) I have to say I'm in love. Not quite as in love as I was with my tripod, but I certainly do enjoy my iPhone extensively.



One thing I don't like is the slightly unnerved feeling I get from using it. Will I drop it in the toilet? Lose it on the beach? Leave it on the subway? Run it over with my tractor? I probably won't do any of those things, but this is an iPhone we're talking about here. Forget children or even a boyfriend, this thing is all I can handle. OH GOD IT'S FALLING OFF THE OTTOMAN

Book buddies

Top: Target
Belt: Target
Skirt: JCPenney
Flats: Target
Necklaces as bracelet: JCPenney



Well, I promised a Snooki book review, didn't I? Here it is: ridiculous. It's like reading a season of Jersey Shore, and a very thinly veiled allusion to Snookin and Jwoww. Total trashy beach novel. And I loved it! Just what I needed after The Pale King. And now I'm following Snooki on Twitter, so we're winners all around here.



Between finishing A Shore Thing and now, I also read a book called The False Friend, by Myla Goldberg. It's very well written and I really enjoyed it. It's also short with I can't claim I hate. Now I'm onto How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu. We'll see how that goes!

I know you all wanted to know about what I read. It's scintillating, really.

Paper doll party

Cardigan: Target
Top: JCPenney
Pants: JCPenney
Wedges: Crown Vintage via DSW
Toes: China Glaze For Audrey



I totally did not pick out this outfit. The amazing Allyson did, and I styled her next outfit! We we partnered up for the Paper Doll Project, which Suze of Miss Vinyl Ahoy came up with a few months ago. It's pretty awesome--you and your partner go through each others' posts and pick out outfits based on a piece of clothing you've picked. I chose these white pants, and Allyson did the rest! I even stole one of her poses:



And I think it all looks fantastic. Especially the shoes, because with pants I tend to think I shouldn't really wear stylish/architectural heels because they're just going to get covered up by the pant. Nope! And I really like the brown/green/blue/white combo. It reminds me of a tree with a blue sky and puffy white clouds. Yay! I love it. Thanks Allyson! I can't wait to see your outfit :)

a bit of this, a bit of that

Top: Target
Dress: Target
Scarf as belt: TJMaxx?
Flats: Target



Superquick post because I'm about to hit the road for some curling!

Look at me pattern mixing. I'm ridiculous. I always have to put a top under this dress because it's SO low cut and I thought "what goes better than flowers and stripes?" and I responded "just about everything" but I did it anyway because when you talk to yourself, you do whatever you want.



By the way, this is my outfit from Thursday. I was off today, lucky me! So this whole Blogger being down thing actually worked to my advantage, so I still have something to post today.

I had an amazing lesson this morning with my horse, Indy. Today was his very first time jumping! He was really wonderful and he took a great big leap over a tiny one foot jump and he was so darn proud of himself that he did a little bucking afterward. But the fact that he was so willing to launch over it was plenty enough for him to receive two carrots AND an apple for his efforts. Especially since I haven't jumped in three years and our trainer had never even seen me jump. We did it, y'all! My mom took video so maybe I'll Youtube it (but let's be honest, that's a lot of work). Olympics, here we come.

Sike!

you have a little something in your hair

Top: Target
Tank: Walmart
Skirt: JCPenney
Wedges: Target
Sweet William: mom's garden



So, you guys, it's EBEW day! And I'm totally taking part this time around. My plan was totally different than this outfit--originally I wanted to buy a supercheap scoop neck black top to wear underneath this scoop neck tank, but that didn't happen. I looked for one, I did! My size was sold out at both JCPenney and Target, and because I obviously shop nowhere else I was out of luck.



I also had this sweet plan to wear my black and white floral skirt with this top and shirt combo, but as soon as I walked into the living room my mom said "oh, that's...........busy". So there went THAT idea. I plucked my yellow skirt out of the closet and boy was that a wise choice because I love how it all looks together.



And then my hair. I don't even know what was going on with that. I was on Pinterest last night (yep, I have a Pinterest account--Meghan how the heck do I friend you?!) and found a fajillion pictures of fishtail braids so I thought I'd try this hairstyle which didn't turn out quite like I hoped (mainly because my hair is not fine or fluffy or quite that long) but I like it. Flowers? Why not, right?

I leave you with a picture of me "running". See? I move. Somewhat.