SIA: PSA

Be Kind to Books poster, by Arlington Gregg
Late 1930s, silkscreen on board

I'm a librarian so I guess I'm not the least biased person ever to say this, but who doesn't like a good book, amirite? So when Jen emailed over this week's SIA inspiration, I was pretty pleased. It's Banned Books Week in America, and this SIA is a great way to highlight that. To be included in this week's SIA, send your photos to Jen by the night of Monday, October (!!!) 5th to be included!

Mad for plaid

Jacket: Target | Top: Target | Pants: Old Navy | Fledges: Target | Necklace: aptoart on Etsy

I have been looking for plaid pants for three falls now. It's taken THAT LONG to find a pair that suited me. I checked all over the place and liked a few pairs, but I really struggle to find pants that fit--I'm 5'10 and I have a long torso, but my legs are comparatively stubby. Usually pants are either too long, or they're baggy, or they're tight in the waist, whatever. But Old Navy! They came through! And in a big way, because these plaid pants are Philadelphia Eagles green! Fat lot of good it did, since they lost last night (boooooooo), but I did what I could to support the cause. Happy football season, y'all!

SIA: PSA

Painting Number 2, by Franz Kline
Oil on canvas, 1954

This painting is NINE FEET LONG. And we all know how I love big art. So I'm pretty stoked for this one! Salazar said she was influenced by my skirt from the pervious SIA, and...is it tacky to wear the same skirt two SIAs in a row? We'll find out. Send Salazar your outfits inspired by Painting Number 2 by Monday, September 21st to be included in this week's roundup!

Evander Holyfield

Top: J.Crew | Skirt: Target | Wedges: Target | Cat: Lily

As I have steadily clawed my way to completing this month's small goal #1, I have encountered some needs. Most recently, I decided to change a shade of metallic thread in the pattern from copper to purple. I didn't want to buy it online and pay for shipping and wait a week for a three dollar spool of thread, so I found a shop on the outer edges of Cardiganland that sells the thread and decided to drive out on my day off to buy the thread.

On the way there, the guy in front of me on the interstate hit a shred of tire, which went airborne and slammed into my headlight, skidded across the hood of my car, then slid off at the windshield, but not before wailing into my side view mirror and ripping it from the body of my car, leaving it hanging by a strip of wiring. My poor car lost an ear!

I've been driving around ever since with only one side mirror. I used to make fun of people with only one mirror and now I am one. Shame on me. But hopefully my car's ear will return by the end of this week--the body shop is getting a replacement--and I think I've found a way to file a claim to make the state pay for it, since they aren't cleaning up the roads. It's better than nothing, right? And now I have a spool of thread that cost only $350.

Style Imitating Art: The Girl in the Wood

It's Style Imitating Art time!! As a reminder, this week's inspiration is The Girl in the Wood by Su Blackwell. Let's get started!

First up is Mike, who asked that I post all three of his photos--and I'm happy to oblige! The first is for the outfit, the second is for the cover (which matches the artwork), and the third is for the text. Pretty cool idea!





Next is Kezzie of KezzieAG, who couldn't get an outfit photo in before SIA but really wanted to participate, so she created a workaround. And I love it! Very clever way to still be part of this week's roundup :)



Jen of Librarian for Life and Style is a master of the good skirt photo. Any time I try to take a nice flowy-poofy-pretty skirt photo, I look a hot mess. So I raise my glass to Jen and her cute clutch!



My SIA cocreator Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey looks awesome despite the rain. She has a super cute bookpile necklace, which really adds to how well she matched the challenge!





And here's me! Salazar mentioned last week that my outfit (which included this skirt) worked perfectly for SIA, so I decided to carry over the skirt for this week's challenge.



Thank you all for participating! A small but excellent group!

Antipolitica

Top: J.Crew | Skirt: Target | Fledges: Target

I am wearing fledges. Flat wedges. Just to be clear.

I've been asked a number of times for my opinion on the presidential race. Already. And my answer is that I don't really care what happens right now--it's over a year away, for heaven's sake! It's like trying to plan dinner for two weeks from now. I have other shit to worry about, like paying my student loan bill and cross stitch. Although to be honest, I'm probably going to have cross stitch on my mind come next November too. Maybe I'll pencil in some time to make a coherent thought about a candidate then, but for now, I don't have time for all that.*

*Although I do strongly feel that Donald Trump is a total dick from the fuzzy strong combforward at the top of his head to his flat feet. Both for personal and political reasons.

Small goals: September

My e-pal Nicole at Writes Like a Girl does this thing called small goals every month, and I thought I'd join the fun--and it might give you some insight into why I haven't blogged very much in the last few months. So here we go!

Finish all stitchwork and beading on the Sleeping Princess. As I've mentioned before, I took up cross stitch post-surgery to stay active. I've been working on one project since finishing my fox in March, and I normally put in at least two hours of stitching a day. I'm planning to enter all of my completed, framed projects (there will be five) in the interstate fair, which means I have to have the princess framed and ready to display by 5pm on October 12th. I don't have a lot of stitching left but there's tons of beadwork to do, and I've never done that before! Eep!

Don't skip a day of training. I'm in week two of an eight week 5k training program, and my 5k is on October 17th! One of my best friends is doing it all with me, including the training program.

Finish Between the World and Me and read The Wonder of All Things. Reading goals? What? I have had a lot of struggles with reading since graduating from grad school, and virtually all I can read anymore--when I even do read--is books about race and class warfare in America. I used to read dysfunctional family dramas, and now I can't do it. So I'm attempting to finish Between the World and Me, which is short but tough, and then read The Wonder of All Things, which is for my book club at work.

Write and post at least one blog post per week, not including SIA. I need to commit more time to the blog, and this is one way to do it. I want to bump it up to two next month.

Paint the damn living room. Boyfriend A. and I are attempting to finish painting the living area so his future cat, Tippy, can move in with him. It needs to be dooooone already.

What are you working on this month?

SIA: PSA

The Girl in the Wood, by Su Blackwell
2008, paper

I'm a librarian and I like books. Sue me. So when I saw Su Blackwell's Game of Thrones artwork in a relatively recent edition of Entertainment Weekly, I was in wuv. So this week's Style Imitating Art inspiration is this beaut. Maybe someday I'll try papercutting myself, but for now--it sure is lovely to look at Blackwell's work instead! Send me your photos by Monday, September 7th (Labor Day in America!) to be part of this week's SIA!