Style Imitating Art: Aspens, Northern New Mexico

It's Style Imitating Art time! As a reminder, this week's inspiration was Aspens, Northern New Mexico by the great Ansel Adams. Let's get started! (Wednesday night side note: I logged on tonight to check on comments and...apparently I didn't click Publish. Fail. I apologize that this post is late!)

Stephanie said that this was a great choice for a winter palette, which I didn't even think of but she's totally right! And she looks awesome--I've never thought to wear a maxi skirt in the winter but I'm going to have to do it now!



I was really hoping someone would pull out some plaid this week, and Mike delivered! He looks ready to spend some time among the aspens.



I am really excited about Kezzie of Kezzie AG's pattern. It matches the tree in front so well!



Melissa of Peace and Crumbs did a wonderful job styling her outfit--I love the little details like the stripes on her skirt and the circle belt!



AW at Rabbit Style News is participating in SIA for the first time, and I hope she sticks around! She looks incredibly sharp.



First of all, I'm still so in love with Jen's bangs (they frame your face so well!). Her post on Librarian for Life and Style details her super-textured outfit, which is a great way to interpret this week's inspiration!



I love Erin of Loop Looks' camel coat--it compliments the feel of Aspens perfectly!



Noelle of The Classy Junk has more chutzpah than I do because all weekend during our snow storm I just wore yoga pants. She looks awesome!



My cocreator of SIA, Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, looks super ready for crappy weather. I usually look like a frump in long coats so I am quite jealous!



And there's me. My quest for cords that fit FINALLY came to a happy end!



Thank you all for participating! It's so exciting to have a big crowd this week!

Aspens quiver

Jacket: Loft Outlet | Top: Gap Factory | Camisole: Gap Factory | Pants: Loft Outlet | Boots: Belk

My camera REALLY struggled to take these photos. I can't decide if it's because it's just not doing well, or if it's because it sat in the cold in my car for two weeks. To be fair, if I had to sit in the cold in my car for two weeks, I wouldn't work too well either.

Check back tomorrow for this week's Style Imitating Art roundup!

Sitting duck

Top: handmade; shirt itself from Walmart | Skirt: Talbots | Flats: Target

I only wear this top once every four years or so. I'd say I don't know why, but I know exactly why: it's too short. You guys, it's practically a crop top on me. I was a moron and found the perfect shirt for making my own version of the 2008 ModCloth shirt above, and then chucked it into the wash and it shrunk. Of course, I didn't notice until I had spent dozens of hours stitching on strips of sequins, and was like I DON'T CARE I'LL WEAR IT ANYWAY. And then I didn't. But I should just sew a strap of fabric on the bottom to make it longer, right? Red, white, something different? I don't know. But I do know that this shirt has survived at least 6 serious closet weedings, so maybe I need to take it a little more seriously.

Runner's high

Shades: Party City | Necklace: J.Crew Factory | Top: J.Crew Factory | Skirt: this one from Modcloth | Wedges: Target | Lips: NARS Funny Face

I ran (like legit ran, except for a few walks) my second 5k on Saturday, and managed to not die! My only goal was to make it in less than an hour, and my time ended up being 45:48! I'm really pleased, because I'm generally a pretty slow runner. If I had known I was so close to under 45, I would have pushed it a little harder--but regardless, I'm happy. I loved the race I ran (it's a small one in Cardiganland), and now I have a legit 3.1 mile course fairly close to where I live that I can train on! I'm already aiming for a 5k in January and I'm hoping to shave my time down to sub-40 by then. Ultimately, my official year long goal is to run the Great Smoky Mountains Half Marathon on September 10th, 2016. I might be insane, and I might have to walk parts of it, but I'm doing it. And I'm really excited. Doing the math, it makes sense--I can spend the rest of this year focusing on my 5k work, then start nailing down a 10k training program. The half marathon training program I've found is a 16 week program, and that leaves me with the first five months of 2016 to really get ready for that. I have no delusions of grandeur here; I know I'm in for pain and misery and torture and long nights at the gym and a lot of hours on my sneakers, but I'm kind of looking forward to it.

I mean, I'm going to hate myself immensely while I'm running. But I'm still going to do it.

What to wear to a Kesha Concert (again)

Kesha
September 19th @ 9:45pm
Upper intramural fields, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

S. wore:



K. wore:



L. wore:



I wore:



Talk about usual suspects--all this crew has been on AC at one point or another for going to a concert with me! K. and I surprised L. with with a ticket to see Kesha with us for her birthday, and we were all stuffed into my Prius for the twoish hour ride to Clemson. The school's performance/production group brought Kesha in, and since she hasn't done a great lot of live performing recently, we jumped at the chance to see her live (again for most of us; this was L.'s first time). K. dumped an entire bag of glitter into her weave, and even now at work I find little clusters of purple glitter on the carpet and in the bathroom. But anyway--the show was supposed to start at 9, and when 9 rolled around, we were still waiting in line and my poor friends experienced their first fan crush. (Or maybe poor me, since it wasn't my first by a long shot.) We finally got around to getting into the field Clemson had blocked off for the show and the show didn't start until 9:45pm, but it was great. Kesha looks happy and healthy and sounds fantastic, and while her set was nothing new, it was still a lot of fun and involved an enormous blow up rainbow to celebrate gay marriage's legality. Kesha mentioned that she was sick all day and her doctor told her to cancel, so I'm really glad we didn't end up with another Miley situation, especially since we had to drive almost two hours to get to Clemson! And Kesha just ain't that kind. She made it happen, and it was awesome.

And as a note: of all the concerts I've been to, I've never been to one whose parking situation was as well done as Clemson's. The Intramural fields were all used as parking, and they were all very well lit (they have sports lighting so our pictures turned out great, and we were super safe!) Clemson's production club also had the police on hand to help direct traffic. This is probably peanuts to them compared to the games at Death Valley, but still--for those of us who are used to pitch black parking lots and sitting for an hour waiting to get out of the lot in the first place, the organization and setup of the concert were greatly appreciated!

The water is wide

Scarf: JCPenney | Jacket: Target | Dress: Gap Outlet | Belt: Target | Tights: Target | Cowboy boots: Belk

Cardiganland spent most of this past weekend bracing for impact, and expecting the worst, but I'm very lucky to say that most of Joaquin missed my part of the state. We got plenty of rain--about 7 inches overall--and one person did die in the area last week, but the situation could have been much, much worse. I have friends who live in Columbia but were in Charlotte over the weekend and now they can't get home, because every interstate between the two cities is flooded in some areas. I hate that there are parts of South Carolina that are in such dire straits right now. It's devastating. But one thing I know about this state is that for better or worse, people band together. And in this situation, I believe it will be for the better.

Check out Jen's blog tomorrow for more outfits inspired by this week's SIA selection!

Golden

My hair is getting long, y'all!



Necklace: antiques shop | Top: Target | Skirt: Talbots | Flats: DSW

I was all sad this week because no one commented on my blog posts.

And then I checked my actual blog this morning and NONE OF THEM HAD POSTED.

I don't know what happened there, but my scheduled-for-Monday SIA PSA post and my scheduled-for-Thursday-actually-wearing-something post went nowhere. It isn't even listed in my scheduled posts anymore. So I'm just going to shelve the outfit and post it sometime this week or next.

But I did, at least, come up with an outfit for Style Imitating Art this week, and I really like it! If my post had posted, you would know that I loved Salazar's pick, Golden by Crystal Liu. It's so pretty. Check out her blog tomorrow for outfits from everyone who participated in SIA. It's always awesome to see how differently everyone interprets each piece of artwork!

Dead trout

Cardigan: JCPenney | Dress: Dorothy Perkins, via Dani | Belt: Target | Heels: Pink Studio via Anthro (super old though)

Fun fact: when petals on Bradford pear trees start to wilt, they smell like rotting fish. The south currently smells like rotting fish.

Be happy you don't live here.

The struggle is real

Top: Target | Skirt: Boden | Tights: Target | Boots: Off Broadway | Lips: NARS Heat Wave

I've bemoaned my gray hair before (truth is that I love them), but it's getting real now. I have found no fewer than four gray hairs long enough that they we cut the last time I trimmed my hair, and they're blatantly obvious now that I'm no longer dying my hair. I read online that the age you gray is usually tied to genetics, but my parents--and THEIR parents--went gray at a normal middle-to-older age. And yet there I was, in front of the mirror at age 21, staring at a gray hair protruding straight out of the edge of my hairline, practically reaching out to the mirror to say hello to itself. The only person I have to blame is my dad's dad, because my father can't remember when he went gray. But he had a full head of snow white hair by the time I was old enough to have memories of him, so there's plenty of upside. Silver fox, here I come.