Donna Draper

Glasses: Prada (ooh la la) | Necklace: gift from my parents | Dress: Anthropologie | Boots: Belk | Lips: NARS Funny Face

Okay, so a few notes on the things I'm wearing.

First of all, I have new glasses! I smudged them within five minutes of wearing them, which is par for the course for me. I feel very modern Mad Men in them. Trying on glasses is probably the only opportunity I'll ever have to wear things by the likes of Tom Ford and Prada.

Second, this dress was a Christmas gift from me to me, wrapped by my mom because I'm weird and like to buy things for myself for Christmas and then unwrap them. I stalked the green version of this dress online for a while but it was ridiculously expensive and I resigned myself to the fact that I would never have it. I ended up in Charlotte to get a new Mac power cable, and I swung by Anthro while I was at the mall and they had this colour version of the dress--and it was $40! WORTH IT.

Three--that pink thing on my arm is not some cool new thing. (If it is will someone please tell me so I know?) Over the weekend I went for a walk with my mom and on the way back I caught a glimpse of our neighbour's horse with her leg through the fence. We went down into her field to try and help her, and of course she bit me. Like the took a big old chunk of my arm. Nerves, definitely, but I wasn't too pleased. (We ultimately got her separated from the fence, thanks to a sharp pair of wire cutters.) I iced it but it actually turned slightly green--and I don't bruise, so greenish is bad for me--and it's extremely tender, sore, and slightly hard. I read online that KT tape sometimes helps with swelling and soreness, so I swung by the Cardiganland sports place and picked up a roll. So far, it's at the least stabilized the area and it doesn't hurt as much, so that's nice! And now I have a roll of KT tape in case (for when?) I get hurt running. Because let's be honest, when you run, it's bound to happen.

My kingdom for a brooch

Brooches: my mom's | Sweater: Kohl's | Skirt: Talbots | Tights: Target, no doubt | Flats: Target

Salazar always has amazing brooches, which makes me want to put a lot more effort into developing a bigger collection of my own. As it stands, almost all of my brooches--including the six (six!) in today's outfit--are direct hand-me-downs from my mom, which she wore quite often at her office job. One, a white fish, came all the way from my grandmother. The only "brooches" I've contributed to my own collection are Cape May beach tags, which is pathetic. (Not that I don't love my beach tags, because I do!) I made a huge mistake by going on Etsy, because now there are star shaped brooches in my eyes and I want to dump a pile of cash on everything from octopi and birds to bows (Salazar this seems very you!) and a station wagon with a canoe on top because why the hell not. Someone get me away from Etsy before I fritter away my entire massive public servant salary.

Cash

Top: Target | Pants: Old Navy via Dani at DIYFATSHION | Wedges: Target | Shades: Party City | Lips: NARS Annabella

I have been enjoying wearing all black--or a lot of black--lately. I've never been an all black kind of gal, and even when I only liked gray and navy and olive, I never really wore black. It felt really harsh to me. But after Dani gifted me these black ponte pants, which filled a need I didn't know I had, things changed. I wear these pants at least once a week. And it's so easy to just wear a bunch of black, especially on a Sunday when I have to work. The only problem is the cat hair and lint. I wonder if Johnny Cash ever had that issue.

Return of the whatever

Necklace: JCPenney | Top: Anthropologie | Belt: Target | Skirt: Kohl's | Flats: Payless

You may be wondering where I have been. Let me tell you where I have been. I have been right here, on my laptop, pecking away at the keys, doing various things (writing a paper, mainly), being utterly miserable and trapped in my mom's recliner while my tailbone slowly heals its way back from "bruised and inflamed" to "normal". I am an idiot and spent three hours on a bar stool Tuesday night at the Streetlight concert (post forthcoming!), slowly squashing my coccyx in the process. So when I woke up writhing on Friday morning, barely able to stand, much less walk, I had no idiot to blame but myself.

One donut pillow, many friends, two shots in the butt and a couple of birthday cake milkshakes from Zaxby's later, and I am mostly back to normal. I missed a lot this weekend--the Black Keys concert (SUPERSAD ABOUT THIS), a wedding, and possibly a date--but I'd rather it happen now than in two weeks, when I'm in New Hampshire. Yikes. Either way, what matters: I'm back in the proverbial saddle again.

Go long

Bauble necklaces: JCPenney | Poodle necklace: J.Crew Factory | Dress: JCPenney | Belt: Target | Heels: Anthropologie

can't talk, too busy getting PUMPED UP for the NFL schedule release tonight

Circle takes the square

Necklaces: chains from other necklaces | Cardigan: Gap | Dress: Belk | Belt: Old Navy | Bracelet: JCPenney necklace | Tights: Target | Heels: Nine West | Lips: Maybelline ColorSensational Make Me Pink over Chapstick | Nails: butter London Lady Muck

It's really tempting for me to say that this outfit is preppy. It feels pretty close. But then I look at blogs like this (and pictures like this--new goal: recreate!), and I know I'm nowhere close. First, I'm not skinny (have you ever seen anyone who isn't who successfully wears prep? Very sad but true), and second/more importantly, it's really not who I am. My hair is never straight. I don't do polo shirts. I avoid pastels & cable knit sweaters. My pearls only come out of the safe deposit box (you read that right) for weddings and graduations. But for a day, it's nice to pretend. Expect a teal pencil skirt and some crazy wedges tomorrow to rinse out the prep residue.

Want to see how Salazar styled today's Style Imitating Art? Click here!

Pesky love day

Necklace: Forever 21, lengthened by me | Sweater: Old Navy | Necklace as bracelet: JCPenney | Skirt: Target | Tights: Target | Heels: thrifted | Lips: Maybelline ColorSensational in Are You Red-dy | Nails: butter London Bossy Boots


One of the things I hate about Valentine's Day is that any other day, this would just be an outfit. I would just be wearing clothing. Would I be nicely dressed? Sure. Would I be celebrating a holiday? No. But because I'm devoted to my blog and I really wanted to get back into EBEW, here I am, wearing red and pink and screaming to the world HEY, I KNOW IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY. Oh well. There'a box of chocolate and a card from my parents so I'm happy.


(I feel like this picture makes me look a little bit like this gal.)
Valentine's Day is also International Quirkyalone Day. For more info on that, read this. I'm proud to be a Quirkyalone, and even more proud that there is actually a term for what I am. There are a lot of people who are Quirkyalones and relate to this lifestyle, and there's no shame in it!


In relation to Valentine's Day is the day that happens after, better known to me as 75% Off All Candy Day, also known to me as The Best Day Of The Year. Yeah, I'll even capitalise "the" for that one. I can't wait for past date chocolate and half stale candy hearts. I especially love the white ones. I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day/International Quirkyalone Day/Singles Awareness Day/Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow!

The tweest of them all

Flower clips: H&M
Coat: JCPenney
Dress: JCPenney
Tights: Target?
Wedges: Shoe Carnival



Let's talk twee! My best friend A. and I spent some quality time (ok so it was like 2 hours) picking the perfect sleeve for my Macbook. And even then, I was still uncertain and had to ask another friend for advice. And my mom! This is how bad I am at making decisions, you guys. I ended up buying this sleeve, and I think I made the right choice. During our long, epic journey through Etsyland, A. referred to more than one of my picks as "twee". I don't really know a lot about twee, so I set off to investigate.



Turns out, in Britain, twee's kind of an insult. Sweet to the point of disgust, like eating 20 packets of Splenda. I'm sure A. didn't mean it that way, and I certainly didn't take it that way. In America, though, twee is a term for a specific subgenre of indie pop that is surprisingly sweet and seemingly innocent. Ever heard of Belle and Sebastian? Los Campesinos!? Camera Obscura? The Postal Service, even, is a little bit twee. And the serious terminologists end the definition at that--a type of saccharine music that is enjoyable but can be almost too precious for its own good.



But twee seems to go beyond that simple genre description, according to most of the internet. The styles of Zooey Deschanel, Miranda July and Carey Mulligan are considered twee. The Athens (Georgia, y'all) Banner-Journal even outlined twee fashion points before a local concert. Women are often derided for dressing too uptight, too childish, and everything in between. Wearing anything other than a black sweater and black trousers is an open gate for criticism, and I'm not a fan of that, especially since for a very long time I personally believed that wearing twee clothing was really not classy or cute. But I think, after being introduced to the world of style blogging, and feeling more comfortable with who I am and confident in how my body is, maybe twee isn't so bad. It looks good on some women, and they embody the positive, happy lifestyle that the music helps develop. And I decided, after looking at this dress and all the research that lay before me, that I might be slightly twee today. And I'm okay with that.



Want to read more? Try this stuff:
Twee As Fuck: The Story of Indie Pop on Pitchfork
Twee on Urbandictionary
How to be twee on Wikihow
Don't Fear the Dowager: A Valentine to Maturity by Julie Klausner, and the amazing response by Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky, The Infinite Variety of Individuals
And if you're really into the point Elizabeth made about the woman's power to bring life into the world, Why Women Aren't Funny by Christopher Hitchens*



*I'm just practicing citing things for grad school

The return of the jedi

Thaaaaat's right. What We Wore is BACK! K. and I ran across the street on our break for some fun quality time in front of the camera. So here we go!



I'm wearing:

Cardigan: Anthro
Dress: Anthro, shortened with safety pins for the day
Tights: Walmart?
Heels: thrifted (!!!!)
Red nails: Zoya Carmen
Green nails: butter London British Racing Green
Yellow nails: butter London Cheeky Chops
Blue nails: China Glaze First Mate
Gray nails: Zoya Dove



I thought maybe it would be a good idea to repaint my nails and do the skittle thing again. I'm not making this a permanent habit but I kind of love the effect.



K. is wearing:

Necklace: This and That
Top: Dots
Bracelets: Dots
Pants: Dots
Flats: Shoe Department
Button: Work



K. wears this necklace nearly daily. She's a big New Orleans Saints fan, which is good because otherwise I'd have to kick her out of my friends circle because she also likes the Washington Redskins. Just kidding, we both know our respective teams suck this year.



By the way, I tweeted a couple days ago that I thrifted a pair of shoes. HERE THEY ARE. $5, people. I got crazy lucky--I've been looking for duo toned shoes (exhibit a: this pin) for a few months now and haven't found anything in my price point that would be available after my shopping diet was over, but for $5 I'm willing to break said diet. I think it was worth it. And they've been worn maybe 3 times at most because the original tread is still on the sole!



This is one of the first pictures we took, and it was really morea practice shot than anything. As soon as I saw it I was like "whoa, K.! I look so much taller than you!" And then she looked up at me and said "well, you are." Touche, K. Touche.

See y'all tomorrow!


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