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!

Storage war

Hat: Ikea | Top: Target | Skirt: Target | Wedges: Target | Nails: butter London Shag

This past week has been really unenjoyable, to say the least. While I was on vacation, a virus attacked my workplace's files, and everyone lost basically everything. I lost completely everything, so I've spent most of my time since returning trying to replicate what disappeared. It was pretty dumb of me not to back everything up, that's for sure. But now I have three flash drives AND an external all plugged into my desktop. Now I'm overly prepared! Can't stop me now world!

To see how everyone else interprets this week's Style Imitating Art, check out Jen's blog tomorrow!

Need more flowers

Top: Target | Skirt: J.Crew Factory | Flats: Target

I'm writing from a hotel room in Atlanta, where boyfriend A. and I are partway to beautiful and humid New Orleans! I really wanted to get an outfit together for SIA before I left though, and it was more difficult than I thought--I don't have anything in my arsenal that is sky blue, and I was really hoping I would be able to find something at would fit. So instead I went balls to the wall and threw as much floral together as I could. And I mean, I feel like I nailed it.

Check out Salazar's blog tomorrow for how everyone else dressed to match this week's SIA inspiration!

SIA: PSA

Hot Punch, by Amanda Smith
Ceramic, glaze & oil, 2009

THE COLOURS. Oh my goodness--and I do mean goodness. Salazar picked this one, and it is too good. I can't wait to see Salazar try to do this (girl do you even own any pink?) and I can't wait to pick an outfit for this one myself! Super fun and great for summer. Send your picks to Salazar by Monday, August 10th to be included! Enjoy!

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.