Knaidel

Top: JCPenney | Belt: off a skirt from Kohl's | Skirt: Target | Wedges: DSW | Lips: NARS Jungle Red | Toes: butter London Artful Dodger

Tonight's national spelling bee winning word was knaidel. I am proud to say that of all the words I heard and saw this evening, knaidel is the one I knew how to spell. I'd like to thank my parents, for sending me to JCC for preschool, and my parents, for being German. I couldn't have done it without you guys.

Blown away

Cardigan: Target | Top: J.Crew Factory | Skirt: JCPenney | Tights: target | Wedges: Target | Nails: butter London Come to Bed Red | Lips: Maybelline Lip Whisper (wtf.) Pink Possibilities

above: facing exceptional wind
below: turning away from exceptional wind

Another aside

Click to see my cuticles up close and personal

Long necklace: Old Navy | Short necklace: from mom | Top: J.Crew Outlet | Skirt: J.Crew Outlet | Socks: Target | Heels: Urban Outfitters | Nails: China Glaze Glitter All the Way over butter London Aston | Pinecone: painted with my grammy when I was 4

I don't really do nail art. I generally just slap on whatever colour I feel like and I'm on my way. But I saw this pin last week, and then with SIA I felt like no matter what I did to my outfit, I'd never have enough colour. And then I thought "ain't nobody got time for that!" but then I remembered I'm on winter break. THE PERKS OF GRAD SCHOOL.

No sling attached

Top: Target | Dress: Gap Outlet | Belt: JCPenney | Boots: Target | Lips: Cover Girl Lip Perfection Embrace over Maybelline ColorSensational Plum Perfect | Nails: butter London Sprog | Flower: late season hydrangea

The only thing missing from this post is the sling I acquired after separating my shoulder. While taking off my coat. Yeah, that happened. You have no idea how difficult it was to get this clothing on/off, and I'm not gonna lie, this dress was not zippered all the way in the back. But hell, everything still looks put together. Slings are not fun to wear and less fun to take outfit photos with, so I did a totally casual limp-right-arm look instead. I think it worked.

The grand gingham

Necklace: wapa on Etsy | Top: Old Navy | Skirt: Gap | Wedges: Payless | Nails: butter London Slapper

When I hit crisis mode (also known as sleeping through my alarm on a presentation day), I generally grab pants. Overall, this strategy has served me well. I also have a stash of untested "well, what if" outfits hanging at the front end of my closet for me to test run. But today, I didn't have time to dig for pants and a matching top, so I took the outfit and ran. Gingham on gingham can probably be a hot mess if it's done the wrong way, but I think I'm okay. And my presentation went well, so I guess whatever magic powers my Wizard of Oz Tuxedo possesses stuck with me today!


my leg is one MILLION miles long

Spring awakening

Necklace: gift from parents | Cardigan: Target | Top: J.Crew | Skirt: JCPenney | Wedges: Payless | Toes: butter London Lady Muck

Being a transplant to the south from the north has been a major change, even six and a half years later. One thing I'll probably never get over is the fact that things look so different from season to season. I've realized that this is probably mostly because I grew up in a concrete jungle and no matter what the season, I was surrounded by cement and asphalt instead of bark and winter rye, but even in the more rural areas of southern NJ, most of the area had the gently blue tinged green of pine trees, spruces and other evergreens; in the spring, a fine layer of yellow coated everything in sight as pollen was released. In Cardiganland, everything is far different--yellow daffodils nose through the kudzu, white Bradford pears release their delicate petals and their terrible smells, the peach trees explode in a celebration of pink. While the north remains its shades of gray, the dour brown that drapes the countryside down here fades to green as spring arrives, and it's one thing about the south that will always happily amaze me.

Much to discuss

Bobby pins: Forever 21
Top: Anthropologie
Skirt: JCPenney
Flats: Urban Outfitters
Lips: L'Oreal Colour Riche Volcanic
Fingers: butter London Trout Pout



After all the positive response I received on yesterday's post, particularly about my lipstick, I decided to take the advice/ideas some of you gave me and start a little mini-challenge (if I can even call it that) to wear all my lipsticks, and coordinate my outfits to them in some way. It'll be good self-portrait/headshot photography practice/I can work on my smizing! I'm calling it "liplocked" in my tags & I'll include the brand/name of each lipstick with my posts. Sooooo I guess we'll see how this goes.



This post is going to be all over the place. First of all, remember how I watch a lot of tv? One of my favourite new shows of the fall is Person of Interest (haha I typed "Person of Internet" first) but I have a bone to pick with this show--listen, if you're going to do an assassination episode, don't do a shot-for-shot remake of The Manchurian Candidate. You just can't improve on perfection.



Second, can we talk about Bruno Mars? His music's pretty swell and he's pretty adorable, but his last name could be so much better. It's not his real name anyway, so I came up with some ideas. Let's think about it. Bruno Mercury. Bruno Saturn. Bruno Pluto. BRUNO PLUTO, YOU GUYS. It's perfect. I should be hired as his brand manager/best friend.



Finally, in case you're wondering: yes. I did see my shadow.

Polished

Sweater: Old Navy
Top: Old Navy
Jeans: American Eagle
Flats: Toms
Thumb: Zoya Colette
Index: butter London Wallis
Middle: butter London Victoriana
Ring: butter London Knees Up
Pinky: Zoya Dannii



When you were a kid, did you ever have a problem with nail polish? I had a serious problem. I was addicted. I used it not only on my nails but for art projects. Possibly involving toothpicks. And more than once I spilled my polish on the beige rug in my play room, which resulted in my mom taking all my polish away and hiding it until we moved six years later. To be fair, we both forgot about it and didn't find it and my mom was all wtf and I was all omg! And then I threw it all away because it was six years old. Oops.



I'm more responsible with my polish now, but I still have a pretty major stash. And since I lost out on all of those years of irresponsible nail colours, I'm making up for it by wearing ridiculous colours all the time. I'm 12 at heart anyway, and if I can't keep my My Little Pony collection out in the open I should at least be able to air out the ol' polish stash once in a while. Or daily. You know.

Also, guest photographer T. said this picture looks like a Gap ad. Aside from being much larger than the average Gap model, I am inclined to agree.

Act 4 (of 5)

Hair clips: H&M
Necklace: Anthro
Top: Anthro
Sash: American Eagle
Skirt: handmade
Wedges: DSW
Toes: Zoya Yummy



It's here. The 30th outfit of my 30 for 30. I should be jazzed and proud of myself, right? Shouldn't I? I survived, I'm done, I'm over it.

Welllllllllllll not exactly.



On Thursday I'm taking part in the Paper Doll Project with the amazing Kelsey of Snappy Casual, and we've both picked outfits made entirely of our respective 30 for 30 selections. And there's still an outfit I want to wear--one piece hasn't gotten as much love as any of the others--so I'm just going to go through Thursday with this sucker. So really, we're doing a 30 for 32. It's like a Shakespeare play up in here--you think there are four acts but there are really five. Fortunately for you the fifth act is starting now! We're almost there! Don't expect me to go changing my tags and all that, but I'll be holding off on my 30 for 32 wrap-up post until this weekend.

However I have to admit that this outfit is the perfect sendoff for most of my items; I really love it. I've received a lot of compliments on my skirt & most people are blindsided when I say I made it myself. A woman today told me she liked it and when I said I made it she said "well, in that case, congratulations!" That feels good. I imagine I'll be sewing more things in the future though maybe it will be a while before I install another stinking zipper. Scarfs, perhaps, or skirts made entirely of strips of leopard print.

Yeaaaaaaaaaah maybe not. Act 5 scene II tomorrow!