The Plight of the TwentySomething

Nerves

2012-01-26T00:02:00.001-08:00

My boyfriend and I are doing a triple date here saturday, and I'm having nerves about it. There's nothing to be scared of, but I'm racking my closet for the perfect outfit, hoping the food isn't too fancy, that conversations go smoothly....Does anyone else get like this? It's my anti-social/scaredy-cat impulses fighting my fight or flight responses. I've never been to this restaruant, but it's in this great neighborhood full of a couple of my favorite places, (like this, this, and this) and we walked by once while there was a wine tasting happening. It seems so very adult and grown-uppy! (which is clearly so not my thing.....ha!)

Belated: The Pinkest, Friendliest Christmas Tree Ever

2012-01-26T00:02:00.000-08:00

Here's the seriously belated "Look how cute my christmas tree is," post. If you look close, there's wee felt owls and mushrooms. Except for the ones that the cat got and laid forlornly under the tree for a while. (also pictured: weird mauve/pink/maroon sofa arm. Someday this girl will own furniture of a determinate and coordinate-able color.)

I'm Going to Throw Away All My Other Eyeshadows.

2012-01-25T00:02:00.000-08:00

No joke, I'm considering throwing out all of my other eyeshadows. Just purchased the new maybelline 24 hour color tattoo cream eyeshadow in tough as taupe after reading reviews online and fell hard for it. I don't know anyone that needs 24hour eyeshadow...but I'll wear mine through a ten hour workday without it budging. It doesn't rub off, smear, cry or get rain/snowed off.....I seriously want every single color. I just finger paint it on in the morning, add more if I want, being careful to smudge out the edges and bam! Done all day. Love it.

Checking In

2012-01-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those super-satisfying days off where I started without a plan and ended up with three washed, dried, folded and put away loads of laundry, a giant closet/dresser purge and then by-color reorganization, and some reading, cooking and lovely other day-off tidbits thrown in. (also: closet organized by color may have just changed my life. You can see everything-including the ridiculous amount of black clothing you own-and find a specific item in a flash. It makes your closet look so tidy and stylish!)

While I was in the middle of my closet purge, I realized I had a couple pairs of abandoned, not-favorite jeans that look great on my sexy backside, but have weird hems. Two pairs got skinnified today using this basic tutorial from homeade ginger, and I may just turn all my stubby bootcut jeans into skinny jeans a pair at a time now. Such a difference!

Perpetual Journal

2012-01-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

I love new years. I love fresh starts and blank pages and beginnings. I never really set big, overriding new years resolutions because I'm constantly starting and working on little goals. (Sleep more. Go to yoga three times a week. Save ten percent of every paycheck. ) This year, however, I have one big goal (entirely eliminate my little debt) which I've been saying for years, but this is the first time I've been consistently employed in ages (and I just got a raise!) And I have one little goal, which is to journal a little more.

I quite like the idea of this Line a Day journal, but then I fell way in love with this perpetual journal seen on Design Sponge. I'm in the process of making one of my own, but wanted mine to be in a closed off box, because I would more than certainly spill all 365+ cards in that at least once. So i'm making cute little cards and hunting for the perfect box for it. (I kinda want it to be a vintage recipe card box!) It's so much more manageable to write a little capsule of your day down than trying to always make time for a whole written out entry in a traditional journal, and I really love the idea of scanning back to what I was doing on that day in the following years.

On Crafting Thoughtfully

2012-01-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

A small goal I had for this new year was to quit stockpiling craft supplies and start using them, but not to start projects willy nilly. The idea is to acquire more thoughtfully and to use thoughtfully, so I have fewer half-finished, half-baked projects I'm unhappy with cluttering up my workspace.

Hopefully this means less half-yard impulse purchases "just in case" when what I'd really be able to use was a couple yards to make a summer dress. Or whatever. I want to buy just what I love and plan a project for it, instead of trying to cobble together a project out of my stash, matching thread and zippers and fabric, running out last second for interfacing or a matching button....I know this will be a challenge, since I am prone, like many crafters, to hoarding pretty things for a future day when I will turn them into the perfect thing.

Stainless Steel Drinking Straws

2011-12-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

This would take some of the guilt out of my daily straw habit with my smoothie-stainless steel straws. Made out of the same material your everyday silverware is, they won't break like the pretty glass ones you can buy. They even sell wider "bubble tea" straws, and little brushes for scrubbing them out. From this shop on etsy. Oh, etsy.

Microwave Popcorn

2011-12-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

And thanks to the internet, I realized that I never have to buy microwave popcorn again. I just throw a quarter cup of popcorn kernals into a brown paper bag, roll the top twice, and nuke it for about a minute and a half. Bam! Light, fluffy popcorn, without any additives. I'll shake in a tiny bit of butter and then tasty toppings: cinnamon and sugar, parmesan cheese, seasoning salt...sky's the limit. It's my new favorite treat, so cheap and easy and not even that bad for you. Yum!

photo from here.

Another Internet Tip

2011-12-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

This girl stores her t-shirts and tank tops folded in vertical stacks. So you can see everything at once. Which is a mind-boggling thing of genius. The simplest stuff is best, folks.

(And even though I already went on a cleaning bender today and refolded all of my dresser drawers, yes, I am thinking about dumping them all out and doing this to them instead. From now until for-ever.)

Excellent Internet Tip

2011-12-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

There are three blenders in my house. No, we're not margarita making fools. One is mine, one my roomate's, and one was callously abandoned here by the dudes that lived here before. (Along with a fifty pound bag of rice, 20 bars of dove soap, and many jumbo sized cleaning products. There is stuff I've been using since I moved in nearly two years ago that I haven't even dented yet. Apparently the dudes who lived here before belonged to Sam's Club, or believed in hoarding, but that is neither here nor there.)

That said, there is a negligible amount of blendering happening in this house. For a long time, the appliance of the day was my old-new-to-me juicer, but I'm starting to appreciate how much stuff you can throw into a blender and drink. Spinach, for instance, you can throw into anything you want to turn bright green and chewy and drink (?) it, which I could not do with my juicer.

So my new favorite found-on-the-internet-tip is that you can use the base from your blender, twist on a regular old mason jar, and use that to blender anything into drinkable tastiness. Then you turn it right side up, remove the base, and pop in a straw and drink out of your mason jar. No lid or giant blender pitcher to clean, just rinse off the blender base. Like a magic bullet! Except more awesome.

from real simple, via pinterest

Felt Owl Ornaments

2011-11-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

Saw this tutorial for cute little stuffed felt owl ornaments, and got really inspired to make a mini flock of my own for my christmas tree. Spoiler alert: they have sequined bellies. It was really satisfying to sit and hand sew, and now I'm planning to keep crafting seriously quirky felty things for my very pink tree. I want to do little leaves and mushrooms and snails and gnomes and just have an extremely whimsical, non-traditional, twenty-something tree this year. We'll see how far it goes, but one or two of them at a time is totally manageable.

Photo and tutorial from here.

Kiss Me Coral

2011-11-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

I wasn't always a lipstick girl, but heading into my mid twenties I realized I was too lazy to apply lip gloss every fifteen minutes, and that a coat of good lipstick would keep me prettier longer. I've been loving slightly bright orange-y lipstick since this summer, but it wasn't until this post from Cup of Jo that spurred me on to trying it for myself. They recommend Nars lipstick in Heatwave (for $24, which I just can't bear to shell out for a trendy color I'm not sure of) but I scooped up Revlon's Kiss Me Coral instead, and I think it's perfect for what I wanted. And $6 bucks, so. It's not overwhelming, just kinda warm and casual and pretty and ideal for just slapping on everyday and wearing around. Loud, poppy, but not over the top. Easier to wear than my favorite femme fatale red, and quickly heading up the list of my new loves. I was worried that it'd go terribly wrong, but I'm really glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to try something new out.

Build a Twin Reflex

2011-11-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

I've wanted a twin reflex camera ever since I started nerdily delving into the world of vintage cameras and the twin reflex is no different. They're cool because you hold them lower (instead of at eye level) and look down into the shot, which will show up exactly the same on the film. You can get old ones and shoot your digital camera through them (Ttv), there's the Blackbird Fly, there's the mini digital Rollei but nothing was quite right.

Today though, today was different. Today I got an email from photojojo with their new goodies including the...wait for it....35 mm twin reflex camera kit. For $20 bucks. You just have to put all the tiny plastic pieces together by yourself. It's going on my wish list for now, but I'm considering it for a treat in the near future.

Open Pleated Maxi Skirt Debate

2011-11-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

Is the pleated maxi skirt weird, or cool? I can't decide. Arguments for and against, please wage in the comments. I dig the color of this one from Christian Siriano's (previously of Project Runway fame) spring 2012 collection. Photo here.

Hairstyles I'm Loving

2011-11-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hairstyles I'm currently obsessed with: this currently eludes my just-now-for-the-first-time-in-years-shoulder-length-hair: a sideways fishtail braid. I love the casual beachiness of it, instead of the awkward sister-wife-ism of regular braids.

Photo and video tutorial at the very lovely Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Twistband?

2011-11-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else started seeing twistbands cropping up all over? I don't know if I'm ready to give up my regular hair bands in favor of these. I can't decide if they're cute and minimalist or a little bit like a scrappy ribbon wrapped around your hair. Do I like that? The colors are pretty, at least.

Photos click through.

Love These

2011-10-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have been crushing to death on dream catchers, and arrows and teepees and other native influences, so I snapped up a mini dream catcher kit at the thrift store (.50 cents, same trip as the wee camera!) to make. Later that evening, I stumbled across this bit of inspiration: using existing doilies to fill in the center of your hoop, you get granny kitsch plus southwestern chic. Love! Tutorial and photos here.

Olympus Pen-ee

2011-10-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

So I stopped in at a thrift store today, and stumbled on this sweet little camera. The viewfinder was bright, the shutter worked, the winder worked, and I figured, hey, if worst comes to worst, it'll be an adorable addition to my collection. The body itself is in great condition, with a few scuffs, the weight is great in my hand, and it appears to be the perfect size to throw in my bag and carry everywhere if it does work.

It feels like there's film in it, so I carefully wind it up, and then struggle to figure out how to pop the back. I google it, find a manual, and it comes apart into two pieces in my hand, different than any other camera I've ever used. Inside is a vintage roll of kodachrome slide film. Slides! I was planning on just developing the roll of film inside, but I don't even know if I can. Not only that, it's a 35 mm camera, which takes half frame pictures. So on a 24 exposure roll, I will have 48 photos. Awesome, right?

So I'm thrilled to pieces with my newest find, and I'm dying for it to work. I'm going to shoot a roll, and report back. Whee!

Mini Donut Pan

2011-10-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

I've been going through a donut phase which is problematic since I don't want greasy, fluffy fried ones from the grocery store. I want dense, cakey, spicy baked donuts. Robust! Crumby! To get my fix, I've settled on really tasty ones....from Whole Foods.....an hour and half away. Except sometimes they run out. And they're $1.99. Each! (Remember the macaron fixation last year? My town apparently doesn't believe in specialty baked goods, sigh.)

So a mini donut pan is winging its way from Amazon to my house, and when it comes, this is the first batch going into that puppy. Pumpkin donuts with cinnamon glaze, get into my belly! I'm considering giving up my regular oatmeal and fruit or greek yogurt for breakfast in favor of donuts. Forever.

photo from her blog.

Bearded Lady

2011-10-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Attending a series of Halloween Parties this weekend, all of which are costume parties. My crowd loves few things more than gatherings involving ridiculous getups. (see: sombrero in living room)

My plan this year is to be a circus style bearded lady: pretty but a tiny bit off.

The getup so far includes these insane 80's tastic pants I picked up at the thrift store involving three styling things I would never wear all together in my real life: pleated, high wasited and cropped. They're also striped. Wham! And those sheer mesh tattoo sleeves? So I still need some sort of facial hair, and a crazy circusy-bejewelled top. Photos click back to Pinterest.

Birch Box

2011-10-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

My mom asked if I wanted a gps for christmas. I may tell her I want a mini subscription to Birch Box instead.

For ten bucks a month, they send you 4 or 5 random product samples. Try a little of everything, on the cheap? Fun. Who doesn't love surprise mail?

Duct Tape Dummy

2011-10-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a clothing construction class and our homework this last week was to build a duct tape dressmaking form so we could start learning how to drape. That's my project for tonight so I can take it to class tomorrow. Course I left it to the last second, whoops. Picture and tutorial here.

Filing Cabinet Planter

2011-10-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

Saw this idea online a while back and ding! the light went on. I've been wanting to build raised beds or planters around the porch of this house, but didn't want to spent a lot on them. You can pick up a filing cabinet at the thrift store here for $5 or $10 bucks, tip the thing over, fill it with dirt and voila! modern square planter for next to nothing.

I'm kinda hoping to make this happen this weekend since the buddy of mine I rent the house from is returning to town and I would like him to believe that I'm taking care of the place instead of dreadfully neglecting it like I have been. (ha, ha)

In other news, I did end up painting my bedroom and then throwing it back together in a weekend, and it's been shambles ever since. (I made a curtain to go with the new color/theme, and only got that far, so one window has the old kistchy patchwork curtain and the one right next to it is the new one. Whoops.) I'm planning on making time to reorganize and touch up and frame some art for over the bed and sort out the curtain debacle and then I'll photograph the finished project for ya'll to see, promise.

Beauty Department

2011-10-06T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have been seriously nerding out over the tips and tutorials of the girls over at The Beauty Department. It's like the how-to handbook for girls that your sister should have written you, except in this case your sister is Lauren Conrad and her professional hair/makeup and photography team. Hit it up, if like me, you enjoy nail polish, hair style help, and general ruminations about the biz of being pretty.

Makes Me Smile

2011-10-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

This silly little doodle makes me smile every time I bump back into it on pinterest. For the record, I imagine the words being read in a teeny, high voice.

On Divorce

2011-09-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

My husband and I filed our divorce paperwork yesterday. It was so odd and clinical and businesslike: copies of paperwork and signatures and paying a fee and now waiting for a judge to dissolve the last official remnants of our marriage. We've been separated nearly more than we were ever together, and I haven't said much on this site because it broke my heart. I shared a life with this person, and now I don't. It's for the best: the both of us believe that this is honestly for the best and that we were making each other unhappy and that it was deeply flawed and broken beyond repair. But yesterday was still like tearing off a bandage from a barely sealed wound.

If you take a fall while rock climbing, there's this moment of pure adrenaline before the rope and your partner catches you and you're holding your breath and everything is happening at once so fast in a rush and then all of a sudden you're slamming into your harness and scraping against a rock wall and you're still alive. It's a moment of utter panic and discombobulation and then a sweeping rush of tentative relief. You get your feet under you, and you try to go up again. That's the closest metaphor I've come to in trying to get a finger on how this process has felt. There's the sickening rush, the lack of air, the bone and soul cracking crash into the bottom, and then hopefully the final ascent to where you were trying to go in the first place.

Nobody told me that my marriage would end with a deluge of paperwork and a heartrending series of “what ifs.” If they had, maybe I wouldn’t have been so quick to register for kitchenware, hunt for a white dress. Or maybe I would have pushed on, convinced that my love was one that could weather all of life’s storms, that my relationship would be different than the statistical average.

I’m left soaking in remorse like cold, dirty bathwater and considering how I came to be a cliché. How our story, so sure to be different, ended up like so many others. How you come to share a life and roof and bed with someone you can’t even talk to, who seems like an absolute stranger.

I don’t understand how it happened, how it all burned down and turned into ashes. I don’t know how that blue eyed boy with the beautiful smile who’d I’d later dub panda bear or pocket mouse would eventually only be referred to among my friends and I as “Urdu”- the predictive text version of his name from my phone because I physically couldn’t bear to utter his name. I didn’t know that instead of planning a future, we’d later spend a year assiduously avoiding each other, that a casual run in on my birthday just after our separation would end in a jagged three hours in bed crying before my family party. I didn’t know that I would later feel relieved, liberated, but I’d still spend nights awake wishing that it wasn’t a total train wreck to call or go over to his place, to try again, to start over. I know better, but god, the complete uncertainty. How are you supposed to start your life over without the one person you used to call your best friend?

I still wonder sometimes when I will feel entirely better, when I will stop wondering. I can’t listen to The Cure, Death Cab, Rise Against, I can’t listen to anything from the past five years without tracing the trails that led to our downfall. I can’t look at photos, I can’t hang wall art we had together, I hate the plates and the silverware we bought when we were a couple, and cooked with, and ate on together. I got rid of the sheets, I threw out the t shirts and the underwear you’d seen me in, books you bought me, things that sat where we used to live. I want to know, I want to know how you could leave me, and leave me, and leave me behind. I want to know why you didn’t write, you didn’t call. When people ask, I say I was married, and I leave it like that. “It didn’t work,” is too small in words for what happened, for the heart break and the disappointment and the trying not to call when I get drunk. It’s too small, too neat for the sense of failure, the epic proportion of not being able to get out of bed for a year, of silently mourning behind closed doors, behind people’s backs. It's too small to explain the struggle of trying to perfect an imperfect life for those years and then finally, painfully, letting go.

And that's it. It's fine, I'm fine, he's fine. He still wears the band I bought him on another finger, I'm trying to pull out the black roots that have sunk themselves deep into me. I'm trying to move on, to forget. So life goes on. Sometimes I don't notice, and sometimes my heart still hurts.

I know that's kinda dark and personal and heavy and not at all the usual blog fodder. We'll be returning to our regularly scheduled blog posts again shortly, promise.

Teal is a Go

2011-09-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

So I slept on it and then came back to the teal with fresh eyes and love it. Maybe not an entire room of it (especially one this size) but enough to paint one wall. Or two. (Is it weird to paint only two walls a color, or is that ok? If so, do you paint the connecting corner pair of walls, or the opposing pair?) Then the others I'll do a much softer blue or grey. It's either that or chevron stripes. Or tiny polka dots.

photo clicks through to the fresh home website

Feeling Teal

2011-09-13T20:30:00.001-07:00

I started painting my bedroom teal tonight after work, and then panicked and stopped after one wall. Yes, teal. Like, deep peacock feather greeny blue. I'm nearly convinced that it'd be a sexy cave if I did the whole thing, but right now I'm considering how a tiny, north facing bedroom with one central dome fixture may not need to be painted a color that is already eating all the existing light. We're heading into winter here, folks, which means less and less available light for that wall to suck all the way up. Considering painting an accent piece of furniture instead, since I adore the color....

So while I wait for my paint to dry and go back to Plan A,* I'm leaving you a picture from pinterest of a lovely teal room. (notice the heavy use of major white pieces in this room: not a coincidence.)

(*Plan A is to find a nice, neutral, relatively light reflecting color to paint my wee bedroom. I of course have no such color in mind or picked out. Why do things in the logical way when you could instead impulse purchase paint your brain knows is too dark but your heart yearns for?)

Sing Sweetly Dress

2011-09-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Tried on this Sing Sweetly Dress (from anthropologie, no longer on their site) because I was dying over the cute green bird print on navy backround. And was so, so let down. The bodice is this wonderful, pleated overlain complex top, the skirt is wide and swooshy and has pockets. I hate the sash, since I'm not six and a flower girl, but think it'd be super chic with a thin leather belt instead. However, that delightfully detailed bodice was falling right off me on a dress already a size smaller than I regularly wear. With the most giant padded bra I've ever owned.

I went online to look and see if I could find a smaller size, and seems every reviewer ever had troubles with the bust, so I'm glad it's not just me and my mini chest. But, boo. I wish they would sell their fabric so I could make myself a crazy bird printed blouse instead.

Update: Curtains, Sofa Pics, Frames

2011-09-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

So here's some pics of the newly updated living room. There's new patterned curtains ($15 from Ikea) of the most adorable line drawn birdy/branch print, and the obviously crooked assortment of thrift store frames slung haphazardly over the (marroon? mauve? pinkish....) sofa. Under consideration is painting them white, and also using a level to get the entire grouping hung correctly.

Yes that is a sombrero on my couch, and an alligator head on top of the (hulkingly overlarge and in the process of being gotten rid of and downsized to something more room-appropriate and probably white) bookcase. If you don't have a sombrero or alligator head in your living room, what do guests where when they come over?

In other news, I got a chance to visit with my lovely granny this weekend and I regretted, as I always do, that my often ridiculous schedule makes it hard to see people I like, sometimes.

Later that weekend I purchased my first climbing harness, so I don't have to always borrow everyone's gear all the time. It's pale purple, and worn with my mint green climbing shoes sort of makes me look like pastel princess climbing barbie, which I'm totally into. There's really a dearth of girly girl outdoors stuff, and I'm starting to wonder if there's a niche out there for girly outdoorspeople who don't want to look like a patagonia ad all the time. (skorts don't count, patagonia)

A sweetheart commented about the sofas in the last post by mentioning that they used canvas drop cloths from the hardware store to cover up their sofas. Scanning all my local hardware stores has shown that they only carry beige speckled dropcloths, which are rustic and neutral and cheap. The conundrum is the typical neutral beige rental walls, slightly dingy beige rental carpet and blindingly white trim and new white curtains. I'm not sure it's going to work for me in this instance, but I'm keeping it on retainer.

Last but not least, the new roomie and I got some internets set up for the house again. Have you ever taken an internet break and then come back again? My brain can't even handle how much stuff there is to do, and look at, and it melted away. All of it. Eye candy created brain goo.

And with that, I'm out. Night ya'll.

Decorating and Bad Design Decisions

2011-08-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

My roomate from the past year and a half got a phd, a new job in Iowa and moved away. Besides missing the company, I'm missing the green micro suede sofa/loveseat and the beautiful accompanying handmade side tables, tv stand, and the tv.

So in a fit of decorating terror, I purchased a sofa/loveseat from the local thrift store and set them up in my house. They're cozy, they're perfectly sized, they match, they're in great condition, but....
they may be the weirdest color ever made. Mauve? Maroon? Pinkish? It's cute, it's totally girly, but unfortunately they appear to NOT coordinate with anything else. Ever. I want to have a grown-up living room again, but we appear to be quickly degrading into 1990 shabby chic, which I do love, but it's not exactly the boho modern 70's sexy shag-lounge of a living room I was originally shooting for.

So I bought a stack of gold frames, originally intending on painting them black or white, emptied out the glass and backs and slapped those on the wall over the sofa. And there I'm at a stand still. The new roomate has an art degree and opinions but seems to also be very polite and open to me doing whatever the h I want, thankfully, but no help there.

Anywho, would love some tips. Or for Anthropologie's curtains to start getting a little more budget friendly.

The Easiest Summer Hair Do Ever

2011-08-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

Saw this on pinterest, tried it, and am obsessed. Let your hair air mostly dry, then slap on an elastic headband. Wrap strands of hair around it and let it finish drying. Unwind, beachy waves. Except I'm still perfecting wrapping bigger chunks of hair around at a time so I end up with waves instead of Shirley Temple style ringlets. Otherwise, it's ridiculously easy and even cute in the meantime. And you can sleep on it.

Summer Mess

2011-07-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

The roomie is taking off for a climbing trip with some buddies over the weekend and this is what the living room looked like during the packing process. I kind of love the chaos of summer time.

Polaroid

2011-07-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

And then I went and bought a polaroid camera. It had an empty film cartridge jammed in upside down, and that took some of the flesh from my knuckles and a spatula to remove, but it seems to be in otherwise exemplary condition.

I took it in to a camera store while still jammed and asked if they did repairs and dude was like, yeah, they don't really make those anymore. And I was like, for real? Surprise! (sorry camera dude, that was kinda the point....)

Then he tried to get the old film out and when he couldn't told me that the good news is that they don't even make film for them anymore. (good news? What's the point in a camera no one can use?) And then I said, oh yeah, somebody bought a polaroid factory so they could keep making it. Bam! Here's a random factoid that I know and you don't, snobby camera dude, they still make it! So there.

(If you really want to be surprised, check out polaroid film on ebay and amazon. $100-500 for a pack? Pass. ) To actually buy it, check out the impossible project's film or photojojo. Still pricey, not as bad as the old stuff.

Birthday Toms

2011-07-14T15:49:00.001-07:00

Toms for my birthday, something I always considered too silly and expensive to spring for my own self. At first I was worried the color wouldn't go with anything and I'd wear them and feel ridiculous but I needn't have worried, the color goes with absolutely everything. And so comfortable, like wearing your slippers around all the time. Is it too early to be picking the color for my next pair....?

Random Update

2011-07-08T11:22:00.001-07:00

My roomate is moving in a month and we haven't switched the internet over to my name yet, so it's out at my place. Which actually turned out to be one of those blessings in disguise, since I now have to actually leave my house if I want to check my etsy sales or emails or facebook. I think I may leave it until the winter (when I really don't leave the house at all for months at a time) because the air conditioning, deep quiet and people watching at the library are really satisfying and I'm not wasting hours and hours of each day wandering around pinterest or blogs when I'm at home.

Another epic twenty something birthday has come and gone over the weekend, with a different crowd and different party every night and I came out on the other end totally exhausted. AWESOME. The only minor regret is how I completely forgot to get a pinata for peeps to beat the crap out of, but my only consolation is the possibility of doing that for my roomie's goodbye party in a month. So there's still hope.

New nail polish color: lilacisim from Essie. Almost overbearingly cute and fresh.

Ever Use These to Clean your Drains?

2011-06-20T08:50:00.001-07:00

The slow drain in my bathroom sink was driving me crazy, but I hate to use chemical drain "cleaners" and I felt like I was running out of other options. Baking soda and vinegar and boiling hot water? Fail. Then my friend's roommate recommended the zip tie drain cleaners, so I went hunting at a hardware store.

Fun as it is to be a tiny girl wandering a hardware store, (Are you lost?) I tackled the first person who offered to help and let them lead me straight to plumbing. $2.50 for a flexible plastic strip, no chemicals involved. I figured even if it didn't work, I wasn't out that much.

But did it ever work. It instantly pulled out a horrifying amount of slimy hair and gunk, leaving the drain clean as a whistle. No chemicals, no wait. Awesome. Such a great, fast, cheap way to sort out slow drains in the future. As a creature with a head full of hair, I imagine this will continue to come in handy.

photo from amazon

Bike Class

2011-06-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

The other day I got to catch an hour long women's only basic bike class and it's really inspired and motivated me to learn all I can about my bike so I can just maintain it all by my own self. And also fix it up. I'm doing reading right now on brakes because I want to re-do mine with cute mint colored housings. Besides the bamboo grips and wooden accents and new paint job I want. Whoops. As far as hobbies go, I feel like it's a reasonably practical one though, right?

photo from amazon

Wouldn't this be Yummy for a Party?

2011-06-16T00:02:00.000-07:00

Love this idea for an easy snack to make the next time there's a house gathering, they're mozarella sticks!

They've just taken egg roll wrappers and tucked them around string cheese. I would cut mine in half and bake them, serve with a cilantro ranch. Num.

From here, seen via pinterest.

Holga Update

2011-06-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

I found out today that my favorite local grocery store does one hour film developing. In addition to having a branch of my bank. And their deli sells soft serve ice cream cones, the smallest of which is .61 cents and more ice cream than a grown person should eat, even while walking around grocery shopping for an hour while their film is being developed. Hello, convenience! Summation: favorite grocery store just got better.

Anyywhooo, here's the roll of film I picked up today, from out of the holga.

1) Profile of the face book sculpture in The Salt Lake City Library, which is a rad building. * Clearly the plastic cam can't handle it's low light, but you can kind tell that there's a nose in there.

2) Building.
3) Building. Apparently I'm an architectural details nerd.

4) Family of ducks cowering in the mall parking lot. I had a pretty nuanced freak out about this since there's no water of any kind around and busy roads surrounding, and I was like, where they heck are they even going to go?! Vowed to walk into mall, return my pants, and call animal control three seconds later when I walked out. Literally five minutes later there was an animal control dude there scooping them up because someone else called them first, and I was super glad.

5) Oil painting in a Salt Lake City library. That is a dude in a leisure suit, my friends, and someone took the time to paint that. Notice the sign on the bottom right of the railing? "Quiet, please." Excellent stuff here.

*Salt Lake City Main Library. Not for those with vertigo.

Random Update

2011-06-14T22:10:00.001-07:00

1) pic: eggs in my kitchen, courtesy of roomie.

2) I'm really into wide, turban-y headbands right now. I'm considering a line of tiny print floral ones for summer and corduroy and velvet ones for winter. This pink prototype is the forerunner, unless I totally lose steam I should have a bunch up in the etsy shop in the nearby future.

3) New bangs, new hair girl. Not recommended. Have a working theory that finding a hair stylist is akin to other serious life decisions like finding a house to live in for the next 30-50 years or a car or which college to attend. You have a leaky roof? Fix it. You have choppy, uneven bangs? suck it up until it grows out. Sigh. Serious stuff, this.

4) To any sisters reading this who were expecting a summer dress, I swear I'm looking into it and not just procrastinating, wide headband style. That much.

5) I accidentally dumped some size 11 seed beads into my keyboard the other day, and no amount of blowing or shaking can get the last one out, which inevitably seems to be dwelling near my left shift or e key and making them unusable. I'm hoping to crush it in the next few days, it's frustrating the buhjeebus out of me.

Black and White Holga

2011-06-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

I always carry a camera. Sometimes two. I figure I should post more photos because I take them, a lot of them. Here's some from my last roll of film, which was in my camera long enough that I'd forgotten it was black and white.

Aside: The heavily accented Italian woman at the photo counter asked if I was trying to go professional, because they were black and white, and I was all, did you look at these? (she totally did before handing them over, and she laughed at the funny ones of my face, because dude, I have a camera so that I can be the one pointing that thing. ) Plastic camera lenses aren't known for their particularly "pro" characteristics. And then she mentioned that Fanta, the soda I'd picked up in a glass bottle, was made in her country. So, that happened.

Juicer

2011-06-02T21:39:00.001-07:00

I've wanted a juicer for something in the vicinity of four or five years. I've put it off for ages because they're fussy, I want something that could do an apple or carrots, they're expensive, I move a lot, and I think most people think they'll use their kitchen gadgets more than they actually do....

So i finally just bought one at a thrift store today for $5 bucks. I thought, I'd pay three bucks for a thing of carrot juice, let's just try it.

And.....Going on the list of some of the best money I've ever spent. Today was just a few quick experiments....two apples, a carrot, and some celery...delicious. A carrot, some ginger, an apple...delicious. It's wildly satisfying, throwing a handful of things together and having them come out sweetly distilled on the other side. And the pulp? I'm thinking I'm just going to start spooning it straight into my flower pots and garden. Hello, compost!

(This isn't my juicer, as my camera's batteries are charging: this is the closest the internet gave me. Clunky, square and ancient, with two compartments on the front: one for juice, one for pulp.)

Clog On

2011-06-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

Look, I'm calling it. The clog is back. I picked up the sweetest vintage wooden and leather pair with little brass rivets and they basically haven't left my feet for the past three weeks. Comfort and height? I can't even handle it. Added to the way I seem to be accumulating long flared jeans with a penchant for summery braided hair and it seems the 70's have come back to swallow me whole. Which, you know, excellent. So I'm aging, because five years ago I wouldn't have let a clog even look crosseyed at my foot and now I'm totally stoked on them. Get all up on my foot, clogs.

pic

Thrifty Finds

2011-05-24T20:29:00.001-07:00

Today's thrifty finds:

I stopped in at the dollar store to pick up goodbye treats for the first grade class I helped out this year. While I was there I picked up these colored pencils for me. Aren't they kinda minimalist and pretty?

My other super cheap find was this awesome pair of green damask curtains for $5.00. They're floor length and lined and other than the musty smell and pleating, I think they're perfect for the modern vintage pad of my dreams.

Jose Villa Book

2011-05-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

This book is here, and it's beautiful. It's packed full of awesome tips, advice, and imagery. Reading it is like having a casual conversation with a really great wedding photographer about their process, their likes and dislikes, and a few things they learned the hard way. It's prompted a decision to eventually own one really good prime lens. Great addition to my little library.

Grapple

2011-04-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

These were a mistake, like I didn't know that going in. Like crisp apples that had been soaked in watery grape kool-aid, horrifying. They were on clearance for .99 cents, and useful for small time pranks on roomates, at least.

Bedsheet Summer Dress

2011-04-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that it's been continually snowing for about 9 months now, I made a summer dress out of a 1970's pattern and the softest bedsheet, more than likely from that era. It's the softest pale blue with darker slate blue ferns and vines and little mustard accents, and I'm so in love with it that I don't mind that I may look like I'm wearing curtains from a cat lady's house.

From stem to stern in about three hours with only a minor mixup during strap attachment which was quickly remedied. I had fully intended to make it with the ruffle sleeves and bottom ruffle and then got that far and decided against it, and I eliminated the zipper in the back. But is that rick rack trim on the neckline? Why yes, yes it is. Rocking the rick rack, one summer dress at a time. I haven't added the pockets yet but you can bet they too will be rick rack-riffic.

Llama Font

2011-04-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

From today's Cup of Jo, llama font. So awesome!

(Llamas came up earlier today in a story we read in the first grade, along with anteaters and iguanas. So funny.)

Pioneer Woman's Chai Concentrate

2011-04-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

The last couple weeks I've been using the Tazo or Oregon Chai concentrate to make a chai latte every morning for breakfast, but the flavor is still not quite right. So I hunted and found a recipe to make my own.

I just brewed a batch of this chai concentrate, and am so far pretty happy with the results. Forgot to add vanilla, just used brown sugar to sweeten to taste, and didn't have cardamom pods or seed. Just used ground cardamom, but I twisted mine up in a coffee filter and threw it in hoping it wouldn't add sediment to the end result. Everything else I just eyeballed and added, but next time I'm going to go crazy on the ginger and cinnamon and back off on the whole cloves. My tongue is tingling, that's how much clove was in my batch. Whoops.

Anyways, I'm excited to just have a basic recipe to tweak to my liking and I'll just do a massive batch of this once a week or so and store it in my fridge for cheap, easy delicious chai. Awesome.

Practically Instantaneous Pillowcase Half Slip/Skirt

2011-04-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've been needing a short half slip to wear with all my summer dresses and skirts for about...a hundred years or so now. I have an embarrassing ratty white hand me down one that has been making do for far too long. That said, I couldn't swallow the price for what is essentially a cheap nylon tricot tube with lace at one end and elastic at the other. I hate nylon tricot, and cotton breathes, plus is cuter. Clearly, the solution was to get crafty.

But since I'm craft lazy, I wasn't going to carve one out these out from scratch. I used a pillowcase and left the hem in so all I had to do was add an elastic waist. To make your own, here's what I did:

1.- Cut pillowcase from stash in half, keeping the hemmed edge for use. For a longer one, you'll leave more pillowcase above your hem.

2.-Serge top edge, to finish it.

3.- Wrap underwear elastic around your waist, leaving enough room to overlap edges, cut. Sew into a circle.

4.-Divide your elastic circle and the serged top of your pillowcase into quarters, and pin together. You'll have to stretch your elastic to fit your pillowcase. Pin the whole thing.

5.-Zig zag stitch your elastic to the pillowcase, stretching as you go to make it fit.

Ta-da!

The thrift store here sells pillowcases for $1 a piece and the elastic I got on sale at Joann's for .85 cents. I still have half a pillowcase left over for other crafting. Cheap thrills, people.

Notes: Clearly, this only works if you're small enough to fit into a pillowcase. The longer you make it, the more room you'd need for walking-meaning you may have to add in slits for movement. Would be really easy to just add a simple casing and thread an elastic through for simple toddler skirts. I even think a couple of them in different lengths layered together could be folksy and sweet.

Not Your Mother's....Packaging

2011-04-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

Quietly nerded out over this cheeky and slightly silly packaging in the hair aisle at Wal Mart. I was all, I totally need sea salt hair texturizer, right?

A whole blog devoted to pretty packaging here, for you other design nerds.

Sewing A Swimsuit

2011-04-11T21:53:00.001-07:00

I recently stumbled back across some brown swimsuit fabric I'd squirrelled away for such a thing and it's got me thinking about producing a retro one piece from my stock of vintage swimsuit patterns. I've sewn knits before, but never anything quite so fitted or unforgiving, and it's got me terrified. I've been doing internet searches and my research is indicating that I may have to troll back down to JoAnn's and procure special stretch needles. And maybe a double needle for hems. I try to reassure myself that it can't be that hard, and that my mom made us swimsuits growing up.....Wish me luck!

Love this Diva-Kini. Genius.

Here's a few things I found helpful:
Creative Chicks at Play
10 Tips
About Pins and Needles
Lastly,
Spandex World. Awesome.

photo from Burda Style, free Alison pattern.

Update: Took a hard look at the thrifted chunk of fabric that I have and the paltry yard ($1 dollar's worth) may not be quite enough to do a ruched, intricate one piece. High waisted bikini, anyone?

Chemex?

2011-04-08T01:22:00.001-07:00

Anyone ever try any coffee from a chemex before? Similarly low tech and simple like french presses, they're supposed to produce a really nice brew. There's a lot of debate about reducing "mudiness" and acid and making clean, aromatic coffee. I'm not interested in that. I like pretty, easy ways to brew small amounts of tasty coffee, and this looks like one of 'em. I'm a shallow coffee drinker, and I'm fine with that.

Anyway, if anyone has any word on it, I'm all ears. Holla!

Maxi Dresses

2011-04-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

The maxi dress is my favorite clothing scam. Not only do you throw it on and simply add shoes, but you don't have to shave your legs to get away with it. And here's the best part, it's like wearing pajamas while looking like you care about a public image. Comfy, lazy and put together- every girl's clothing dream.

(Aside: I own two. One has an empire waist, which the first graders apparently thought made me look pregnant. Thanks guys, and also a lesson about what not to wear to elementary school. Later, another teacher overheard and pulled them aside to teach them the valuable life lesson about not telling people who aren't pregnant that they look pregnant. They apologized, but that dress is still not going back there. So maybe the lesson here is that I shouldn't wear empire waist dresses. I'm sticking by the maxi thing, though.)

Roast Chicken Update.

2011-03-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Bought a rotisserie chicken from the deli at the grocery store today. $4 dollars. Delicious. Full of fat and bones to turn into stock. New. Favorite. Thing.

Roasted Chicken

2011-03-29T21:34:00.001-07:00

I want to be the kind of person that roasts an entire chicken with lemon and garlic and slivers of ginger, then uses the bones to make delicious, homeade stock while my perfectly rumpled hair sidles sneakily out of a messy bun and my apron strings make my waist look waspish and feminine. I think this person also grows tomatoes to can their own salsa, and works out on a regular basis. They probably volunteer or something.

Sadly, I don't think I am this person. I think I will continually be the boneless, skinless, fatless, chicken nubbin buyer who uses one wee nubbin at a time to pan fry and then eat with some rice and veg. The person that buys lifeless cans of chicken stock and triumphs if they make it to yoga once a month or so. Cooking as a singleton is weirdly depressing to me.

Festival of Colors

2011-03-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday thouroughly immersed in color, literally drenched in it. I'll have to post photos later but here's just one of me and the camera, so you can get a sense. By the end, the ground was pink and the population was a weirdly analogous mix of layered color. It was bright, and surreal and ebullient and infectiously joyous. There is still fushia powder adhered to my skull.

Photo Book, Want

2011-03-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

This guy, who is amazing and talented and crops up on every, every wedding blog, published a book. It's chuck full of his work, and (this is the kicker, people) is an informative how-to manual for capturing casual beautiful images like his. Want.

Stumbled On...

2011-03-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

Checked out this book from the library today. Because who isn't practicing finger waves and pin curls in their hair when they're bored?

Preserve Recycled Toothbrushes

2011-03-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of the Preserve products? They recycle Stonyfield Farms yogurt cups and turn them into things like toothbrushes and razors. I just picked up a new toothbrush from them today. My favorite part? Snip off the top of the package, and when you're done, pop in the brush, tape it closed, and it's a self addressed, postage paid mailer back to the recycler. How cool is that? It's like a recycling treat for nerds*. I know I'm excited, and for $3 bucks, I'll take the cheap thrill, thank you very much.

(*they also do a toothbrush subscription. Nerdily awesome, but I couldn't hack the suggested 3 months between. Apparently my toothbrushes have a shorter life span due to paranoia.)

Meet The New Guy

2011-03-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

So two days before starting the ill-fated new job, my car died, and I was thanking my lucky stars that it didn't happen at any point before that. I would have been too broke before to do anything about it except start walking the five miles to work and back in two feet of snow. Thank you, merciful, serendipitous timing.

My awesome boss at the bead store loaned me their old car that they no longer drive, a 1996 Toyota Corolla. I drove it around for a week, and asked if they'd be willing to sell it.

They were. (and for less than most of the repairs on the old one.) Say hello to the new guy, currently unnamed. (note: this photo isn't mine, but it looks just like it, minus the hubcabs. They mentioned the car seems to repel them.)

I got it inspected and registered today and you know what's nice about driving a car nearly a decade newer than your old one? It passes inspection, the first time. I could get used to that. They called and were all cryptic, "We have a couple issues, come by to talk about it," and when I showed up they were all, "It could use an oil change and there's some corrosion on the battery that you should get cleaned up." I was like, "Dude. I don't have to give you a couple hundred dollars for new tires or anything? Brakes? I can just drive it away now?" Awesome.

Just Because You're An Employer, Doesn't Make it OK

2011-03-02T06:30:00.001-08:00

So I got hired two weeks ago to work at a local, woman owned small business selling wedding and prom dresses.

I show up early to a meeting, as per two text emphatic owner request that I be there ten minutes early. She shows up, sits me down and tells me Disney, one of the other girls that works there, came to her crying yesterday (monday, feb. 28) about how she hadn't been considered for my job.

She asks if I've been still job hunting, at which point I tell her, not since I got hired here and I'm creeped out and curious as to why she's asking. She then tells me that Disney will be her new "go-to" girl, that I will be reverted to minimum wage, and that the other part time girl, Sadie, and I will be in competition to see who stays on past May. She says she just wants to be (and here's the real ironic part) "fair" to her girls. (which clearly doesn't mean me, she means her existing girls) To summarize, I'd been hired as her full time girl, at $9 dollars an hour plus commission and that I could expect a quick raise to $10 dollars an hour because I was clearly qualified. This backslide to part time, seasonal work was a justifiably stunningly unexpected way to start my work day.

She then continues to tell me that she'd be happy to cut me a check for a week's pay, instead, and send me on my way. Her mother, who started the business and stays as half owner, interjected gently to give me the option to think it over.

Meanwhile, I'm utterly floored. Can you give away someone's job to someone else, just because they came to you crying about it? I'm trying to keep my shit together and appear somewhat professional instead of sitting on the opposite side of that desk and crying like the pathetic, out of work freak I feel like. You guys, I needed that job. I quit my other part time job with the expectation of full time work. I am furious and humiliated and terrified right now.

As this is happening, all the other employees start filing in for the meeting, including Disney, and I'm too embarrassed to be all, "I'm sorry, why do you think this is ok? Cuz you rightfully hired me, not her. I earned that job." Instead I tamp it down and try to put on a normal face.

So I worked through the day. They had me work with Disney, who had been nothing but passive aggressive with me these few weeks, and I had just thought it was because I was the new girl. I went home.

And then I wrote an email to the owner, explaining how it's not "fair" to me to demote me. At no point during the posting of the job, the interviews, the three hour long shifts she had her candidates work as a try out, and then finally hiring me and in the last two weeks of training me had Disney mentioned wanting to be considered for that job. I mentioned that it was telling that they hadn't considered her or offered it to her in the first place. (The really hilarious part to me is how they all, including the owner herself, have mentioned how "blond" Disney is. How slow she is to pick things up, how she asks the same questions she should know the answer to over and over, how little common sense she has.)

The owner replied back, saying that people, even managers, make mistakes. She didn't specify if her mistake was not hiring Disney in the first place, or the personal and professional wrong she did to me. She mentioned that she'd send my time card to her accountant and pay me for those days as well as an additional weeks pay, and they'd mail it. I was too furious to draft anything but a scathing reply, which I saved, trying to be the classy one in the exchange.

To add another wrinkle, there's a tax bonus that I qualified her for with a "back to work youth" program. She made sure to ask my age and employment status during the interview, their two credentials. She didn't call, or even ask for references, until days after hiring me. Just after hiring me, I got two quick, successive phone calls from workforce services telling me about it, (my first time hearing how it wasn't a benefit to me, but she was getting a two thousand dollar kickback from me) and another couple from her mentioning how I needed to get back to them immediately and take care of that as soon as possible. They told me there was a month from hire date to complete it. I didn't even make it that long, making me feel like I was profiled to fit in with that criterion so she'd get the benefit, and then dismissed as soon as she was sure of receiving it.

So that was yesterday. I was so angrily adrenaline filled I couldn't sleep, and awoke with an acid stomach two hours before my alarm. Later, I will call back workforce services to see if they require you to be hired full time for her to qualify for the tax benefit, and file a complaint about the way I was fired and also the consideration for fraud. I feel helpless, like I can't do anything except roll over and accept the shitty way this played out for me. I don't know what to do.

New Work Wardrobe

2011-02-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

Turns out, when you're barely employed and can wear whatever you want, you end up with 85 million t-shirts. Which is the single thing expressly verboten by the owner of the wedding dress shop, no basic, high collared t-shirts. Judging by the other girls, cute scoop neck and semi-casual t-shirts are ok, just not "concert" style ones. Meaning I'm on the prowl for some cute semi business, semi casual blouses and cardigans to pair with all my dark jeans and slacks. Since I'll be there full time, I'd rather be slightly overdressed than under dressed. Bonus points for cheap and/or retro. Will be taking suggestions in the comments. This one from modcloth.

R.I.P Toyota Camry

2011-02-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

My beloved 22 year old Toyota Camry, which I purchased at the naive age of 18 and survived with me nearly seven years, has passed, ya'll. Unless you can rebuild a transmission for cheap or free.

It happened last wednesday, after an epic and practically instantaneous snowstorm. I started my car, put it in neutral to warm up and slid it out from under the nearly six inches of snow piled on top. Hopped in, and threw it into reverse.....

And then it stuck. Jammed into reverse. Frustrated and panicking, I ended up backing around and leaving him behind hoping for some kind of cold-related injury.

No such luck. Two different shops have confirmed that on a car this old, it's probably not worth the $2 K or so (more than I paid for it, after high school) to crack it open and fix it. One shop mentioned the total unavailability of parts for a car this old.

Anyway, as there's no morgue for beloved and deceased hunks of metal that only run in reverse, I'm a little at a loss as to how to dispose of my little guy. And dude, I'm not ready to let him go. I keep seeing same era camries buzzing around and I want him back. So I'm mourning and looking for a replacement all at the same time. What to do, peeps?

Atlas Shrugged Movie

2011-02-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

They're turning a book I like (hello, I want to be Dagny!) into a movie so of course I'm all ruffled about them ruining it. It's her longest book, and totally interminable in parts (hello, the endless John Galt speech) and I can't imagine that this will be a fun or particularly high grossing film. And making it in two parts....ballsy. It's a limited theatrical run, and I'm doubting that even an art cinema here picks it up. We'll see.

Wedding Dresses

2011-02-15T19:22:00.001-08:00

Guess who just got a job selling wedding dresses from a small, local, woman-owned shop? This girl! I learned an important job searching lesson in striking while the iron was hot- within three days of their ad I was working a shift and they were turning other applicants away. I start officially friday and I am so, so grateful to have a steady job in a great environment, close enough for me to bike to, and it's in the afternoon so I'll hopefully be able to go back to school in the fall. I know! It's also late enough in the day that I can finish out the school year as a reading aide, so I'm hoping to do that as well. I cannot explain to you what a relief this is, the steady job thing. whew.

In other news, Urban Outfitters just launched their new mind boggling, amazing bridal line yesterday. This dress is utter perfection as far as I'm concerned, although there's plenty of eye candy to be had over there. (the shoes! the hair pieces!)

Strike that

2011-02-09T18:51:00.001-08:00

The Portland trip has fallen through: we may still climb somewhere further south in this state instead. No concrete plans so far.

Portland

2011-02-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

Guess who's road tripping to Portland for President's Day weekend? (Where young people go to retire.) It's supposed to be a climbing trip, but I will probably be too busy eating at food carts, drinking bubble tea, visiting the coast (The ocean!) and scamming hipster's style to climb much.

p.s.-new show spoofing Portland, this preview for it was my favorite part. Watch the clips, skip the show unless you love SNL-like ackwardness.

p.p.s-Happy 300th post, me.

New Lens

2011-02-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

My cheapie lens adapter arrived and it's a duo: You just twist on the lens, but it breaks down into two halves, a wide angle and a macro half. I thought I'd get more out of the wide angle, but for the moment I'm obsessed with shooting everything macro. Tiny detail pictures of everything! They pack it with a tiny plastic dinosaur freebie (yes, you can buy my love with a wee plastic stegosarus, despite how I'm neither six nor a boy) I think for this very reason. What better to practice on than the tiny dinosaur they sent? (I haven't yet, but I totally thought about it and then thought how smart they were.)

Passive Solar Greenhouse

2011-02-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Food, Inc., and that started me in on wanting to grow and store all my own food again. Which brought me to the ridiculous growing season here. Which brought me to a permanent greenhouse, the kind that stores its rainfall and uses gravity fed soaking hoses and solar fans to maintain a year-round growing season. I want one. Also, fruit trees. And chickens. Check out this rad geodesic dome greenhouse on treehugger.

On a related note, a friend of mine in Salt Lake is making noises about starting a canning co-op with some friends. Everyone contributes supplies, equipment and help, and split the bounty. Genius! We twentysomethings don't have room or reason for a massive food supply of home canned goodies, but I could sure split a batch and the work with some peeps.

We Should Open a Cupcake Shop

2011-02-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

These two sisters opened up a vintage clothing/housewares slash sweets shop. Yes, you can buy a cupcake and a vintage pair of shoes or dress in the same place. Right?

There's already a cupcake place in town but while their frosting is heavenly, it's a generally accepted fact that their cake itself is weirdly dense and chewy. You can't get by on frosting alone, people, and your bamboo flooring is distractingly badly laid.

I have a sister that bakes, and I know we can do better. (hint, hint) I'm already composing a list of cake and frosting flavors, and we could do birthday parties and matching cupcake liners/stands for weddings, and cute rentals and sell retro aprons. We could call it....Half Baked. C'mon, I'm a genius. I even have a location picked out. Who wants to invest?

I want...

2011-02-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

I'm home dizzy today (did anyone watch Arrested Development? I'm weirdly all vertigo-y, a la Liza Minelli) so here's a random list of things I'm thinking about as I sea-sickly try to wander through my day.

I want....one of those little record players that close up in their own suitcase, and a stack of vinyl. Pic from here. (This blog also makes me want all of her daughter's amazing thrifted vintage clothing. Must remember to check for awesome vintage kid's clothing to resell on etsy...)

I just bought....this cheapie lens adapter-It's supposed to do wide angle and macro and it just screws on. I'd been resisting, but an etsy sale for just over the amount I'd need came in this morning and so I used it as an excuse to treat myself. I'm hoping I love it.

I love....bubble tea. There's a new place in town that sells them and I'm having a craving.

I'd forgotten....the difference in color between film and digital prints. It's just different, and better. I'll take a clunky manual focus camera over a teeny sleek infinite auto focus point and shoot any day.

Heavy Eyebrow

2011-01-30T22:32:00.000-08:00

I'm considering letting the other 2/3rds of my eyebrows grow back in because, well, Ms. Hepburn did it. And like every good hipster girl, I will emulate the fabulous 1950's & 60's styling of our favorite retro icon. (*finally bought myself a copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I could just re-watch on silent for the clothes and sets. Hello, all white apartment with clawfoot bathtub sofa!)

More Photos

2011-01-27T22:49:00.001-08:00

Love this series of photos of dancers in everyday life in new york entitled

dancers among us. Quirky!

Things that Must Be Home Made

2011-01-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

I must be getting old and heading steadily downhill towards crotchety finickiness because the list of things that I would rather not eat if they are not home made is steadily growing. Birthday cake? Canned frosting? puh-lease. Tapioca, pudding. Lasagna, meatballs, marinara sauce. Any breakfast food. Vanilla ice cream. Most soups.

That said, I still pay money to have some things made for me. Creme brulee. Sushi. Thai or Indian food. Any sandwich? (so much work and ingredients for such little reward...)
What about you guys? What do you buy, and what would you rather (for convenience or ingredients or cost or whatever) have someone do for you?

Vintage Shoes

2011-01-25T18:37:00.001-08:00

Ok. I'm convinced. My local thrift store always has amazing vintage shoes and I'm forever passing up these $4 dollars a pair gems. I'm not sure I'm hipster enough to rock a 1970's wooden soled pair of leather platforms or little brown oxfords, but I'm ready to try. It's a new year, people, and I'm shaking it up over here, footwear style.

(*I know some folks are creeped out by used shoes, but I'm a middle child so I had plenty of hand me downs from cousins, neighbors and my older sister to have no fear that way. I figure, how many foot diseases are there? You can always disinfect and there's always the option of protective sock wearing. That said, I check the sole and inside for wear and pass on the creepy shoes (work boots and cowboy boots, I'm looking at you.) Plus there's the eco-friendly recycling side of it, and the fact that on any budget, four dollars for a long wearing, well made pair of shoes is a good deal.)*

all photos click through to their etsy listing

Shots from My Crafty Space

2011-01-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

I'm renting the entire attic of a house-half of that is my bedroom and the larger half is my work space. I've been really inspired to try and organize what is normally such an inspirational chaos, and bits of it are starting to look a little more regulated and a little less ridiculously out of control. You'll notice these photos are only tiny bits, but progress is progress, people.

Mountains

2011-01-20T15:17:00.001-08:00

This is my view every day as I drive to work. Mountains are kind of epically awesome, ya'll.

Vivian Maier

2011-01-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

Have you heard about the 'new' photographer Vivian Maier? Her recently discovered work was uncovered by a John Maloof while he was doing unrelated research for a book. Purchased from an auction house who was selling off the contents of a storage locker, and having no knowledge of "street photography," it wasn't until later he realized the value of what he'd found.

She was a nanny who was constantly taking photos, (starting in the 50's) which she didn't show anyone and massive amounts of (hundreds of undeveloped rolls!) which she never even saw herself. Later, he tried to google her name, found on some of the negatives, and discovered she'd died only days earlier.

There's a documentary in the works, and a book, and a showing in Chicago. I find the whole thing fascinating, and the photographs themselves astonishing. See the blog, and a new york times article.

(Still want a rollei, and to shoot more black and white film-I have three rolls staring me in the face as we speak.)

1.11.11

2011-01-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Today is 1.11.11, and i've been teaching for exactly two months. It looks like they'll keep me another couple weeks, but possibly until the end of the school year. I'd never considered being a teacher before, and crowds of children no longer terrify me into physical illness. It's a new year, a fresh start, and I'm wondering what else I haven't tried. What other new things are there out there?

photo from here.

Dipped in Glitter

2011-01-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

Inspired by this, I did my own version of dark polish with the tips slightly dipped in glitter. It's a little off-kilter and imperfect, and I love it.

Air Quality

2011-01-08T20:50:00.001-08:00

My home state had four of the top five places with the worst polluted air in the country yesterday. I'm gonna go ahead and blame the congestion and sinus headaches I've been drowning in for two weeks on that. If I had my way, (and wasn't worrying about energy consumption and utility bills,) I'd run my space heater, an air filter, and a humidifier constantly, and turn my girl cave into a greenhouse.

Picture of the Salt Lake City skyline, from yesterday, from the article.

Wordy Art

2011-01-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

I love inspirational word art. Doesn't everyone need one for their bathroom mirror?
All from etsy.

The Return of the Serger

2011-01-04T19:08:00.001-08:00

The serger came home yesterday and I excitedly pulled out my new Built By Wendy book, unfolded the pattern I wanted and got my tracing paper and wheel... then faltered. What I wanted was instant gratification, not a challenge, so I went the "craft-blogger" route.

Which is to say, I traced around something I already own that fits correctly, cut it out of a $3 dollar thrift store sheet, sewed up the sides, then began embellishing haphazardly. A few hours later and ta-da! quirky shift dress.

I still need to finish the sleeves (arm holes?) and I think it needs pleated patch pockets and a row of buttons on the yoke, maybe a peter pan collar. Too twee? Who cares. I may have to come to terms with the fact that I'm neither an understated nor classy dresser, but an unabashedly retro one with a whimsical bent.

Rainy Day

2010-12-29T10:41:00.001-08:00

It's a rainy day off here in the girl cave, and my serger is still out at the shop for an undetermined amount of time. I called to check in on it, all anxious, and they hadn't gotten to it yet so right now I feel like my piles of carefully collected fabric are taunting me. Trying to think of something else to do today.

*Update: they called back to ask about thread and mentioned that the owner who does the repairs is out of town and won't get to it until friday. At the earliest. Woe is me.

Fabric Porn

2010-12-28T00:05:00.000-08:00

I thrift compulsively. There. I said it. I go to look for old fabric, trims, buttons. Makes my beating heart go all wobbly. My favorites are crazily patterned colorful bedsheets, and artsycraftstybabe linked to a quilt she'd made out of vintage sheets on a blog all about things made out of vintage sheets. Be still, little heart.

It's almost as good looking at other people's projects and stash, while you desparatly wait for your serger friend to come back home from the sewing maching fixing guy. Come home, little friend. I want you to turn piles of fabric into other things.

Built By Wendy Dresses

2010-12-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

Look what came to live with me this holiday! It was a toss up between this and the knits book, which I still may pick up for myself. I haven't had time to make anything yet, but I've read the entire thing and pulled out the patterns, started dreaming about projects. Can't wait for the serger to come back from the doctor (ran over a pin on my last seam during the halloween crunch and has been out sick ever since) so I can jump in again.

They're perfect for me because they provide a starting point and hints for changes, but if you need a little help with your construction and detailing, maybe another book would be better. Anyway, I like the ideas, the tips on altering patterns, and the sketches thrown in. (a huge point of contention in the reviews is that there's no photos of finished dresses in the book, only sketches of ideas. I of course, just want the inspiration and blank slate so it's ideal for moi.)

Black Sheep

2010-12-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

Listened to this song from the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World soundtrack about a hundred times tonight while wishing that I was a rock star.

Pondering

2010-12-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

....so sometimes you say your retro high waisted pant is going on the back burner and then you have to run something into work and you just happen to drop by the thrift store where there's four yards of a mid weight denimy blue woven that would make nice breezy pants. So you buy it, and cut out your pattern, and sew them up. Now I have to finish the waist and the hem and consider patch pockets, but in the mean time......exactly how high-waisted is Too high waisted? Right now we're in the "empire waist" pant category which I'm not totally sold on. Thoughts?

Starbucks Yarn Wreath

2010-12-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

Do you guys remember the Starbucks yarn decor for Christmas a couple years ago? Of course the internet crafters hacked that, using styrofoam balls, glue guns and wreath forms. I want to make one (or five) despite the shiny new silver wreath I finished and put on my door this year. Cute!

Trouser Jeans

2010-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Inspired by these emmerson made neo-retro trouser jeans, I'm kinda tempted to try and make my own pair. I sew a ton of basic t shirts and accessories and dresses, but I've never dared try and tackle a pair of jeans before. Pajama pants, yes, but never old-school-high-waisted-hot-with-a-pair-of-heels pants. Going on the back burner.

Candy and A Letdown

2010-12-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

Has anyone tried the holiday mint m&m's? I just polished off a bag while crying in my girl cave about yet another job I interviewed for and didn't get. This one would've been awesome, a really happy work environment, and a whopping 3.5 more dollars than I'm making right now. So of course I didn't get it. I'm pretty discouraged with my life right now, you guys.

Natalie Portman+Short Hair

2010-12-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

Made the mistake of googling "natalie portman short hair" today, and now the determination to grow my hair out is faltering. Guess who wants a faux-hawk?! Also want the hair of half the women on this list.

I keep telling myself that my ears will get cold and then I see a picture of keira knightley and I think about two minute showers or taking more time to apply eye makeup than do hair.

Resolving to get a trim and wear more red lipstick because that always cheers me up. Distraction feels like the answer in this case.

p.s.- This all was triggered by emma watson's new cute do.

dulce de leche filled "reese's"

2010-12-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

Don't these sound divine? Seen via foodgawker, of course.

Shampoo Alternatives?

2010-12-04T00:05:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering switching away from traditional shampoo and conditioner. There's a lot of reasons, including recycling the bottles, chemicals involved, biodegradability, but mostly it's because I've never found anything I'm really happy with.

Wandering around the internet I found post after post about folks who'd switched to scrubbing their hair with simple baking soda and loved it, reporting more healthy manageable hair that wasn't greasy the next day. Coming from a kid who's mother referred to her hair as "stringy" I would love to save the time and water not washing my hair and drying it every day. And it's hippie friendly! And cheap! I'm hoping this is the solution for me.

Anybody out there tried the baking soda, apple cider vinegar route? I'm real interested to know how it goes.

Lensbaby

2010-12-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

I've been working the last couple weeks in an elementary school subbing as a reading aide, meaning that between my two jobs I have a full time job again. Unfortunately, the school job only pays out once a month, and it won't be until the last billable day of the month. Meaning I'll be broke clear up until Christmas again this year. Homeade gifts all around!

Anyway, when that fat check rolls through, I think this will be my one major indulgence for all the times I had to say "eyes here," "be good," "all four on the floor," or "put your pockets in your chair."

Dreams?

2010-11-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

I've been reading all through the back blog of Miss Pickering. It's made me dreadfully homesick for working with flowers, hers are exactly the style we were shooting for in the shop I briefly ran. Vintage containers, beautiful ribbon, locally grown, seasonal work. No gerbs, alstro or gyp - sign me up. She always talks about food, shoes, my favorite roses, red lipstick and her dog, so I keep secretly wondering to myself if she needs an assistant because what she's started is almost identical to the shop I've started in my head. I should totally be working in a british floral shop, yes?

My subconscious really grabbed this idea and ran with it, and I've now had two dreams of my flower shop being in this old Kings building downtown, which is dreadful and smelly and utterly lacking in any charm and hulkingly overlarge with a basement. Two dreams in I started wondering what some fresh paint and chandeliers would do to the place, ha.

Weekends

2010-11-22T14:47:00.001-08:00

This weekend was a good one, with me finishing my cape-coat-poncho-blanket thing in time to get bucket loads of snow. I finished it while the weather was nice and then wondered if I'd be too inhibited and chicken to wear it out. And then it snowed and snowed and snowed, and it turns out I'm not, and it makes me feel all sassy and cozy instead of bulky and stumpy. So, sewing win.

Then there was a wee kitty visitor, my roomate's sister's cat. At first I thought it was cute and funny and adorable, but then it tired me out with its constant moving and playing and barfing and harassing the other cats and I decided I wouldn't steal this tiny black one to round out my set, after all. Turns out I'm an old lady cat owner.

Saw the newest in the Harry Potter linup, and was a little let down. Anyone else? I know it's probably the least fun in the series, but I felt like it was missing the whimsy and magic of the others'. I predict that this section will be the least re-watched of all of the Potters. It was unendingly dark and tormented and slow moving and boring. Anyone else?

Red Riding Hood Movie

2010-11-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

The director of Twilight is doing a Red Riding Hood movie, which I thought was funny considering my recent obsession. Just ahead of the trends is all, peeps. It looks and sounds suspiciously like the Twilight saga (forbidden love? werewolves? sweeping shots of trees?) but I'm crazy in love with all the shots of the overly long, really red cloak against a snowy backdrop. Dramatic, that.

I also kinda want to see this. Natalie Portman is my homegirl.