Better late than never

Normally, I'm a mad present wrapper. I believe that presentation is as important as the present itself. That doesn't mean I opt for professional wrapping - in all honesty, I think professional wrapping lacks style; it's more a militaristic regiment of wrapper, bow, tag. I like gift towers connected with ribbon, brown paper packages tied up with string, and newspaper.

While I don't believe in spending too much on wrapping paper, I like being prepared. A lot of good supplies can be acquired at Ikea. Some of the tissue paper is left over from Victoria's Secret and Anthropologie. I save wrapping paper from Christmas and birthdays. I have some nice brown wrapping paper for my brown paper package moments. Generally, since I have a prepped surplus that's replenished from time to time, I never really have to buy much in terms of wrapper. I generally always get colored tissue paper - you never know when you'll need lime green.

I was rather pressed for cash this Christmas. I think the bigger thing on block was my creativity. While checking out with my sister the lady in front of us let us go ahead of her since we only had one item. I observed a bar of soap and questioned her about it since it was cool looking and among other things, she told me that the bar was only $2.50 - I thought that was wicked cool and wanted to make it a soap Christmas. Since I wasn't done with my school projects until late, I didn't have time to dwell on the presents I would give to people and decided to go back to the grocery store (mind you, specialty grocery store) for the soap. The soap is Pre de Provence - Country soap. The thing I found odd was that a packaged gift set of 5 of these soaps were on sale for $18. With each soap at ~$2.50, that $12.50 for the soap and an extra $5.50 for an uninteresting box and a plain green ribbon. To that I said "screw this" and I bought 6 soaps, 3 different kinds, the better smelling of the 5.

Usually at the grocery store, they have narrow brown paper bags for wine; I picked up a couple of these. In the words immortalized by Julie Andrews, "brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things.." oh yeah. Using the paper bags from the grocery stores is a shorter version for the packaging process. Being hardcore with those lyrics, I don't use tape with my brown paper packages; everything is held together by the string and using a brown paper bag makes this considerably easier.
All you have to do is push the soap to the bottom of the bag, maintain the shape, fold over the bag continually and the excess lies flat. You end up with a boxy shape like what is shown in the picture and you hold that shape down with sting tied in a crossover fashion.

If you want the prototypical brown paper package, you just have to switch out the brown paper bag with brown paper. The trickier part with this is tying it. The general approach is to hold all the soaps aligned in the desired shape. Wrap the soaps as you would a boxy present, just don't use any tape. When taking in the extra wrapping paper off the sides, make sure to fold it so that it is more triangular so that it will be easier for the string to hold the package together. It ends up looking like the picture to the left. A bonus with this is that sometimes, the pull of the string opens everything. It has some old fashioned, pre-tape charm to it.

I tend to get creative under time pressure and with low funds. I still think that there should be some cohesiveness to my presents. As a small present for my cousin, I got the following: a book on cocktails with some nice pictures - I've seen it previously selling at Anthropologie for $15.95, but I found it at a book outlet for $3.99 - liquor miniatures that are about 50ml each and also about $3 each - and (individually) the most expensive item, a designer chocolate bar by Voges Haut Chocolate at $7. I think it all works well and is essentially a feel good present. I know I would like this for myself and I recently discovered that sometimes, getting presents for people that you would want yourself has some merit.

It turns out that my older sisters like the things I buy for myself oppose to the things that I think they'll like. My sister says "when you buy me things, think of yourself - of course that results in me buying things for myself which they ask to borrow. I suppose I shouldn't assume that our styles are so different. It might be a reflection on the thought that if I were to get them presents that I'd like, I put as much thought, care, and interest into their presents as I do for myself. Not bad.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Holidays!

It's been a while since I've written - which is usually always the case. I have completed all my tests and projects so now I have a few weeks of bummin' it and I couldn't be happier. Given the time though, I'll probably post two blogs between today and tomorrow - think of them as holiday presents. I'll start with the easier one now.

Facial Equilibrium

I don't think that anyone should find a way to incorporate acne into their personal style. I've never met a person who liked their acne. I had bad acne at trying times - middle school and early high school. I did go to a dermatologist and when I went to college, I stopped using medication because my dermatologist had died and our health insurance gave us a more complex process for getting a new dermatologist so I gave that up. I had heard of the process -wash, astringent, moisturizer. I never really liked moisturizer, since it always made my skin feel more oily. Yes...it didn't occur to me that you have to let your moisturizer set. After recommendations from beauty books and my sister who is a cosmetologist, I gave the routine a try again. After weeks of doing the routine, other people started noticing the quality of my skin improving and I only noticed it after I felt how smooth my skin was one day. My sister, the cosmetologist, was rather irritated because she was following the routine as well and had not received the same results. This is the best recommendation I can give to anyone. I may not be a dermatologist, but I do know something about equilibrium.

Skin & Oil

I'm beginning to think that oil production is an inherent constant within our biology. Yes, I'm saying it's genetic. While I don't have any sources, I'm pretty sure that there is a genetic predisposition for acne and that if at least one parent had it, the kids will be likely to have it too. What does oil have to do with this? When dead skin cells and other matter accumulate on the skin, the oil provides that flow that pushes the matter into pores so that the clogged pore will develop into some skin blemish. If genetics dictates that skin remains at a certain lubricated level, if you wash your face with hot water, use the most drying astringent, and strip the oil off of your skin, the sebaceous glands will only increase production to reach the original level of oiliness - equilibrium is met.

Bear in mind, I'm not a skin doctor, I just observe patterns and since my assumption is that skin oil production is dictated by some kind of equilibrium, let's introduce Le Chatlier's Principle. When conditions are changed, how is equilibrium affected. For the sake of skin, here are some examples.

(mid-day, hours after face washing)
oil production (sebaceous glands) = oil on face

(after face washing)
oil production (increases) = oil on face (decreased due to washing)

Decreased oil on face due to a strong astringent only makes oil production increase more to compensate for the dryness. I'm assuming that there is a moisture level that has to be maintained and this is that importance of moisturizer.

(after face washing)
oil production (decreased) = oil on face (decreased due to washing) + moisturizer

If the skin is moisturized, there's no need to produce more oil because of the level of moisture on the skin. And you can still deep clean with an astringent as long as you use moisturizer.

What to Use

Chances are, if you have acne, your skin might be sensitive already. When you put something like Oxy on that stings, you'd like to feel that it's killing the bacteria and killing the acne, but I personally believe you're not doing yourself any favors. You're only further irritating your skin. So try to be gentle with your skin and be patient. I start with: Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser

It's non comodegenic (doesn't clog pores), you can use it without water, I even sometimes use it as an emollient before I go to sleep.

I follow with: Burt's Bees Garden Tomato Toner. Astringents are a bit of a tricky thing. They're usually always going to sting a little and stinging pain tolerance is not a good way to decide on a toner. I try for something light and low in alcohol. My sister, who is the cosmetologist, went to the Aveda Institute, so she is really into natural products. Generally, the more natural your products, the less likely they are to sting and they'll feel more soothing - at least in my experience. My sister bought me a toner for my birthday and I really liked it, but retail, it is about $25. At my grocery store, they sell Burt's Bees Tomato Toner and I thought it would work better as a cheaper alternative ($10). I've been using it ever since. I only recently tried Clean and Clear, their cooling toner, but it stings my skin to where it is really red, even moisturizer couldn't soothe it.

I follow my toner with: Cetaphil Moisturizer. As you can tell, I really trust Cetaphil. I like that they're moisturizer is oil free and noncomodegenic. It is also good that is has some sun protection. When I'm stressed, it shows in my skin. During my days of little sleep, my skin would get drier especially around my lips. I started using more moisturizer (2 pumps instead of one) and despite the stress on my body, my skin was doing really well. This also keeps your skin from drying out because of the toner.

At night before I sleep, I wash with the gentle cleanser and then I go over with a light alcohol free toner. Neutrogena makes some good ones. So there you have it. Some insight into skin care from someone with oily skin. You really just have to find a routine that sounds like it'll work for you and stick to it. It's a bit of a lifestyle change, but you have to take care of yourself.

Pilling..damnit

Pilling Theory & Contradictions

Being a big fan of cardigans and all, pilling problems aren't too uncommon (yes, I use double negatives). Wanting a cheap way to rid myself of these pills, I decided to invest in a de-pilling comb. I know there are probably a fair share of people who feel that fabric shavers are pretty effective out there - hear me out.

in most recent times, I've observed pilling of two different natures in my sweaters. There's the pilling that is strongly connected to the sweater, type 1 - for simplicity (virtually everywhere) and the pilling that is relatively separate from the sweater type 2 (generally under the arm pit). While the pilling of the type two variety is not of any real bother, the pilling of the type one variety is hellish! It appears that pilling of the type two variety results from over stretching so that fibers can eventually rub and form pills that are still strongly attached to the sweater. Pulling these off (de-pilling comb) only leaves more loose fibers and consequently, pilling occurs faster. Cutting them off (fabric shaver) can wear down the fabric faster and possibly cause holes faster. So there's the dilemma.

I suppose it's time to accept that sweaters have a finite usage life.

The ones that got away (happy ending)

I remember my English teacher back in high school reading us a poem...I think it was by Robert Frost, it was about a man who was in pursuit of a deer. After the deer managed to get away from him many times, he slumped down, depressed. He had given up, and then the deer approached him.

I wasn't too keen on analogies then as I am now. My teacher related that it was a poem about playing hard-to-get.

Speaking of hard to get:

Let me introduce to you the After Dinner T-Straps no longer available at Anthropologie. I have a general policy of not buying shoes that I can't try on unless there is a good return policy. Needless to say, Anthropologie has a return policy which is good enough for me. On the day these were brought to my attention in a meaningful way, I had also seen a sweater vest I was interested in on the website and I decided before anything, I should just go down to the store and try on the vest to see if I'd really be that interested in it. I would not want to spend the extra money on shipping if I didn't have to. I go there and it turns out, they don't have my size in the vest. I lurk around some. ( I bought the Vaego dress - never try on anything just for fun or you might find that you just can't take it off.) Earlier at my apartment, I looked at the vest and I search through the sale section on shoes, just to see if they'd have anything I'd like and when I searched in my size - the After Dinner T-straps showed up. NO FREAKING WAY! There's never a cool pair of shoes in my size, $69.95, down from $138. However, to not incure more shipping charges (expensive, mind you) I decided to go to the store first to see if I was truly interested in that vest. When I got home, the shoes were sold out, and I went frantic.

Times like these when practicality turns into "what was I thinking? There was a return policy, I had nothing to lose." After much sulking, I resolved myself - I shouldn't be buying 3" heels anyway, I'm not sure when I'd wear them...and so forth. I was fine, irritated, but fine. About a week later when searching in my size again after a new notice had popped up of more items going on sale at the site, there they were again! "REDEMPTION!" maybe some luck too. I didn't wait, I purchased them fast along with the vest that was in my size that I eventually returned. Life doesn't give me many of these opportunities.

New lesson learned: If you see something you want, and there's a return policy, you really have nothing to lose save $13 to satisfy that burning curiousity

Those boots were made for walkin'...(smirk)

In my teaching classes, there is one teacher who was recruited from the city school district. She knows how to effortlessly pull off the "Teacherly appropriate awesomely cute" look. I'll admit, I get jealous. I walk the fine line of looking good, but effortless? It's hard.

This teacher has got the body for it too. She's slender, but also fairly tall. I am stubby with a high calf to ankle ratio - upside down bowling pins essentially.

I couldn't help but smirk when I saw her in the morning. It's been cold lately and she wore a pencil skirt with boots - that were too loose around the calves. Boots worn with a skirt should be fitted around the calves or else you lose any long lines and you look like you're walking in buckets. In all honesty, I'm sure not many people noticed, but it's nice to see a faux pas on someone like that once in a while.

Oi me

Howdy! School's been busy, but more so, I've just been lazy. The weather is more fall like and I still haven't posted up the pictures of my auction previews. After some rather cool pictures I took of my clothes, I decided to redo the lingerie and shoe pictures. I suppose I can post up the clothing pictures in the meantime.

I'm currently at school and my pictures are on my computer at home. I suppose I should be studying anyway, but that's always the case.

Among other things, I recently had a birthday. Self celebration is expensive. I bought myself some birthday presents from Betsey Johnson and Anthropologie. Seeing as I can elaborate on those a little later (with pictures), I'll just go on to another lesson learned the hard way.

On the last blog I had decided to get the cut I want in pants, I have to buy wide legs and have them tapered. Turns out, pants can only be taken in to where they don't distort the overall line of the pants so - tapering wide legs? Unless I would be able to try on the pre and post alteration pairs, I could not see a difference. You live, you learn, it costs.

With thighs like these...

I felt it a good time to reflect upon an untouched problem of the modern woman. By now you should know my obsession with clothing organization books: coordination, what should be in a wardrobe, what colors look good on you, shapes - yes, closet self help. Every time I go to a book store, that is my first stop.

So far through my extensive skimming, there's never been a comment on how pants should fit around the thighs. I generally try to get pants with little stretch in them since more spandex allows my thighs to look like packs of polenta. Does that necessarily make less stretch better? I give a new definition to the term "sausage packing." It's always "fitted through the leg..." What the heck is fitted through the leg suppose to mean anyway?

I think I would have little trouble finding support for saying that thighs are definitely one of the more variable parts of a woman's body. They have a size of their own. mine are probably about a size 2, they'd fit most comfortably in a size 4, unfortunately I'm a size 0 everywhere else and while I know that tailors can take in waists: 1.) that's hella expensive 2.) there's no telling how it's going to look when they're done. I've been toying with the idea of getting a pair of wide legs and having the legs taken in. I'm not too sure on how that will work out, but at least the thighs will fit.

Polyester is a B-ee-tch!

While I'm fond of learning new things, about 33%-50% of those new things are learned by trial and many many errors.

In my taking advantage of the Tax free weekend, I bought a shift dress at Banana Republic. It was only about $30 and unlike most of my other dresses, this one could be worn on a more regular basis. It was very Fall appropriate and that argument pushed me over the fact that it was 100% polyester.

After having the odd sense to wear it while still summery, it had absorbed it's fair share of my sweat and I thought to myself, "Ill just wash it, no big deal." Upon coming out of the dryer, nearly all of the seams had come out of the hem and sleeves.

Since I recently bought 3 new pairs of trousers, I brought one of them to the tailors and I took my dress along thinking that the seams wouldn't be a big deal. $28.50 for the dress hem, $18.50 for the sleeves. A grand $20 more than I paid for the entire dress. I have tailor loyalty already, so these are my go to people, but as much as I love them, I've decided that I'm going to try and sew the hems myself.

Polyester isn't exactly silk, and it's really delicate. It's not really the best of both worlds.

Moral of the story: Read care tags, and follow them.

Dress like you mean it

I hear that when it comes to being a teacher dress is a sensitive subject. We definitely have to keep our wardrobe in line because our clothing choices affect the students ability to respect us, take us seriously, and it may also become the topic of some non-flattering conversation. That's too much to contend with in the classroom and we haven't touched on curriculum.

In talking with a few acquaintances of mine, I discovered that they were both teachers and they, upon discovering that I was studying to be a teacher, just delved in and gave me the straight talk on how to go about social order in the classroom. Don't smile, don't try to be their friends, when you walk in - mean business. I don't know if I'm taking it to an extreme, but I thought for the first few weeks in school, I would wear nothing but black. It'll put the many various pairs of black trousers I bought to use. I'll also be quiet and expressionless.

I tend to have an expressionless look on my face most of the time. Oddly enough, when I try to smile, I look mad angry. I'm a fairly quiet person.

I recently started my Analytical Chemistry lab and my TA came in wearing a lab coat. I was extremely intimidated. suppose it shows that I'm not above any high school mentality to judge someone by their clothes. When I told him that, he said not to worry, he's a nice guy, just quiet. I've been working on my aura of intimidation for a while - turns out, all I need is a lab coat.

Budget Hullabaloo

You can find a wealth of knowledge in magazines like Lucky when it comes to clothes and where you can get them on any budget. It just happens to be the budget standard of an already working woman. I guess college student budgets would only prompt a magazine of ideas of how you can use things that you find at the thrift store. Really, even the lower cost items would still be a stretch sometimes.

As such, being a college student and having to budget money and clothing (for space's sake) drives me to develop a clothing budget. Texas Tax Free Weekend is upon me and I've waited until the last day to fully utilize it at the Prime Outlets, 3rd best place to shop in the world according to The View. I can only spend so much and I'm putting it towards what's lacking in my wardrobe.

- pencil skirts
- summer slacks
- blouses

Face Paint

I've had issues with make-up for a while. I've always felt that it was used to temporarily mask problems oppose to fix a problem...I think this view might still hold. I've never thought of it as enhancing good looks, maybe deemphasizing the bad would be more correct. It's not like you naturally enhance your blue eye lid.

I've felt that telling people they look good as the result of makeup is...kind of off. It's not different from having your hair styled. It should be more like..."I like what you did with your face."

Despite all this, I've come to the conclusion that makeup is a part of the presentation package and regardless of how impeccable one's style is, clothes aren't enough.

As shown in the previous blog, I went to my friend's wedding recently and I was planning for it a good while in advance - shoes, hair, the dress. I'd been practicing make up for a good few weeks prior to the wedding only to have my cousin's boyfriend do my make up professionally.

Make up is expensive when you don't know what you're doing. I'm finding there's this mad tendency to buy everything in every version possible to see what works (i.e. eyeliner). It's been rather financially draining since I've developed a penchant for MAC cosmetics. Makeup Art Cosmetics seemed to fit my sentiments on make-up. Eye-shadow application was the hardest thing for me to grasp.

I think my best recommendation is finding what fits you in terms of makeup. Experiment with lower cost makeup before buying higher end versions.

For me:
MAC's Studio Fix, eyeshadow, blush, lip gloss.

Formerly lacking a brain for make up, eyeshadow was amazingly difficult for me to apply and I have many pictures of myself looking like a raccoon. For lining my eyes, I tried everything from liquid liner, to this thing that looks like a marker, to a crayon, to a pencil, to eyeshadow. I think liquid liner is fun, but I favor using eye shadow as liner.

- to avoid having raccoon eyes, I use a small angled brush to apply a line of eye shadow, I brush it out a little. Sponge applicators are a little better for eye lid application and I use a pencil brush to get shadow into the crease. After lining, I use a little of the medium shade (assuming the darkest shade is lining and the lightest shade is on my lid) brushed out slightly from the liner.

An every day thing?

Here's something that you don't see very often on my blog, and even more so, something not seen very often in real life:



A picture of me. A picture of me all gussied up. I was at the wedding of my former roommate for the past 3 years. It's quite understandable that I wouldn't look like this everyday. It's not like I go to weddings everyday, god forbid.

Aside from using this picture to illustrate a distantly related point, I guess I can let a few things out:

- I like Tracy Reese. My little sister developed into a Betsey Johnson girl. I felt Tracy Reese went more with my flow.

- I like cocktail hats. I think they make great collectors items. They're timeless for anyone 20+

- I like vintage and vintage inspired pieces, as seen by the cocktail hat. I got that purse at a vintage store near campus.

My make up was professionally done at MAC cosmetics. My cousin's boyfriend works there. My cousins commented on the quality of the make up job on the MAC workers, they were done up as elaborately as me, but what was more surprising is that they actually do make themselves up like that every day. It takes a little extra effort, about 30 minutes of extra effort.

I work in an overly casual environment. Dressing professional would only take a little extra effort a day. It would probably be less than 30 minutes of extra effort, I like dressing nice anyway, oppose to putting on make up. It's just hard. Thermodynamically hard. I get the picture of a piece of ice trying to stay solid in a hot pot on the stove. I wouldn't mind dressing more professional if I saw more of it around me, if my surroundings weren't against me.

Book Resources

It's been a while again, longer than I would've liked before my next blog. What can I do? Make time pass by slower? - That would involve launching myself into a pit of boredom, I can't, I just can't.

Efficiency is the key here. Usually when I peruse the fashion book section at half price books, I look for good advice on caring for clothes, what makes a good wardrobe, and the ever elusive advice on how to dress a short stubby body - yes, I know Stacy and Clinton's version of the book cover all the body types, but I just don't like the format of that book. While I might change in my lifetime, I doubt I'll go from short and petite with big thighs to average or tall height anything.

I started this around age 18-19 when I realized that I was growing up, but a wardrobe of little boys shirts and ill fitting jeans just wasn't going to cut it. It was an even bigger wake up call when I went to my sister's college graduation awkwardly dressed looking more overtly unfeminine than I find desirable.

I knew I needed a change, but I didn't know how to go about building a wardrobe - so I went through phases of dedication to buying certain articles - strappy shoes, A-Line skirts, purple - with phases you find that you're still ill equipped to deal with the trouble of dressing everyday.

I wish back in those days I had this:

It really describes what you need to have a functional wardrobe, at least for a woman. It really hit the spot for me since it was exactly what I was looking for.

I'd say, the Lucky Shopping Guide and What Not To Wear (Trinny, Susannah) are probably the two main resources you need

Mimicry

I haven't been updating as much as I wanted to. Still, I'm not one to have this blog fade to black as soon as I start it, so here I go again. I'll try to work my way up from bimonthly.

A few weeks ago, I reflected upon my mentorship by Lucky Mag. There was a small article on closet organization in the first issue I received (March 2003). I got excited about that because unlike the other style advice, I could act on this one. In my dorm, I was going to have a workable closet - the one I had at home had a broken sliding door and the better half of it consisted of suits that my dad did not wear.

Unfortunately, on a relatively recent bout at my old house, I was unable to find the March 2003 issue of Lucky. I had the intentions of scanning that picture of the organized closet and posting it here. On a brighter note though, maybe it was because of how excited I was about the article, or because I found the advice sound, reasonable, and logical, I've organized my various college-life closets accordingly ever since.

While I'll admit, the colors were more vivid in the article - this replica works fine for explanation. I've also learned creative ways to attach my shoe rack to less door-like closet enclosures. Drawers were not a part of the original Lucky Mag layout, but it would also be an inefficient use of space in my 10 ft X 11 ft room to have the drawer set anywhere else.

-as observed by hanger spacing, I have a higher proportion of long to short clothing. My closet is actually just one large closet. Before the door divide lie all my shorter clothes:

Blazers, blouses, and short skirts. I figured that format allows me to maximize my use of space. By placing my drawers under my shortest clothing, I get the bonus of having a place to put my deconstructed moving boxes.

I fall into the category of people who have to have their clothes divided by shape where color is the secondary factor.

Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine recommend (in What you wear can change your life) to hang clothes in outfits and colors that go together. I don't think it's a bad idea, but sometimes, I feel that clothes can get lost in this mode of organization. It probably makes mornings easier. For a bum like me, I prefer a mode of organization that doesn't require changing up every season. I find it easier to take a visual inventory as well think about each piece individually.



The second part of the closet contains my mid-length and long skirts, pants, and dresses.

The area covered by the divide contains all of my sweaters (save the thicker Wintery sweaters since Winter doesn't seem to be very big in Texas). This is where all my cardigans and thinner sweaters reside.

I don't condone the hanging of sweaters - it takes up more space than folding, but I think it's worse for the sweaters in general. You get pointed shoulders, and it exacerbates a sweater's tendency to stretch. This also goes for the hanging of pants half-wise over a hanger - it creates more bulk, also that annoying knee-mark in trousers. One of the things that I haven't personally experienced, noted by Lucky:

- hanging pants over hangers can cause uneven stretching in one of the pant legs.

A note by the WNTW (What not to wear) duo:

- hanging pants by the hem (or in my case, the waist), saves time from ironing.

Under my makeshift sweater shelf, I've arranged my larger bags, like my backpack and overnight bag. And that is my laundry basket under there. I've attached my shoe rack to the closet door with wire and a tack. The rack was acquired from The Container Store and to date, is the only item I acquired after seeing it in Lucky. The rack helps shoes maintain their shape and allows them to breathe - I think it's a good alternative for those who are not fond of the bulk or keeping shoe boxes. The rack has been discontinued, but there are many good alternatives out there. I also use it to hang scarves and other little knick-knacks, though it's not in the direction of organization, I'm fond of the mildly thrown-together look in vintage stores

The shelving above is what I use for storage. There are some extra shoes above my shirts and above my skirts is my minimal purse collection.

My boyfriend described my closet as freakishly organized and a very effective use of space. Hopefully this will be a closet habit I carry on beyond my college years.

This closet is fairly easy to achieve. If a closet doesn't come with shelving, I purchased my cloth hanging shelf at Ikea ($15) - my rack was $20 at The Container Store, although it retailed for $30 - it was a display, but otherwise free of defect - always check the sale sections. Buying clips for hangers makes better hanging for skirts and pants, and is cheaper than buying the hangers specially made for trousers and skirts. Be wary of the grip of the hangers, if ridged - they can leave a pattern on materials like velvet, or silk - they might even be damaging. In an earlier post, I noted that the hanger clips from The Container Store - sucked. They were just made for Container Store hangers. They slip on hangers bought elsewhere.

The rest is a matter making the most of your closet and putting some time into organization. My freakishly organized closet wasn't conceived until I was done moving in to my room. Hopefully it will stay that way. On a closing note, some harsh words I swear by:

NO WIRE HANGERS!

"Fashion" books

I don't understand their point. The "fashion" books that are generally just pictures - and nothing but pictures. I was in Half Price Books earlier and I usually always peruse the Fashion and Beauty section. In addition to "fashion" books, I don't understand fashion books that write about the worst fashions either. Anyone can write a book on anything these days - or they can claim fame to a book that's just a bunch of photocopied pictures.

~so many trees

Mentor: Lucky Mag

I remember the summer of my junior year of high school. I was going through a mildly awkward phase that every girl goes through at ages 11, 18-ish, and probably 27. Am I dressing too young for my age? I felt that at 17, it was time to start developing my style, but I didn't know where I stood.

Having two elder sisters always led me to ask their advice. Essentially it would be me asking them to dress me, but at the time, 17, I looked at their styles and assessed that, not only did their styles not suit me, I shouldn't be asking them for dressing advice and then criticizing their style - I asked for it.

I still had the issue of not knowing where to go with style. When I would go shopping, I would barely find anything I liked - however, I did on occasion find things that I did like which was something I could bank on. Armed with the knowledge of what I did like and what silhouettes I liked, I ventured on to try to find a way to dig myself out of my jeans and t-shirt existence. At this time, I had already handicapped myself by swearing off of khaki and white for a while since our school uniform required us to wear khaki and white. I felt more tired of the combination instead of wanting to get creative with it.

While slothing one day on the couch (spring 2003), I saw a TV ad for Lucky Magazine. I ended up keeping the number. I asked my mom if I could get it and she said, something to the effect of 'sure it'll teach you how to dress.' I had nothing to lose, the subscription also came with a free bag and I knew I'd be able to relate to the clothes better than in a magazine like...Vogue. Soon enough, I got my first issue, March 2003 - it featured their shoe collection and also a very memorable picture of an organized closet (another blog). Being unemployed and 17 didn't leave much for me in terms of buying the clothes. I was able to better assess what styles I liked and what I didn't like. Throughout most of college, I lived a life with many style visions, but not having any money left me a little limited, so I had to work with what money I had and what workable clothes I had. While I must say, my t-shirt and jeans existence transformed into a t-shirt and trousers existence, the constant influx of Lucky gave me stronger ideas of what I wanted.

I know that magazines like Lucky are meant to showcase the trends of the season, but also, a person can't help what they like. Just recently, I was at my old house looking through 5 year old issues of Lucky - there were articles on Summer suits that were still quite relevant today; Summer suits are generally in paler colors and lighter fabrics like cotton and linen - and also pictures of clothes from back then. I noticed this blouse I would've bought on the spot at $48. I got rather depressed that I have the money now, but didn't then. At least I got an idea. It's better than nothing.

So, my first venture into determining my style was venturing into Lucky Mag. It's a matter of picking and choosing, you just have to see what's out there.

Fine Lines

It's been a bit of a while. I've been working and I've had a mildly incapacitating stomachache for the past 4 days. It's as hard to think as it is to update - which is kind of irritating because there's so much to write about.

I'm recalling an episode of the Look for Less where a girl was constantly dressed in suits and professional wear due to work. Afterwards, when going out with her friends, her dressing would fall into overly casual...so she was basically lacking intermediate dressing skills and the new format of the show at the time - to pick a runway outfit and recreate it - did nothing to help her problem.

It's hard to view clothing as being able to transition where one change in the outfit moves an outfit a little more in the direction towards casual or formal. Pictures will have to come a little later, but for my interview to be a tutor, I wore trousers, your white button up shirt, a black sweater vest, and (prize possession) my specs :) Now, the interviewer said that the tutors were expected to dress a teacher casual (?) which was slightly more casual than how I was dressed, but still professional...needless to say, I'm confused on that - they should have a chart of visuals when explaining that. It just doesn't seem right to where a regular t-shirt with trousers, I feel that...that combination can take something away from both of the casual and formal spectrum and just leave awkwardness. I suppose I should experiment with it more before I completely dismiss it.

Among other things, I've been meaning to post up pictures, I've just been too busy to do the editing, but expect a bit on closet organization and a preview of my up coming auctions.

Side Note

As much as I'm growing to like wooden hangers, they take up more space than my closet can accommodate and they're expensive.

For the past 4 years, I've been getting clips for my plastic hangers. Due to my bad memory, I've ended up with a variety of clips since I can never remember where I get my favorite ones. That said - my inspiration for this blog - the clips from The Container Store are exceedingly substandard. Clips should stay in place.

Portion Control

It's almost 1:30 AM (at least when I wrote this is was). I start work today in approximately 7 hours and I get to test how long it takes me to walk a mile because I live that close to campus (work). I should be sleeping, but I can't. So, why waste my time trying to fall asleep when I can blog? - There's no better time ;)

This subject is gradually becoming near and dear to me: portion control

I was organizing what little purses I have and I noticed that of the small "going out" purses I have, 3 of the 4 were of the Asian jacquard that you'd usually see on Qi Pao dresses. The one outlier was a present from a friend.

It's moving and reorganizing that gives me the opportunity to examine my wardrobe. It's also mildly depressing that I was unable to close my suitcase completely and despite the massive growth of my wardrobe, from my purse observation, it's still lacking.

Presumably, the average person has few special occasions - weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, lavish parties...etc etc. Casual outings are more frequent. It's not so simple to say that occasion wear in one's wardrobe should correspond to the frequency of occasions. There's overlap, at least in what I view as an effective wardrobe. So portion control becomes a little harder to think about in concrete terms.

Here's a good time to bring in my favorite Food Network TV personality: Alton Brown. He's not fond of cookware tools that are uni-taskers and reveals most culinary tools to be polished versions of hardware store tools. Think about this for a moment. Granted that most outfits are put together in more than one piece, clothes in an effective wardrobe can become cross-over occasional multi-taskers. Still, there might always be that one dress you want for that one occasion. I know the feeling. I want a certain dress that's way over my budget (which is currently $0) and I want it for my friend's wedding. The only thing that keeps me from going over the deep end is thinking "when else will I wear it?"

Portion control is more a positive force when considering my bag problem. The thought opens me up to where I'm not so well rounded when in comes to my wardrobe. I only have one pair of dress shoes, and they're spectators (another blog). I lack paler business trousers & anything that would be more suitable for summer, save a summer funeral. Speaking of summer...

Elements of wardrobe portion control, I think, should take into account the climate. My wardrobe is overwhelmingly fall oriented whereas my location can be define as "hot" for more than 60% of the year. I'll save my reservations about summer apparel for another blog. I use to look around and be bewildered by the seasonal fashion of the students on campus, but it can't be helped if Fall is still in high 80s and 90s (degrees F), if flip flops and shorts are more comfortable on Christmas, and winter only lasts 2 weeks. I suppose there's a climate bias to fashion...assuming that the seasons come and go in regular intervals, then again, it could just be a Texas thing.

Moving Out

Moving out is a good time to assess ones wardrobe.

I most recently moved out of my old apartment and just now have acquired internet access. The majority of my things are in the apartment now, save two mirrors. I'm bruised. I'm battered. And typing is one of the few things that isn't a trying effort.

I made about 3 or 4 trips to the Goodwill donation drop off, with good reason. It never occurred to me that living in my apartment for 2 years would result in the acquisition of "stuff." So it came as a surprise that I could not close my luggage and attempts resulted in clothes being spewed out of the openings. A good time for a clothing assessment is when your poor muscles are at stake. Of the things I did chuck out, some of the more memorable pieces were: a skort bought at 579 many years ago that I felt was inappropriately short for my age, a collection of little boys dress vests, and pairs of pants that were bought ill fitting and stayed ill fitting.

In essence, moving is a good time to assess a wardrobe in terms of "Do I still wear this?" and "Do I still want to wear this?" As for the little boys vests, I like wearing tight vests, but the ladies section was always too big and they don't make dressy black vests for women of small builds, at least they didn't when I was going for the look. It seems that this has resurrected itself in my embracing mens ware for women. That's a rather nice change.

Despite my trips to Goodwill, I still had a load of clothes that would not fit in the suitcase and had to be transported by other means. One thing that I did notice was that, for living in Texas, I have a rather large volume of sweaters considering that the climate is predominantly hot. That's for another blog~

College Warp

Ok. Sunrises are beautiful. Birth of a baby panda, that's beautiful. Finding that a Victoria's Secret Outlet has opened up in your local outlet mall, that's beautiful too.

The point I'm trying to get at is that words like beautiful or nice can easily be perceived differently. I think you know where I'm going with this.

In my teaching course, we had to give presentations on activities that were developed and tested. One of the girls presenting had the courtesy to dress "nice" for the class presentation. While I'll admit, she was more dressed up than anyone else who had presented, I'm not sure...well check that, I'm pretty sure that what she wasn't dressed the kind of nice that was meant for the occasion. She was wearing a corset type blouse that was rather low cut, that had puffy sleeves, a satin skirt with some diagonal detailing and stilettos, black patent with silver heels. School presentation? I'll give her props, it's the thought that counts here. She was dressed "nice" though her hair was in a rough pony tail. For the purposes of the presentation, the outfit was rather distracting.

I'm beginning to think, since my teaching class is a class on how to effectively teach math and science, it shows that we're more math and science oriented when it comes to a lack of interpretation of the English language. There's a date "nice," there's a professional "nice," there's a casual outing "nice."

There's a little view of the hard transition into professionalism that occurs during college.

Tipping the Balance

Now, I go to the University of Texas. I can comfortably tell people that knowing that the Uni is so big that the odds of finding me are still small.

That's one of the issues that arises when it comes to college fashion...College fashion...is there such a thing? Or is fashion for after college? Now the University of Texas is one of the largest campuses in the nation, so the norm that comes from this is the consistent jeans and t-shirt uniform - whatever happens to go with sneakers. A healthy life-style recommends 30 minutes of activity (it can be interrupted), my classes are so far apart that I get that 30 minutes while I'm at school with some mild weight training that I call "carrying around my backpack." Because of all of this, school life limits displays of my personal style. Dressing nicer actually is a sacrifice on my feet.

I am also a science major. Lab protocol dictates that we have to be covered and definitely pushes students in the direction of jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers. While I know that there are nicer versions of pants, t-shirts, and sneakers - lab students don't wear lab coats, so there is the possibility of spilling nitric acid or sodium hydroxide on your nice clothes.

Summing it all, no one really wants to ruin their nice clothes. It's not necessarily that nice clothes = good style, but I do wish I could dress better for school sometimes. When I see people take fashion risks and more often fail than succeed, I feel I could pull off my risks better, but I feel that I'm in no position to judge, I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt just like 98% of the campus. There are definitely some days that dressing good harder. I'm just not in a situation where I can make a statement everyday. Can circumstance justify that?

I don't think people should feel bad in the situations where it's a matter of want vs. capability.

Finally

Welcome to my new blog I'm aiming in the direction of clothes and fashion. I actually have about 5 or 6 blogs floating around in the internet but they all turned out to focus on rants. What's worse is that having 5 or 6 blogs full of rants just go to show that I rant so much - it can be divided into categories.

I've been wanting to do a fashion blog for a while. In addition to seeing growth in my own style, I'm most certainly not a stranger to the trials of being a college student:

- usually never having any money
- classes that dictate what you wear (I'm a science major)

The odd weather of Texas also adds the bonus of:

- dressing unseasonal because the weather conflicts with the season

...of course, growing up leads to:

- transitioning into "grown-up" wear from teenage wear

and lastly,

- having blog time dictated by school

I'm nearing the end of another semester - papers, presentations, and finals. Luckily the semester is ending and, for once, I'm taking the summer off. I'll be trickling in until then.