In the meantime

While my camera situation is fixing itself, I figured it wouldn't hurt to work on makeup. I'm currently home and quite bored. It's about 6:12pm and it's sunset. I remembered buying the Smashbox Mother Earth Palette a while back and there were a lot of blues and oranges. I know my color wheel - they're complimentary. How in the world do you get them to blend?


I just saw how it works. Something like this:

I've done some cool things lately

I haven't blogged in about a good 2 months. In that time, I've done a good lot:

- finished student teaching
- acquired a teaching wardrobe
- acquired a bunch of hats
- made giant mess of my apartment
- I'm graduating this Sunday. Approximately 24 hours from now.

Life is pretty grand right now and now it's a matter of cleaning up the grand mess that is my apartment.

Unfortunately, I broke my camera Halloween night. I have to take pictures the old school way through the view finder. Any pics may take longer than usual.

As a holiday present, I'll give this advice to any lucky people who happen to stumble upon it.

Approximately 3 times it has happened to me that when I order an item through Anthropologie oppose to the website, the item has gone on double sale before it has reached me. I get my item at a substantially lower price and life is nicer. Here's the pattern I've noticed when that happens. The item I want is usually on sale to begin with since it is not often that a retail item sells out mad fast. They usually don't have my size on the website and it becomes very likely that the item will just sell out. What's even better is it they don't have the item on the website and it's on sale at the store, then they have to order through another store. Thus, the way this works is wanting an item that's extremely hard to find that has to be ordered through another store. It has about a 66% chance of working based on my experience.

Now I'm off to organize my thoughts...
among other things.

Awkward Pajamas

Usually, my awkward pajama stage is when I'm at a point in my cycle where I desperately need to do laundry but for some reason or another - in this case, I'm lacking 6 quarters - I can't. It's gets to a point where I wear these awkward pajamas that my mom gets me for Christmas' and birthdays.

Luckily for me, I can only wear upwards of semi professional wear due to Student Teaching. The stuff is finally getting some use.

Ah ha

I look at this blog quite frequently wondering when I'll have time for a good full blown update. I've started student teaching, so almost every day is a rather busy new adventure. I wish I had the time to update this more often.

My summer eBay auctions never really came to fruition. I also decided to keep one dress and alter it. I find myself becoming less and less fond of the trend of high-waisted short skirts. I feel the evolution of modern trends has inadvertently made me somewhat of an old conservative fogey when it comes to fashion. Oh well, I'm sure it'll pass over. At least I hope so, I feel that despite my being vertically challenged, I'm much too old for such a trend. I'll be hitting the big 2-4 this October.

This is what has been going on as of late:

Student teaching
Buying a lot of T-shirts
I finally got a pair of Nike Dunks
I want to sew my dress

I'll try to have pictures of my shoes up. T-shirts normally are not my thing, but gradually, I'm becoming more and more fond of them. It just depends on why I get them. I'll try to have posts following each of the topics. Particularly the student teaching one since apparently it's becoming a mix of faux pas and successes.

Ciao! naptime

Computer Style

I'm currently at my house for the summer. To put a nice cap on the end of summer vacation, I decided to accomplish something I've been meaning to do for a while now: I had all of my wisdom teeth (3rd molars) removed.

So. I have a week until school starts and I'm recovering from the excision. My camera, pictures, and clothes are back at my apartment. In addition to that, my old computer that has all of the working parts and software is also back at my apartment. I can't upload pictures. I can't show off my awesome "I (glove) MJ" shirt from a previous blog. At most, I can show off my new computer
While on the topic of accomplishing things, I'll mention that I finally got around to getting a new computer. My old one was on the verge of death. My new computer happens to be in Spring Green.

Green happens to be my favorite color, but the largest amount of time was dedicated to color selection. I still occasionally think that I should've gotten Promise Pink to show my support of breast cancer awareness, but I decided to just donate. It is just a computer, but considering the longevity I force upon my electronics - it couldn't hurt to have something that's a little more...me.

It's the shoes

For a while, I've thought: it's the feet that make the dancer, not the shoes.

I'm soon realizing that, if the feet make the dancer, swollen and bruised feet make an incapacitated dancer. If I keep using the shoes I have, I'm going to dance my way to certain injury.

I'm still on my hunt for a good pair of dancing shoes. Previously, I noted the Nike Air Troupe Mids which have gone on sale again since I blogged about them. I still haven't given in to buying them yet. Unlike Nike Air Troupe Mids, Nike Dunks are more varied and also come in low, mid, and hi options.

If you think about it, basketball shoes for dancing that involves a lot of twisting, turning, and jumping makes sense. It's understandable why a number of people dance in them.

The next thing to contend with is Nike Lifestyles - or street casual shoes that were inspired by athletic shoes. Are they still made with the specifications for the sport that inspired them? I'm leaning towards: no.

After a lot of disappointing searches, it occurred to me to look at sporting good stores online and then I remembered: Eastbay.com

Thank goodness for skater culture. The toes are reinforced with padding for skateboarding in addition to the basketball qualities of the original dunks. I'm going to assume that means I can get up on my toes if I want to. I found my shoes that encompass the support I need and wicked colors. Now it's just a matter of picking.

Compromise

One thing that I've been struggling with for a while...virtually all of my college years...is the transitional "kid-to-adult" wardrobe and also dancing duds (I'm not talking about ballet shoes and leotards, mind you). I've always felt that I could only go for one or the other. While I like that I have a pretty well developed professional wardrobe that also meshes into dressy casual, what makes me sad about it is that it doesn't do much for my dancing interests.

It's taken me a while to realize that I don't have to compromise on this. The thing I appreciate most about my two day obsession with SHINee is that I can incorporate elements in my wardrobe that don't make me feel too awkward about my dancing interests. Pretty much, I'm getting some sensible hip hop gear and I don't feel like I have to get all thugged out. It's really odd. A lot of time, I find myself approaching grown up situations with the idea of how things should be, then, given time I look at the situation from my perspective and think more about how I want it. I'll dress professionally for school, and outside of school is my time - when I'm not grading, I'm dancing.

That aside, among cooler things, check out what's coming for me in the mail in a few days:


It's the "I Glove MJ" shirt by Alex Aranovich. It's up for limited purchase at his online shop on Etsy. The second I saw it, I thought it would be a good time to pay some homage to the King.

A book worth writing about

Males, Nails, and Sample Sales by Stephanie Pierson...

is by far the worst advice book I have ever read.

I'm normally fond of advice books that entail fashion along with the other tribulations of daily life, so when I found this at Anthropologie, I thought it would be worth a look. I had nothing to lose except $7. Looking back, that could've bought me a sandwich.

Having read many books like this, I can say that the one thing that irritates me about it the most is it's structure - or lack there of. I was only able to get through the first three chapters before I found myself looking for the receipt so I could return it.

Introductions generally are short, a little vague, but engaging enough to where you're left with questions and you want to read more of the book until those questions are answered. So I read the introduction "I'll tell you why you should do X. I'll tell you why you shouldn't do Y."

Essentially, the first few chapters read like an introduction in conjunction with a mothers nagging. She told you that "you shouldn't do X" with reasoning as simple as something like "because it makes you look like a snob." End of question. She just goes on to another topic. It was all very non sequitur while maintaining that same structure. And it never seemed to end. I'm quite glad that I was able to return it. I got a sandwich with the money after wards.

For one thing, I don't like books bluntly saying what you should or shouldn't do. Another thing is that if a book is going to do that, they better have some well researched reasons why other than an illogical partial sentence.

Subside

So, the large wave of my obsession with SHINee lasted approximately two days. I still listen to their music, but as I got updated with the band, I've come to the conclusion that their stylist, Korean designer Ha Sang Baek - is on crack (for lack of a better term.)


In addition to the boy's pants getting skinnier (borderline leggings) the boys themselves have been getting skinnier as well - thanks, in part, to the diet imposed on them by their stylist.

What I did get out of the entire ordeal is that: style-wise, I'm happiest wearing anything that I can dance in.

My Latest Obsession

Imagine taking Justin Timberlake and combining him with 112 - the RnB group from the late 90s. Divide that mixture into five Korean boys and add skinny pants with hi top sneakers and you get: SHINee!


Unfortunately, my obsession with them was sprung in an effort to get Michael Jackson off my mind and it turned into a severe distraction from studying for my exam that I had earlier today.

Sure, they were made by a boy band factory, but they struck boy-band research and development gold! What initially got me - was seeing their dancing in a video on youtube. What surprised me about it was the awesomeness of the dancing in skinny pants. I had been toying with the idea of wearing hi top sneakers with skinny pants. While I see a lot of skinny pants on campus, its mostly with sandals or loafers. SHINee just validated my hypothesis that it would work, you could look cool dancing in skinny pants, and skinny jeans are not just a trendy - emo - punk thing.


Apparently, if you can dance like a badass, you get the added privelage of wearing colors that even a rainbow couldn't come up with.

Aside from their style and their dancing, their music is jazzy some - I like how each member weaves their part in and out of each song. True, it's probably already set up for them, but you do need someone who can fill the role. They have some really nice beats that remind me of the "New Jack Swing" styles that I grew up listening to. The youngest one, Tae-Min, has a voice that reminds me of Slim from 112 - that nice light voice you look forward to hearing in a song. They bring me back. :)

Oh, and their song "Replay" is about pursuit of a beautiful older woman. They've made me feel pretty good about being 23. The music is worth checking out, their RnB is...what I think the American music conglomerate is lacking. I've always commented on how the music of the 90s was better. The feel is such a nice throw back and their voices are so nice. It doesn't matter that I don't understand the Korean.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

On a personal note, I think some vintage store owners really over estimate themselves. In my search for some cool vintage house duds, I haven't turned up anything. The usual college student problems still apply:

- lack of money
- lack of time

But also in my search I am being somewhat picky. Furniture is a big investment, after all. Anyone would be scrupulous.

Another dilemma is that, while some of the vintage is affordable ($200-$300), it's not comfortable. Texas summers get greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It's just not practical to own a vinyl couch. Quite stupid really.

Cat Deeley can work it

Famous Hangers with Cat Deeley of ' So You Think You Can Dance'


I stumbled upon this special of Famous Hangers featuring Cat Deeley, the host of So You Think You Can Dance. Considering the national exposure she gets on a weekly basis, she definitely has reason to dress nicer than average, but what's most charming is her approach towards shopping for her duds.

She's not my style icon but she offers some really good advice, and I'm always down for that.

Us odd Americans

So, I'm becoming quite content with the amount of empty space in my apartment. I've been taking advantage of the dancing space. Unfortunately, I cannot dance as often as I'd like due to my tendency towards self injury. My feet get can get bruised pretty fast and I don't like the idea of walking on a bruise, everyday for the rest of the summer in Texas. Triple whammy!

I've been thinking of investing in a pair of dancing shoes with the thought that they may be designed with the cushioning needs for someone who likes to twist and stomp. Skateboarding shoes are designed that way, so why not dancing shoes?

I discovered the shoes to the right at Urban Outfitters (www.urbanoutfitters.com). Nike Air Troupe Mid - Nice colors, nice design, not to sure about the hi top part though. Thankfully, there's an Urban Outfitters near campus and I was able to try them on. They felt quite nice, I was even beginning to think that the hi top may provide some ankle support. Oddly enough, I was a size 7. I'm most normally a size 7 1/2 to an 8.

US sizing kills me. I think it also makes me more skeptical of buying sneakers online since my size ranges. On the upside, the European sizes tend to be more consistent and I've always been a 38. This is also what it says on the Nike box.

It's nice to have an Urban Outfitters to do some reconnaissance. Online prices and store prices don't match up. As for the sneakers, I think I still would prefer something lower. Nike actually makes Air Troupe Lo as well. So I'm in luck.

Good Acoustics

If you couldn't tell by the title, my apartment is going to be empty for a while. Personally, I'm not in any rush to fill my apartment with furniture. That would probably be more in my mom's nature, but really, I want good comfortable pieces and I'm willing to wait for them. On the bright side, music easily fills my living room. Right now I have one comfortable argyle chair with varying gradations of brown. Since I don't have much money at the moment, I have to assess the pieces I want and be scrupulous with my money. My general criteria has to be met in the following order:

1. Looks good
2. Comfortable
3. Affordable

I'm not willing to just take the best two out of three, so understandably, my apartment will be empty for a while. My boyfriend Frederick, with his lusciously practical mind, generally tries to remind me of all the things I could do with the money I intend to spend on furniture. I do need a new computer, and a new mattress. He also related the point that furniture shouldn't be what makes me happy and I agree with him. What would make me happy is to be able to relate my style to people and have it emanate in my environment. I want my apartment to be a place I look forward to coming home to rather than just a large storage closet that I sleep in. That said, I think the hard part is over with. After scavenging many vintage thrift stores and furniture stores, Star furniture seems to be my jackpot (www.starfurniture.com). The sales consultant there was able to help me develop ways of relating what I wanted. I'm a big fan of clean lines, which means straight - no rounded arms. It's a slightly more modern look despite the fact it was developed in the 1950s. In addition to that, I'm a fan of tufting. Right now I'm in the market for a lounge chair and a sofa.

For the sofa, my number one preference after comfort is contemporary high arms:

Its not very easy to find, or acquire cheaply. This couch is from Anthropologie and I've sat on it in the store. It's very comfortable and made of linen. This couch is probably the epitome of my preference for clean lines.

It appears the key to nailing this style is the high arms being thin and the legs being simple.

To the right is another version of this high arm couch, it is slightly thicker and it has more cushions. This could work as a compromise, but the Anthropologie couch carries the style better.

It would be unwise for me to limit my sofa selections to expensive, rare styles, so here are a few more I'd make exceptions for:

This one has lower arms, but notice the straight line appeal. The back is tufted and I'm kind of fond of the butterscotch color.
This couch pretty much is low on the straight clean line appeal. I liked the degree of tufting. I could even live with the rounded arms because of how I like the tufting.

I have this general tendency to associate tufting with comfort, which has been the case in my experience. With the sofa, I'm looking to get it in a blue, gray, or yellow. No patterns. I'm looking for longevity in my pieces. Fred wonders why I'd look for longevity when I'd just want something new and different. New and different isn't the case with furniture. For one thing, it's expensive. I don't want to spend a fraction of the money I'd spend on a couch I'd like on a cruddy piece that will just make do for the while. I don't see much of a point in that. This is furniture I'd want to travel with me. Truthfully, I'm not to big on change when it comes to my environment. I've been listening to the same music since 6th grade. Same friends since I was 4. I'm not very adaptable to change.

When it comes to lounge chairs, I haven't quite found a picture of the perfect one online even but this one comes close:

It's the Corrigan chair from Anthropologie. You've probably guessed, I sat in this one at the store too. It has a low, spacious seat and a rounded head. I would prefer it in brown and I think I have seen brown versions of this chair at Barnes and Noble bookstore in the reading sections - obviously not for sale.

It's good to scope out and determine what you like, but I view comfort as of the utmost importance. I'm not about to overpay for a good looking chair I don't want to sit in. That's why I think it's important for me to sample the furniture at show rooms. Comfort makes me apprehensive about ordering furniture online. Consequently, I wouldn't mind ordering anything online that I won't be sitting on:
...like this awesome mid-century modern coffee table. Since I'm looking for longevity in my furniture now, I'm coming to appreciate a solid wood construction and mid century Danish furniture (hard like a rock, and the tables don't shake).

Ooooh Apartment

This is the first time in my life that I've had my own place. With that comes a few extra...extras. For instance, I've always had a roommate that brought the majority of the living room furniture. Great, I get to pick my own now, but a sofa is not exactly cheap. For now, I have a virtually bare living room. Since my place is now MY place, I don't feel the need to be courteous to anyone so it's been almost two weeks but it still looks like I just moved in the place, boxes and stuff still packed everywhere.

Decorating is expensive. At the same time, I feel as though if I had the money for everything I wanted, my decor may be in bad taste.

I feel like decorating is going to be a slow process just because I have the opportunity to get things just the way I want them. I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Sisterly Love

I remember one time that my sister was in town a couple of months ago, we were walking towards Whole Foods in mildly wet conditions. My sister could sense her impending fall, and I kept telling her that if she knew it was coming, she should do something about it. She fell. I helped her up and told her:

See, you don't love yourself enough to get sandals with better traction.

Decorating?

It's been so long since I've had time to blog that, guess what? I'm moving again! It'll be nice to start the summer off my shopping for furniture and getting settled in my new apartment. This will be the first time I get to live by myself. Before I use to be wary of living by myself, but now, I'll be one semester from graduating and I think the change will be good. I get to have everything my way.

I'm curious how I'm going to approach decorating my new apartment. I kind of have to watch my spending. I've been getting into flower arranging, but that's a bit of an expensive habit. I only do it when I feel really stressed, or when I have flowers. The first arrangement is one that I came up with after I had some roses left over from this lesson I made on the chemistry of perfume. I bought some extra flowers that were on sale and made the arrangement which I think is nice by itself, but it started molding fast :\

The second arrangement was made around February when Frederick got me a bouquet for Valentines Day. It did not mold as fast and it lasted longer. I'd like to have fresh flowers on a regular basis, but they're so expensive. I may resort to potted plants since I'm going to have a balcony and ample sunlight. While I should be thinking about finals and final projects, it's much more fun to think about decorating my new place. I'm still trying to flesh out what kind of feel I'm going for. I'm going to try, as much as possible, not to get my furniture at Ikea. I have nothing against Ikea, I just want to try vintage stores out first. Something a little more funky

Bed Decor Dilemma

I'm beginning to think I should change the name of this blog to "I know it's been a while..." or something of the like.

Being a highly transient college student, there's not much of an incentive for me to decorate my room with the thought that it will be a short while before I have to un-decorate my room and move somewhere else.

Despite this, I still want to find some way to decorate my room and make it seem more home like. I even consider Austin my home now even though I don't have a permanent home within the city.

I've been needing a new duvet or quilt for a while because my current one doesn't keep me warm enough. I found that it's also a good opportunity to get something that my mom didn't pick out. It could add some color to my room which has white walls with a light gray quilt.

I've been looking at Urban Outfitters for something a little funky and found the quilt to the right at $120. It seems like a lot, but I was going to get a duvet cover at $68 I needed a duvet ~$40...notice how it adds up? I figured, what the heck, I'll get it, but I was also questioning if the brand had influencing factors. My sister suggest I look at Overstock.com and a lot of the quilts and covers they had came in sets and it all seemed too mat-chy-mat-chy. I looked them over a second time with the thought that I could just not use the pillow shams, but it just made me realize that I'm really not fond of the patterns and their use of color, the color is either so pale that it blends in with my walls or I just don't like the color and it doesn't allow for much original coordination on my part.

I remember when I was younger, my mom would always tell me to clean my room. My sister would tell me just to fix the bed since it takes up a lot of space and it'll make all the difference. While I say I don't have the time to decorate, I do have the time to make my bed.

Some good advice

I'm currently reading Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl. It is a sort of self-help book of a more entertaining variety that explains how French girls "stay chic, love life, and don't get fat." I noticed it while perusing the books at Anthropologie. I have a sister that seems to only read self-help books so I felt this was a happy medium on her interests and mine.

In reading it, there was a mention of keeping a log, or book or places that have unique sales at certain times of the year, places where you find clothes that fit you. It reminded me of this thrift store journal I got for my mom on Christmas. It had a section for the name of the store and the various things you bought there.

When it comes to me and vintage stores, I've felt that my purchasing something there was usually a one time event, but I suppose my ability to buy something from there is a reflection that they stock the kinds of items I would buy...vintage store owners have their own style after all.

I think adopting a shopping journal is a rather smart idea. As is the idea of not settling for substitutes. I know that I like to get my cardigans from Victoria Secret. More and more I'm finding that I can't find many cardigans that are up to par that I wear on a regular basis. These fit me the best. I like the feel and the material.
It really makes me wonder why I search elsewhere when I know where to get exactly what I want. Now, most of these cardigans are sort of discontinued. There is always eBay. I can sometimes rely on chance that the sweater I'm looking for will appear.