I'll save you the rhyme...

I finally used up the Urban Outfitters gift card that's been burning a hole in my pocket for nigh on a year (see a pattern here?) Mostly, things from the Urban Renewal line make me angry and a bit sickened that I'm paying through the nose for things I could find at thrift stores and make myself, not to mention all the amazing vintage dresses and whatnot they're butchering and making into horrifying ill-fitting tunic tops. But this little number was FREE, so I'll leave it at that.



I also got this little pinecone necklace! It reminds me of home, the Evergreen State.



And, my shoes came from eBay, and they are lovely little things!

On their way...

One thing's for sure these days: being at home sick in bed does not, by any means, keep one from doing some shopping. For better or worse. Over the last few days I've made some (wise?) internet purchases.



Flats from ebay. But these were necessary, because I fell down and scraped the hell out of myself in my other "sensible" brown shoes (which I will be wearing again tomorrow, because I NEVER LEARN).



Lovely vintage hippie shirt from a friend on livejournal for $1 (puppy not included, sadly)! And last, but not least...



I FINALLY used up the rest of my J.Crew gift card, which I have been losing and then re-finding in a vicious, terrifying circle for nigh on a year now. It was not cheap, but it certainly was free, and the color oooooooh the color! I can't wait to wear all these things, at once! Pants optional!

Roses are love!

Pardon the absence, I've been sick and pottering around blowing my nose on things and feeling sorry for myself. This has not, however, stopped me from shopping a bit, oh noes. You'll see! Anyways, I bought you some flowers in the meantime. Forgive me!

Take 'er easy

...or as easy as possible, at least. The leaves upstate are like a still life watercolor, the City is bitter cold and I have a long day of work tomorrow. I think I'll watch the Royal Tenenbaums and dream about a New York that isn't quite New York.

Ahoy-hoy!

Today I set sail for...somewhere in up-state New York! Ah, Thanksgiving at the country house. Well sort of, anyhow.

Long story short, a happy happy happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Little shoes and a moustache

My new shoes! They turned out to be even better than I thought, and although I did almost fall on my arse a few times today it was totally worth it. They make my feet look mighty small and dainty.



I think maybe George Harrison's moustache would like to get to know my new shoes a little better, if you know what I'm sayin'.

If I ever need a reason to smile

A beautiful song sung by a beautiful man, no question. But what struck me the most about this video was the feathers! Todd's costume is amazing, and all those little feathers around his eyes are so lovely. And then I wondered, where else had I seen feathers like this recently?



Alexander McQueen, S/S 2008! Todd Rundgren, fashion muse? HECK YES.

Orange peels

I'm wearing the blouse I bought Thursday, but sadly these photos don't do it an ounce of justice. It's the palest lemon yellow linen with these amazing embroidered details on the cuffs and collar that look to me sometimes like hearts and sometimes kidney beans! I liked the way the little lacey bits peaked out of my coat.



It's stunning, really. I love finding vintage pieces like this, where it's clear how much effort and care was put into crafting it. It seems like the only way to find craftmanship like that these days is to shell out the big bucks. That's another reason why, for the most part, I only buy vintage shoes. Even though they're old and have likely already gotten some use, the vintage shoes I buy (for the most part) last five times as long, and are five times as comfortable, as the new shoes I can buy for the same price.

Anyhow, it seems like I'm coming down with a cold and have allowed myself to wallow in bed all morning, spilling clementine peels absolutely everywhere. Sadly, its about time to drag myself out of bed, and into work. After getting home at 12:30 am last night, it kind of feels like I never left...

You broke my heart cuz I couldn't dance

I went shopping today! I traded in a few things at Buffalo Exchange and got a lovely blouse and a dress in return, and put a bazillion things on hold as well. This was a pretty momentous outting for me, as it's been so long since I allowed myself to buy clothes. I also got one of the pairs of eBay shoes (and they are amazing!), and the other is waiting for me at the P.O. So soon, hopefully, I'll be doing a decent "oooh lookit mah clothez!" post.

Until then however:

The holiday season is upon us, and that means parties: cocktail, office, family, you name it, someone's bound to fête it. So don't make an arse of yourself out there on the dance floor! Take a few tips from the hardest working man in showbiz. The funky chicken never looked so fine.

Two of the best things I've seen in a long time

from Matildan and the Moderniteter, respectful-, and respective-ly. Ladies: WE'RE NOT WORHTY!

Sock Weather

Mmmmm toasty!

If you have size 6 feet...

...and $150.00 to spare, then you have no excuse. You are hereby commanded to buy


these shoes, if for no other reason than to keep me from buying them and hanging them on my flippin' wall!

Winterized

When youre on a budget, you have to get creative. As much as I'd love to be able to splurge on a new winter wardrobe, that's just not gonna happen, alack, alas. So instead, I'm trying to focus on finding ways to wear lighter, summer items in warmer ways.

Back in August, I wore this dress (that I picked up back in San Francisco when I worked at Crossroads) out in Santa Cruz for a bicycle trip to the fabric store on a rather warm, windy day. Today, I wore it again, on a different coast, in a different season, and for an entirely different purpose.


A cold, clear November day in New York City, working in a stuffy clothing store. I did wear the same shoes though! Some things never change...

On their way!

Well, I've gone and done it! I've made my first shoe purchase on eBay since moving here. You have to understand, when I was living in Santa Cruz, buying shoes on eBay was like a second full-time job for me. I think I actually started this blog to rant about all the shoes I wanted to/was buying on eBay. Amazingly, I had managed to control myself until tonight, but when I saw these babies at a ridiculously reasonable buy-it-now price, I crumbled.

I really haven't bought more than a couple pieces of clothing since moving here, which is another wonder. Back in Santa Cruz, I went shopping multiple times a week. Granted, it was at the Salvation Army and flea markets (and on eBay) almost exclusively, but when weighed against my sad little income, I was spending far too much. But sometimes, the only thing that could lift my worried spirits was pawing through racks of funny old things, searching for little treasures that made my heart race. Here, I've been too busy with school and work to mind, and too broke to bother anyways. But my wardrobe is feeling so stagnate, and I'm hoping to find time to get to Buffalo Exchange in the next week or so to jettison some things and come trotting home with a few more.

EDIT: Oh gosh, so, I had to edit this because I just bought these:


I have just enterred into dangerous territory indeed, and I fear there are slippery slopes ahead! But come ON, it was worth it right????

My LBD

Today as I was getting dressed, I reached for my black pinafore dress, and I realised that ever since I found it in a thrift store in Santa Cruz right around this time last year, I've probably worn it I at least twice a week, if not more. It's my immediate go-to on days when I don't have the extra brain cells to spare thinking about something clever to wear. So I decided I'd round up all the photos I have of myself wearing it, oldest to newest, coast to coast, as a sort of tribute.






Here's lookin' at me wearin' you, kid.

Redhead senorita

I honestly think that Karen Elson is one of the most beautiful women alive. I'm awfully tempted these days to go all out and dye my hair really really red. I so admire people who can pull that color off. Odds are I would look like a carrot or, more likely, a circus freak, but there's something about powerfully red hair that conjours up such sweet images of fur collars and little felt hats and snow. It's such a wonderful color to set against grey skies and skyscrapers. Of course, I'm equally tempted to go the Zooey route and try a chocolately brown, even though I know it doesn't really suit me (I've tried, believe me!)

Ah well, I suppose the grass is always greener, eh?

New (old) sweater

A few rainy days ago I struck out on a rather foolhardy expeidition to a large thrift store in West Hempstead, a sister store of which I spent many blissful hours, and dollars, in during high school back in Washington State. It paled, nay, it sagged and sulked in comparison to its West Coast cousin, BUT, I did pick up this new warm cardigan, some odds and ends, and a few things for my room, including a hilarious pillow shaped like a little hamburger-dude. So all was not lost. And any rainy day spent on trains is an ok day by me.

My Favorite Movie?

"Harold and Maude" (1971), directed by Hal Ashby and starring Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon.

I remember the first time I saw this film. It was sometime during the early part of high school, after a long summer day, the best half of which was spent swimming in icy Puget Sound seawater and recovering on beaches of dark pebbles hot as little coals. I spent the night at a friend's house, and somehow we ended up watching Harold and Maude. I had to get up early and walk home the next day in the sunshine, down dusty dirt roads under deep green fir trees, and that morning the whole world seemed like a completely magical, amazing, sad place, and I was in a daze, a Cat Stevens, funeral-going, banjo filled daze, as I did a little two-step down this path and that on my bare feet.




A few years later, on a tour of prospective Universities, I first came to the Bay Area (where the film is set). And immediately, more than anything, I knew that was where I belonged. I needed to walk along those wide, bare, grassy hills in the clear California sunlight. I saw Harold and his little hearse driving down roads draped in eucalyptus branches, ghostly in the fog. I saw the most glorious birds, and even if they were only seagulls, it made no difference. And that is where, for the most part, I spent the next four years of my life.




Oh, I could rhapsodize for hours! I can honestly say that this one of the films that has profoundly changed my life. The soundtrack, provided by a sublimely folk-rockin' Cat Stevens, the colors, the framing (I happen to know all this has also influenced one of my favorite directors, Wes Anderson, who lists it among his favorite films). But I'll save all that for a term paper. Just trust me: see it. I hope you find in it even half the beauty and wonder that I do. Keep an open mind. And, I dare you not to cry at the end. I must have seen this movie at least fifty times, and still, just hearing the opening bars to "Trouble" gets me all kinds of choked up...and I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world.