6.29.2010

Blueberry Bliss

California weather has finally decided to wake up and realize it's almost July. The nice days of the 80F heat has been replaced by 90F+ degree heat. Worse, it has not been cooling down at night. It is making me miserable! I even got heat sick yesterday, presumably from sleeping under my duvet. Needless to say, I have been feeling less than motivated to get dressed. Yesterday I swapped one set of pajamas for another and laid on the couch watching season 1 of Alias all day.

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One of the things getting me through these ~hard times~ are cold drinks. I've been reading My Breakfast Blog for awhile and lusting/drooling over her delicious meals. I was particularly intrigued by the banana-blueberry smoothies she often has, so I searched through her blog to find her recipe. I altered it slightly because I don't need rice protein nor do I drink almond milk. Here is my version of the smoothie.
1 Cup Non-Fat Milk
1 to 1 1/2 Cups Frozen Blueberries (depending on your taste)
1 Frozen Banana
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Paste
4 Cups Organic Baby Spinach

Put in blender. Blend till smooth. Makes 2 smoothies.
What do you guys do in the heat? Any good coping mechanisms besides hiding inside with a cool drink?

6.26.2010

You think a lot of men can't handle the regalness of a updo right right?

This post/hairdo came about for two main reasons. 1. I have had long hair for several years now and had long hair in high school before that. But I never DO anything with it. I mean, even flat-ironing the big waves it gets in the back was beyond me in high school. And I only really started wearing it curly/wavy last summer after experimenting for a few months with different techniques. Basically my go-to hairdos were: straight & down (center or side part) OR a ponytail. Once and awhile maybe I'd mix it up and put just the front in a pompadour.

My senior year of college, however, I worked a lot of 7am shifts and I just was not willing to get up that extra 20 minutes earlier to do my hair. Suddenly I started getting a lot more into braids, side braids, low side ponies, and other hairdos that hide greasy hair. Rubie had also introduced me to dry shampoo, which I had been using on-and-off to varying degrees of success my junior year. Fast forward 18 months and I am now the master of my previously unmanageable greasy hair. I came about this in two ways: 1. bleaching the shit out of it and 2. baby powder. I get all Marie Antoinette on that shit and just douse my roots and then scrunch it in and (if I feel so inclined) brush it through my roots. I now only wash my hair every other day or every three days. In fact, I put so much stuff in my hair yesterday for this hairdo, I could've skipped washing it today except my hair felt heavy and my scalp got a little upset about all the backcombing.

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Tunic: TopShop, Leggings: American Apparel, Belt & Necklace: H&M, Pumps: Coach

The second reason I decided to try a beehive was I got this amazing 1960s inspired yellow sheath dress for my cousin's wedding in two weeks. Since it's in Alabama in July, I am pretty sure I want to rock an updo or something because me and humidity do not get along well. At all. Or heat. Or sweating.

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Because I am me, I did not look at a tutorial until I had already backcombed most of my hair, but I think it turned out alright anyway. The back was a little bit of a mess and I was debating bangs vs no bangs, hence the two looks. Also it RAINED yesterday morning and was cool enough I went for leggings instead of shorts! What is that?!

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I jus wanna let you know the back of yo head is ridicolous.


I got these shoes on super deep clearance for $20. Originally they were $300+!!! They're also shockingly comfortable.

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6.25.2010

Welcome to the Jungle

Picking a place to photograph your outfit seems like it wouldn't be that hard. Find somewhere with decent light that has an acceptable background. Unfortunately, because we live in a long, low, well-shaded ranch house, there isn't really anywhere to take photos indoors. Which means a jaunt to the backyard. I get tired of taking pictures in the backyard, though. I feel like they maybe don't set off my more urban outfits well. But alas, we must work with what we've got. Andi and I decided to try the front yard the other day to mixed results. Mostly we realized that the bushes/trees in our yard are going to eat us in our sleep sometime in the very near future.

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Andi about to be eaten by plants ala Little Shop of Horrors. See less nightmare/SciFi Original Movie inducing pictures of her outfit here.


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Sweater: Talbots, Shorts: homemade from Andi's old jeans, Shoes: Charles by Charles David

I thought this outfit was from yesterday, which only goes to show I am going senile. It's from Wednesday. Andi and I had decided to go thrifting and it was deceptively hot and humid outside. As usual I could not dress myself. This is an ongoing problem wherein I rampage about and then decide to angrily wear jeans and the grubbiest tee-shirt I can find to spite my other clothes. On this day, however, I sat down in my underwear to angrily scroll through blogs and ended up on Weardrobe. One of the outfits caught my eye, this one worn by Amanda of Off of Broadway.

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Do you ever have one of those sudden OMG DUH I AM SO DUMB? flashes of insight? This is what happened to me when I saw that outfit. Everything just clicked and I ran back to my room with a pair of scissors and hacked the legs off some old jeans Andi had donated to me. Okay this isn't totally true. I learnt my lesson last time I tried to make cut-offs, so this time I drew a line ALL THE WAY AROUND while wearing them so they didn't end up too Daisy Duke and uneven. THEY STILL ENDED UP WONKY. Whatever, that's the charm of cut-offs, right? I'm not a big pull-over sweater wearer, but I have this great Talbots Collections v-neck that my sister gave me because she didn't wear it. The stripes sort of hit me in unfortunate spots and it fit better when I was slightly heavier, but I really love the cut and the dolmen sleeves. Plus it is insanely comfortable. My mother swore I would sweat to death in it, but I was surprisingly cool.

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I was originally going to "hipster" my hair to go with a different outfit (read: put one of those elastic headbands on over it. I ended up doing it yesterday to hold my next-day bangs in place) which is why it's straight. I used to always wear my hair straight, but I've gotten really fond of its natural waves. Plus those are SO MUCH less time intensive. I had to fully blow-dry my hair and then flat iron it to get this look and I feel like it's slightly generic.

Oh, and while thrifting, I discovered I am slightly allergic to my wedges. I have a really bad nickel allergy and apparently the rivets and metal loops make me itch!

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Rubie and Britta's Epic Roadtrip: Part 1

I've always wanted to roadtrip across the country, but have never had the time (or a reason good enough to do so). So, when I was offered an internship in California, I think my reason for accepting was as much for the adventure as the promise of an amazing job.

Britta volunteered herself to help me drive out (yaaay, because my mother is THE WORLD'S WORST BACKSEAT DRIVER), so she flew out and spent a few days at my family's home in Chicago before we embarked on our marathon drive. Our one day tour of the city sights turned into a shopping-and-food mission...I feel like this is always what happens when Britta and I hang out, despite our best efforts to be productive.

We tried to go to Frontera Grill for lunch, but they closed at 2, so we ended up eating next door at sister restaurant XOCO. XOCO did not disappoint; it's equally amazing as Frontera Grill despite being a quick-service restaurant.


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My Woodland Mushroom torta

We did manage to squeeze in one touristy thing: THE BEAN.

BEAN!

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If you've never been to Chicago before, the Bean (also known as Cloud Gate) is an excellent time waster. Seriously, I could sit around for hours just taking pictures of this thing.

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Futzing with my Holga, aka my only currently working camera :( Could I look any more hipster?


After some adventures in Illinois (in which Britta, 23, was denied buying a bottle of Pinot Grigio...don't ask), we set off for California!

Sup Iowa

Iowa Windmills
Windmills in Iowa


By the way: thank god for Coralville, Iowa, home of POSSIBLY THE ONLY STARBUCKS IN THE ENTIRE STATE.

Worst state in the union?
Worst state in the union?


Shockingly, we took about 3 pictures total in Nebraska. If you have never been to Nebraska, let me tell you: you wouldn't have found anything to take pictures of either. Nebraska is like one giant swirling dustbowl with no Starbucks and towns with names like Ogallala. Before we left Chicago that morning, I ambitiously suggested to Britta that we try to make it to Denver in one day, and she was like "HA HA R U CRAZY? NO." However, about halfway through Nebraska, when we hadn't seen a city in hours (unless power plants count) and both of us were unable to breathe from the dust and jittering from lack of caffeine, we decided there was no way we were spending the night in Nowheresville, Nebraska.

Yay, no more Nebraska

Colorado teepee

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Roadtrippin'


Although we never actually got rained on, we saw some NASTY storms forming around the Nebraska/Colorado border. I grew up in the Midwest and some of the black, swirling wall clouds we saw scared the crap out of me. Thankfully, the storms stayed away from the highway, and as the sun set over Colorado, the view of the retreating clouds was amazing:

Colorado storm



Colorado sunset



Stay tuned for Part 2!

6.23.2010

Where the Wild Things Are

Rompers seem to be one of those items people either love or loathe. I fall into the former category, much to the long-suffering sighs of my family who are more of the latter type. Whatever; haters to the left. This particular romper came from H&M last summer and I've certainly gotten my money's worth of wear from it. It's comfy, slouchy, and makes me look pretty good.

H&M, I have noticed, is ALSO one of those places that people love or loathe. I wear a lot of clothes from H&M and people often compliment me on them or ask where I got them. When I say H&M, the reaction is often, "Really? I can never find ANYTHING there." One girl even went so far as to compare it to shopping in a jumble sale (most of these people are English). I suppose I can understand where she is coming from. My local H&M in London was in Covent Garden and was three full floors of overwhelming looks. Even the one near my house at home, which has only one and 3/4ths rooms of clothes, still holds an impressive amount of goods.

My secret? Go often and go without a goal. A lot of H&M stuff is remade in different colors/fabrics each shipment so if you see something you like, you should try it on. That way if it's awful, you can ignore it next time despite the fact it's in a great color you like because you know it has weird armpits/makes you look fat/gives you an impossibly large butt/etc. Also, because you go into the shop often, you can skip all the stuff you've already looked and and previously tried on. This also makes it easier to spot new things. A top: to figure out when new stock is coming, notice that they start to put everything on sale that's been in the store awhile. And finally, I find the best things I get at H&M are when I just go to browse. I don't really buy "core" wardrobe staples at H&M. I buy weird trendy things. Like this romper. When it only costs $20, it's worth the risk. Plus H&M has a great return policy, so when you get buyer's remorse over that mesh-paneled unitard, you can just take it back.

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Romper: H&M, Belt: Thrifted, Shoes: Michael by Michael Kors

6.22.2010

Calendar Girl

June is a hard month to take pictures in. If you don't go outside at JUST THE RIGHT time, you get mad shadows or, if you're kind enough to have one, you get your photographer's shadow in the pictures. Or you're constantly squinting. Or whatever.

One of the nice things, though, is the light is really strong, so it makes it ~dramatic~, especially if you take pictures in the evening. My sister took these of me after a loooong day, so apologies for the sunglasses. At the best of times, I wipe half my makeup off within five minutes of applying it.

My mom made me this dress out of a piece of vintage Liberty of London cotton lawn she had laying around. I wore it a lot at school, and every time I wear it, it's like she is hugging me a bit. I know, super corny, but I really do appreciate that she made even this simple dress for me! Before I put this outfit on, I had modeled a dress I'd bought at Forever 21 and been given a "meh" by my mom and sister. I came back with this on and both were very forthcoming with its merits, which made me feel better about returning the other dress.

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Dress: Homemade by my mom, Shoes: Michael by Michael Kors, Sunglasses: Marc Jacobs, Belt: thrifted by my sister

Lazy Mondays

Sometimes, I just can't sum up the enthusiasm to get dressed. I know, I know! I should not be admitting such things on a style blog, but: it's true. Especially in the summer. It's so hot and I'm looking at the same three pairs of shorts and couple of dresses and I know I am just going to sit on the couch all day so my hand begins to creep towards this pile of v-neck men's undershirts because: WHO IS GOING TO SEE ME?

This is both a bad and good attitude. Good insofar as I don't get my nice things sweaty and/or wrinkly when I just want to chill on the couch. Bad insofar as I still look like a semi-homeless college student half the summer.

This outfit is a bit of a compromise. My sister and I decided to take a walk to our local coffee joint, so I didn't want to look TOO homeless. I ended up ditching the sweater (wool blend? In June? No thanks!) and, generally, I'd wear flats or sandals instead of Converse with my jeans to spice them up. I find jeans to be difficult; I love them but I also fear them. Also, no one on style blogs seems to wear them! You have to get the right top with them or they can look both dumpy and overly casual, in my case, at least, because mine tend to sag off my regrettable lack of hips/waist and make my stomach look chubby. And I say this as someone who just confessed their men's undershirt collection.

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My sister dubbed this picture "the creature in its natural habitat". I appear to be looking at a Style.com collection, on AIM, and have a GQ ready by my elbow JUST IN CASE!!!

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Tank: Primark, Cardigan: French Connection, Jeans: Marc by Marc Jacobs, Shoes: Converse

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Eyeshadow: Mac Cherry Collection (last year)

6.18.2010

Faux Bob

Despite the disastrous curlers of the other day, I still wanted to curl my hair. My hair is actually naturally wavy, so this time I decided that I wanted to curl my hair and put it into a fake bob. This worked out...sort of. I discovered I don't have any short layers in the back of my hair! I don't know why I thought I did, or if I'm supposed to, or what. So I braided and rolled under the back of my hair and let the shorter side layers hang out. I curled them with a curling iron and then tousled them with curl fixing gel and I think it turned out really cute. I'm actually pondering cutting my hair this length, which is only about 2-3" shorter than my hair is right now.

P.S. Thank you to my sister for taking these pictures!

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Dress: Old from some random shop in Westside Pavilion Mall, Necklaces: Talbots, Shoes: Arturo Chiang

6.16.2010

Miss World

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. First I had to prep for my trip while Rubie packed, and then we spent 10 days hanging out and driving across the country, which was generally agreed to be better than driving with our respective families. There are tons of pictures, which I still have yet to look at because I am lame. I also managed to leave my Holga and Creative Zen in Rubie's car. WHOOPS. Anyway, hopefully I will get the pictures from my DSLR and edit them and get them posted in a series of posts in the next few days and update over the course of the week. My birthday is Sunday, and I have my outfit picked out already, so I am stoked!!!

BUT I DIGRESS. What this post is really about is my disastrous adventure with foam rollers.


NOTE: These are not the brand I used.


As I've mentioned, I have a fascination with retro and vintage style, which includes hair. I bought foam rollers last summer and never used them, and today I decided to put them in my hair. Let's keep in mind that my skills (hair, sports, art, whatever) usually fall into two categories: basically instant proficiency or, like the time I tried to learn to knit, AN ETERNAL INABILITY TO GRASP EVEN THE MOST REMEDIAL SKILL. Apparently, foam rollers fall into the latter category. Here is (approximately) how I imagined my hair looking like:



HERE IS WHAT MY HAIR ACTUALLY TURNED OUT LOOKING LIKE:



It was so awful I didn't even want to take a picture of my actual self, BUT EXCEPT THAT MY FRINGE WAS BETTER LOOKING: IT WAS THAT HAIR. I have had to brush it out several times, and it is still janky and full of tangles worst than last summer when I had such bad rats-nests in the underside of my hair (IRONICALLY THE THEN UN CHEMICALLY TREATED, UNBLEACHED HAIR) that my hairdresser spent the first 35 minutes of my appointment gently untangling it. Whatever kind of demon-spawn foam the rollers were made out of just grabbed onto my hair and were like LOL NOT EVER LETTING GO. I ended up having to summon my mother, who grew up in the era of foam/hot rollers, to help me get them out and it STILL was a lengthy, painful, hair pulling/ripping out experience. WORST. I am going to stick with a curling iron or just flat ironing my skills, both of which I have mad skills using.

If my experience has not taught you a lesson i.e. I suck with foam rollers and the hate me (my rollers were also too small for the amount of hair I have, so they took FOREVER to dry), you can get foam rollers at most grocery stores (I got mine at Raleys), drugstores, and places like Sally's Beauty. I HOPE YOUR RESULTS TURN OUT BETTER THAN MINE.