Calvin Klein.

This is the first post of my experiment! The idea is to see if this particular post gets an unseemly amount of views simply because it's titled "Calvin Klein". However, while this is the title I've chosen and while I have you here (hi, Mom), I figured I would take this opportunity to ask you all for some clarification on the new CK One commercials.

I'm afraid I just don't get it. It's a bunch of models in Calvin Klein dancing/interacting in a white box while multiple genres of music filter through. What's the message? The tag line is "CK One! It's the only one!". Does that mean that no matter what kind of music you're dancing in a white box to, your Calvin Klein boxers and jeans will always be appropriate? Don't get me wrong, this is excellent news. It's such a hassle to have to change my boxers and jeans when my jazz comes on, so I'm relieved to say the least. But I dunno, guys, I grow insanely impatient and annoyed with such blatant displays of "cool". Look at all these free spirited "cool people" dancing in a white box! CK One (the only one, don't forget) is your ticket to the White Box. No this is not a rant about body image or the pressure to look like the citizens of White Boxville. This is a rant about ad agencies not trying harder to subvert us. I'm offended by ads like this. It reduces me to an easy target. Are we really so complacent that all an ad has to say is "Pepsi. Buy it." for us to comply? Come on guys, make them work for our money! You're seriously satisfied by a bunch of randoms dancing awkwardly in a box to sell you Calvin Klein? You should be ashamed of yourselves. I guess I'm getting mad at the wrong people here. You're not the problem. Not the only problem, anyway. It's those bastards producing the ads. This is why I love watching Mad Men. It's an inside look at the manipulation that goes into making us feel like "The Only One". That ad is written just for you. For your life and for your needs. Without that product, you can stay who you are (we don't want that, you're not good enough). But with that product, you can be great. That and it introduced me to my future husband, Jon Hamm. That and I've never seen a show so impeccably styled with sets and props that are beyond the adjectives of the English language. That and the acting is phenomenal. Did I mention Jon Hamm? Anyway, you get my point. If you don't already watch it, you should. It's eye opening. I haven't looked at ads the same way since I started watching, and thank goodness because I was getting lazy for a second there. Oh, no way, Drew Barrymore wears that lipgloss?! Me too, now! But not anymore, folks. No way.

Do excuse, I digress. Back to CALVIN KLEIN CALVIN KLEIN CALVIN KLEIN (sorry, that was just in case the title wasn't enough). What are your thoughts? Explanations, anyone? Am I completely missing the point here?

-LG

Hook, Line, and Sinker.

Blogger is really quite handy. It allows me to track page views, what posts get looked at the most, what parts of the world my readers (accidental or otherwise) are hailing from, etc. And after watching closely for a few weeks, I've noticed that my post entitled "Michael Kors" gets crazy hits. Either everybody wants to read my sweet rant about Michael Kors, or they're inadvertently being directed to my site after searching "Michael Kors" in Google. Which gave me a brilliant idea. I'm going to start labeling my posts things like "Calvin Klein", "Vera Wang", "Kennedy Assassination" (for any conspiracy theorists with a soft spot for the life-musings of a strange girl), and other things along those lines. I figure the titles can lure them in, and my wit, charm, and unsurpassed beauty will get them to stay. It's foolproof. Here's the thing, though: the link to my page doesn't show up on Google until, say, page 19 of the search results. Which is all well and good, but by the time you reach page 19, the results are mostly completely unrelated to what you're searching for. So what are you doing there? If you haven't found what you're looking for by page 19-- hell, by page 4-- try another search! Although I shouldn't complain. Every decent blog fan base starts with the uninformed Google search and the hope that said searcher will be confused enough to stay and read your posts. Right?...

Anyway, I have to give myself a pat on the back for this one. It really is brilliant. I apologize to any non accidental readers who may grow annoyed with my trapping tactic. I'll compromise with you and include a subtitle for every post. I'm mostly kidding of course, but after writing this I really am interested in whether this would work. I think for the next few days I'm going to try it out and see what happens. Bear with me, this could be fun! Or entertaining, or insightful, or something. In the meantime I'm going to search "Michael Kors" and see what page I actually show up on. Hey, maybe it's jumped up a few pages since it's gotten a few hits. This is vanity at it's best, eh? Edit: Gave up on this pretty fast. It's 1 in the morning, gimme a break.

In other news, I'm home for the weekend. And I completed my wire project experiment! And by "completed" I mean "tried my original idea, realized how silly I was to think that it would work, started doing random things with the wire until I was stabbed with an idea (it's very sharp wire), tried it, kind of completed it, and am now referring to it as an 'experiment' to deter any critics who disagree with my thinking it was a success". Pictures and details will be up hopefully by Monday night or Tuesday.

Branching Out.

A few weeks ago I was reading Love Aesthetics, one of my favorite blogs based out of the Netherlands, and came across yet another DIY I'm DIYing to try (see what I did there?). Ivania is the queen of minimalism and her blog is full of DIY's that continue to end up on my To Do List. This one is a floating clothing rack made from a painted tree branch.

This is so beyond perfect for me. First of all, I'm obsessed with trees. And I love implementing outdoor elements in the indoors. This is another project that can't happen until my living situation is very different, and so I've put it to the back of my mind. But today I came across this post on Apartment Therapy:

If I had to choose between the two, I would go with the clothes rack. I feel it makes a much larger impact. HOWEVER! I can't get away from this. Blast and damn sharing a room! It doesn't bother me until awesome ideas like this come around. Some day I'll have a studio apartment to myself and it will be fabulous. Which do you like better? Do you like it at all?

-LG

Lay Lady Lay.

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I’ll show them to you and you’ll see them shine

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you’re the best thing that he’s ever seen

Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Why wait any longer for the world to begin
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he’s standing in front of you

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead.

This is and has always been one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs. It's so serene, and makes me think of lazy, spring Sunday mornings. I was pokin' around Apartment Therapy today and came across a post that made me think of this song.  

I feel like this is the room you escape to to start over. It's sparse and clean with nothing to distract you. It reminds me of last summer and has me even more impatient for this summer to start. 

I've always wanted a wall of books, a slanted ceiling, and hydrangeas surrounding me. All in one room? I didn't know such a magical place existed! 

When I was a kid I was the fort queen. The things I could do with a set of sheets and some push pins...And the best was when I had my bunk bed all to myself. The top bunk was my lounge, if you will.  My VIP toys hung out there and it's where we would go to get away from the stresses of elementary school life. But the bottom bunk was my cave. I always had blankets and curtains hanging down, and while it was nothing quite as beautiful as this, I'm still reminded of my curtain adventures and look forward to the day when I have my own room again and can go curtain crazy. 

 I am head over heels for this room. It's a perfect mixture of soft and industrial elements, and the painted white floors are so dreamy. And I am loving the use of a metal trashcan for a bedside table. It's definitely one of the best repurposes I've ever seen and makes me say "Why didn't I think of that!" I'm very inclined to try this out someday.

-LG

Wired.

So last Friday at work I was faced with another 8 hour shift of standing. And dancing, of course. I dance frequently while at work. What kind of moves do I bust out behind the register, you ask? Oh the usual. Party-boying on my coworkers, the robot, some moves I learned while popping my Just Dance cherry over the weekend...Anyway, as I was saying, there's nothing to do at work. But on Friday my manager brought out a box full of outdated calendars and planners that needed to be recycled. We then spent the next few hours removing the metal, spiral binding. And it hit me. Whoa there, Lauren, a ridiculous amount of free wire? Something that you've been meaning to buy? Yeah, take that. So I did. Now I have a massive ball of spiral wire in a bag and I cannot wait to make it into my first piece of 3D art! I know it would be totally and completely cliche for me to make a letter or symbol (@, &, !, etc) but I mean, come on. They're awesome! So if you find me tired, cliche, and lacking all creativity, shut it. I like letters. Mkay? So right now I'm trying to decide what exactly I shall make. I could, of course, make a giant "L", which would obviously be fabulous. But I have pesky roommates with names that start with letters other than "L" so there goes that idea. Anyhow, I'll let you know what I decide!

-LG

Winter.

Every winter I say "I need to actually buy some warm clothes". You see, I'm a layer-er by nature. I pack 'em on either until I'm warm enough or until I can't move. Whichever comes first. And every time I go shopping, I find myself buying items that will not keep me warm. Not even if I layer. My lack of warm jackets also applies to my fancier ensembles. I don't have anything appropriate for wearing over nice dresses, or appropriate for nice places. Granted, I'm not finding myself in upscale restaurants every weekend, and so the matter hasn't been all that pressing. But now! Now I could be in a fancy restaurant every weekend if I damn well wanted to, and I'll tell you why. 100% cashmere, baby. Nobody has to know it only cost me $13.

I was channeling the 60's with my bouffant and makeup. I recently bought a nude lipstick by Nars (belle du jour) and today I patted some coral eyeshadow over the top for a pale pink.

The lining of this coat is one of my favorite parts. It's the perfect color, and oh so deliciously silky.

Wow Lauren, that is one awkward garment. Thank you, I'm aware. I plan on taking in the sleeves (they were made to acomodate some of the largest shoulder pads I've ever seen), and hemming it quite a bit. I haven't really decided on the neckline yet, so we'll see what happens there. 

PS I think if we all just ignore the awkwardness of this shot as a whole we'll all be happier for it.

And last but not least, the item that will have me jazzed for the rest of the day! No, the week! I did the frickin blanket coat DIY in less than 60 seconds and sweet Jesus am I happy. It is literally the perfect item for me. I don't know how many times a day I say that I wish I could wear a blanket at all times. Now I can. AND use my arms at the same time. Oh my god, it's like a backward snuggy...

 

And to make up for the face above... 

 

...serious face. It's hard to have a serious face with this beauty on because it has me SO excited. And here's another awesome little fun fact: there are about a million different ways you can wear it/clasp it. So now you see why I'm pissed that I misplaced my kilt clips, because blanket coat is currently claspless. That's okay though, because it is not awesomeless. 

And there you have my thrift purchases. Up next is what I'll be crafting very soon!

-LK 

Shame.

As you may have already guessed, Chelsea's and my plans for crafting this weekend fell by the wayside very quickly. I'm not sure when we saw each other last and our priority was to catch up and spend time the way we used to: pigging out in her kitchen eating random snacks while telling each other everything we've missed over the past few months. So to make up for being a negligent crafter, I have a new craft that I plan on starting today after taking some pictures. It includes recycled notebooks and is somewhat similar to these beauties:

 

Photo via Ink and Post.

I'm very excited for my hands to have something to do! Check back in later for my thrifting finds from Thursday and my crafting plans!

-LG 

Holy Paper Lantern.

Oh golly do I want to make one of these.

What about using old book pages or newspaper instead of white paper? Thoughts?

Images via DesignSponge.

More photos and tutorial here.

-LG 

PicaPica.

While in the Mission last Thursday, I stopped in to Pica Pica Maize Kitchen on 15th and Valencia for lunch. I've been meaning to try it out for over a year now and I was jazzed that I finally had the time. The main thing that attracted me to PicaPica is the fact that their entire menu is gluten free. For those of you who don't know, I have a gluten allergy. I'm supposed to eat entirely gluten free, but this is beyond hard and I fall off the wagon more often than I care to admit. One of the hardest aspects of gluten free living is the restrictions it puts on eating out. I love exploring new restaurants, with friends and by myself, and being confined to the Salad section of every menu gets tiring. While awareness for the gluten allergy is growing and more and more restaurants are jumping on board with gluten free options, it can still be difficult to find these restaurants as most don't advertise their gluten free menu. PicaPica, however, is entirely gluten free and is letting the world know.

First let me say that I fully intend to go back and love what they're all about. They've been open for awhile now and I take that to mean that I'm not the only fan of their work. They're considered Mexican fast food, but think Chipotle style, not Taco Bell. In fact, let me start with the decor and say that PicaPica's decor is what Chipotle's wishes it was. I'll probably lose some friends saying this, but I'm not a fan of Chipotle and never have been. The food is pretty bland and unexciting, and while I understand what they're going for decor wise, it jars. It's just off, I don't know how else to say it. But PicaPica manages to get the combination of warm wood and matte metal just right. In my opinion, anyway.

 

 

 

 

On to the food. The number one thing to be said about most gluten free bread products is that's it's dense. The light, fluffy quality of bread can be attributed to gluten. Therefore gluten free bread has a tendency to be dense and small. Bread products made with corn and without gluten are doubly dense, since corn is dense as it is (wow how many times can I use the word 'dense' in one paragraph?). This also explains why you'll be hard pressed to find gluten free pastry. And by pastry I mean the layers of tissue-thin dough, like a croissant. I ordered the Morena Empanadas --black beans and queso fresco filling. 

In my experience, empanadas are made from pastry dough, which means you're not overwhelmed with the richness of the filling (usually meat, which PicaPica offers). But PicaPica's empanadas are made from a gluten free corn meal, making them --you guessed it-- dense and small. And oily. Moral of today's story: dense, small, and oily. But tasty! I almost forgot to mention that I really enjoyed it, and that now I know how filling their meals are, I'll know how much to order. Next time I visit I'm going to go with one of their maizewiches. They have a ton of filling options that sounded delicious, and you can choose from three different kinds of bread that range in sweetness. 

I'm going to be completely honest here and let you all now that I am in a realm beyond exhausted and I'm having a hard time wittily waxing poetic about PicaPica. I liked it. I'm going back. You should check it out if you're ever in the area. And now I'll provide you with some links if you're interested in doing some further research.

Yelp. 

PicaPica website.

PicaPica blog.

Happy Monday being over, folks. And as they say at PicaPica, be corny!

-LG

Music Monday.

I love the drums. And I love heavy bass. I love seeing live music and feeling the bass vibrating through the floor, into your feet, and up your body until it feels like it's coming from inside you. It makes me happy and sad all at once. Happy because it's beautiful and consuming and for a few minutes you are wholly yourself, living inside a song. But I'm all too aware of the confines of my body in those moments. It's not enough to enjoy the music. I want to be the music. I want to be the drum beat, and the soaring notes, and the penetrating bass, and knowing that I can't leaves me feeling full of yearning. Sad isn't the right word. I don't think there is one that can really capture the feeling.

Florence and the Machine's music is a perfect example. Her voice is so incredibly powerful. I have "Cosmic Love" on repeat right now, full volume. I wanted to spread the beauty! Watch the video full sized and turn it way up.

 

Edit: It's 1am and I'm currently playing the air drums along to this song. An activity I HIGHLY recommend. 

Back To The Future.

I am in love with this project. I have always had a strange obsession with old photographs. I try to imagine the events surrounding the taking of the picture. What was the subject doing that day? That year? What was their childhood like? Who were they going to be in 20 years? Irina Werning has managed to capture the answers in her project titled "Back to the Future". Participants reenact photos taken in their childhood and the effect is sweet, funny, and incredibly poignant. Here are a few examples, but I highly suggest going to the project site and checking out the rest!

See the rest here.

I Love Your Ass.

Now there's a line I hadn't heard before. Until Thursday, that is. I would have dropped everything and gone home with that charmer if I didn't have important errands to run. Alas, now all I can do is dream of this mysterious gentleman accosting innocent women from the corner, and wonder what our life together would have looked like...like two ships in the night, he and I...

Anyhow, it's time now to tell you all about my great success on Thursday. I had intended to leave my apartment by 9:30 so that I could enjoy the sunshine and have enough time to mosey around and perhaps get some lunch. However, after climbing into bed on Wednesday night I was unable to fall asleep. At all. When I got out of bed at 7, I was struck with the need to take pictures. I think that my mind running for 7 straight hours without any interruptions helped in bringing about some inspiration. I tend to have some of my best epiphanies when I'm half asleep in bed. The downside there is that I always assure myself that I'll remember them come tomorrow and of course that's never the case. And we're talking shower-grade epiphanies. The kind you have while staring at the tiled walls of your shower with nothing else to do but soak and think. Regardless of my lack of sleep, I woke up feeling so energized and excited and I started taking pictures the minute roomie left for class. That was part 1 of my awesome Thursday. I really like the way the pictures turned out and you can see them in the Self Portraits section of my photography page.


My first stop of the day was the discount fabric store on 17th and Mission, and let me just say that this place is bangin'. They're serious when they say 'discount'. Not only is everything pretty cheap to begin with, but they have markdowns on top of that. Most sections were 40-50% off. I went to pick out the rest of the wedding colors for sister, and in the process I picked up some gray cotton jersey remnant fabric that I plan on making into a circle scarf, some pre-cut black sequined fabric that I plan on turning into a flowy tank top, and some other bits and baubles that I'm going to use for jewelry (omg!). The crazy markdowns paired with my ridiculously savvy shopping skills culminated in a grand total of $2.96. I know, my jaw dropped too. You can be impressed. 

This particular "fabric" was a leather (or fake leather, not quite sure) backed with a gray cotton of some sort. The two were attached with some crazy kind of adhesive that has apparently been mutating over the years, causing ripping, tearing, and all around unpleasant stickiness. Which is unfortunate because how cute would a pair of shorts in this fabric be? Scalloped bottom with eyelet detailing? Jackpot.

Anti-jackpot.

Afterward I headed over to Thrift Town, as the two are next door neighbors. I still can't get over that. AND across the street is a 97cent-and-up store. Not $1. Nope. 97 cents. Gotta love the Mission. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, as usual, but ended up coming away with a 100% cashmere coat for $13 (score), a magenta dress that I'm going to hem to add to my collection of shift dresses, and last but not least I found the perfect blanket for this tutorial. I am jazzed. Except I'm also pissed because while at the fabric store I bought 2 kilt pins (2 for $1, what what) which are essentially giant safety pins and I had no idea what I would do with them. Then I found the blanket and it was fate, I tell you. But THEN I get back to my apartment and the kilt pins are missing. Pissed. Anyhow, I haven't had the chance to photograph my thrift finds in all their glory but I did snap a few pictures while there. 

Here's a quick look at what I brought into the dressing room with me. On the far left is my fabulous blanket; magenta dress (I will be removing the shoulder pads); a pair of teal leather shorts; a 1980's coral wrap dress complete with poofy sleeves; a black and gray sweater dress. 

Here's something I've noticed about myself, and I'm sure I'm not the only one but either way I find it irritating: when I buy an item of clothing that is particularly interesting to me --whether because of it's color or fabric or what have you-- I'm then subconsciously drawn to that exact same color or fabric everywhere else I go. Exhibit a: magenta dress. I just bought a bright magenta top and now a dress to go with it? Exhibit b: coral wrap dress. While I did not buy this item, it is literally the same color AND fabric of the coral shorts I just finished. This is getting ridiculous. Those are just two recent examples. The list goes on, believe me. But overall my thrifting was a great success (part 2 of awesome Thursday) and I'm excited to share the pictures of my purchases!

After Thrift Town I headed over to PicaPica Maize Kitchen (review to follow) for lunch. That was part 3. By the time I was finished it was almost 4 in the afternoon, my feet were killing me, and I had to get back to my place in time to go see some local artists perform on campus. This was an excellent way to end my day. I went with my good friend and my roomie to see one group in particular, From The Hip. They're rap/jazz fusion and pretty damn bangin' if I do say so myself. Unfortunately we only caught the tail end of their performance but I could tell from the crowd that everybody loved them. After that was Audible Mainframe. Now they are something else. They were amazing live, probably better than their recorded work. And that is hard to come by these days. They're also rap/rock/jazz fusion and do it so well and so seamlessly. A lot of the time fusion or genre crossing can result in a lot of discordant beats and sounds, but that was definitely not the case here.  Their lyrics are clever and thought provoking and it's evident that the group is comprised of intelligent individuals. They were among the opening acts but the groups that followed, honestly not even worth mentioning. Overall it was the perfect way to end awesome Thursday. 

And now before I go, I'll leave you with one final thought:

"Hood Rich: It's A Life Style".

Word.

-LG

Update.

I've added a Self Portrait section on/uploaded new photos to my photography page.

Daily Threads.

Here's a quick outfit post of what I wore today on my Mission adventure. An adventure that was highly successful, I might add. More on that tomorrow, however, as it is late and I literally got no sleep last night. I know people say that, like as an expression, but I am fo' real this time. I laid in bed for 7 hours, completely sleepless. And while I did have some epiphanies and random philosophical thoughts (random because I don't know what prompted them, not random because I don't usually philosophize to myself. Because I do.) it wasn't enough to make up for the fact that I was awake at 3:50 am to hear my upstairs neighbor either whacking off in his bathtub, or scrubbing it. Either way, what the hell are you doing up at 3:50 in the morning hanging out in your bathtub? These people just get weirder and weirder, I tell you. Anyway! Here are the pictures:

Clearly I'm channeling my inner cowboy in this particular shot. 

And here I'm going for a gangster look. Successfully, I think.

Wearing: Audrey 3+1 dress as a top. Target jeggings. Thrifted blazer. BCBGeneration boots. I know I've said it before but I am wearing these bad boys to death. They're always on my feet. Only today I forgot to put socks on so I had no extra cushion for my feet. After 6 hours of walking, they're a little...how should I say this...well, they're writhing in agony. These boots contain no padding of their own. My right big toe is refusing to speak with me so I don't know if it's condition has improved. I'll keep you all posted.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures from my adventure, my thrifting finds (so. excited), my fabric store finds (even more excited), a food review, and I'll also be adding quite a few photos to my photography page. All of that will be tomorrow evening when I'm home from work. I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday. This week flew right by me. I hope it was good to you all. Until tomorrow, toodles!

-LG

Clothesgasm.

Colors and prints and drapes oh my!

 

Sass and Bide AW11 collection via A Pair and a Spair DIY Fashion.

Fantastic blog, check it out. As she points out, this collection is perfect for DIY as all it takes is a simple mini dress, a large colorful scarf, and a belt. Voila! Oh, and a funny hat.

Red Eye.

I am currently suffering the consequences of the double shot coffee I downed a few hours ago, aptly named "The Red Eye". I'm hungry, light-headed, I can feel activity in my intestines *cough*, and my vision is out of whack. Why did I get a double shot? Because my caffeine tolerance went way up recently and one shot stopped doing the trick. This is how heroin addicts are born, people. Pretty soon I'll have track marks in my arm from IV coffee infusions. You'll find me on Skid Row, comparing abscesses.

Moving on: tomorrow is Thursday! You know what that means? A trip to The Mission. Tomorrow I'm going to the fabric store (conveniently located right next to Thrift Town) to collect the rest of the fabric samples for sister's wedding colors. She has left this delicate task up to me, and not only am I honored, but I am high with planning power. Which brings me to a musing: I've been thinking lately (constantly, incessantly, sleeplessly) about what I want to be. What I want to do. It occurred to me how annoying this must be for you. Every week I want to be/do something else. I may as well add fireman, astronaut, and my mom/dad to the list, as I sound like a first grader. However, if you read the About Me in the right margin, you will see it clearly stated that the purpose of this blog is to document the JOURNEY! It's like I'm looking at a map with a thousand possible routes and I'm trying to pick one, all the while fully aware that I'll switch routes a hundred times before finding the one I like the best and THEN I'll realize that I'm changing my destination altogether. And I'm okay with that. Anyway, this week's route is event/wedding planning. I know what you're thinking. I'm only considering it because I'm currently helping my sister and when the planning is over I'll get bored and move on to something else. Well you are wrong. Planning has always been a love of mine. It includes nearly all of what I love to do: design a space for someone, make someone else's vision a reality, be crafty/creative/all around awesome, negotiate/haggle, be the middle man between a client and a vendor, work with people, and the list goes on and on. Plus I like to be in control. That may sound like an unfortunate quality but when the reins are handed over to me and I'm being depended on, I get my butt in gear and perform. It really is a high for me. The fact that sister has put a time sensitive task in my hands and said "I trust you" has me raring to prove myself to her. That may also sound like an unfortunate trait but it's not. Succeeding at things simply for myself just doesn't do it for me. That is unfortunate, I suppose. But competing with myself and showing others that I will come through for them does do it for me. It never gets old. You see, I really am a competitive person. But I don't enjoy being competitive with other people because I don't like the side of me it brings out. She's petty and can be a bit of a sore loser. But when I compete with myself, it's a whole other story. Anyway all of this is to say that being an event/wedding planner has always been hanging out at the back of my mind but for some reason I've pushed it aside time and again to make space for new possibilities. Sometimes the answer is there all along. So we'll see.

Now for the weekend craft! I said yesterday that Chelsea and I wanted to craft together Saturday night and I think we've made an excellent choice! We're going to tie-dye. Or rather, reverse tie-dye by removing color with bleach. The method we're gonna use is called "shibori", which is a Japanese method for dyeing cloth by binding, twisting, or folding cloth to produce multiple different effects and designs. Here is the Wikipedia post about it. I'm super excited because I came across a shibori DIY on Honestly...WTF (also a great blog you should check out) almost a year ago and saved it to my computer in hopes that I would do it before summer was over. I never got around to it and now is my chance!

A few examples of shibori via Honestly...WTF. They dyed white fabric with indigo dye (which I absolutely love), but Chelsea and I will be doing the opposite by bleaching colored fabric. Which brings me to what else I'll be doing tomorrow! Since I'll be there anyway (look at that seamless justification. Classic signs of addiction) I'm gonna pop into Thrift Town tomorrow in search of some things to bleach. I'm thinking of buying a few different things so that I can get a few different looks. Some edgier, perhaps, and some softer and more springy. Oh yeah, remember when I said I thought I was coming down from my spending phase? Well, I'm not. Anyway, I think I'll get some lunch while I'm over there. If there's a neighborhood with amazing food, it's The Mission. Perhaps I'll stop in at PicaPica. I've been meaning to go since last year and now I can finally review it! And now it is time for me to eat so that I have more than just caffeine sloshing around in my stomach. Toodles!

-LG

About Damn Time.

Alright! As promised, here are the pictures. But first let me just give you another example of how stupid I am. A few days ago, when I took the pictures, I borrowed my other roommate's camera. It, too, only has a memory card and no USB chord, so once again I was in need of either a card reader or a laptop with a card reader. Along with her camera, roomie let me borrow a flash drive. Sweet! I didn't examine it very closely until today. Turns out, the flash drive is also a card reader. First of all, how awesome is that?! It's two awesome, convenient things in one. Doubly awesome and convenient. Second of all, how stupid am I? If I had just looked at the flash drive, I could have had these pictures posted a few days ago. So I apologize for being such an idiot.

Top: Worthington. Shorts: Seta Studio.

If you look closely, you can see that my armpits aren't shaven. So hot right now. 

Dress: Audrey 3+1 

My boob region looks kind of crazy in this picture. It's reminiscent of Mrs. Doubtfire. 

 This dress is sinfully short. Like it shouldn't even be a dress. But it's frickin adorable, it was on sale, and I have a pair of gray tights that I suspect would look very cute with it. However, I must admit, the shortness was one of the things that drew me to it. It's a general rule that you should pick a feature to showcase. Your shoulders, your arms, your cleavage (tastefully, of course), your back, etc. Then keep the rest of the ensemble relatively demure to really do justice to said feature, and to leave more to the imagination. So I love the fact that everything is covered except for the legs. I also love the mod shape. Shift dresses are some of my all time favorite dresses for a few reasons. One, I love the era they came out of. Midcentury design is fantastic. Two, they remind me of the 20's and 30's, and the boyish cut of women's clothing. It represented a new freedom for women in that they could deny the prescriptions of femininity of the time. And third, as I stated above, the loose fit over the curves of the body bring all the focus to one's legs, which is just the right amount of sexy and sophisticated. Unfortunately, there are small tears on both the left and right side of the hem. You can kind of see the snag on the right side. It's easily fixed though, and the shop keeper took a percentage off the price for the damage. Woot.

Top: Solemio. Pants: Collective Concepts 

 This particular outfit was difficult to photograph as the trousers are black and have an awkward silhouette with the flash on. My dad would call them MC Hammer pants, and by that he means harem pants. Which should tell you that they are neither MC Hammer pants nor harem pants. They're simply tapered at the ankle, and have an elastic waistband. They're the same cut as my black and white trousers from this post. Plus they have pockets, which is a godsend. I have limbs of simian proportions. They're long and gangly and I generally have nowhere to put them. They're convenient on, say, the bus when I need to reach over shorter individuals to hold on to the bar. But in everyday conversation they feel awkward and excessive. I usually cross my arms, but so many times I get told that my body language is unfriendly and closed-off. You try having such long appendages, you bastards! You know how weird it would look if I just let them hang down by my sides! Anyhow, on to the shirt. It's short and ruffled and chiffon and basically it's adorable and I can't wait to wear it all summer. What more can I say?

Dress: Mystic

I had to lighten this picture up a bit since the whole point was for you to be able to see the draping on the side. I'm obsessed. Except I'm torn on the length. I didn't take a front-view picture, but it's a tad awkward. It's sliiightly too long, too wide, and straight across the bottom. I either want to shorten it a smidge, making it tighter in the process, or I want to create another tuck on one of the sides, thereby continuing the line of the side draping, making it asymmetrical, and tightening it a tad. I can also picture this as a full length dress and wow how gorgeous would that be? Obviously it wouldn't be an everyday dress if it were velvet but in another fabric perhaps. It would be straight out of the 1930's. I can see the costume jewelry now. I drool. It's a one shoulder dress and falls straight down the sides until it hits the drop-waist draping on both sides.

The shoes I'm wearing in all the pictures are my Steve Maddens, also worn in this post.

Coming up next: my plans for tomorrow and what I'll be crafting on Saturday!

-LG

PS Happy hump day!