Ode to Ms. Parker

Parker Posey is one stylin' woman.  Every time I watch Broken English, I find myself just marveling at her wardrobe -- not only that, but her jewelry is to die for.  She always looks so put together!  Even when she's not.  In the movie, I mean.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

I haven't gone thrifting in such a long time, mainly because with life and school and work, it's hard to gather up the energy to spend a whole day thrifting (is this what adulthood is like?  Blech).  I like to dream about it, but on the days I'm free, I end up just staying home and watching chick flicks or cleaning my room.  Can't you tell that I live a very exciting life?  How has Lifetime not made a Made for TV movie about me yet?  I really don't know.

Anyway, today I managed to hit up a few thrift stores with my twin bro, who is down for 3 weeks on break from UC Berkeley.  I found a few very cool things:

Red leather flats (Easy Spirit, so you know they are waaaaaay comfy!) and a very chic navy and white polka dot sleeveless blouse.  As I was picking it out, my bro happened to be standing behind me, and he smartly commented, "You have so much of that already.  Remember in high school?  You wore that one navy and polka dot dress like every day."  But I mean, as much as he is a smartass, he's no liar.  Because he's right.  He speaks the truth.  But how could I possibly resist?  Anyhow, I have grand plans for this blouse (blouse is such a fancy word, I love it): I intend on replacing all of its "normal" buttons with pearl snaps to glam it up even more.

Now let's talk about sweatshirts.  I love them, but only because sweatshirt is the DIY lover's dream material.  Cut it however way you like and it does not fray.  Hence what I did to my Truly Madly Deeply bunny sweatshirt.  I picked it off the Urban Outfitter's sale rack, only to take it home and realize that someone had completely stretched out the shoulders.  I even washed it to see if it would pop back into its original form, but alas, there was no remedy.  So I did what any determined gal would do -- I took my scissors to it.  I had to salvage this thing, it had BUNNIES!

I love it more now than how I bought it, originally.  I even rounded out the bottoms so give it a little more quirk.  So here's to you, sweatshirts!  Thank you for making our lives easy and the DIY possibilities endless!

What's in My Jewelry Box

So, generally, I'm pretty picky when it comes to jewelry.  I'm not into diamonds or bling much, and for awhile whenever I hit up my local F21, all I kept seeing as a lot of EXCESS stuff.  Do you guys know what I mean?  Just like, a lot, piled on, that it sort of became this irrelevant, artless hoarding of all the random stuff you could possibly put on a necklace.  I imagine it's like fishing, and then pulling up your net to see all of this seaweed and trash and some fish.  That is how I imagine how they brainstormed those necklaces.

Anyway, so this is what I have, necklace-wise.  They're pretty minimalist, for the most part.  For the bone/horn necklace (H&M), I just added on an extra tassel I had lying around for some extra pizzazz, and the crystal necklace lying to the right of it is DIY (I am so proud of that thing, it's crazy), made from a gnarly little rock I found in a little beachfront boutique in Maine and some copper wire. 

I am really keen on the idea of having a few go-to necklace chains and then having a bunch of pendants you can switch out whenever you feel like it.  Thus, the extra pendants I have lying around.  Some are made -- like the blue button + feather pendant, which I made from -- you guessed it -- a button and a feather, just bound together with some hot glue and a wire, as well as the red fan, which is a bead I just twisted some wire into.  The scissor pendant is a button from the local fabric store, and the dream catcher is from an old key chain of my grandmother's.

Which brings me to my next point: pliers.  Pliers!  Such a great tool to have, seriously, to have in your personal DIY kit, along with a hot glue gun (and some bullets, of course), super glue, fabric glue, fabric chalk/pencils, and needle + thread.  With those items you can never go wrong.

stone cold fox

I am a sucker for forest animals on clothes, and ever since Alexa Chung popped up in this rad fox jumpsuit, I have had a little bit of a fox fever!

Although I am not entirely fox-less:

A pair of tres mignon fox earrings from claire's!  I can't believe it either.  I was walking by their window on the way to work, I saw these beauties, and rushed out 2 minutes later with these in my purse.  Bought, of course.  Not shoplifted.  The last time I shoplifted was when I was 4, and it was a little teacup sharpener, and I wasn't very sly about it and got caught later on at home.  The shame was enough to carry me through, 16 years later, without another shoplifting incident.

I also have a fox ring from H&M that came in a set of woodland creature rings (forgive the lousy pic quality):

And in keeping with the fox theme, here's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, Fleet Foxes (who I am going to see in May, by the way!):

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal by subpop

banging it out

I just recently saw Never Let Me Go with Cary Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, and it is hands down one of the most haunting and heartachingly beautiful movies I've ever seen. I also began a love affair with Keira Knightley's bangs. I would give up my firstborn child to be able to pull it off like she does! Just kidding. Or am I?

lingering

I have a big obsession with bowties at the moment, so I've been making a few (which is relatively easy, actually!). This I made from some tan felt at the fabric store. Just snip out the shape, tie a knot, insert a safety pin in the knot, and voila! Ready to wear with a cute collar. It seriously takes about 10 minutes to make, tops.

Here's my slobalicious wardrobe. I realized today, as I was tidying up my things in my room, that I can no longer fit anything else in there, which obviously means I need to sort, cull, and donate. This is hard for a pack-rat like me, but it has to be done -- especially since I'll be moving in the fall and there is no way in hell I can take everything with me.

(Hooker with) a heart of gold

This morning, as I was eating breakfast, I rewatched my mom's DVD of Pretty Woman.

Probably my most favorite outfit of Julia's in this film: the lavender dress at the Blue Banana.

How much was young Richard Gere a total fox?

The Stunner: black lace cocktail dress.

And of course, you can't have a Pretty Woman post without its signature love soundtrack:

The Movie Mastermix - Pretty Woman by Chris'Mastermix'Fletcher

Some doodles

A few of my recent doodles:

A watercolor portrait I did of me (right) and my sis

Feel free to check out my flickr!

Not-so-teeny bikini

I'm ready for you, summer!

Retro bikini top with underwire (target.com, $14) - underwire a must for us poor females not so endowed!

High-waisted black swim-bottoms (O'Neill, ON SALE $10) - which I am totally in love with. Totally completes the entire vintage look I was going for, and a complete plus: it makes me look like I actually have an ass!

the blues

how great is her outfit? I love it all. I even wish her coat was opened up a little more, just so we could see a teensy bit more of her colorful button down underneath. Also, how great is the fact that her outfit underneath is so springy -- underneath a gray winter coat?