Trenchcoats to Tiaras

hasta luego

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Hey y'all!

My computer has returned to life, by the way. Anyways...

I haven't been active lately (missed update because computer died, then afterwards, I decided to code a website over Thanksgiving - long story there). In fact, I've never really been that active. I haven't had much to say, honestly. In the world of fashion blogging, it's mostly pictures of new clothes and "how to wear" some article of clothing, and I've been slowly coming to the conclusion that fashion blogging isn't really a world I fit in very well. Nor am I that interested in what it currently is. It feels like, at present, I've nothing new to bring to the table. Just a longer list of wants and more photos of myself, and I'm uncomfortable with that. This is all to say...I'm not going to be posting on Trenchcoats to Tiaras anymore. It was fun when I started, but for quite a while now, it just hasn't interested me that much, and I've realized there's no point in trying to keep something going that I'm already done with. Maybe someday, if I have something new to offer, I'll return to the blogging world. But for now, my copious amounts of photos of myself will quietly remain on my computer.

I hope anyone reading this has a lovely day, year, and life. I'll continue to stalk some of you on your blogs and comment on them when I feel the urge.

We'll See...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 02:01:00 +0000

Hi! So, I said there'd be a post on Friday. Unfortunately, my computer decided to kick the bucket last week. It's fixable, but requires an external hard drive, and so fixing it is going to be my focus this week. If I'm lucky, it'll go quickly, but there is a possibility I'll have to completely erase everything on my hard drive, and that means I won't have a lot of the files I'd be using for some upcoming posts. (Not that it's likely I'll get anything up for a little while anyways).

Also, the moral of this story is, buy an external hard drive, and ask a hardware person advice on it too before you buy if you're not a hardware person yourself, and then back your files up regularly. That is my new plan in life because being unable to access anything with my computer is crazy stressful and terrifying.

Hopefully I'll be able to come back soon!

Sneakers!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 04:30:00 +0000

(Note, apologies this is later than I said it would be... I forgot to schedule it, and spent the entirety of Sunday on other things, and didn't realize this hadn't gone up until it was Monday night. Sorry!)

I'm a big fan of fashion sneakers. And no, I don't mean sneaker wedges. In fact, I have a very precise and coordinated loathing for sneaker wedges. Sorry to any people who do like them, they're just very much not my thing. My thing in shoes, especially right now, living on a campus where I walk about five miles a day, is that they have to be comfortable and cute and easy to work into things. Basically, I live in flat anything.

The thing I like about sneakers even more than flats is that they never dig into the well-established cuts on the back of my feet. It's really nice. Plus, I can wear socks with them and it doesn't look weird. The best thing ever is wearing sneakers with something fancy and getting told you look fantastic.

My favorite owned/dream fashion sneakers...

H&M

I own two pairs of these in two different colors, and they're absolutely fantastic. Also, washable, which is wonderful when you live somewhere that has mud even when it hasn't rained in a week... I love these like crazy.

F21

So I obviously have a thing for low-cut sneakers that aren't flashy colors...but I like the studs on these, and I also can say I've never had an issue with F21 shoes being comfortable or not lasting for a while. We're going on several years with some of my shoes from there, and they're still holding up well. (It does always depend on the shoes from them, I know, but I'm generally pretty good at finding the good ones).

Now for something a little different...

Mizuno

Why yes, this is just a differently colored version of the shoes Wendy Davis wore for her extremely lengthy filibuster this summer. I don't think I need to say why I'm pretty sure these are excellent shoes, though I will admit to preferring this to the bright pink ones she wore (though those were definitely awesome).

What do you think of fashion sneakers? (Or just sneakers in general...tell me I'm not the only one who had a weird phase where I thought I needed to shun them when I first got into fashion...)

Now, to actually getting my next post up this Friday, and not trying to put it up on the same day as the next elections chapter...

Post(poned) till Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 05:43:00 +0000

So I have a pretty big event today, therefore, my post for the week will go up this Sunday. I'll be talking about fashion sneakers and ~opinions~. (I'll also probably get all my commenting on other people's posts/responding to y'all's comments done over the weekend too.

HALLOWEEN

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 18:30:00 +0000

While I had three Halloween costumes, only one of them is making it here. I don't have the pictures of one costume, the other was worn to the shadow cast of Rocky Horror, so let's just say it doesn't need to be seen anywhere but that event (because that event requires a certain level of pure ridiculousness that nothing else needs), and the final one is..........UMBRIDGE. That's right, I dressed up as Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter.

Top - thrifted | Skirt/belt-as-bow - ASOS | Shoes - PayLess

Obviously I don't have the mousy brown hair or a particularly toad-like appearance, as she is described to, but I apparently pulled the personality off quite well when I wasn't dying laughing about something. Also, there's now a funny story attached to this costume! The party this was taken at was for a club, and I came straight from PE for the exec meeting. After that, the president and I went to change. I had forgotten that she was going to be Miley Cyrus, so I was a little confused when I heard 'Wrecking Ball' start blasting while I was still changing, but just figured 'maybe she really likes the song'. Nope. When I emerged from the bathroom, she stepped out into the archway separating the bathrooms from the main room of the area we were in, lip-synching into her sledgehammer and swaying her hips. It was an experience.

(She also made a point of licking her sledgehammer and making awkward eye-contact every time someone new walked into one of the rooms we had reserved for this party. Which mostly involved watching this video of someone playing Slender in "$20 Dollar Mode" and teasing this one couple for accidentally being Orange is the New Black without even planning it. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Miley won a pumpkin for having the scariest costume, by a unanimous vote).

Did y'all dress up for Halloween? Any funny stories?

Seven Deadly Sins

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Last week, on Treasure Tromp, I was introduced to a pretty cool Halloween-y linkup that the author posted. Naturally, I felt the need to join it. It comes from Shane on Whispering Sweet Nothings, who apparently does lots of cool linkups (I'm working on stalking through her blog in my free time...good life decisions).

(shush, I know I could have used the one she made, but I wanted an excuse to play in photoshop/actually use some of the hundreds of fonts on my computer)

seven great things in your life

1. Awesome people being awesome!

2. The next four weeks have major events for my sorority coming up, and I'm excited to be part of them!

3. We're halfway through the semester!

4. One of my close friends has an interview with a really super awesome place.

5. I'm more or less over being embarrassed for getting excited over "silly" or "small" things. These things are WONDERFUL and I will enjoy life if I damn well want to.

6. I will soon have a pair of cargo pants to try to make fashion (and to mess with all the people on campus who think hating people for wearing them is an okay thing to do and who love my style)

7. I will get my student loans money before the next government freak-out in February.

seven things you lack and covet

1. Time.

2. Energy.

3. Better self-discipline.

4. Motivation. I burn myself up so quickly.

5. The ability to have a cat in the dorms.

6. Sleep.

7. A fast metabolism.

seven things that make you angry

1. Discrimination. Of any kind - sexual orientation, race, gender, gender identity, ageism, ableism, sizeism, even whether or not you wear crocs. (Seriously, internet people? No one deserves to die for caring about comfort over fashion, sorry not sorry). Obviously, clothing is a little less of a super serious one, but it still really pisses me off.

2. Abuse, be it domestic, physical, sexual, mental, emotional, whatever. This includes people and animals. I cannot comprehend the fact that people can willingly harm others who have done nothing to harm them, and I especially cannot even fathom how you can hurt an animal.

3. Slut-shaming. Also, victim blaming. Same logic allows both of them.

4. Dog-fighting/rooster-fighting/etc. This makes me angry on a slightly separate angle from animal abuse - forcing animals to harm each other so you can make a profit and "enjoy" yourself.

5. Street harassment. I get this shit every damn day, and believe me, I'm sick of it.

6. Breast cancer awareness. It's a good thing, but it completely ignores that guys get breast cancer too (my guy friend with a family history of it was refused a screening). Plus it's not about saving lives, it's been made about saving tits. My friend saw a shirt on Monday that said "Don't just stare, save a pair!" like the fact you can stare at boobs makes them worthwhile, not the fact that people can die from this stuff. I heard someone complaining that breast cancer awareness groups can be more inappropriate at other campuses and got really upset, because we don't need more inappropriate, we need more respectful.

7. The fact that it feels like a lot of people do not seem to bother with respecting anyone ever.

seven things that you neglect to do

1. Taking studying seriously. Still fighting off the high school idea that I could just slide through everything. Yay growing up?

2. Exercise. I mean, I walk a few miles every day just on campus, that's enough, right? (Not really...)

3. Spend time informing myself of things that aren't world news, fashion, or social justice things. I can tell you a lot about Syria, the history of corsets, and trans* rights, but I can't really tell you anything about bands or big cultural occurrences (it's rather trivial that I'm upset about the fact I've never watched any show that's not an anime, given that the only thing I even want to watch is Game of Thrones, but I regret that I lack any real commonalities with a lot of my peers, because I grew up on very different things from them).

4. Update coding on my sites... I need to tone down my social life a little bit for a tad, cuz I need to do that.

5. Actually spend time learning things instead of half-learning them from the depths of Google. It's effective and I remember it, but I still have to turn to Google the next time I need to find out how to do something different with whatever I'm doing.

6. Going to bed on time... Oops.

7. Discuss my feelings with people.

seven material desires

1. These booties. I have a similar F21 pair that are slowly dying because I've abused them by wearing them during the winter (ie when the salt destroys everything ever). :(

2. Cats count, right? They should.

3. A larger bed than the one my dorm room has.

4. A new purse that can be a purse/backpack and last FOREVER and that is orange.

5. An iPhone or Android. I just GOT a new phone, and yeah, it's a smartphone, but it's not a very good one, alas.

6. A horse mask. There is a reason, but I can't reveal it to anyone who doesn't already know until I have acquired one. I must have this by senior year so I can complete a task. (Which I accidentally set for myself and now just want to do because it's hilarious).

7. A really warm winter coat that is also cute. I have some less warm ones and some not-cute ones and I just want them both to fuse why is this so hard.

seven guilty pleasures

(I don't believe pleasures should be guilty but w/e)

1. Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha. I'm sorry, I know they may come off as ditzy crazy idiots to a lot of people, but they are actually super-interesting and badass ladies, and I appreciate them greatly. (Also Ke$ha's songs are fun to scream out of a car while passing cornfields at midnight in Indiana, just saying).

2. Swearing. I censor myself a LOT when I'm writing on here, because in casual situations, I have a sailor mouth. I am pretty much always at my most formal level of behavior when I'm working just because I know it's generally considered unacceptable, but swearing is just so vividly expressive...and expresses things much more succinctly than more verbose forms of expressing displeasure. Also, they're just fun to say, unfortunately (or fortunately).

3. Dressing up. Clothes make me happy, and anyone that thinks I'm less intelligent or interesting for this can stuff it, because I like what I like.

4. Magical girl anime. I love these so much, pink and sparkles and all.

5. Downloading fonts. I don't even USE most of them, but FONTS.

6. Dancing to "Gangam Style" and singing along to "What Does the Fox Say?". I'm sorry, I'm not getting over these.

7. Making weird and/or creepy faces at people instead of talking like a normal person.

seven things you love about love

1. Turning over half-asleep and kissing someone and being warm.

2. Hugs.

3. Spending late nights talking about serious things as easily as you can spend late nights talking about silly things.

4. Being able to help with someone's problems and having them trust you enough to let you.

5. Listening.

6. Trust.

7. Having the opportunity to try to make someone's day better.

wool coats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000

It's been a long time since there's been a Bloggers Do It Better challenge, and this lined up with Cleveland's "lovely" weather - wool coats, right in time for the first snow. (IT'S ONLY OCTOBER, COME ON CLEVELAND). Literally, I'm pretty sure I read the challenge after I got dressed on Wednesday.

For clarification, this is what we looked like on Wednesday:

It was nuts, because we had thunderhail (and a guy at the RTA rapping about the thunderhail, but that's a different story), and thundersnow, and thundersleet, as well as just old-fashioned thunderstorms. A very good day for warm coats and umbrellas...

Coat/earrings on coat/bracelets - F21 | Dress - The Limited | Tights - WalMart | Shoes - PayLess

Also, can I just say, I took these pictures like right after eating wayyyy too much food... It was a bad idea. Such a bad idea. I pretty much went to bed straight after this, honestly.

Winter isn't just coming y'all. It's here. Now go check out the linkup to see what other people did!

What Rhymes with Orange?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Everyone tends to have a signature something - a lot of people talk about signature scents, for example. It's something seen as characterizing or defining your presence. According to my friends, my signature is that I really have a thing for orange bags, enough so that one of my friends once thought a tall Asian guy was me - and didn't realize his mistake until he was about to hug the guy. Unfortunately, one of my orange purses has died (though maybe I can fix that by using weird methods to turn it into a cross body? The attached handles kind of broke off...) and my normal bag is slowly having the covering on the strap wear off, and therefore, I'm looking for a new purse, in case the "let me play Frankenstein with my purse" thing doesn't pay off.

So what do you look for in a purse? I know what I look for (besides it being orange): I want it to be gigantic and hold all my books so that I don't have to carry my highschool backpack (I know, I could get a cute new one, but I really just like having crossbody bags rather than things that I have to hold onto or that go on my back; big isn't a dealbreaker, it's just something that would be a thing in an ideal world), under $50 because I'm a poor college student with student loans who's trying to build a professional wardrobe (even if I am considering spending like $70 on a Nicholas Cage morphsuit...but we all have our priorities, and mine may be weirder than other people's), and then I just hope that it will stand up to the constant abuse of incessantly changing weather and daily use, because I do not have the time to switch things between bags.

So, some purses I'd like...whether or not I can afford them:

source

So this isn't in orange, it's sold out, and it's WAY too expensive. But I really wish it was in orange and that I could afford it, so it totally counts, right?

source

Actually affordable: absolutely! Also, cool gold accents. I appreciate this a lot.

source

Look, it's a large-ish bag! It's unfortunately expensive, though, but it looks so good.

source

It's affordable, it's cute, and I do like it.

source

So cute. And so sold out. Not that it would've fit half the stuff I carry around, but y'know...

source

Oh, and then there's this DIY... Maybe I'll eventually have time to make this? (And figure out how to turn it into a crossbody...)

I'll probably hold off on actually buying a new purse till I have the opportunity to create the Frankenpurse, but it's always fun to go looking and see what's available. There's a depressing lack of available and affordable orange bags, but at least there are some!

Do you have any off-kilter signatures?

and I think to myself, what a wonderful world

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000

I think the two weeks before midterms might be the most exhausting ones of the semester, but maybe that's just because it isn't time for finals yet. Right now I've got a ten page paper to write, and I really need to be putting a lot more effort into my math and micro-econ courses. Unfortunately, when you have no interest in a course, it's pretty difficult to talk yourself into working on it. Oh well - I'll get through it.

Today's post is pretty much going to be a long-overdue dump of outfit pictures. I'm sure you're thrilled (probably not). This is going pretty far back through this summer, so brace yourselves...

Shirt - DEB | Skirt - F21 | Shoes - Payless | Scarfbelt - Meadows Museum | Necklace - Jeweliq

Pretty much the only thing I remember about this outfit is that I went to the Feast of the Assumption (a street fair in Little Italy) in this after work, and that I was pretty exhausted from work that day.

I was able to speak during freshmen orientation about one of my clubs, which was really exciting! And it gave me an opportunity to be really fancy, which was wonderful.

Dress - The Limited | Shoes - some store in Rockville, AR

Job interviews. Apparently, I was so terrified of the interview for the job I have now that I completely forgot jewelry was a thing. And I showed up an hour and a half early. On the other hand, first grown up dress! (It was so expensive, and it was ON SALE how do adults do this stuff).

Shirt - JC Penny's | Skirt - F21 | Shoes - H&M | Ring - Jewelmint

I don't remember a story with this outfit beyond the fact that yes, I DID take a bathroom picture because I had to change for PE, and goodness knows I wasn't going to be changing again.

Shirt - JC Penny's | Shirt/necklace - F21 | Pants - LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl's | Shoes - H&M

I don't know how this outfit happened, but it me feel either like I was french or my mom. I think the latter's a bit more accurate, somehow...

Vest - thrifted | Shirt - from Mom | Skirt/shoes - F21 | necklace - Rue21 | Ring - Jewelmint

This is the outfit that made the ladies who work upstairs of my office decide that I'm awesome. Also, if anyone ever doubts the power of dressing professionally, let's take a moment to realize they thought I was a senior or graduate/professional student, not a sophomore, because of my clothing.

As some of you know (or you found out last week), I'm in a business fraternity. I wore this to go out for brunch with my big and my twin (a twin is someone who you share a big with). It was really fun.

Blazer - A'gaci | Shirt - H&M | Jeans/shoes/belt - F21 | Necklace - Rue21 | Ring - Jewelmint

This outfit was worn when I got my bid for my sorority! It was pretty exciting, although I was not what you would call prepared for getting out of the elevator on my floor to find ten people standing around waiting for it...

Necklace - Amazon | Dress/bracelet - F21 | Shoes - Payless | Headband - ?

The main thing I know about September 10th was that I was completely exhausted the entire day.

Jacket/shoes - F21 | Necklace - Rue21 | Tights - Target | Shirt - JC Penny's | Jumper - my old uniform

Apparently this is from September 13th, but I messed up with formatting, so nebulous Friday go! The main events on the 13th were watching A Knight's Tale at the sorority I'm pledging, and going to a fundraising event for my fraternity (we titled the event 'Suit and Tie', if you wanted to know).

Shirt/skirt/ring - F21 | Purse - Target | Necklace - Jeweliq | Shoes - Charlotte Russe

I wore this to my first work event! We had Robyn Ochs, a writer about sexuality, in for a talk, and it was a pretty fun event. (Especially since there was food, and any leftovers were free to be taken home by us after the event).

On another note, I was turned into a zombie on Tuesday, after surviving for a total of about seven days (which is pretty good for your first time playing...though it was expedited by how often I'm in formal clothing, admittedly).

What have you all been up to while I've been doing things? (I mean I'm going to figure it out by stalking your blogs for a while, but that's going to take ages...)

Have a lovely next week, and I'll see you next Friday!

hey y'all

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Hi!

I'm crawling briefly from my hiding spot full of papers and textbooks to give updates on my life. Besides the obvious fact that I've taken on far too much, I mean. Because I definitely have, and while I don't regret it in a lot of ways, I do regret that it's taking me away from the blog so much.

A rundown on exactly what I'm doing...

17 credit hours (might as well be 19, since 0 credit PE course takes up two hours)
2 giant group projects that need probably like six hours combined per week outside of classes (aside from just standard studying and homework hours, which are also monumental)
11+ hours of work per week (I only work more than 11 hours when we have events)
two clubs
two clubs I am on the exec board for
a business fraternity
pledging a sorority
about to enter into the insanity known as Humans vs. Zombies for ten days (starting tomorrow)

Let's just say somewhere in the hecticness, I forgot about my blog. I would like to make promises that I will be back soon, but the reality is that this semester is not going to be easier, and that I want to spend my free time with my friends, which is something that I can do, given that I'm not using this blog to make money, and while I put it on resumes, it's more to show that I can (generally) balance my life pretty well because "hey, I regularly update this thing and people are occasionally interested in it". So, with that in mind, I'm going to give a schedule for my updates this semester (and put it into Google Calendar, which now runs my life) and give it to someone so they can poke me about it, because even though this is important to me, it is less important than the things I have a genuine obligation to keep up with, given that it is something I do entirely for my own enjoyment.

After this, my next post will be next Friday, and my goal is to put one up every Friday for the rest of the semester. I'll re-evaluate my posting schedule and content over winter break, when I may post once or twice, and then I'll announce the posting schedule for next semester sometime during the first few weeks of it, though it's likely to stay very similar, since I'll be handling about the same amount of things. As for "why Friday?", that is the one day I do not have tests, which means I will not be spending time studying on Thursdays, but rather, can work on writing a post, since I don't have the time to write posts particularly far in advance. I will also attempt to read and comment on the blogs of people I follow and enjoy reading, but it's going to be difficult to keep up with, and since it's not an obligation, I'm not going to worry about it.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you here with the things I have done recently next week!

home for the next year

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 04:00:00 +0000

I actually moved into my new residence hall a week ago (see my freshman dorm and summer dorm; they're not too different, other than size). Unlike moving into my summer dorm, I had sheets already for this, and I had the help of a coworker before she went back home to get a few weeks break in before school started again. My things are also in the suite proper this time - only two of my suitemates have moved their things in so far; our most compelling feature thus far is our growing mini-fridge farm).

Our entryway's simple; trash and a coat rack. I'm hoping to figure out somewhere else for the bins because I don't like them there (not that anywhere else is better?)

Mini-fridge farm! We're expecting like two-three more; stacking may be required. Also, guess which is mine (hint: all the food is on it).

We have tables and things! Also...those blinds. Yeah. Spending time untying knots is on my list...

The hall to my room, entering my room. It looks dull, right?

Wrong. It's fairly colorful, though I'm not yet done decorating. I really like my dresser.

A while back, someone asked what sort of fanart I had on my walls. I never managed to answer, being the lazy-ass I am, but here's a selection: Homestuck, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Sailor Moon. Also, you can see part of my headboard-pride flag here.

The top of my wardrobe (wisely taken before laundry piles up...)

My bookshelf and desk. More Homestuck is on the walls (telling me to do my homework, naturally), as well as some wall art I made from a Miuccia Prada quote that I featured in a Favorites post a while ago: "The investigation of ugliness is, to me, more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty. And why? Because ugly is human. It touches the bad and the dirty side of people". I put her name and the bolded piece in pink. I think that as a fashion blogger and artist, as well as someone who spends too much time trying to be perfect, it's important to see things like this every day, and to think about them and examine them. I also have some cute cards from a local festival and last year's Cinematheque Miyazaki series. My bags are all hidden under the bottom of the bookshelf, by the way. It's a useful spot.

The shelving on my desk, which holds all manner of useful things, and part of my bed. That hanging rack wouldn't fit over my door (it's too tall and close to the frame), so it went on one of my spare railings, which handily stacked on the foot. My friend memory board thing is propped up on the power strip, and I've got a world map (favorite thing eeeeeever).

And finally...

My shoes are under my bed (along with various other things). There are kind of a lot of them, and you can't even see them all in this. I kind of have a shoe problem, don't I? Sigh...

If you've moved into a dorm or new place recently, how have you organized it? How did you deal with having a closet for a room? (Seriously, my room's about 8'x9', just barely, and that's not accounting for the inset window that takes a foot off, or the piping that also takes a foot off... It's more like 7'x8' with that stuff...)

Dior & More: For the Love of Fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000

I live in Cleveland (we're not Detroit! (for the record, this video was made before LeBron left and Cleveland started getting nicer). We actually have a pretty nice museum district in University Circle, one of which is the Western Reserve Historical Society.

one of their buildings, a mansion they give tours of/that I want because it's gorgeous (especially in pictures taken in not-February

They have like four or five buildings they've managed to squish together - the cognitive dissonance of the different architecture styles is probably the one thing I can complain about them for, because otherwise, they're pretty nice, and they win a lot of bonus points for having a gallery filled with designer dresses. Which is obviously why I'm writing this post, isn't it? ;) I think after my post about Dreaming of Dior and Dreaming of Chanel, we know how I feel about vintage designer dresses. Seriously, though, I went there mainly to see that, although I'll have to return for their library.

The exhibit showcases vintage clothing from different eras, donated to WRHS by various figures - diplomats' wives, Cleveland socialites of days past, and even Audrey Hepburn.

Probably my favorite part of the exhibit, however, were the videos shown along with it on displays in the gallery:

The second video, for some reason, will not embed, but no matter, it's here, and interesting if you've never heard of Lesage.

The exhibit itself is really lovely. All the dresses are enclosed in a giant glass box in the center of the gallery so that visitors walk around, and there are little informational stands about each saying who wore it, who made it, roughly when, and interesting little personal tidbits that may have been passed along with the dress, as well as discussing some of the technique put into the dress. I loved reading those - I spent about three hours in WRHS, and two of those were spent in this gallery, so...

Audrey Hepburn dress!

I would love to find dresses as amazing as all the ones in this exhibit, but just looking at them is at least a treat. And it's open till March 30, 2014, so I'll probably go back there again to ~~drool~~ admire them more before then. Probably multiple times.

Have you been to any cool museum exhibits lately?

WizardQuest!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 19:03:00 +0000

There is a place, located in the Wisconsin Dells, known as WizardQuest.

It's an interactive game/labyrinth sort of thing where you figure out puzzles in order to free trapped wizards to keep the 'realms' they rule safe. It's technically meant for little kids. It's also the most fun thing I've done all summer.

I went with a group of friends (faces blocked out cuz, y'know, privacy. I'd block out the school shirt if it wasn't already out where I go to uni. I should eventually actually talk to them about whether or not they're okay with being on my blog...course I also have to tell them I have a blog in order to do that...)

My friend Nick and I left Cleveland on a Friday evening...after taking a bunch of pictures cuz we could.

Our next stop was in Indiana to pick up our friend Sarah, and then on till Chicago and Tasha's ~~cats~~ house! The next morning we loaded up the car and raced away to Wisconsin, where we found interesting gems like this advertisement...

And then........WIZARDQUEST. (After a stop in an inordinately fancy McDonald's, of course).

Highlights included the ball pit and spinny chairs and a room lit by only a blacklight with a stuffed chicken perched atop it.

I freed one of the wizards! We only freed three of the four though, because our glimmers kept decreasing even when we had enough, which was sad. :c

Afterwards, we went shopping at....!

We purchased Harry Potter wands, once we realized they stocked them. Naturally, I got Harry's wand.

Afterwards, we went camping. It was an adventure to find a campground, as we couldn't find the one we'd reserved at (they listed the wrong location on their website...yeah, a major fail). We made delicious food and had wand battles over the campfire.

And then we went to hike and swim at a nearby park, which was quite fun.

And then we departed, home-bound, leaving only the first part of our school's name in the sand (as you do).

It was a lovely little vacation, and I hope I get to do more things like this in the future!

What sort of fun things have y'all been up to while I've been out of the loop?

welp, I've returned

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Thank you for the comments on my last blog post. This has been a slightly longer break than I initially intended (oops?) but I think I needed it. And I mean, I got an A in my class, so maybe it helped with that. My GPA's certainly thanking me (it'll hate me when I start math in a few weeks... sigh). Aside from papers, my life's kind of been consumed by a summer romance. I'm clearly making up for all my very non-stereotypical-teenagery summers spent sitting in my room online not actually speaking, considering that this summer's seen a couple of beach trips, a road trip, and all manner of silliness. Such as having wizard duels by a campfire and trying to convince our friend to let us burn a sponge (that hopefully flammable adventure's being saved for fall semester, though).

I'm still working on figuring out exactly what I want to do with this blog, precisely. I'll be posting some photo diary adventurey things over the next couple of weeks before classes start, and then some more during the first couple of weeks of classes, and then I intend to return to regular, daily updates, hopefully with a better idea of what I'm actually trying to do with this blog.

Until my first photo diary goes up, though, I present you the photo diary of Charles Xavier, who typically lives in my friend Tasha's purse, and goes places. I would also like to register that this is one of the less overwhelmingly nerdy things in my life. (And that all pictures are taken from her facebook, because she has an album for this).

"Charles finds his happy place"

"Charles will catch up with you all later"

"Charles enjoys the warmth against his plastic but not melting face"

Hope everything's been alright with all of y'all, and posts of a regularish nature start next week!

question for y'all

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 04:00:00 +0000

I intended to post this week...and didn't. It can be very difficult to feel motivated to work on blog posts when there are a trillion and seven other things happening in your life, and I guess I've been trying to do too many things, because blogging isn't particularly fun right now. (Or maybe that's the thought of all the essays I need to write that's making it feel not fun). A break's a logical thing, right? On the other hand, I don't want to just leave this sitting here, blank and bleak, especially since that introduces bad habits for the school year (*cough* just look at my 2011/2012 posts for evidence of that...) I want a break, but I don't want to go too far away from the blog, and I'd like to figure out something that works for summers in general, because (for some reason) I'm always least interested in writing on here during them. Maybe because I get really boring, clothing-wise, really fast? It's a possibility. Anyways, what I'd like to know, from you, my readers, is: Would once-weekly or once every two week 'photo diary' posts a la Lauren Conrad be acceptable? I mean, I'm probably going to go that route regardless, but I'm curious to hear from y'all, so tell me!

Also: Do you guys have this problem? How do you handle it?

ps: my back and shoulder have started peeling and everything hurts so much less now!

hell on my back

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 15:30:00 +0000

I got a sunburn on the fifth, and before you ask, it's actually the worst one I've ever had. Which is weird, because it happened in half the time it usually takes me to get ones that are almost as bad... Apparently, Ohio sun is nastier than Spain or California sun (we won't speculate on Texas sun, because I've never been stupid enough to stay outside too long in that...well, except when I was six, but...) Anyways, I can't really lift my arms or comfortably put shirts on, and that, added to the fact I have two papers to write this week, means minimal posting this week. (I know, again!? Yes, again, I am sorry). I'll try to get an outfit post up on Wednesday, since I'm not even going to really bother with today.

Now, time to go try to get a shirt on without screaming, write this paper, go to my doctor's appointment, go get some aloe vera, and find someone capable of reaching my back to assist me in the noble endeavor of making it possible for me to function semi-normally...

ugly vs. comfy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 04:00:00 +0000

I'm writing this Thursday, after a fun (and terrifying) hiking experience. I'm about to go watch fireworks...and I'm going to wear ugly, white espradilles because they're really comfortable. Yeah... In the meantime, I'm going to share some things I've enjoyed this week.

My friend made these amazingly delicious overly-cookied chocolate confections as thanks for getting to stay with me while she visits. It's been great! :D

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The Periodic Table of Elements being used for its proper purpose: sneaking in swearwords. This translates to: "(F) fluorine (U) uranium (C) carbon (K) potassium (Bi) bismuth (Tc) technetium (He) helium (S) sulfur (Ge) germanium (Tm) thulium (O) oxygen (Ne) neon (Y) yttrium."

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What have you loved this week?

Happy Fourth!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 04:00:00 +0000

It's the Fourth of July! I hope you guys have a lovely holiday - I'm going to be chilling with my friends and enjoying whatever shenanigans we engage in. What're you going to be up to?

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twice the speed of life

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 04:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite bands during my country phase was (and is) Sugarland. I love the lyrics and the energy of the songs so much (honestly, almost all my favorite songs are very high-energy ones). Here are some of my favorite Sugarland songs over the years!

Are you a country fan at all? (And as always, I'm up for any recommendations y'all have!)

everything absurd

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 04:00:00 +0000

It's been a bit of a nutty time for me recently, as you mighta noticed by the approximate two-week absence. Starting class definitely took a toll on my time (a Case grad I was talking to recently told "you're fucking insane!" when I told her I was taking a class while working) as did going back to Texas. Seriously, visiting my parents made me less energetic than running around with friends the whole weekend would have. Granted, hanging out with friends would have been severely lacking in feline and canine perks, soooo...

Anyways, here are some things I've worn over the past few weeks, presented without much commentary - I didn't get any good pictures in Texas, because there was nowhere to shoot from (seriously! All my old places are GONE, somehow). I also only have one picture from Cleveland Pride, since I spent the entire parade holding a giant sign.

Shirt - F21 | Short - Wet Seal | Shoes - H&M

Shirt - Kohl's | Skirt/belt - F21 | Necklace - great-aunt's

Shirt/skirt/hairthing - F21 | Shoes - PayLess | Bracelet - made by me

Skirt (as dress) - TJ Maxx | Scarf/necklace - presents | Belt - Papaya | Shoes - Charlotte Russe | Headband - ???

Dress - F21 | Shoes - thrifted | Bracelet - Jewelmint

And finally...the promised picture from Pride! Let's take a moment to appreciate how short I am, compared to my friends...

How have you been these past few weeks?

ps: Since Google Reader's ending today, you should follow me on Bloglovin' and let me know! Odds are that if you're one of my regular readers, I already follow you. (And if you're not...if I like your blog, I'll be following).

Tuesday Tunes (sorta kinda not really at all)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 22:00:00 +0000

So I'm going to have to extend this mini-break until next Monday, due to some unforeseen issues. I'm sorry, y'all.

In the meantime, I offer you the following:

Have a good week!

time to combat time

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Ignoring the overload of the word 'time' in that post...

I'm going to be taking a short break this week, starting today and going through next Monday. I'll be back on Tuesday the 25th. I just need some extra time to get things together, since I'm going back to Texas over the weekend, which means I'm forfeiting my usual Saturday dance of remembering how to function, the one where I do adult things like purchasing vegetables and doing laundry and cleaning my floor. Which means I have to somehow fit those in during the week, right as I'm also starting my SAGES (there's an essay due EVERY WEEK, I'm just going to go die now...well, maybe not die, but sob in terror...) Anyways, all that aside, practically, this means this is all you'll be seeing of me until the 25th, when you'll get another music-y post and the day after should see some Texas. (Like, I will do my best to make it as Texas as possible, minus the cowboy boots because I'm only taking a carry-on and I'm not willing to lose the space since I intend to bring things back too!)

I hope you guys have a lovely week!

it's been a good week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000

I'll warn you for next week that though I spent a significant amount of this week's evenings socializing, I was really lazy and tired and so there won't be many outfits. Can't say that I personally mind it, though, I've really enjoyed this week, as well as the things I've found.

So I've never really developed an addiction to a TV series of any sort before, but the people I've been hanging out with have gotten me into Battlestar Galactica. Can I just say that I absolutely love all the ladies in this? They're all fantastic (although the blonde chick in the sexy dresses confuses me...but that's kind of what her plot purpose seems to be too, so far?) I think Lieutenant Starbuck is definitely my favorite though. Have any of you ever watched this series?

So this video might be making me have conflicted emotions about whether I want to spend any excess money I make this summer that doesn't go for food/savings on shoes, books, or well, these. I'd protest my adulthood, but it's obvious that I kind of lack in that department.

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I love this graphic, potentially a little too much. It's so great, seriously.

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So I might have recently done this with some of my drawers... It's totally feeding the urge for new shoes. ("Yes Mom I know what I'm doing this is called ORGANIZATION I'm not just a shoe addict!")

apparently taken off fb?

Guys, I love Totoro. I don't think I could bear to eat these, but they're so CUTE that I want them...

What were your favorite things this week?

my true love

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000

I think it's obvious that I love fashion (especially shoes...if you feel like trawling through my archives (ie you are way less lazy than me, I dunno where the picture is of it) you can see what my collection looked like a few years ago, before I had a lot of the ones I have now. (And don't think that means I don't have some of the ones I used to...I do, it's bad). However, there's something I love much, much, much more than either of these things: books. I've been a reader for a long time, madly in love with fantastic worlds where badass ladies saved the asses of everyone in the world/their country/that they know. I haven't had much time for reading in a long time, between classes and the time-suck of tumblr (which I'm still contemplating in confusion... I don't want to really be on tumblr anymore, even though I love all the things I see on it, even though I love a lot of the people I follow, and it's a very weird feeling, because I'm also just plain not interested in the way it eats my time). It's also not easy managing a blog plus all these things - though it was certainly much easier when I wasn't trying to update five days a week and was okay with making lame excuses about it. Apparently my work ethic's improved with age, which means I have like six years before I turn into my workaholic mom. ...maybe five. Hopefully I'll do a bit better of a balance by actually having a personal life, but in the meantime, yes, the blog eats a lot of time. Surprisingly, despite currently working a 8-hour (7.5 hours officially, somehow, I guess half of lunch and our break don't count? I'd make sense of it but I'm not interested in doing math right now) job, I have a lot more free time than I did during the year. Maybe because my job ends when I leave work, but being a student doesn't end when you leave class. It's been a lot easier this summer, and it's meant I've finally had time to read again, and today I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite authors (seriously, authors, because I can't pick just one series, though I am a bit partial to Tortall over Emelan).

from wiki

Tamora Pierce is about six months younger than my mom, and writes some of my favorite series EVER. I first discovered her during fifth grade, when my teacher used to let me read during math class rather than try to force me to pay attention (a futile exercise). At that age, I was a self-proclaimed tomboy hiding my love of dresses, skirts, and excessively skimpy shorts from everyone, including myself, behind a preference for the color black, and short and extremely tangled mouse-colored hair that I refused to brush or use shampoo on. I started with Alanna: The First Adventure, which is the introduction to a world that now spans about eighteen books (more coming soon, yay!). She has another world, which spans ten books (and another one out SOON I'm excited and dreading it because it will actually be The Full Sads but I do know the gist of what happens because it doubles back to explain some things in the most recent two books), but that is the Emelan world and the Tortall world is the one I love most. Not that being a stitch witch like Sandrilene fa Toren would be bad at all...it'd definitely be pretty badass.

Basically, Tamora Pierce is a badass lady who writes books about other badass ladies (with dudes around, yes, but she understands that most books don't show the girl grabbing a sword and slaying the monsters and being ready to give up her life because it's her DUTY, not out of some selfless magic courage or whatever, but because she's sworn an oath to protect her country and intends to fulfill it...and by the way, if it's not obvious already, Pottermore told me I'm a Gryffindor, so go ahead and ignore any rambling about how badass all these characters are...)

Pierce has three quartets, one duet, and one trilogy out for her Tortall series. The Song of the Lioness quartet is first, about Alanna of Trebond, a girl whose goal is to be the first knight in a century. The second quartet, The Immortals, is a while after that, and features Veralidaine Sarrasri, from the country of Galla, one of Tortall's neighbors, whose mother and grandfather just died, who is hiding some pretty amazing magic. And then we get to my favorite quartet, which I'm re-reading right now, actually: Protector of the Small. This is something like maybe elevenish years after the first quartet? It's the first girl in a few centuries to OPENLY go for her knighthood. IE no disguises like Alanna, she's a girl and she wears dresses to dinner, because the boys surly about a girl fighting alongside them just have to deal with it. Keladry of Mindelan is absolutely spectacular, and I also really love that while the books build towards the final book, the real thread of the plot (and you know, that whole "main villain" stuff) isn't introduced until the very end of the third book. It's such wonderful reading, and I'd love to be Kel, bratty griffin and angry men with their panties in a bunch because omg girls with weapons regardless. The one after that is the duet, alternately called Trickster's Duet or The Daughter of the Lioness (considering it's about Aly stepping out from her mom's shadow...I prefer the former). Her mom is Alanna, yes, and well, she kind of winds up in slavery and befriending a god and things only get more interesting from there. She's very different from the other women Pierce has written, being much more behind-the-scenes of things, and it's a very interesting read. The final set, thus far, the trilogy called Provost's Dog, takes place a cool three-hundred years pre-Alanna, when women were still normally fighting and stuff. It's about a policewoman (a Dog, as they're called at the time) and her adventures in service to the Crown. It's a change - first-person journal writing, the books are separate plots from one another, and well, there's also an old friend or three from Alanna's series that are there (you'll see, should you read them).

And now I will shut up, but if you're looking for some fantasy to read...I totally suggest these. Because I'm 100% biased to love them, yes, shut up, but also because they're fantastically written with wonderfully human heroines and amazingly interesting characters, who are fully human no matter how small they are. Seriously.

(Also if people are interested I might just do some rambling over the next few weeks showcasing all my favorite authors...spoil myself as I'm going nuts over being free to read again, yanno!)

If I Weren't Afraid

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000

I know I've done a similar sounding post before, but I think this is different enough to justify doing. A while ago, I stumbled on this campaign, and it got me thinking. Watch the video, and tell me what you think.

If I weren't afraid, I wouldn't worry about the way certain parts of my body look in different cuts of skirts or shirts. If I weren't afraid, I would just confront the person who's been mucking with all my emotions for months now (unintentionally, but STILL). If I weren't afraid, there are a lot of things I'd talk about much more openly on this blog. If I weren't afraid, I'd raise hell every time I get catcalled while just friggin' walking to Chipotle, every time I get harassed on the RTA. If I weren't afraid, I would always ask people to hang out with me when I get lonely.

What would you do if you weren't afraid?