Delightfully Tacky

off the cuff

2010-03-09T10:00:00.001-09:00

So since I did my post on pants, I have been looking around the internet for pants inspirations. I used to have these amazing old mens pants that I'm kicking myself now for getting rid of (though they may still be hiding in storage in Washington). I had a photo of them too, which I'm sure is lost forever. Pants are so difficult for me to wear because of my more generous lower portion. I feel like most pants were made for girls with no ass and I certainly do not belong to that sect of the population. For the longest time I've tried to find the perfect pair of pants, and I think I need to return to thrift stores for this quest. This is my next project: find great pants. learn how to style them.

Lulu Letty :: Leproust Vintage :: Katherine Lou :: Calivintage

said the waves to the sand

2010-03-08T09:00:00.001-09:00

It goes on forever along the shoreline
It never will end on the shores of my mind
I travel along‘til the sleep takes me in
Where have I ended, where do I begin?

Sand blankets are littered with stones whipped across
Dead things in the water, forgotten or lost
The branches have surfaced and now they are lean
The trees have washed up here
Stripped bare, and washed clean

Romper/via Leproust Vintage from the Delightful Dozen

The waves kiss and gently caress on the shore
Kissing and winking, and calling for more
The waves like wagging tongues do adore
And whisper there softly to the sand on the shore

You would be nothing without me
I could be nothing
Said the waves to the sand
I could be nothing without you

Each ones shifts and weakens a little
Neither aware just how much they are brittle
Each one shifts and weakens a bit
Allowing the other to live and exist

O water and patience, pressure and time
Cuts through the faces of rocks we have climbed
The army of kisses, the lake never tires
The kisses that can put out all of my fires

dress & skirt/F21 :: shoes/thrifted

You could be nothing without me
I could be nothing
Said the waves to the sand
I could be nothing without you
Without you, I would be nothing
Without me, you could be nothing
Said the waves to the sand
I could be nothing without you

She wears the pants

2010-03-07T10:00:00.001-09:00

Contrary to popular belief, I did not just up and fly to Hawaii on a whim. I'm here with my family on my little brother's spring break. The trip has been planned since September, I just didn't let you guys know I was leaving. Y'all know I love spontaneity, but this was not one of those spontaneous things.

A lot of people have been asking me to post photos of me wearing pants. So, here yah go.

These first photos are really overexposed. My camera was set on 800 ISO and the battery kept dying, so I didn't notice. Sorry for the extreme over exposure. We can pretend that I was going for some artsy overexposed-on-purpose look.

shirt/pac sun :: cardigan & boots/target :: jeans/wet seal

This is the same t-shirt that I wore here, only I'm wearing it backwards. I actually like it a lot better backwards than forwards.

tshirt/scrapbook :: jeans/wet seal :: shoes/thrifted

I guess the reason I don't wear pants is because I don't really know how to wear them that well. I wore jeans and t-shirts pretty much exclusively for at least 10 years of my life, so whenever I wear jeans I have a hard time being creative without falling into that same old rut of just jeans and a t-shirt. I guess old habits die hard. Maybe I should try more often to wear jeans. Try to think a little harder and be more creative. Calivintage seems to wear pants so well, I need to tap in to whatever she's got going on. Erin, teach me your ways!!

13 Million Dollar Baby

2010-03-06T09:00:00.000-09:00

My pasty white Alaskan skin has taken on a pinkish tinge in the past 24 hours. Usually I try to go tanning before I go anywhere sunny in order to ease my skin into the whole seeing-sunlight-again thing, but I had no time. Result: sunburn. Not that bad though. I don't really mind sunburns that much, until my skin starts peeling. Gross.

dress/F21 :: top/vintage :: shoes/thrifted

Yesterday afternoon we went and got some cheeseburgers at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which was delicious. Something about a good ol' cheeseburger and Mai Tai.... mmmm. Afterwards there was this open house, so we decided to walk through for kicks (I mean, when am I ever going to be inside a 13 million dollar house, right?). We saw two houses in the same little neighborhood: 40 ft. from the ocean. 11 million for one, 13 for the other. Unbelievable. They were astoundingly beautiful, but at the same time, so austere and impersonal. I guess it may be just because they were someone's second vacation home, or just because they were tidied up for the open house, but I thought, while they were outrageously luxurious, I'd prefer to have something that was comfortable and personal (and perhaps delightfully tacky?), rather than super fancy.

The funniest thing that happened was that my mom had to use the bathroom, so she went in the 13 million dollar house. Aaaand the toilet didn't work. Hah! Luckily my Dad is a handy fellow and knew how to turn the toilet on so she could flush it. It reminded me of that scene in Dumb and Dumber when the toilet is broken. We all had a good laugh, though.

We rented some bikes yesterday too, so I'm pretty sure some biking is going to be happening soon. Biking to the beach sounds lovely...

Sunset Rubdown

2010-03-05T10:00:00.001-09:00

Woke up this morning and it was snowing. For some reason it still surprises me. I guess it only surprises me if it wasn't snowing when I went to sleep.

A lot of people wanted to know the story behind that leather skirt I posted. I got it from this amazing vintage/thrift store in Spokane, WA called Drop Yer Drawers. I'd been there quite a few times, but that particular time I went I was trying to get to know the weird old hippie dude that owns it so I could do a write up about DYD in my magazine, CORSAIR. I ended up listening to crazy stories from him for a couple hours and shared lunch with him from a teriyaki take out place. In return, he gave me the skirt, which I had planned on buying anyway. I think DYD is still my all time favorite thrift store. Possibly because of the crazy old dreadlocked hippie.

dress/f21 :: cardigan/target :: shoes/thrifted keds :: necklace/AK mint

P.S.

I went to Maui yesterday.

Yup. I woke up and it was snowing and now I'm basking in the tropics. So if you were wondering why I'm wearing bare legs in the middle of a snowstorm, it was so very brief, and for good cause.

This dress was perfect for a flight. Pretty much like wearing jammies the whole flight. I made a last minute run to F21 and used up the last of my Christmas gift card to get some tropics-appropriate items. When I saw this dress I knew it was going to be my airplane outfit.

Well, I'm not sure what the agenda is today, possibly some beach-going and general relaxation. Oh! And perhaps renting a bike???!!!

2010-03-05T00:20:00.003-09:00

And the winner of the Busy Bee giveaway is....

Sarah,

from Bad Penny!

Congratulations!

Sarah was selected as the winner of the Busy Bee giveaway to receive one Allison Headband from the Busy Bee Shoppe! The winner was selected using the random number generator at random.org.

Stay tuned for the next giveaway, coming soon to a Delightfully Tacky near you!

Unequivocal Singularity

2010-03-04T10:00:00.000-09:00

These pictures are of the same thing.

I feel closest to God when there is a vast expanse of highway in front of me.

I should've been asleep two hours ago. No rest for the weary.

I've been thinking about human beings. I was watching an episode of Bones where they had to figure out the identity of someone who had altered her bone structure through plastic surgery, and the perspective that Temperance had was really interesting. The girl had essentially destroyed any unique quality about her that would identify her as an individual. She had erased who she was. I think that's a really deep way to think about beauty. In the blogging world I think we are much more individualistic about our beauty.

It makes me glad I don't live somewhere like L.A. where the pressure to look a certain way is much higher. It's so sad to watch The Hills and see these girls who look like they were all pulled out of the same Hollywood mould. Remember back in the day when movie stars were uniquely gorgeous? Audrey Hepburn and Louise Brooks and Greta Garbo? Not to say that there aren't unique people in Hollywood currently. I'm just glad that I don't have people around me who want me to change my body or my personality to be something an arbitrary consensus deems beautiful.

But anyway, I digress. I was just thinking about the concept of uniqueness. At our most basic levels we are completely and totally unique. Of the billions and billions of human beings that exist, and have existed in past eons, there has never and will never be another human being that is a you. Not another person has the curve of my hip or the marks on my skin. Maybe some people try to erase that unique aspect about themselves not because they want to feel more beautiful, but because they don't know how to feel beautiful in uniqueness. I guess we're often taught to regard uniqueness as oddity. People with extremely unique characteristics are sideshow freaks. Being unique is frightening. It's so easy to be just like everyone else. Criticism is slim. Ridicule is limited.

Resisting the urge to blend in is a life long struggle. Some people have no qualms with blending in with everyone, becoming what the consensus desires. It would be such a waste of my genetics to train myself to be like everyone else, in my opinion.

I often wonder what it's like as a new mother to look at the brand new human being that you just brought into the world. All the potential that that little creature contains. I think it must be a singular moment. Unequivocal. To see this being as a pure individual. I think parents must have a much different perspective when it comes to the subject. After all, the parents have created that which did not previously exist. Before we become parents we are in the audience of the show, watching and pondering uniqueness and our own place in the universe. But then when we become parents, we make this thing that wasn't here before. We alter the space-time continuum by creating a human being. I am so glad I was born female. To experience that firsthand, it will be unmatched in its impact. As my mother's first child, I almost feel like I was once a witness to that moment (though perhaps that memory only exists in my furthest subconscious).

Okay, well, it's now three in the morning and I should have been asleep three hours ago. No more pondering existence for me.

Equestrian Leathers

2010-03-02T19:50:00.006-09:00

The other day I realized that my workplace is in very close proximity to one of my old stomping grounds. Just a few minutes away from work are the horseshow grounds where I used to show in the summertime. I drove up there to see if it would be a cool place to take pictures and it turned out to be really gorgeous with all the snow covering everything. It's so strange being there during winter. It's just a vacant wasteland covered in feet of snow. I spent so many years of my life showing there, so many memories. I feel like it's kind of appropriate that my outfit is a little bit country. Granted, I rode english, not western, so the "country" reference doesn't really track. I always get excited when equestrian styles show up on the runways. It makes me want to don my riding pants and look like I walked out of a Michael Kors ad.

dress/Delightful Dozen swap w/ Leproust Vintage :: skirt/vintage :: boots/target

This dress is from Kristin of Leproust Vintage through the Delightful Dozen swap. I really love the gorgeous plaid and the unique color. I actually very rarely wear this skirt because for some reason most of the time when I put it on I feel like it's unflattering. Today I don't feel that way, though. I almost thought about selling it, but the story behind how I got it is too good to just sell it off. I love that about some clothes. Vintage clothes especially seem to come with a story. Buying clothes from Forever 21 just isn't the same as rummaging through musty old clothing, waiting to find a gem. I can't wait till I'm on the road, cruising through random little towns full of unique vintage trinkets and clothes. I'll probably end up being one of those weird old lady with strange things collected from her various travels.

And all that Jazz...

2010-03-01T13:12:00.002-09:00

So on Saturday I got to go to the production of Chicago which came through town this weekend. It was absolutely incredible. I haven't been to a live show in a couple years, and I haven't seen a Broadway production in I can't even remember when. It was actually really startling to see these real people just feet away, singing and dancing and performing live. Moral of the story: I watch way too much TV and not enough live theater. I did a few plays in high school and jr. high, and I danced in college, so I really do like seeing live performances. I wasn't a theater kid, by any stretch of the imagination, though (confession:) I saw Cats live when I was in 5th grade and for about 4 years after that, me and my siblings and friends memorized the production and forced our parents to watch us perform it dozens of times. I don't care if you hate Cats, I still love it and I could sing you any of the songs off the top of my head whenever and wherever you'd like. NERD ALERT.

dress/f21 :: top/guess :: tights/lulu e. bebe :: shoes & necklace/vintage

A byproduct of seeing Chicago: I now want to dress in fishnet bodysuits and wear red lipstick all the time. And dance around like a sultry vaudeville dancer. Okay, so I may choose to incorporate red lipstick and fishnets in a less lewd interpretation, but still.

Alright kids, have a good Monday. And remember: Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle...

2010-02-28T12:07:00.016-09:00

Okay, so speaking of sponsors and totally missing the whole month of February (did it just fly by? Where'd it go???) I thought I'd do a little spotlight of the lovelies who have been gracing my sidebar for the past month. Lets start from the top:

Twila's Vintage

If you guys haven't clicked over to Twila's, you must, it's full of super cute little vintage dresses. Her shop always makes me salivate for more vintage dresses...

Ruche

This has been one of my favorite online shops for a long time. The pieces they stock are just so cute and unique, very vintage inspired– which, as you all know, is right up my alley. They always have really great pieces, and their lookbooks are just too gorgeous.

ModCloth

If you haven't been to ModCloth, I don't know what rock you've been living under. They have hundreds of great items, and I can spend hours just window shopping. We've had a couple ModCloth items in the Delightful Dozen swap and there are more to come, needless to say, we are fans.

Noble Town Vintage

I'm sure you guys are familiar with Noble Town after my giveaway a few weeks ago. You all should keep her shop bookmarked though, because she's got cute dresses coming in all the time. I have one dress from NTV and if I had unlimited funds, best believe I'd have way more!

Busy Bee

Busy Bee is one of my newer sponsors. If you haven't entered the Busy Bee giveaway yet, make sure to enter for one of her beautiful headbands. She's got really gorgeous headbands, and even some super cute ones for babies! Wouldn't that make a cute new mommy/baby gift? Matching headbands!

KDikio Vintage

Kdikio just did my last giveaway, so I'm sure you've heard of her shop. She's got a great array of vintage jewelry and other accessories. If you're looking for a unique piece to accent your outfits, Kdikio is a good place to start your search.

Baby Says Boutique

Baby Says Boutique has some really gorgeous items. Tieka just posted an outfit with a dress from BSB and I totally fell in love. BSB has a great mix of new and vintage items. She also has some nice accessories, so don't miss out...

Emily Lynn Design

Emily hand makes all her designs. She prints handmade block prints onto American Apparel scarves and she hand-makes all her jewelry herself.

Clyde's Rebirth

I adore Clyde's Rebirth jewelry. The way she reworks the pieces she uses in her jewelry is just really interesting and beautiful. Her jewelry is both feminine and edgy at the same time. It may be just me, but I'm a big fan of unusual, chunky jewelry, so I love her stuff.

Wildcatters

Last but not least! Wildcatters has some great personalized items. You can pick initials you want to imprint onto her tiny ID tag necklaces, or you can choose one of her other beautiful pieces, like the Medicine Pouch necklace or the crossed arrows Bravery necklace.

Sponsors!

2010-02-28T11:18:00.003-09:00

Okay, so February totally threw me off with the whole 28 day thing and now March is tomorrow! If anyone wants to start (or continue) sponsoring Delightfully Tacky, shoot me an email! Stats and other info are located here.

...the sun couldn't rise without you, darling.

2010-02-27T18:54:00.006-09:00

This post is going to be a little (okay a lot) more personal than my usual posts. I keep my personal life out of my blog mainly because I like this to be a sanctuary for me. When I'm blogging, I don't have to think about the rest of the world, it's a perfectly wonderful place full of nice people, pretty pictures, and encouraging words. And, honestly, this blog has been the one thing that has kept me going at times, the one thing I look forward to when I feel like everything around me is crumbling.

Back in June, the love of my life decided that I was no longer the love of his life. I immediately moved out of Spokane, where I'd lived for four years, and sought sanctuary with my family on the west coast of Washington. I promised myself I wouldn't cry, and I didn't. I didn't cry for months. I refused. Then, when we came back to Alaska, everything fell apart. Not literally, I mean, my life is perfect, really. But, when the person you thought was going to spend forever with you on this big adventure of life leaves, it's not something that just goes away. Coming to terms with him leaving, well, I'm still not sure I have. The things he told me... I just don't know how someone says those things one day and then another day does not mean them anymore. I'm not asking for anyone to feel sorry for me or tell me someone even better will love me someday.

Anyway, it's taken months for me to reach this point. It felt like I was in a horrific car wreck, and I was stuck in traction. I pushed everyone out of my life because I was too proud to admit I failed. Figuratively, I didn't want anyone to see me in that condition, strapped to a hospital bed, covered in casts. He got out of the wreck unscathed. He moved on, I was crushed- incapacitated by grief. My favorite human being no longer desired me. Four months later I was crying myself to sleep on a daily basis, sobbing into the blankets, stifling my cries– he was in Germany, dating a new girl. I could hear him calling her "darling" and "girl," "cutie" and "sweetie" like he used to call me.

It still hurts sometimes. But I've healed. The casts are off. I'm doing great in my physical therapy. I'm walking on my own. You guys have been a major part of that. All your kind words lifted me up on a daily basis. Every comment made me smile.

Anyways, I don't want to be a downer, but I've finally been able to get to a point where I could do this and I wanted to share it with you guys. I have kept all his most wonderful texts to me since I met him in 2007. I've never been able to delete them, and I still can't bring myself to, but I can finally look through them again without completely falling apart. I've wanted to take macro shots of my favorite ones but it hurt too much until now. I don't really know what these mean to me right now, I'm sure some day it will make sense, but I thought I'd share them with you guys. These aren't all of them (that would be a huge post and many would not make sense to you guys. I mean, my text inbox can only fit like 4 new texts before it's full, so I have a LOT of saved texts. I'm a pack rat, even digitally...), but these are the most meaningful.

I feel like the Brave project is a huge part of the healing process. I can't wait to get out on the road on my own and do something entirely for me, something I'm truly passionate about and that makes me completely and totally happy. It's going to be wonderful and I just can't wait. And I can't wait to bring all of you with me!

Rosemary & Thyme

2010-02-26T20:18:00.004-09:00

Today was a b-e-a-utiful day. It was so sunny and bright and there was a handful of tiny snowflakes gently fluttering down. I decided to finish off my roll of 120 in my Holga that was leftover from NYC, so I drove down to a Brave that has been sitting by the side of the road for years and took some pictures of it. I dropped off two rolls of 120 this afternoon so hopefully early next week I'll have some good photos.

top/thrifted :: scarf/pashmina :: leggings/F21 :: boots/minnetonka

I started a tumblr (again) last night. Last time I started one I got annoyed and deleted it within a couple hours. I see so many cool pictures online, though, that I thought it'd be a good place to post the ones that inspire me. If you want to check it out, it's halfway somewhere.
I don't know what I'm going to do when the Olympics aren't on TV anymore. It's amazing because there's always something cool on TV with the Olympics. I remember when I was younger I used to take my flexible flyer sled and pretend that I was a luger. I would pack down our sledding hill and pour water on the top of the hill, making grooves in the ice for a starting section and then we'd pretend we were in the Olympics. We had a starting line and timers and everything. Of course, there weren't any S-curves or anything, just going straight down the hill. I feel like every kid wants to be an Olympian at some point.
Oh, and go check out Mel's Delightful Dozen post! She styled my striped skirt and I love it! If you guys want to keep tabs on all the Delightful Dozen, become a fan of the DD Facebook page!

Busy Bee Giveaway!

2010-02-26T16:17:00.004-09:00

Hello, fair readers! It's Friday! What could be better? I'll tell you what, a Friday and a giveaway! That's right, today marks the beginning of the Busy Bee giveaway...

The lovely Lauren from the Busy Bee Shoppe is offering this beautiful headband to one lucky reader! It's got three sequined gold flowers secured to a gold and cream braided band with elastic backing.

If you haven't been over to the shoppe yet, go check it out! There are a lot of different styles of headbands available, and she also has some really cute headbands for babies (and I know some of you have some tiny cuties... or cuties on the way!).

To enter, just leave a comment on this post between Wednesday, March 3 at 12:00 pm. If you don't have a blog where I can reach you, make sure to leave an email address!

2010-02-25T23:11:00.002-09:00

Night Owl

2010-02-24T20:01:00.005-09:00

I'm being forced to be patient with the Brave situation. So far I haven't been able to get in contact with him to go look at it. I suppose that's kind of good, since I can't see it until Friday anyway, what with 10 hour days at work. If I do get this one, it's already teaching me life lessons. I don't really like making big huge elaborate plans. I'm pretty spur-of-the-moment. If I decide to do something, I like to be able to just get it done and over with, no dilly-dallying. This is probably one part of why I cut my own hair. I don't like having to wait for an appointment, I just like to cut it when I want it cut. While I think this spontaneous nature is a good thing, it's also probably good to have some ability to plan out stuff and/or be able to wait for things to happen, rather than try to make them happen immediately all the time.

skirt & shoes/thrifted :: top/scrapbook :: cardigan/hand-me-down :: polaroid pendant/juicy couture

Getting dressed for work has been interesting. I keep picking out outfits the night before, but then I wake up and feel like wearing something totally different. Mostly because I don't pick out the outfit based on the fact that I'll be sitting in front of a computer for 10 hours. Then I'm stuck trying to chose clothes in a 6 am haze of half sleep. Honestly, I should probably not do anything that requires cognition before the age of 10 am, so creating any sort of decent outfit at 6 am kind of amazes me. I'm so not a morning person. What about you guys? Are you morning people or night owls? I feel like I physically cannot fall asleep before midnight!

Oh, and I thought I'd show you guys a brand new site (though I'm sure many are already aware of it): Couturious! It's really fun. You get to put together outfits using a bunch of gorgeous designer clothes and then post your outfits! It can get addicting, though. Once I start making outfits, I get ideas for other outfits and then it just snowballs! I definitely don't need another website to spend my time on, but it's a really cool interactive site. My favorite part is that it gives you different options of how to wear one item. Like a top can be worn over or under a skirt. Or a jacket can be worn closed or open. Pretty fancy. Anyway, you guys should hop over and take a look. You can check out my looks here.

Blue Collar

2010-02-23T20:38:00.004-09:00

I've been having fun discovering new photo places around my new workplace. We are located in a kind of industrial part of town, so there are a bunch of trucks and crates and stuff nearby. I didn't realize how enormous this truck was until I saw these photos! I'm barely taller than the wheel wells!

I'm enjoying my new job. I get to be creative, but I have to sit for 10 hours a day. And I thought I was stationary before. I should probably get on the treadmill, just so I do some sort of physical activity! I was sick this weekend after my flight home, but luckily I felt better by sunday cuz I did great in my hockey game! I got my first goal and a couple assists! I've been feeling more and more confident in my games. My mom said that at one of my next games she's going to bring my camera and the telephoto, so you may be seeing me playing hockey sometime in the near(ish) future!

skirt & top/thrifted :: tights/wet seal :: boots/lulu e. bebe

I finally cut my bangs the other night. I don't know why just a fringe trim can make me feel so fresh. It's like I'm a new person! It seems like hair has such an inordinate power to dictate a woman's moods. I mean, men don't have "bad hair days" do they? Not in the traditional sense, at least. Like, "oh no, I have bed head, now I'm even more sexy because women like tousled hair. Bummer, man." I'm overgeneralizing, but I feel like wonky hair can just totally throw me off on some days. Needless to say, I'm glad my hair is back to behaving itself.

On a totally unrelated note: I think bobsledding should be one my list of things to do before I die. I think it would be so exhilarating. I'm kind of a speed junkie...

Monday Recap : IFB

2010-02-22T11:59:00.000-09:00

Okay, so I'm a little late posting this recap.

Monday! Monday was great. I got up and headed down to the Independent Fashion Bloggers conference, which turned out to be amazing. I ended up hanging out with Erin and Rebecca, which was really nice because I didn't get to hang with them at the Chictopia 10 summit or the Girls Night Out.

There were really great topics and panelists and I left feeling really inspired and refocused. It gave me a lot of really relevant information and answered so many questions I'd had about my blog and blogging in general. If any of you are thinking of going to an IFB conference in the future, I'd definitely recommend it, based on how great this one was.

Rebecca, Me and Erin (photo by HolierThanNow)

Jennine Tamm Jacobs, founder of IFB

I didn't get any photos of the first two sessions, the blog marketing workshop and the business of blogging, probably because I was really interested in what was being said. There was a panelist in the first session from G-Star Raw (and I can't remember his name for the life of me. Bad blogger!) who had an amazing perspective on blogging, and his quotes were just brilliant.

He talked about how blogging is to the journalistic would as punk rock was to music and graffiti was to fine art. Back at the nascence of those movements neither were considered valid forms of art, but artists like the Sex Pistols and Jose Parla totally changed the way we understand music and fine art. In the same way, blogging represents a power-shift in journalism to a more democratic way of doing things. Instead of an elite sect of journalists telling us what they think is important and news-worthy, we as bloggers decide for ourselves what we think is important and then share that with our readers.

It was really inspiring to see how we are kind of at the cusp of a change, and bloggers are at the forefront!

Some of the panelists from the blog ethics session:Imran Amed, Diane Pernet (top), Clark Hoyt, and Jessica Schroeder
This session got pretty dicey. Since ethics in the blogosphere aren't yet completely hashed out like they are in the old media. Clark Hoyt, who is from the New York Times, had a completely different point of view than Jessica and Diane (and most bloggers, I would think). He also didn't come from a fashion journalism perspective either, which made it difficult to reconcile his point of view with our world as fashion bloggers. It was great to listen to everyone trying to discuss blogging ethics, which is definitely something that is and will go through some growing pains as blogging comes into its own.

Some of the panelists from the "future of fashion blogging" panel:

Tavi Gevinson, Susie Lau, and Phil Oh

The last panel was also really amazing. Discussing the future of fashion blogging with some of the most notable fashion bloggers. They had some great perspective too. Obviously the Bloggers vs. Editors thing came up because of Tavi, and that whole discussion was amusing. There is just so much room in the world for bloggers and traditional journalists that it seems silly for journalists to be afraid of bloggers (and I'm not sure most of them are). I think some may be worried about the blogger movement, however, due to the very thing that makes it so appealing to people: its democratization of the journalistic voice. I'm sure there are some journalists out there who don't believe that "lay people" should have an equal voice as "elite" journalists, but as far as we can tell, blogging is here to stay, and it's a beautiful thing!

dress/F21 :: cardigan & shoes/target
After the panels we had a great after party, thrown by Couturious, which just launched last Saturday, I think. It's a really fun site, actually. Weardrobe had a great green screen photobooth set up where you could get your photo taken and have yourself be put into some of the backgrounds from Couturious!
They also had the most amazing array of food and wine. Seeing as I hadn't eaten anything all day, it goes without saying that I totally stuffed my face. SO GOOD. I'm bad at mingling around people I don't know, so I spent most of my time hanging out with the food.

Did any of you guys go to the IFB conference? I only saw a few people that I knew there. It's weird because people seem familiar, but you can't remember which blog they are from! After Erin and Rebecca left, I hung out with Suzanne (founder of Weardrobe) and Krystal. People kept saying that Krystal and I looked like sisters! I think it's the bangs...

Monday was a really good day, and good end to my week in New York. So glad I got to meet all the lovely people I saw there!

2010-02-21T11:04:00.000-09:00

And the winner of the KDikio Vintage giveaway is....

Sarah,

from Six Before Breakfast!

Congratulations!

Sarah was selected as the winner of the KDikio Vintage giveaway to receive one item from the KDikio shop! The winner was selected using the random number generator at random.org.

Stay tuned for the next giveaway, coming soon to a Delightfully Tacky near you!

Living the Dream

2010-02-20T16:56:00.007-09:00

Now that I'm working a 4/10 work week, it's nice that I finally have three day weekends. I feel like I need one day to recouperate and sleep in, one day to do all the stuff I need to do, and then one day to have fun/relax. I think everyone needs at least one day a week to completely relax. Relaxing is important. I'm trying to make sure I make time to relax because I've been feeling stressed this week. My resolution this year (sort of, I hate resolutions) was to live intentionally and not just feel things willy nilly, but actually have a reason for feeling something so I don't let my feelings dictate my life.

Speaking of living intentionally, I need a fringe trim in a serious way. I was watching Shear Genius last night and has some serious desire to radically change up my hair after seeing all the crazy hair cuts. For now I think I'll stick to just getting my hair out of my eyes.

dress/ModCloth via Tieka :: skirt/thrifted :: tights/wet seal :: boots/target

This dress is from ModCloth through the Delightful Dozen swap via Tieka. It's kind of big on me, so I put it under my favorite skirt. I really like it, it's so soft and comfy. It's sort of like wearing jammies! I almost put on my black cardigan, but then I looked at the way Tieka styled the dress and realized that I would be styling it just like her!

If you guys have been following my twitter, you may have noticed some tweets referring to "working on the Winnebago Dream" lately. While I still haven't located the right vehicle, I'm still working on financing the trip, which has been challenging. I know it's not glamourous to talk finances, but with a dream like this it's such an integral part. Right now I'm working on getting sponsored through Roadtrip Nation, and the sponsors for my blog are really sponsors for the Winnebago, so I've got those two things going on.

In addition, I've started a business through Market America, which will hopefully allow me to make a living while being on the road. Basically, you shop (for pretty much anything, and at all kinds of stores. It's like a mall, but on the internet) and when you enter the mall through me, you become my customer and I get a commission from anything you buy! It's a little bit like Amazon.com but with over 2,500 different stores, price comparisons, one shopping cart (for multiple stores), and one shipping rate (which is amazing for people like me living in Alaska where shipping can be outrageous!). In addition, you can also get cashback when you shop there, 2% - 35%! I think it's pretty neat because so many of us already shop online, why not get paid to shop, right? I want to stress to you guys that I'm not doing any of this to make money off my blog in some get rich quick type scheme, I just am really trying to work towards my goal of getting the Winnebago and going on the road. I'm so excited about following this dream and blogging about it on the road, it's probably the one thing I've been most passionate about in my whole life.

Anyway, I thought now would be a good time to mention it because I was going to say how I never wear lipstick because it always feels weird (and I feel like I look like Courtney Love by the end of the day), but I tried this ruby red lipstick today and I really like it! I've tried so many different brands of lipstick and they all feel just nasty to me, but this lipstick by Motives is really nice. I've been a pretty solid M.A.C. girl for quite some time, and I'm a creature of habit so it was hard for me to try a new brand, but I've already ordered another shade of lipstick, hah! I feel so glamourous. I've had lipstick envy ever since seeing how amazing Melissa's was at the girls night out last friday, so I just went online and got a dark shade of lipstick to try out. I'll definitely be showing you guys my lipstick experiments when it arrives, vamping it up!
ADDENDUM:OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS, THE PERFECT WINNEBAGO IS ON CRAIGSLIST RIGHT NOW. I'M FREAKING OUT. I want to die of excitement right now. Praying praying praying for this one to work out! (I can't believe it's in Alaska too!)

Love of my Life

2010-02-19T13:42:00.005-09:00

I missed Valentine's day while I was in New York, though "missing it" is kind of overstating things. As I don't have a Valentine this year, the holiday kind of just passed by without even being noticed. Nevertheless, I thought I should at least try to get into the spirit of the holiday once during the month of February. These photos are part of the Forever Sweetheart contest over at Chictopia, where you post a photo holding a sign with someone you love on it. Naturally, my Valentine is my future companion, the trusty 1970’s Winnebago Brave I’m going to travel the country in! I don’t want to make the other love of my life (1970 El Camino) jealous though, she’ll always have my heart! I seem to have better luck falling in love with ugly old vehicles than real live people, which suits me just fine. If the only heart I ever steal is a Small Block 350, I’m perfectly okay with that.

dress & ring/F21 :: top/guess :: shoes/vintage drawing by me

Speaking of the love of my life, I found this commercial today and I have decided that I want to live inside the amazing world that is this commercial. I feel like if I'm ever sad, I will just go to this video and will become instantly happy again. The tackiness is intoxicating!

Nicole, from If I Haver, just showed me this video, and now I want my future family to be just like the one it depicts. I think my kids would have a blast traveling around making new friends at RV parks and doing homeschool in an RV. What a magical childhood!
Dear Life, Please be just like these videos.Sincerly,Me

Also, on a totally unrelated note, one of my lovely sponsors, Baby Says Boutique, has a bunch of new inventory in stock, so if you're in the shopping mood, head over and check out all the new gorgeous items!

Under the weather.

2010-02-18T19:51:00.002-09:00

Well, on sunday I didn't have anywhere to be, so I headed down to Bryant Park and hung out in the tents. It's a surreal place to be for sure. I basically just wandered around, people watching and then tried to sneak into the DVF show by pretending I was a writer for NYLON who had forgot her tickets, but it didn't fly. They probs would've let me into a lower profile show, but it was Diane Von Furstenberg and security was way tight and they couldn't fudge the admittance.

I was going to try and get into the Custo Barcelona show later that night, but I was so wiped out that I just went back to my hotel and got some chinese food. It felt really good to just sit down and watch the Olympics after three days of hectic (though fun) activites.

skirt & top/thrifted :: blazer/little bro's :: boots/lulu e. bebe :: necklace/eryn brinie

I never got a shot of my outfit in New York so I recreated it yesterday when I got back in town. Back to the snow! (I feel like I'm rocking the Krystal style in these photos w/ the sunglasses. People thought we were sisters at the IFB conference, haha!).

I'm feeling rather under the weather now, which I think has something to do with my exhausting travels. I'm sure breathing nasty airplane air for 6 hours and then staying up all night in the SeaTac airport did wonders for my health. I was probably bathing in viruses all day. Gross.

Saturday in the Park

2010-02-17T12:57:00.004-09:00

I'm currently stuck in the SeaTac airport for six hours on layover and I'm rocking out to Chicago, so it only seemed natural that when I was about to write a post on Saturday's activities, I'd use a line from one of my favorite Chicago songs as my title! And how apt, as I did spend Saturday in Bryant Park! But lets not get too far ahead, I'll start with the blogger brunch that happened that morning.

We met up at Frankies on Clinton st. for brunch on Saturday morning and it was so delicious. I think on my breakfast scale, it's definitely in the top ten. Probably top five. Me, Tieka, Andrea and Julie all had this breakfast sandwich on rosemary bread with scrambled eggs, thick cut bacon, and aged provolone cheese.

I got to meet Christina from Second Skin (who is such a doll and I am really bummed because I never actually got a chance to really talk to her), Mel from Idee Geniale (such a funny girl), And Nikki from Wild as a Mink (totally a rockin' chick). I seriously wish I could've gone on a week long vacation with all these girls so I would have all the time in the world to talk to each one individually. I've never felt so bombarded by cool and amazing people before in my life!

(photo from Nikki)

After the brunch we had a little bit of time to kill before Chictopia 10, so Nikki suggested we go to this cool candy shop with all sorts of old fashioned candy, so she led the way. It was such a crazy place! It was floor to ceiling candy, every kind you could ever want! I got candy cigarettes and a rock candy. Mel and Christina got these hilarious mustache candy things and candy cigarettes.

After that we went to the Chictopia 10 conference. I had two tickets for the Academy of Art University's grad student fashion show in the tents, so Andrea and I left to go see that before the conference even started. We took the train up to Bryant Park and were so excited to see the huge tents. Neither of us had ever even been to the tents before, so it was a really surreal experience to see in person this whole event we'd only see on TV and in photos. I'm sure there were famous people hanging out but I'm so bad at recognizing people. We got our seats and went into the huge main tent where there were hundreds of black seats lining the white runway. There were tons of photographers at the end of the runway, waiting to capture the models' end-of-runway poses. We were pretty close to the beginning of the runway in row five, so we had a really good view of everything, including the celebs in the front row.

After that we hurriedly tried to make our way back to the Chictopia conference and eventually got there. I honestly don't remember much from the conference. I'm kind of glad I missed the beginning though. Everyone said there were a bunch of technical difficulties with sound and projection and that had to all get up and move the seating around. It was difficult to hear or was too loud and the information didn't seem geared toward the actual bloggers (and I thought the majority of the audience was bloggers). I also wished we'd had time and space to mingle. I was really looking forward to meeting other bloggers but I only met one or two. I'm sure next year they'll have ironed out the problems with this first conference.

We were pretty wiped out after the conference so Andrea, Tieka and I went back to the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours before the Chictopia after party at the Tribeca Grand. Changed into my trusty vintage zipper dress and we caught a cab for the party!

(photo from Christina)

Me and Andrea were getting down, can you tell? Haha. This photo cracks me up. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I was already tired, but the afterparty wasn't really super fun. I liked dancing and hanging out with all the girls, but felt really out of place in such a pretentious New York club. $13.00 drinks aren't really my thing and I don't have a trust fund (no offense to anyone who likes $13.00 drinks and has a trust fund, it's just a lifestyle that I don't understand). I'm more of a dive bar type girl- more tackiness please!

At long last!

2010-02-17T12:27:00.000-09:00

The winner of the Kitten Paws Vintage giveaway is...

Christina W.!

Christina was selected as the winner of the Kitten Paws Vintage Giveaway to receive a $30.00 gift certificate! The winner was selected using the random number generator at random.org.

Thank you so much for everyone who entered the contest, but don't worry if you didn't win this time. Head over to my newest giveaway to enter to win one lovely item from KDikio Vintage!

Saturday pt. 1

2010-02-17T02:40:00.006-09:00

Here's my outfit from Saturday. I had picked out something black and very "New York" but I put it on and didn't feel myself, so I ended up changing into something much more comfortable. The top is my brand new dress from Forever 21. When I got it I knew it would be great for converting to a top (plus it kind of feels like pajamas, really soft!). I kind of wanted to wear something edgier and less country-bumpkin, but whatever. I wasn't feeling edgy that day. Some days I want to leave the house in an oversized blazer and neon green leggings, and other days I want to be more "down home."

dress/f21 :: skirt/ thrifted :: shoes/payless

I'll have a post later today on all of the day's events which included the Chictopia 10 conference, a journey to Bryant Park, and partying at the Tribeca Grand! Stay tuned...

photos by Andrea