Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, loves! I wasn't going to dress up this year, but I got an idea in my head last night-- garden gnome!-- and I just had to go for it! I put together this costume out of items from my closet, a giant flower from Hobby Lobby ($5 holla!), and a piece of red fabric. The hat took some fiddling and still isn't perfect, but I think it's cute anyway. :)

What are you dressing up as this year?









yellow tights, f21+. blue dress, ross. polka dot cardigan, thrifted. boots, kmart. hat, self made.

Our Wedding - Part II

Hello, loves! Today I'm going to share the rest of our wedding photos with you. There are so many wonderful ones it was tough to choose which ones I wanted to post on the blog. I hope you can get some idea of the general feeling of the day from the ones I chose. We tried to keep things relaxed and fun, but still special. All in all I really think our wedding was as perfect as it could have been! Our photographers, Ector and Kristina from 33 and a Third Photography, were so bubbly and wonderful to be around. They did a really good job at making us feel comfortable and catching genuine smiles and laughter. :)









The antique lanterns on the tables are from much time spent scouring etsy. The mason jar toasting glasses were made from vintage candlesticks and jars by my best friend's mother. She also made us a pretty spectacular scrapbook with our engagement photos that we will treasure for many years.







My advice to other brides is pretty simple: figure out what's important to you and go for it! Decide what things you want from the start and be willing to compromise on everything else. It will help you in the long run to let other people help you, and seeing all the little things that your family and friends did come together on your big day is a huge payoff. Don't be afraid to decide which traditions are important to you and which just aren't! My aunt officiated our ceremony, I had a bridesman, and my husband had a best lady! And guess what? The world did not come to a screeching halt-- and more importantly we got to share the first moment of our marriage with the people we loved.

With that I have to leave you with our amazing photobooth pictures. These were some of our favorite photos of the day! The one of my parents just slays me.

Lemon Yellow on a Rainy Day

Hi all! Hope you had a great week! I did a ton of crafting for the wedding this week. My bestie helped me put together about 60 of 100 paper fans we're making to give out at the ceremony. They're shaped like little hearts! Super cute. I'm sure they'll make it into some wedding pictures. :)

Today it's drizzling and a little cool outside, which I thought was the perfect time to debut my lemon yellow pants. I had my second sewing class this morning, so thus far it's been a good day.



lemon pants, old navy. skull shirt, ross. black tank (underneath), lys by kmart. nude heels, jessica simpson c/o kohl's.





And here is the tote bag that I made!

Busy Weekend Dress

Hi there! Today was a pretty full day for me. This morning I went to my first ever sewing class. It was so great! I've really been wanting to learn how to operate a sewing machine so that I can do my own alterations and eventually make some clothes. Baby steps, though. It's a lot harder than it looks! Today I made a pillowcase and I'm super proud of it. :)

I also went to a friend's wedding directly after that, so I needed something that would be appropriate for a casual wedding as well. On top of that the wedding was up in the mountains, which is historically about 10 degrees cooler than the temperatures here in the foothills, so I needed something that would be comfortable in warm and cooler weather. Here's what I came up with!







printed jacket, f21+. lace yoke dress, ross. geometric earrings, f21. studded sandals, kmart.





And just because I'm so proud of it-- the pillowcase I made!

dressing for mood

Well, today started out alright... It's the beginning of Easter Break today, so I was feeling rather cheerful at the prospect of having a few days off. Except after I showered and got dressed (and snapped a few pictures), I got the news that I was turned down for a job I was really hoping to get. Lame.

Anyway! I'm applying to some other places today, and in light of that, I have changed clothes to try and brighten my spirits a little. I took a vintage gown and irreverently hacked off a foot of fabric from the bottom. O:

First outfit:









This whole outfit is thrifted... and cost a total of $7. But I opted for something a little lighter and more cheerful after yucky news.


Second outfit:









Mutilated vintage gown: Thrifted
Gold bow belt: ON
Frilly shrug: Thrifted
Cognac brown cut-out flats: Payless

hair attempt and nails

I've needed a haircut for a while (as you've probably noticed)... but I'm so dang poor I have literally not been able to afford even a trim. Well, I finally got tired of putting up with my too-long bangs looking like crud. So I watched a few YouTube videos, and took some scissors to my head.

I have never cut my hair before, so I was really nervous about messing it up. I didn't take too much off. Results below, let me know what you think.









Oh! And I also found this fabulous nail polish I forgot to mention in my last post. It's called "Sunset Shimmer" and it's from Icing. I got it on clearance for $2. I thought it'd be a little more orange from the bottle, but it's actually a perfect, perfect pale peach.


lol my head.

flower rufflesssss

Making progress on the DIY flower appliques! I'm not very good at sewing yet... but I'm the kind of person who learns by leaping into things headfirst, so I've already got a pile of projects and things that I'm trying to work out with just a needle and some thread. I'm an artistic person by nature; the need to explore these kinds of things burrows into my skeleton and demands attention.

Yesterday I was feeling kind of lame thanks to a gnarly ear infection (seriously-- look at the size of these pills I have to take!), so I decided to get started on these puppies.

The first step was to google "make your own floral appliques," which got me nowhere. So I tried "make fabric flowers," and found my way to this round-up of flower tutorials! I decided to use a combination of techniques from the lifelike ribbon peonies and the ribbon/button flowers tutorials for my own flowers.

I cut some fabric pieces from an old blouse and a t-shirt I never wear, and made them into these:





To me they look more like vaguely flower-shaped ruffles... but I still like them. I think I'm going to practice a few more before I decide which to affix to some boring articles lying around my apartment. I think I'm going to track down some cheap thrifted tops to stitch some flowers to as well, for a bit of practice.

No outfit post today! The weather was really weird. It started out at 42 degrees and ended up at 73. I just bummed around in a tank-top and skinnies, with a cardigan tossed over to keep me warm during the awkward chilly period.



Ta! xoxo

ootd and floral appliques

It's warm again! Hurrah! As I remind my boyfriend when he teases me for always being cold, I spent the first eighteen years of my life exclusively in a tropical climate. So the return of sunshine to campus is much, much appreciated. This weekend was cheery and sunny (except for the latter end of yesterday, during which I began referring to said boyfriend as "Noah"), so I wanted to wear something with a soft, cheery palette. Here's what I came up with.









I swear I don't actually have feet that turn inwwards... I turn my feet like that when I'm trying to be cute. I have no idea why.


Top: Some random shop in the Anderson mall, I forget what it was called, 2X, $3
Jeans: Wal-Mart, 16, $9
Cognac cut-out flats: Payless (eons ago), 9, I can't remember how much I paid for them
Earrings: Apt 9, Kohls, $2


I thought this was pretty awesome... these tops are almost identical to the one I was wearing at Kohls (and in these shots). Except mine was $3.


I just don't know how people afford so much money on clothes. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but as much as I love clothes, I have a hard time justifying that much money on one item. Maybe it's a symptom of having a thrifting gene, I don't know.

For example, found this top that I LOVE LOVE LOVE at Kohls... but it's $25 on sale. So unless it magically drops to the $10 region, I'll be passing.

I've been seeing a lot of floral appliques on... well, everything, lately. I wandered into Charlotte Russe yesterday, despite the fact that nothing from there will probably ever fit me. But I'm a big proponent of TRY TRY TRY! so there I went. I didn't find anything that particularly appealed to me, but I did see a lot of the floral appliques I mentioned.


Here are a few screencaps from CR's website, with links through if anyone's interested in teensy clothes. ;D







Anyway, the point is that I spent some time pulling, prodding, and peeking at these... and I think with some ribbon, netting, and a bit of patience, I can add some similar detailing to some otherwise boring tops just sitting around in my room. I'll let you know how it goes.