Last day of 2009! It seems amazing to be here, and yet I'm sure that tomorrow will just feel like another day - not the beginning of a new decade. I decided to honor the past in my dress today. My grandmother made this dress, sometime in the 60s, I believe, so this dress is probably 30 years older than me. One of the remarkable things about this dress is a) how well it holds up - it doesn't look old to me, and it was probably made a whole lot better than a lot of the clothes I own - and b) how similar in size my grandmother, mother and I all were at different points in our lives. My grandmother was always really small and my mother was my size when she was younger. It gives me hope that in the future I might have daughters to whom I can pass along the dresses I have. Who knows, maybe 30 years from now, my daughter will be wearing this very same dress. One of my favorite things about this dress, and the reason why I chose it for New Year's Eve, is that it's a white dress with a sheer woven fabric overlay. The overlay has stripes of silver thread running through it - making it shimmery and festive.Happy New Year!
Fact #1: for a long time, I have wanted a double U neck dress from American Apparel Fact #2: There is an American Apparel in Evanston, and last year I tried on one of those dresses so I would know my size for when I decided to order it Fact#3: I forgot my size and have been too lazy to go back to American Apparel to try it on again Fact#4: I found a dress in a similar style in a material I like better for less money at H&M on Monday Fact#5: I bought it, and was finally able to wear an outfit that I have been envisioning for a while now The dress on its own:I wore this outfit to go downtown with my sister to see A Single Man. A the end of break, I'll do a rundown of all the movies I saw (currently the tally is up to 4) but for right now I'll say this: it was gorgeous.
Christmas was (somewhat astoundingly) almost a week ago. So, I figured that today I would actually show what I received for the holiday from my various family members. My Christmas this year was full of color. From a pretty set of screwdrivers (since I am the master of putting together Ikea furniture, as we discovered this summer) to pastel tights to wonderful Martha Stewart glitter glue.My godmother also gave me a wonderfully colorful bag - sure to brighten up winter days and the perfect size for my notebook and audio recorder (journalism essentials) I received the three books I asked for that I talked about on my Wishlist Wednesday post a few weeks before Christmas. I also received a few unexpected books as well. I'd recommend Old Dogs are the Best Dogs to anyone who loves animals or has ever loved an aging canine. Among other things, my parents also indulged my desire for caffeinated beveragesI received a coin purse with the above image emblazoned upon it, and inside...a nice little gift from Starbucks that will help during the frigid Evanston winter. I received some other things (gloves, clothing, toe warmers, and some eye liner that deserves its own post) that will inevitably end up on here at some point. It was wonderful just to be with my family on Christmas, and the gifts were superb.
One of the things I love about being home is that I'm not as confined as I am at school. I still have a room, but I can wander to the kitchen or the family room or the living room or the backyard. There's so much more space in which to live. It's like I can escape myself in my own house - I don't always have to be surrounded by my things. I also love my room at home though. It's bigger than my dorm room - which is good because I have more stuff here than at school, but it also means that I have a chair that's actually comfortable to sit in, real bookshelves and a real dresser, and also a real closet. When I go back to school I'm going to miss it here, even though I'll be happy to see my friends. I find that I enjoy taking pictures so much more here. There's more visual interest, for sure. I can go out on the deck in the back of our house and take a picture with nature in the background. Even the rooms in our house are more interesting (and much tidier) than my dorm room. I'll miss that freedom. Here are my past two days outfits - Monday's pictures were taken in my room, but I branched out to the deck and the hearth of the family room for Tuesday.
Monday:Dress: ModCloth, sweater: Old Navy, belt: from my mom
Tuesday:Cardigan: gift from my aunt, skirt: Urban Outfitters, boots: Cole Haan
It's the last Monday of 2009, if you can believe it. It seems incredible to me. In April, it will be my 20th birthday, a fact that is currently and will continue to blow my mind. So this Monday will be dedicated to 2009, and the songs I loved this year. I only took suggestions from what's actually in my iTunes so it's not completely indicative of what I was listening to the whole year but it's guaranteed to be songs I listened to, er probably more than a healthy amount. And I realize that some of these songs are not new to 2009, but they were new to me in 2009, so I think it counts.
Like many people who love fashion but have limited funds, I was extremely excited when it was announced that Rodarte would be collaborating with Target for the Go International line. When the first images came out I was enthused by how wonderful the pieces looked - but I felt that the sequined skeleton dress and leopard dress weren't exactly for me. But then I saw the blue swiss dot dress and fell in love. I could picture Alice finding her way around Wonderland in the dress and so I knew I wanted it. A few days ago, as I watched (500) Days of Summer again with my sister, it occurred to me that it's a dress Summer Finn, another fictional character whose style I adore, would probably also love. So, last Sunday night, I ordered the dress and it came faster than expected, arriving on my front porch the day before Christmas. I had worried about sizing, since I'm both short and petite, but it fits just fine, with plenty of room to breathe without looking baggy. I'm already contemplating how to style it for winter wear, since I feel like in spring it will be all too easy to bring it out of my closet. I'm picturing it with some pastel colored tights (I received four different colors for Christmas) and if I finally purchase this vintage faux-fur capelet that I've had my eye on for some time, putting that over top. Pictures will come later, when I finally where it.
One of the things I love about the holiday season is it's just a built-in excuse for dressing up. Even though I often have nowhere to go (and if I do, the grocery store's about as far as I get) I still love to pull on outfits that may be a little fancier than the day merits.Yesterday I just dressed up a little bit - pink dress, black jacket, polka dot tights. But today I went a little more festive. After all, Christmas only comes but once a year, so why not make the most of it?
I'm not sure what happened with the next picture. I just set my camera on the table and it came out a little bit wonky. I like it though, because it looks like I edited the picture to look old-timey, but it just came out that way.Dress: F21, jacket: F21, shoes: H&M
My sister thought it was a little ridiculous to wear heels that weren't boots in the still slushy and wet outdoors, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to wear my green dress with red shoes. And to top it all off, my wonderful leopard print jacket. I definitely felt full of holiday cheer.
As the decade wraps up and everybody comes out with their great big lists of the bests and worsts, I've done a bit of reflecting on where this ten years has taken me. When we rang in the millennium, I was nine years old and in the fourth grade. Now I'm nineteen and in my sophomore year of college. So just a few things have changed. One thing that has gone through a lot of transformations is the music to which I listen. Today I'll take a step back into the past to see what I've listened to throughout the decade. 2000-2002: Pop I figured that's the best title for this period, as I did listen to almost exclusively pop music and "Pop" is also the name of one of the songs from my favorite band during that time: *NSYNC. I was a huge *NSYNC fan when I was in elementary school. I had pictures of them all over my wall, I'd tape their tv appearances, and I'm pretty sure I wanted to marry one of them. I own all of their albums (even the Christmas one) and I own a copy of the single "Girlfriend" with Nelly added in, since that wasn't on the original release of Celebrity. I spent that time period listening to lots of other excellent (and terrible) pop music. Along with *NSYNC, my other favorite band was S Club 7 - the British group with the somewhat terrible and cheesy tv show who had one hit in the US. I had all of their cds too. I even own a copy of the S Club 7 movie, Seeing Double, which was never released in the US. I was a dedicated fan. Rounding out my cd collection from those days: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, The Backstreet Boys, the A*Teens, countless Now! cds, the single of "Liquid Dreams" by O-Town, Dixie Chicks, and Hanson. If you're thinking that Hanson was the 90's, then you're partially right. But in 2000 they came out with This Time Around, which was far less popular than Middle of Nowhere. I stuck with Hanson even longer than that too, into 2004 when they released Underneath. Some of my favorites from the time period in video below. The Goodbye Earl one might be the best - Jane Krakowski, Dennis Franz and Adrian Pasdar are all in it and the song is hilarious.
2002-2004: On the East Coast, we ride. When I got to middle school, teen angst took over. Where *NSYNC had reigned, new edgier bands took hold. Keep in mind though, edgier than *NSYNC isn't saying much. Middle school turned me to music from bands like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan - perfect for the almost-teen angst (not really) that I was feeling, or wanted to believe I was feeling. Other things that entered my cd collection during that time: Michelle Branch, more Now! cds (I did still listen to pop music after all, just not exclusively), All-American Rejects, Vanessa Carlton, Hoobastank (The Reason was like, the song of my eighth grade year), Lillix (I really wish I had a copy of them singing "This Town" which they covered for the theme of the MTV show "Rich Girls"), and Sugarcult.
2004-2008: An actual alternative When I got into high school, my music taste again changed. I was no longer interested in Good Charlotte or Simple Plan. I started reading Spin magazine and learning about music that was somewhat out of the mainstream. I became a huge fan of My Chemical Romance and the Used, and I saw the former in concert with Muse for my 17th birthday. During high school I also became a big Kings of Leon fan - I could be one of those snobs who brags about liking them before they hit it big in the US, but mostly I sit back quietly and think about the cds I hope their new fans go out and buy - Aha Shake Heartbreak being my top recommendation. I got pretty into "emo" music, though I'd never refer to it as such, instead describing my genre of choice as "post-hardcore emotional punk" or something like that - whatever it was, the definition came from Andy Greenwald, an expert on the subject. Other bands that came into my life during that period: Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail, Velvet Revolver, Jimmy Eat World, REM, Panic(!) at the Disco, Nirvana, Muse, Matchbook Romance, Lostprophets, The Killers
2008-present I would describe my music taste now as a delightful mix. I still listen to pop music (though I fear I'm becoming an old lady sometimes when I get home from school and don't know all the songs on the radio) and I still listen to my emo/rock/punk bands. I've listened to mainstream bands and "indie" bands, I'll probably buy anything The Killers or Fall Out Boy puts out, I'm in love with some soundtracks, I still love to sing along with songs from Bye Bye Birdie or even, ahem, High School Musical. I think right now my music taste can go every which way. I won't rule out any genre - I'm not one of those "anything but country" people. I'm not following every music trend anymore (I don't think I could stand listening to "Party in the USA" a full time through and I think Justin Bieber looks and sounds 12 and also seems to be the ideal choice for the role of Alvin if they make a 3rd live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks movie but decide to use real actors instead of CGI chipmunks). I guess I've finally come into my own. It's weird since I don't have tv at school dependably, I don't watch as many music videos of popular songs unless I'm seeking them out for my music posts or trying to listen to a song I only heard a snippet of. So I'll just put two videos that have captured my attention recently - one for being completely insane and awesome and one for being a completely terrible but catchy song.
Sometimes I forget just how much I love Sundays at home. Waking up late and drinking coffee while leisurely reading the paper in my pajamas is truly one of the finer things in life. I thought I was going to spend all day laying around, but I ended up helping my dad shovel and helping my mother put together a desk and a bookshelf for my sister's room. What a good daughter I am. I also went on the Target website to look at the Rodarte stuff and upon discovering that the dress I wanted was not available at my closest Target, I just ordered it online. Merry Christmas to me, I have no money. Well, that's not completely true, but I feel like it is sometimes. In other news, I'm hoping that I can get an internship that pays over the summer so that I will actually have some money to spend next school year. But I'm not getting my hopes up too much, as I am a lowly sophomore with very little actual experience. I'm not sure if I'm hoping for being close to home (in DC) or not too close (New York) but I think I'm leaning toward the latter. The next couple months I am going to be up to my eyeballs in internship applications. Tomorrow should be a great day - my mom is off from work and my sister is finally coming home after the snow postponed her trip.
It's a little ironic that I should come home from Evanston only to get massively snowed on here in Virginia. We've got a blizzard warning going, and we've definitely had more than a foot of snow. I'll be honest, I love snow. There's something about waking up when it's completely quiet - that's the sign of a real deep snow fall - the world just goes silent. It's beautiful outside, a blanket of thick white covering every single thing. They plowed the road earlier and within half an hour the pavement was invisible again. It's amazing how it just keeps snowing. I keep forgetting that it's still morning because it seems like it has been snowing for so long. 12:30 am 9:15 am 10:15 am 11:30 am
We're supposed to get quite a bit of snow tomorrow - the forecast has been varied, but the lowest I've seen for my area is 8 inches and the highest 20. I foresee a day full of warming myself inside after shoveling, drinking lots of coffee and hot chocolate, and spending a lot of time reading, watching tv and browsing the internet. I also foresee a day of wearing some sort of unfortunate outfit that involves leggings and hiking boots and heavy sweaters. So, I'll just stick to what I have been wearing and tomorrow I'll just take pictures of the snow. Today I wore some sweater tights from H&M that are supposed to fit 14-year-olds. Apparently all these children are about 5'5" because these tights are too long on me. Nonetheless, they're extremely warm, so I will continue to wear them and hike up my tights all day. Thursday I went out to the movies with my friends and wore my brown, white and purple tank dress with brown tights, a white sweater and a purple scarf (matchy eh?). Wednesday I spent the day baking for my mom's holiday party. I decided to dress in a shirtdress that I bought at Forever 21 a while ago but had never gotten around to wearing. It's a little big but I love the look. I felt like a retro housewife baking all day and listening to the Jackson 5 Christmas album. Tuesday I mostly just hung out around my house as well as getting a little baking done. To stay warm in my freezing cold house I layered a striped hoodie over my polka dot dress, but I dont think the result was that bad. Monday (wow I really didn't realize how behind I was on this) I wore my blue dress and leopard shoes. I also went downtown to get my hair done and visited Borders to return the book I bought for my dad that he already has.Saturday and Sunday get to go together, as I can't really remember much about why I wore the outfits other than the clothes were clean - which is partly how I chose all of my outfits this week since I didn't do my laundry that I brought back from school until today.
Happy New Year!
I wore this outfit to go downtown with my sister to see A Single Man. A the end of break, I'll do a rundown of all the movies I saw (currently the tally is up to 4) but for right now I'll say this: it was gorgeous.
My godmother also gave me a wonderfully colorful bag - sure to brighten up winter days and the perfect size for my notebook and audio recorder (journalism essentials)
I received a coin purse with the above image emblazoned upon it, and inside...a nice little gift from Starbucks that will help during the frigid Evanston winter.
Cardigan: gift from my aunt, skirt: Urban Outfitters, boots: Cole Haan
Dress: F21, jacket: F21, shoes: H&M
11:30 am
Saturday and Sunday get to go together, as I can't really remember much about why I wore the outfits other than the clothes were clean - which is partly how I chose all of my outfits this week since I didn't do my laundry that I brought back from school until today.
