#flashbackfriday // merrill field

Looking back on these old outfit posts can be such a crazy memory jog.  I remember I was driving around with my dad in his truck this day and we had stopped by his airplane for some reason and I asked him to stop for a sec so I could do my outfit photos.  It was still pretty cold out and I remember being super careful walking on the ice in my crazy heels to get the shot above.  My dad waited in the truck with the heat blasting while I did my weirdo outfit photo thing and then we went about our day.  Also, for whatever reason I had the most perfect bangs in 2009-2010 and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get them back.  Every time I see photos from this era I'm like, "WHAT DARK MAGIC DID YOU CONJURE, GIRL?" and you'd think I'd have the answer because it was me, damnit, but no.  My perfect fringe will forever live in the past.

Merrill Field 3/20/10

Do you guys ever buy something thinking, "oh man, I love this! It's perfect!" and then you get home and you're like, "I have no clue how to wear this..."? I bought a black bodycon dress with lace sleeves back on black friday thinking how I had wanted one for a while, but it turned out that it was just a little bit too big so unless I get it altered, it doesn't really fit just right and makes me feel uncomfortable. But! A couple nights ago I decided to try and layer it underneath other dresses and it was like a whole new universe opened up before my very eyes. I want to wear it every day now with all my other dresses. I love how the lace just makes any frilly dress just a little bit edgy. Amazing! When I got this rainbow dress from the Delightful Dozen swap, I just knew I had to wear it with my lace bodycon dress.

It's funny how one little thing can totally spruce up your wardrobe, or make you see your wardrobe in a whole new light. I like that it's getting warm enough now to wear bare legs without people thinking I'm totally crazy. Okay, I realize most of you would consider below 40 degrees "crazy," but I feel spring in the air, people! The eau de printemps is slight, but by jove, it's there, I say! Look! Dry pavement!

Dry pavement means greater latitude in my footwear choices! The days of wearing snow-practical shoes are nearly behind! I found these shoes at F21 on sale for like ten bucks.. which wasn't the best part. Best part: they actually fit my feet. What?! Okay, well, they're technically a size and a half too big, but they lace up, which means I can lash them down to my baby feets! I really want a pair of these cute Seychelles, but they are a size and a half too big at their smallest size too, and I'm not willing to spend a hundred bucks to find out if they'll fit. Alas.

dress/modcloth (via JenLovesKev) :: 
lace bodycon dress/lulu e. bebe :: shoes/F21 :: necklace/shop in Kihei

#FLASHBACK FRIDAY // bohemian vibes

Bohemian Vibes // June 2, 2011

As of yesterday I have two weeks until I move out of my apartment and back into the Winne! This means I'm starting my two week work out regimen so that those young whippersnappers don't totally run me into the ground! I'll be doing a lot of running around up and down hills and doing all sorts of work, so I feel like it'll be a good idea to have some sort of endurance and conditioning built up before I get there. I'm actually pretty excited about it all. My life here in Tacoma is pretty sedentary. Since all of my work is online, I spend most of my time sitting on my butt in front of a computer screen. I try to ride my bike as many places as possible to counteract this, but still, I'm not as active as I'd like to be. I think being at camp will be very nice and invigorating, though I don't doubt that no matter how much physical preparation I do, I'll still have my ass whooped!

dream come true dress/courtesy of threadcase :: bag & headband/gift

belt/gift shop in Calico,CA :: shoes/minnetonka :: ring/forever 21

This dress was sent to me by my new sponsor Threadcase. It's so lovely and summery! It has more of a bohemian vibe than most of the things hanging in my closet, but I like it! I'm trying to figure out how to reconcile all the different parts of me that manifest themselves in my style. There's the rock and roll me, the vintage me, the artsy me, the hipster me, the pin-up me, and so on. They all seem to battle for the front when I stand in front of my closet and unless I have a clear cut idea of exactly what I want to wear I just end up putting on what feels like a hundred different outfits until one seems to feel right. And even then sometimes I'll throw something together that feels like it's nice and then looking at outfit photos I'm like.. ehhhh? But anyway, this outfit is not like that. It is lovely and I felt quite good in it! I threw this dress on the second I got it out of the package!

#FLASHBACKFRIDAY // saturday market

his outfit shoot has always been one of my all time favorites.  It's just in the alley behind my old apartment, but the dreamy sun, dandelions, and the outfit together made this such a fun shoot.  Thinking back to this time, I used to wear so many more hats!  I just noticed all my hats hung on my closet wall the other day and I don't think I've worn any of them since I hung them there!  Perhaps my hat wearing days was just a phase.  This little boater hat looks totally cute in these photos but for some reason I feel like if I wore a boater hat now I'd look ridiculous.  Maybe I'll take that as a challenge to grab this hat off the wall and try to style it up again!

Saturday Market // May 20, 2011

Lately I've been feeling spread too thin. For being technically unemployed, I am doing a hell of a lot of things. This week I've been driving back and forth to various locations, trying to get blog designs completed, stressing about where I'm going to put all my things once I move out of my apartment, working on this blog, trying to maintain a social life and so on and so forth. I'm tired. Let's be real, I'm pretty bad at multitasking. Supposedly girls are wonders at multitasking, but this girl has a one track mind and when I try to diversify, I just end up failing at everything I'm trying to juggle. Right now I have too many commitments and not enough me to fulfill all of them and it stresses me out. Mainly because I don't like failing. I don't like admitting that I can't handle it. I'm competitive, I want to be the best at everything I do, I want to make people proud of me... but sometimes I need to remember that I also need to stay sane.

I think this summer will be good for me. I'll be reeling in some of my overcommitments and I'll be existing more in the real world than the blogosphere, and though I'll probably miss spending as much time as I do now reading my favorite blogs, I think it'll be healthy for me to take a bit of a step back.

dress/courtesy of modcloth :: skirt/vintage via delightful dozen :: shoes/kensiegirl

hat/claires :: shades/vintage

Today I helped with a little fundraiser market for camp, which was pretty fun. I was in charge of the facepainting/hair wrap table. If you've been to my facebook page you've seen my Bowie-inspired facepaint! There ended up not being very many kids at the market though, so I only did facepaint on... me. And I only did a few hair wraps, but it was still fun.

This skirt is from Veronika from the Delightful Dozen. When I saw it I fell in love! It's such a lovely shade of light blue and the vintage cut is so great. It reminds me of something my Mom would've worn when she was my age.

#FLASHBACKFRIDAY // fly away home

Photos like these make me so nostalgic for Anchorage.  Dorothy really hit the nail on the head when she cried, "There's no place like home" as she knocked her red slippered heels together.  Small planes are so common up in Alaska, and planes buzzed around daily, the sound of the props whirring above was pleasantly familiar.  Growing up on lakes, floatplanes were constantly landing and taking off, and the high pitched buzz of engines revving up for take-off happened dozens of times a day.  Here in Tacoma, the sound is rare, but when I do hear a little plane above, my heart gets a warm sting, both happy remembering home, and sadness that I am not there in that moment.  I couldn't count the hours I spent aloft with my Dad, streaking across the Alaskan skies, landing on mountain lakes, and carving through snow covered valleys.  Hopefully someday my Dad will be able to take his grandkids up in the air, or maybe one of these days if we move back to Alaska I'll finally get my pilot's license like I planned on doing when I was in high school before life happened...

Fly Away Home // July 18, 2010

Sometimes I just enjoy the simplicity of dresses. You can just put on a dress and be ready to go. I even avoided putting on a belt (which I do with most of my outfits). I love that dresses are pretty non-fussy and simple, as far as outfits go. I probably would've thought the exact opposite a few years ago, but time changes things. I'm glad I'm not the same person I was a couple years ago. It's so strange to think of all the things that happen to you which make you into the person you are. I always see things in terms of analogies, and the one that describes where I am now is that life is a road and I'm just at a pit stop, refueling and getting ready to get back on the road. It's been about a year long pit stop, so I'm ready to get back to the journey of life.

dress/courtesy of tigercult vintage :: shoes/courtesy of modcloth

This plane is actually my Dad's old Tripacer. We sold it after moving to Alaska back in the early 90's, but it's still right next to where he parks his 180. When I was a baby he used to take me flying in it. I think I'm the only one of the kids who remembers this plane. My brothers are probably too young, and one of them wasn't even born yet! At first I wasn't sure if this was the plane, but I remembered that someone had vandalized it back in the day, so there's a patch in the side from where they ripped it open to steal who knows what. It was kind of unintended, but I totally match the plane! I wonder if my dress is the same vintage as the plane too...

#FLASHBACKFRIDAY // red velvet if you please

his is probably an outfit I'd still wear, if I had that skirt still.  I've had the t-shirt since high school, it was something I grabbed from the little boy's section of Walmart, go figure.  And of course, my trusty Minnetonkas.  This outfit is from my visit to Elsie and Emma's Red Velvet vintage and cupcake shop in Springfield, MO when I was on my Brave trip.  It's crazy to think that it was 5 years ago when I rolled through town and parked my Winne down the street from Red Velvet and visited those ladies.  

Red Velvet If You Please // November 11, 2010

Yesterday I got to go to Red Velvet in Springfield, MO and hang out with Elsie and her sister Emma for the day! After seeing her posts on the shop grand opening, I thought to myself, "I wonder where she's located and if I can go visit!" Turns out, she wasn't that far away at all (I was in Arizona at the time), so I booked it across NM, TX, and OK to get to Red Velvet. It was worth the long days of driving, and I had the best time hanging out at the shop, seeing a bit of Springfield, getting smoothies with Elsie and pizza with Emma, and trying on adorable vintage dresses.

cardigan & tights/target :: top/walmart :: shoes/minnetonka

skirt/courtesy of Vintage Strings

Emma sent me home with some of her delicious cupcakes and I can't wait to have cupcakes for breakfast! Speaking of breakfast, I went to IHOP yesterday for breakfast, which is the first time I've eaten out on my own on this trip (not counting fast food, though I haven't really done that much either). Something about yesterday morning just made me want some major breakfast food, and to not have to make it myself. Also, I kind of slept in and check out at the campground was at 11 am. Not that I couldn't have still cooked myself breakfast, but something about IHOP was calling my name, and it doesn't often do that. Oh my goodness, I thought I was going to explode. Best/worst decision ever. So delicious. IHOP always makes me think of this bit by Jim Gaffigan. "I've never left there feeling like hopping... It should be called, 'IBarelyMove'" SO accurate.

In which Little Bit does not want to pose for photos. She was having the best time sniffing new smells, making friends with customers and wandering around Red Velvet all day. Consequently she was totally uninterested in doing anything I desired her to do.

Go check out Elsie's blog to see pictures of the Brave looking terribly cute sitting down the street from Red Velvet!

outfit shots by elsie!