lands end cowled sweater – thrifted brown tee – canvas cords – target booties
this sweater is shockingly warm considering its short sleeves. it’s like wearing a soft alpaca coccoon. this is the outfit i wore for thanksgiving. warm, comfortable, no restrictive waist bands… but i don’t feel frumpy or schleppy.
i only just discovered that my hair was long enough to do heidi braids. i’ve tried them before, and the braids wouldn’t connect at the top. and the non-braided part of my hair would rumple up in a fashion i didn’t enjoy at all. i finally figured out the right combination of factors to kind of control that: make a really tight base to the braid, and don’t braid down (which is my instinct), but braid out/up from your head, as if you’re trying for a pippi longstocking look. it kind of grooms your hair in the direction you want it to go, i guess? i’m definitely feeling like i never talk about hair stuff right now. i have very little vocabulary to implement!
when it gets a little longer, i’ll be able to tuck the ends in a little better. i couldn’t find my usual brown bobby pins, only these cheerful red ones!
i never actually picked 15 items. i just kind of worked my way up to 12 and never expanded from there.
most valuable player- definitely goes to my thrifted cole haan loafers. i wore them for 12 out of the 15 outfits. next highest was my cream skirt, which i wore five times.
most versatile- goes to my j. crew dress, which i wore as a dress, a skirt twice, and a shirt once.
least valuable- (but only in the context of this remix) my floral blouse. i wore it twice. i did think about pairing it with my orange cords but i just never quite got around to it.
i was using this remix to test whether or not the polka dot blouse was gonna stay with me in the long run, and while i find it stylistically fantastic, i’m just not a fan of the fabric, and the way it gaps.
i really like the palette of this remix. a lot of these are my old stand-by’s, colorwise: blue, black, grey, brown, cream, but spiced up with occasional hints of peach, orange & yellow.
2, 4, and 13 are my favorite outfits, but i really liked this whole remix.
thrifted j. crew dress, purse – forever 21 belt, shoes – anthropologie skirt
maybe this shouldn’t be the case by now, but i’m always a little surprised at the versatility of dresses in remixes. maybe it’s because with pants or blouses, i feel like i can only really wear them a couple of ways. but i rarely test the flexibility of a dress until i remix it.
in this remix, this one has been worn as a dress, a skirt (twice), and now a blouse. not too shabby, eh?
when we were in st. louis at the end of may, i got a grilled cheese sandwich at an irish pub for lunch, and it was the most amazing and delicious grilled cheese, with two kinds of cheddar, guinness caramelized onions, and goat cheese! the sharpness of the different cheeses was so good with the sweet onions. so two nights ago i copy-catted (kinda) their idea…
i was too hungry to go find the real camera… and to wait to test it until after i’d taken a picture! i grilled up some onions, slowly over low heat. i didn’t have enough time to properly caramelize them (did i mention the hunger?), and used a sharp white cheddar and goat cheese. NOM! absolutely wonderful. now i’ll have to try it with caramelized onions! and figure out what they mean by the guinness thing. just simmered in guinness, do you reckon?
gifted hat – thrifted belt, loafers, shirt – canvas cords
two things are for sure: i am having a major hat moment. they are my favorite flourish to add to an outfit. plus they were great in new mexico for keeping that gorgeous amazing bright sun off of my uber-pale skin. love the sun, but skin cancer? not so much.
the other thing: yeah, this shirt didn’t make the cut. sorry, shirt, i like you in theory, but not in reality. the space between the buttons is a little wide, and they keep gapping and framing bits of my torso that i really just prefer to remain covered. i’m not trying for a peek-a-boo game with my belly button, oddly enough. i chose not to show the photos that illustrate this, for what i believe to be self-evident reasons, so just take my word for this. this remix was it’s last shot, because i love the polka dots and the tie neck. alack the day. now i’m in the market for a new polka dot shirt!
target scarf – thrifted j. crew cardigan – crewcuts chambray
rummaged liz claiborne purse – canvas cords – forever21 yellow shoes
when you’re working with a limited closet, sometimes there are going to be variations on a theme. i love this color combo; pumpkin spice orange, grainy denim, and mustard. it deserves many repetitions.
last night was super excellent. we went to chicago’s ribfest, more for the music than the ribs:
mucca pazza! here, quick, watch this if you can:
stolen from mucca pazza’s youtube channel, click through for source!
the sound quality is not amazing, but it gives you a fabulous idea of their theatricality, energetic, boisterous, engaging quality. jake and i make a point of seeing them when we can, and if you get an opportunity yourself, obviously i would recommend it!
then ribs, some 312, and hanging out with friends! (slightly less picasso-ed in real life than this pic ^_^)
have a great weekend, guys!
target black tee – rummaged silk scarf, purse – forever21 orange belt – j crew navy cords – ebay cole haan loafers
this is a classic example of ‘it worked better in my head’. not that there’s anything wrong with this outfit, but in my mind it was much more dynamic, the bright orange playing nice with the navy of the cords, perfectly backdropped by a classic black tee. then i put it on, and it was slightly more ‘meh’ than all that. now that i’ve sat here picking this apart, i think there are two things that might have changed it: 1) if the scarf was chunkier, like the outfit inspiration, and 2) if the contrast between my light & bright scarf and the black tee weren’t so high, they might not fight each other as much.
i’m over thinking this, you say? you are probably right. ^_^
today we’re stuck with cell phone pictures! so i thought i’d just roll with it and show you some recent things i’ve captured on my cell phone from this last weekend:
we drove out to the family farm in the evening, and the last light in the sky looked like a munch painting i once saw in LA. or, i thought it was a munch, but several google searches have yielded nothing, so i’m wondering if it was just a painting that reminded me very much of a munch? but it wasn’t actually his work? the quality is terrible, of course, because cell phone + no light + moving car, but i still think it captures something of the sky.
i was so blissed out, tromping around the farm in my new yellow boots, and dipping them in the pond had a lovely cooling effect.
in the afternoon it rained lightly while still being very sunny, which is so very cool looking!
this area has a lot of antique stores, which i loooove to spend time in, digging around and looking at curiosities. i found many fabulous things, but i didn’t end up buying anything. i thought these brass horn rimmed glasses were pretty fun.
one of the views on the ride home. it was a bummer driving there in the dark because the drive itself is so lovely. so we left a little early to make sure our drive home was in daylight. this is one of many lovely vistas.
thrifted cowl, j crew cardigan – target black tee – canvas orange cords – ebay vintage cole haans
i went to my favorite rummage sale early this month with a limited budget and a fairly small list. i’m trying to be selective about what i bring home. so i was in the room dedicated to purses, scarves and women’s hats, and i was looking for a cross body purse (i found one. the one that you’ve been seeing practically every recent outfit post except for this one), but i am really not in need of any scarves (my collection is ample). but i decided to take a peek through one of the dozen or so boxes just to see what there was. after lightly peeking through 1 box, i had three scarves that i knew i wouldn’t leave without. i called it at that point in time. i didn’t allow my eyes to so much as settle on any other boxes full of scarves. and then i found a hat on the way out of that room. that’s a dangerous section for me, apparently!
this scarf was from that box. i couldn’t tell it was a cowl until i got home. it was just a huge soft heathered grey jersey and i knew i wanted that.
i should really wear more scarves…
in other food news:
i’ve been trying to become better acquainted with my cast iron skillet. everyone has different methods of dealing with cast iron skillets, and i’ve been reading them as i encounter them, so i became kind of intimidated by its ‘needs’. i’ve decided that’s silly, just bite the bullet (what a weird phrase!), get to know my particular skillet. jake and i have been working our way through a particularly cheap 5 lb bag of potatoes, and i’ve been perfecting the breakfast scramble. so this is potatoes, scrambled eggs, onion, red pepper, and soyrizo topped with cheddar. plus toast, of course. delicious!
two questions: do you guys have any tips or thoughts about cast iron skillets? and second-of-ly would you be interested in a blogpost of tips for rummage sale-ing?
thrifted hat, blazer – crewcuts chambray – forever 21 belt, shoes – j. crew navy cords
it’s been a while since we did a ‘steal this style‘ feature. i actually took some pictures for one a laughably long time ago. i think i’ll do a ‘spring cleaning week’ after the remix, where i post on some older stuff that just got buried. but here’s a contemporary one. this is chyna! she always looks supremely comfortable and pulled together, which is a look i love.
buffalo exchange sundance sweater jacket, lucky jeans, steve madden purse
forever21 chambray – steven’s rocks & gifts necklace – target brown wingtips
she also has been working on getting a seriously gorgeous tattoo. i’ll try to grab some pics of her when she’s wearing short sleeves!
anybody have a mad crush on this amazing long sweater? i feel like julie’s velvet morning pattern or kirsten kapur’s andokides jackets could be modified into a similar garment…
thrifted/gifted scarf, gap tee, grey blazer – canvas navy chinos – target shoesies
and then i told a story. it was witty. and dramatic. you were moved. maybe to tears? wow. the power of words, amirite?
no guys, i got nothing. i got no words today. i’ll get back to you later. in the mean time: more pictures!
plus KITTY PICTURE:
jake is pretty sure this is the best picture he’s ever taken. another gem from him is that he thinks amirite sounds like a gem. see what i did there? haha. maybe from the beryl family. like 50% of all gems are in the beryl family….
yay! i finished the slippers in time to sneak them in as the final FO of 2012!
kiki’s slipper socks <–ravelry project page
pattern: on-your-toes by ann budd
yarn: cascade yarn ecological wool, maybe a half skein? maybe less? somewhere in the neighborhood of 230 yards? also elitespun fingering weight yarn in lava for the embroidered contrast to sew on the slipper bottoms.
needles: US size 8 (5mm)
on-your-toes is my default sock pattern. toe up, with handy-dandy charts for practically every size foot and every gauge of knitting. i have used it as the basis for four pairs of socks now (some cloudy day, pink explosion slipper socks, the ground beneath my feet, and these), and if i ever want to modify any other patterns, i tend to reference it for any potential gauge changes.
i finished knitting these up at the end of last year. basic toe-up pattern in a heavier weight yarn (i treat this yarn like it’s aran, because that’s kind of how it acts). lots of ribbing at the top, and a sewn tubular bind-off. after finishing the knitting, they got put to the side, which is an unfortunate pattern i sometimes have… but i ordered some slipper bottoms through my local yarn store, and it took a while to figure out what color would provide a good counterpoint to the slightly different grey tones. (okay, so i asked kiki.)
a note about slipper bottoms: i got them an inch longer than the recipients feet, so that feet + sock + the slippers could all fit within them and comfortably move around. then it was kind of a hassle to stretch the slippers to that length to sew them in, even though they stretched easily enough on the foot. also, i went for a less decorative stitch the first couple of tries, but it looked uneven. the blanket stitch actually helped a lot in terms of keeping it tidier.
kitty photobomb! baiza’s resentment that our little photoshoot interrupted her napping is palpable! sorry, baiza! gotta go where the sunshine is!
ifandany 
