10.10 // to the max ~ 48 degrees

It’s one of those deceptively nice days – the sun is shining, the sky is blue… the kind that makes you feel guilty for sitting inside (even if you aresick. again). But then when you look at the thermometer it reads 48 degrees… so you stay inside.
Except for taking outfit pictures. :P

dress, vest – target
belt – charlotte russe
shoes – payless
necklace – vint
earrings – f21

~ r

9.7 // Up too late on the last day of summer...

Yeah, I should’ve gone to bed about 55 minutes ago, but I got distracted… the new clothes hanging on my doors were irresistible. Despite the heat and humidity, I threw on my new buttery soft grey turtleneck and this cute little fur collar I got today over a black lace corset. (Something about the corset being hidden under such an innocuous piece, the grey turtleneck, makes me giggle. Teehee. That’s one article of clothing my dad definitely won’t reimburse me for…)

The weather today was definitely not summer weather. In fact, it seemed to be mocking all us poor suckers who are legally bound to dive back into the drudgery and tedium of school life. The only good thing about this time of year is… you guessed it!… the clothes. The delicious sweaters, the skirts and tights, the boots… I don’t know if it’s just fashion-obsessed ladies or girls in general, but it seems to me that the clothes make going back to school worth it. I know that it’s not just me who tries on fall stuff in the middle of July and envisions herself crunching through leaves in soft brown vintage leather boots while the fall sunlight perfectly highlights her hair… There’s something magical about the combination of fall weather and fall clothes. It fits so perfectly. The weather iscomfortable to wear stuff in: summer, it can easily be too hot or sticky, and winter can just be too damn cold, especially in Michigan. Spring’s pretty good, just tends to be slushy. So fall is perfect.

As you may have ascertained, I went shopping today – in F21, I took in about 20 things, came out with four: a Pink Floyd tee (I know, I actually bought a tee shirt. Weird. But it’s Pink Floyd.), a black lace corset (teehee), grey harem pants (that are ridiculously soft and comfy!), and a lovely gaudy gold flower ring. Grabbed my turtleneck and fur collar at H&M, and resisted a $60 fur vest… it wasn’t quite the perfect one I’m looking for (ridiculously puffy blonde Mongolian fur).

Sorry the pictures are complete crap…

crop top – UO
jeans – target
boots – gojane
hat – f21
necklace – vint

Haha I’m up way too late. Oh well. Getting up at 5:50 tomorrow, an hour less of sleep won’t make much difference at this point… I”m going to drag myself from 7:30 to 10:45, then take the bus home and most likely go back to sleep until XC. Haha. Damn. School. Night.

~ r

9.3 // communication breakdown

My alarm went off at 6:20. I quickly (groggily) turned it off and wondered, deep in the shadowy recesses of my mind, why the hell my alarm was going off. Then it came to me: cross country. 7 am. 15 minutes away. And I was giving B a ride. Damn.

I slept for another 5, then dragged my sore and weary self out of the warm comfort of my blankets. I pulled on sweats (I slept in my running stuff to save time and to ensure that I wouldn't accidentally throw on, say, dress pants instead of shorts in my early morning fog), found my flips, and headed out the door.

I picked B up and finally figured out how to turn off the windshield wipers as we pulled into the parking lot of the elementary school we were meeting at. We sleepily made faces at our friends in the car next to us; we wait in there until the last possible second so we don't freeze.

Around 6:55, we started looking around for our coach. Usually he's there about 5 minutes early, which means we have to leave our cars. We were thrilled that he wasn't there.

At 7, we wondered a little.

At 7:05, we were confused. B and I called K and A one car over. A got out and talked to some other poor souls who were waiting outside cars. She came back with bad news:

Practice was, in fact, at 8 am, not 7. And it was at the high school, not here.

Cue mass swearing and cursing our coach for lack of communication.

So we texted him, telling him we were here and were going to run. The main group took off and ran... I dunno, 7? 8? A and I went our own way, being injured, and ran a whopping 3 miles to the bakery, where we split a glazed donut. After we got back, our coach showed up with 3 boxes of donuts. We helped ourselves (after carefully wiping away any telltale leftover glaze bits).

And oh, around 8:30 the rest of the team showed up.

Ah, cross country, a wonderful thing.

A couple days ago I decided to play Parisienne in the cliche stripes + beret + skinnies. Donc... voici...

beret – target
stripes – ON
jean – JCP
bottes – payless
cardi – F21
colliers – vint

Avez un bon jour!

~ r

9.2 // starting september off right

Getting warmer, we’re in the 70s today (finally!).
XC meet tomorrow, first of the season. I ran a lot over the summer (sickness and injuries aside) and timed my 5K time to be about 22:15, and that was without an inhaler (= died at the end), so I’m really anxious about doing well tomorrow. We’re going over the course today at practice… eep.

shirt – older brother’s
belt – younger brother’s
shorts – UO
shoes – gojane
bracelet – some art fair
sunnies – mom’s 70s vint :D

Then there was this little guy under the bird feeder...

~ r

8.30 // photoshoot

very fallish weather recently. I like it.

~ r

8.29 // all cozied up

So it's been sort of chilly recently - more like late October than late August - but I've actually enjoyed it. The smell of fall always brings with it memories of cross country, raking leaves, pleasantly brisk mornings, boots and jeans, cosy sweaters, warm evenings...

And of course this fall, one of the things to wear is sweats and heels and a blazer, so I tried it out...

Once I get proper fall clothes, it'll be easier too.

boots - payless, sweats - target, blazer - vint, tee - random

~ r

PS: I finished Gone with the Wind... it was excellent! I really loved it.

8.10 // rummage sale wonders

Today was the first day of setup for our church rummage sale, which means the youth group sorts through everybody’s crap (read: candleholders, knit-covered hangers, foldable potty seats, muddy boots, etc.) and sets it up on lots of long tables. The vast majority of the stuff is clothes: lots and lots and lots of 80s suits and jumpers and generally ugly stuff.

Yeah. The vintage stuff we get is mostly smelly, hideous, XXL grandma-style laciness. You know, old church lady clothes.
The plus: they also tend to bring in – along with their oversize purple curtain-pattern vests, ziplock bags full of vintage jewelry, aka fantastic rings and funky 80s necklaces. Oh, that and I scrounged up a pair of levi’s cutoffs, which are a tad snug but hey, they’re free!

skirt – ON
scarf – orchid lane
shoes – vint?
necklace, rings, skinny bracelet – vint!
cuff, earrings – F21

I couldn't get good ring shots by myself, so I had my little brother wear them like I was, haha...

Well, those two were on me... haha.

And from yesterday, aka The Day of the Longest Mass EVER (not really, but really)

[I was sitting happily at home, content in the rain outside and me in my fashion grotto inside, when I was told we’d be attending church tonight instead of tomorrow morning. I threw this on (plus a sweater that only detracts from it, hence its exclusion) and was basically called a prostitute. I ask you, what’s wrong with this? How is it whorish? I simply don’t understand my parents’ brains.

Dress – F21
bag – charlotte russe
heels – vint
scarf (as belt) – orchid lane]

OK, I'm off to, umm... do stuff. Ciao.

~ r

8.7 // post-war-zone

I just got back from a veritable war zone - babysitting for my neighbor's three boys (plus a puppy). This begs the question: why do people have kids, knowing that that's what they're in for? Sleepless nights, endless shrieking, always working...? Doesn't sound fun. I told her (upon her arrival home) that I'd probaby just get some cats or something. Kids, not so much.
She asked if I'd be back, and I smiled and said yes, of course I would - but if it were anyone but her, I don't think I would. It's not that her kids are bad; they youngest was just very, very energetic and awake (and young - not even 2). It's just not my cup of tea.

Also.
People say fate's a bitch, but so is the Queen of Bad Haircuts. Yes, I got my hair cut today. It's not bad per se, it's just shorter than I'd like. It's still long, but not as long as before (which tends to happen at haircuts). I have yet to experiment in all the ways my hair behaves... today was the hydrate/gel/scrunch routine (curly, but not really my type of curly - I like more loose, easy, natural curls nearing tendrilly waves; these were sort of gel-shiny and tight). LeRoy (my stylist)(hair cutter person, whatever) and I joked about getting my hair bleached blonde and permed into 80s hair; a pretty 30-something vehemently objected, not knowing we were only joking. "Don't let her do it!" she interjected from under the dryer.

Sooo yeah. That was my day. Super exciting. No run, no biking, no abs, no weights... a total fatty day. I had ice cream at lunch and some ranch chips while I was babysitting. Yumm.

Wore this Terminator-esque dress/jacket today. (Must admit, I wore sweats and a tank to get my hair cut. Yeah.)

OK, sleep now.

~ r

8.1 // last grad party of the season

Finally, the last grad party of the season has come and gone. Unfortunately, it was a little drizzly, but we managed to last long into the night anyway. Needless to say, I was the only one wearing heels (although I will admit, after 11 I slipped into some comfy loose jeans and adidas flips… I was chilly and I didn’t want my clothes to get all smoky from the bonfire).

Grad parties around here (the middle of nowhere, just east of hell) tend to include food, swimming, volleyball, and bonfires; anyone who does more is considered (unspokenly, of course) either (a) a show-off/prat, (b) spoiled, or © simply out of the loop.

shorts and hat – F21
shoes – ?? vint?
tee – UO
scarf (on hat) – vint

~ r

Catching up: photoshoot with chris from june

Back in June one night, I was messing around with my sarongs and came up with this... I asked my brother (photog extraordinaire, website here) to snap a few, and he turned it into an impromptu photoshoot. Soooo yeah.


My computer's being annoying and not uploading anything, to here, chictopia, or otherwise. So.
That's all.

got a bit, ermmm, gussied up for school today… out lunch table had a bona fide indoors picnic, which got some stares, as per usual. (we gave our leftovers to the principle & other officials… haha)
really, really nice day. later changed into cutoffs and a scarf-gone-drapey-top(-which-presents-some-difficulties-with-wind-if-not-worn-with-a-bra).
went to another deliciously fun outdoors party/bonfire/riotous game of capture-the-flag (complete with wardrobe malfunction, ugh!)… and, of course, eating too many marshmallows. running up and down a 1/4-mile long “mountain” (hill) in the morning to work it off, haha.

dress – f21
scarves – orchid lane
shoes – ??

soooo sleepy. nighty night.

oh, did i mention i am really, really sick of school? my brain is fried. totally, utterly blank. the theory of ‘being smart’ and ‘gaining knowledge’ at the end of the year is utter BS. everyone is dumb by june. someone asked me what 2 + 3 was and I said 6, and i am not a stupid person.
so there.

~ r

5.13 // i will walk along the black muddy river...

Another pretty nice day… experimenting with oversize tank + knot + highwaisted shorts = success, I think :)

shorts – DIY cutoffs (levi’s boys, I think)
tank & bra – F21
guitar – music man :)
glasses – claire’s

~ r

5.12 // navy girl, yogurt cat

Yeah, that’s actually navy, but the colouring’s a bit off. Really gorgeous day, although I ended up spending about 1 1/2 hours trying to get my stupid cat out from under the porch. Long story short, it resulted in my knees getting loads of really, really tiny woodchips embedded in them, my arms all scratched up, and my cat covered partially in yogurt. Super fun.

skirt – ON
pashmina – orchid lane
shoes – gojane
socks – target
necklace – F21

flats - target
cat - hell :P (i love him)

~ r

5.04 // absentee post (sort of)

hola, bonjour, ciao, salut, etc...
haven't been on here in ages due to a silly CAMERA MALFUNCTION. again. I think I might need a new one...
Still haven't run - my hip's still, STILL, messed up.

I got back from PA lateish yesterday, but stayed up till about 12:30 typing up my notes I took from my grandfather's stories about the coal mines and being in the Navy... cool stuff. A quote:

"Back in those days, all you had to do was put on your [Navy] uniform and stand on the side of the road, not even stick out your thumb or nothing, and someone'd pull over and say, 'Where to, sailor?' ...The uniform meant a lot more back then."

Pretty cool. He talked about about two hours with me scribbling furiously while he talked of Hong Kong orphan girls, submarine tests, and rats in mines. Of course, I later found out that my parents had heard all of it before and could've told them to me later... oh well, I enjoyed it. I'm thinking about emailing him (if I think he can handle it) and getting more details... he hitchhiked from San Diego to DC to Pennsylvania - to visit his girlfriend (my g-ma) and back to CA. Dude. Life just isn't that cool anymore.

Outfit du jour: new(ish) target knit skirt, super comfy for my slacker days (I'm definitely getting at least one more of those...), H&M tank (also super comfy), and wedges that are a bit too big for me (not quite so comfy, but they look cool).

Oh, F21 ring as well. Really it's purple, but it turned out pinkish in this. It's the same colour of my shirt. I matched today. :D

~ r