hesitation, for now

Until I have enough time to queue up blog posts, here's a quote from whatever Oprah's magazine is called, because she's like... Gala Darling but black and in print and on TV instead of online, and more single-mom and less single-ladies, but she knows her stuff just as well:

RL girlcrush alert!

This is what my GSI wore to class yesterday. She looks kind of like Uma Thurman. Her drapey cardigan + floral scarf + giant gray-green ring (+ Uma Thurman legs) just about slew me. (Slew is a word, right? Yes.)

[product information]

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

Sooooo I'm not going to go into how I got this bag exactly, but I was really excited to get hooked up with it. It's Givenchy and it's way out of my price range. The leather is amazing- the picture doesn't really do it justice.

I think I've posted these old boots before but I still love them. They're Betsey Johnson from at least 3 years ago... I really like how the boots bend into my jeans, and I love their classic vintage shape.

(top- F21, jeans- JBrand, boots- Betsey Johnson, bag- Givenchy)

When Water Attacks!

STORM WATCH 2010!

Stupid rain.

It was only sprinkling when I got dressed and I felt like a smart ass when I pulled these shoes out. "I'll put on my rain pumps" I chuckled to myself...

Good traction on these babies. Talk about non-slip, right?

Then came the rain...

Time for a little change of clothes.

I love any excuse to wear my Harajuku Lovers Rain boots. I hardly ever wear shoes I designed because for some reason it feels pretty cheesy, but these are so cute and technically I didn't "design" them cause kick ass Jolie designed the print on them.

ANYWAY...

I guess the rain isn't so bad as long as I'm prepared and my hair is covered. ;)

(tights- Urban Outfitters, skirt- BP, sweater- J.Crew, hoodie and boots- Harajuku Lovers, heels- YSL, belt- found in a market in rural China... seriously)

torment is a pair of

Above, Carine Gilson silk & lace shorts, $355 at net-a-porter

Not that this is anywhere within my price range, but this overpriced flimsy piece of nothing just knows I started a shopping ban. Dammit. Never trust a ho.

PSA: Fear of Failure

Dear 2.5 readers,

The past two weeks or so's posts have all been scheduled. I am now out of scheduled posts. I will post (and reply to comments, and remember to bathe, et cetera) when I am done catching up with school and life. Until then.

Love LOVE love,
Samantha

operation: salvage wardrobe

So like every other college student (and every other person right now) I'm trying to cut back on expenses. And by "cut back on expenses," I don't mean "buy more expensive stuff because it lasts longer" or even "clip coupons." I mean 6-month shopping ban #2.

Since my first one was largely successful, I figure this one'll be easy, especially because this year I'm actually looking at how much money I'm spending and draining my family of to pay for food, rent, utilities, tuition, books, and transportation. Clothes don't even fit into that picture.

However, I have a very specific list of exceptions this time, including...

• a serious trench coat (because wet thighs are really uncomfortable, and a good trench should last forever)
• shorts to wear under skirts (because mine are from my uniformed Catholic school days, and they're in tatters)
• washable shorts in winter materials (for rainy days when I don't feel like a skirt)
• a hat that looks good (because my hair looks like death, and because I haven't found a hat that looks good on me yet)

I'm also extending the shopping ban to non-replacement cosmetics because I have been surprisingly spendy lately, and makeup is so perishable.

So no spending money on clothing, accessories, or makeup until July 25, 2010, with the listed exceptions. Oh, am I going to regret this.

Unfortunately, in conjunction with my shopping ban, I decided to ruthlessly clean out my closet, which left me with this:

A large portion of which are pajamas. So I went back to my To Dump pile and am now trying to salvage everything I can, lest my wardrobe become so small I can't go more than a week without doing laundry. The first victims of Operation: Salvage Wardrobe are this small pile of Clothes I Am Not Enthused With:

I'm still trying to think of different ways to style or repurpose them. In the meantime, I'm beading this cardigan:

And I have made these three skirts 8392753 times more wearable and 198735 times less likely to get caught between my legs while I'm walking by adding linings:

Avert your eyes, children! This is RISQUÉ!

older women

As previously mentioned, my aunt decided to run her old clothes by me before giving them away. It was glorious, like the chocolate-covered, custard-filled cupcakes my apartmentmate made the other day, or like shopping for free.

Anyway, I am now the proud owner of a bright red jacket:

I also put on my United Colors of Benetton blouse with giant sleeves, but it wasn't ridiculous enough yet, so I added my grandma's scarf, with the result that today's outfit is an amalgam of OLDER WOMEN!

There's no way to escape shoulder pads when the piles I'm picking through are from the late 80s and early 90s.

Red jacket: hand-me-down, aunt's. White blouse: United Colors of Benetton. Green thermal: macy's. Printed scarf: grandmother's. Jeans: Levi's. Saddle shoes: Payless.

12 of my favorite bits of internet wisdom (so far)

Here are quotes taken out of 12 of my favorite bits of the internet, as I have traversed it so far, written by people far wiser than I. If you have time, I suggest reading the entire pieces.


Assume rapport.

via The Positivity Blog's 16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School

There’s nothing like a fledgling romance to make life shiny & new again! Oh, the excitement! The deciphering of text messages… the thrill of getting to know each other… the glee as you discuss it all endlessly with your best friend!

via iCiNG's 10 Ways To Snap Yourself Out Of A Slump

Get some exercise — fun exercise. Put on your favourite Bollywood movie & dance around your living room.

via iCiNG's 50 Ways To Rescue The Worst Day Ever

Order delivery food, just to bask in the glory of the fact that if you pay people, they will come to your door. With food. Warm, good food.

via iCiNG's 100 Things To Do When You're Upset (The Sad Trombone List)

The primary disadvantage of a non-technical major is that people who know you will often give you flak about majoring in something 'useless' or 'impractical'. You will more likely have to defend your choice of major to your parents, relatives, friends, and even people you meet at cocktail parties. This is especially true when you are young and without a steady career under your belt; there is a heavier burden on you to show that you can make something of your life and career relying primarily on soft skills. On the upside, if you are older and already established in your respective career path, then nobody could care less that you majored in 14th Century Pottery.

via Philip Guo's Which college major should I choose? (or 'why is my kid majoring in the humanities?')

If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.

via Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman in the World via Just be spLendid

Practice the art of radical exclusion with people who waste your time.

via The Art of Non-Conformity's How To Be Awesome

Count to ten before you say something you regret- and if you are still mad, count higher.

via It's like I'm... mmmagic!'s Lessons from someone with a better shoe collection than me

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with books on algebra etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the creative bug is just a wee voice telling you, "I'd like my crayons back, please."

via Gapingvoid's how to be creative

A PAIR OF MAD SUNGLASSES: They should be too mad to go on a date in, but just mad enough to feel liberated.

via the Times Online's 50 things every British girl should have

don’t drown in your own fear.

via queen gilda's coming out of the closet

Ask for help. It’s possible you’ll get turned down. It’s even more likely that you’ll feel vulnerable and exposed. Do it anyway.

via yes and yes's 10 Truths I Wish I'd Known Sooner

cupro

While browsing the Forever21 site, I noticed this pair of Cupro Blend Shorts:

Above, Cupro Blend Shorts, $22.80 at Forever21

Naturally, I said to myself, "Self. What the hell is cupro?"

Thanks to Google and the Silk Road website, I now know that cupro is a fabric that behaves like cotton (breathable and wrinkle-resistant) but feels like silk (or baby butts). Like rayon, it is made from reprocessed cellulose, but unlike rayon, it isn't a synthetic fiber. Actually, it's not considered man-made either, since it's just a processed form of wood/cotton. Bizarre, Forever21. Bizarre.

Your Inner Stripper?

I've always had a sort of fascination with stripper heels. Yes, they're trashy and skanky, obviously... but there's something great about them too. Vertigo inducing height, usually involving lucite, almost always sexy. Am I alone here?

I was very excited to see Fendi's new stripper inspired heels and am smitten with them. I love how the first ones are covered up in contrast to the sexy skinny heel and lucite platform. Very naughty.

And the nude color on these are just ridiculous. These are probably insanely sexy on the foot.

I want. I need.

my ugly sweater-baby

My aunt was going to give away a pile of clothes, but she decided to run them by me first. Hand-me-downs are my favorite thing next to Cory Monteith eating that chicken sandwich and the little boy seeing lobsters for the first time. This is how I ended up with this abomination of a sweater:

It has dolman sleeves and shoulder pads, and features faux fur, metallic embroidery, and quilting. Like a mother with an ugly child, I have lovingly taken this sweater into my fold and declared it part of my family wardrobe.

Sweater abomination: hand-me-down, aunt's. Black patent skinny belt: from a top, mother's. Thermal top: JC Penney. Skinny jeans: Levi's. Flat oxfords: Payless. Scarf: gift, Disneyland probably.

ma-scare-a

Reading this article by Sonja on TheCoveted, in conjunction with it being a new year and all, I decided to finally chuck my old makeup. I'd heard about it being unsafe to use old makeup before, but the last time I cleaned out my makeup bag was in junior year of high school, when I said goodbye to a drawer full of Lip Smackers and Bonne Bell.

I have just thrown away...

Victoria's Secret body spray, of the variety that some girls decided could double as deodorant after PE, Aveeno self-tanner that makes my legs an unnatural shade of brown, three bottles of Victoria's Secret lotion that could probably be used as household inhalants, my YSL mascara, which was godly and non-clumping but is old, a bare escentuals lipliner that was extremely drying and which I used as eyeliner at one point, Lancome's Fatale mascara, which is completely useless and kind of dangerous, two heavily-scented lotions from Canada's Buchart Gardens from a family trip in 2007?, a Bath & Body Works gift lotion that smells like burning plastic mixed with fruit, old sample Clinique makeup, including a liquid lipstick in a shade called "Plushy" which is really sexy, if you can say that about a lip color, Maybelline Great Lash, which is, like some people, extremely flaky, an old Origins lip gloss from high school, which is really cute for holiday season but a little too nightwalker for daytime, some old nude lipstick that smells heavenly but I never used because honestly I don't need to look more pale, and CoverGirl foundation, which I never used for foundation because it is ridiculously obvious-looking.

And now my makeup bag is reduced to...

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner, which has an amazing consistency, Rimmel eyeliner, which has a horrible consistency but isn't old enough to justify throwing away yet, Wet 'n' Wild lip gloss with chunks of glitter, because sometimes I like to look like I'm 12, C. O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine, because it's the adult version of glitter and tastes delicious, MAC Slimshine in Swelter, because it is my holy grail of lip color, three Burt's Bees, although I only use Rhubarb, Maybelline blush, for when I want to look less sickly, Wet 'n' Wild lipstick that is obnoxiously bright, Wet 'n' Wild lipstick that is obnoxiously dark, two Burt's bees lip balms, a very pretty balm/gloss from Ananda Organics, a bronze lipstick from Benefit that I never use but is too new to justify throwing away, and Rosebud Salve because I love me a greasy lip balm.

I also wanted to see if mascara really is about the brush, so I cleaned off all my mascara wands to compare.

Above, Clinique.

Above, also Clinique.

Above, Lancome's Fatale.

Above, Maybelline Great Lash.

Above, YSL.

So from my experience with mascara (admittedly, it is a limited one, as my eyelashes are naturally fairly long and mostly need curling, not volume or length), the brush makes all the difference in the world. Honestly, I can barely tell what the difference is between Maybelline Great Lash and my YSL mascara, other than the price. Sure, Maybelline flakes after a shorter time, so there must be some difference in formula quality, but they add about the same color, length, and volume to my eyelashes. And if you look at the YSL and Great Lash brushes, they have the same shape. Maybe it only happens to be suited for girls who need curl (and nothing else), but it's the brush, the BRUSH!

I would like to justify my claim with a quote from a previous mini-review of Lancome's Fatale mascara, which has the stupid triangular monster plastic wand:

"Even after watching numerous instructional YouTube videos and actually stabbing myself in the eye with the mascara wand, I haven't figured out how to use this without ending up looking like I have 6 eyelashes. At least it was free from that cosmetics settlement thing."

There you have it. My face paint.

Gaga Cookies...

Just wanted to share with you 'cause it's just too amazing not to.

COOKIE POST