white elephant

This is what I wore to a blogger potluck/white elephant hosted by Katie. In attendance were Christina of profreshstyle, Jennie of Going West, Erin of calivintage, Liz of Late Afternoon, Xtina of candybox, Ami of Song of Style, Brittany of Work It, Berk, and Helen of Chictopia. Liz has some pictures up here (where you can see Erin modeling my atrocious white elephant gift).

I had my two linguistics finals the day before, and my scene due before that, and my term paper before that, sooo the night before the party I was scrambling to find a gift and a vegan cupcake recipe. (Now that I know what goes into these, I don't think I could ever go vegan.)

Above, vegan cupcakes + powdered sugar, artfully sprinkled by my roomie. Theyhad been rolling around in their Pyrex container for several hours when this picture was taken. Also I ran out of flour halfway through the recipe and had to ask our neighbors for some.

This is the gift I ended up bringing. Unfortunately I didn't have enough foresight to photograph what I made before wrapping it, but Liz has a picture of Erin (sportfully) sporting the ugliest hair bow in existence.

Look how happy my little snowman is in his mini scarf!

That hairy/tinsel-esque fabric swatch on the outside of the package was supposed to be a preview of what was inside.

Basically I went into my craft box and found the ugliest fabric I owned, to sew into an unreasonably large hair bow, which I sewed and glued to a hair clip. I actually took this fabric from my high school's drama department when I worked on costumes there for tech in sophomore year. I recall my co-sweatshop-workers saying in response to "Hey do we need this or can I take it?" something like "I don't think - OH MY GOD, SAM! What are you going to do with that, build a space suit?!"

Yeah, not the most cooperative fabric. Our living room carpet was a hot hairy silver mess afterward:

I also rediscovered my Perler beads (yeah, baby) and made myself a double-C Chanel logo because I am the epitome of class:

Above, I probably left it under the iron for too long. I've never seen Perler beads melted so thin they become translucent like this.

I then attached my extra-classy fake logo to some ribbons and voila, CLASS!

Above, okay, a chunk of it fell off during the party so these pictures look sad. I can't even counterfeit properly!

Anyway, here's what I wore. (It was raining, and I don't know what that little chunk of hair is doing in the back of my head. Just chillin, probably.)

Totally fake Chanel necklace: ribbons + Perler beads, DIY. Black dress with pockets (!): Old Navy. White thermal: Old Navy. Bright red tights: H&M. Black flats: Steve Madden.

rararararara!

It's been quite a while since I've photographed my notes from class, so here are three gems:

Above, quoted from a linguistics discussion during the first week of classes, I think.

Above, murmured [h], also known as breathy [h], which is basically [h] in a bedroom voice, which our professor told us to think of "as deep moaning," and which I had to practice to get right. (But now I'm much better, so I can have a phone sex career, Connie!)

Above, check out that sample sentence, guys. Unexpected Harry Potter references make class that much more exciting.

Above, cookies from Jessica, because her mom and her mom's friends set up a system of cookie-baking to send en masse to their kids in college, where each mom baked one kind of cookie, then they combined all of them and sent out mixed bags to each child.

Above, our apartment's dinky Christmas tree, via Kim, which we never got around to making ornaments for, and which lacks a star so Minnie stuck a... I don't know what on the top.

Above, easily the cutest chocolate-dipped pretzels joyously covered in sprinkles ever, made by Kim.

And what has been making me act like a kid on Christmas/a kid in a candy store:

Above, our new front-load washer and dryer. BLISS! Thank you, Uncle JJ!

And an AIM excerpt, because it's been ages since I've even bothered to log on, and I have priceless friends:

L: i'll send an email out
L: i was supposed to today
L: but i got caught up in making instant noodles

And this:

E: but it was breast milk, instead of white people

let's talk pre-fall 2010 (deux)

All images ripped off style.com with little to no regret.

Above, from Oscar de la Renta. I find this utterly glorious not just because I love sheer dress collars, but because the entire dress is sheer and it's only those little red knobbly bits preventing this girl from parading down the runway nude.

Above, also Oscar de la Renta because I am totally feeling the printed scarf, and I find the printed coat over solid dress combination so visually interesting.

Above, the last Oscar, because white ruffled shirts always win in my book, and the cardigan is covered in ROCKS or something, and it totally reminds me of Emma from Glee.

Above, Zac Posen. There's something refreshingly put-together and deliberate about this. The neck-bow-tie thing, red lips, and pearl earrings are so ladylike (finally!), and the skirt length is perfect.

Above, from Pringle of Scotland because whether or not the collar/scarf is attached to the tunic or not, this silhouette is really effing badass, and the print is a brilliant combination of muted + sharp.

Above and below, really really really genius silhouettes from Pringle of Scotland.

And finally, a fantastic dress cut and fabric from Nicole Miller:

payday

Today I got a reality check.

Puppy Love

So you all know by now that I love to show off my hubby's amazing talents, so I have to show you this

Those are some dog portraits he's done for gifts for friends and commissions. So cute!!

:)

sequined chanel shirt: progress report

I tend to craft when I'm stressed. Thus, a post-finals progress report on the sequined Chanel logo shirt:

final(s) countdown

Here's what I wore for my first two finals and to get totally rained on. I don't know how some people can roll out of bed and show up for final exams, because I'm the kind of person who can't concentrate if I feel especially dirty or ugly or otherwise uncomfortable with how others perceive me. Which is why I always plan outfits the night before finals. And in order to kick ass, I even put on makeup that morning because applying mascara that will flake into my eyes halfway through the third short answer problem is the best way to be prepared for a test.

Useless information: I always wear Burberry London when doing significant things (including but not limited to major tests, potential romantic encounters, approaching intimidating people, and performances). Since smell is supposed to be the most powerful sensory memory trigger, I figure wearing the same perfume for all the Big Things in life will make me feel extra fierce. And it does.

Jacket: mother's. Light pink thermal: Old Navy, gift. Pink v-neck sweater: Target. Purple cardigan: Uniqlo. Jeans: Forever21. Rain boots: Hunter via Zappos. Convertible mittens: J. Crew.