Wheel of Fashion

Fashion has always been an interest of mine, but never a forte. When I was in Elementary school--we're talking mid-90's, so you can guess where this is going--my go-to was a giant sweatshirt I had borrowed-with-hardly-any-intention-of-returning from Mom's closet and a pair of stretch-pants. They may be called leggings now, but they were AWFUL when I chose to wear them, and I loved them. I also loved matching turtleneck and stirrup stretchpant combos as well, but I do NOT want to talk about that. I'd accompany this with a picture but Google won't even produce an image that awful. To assist your imagination, I present you a similar black-and-white version:

via US Prison Culture

Seriously.

Before I was allowed to pick my own wardrobe disasters, I had a pair of green jeans. THEY WERE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. I hated them, and only wore them a couple times, but their memory stuck with me.

Recently, pictures like this started coming up all over the internet:

 cheyenne meets chanel // brooklyn blonde

Bitersweet Colours // kendi everyday 

I was terrified.
 I resisted this trend for a long time (even if I secretly really liked it) because of those green jeans from Elementary School. However, I recently caved and bought a few pairs. They were on sale, so I figured I had nothing to lose :)

And, you know what? I love them this time around.

Are there any trends you're seeing out there today that were "in" when you were younger? How do you feel about it? I'm remembering jean jackets, faux fur collars, overalls, and neon, to name a few...

Good Friday.

Happy {GOOD} Friday, friends! It's been a long but great week, and I'm definitely ready for the weekend.  Three quick things that make me happy today:

~one~
Wednesday night's pretty salon hairdo for no reason at all {which then justified a swanky night out}!

 {snazzy blow out courtesy of Shine Montecito. They did my hair for our wedding, too!}

The bummer was that we did a workout video {involving lots of jumping and leaping and sweating and crying on my part} after the date, which resulted in absolute destruction of said hairdo.

 ~two~ Afternoon dates with my laundry machine AND a day off. Laundry is NEVER a thing to be celebrated, but this is getting ridiculous. I am conquering this mountain TODAY.    ~three~ It's Good Friday. What more needs to be said? Looking forward to celebrating the REAL reason for the Easter season with my family this weekend (because while pastel colors, fluffy bunnies, and cadbury eggs are great and all, there's a much more powerful reason to celebrate this Sunday)  :)

{taken Easter Sunday, 2009, Chiang Mai, Thailand}
Also, I'm working on streamlining everything on the 'ol blog! If you're a regular reader, you've probably noticed gradual changes over the last week or so. I'm slowly but surely working out the kinks of html coding, so bear with me! I've created a DIY and {very short} Recipe archive at the top banner so you can keep up with projects you might have missed.  AND, to top it all off, the adorable Melissa from Cherry On Top Design made me a cute signature for my posts. :) {hi Melissa!}

 

The little bits, both awkward and awesome

A little bit Awkward

• Sitting on a cafeteria chair without looking. That in and of itself is a pretty awkward thing to do. Not noticing that the chair had been already occupied by a giant spider before sitting down? Even worse. At least I was wearing dark jeans, because spider guts on my new white pants would have added insult to injury ;)
• Hearing the sprinklers start to warm up as I'm halfway across a massive expanse of lawn. There was no escape.
• Also, Husband shut the garage door on my car this morning!!! What the heck!? haha it was more funny than anything; he had bumped against the button on his rearview mirror as I was backing out, and it barely grazed the fabric of the top, but still. I guess it could have been worse.

A little bit Awesome

• The fact that I've kept this "Awkward and Awesome" thing going strong for 12 straight weeks. I'm actually pretty impressed with my dedication; normally I lose interest with stuff like this. 
• "Seeing" two of my long-distance best friends from College in one weekend (one via skype, the other for a quickie lunch). Win.
• {Sort of} keeping up with video #2 of husbands kill-me-now workout program. Okay I made it through about half of it. But I can't move today.
• SPENDING THE WEEKEND WITH MY FAM! Stoked. I know I said it last week, but it's still true.
• No more construction by our home! No more 6am jackhammering or creepy construction workers ogling us {yes, both of us} when we take out the garbage, whoo hoo! Also,  it's now an even shorter and less sketchy walk to this {always a plus}:

How has your week been? What are you looking forward to?

Spam 'n Eggs

Something has happened to the world of email/text messages/phones. What the heck is up with all the spam!?! I get random spam text messages at 4am, scores of spam emails weekly, and my phone will NOT stop ringing about my credit score! This is ridiculous.


Did you know that this kind of communication is called "Spam" because of this video? It's Monty Python and therefore is pretty annoying, be forewarned.

Something about both spam email and the lunch mean being "ubiquitous and unavoidable" (according to the Spam Wiki page, so who knows how reliable that is). Regardless of its actual origins, I relate to the poor people in The Flying Circus wanting nothing to do with spam. Both kinds.

However, sometimes, spam is quite entertaining, and this past week was a week of exceptionally amusing spam email. To avoid another dang virus I didn't open any of these dang things, but there is still plenty to pick apart with the subject lines:

"Your email has been picked to receive $2 million dollars!" 

Interesting, what's my email going to do with that kind of money?

"$500 towards your FREE Kindle Fire!" 

Oh, cool! They're giving me money to spend on something that's free. 

And even if that "free" part was a typo, the Fire costs less than $200 bucks. Explain.

"Spy Gear and Surveillance Equipment!"
Great idea! I'd love to buy sensitive spy equipment from a company that sells and/or buys my contact information. 

"Bad credit? Get a loan TODAY!" 

Haha, I love this one, self-fulfilling prophesy? (and obviously, they don't read my blog, because my credit ROCKS).

"Personal prediction from World Renowned astrologer" 

...a super-personal mass-email, with no name.

And of course, there are the dating ones:

"Meet local singles!""Marry for money!" "Find hot dates over 50!" "Sell your Eggs for CASH!"

Seriously, it's like they read my mind; how do they know me so well (not)?! 
And are the dates over 50, or are they claiming to be able to get me dates when I'm 50?
And the Egg one, haha! How did they know they got a girl's email address? Or were they talking about chicken eggs?

It made me smile on a hazy Wednesday.
Do you ever get a kick out of spam emails? 

Neon Stone Necklace // diy

Neon is HUGE right now, and I completely LOVE it {that could be because I blessedly missed the neon-soaked 80's}. However, as much as I like to bust myself out of my wear-mostly-neutrals rut, I don't really want to go out dressed like a highlighter.

That's where accessories come in! Here are a couple I am currently drooling over:

 Kate Spade, $278 // Kendra Scott via Nordstrom, $118 // Jcrew, $150

Some more {slightly cheaper} statement pieces for inspiration:

Aida Kibur via Pink Mascara (sold out) // Ann Taylor // Pree Brulee 

So loverrly. Don't their bright colors make them look like candy?? I just want to eat them. But of course, being me, the first thing I notice are the prices. I'd never pay that much, EVUH. So, it's DIY or Die ;)

I bought this monstrosity (from JCPenney; go big or go home), and got to work. A coupla coats of primer and nailpolish later, I had this:


{it started out like this:}

The necklace arrived at my doorstep in pieces. 

Since the stones on the necklace I bought were multi-colored, I gave all the stones a once-over with some primer. My necklace was a piece of crap and the stones kept popping out {see above}, so I just took 'em all out and gave them a squirt of primer-from-a-can {I've heard of other people who paint without primer, but the stones end up being see-through and that's gross.}. 

I put the stones in their settings for picture purposes only :) I liked the primer so much I almost left them like this!

When the primer dried, I just painted each stone liberally with bright-colored nail polish {I chose a bright coralish-tangerineish color, in on-trend with the Pantone Color of the Year}. It took about two coats for the look I wanted. After the paint had set long enough to dry, I sprayed the heck out of them with spray-polyurethane. {it acts as a kind of topcoat to your nail polish. This stuff isn't going ANYWHERE.}

Afterwards, I dabbed a little bit of "never-let-go" E-6000 glue on the edges of the stones with a toothpick and stuck 'em back in.


See? Pretty easy :)

And since poorly-lit nighttime photos in my PJs don't do the color justice, here's what it looks like in natural light

Necklace: $13 

Paint: $1

Total Savings: $98-$258 (!)

Fine by me :)