The other day, I was wandering around Culver's Arts District and was immediately drawn to this funky little parking lot. There's a ton of random pockets like this around warehouses and office buildings, giving the whole area a unique feel. Anyway, I figured a backdrop of blooms would be an adequate replacement to an actual floral print dress. You know I love my florals, but I've decided to lay off the prints for a while and spare you a hackneyed "florals for spring" post.
To replace my trite spring staples, I've been gravitating towards simple t-shirt dresses. If my extensive collection of printed pants are like pajama bottoms, then these dresses are the hottest nightgowns of the season. Also, I highly suggest saving yourself the blisters from some chic pair of flats and slipping on worn out sneaks instead. (Sneakers also make it easier to run away from the owners of said funky-little-parking-lot when they discover your impromptu photoshoot.)
There you have it. Groundbreaking spring style secrets :) I'm here all season, people.*
The first photo was a product of the wind and the right moment on my self-timer. And I know what you're all probably thinking. It's walking a very fine line between cool and Cousin Itt. Which is fine, because Cousin-I definitely had his moment in the '60s and is making a comeback. I can feel it.
On my recent trip to the flower district, I also stopped by an orchid shop that felt like an urban greenhouse—a little oasis in the middle of the city. My new bag fit right in, and the foliage brought out the green hues in one of my favorite vintage scarves. I decided to keep the rest of my look simple, sticking with my tried-and-true shift dress + ankle boots combo.
On another note, this weekend was equally as fun and "LA" as the last. Some weekends seem to fly by and all I can really recollect is waking up at noon, making almond toast, and walking to Trader Joe's. But others—like this one—feel like a mini-time warp where I conveniently forget that Monday is waiting on the other side.
If Wednesday Addams suddenly turned girly, I feel like she would wear something like this. So...I suppose you could say this outfit was subconsciously inspired by her. But, this look was consciously inspired by a number of these Refinery 29 style videos. Usually, I'm not one for watching online tutorials (very short attention span), but they cleverly managed to cut them into 30 second clips on Facebook that held my focus. Plus, their Senior Style Editor is a layering queen that I've been taking a few fashion cues from lately.
Continuing my green-obsession...I picked up this leather crossbody from Fossil a couple weeks ago. I would never have thought to invest in a little green bag, but good old T-Swift has already pioneered the trend so I've convinced myself it was a good idea. I've been wearing it non-stop for the past two weeks and it's somehow managed to match with almost everything. I feel like the Girl In The Green Scarf Handbag.
I've got a couple more weeks of this Daylight Savings golden light and I'm going to take full advantage of it. I've always liked playing with light in my photographs and I'm actually planning on taking a photography class on it soon (key to getting out of ruts = hobbies). I loved how the warm colors in my outfit played off the evening light.
Maybe it's the change in season, but I've been feeling a lot more stylistically inspired lately. Nothing better than pulling out some of my fall favorites and pretending they are brand new. Aaaand buying things that are actually brand new is fun too. I may have gone on a slight online shopping binge after a 6+ month shopping fast. I know I've said this before, but I live for the drama of online shopping. Coming home to a package and having things fit perfectly is another one of those "little things" that makes me happy.
I don't know whether it was my new dress or something else in the air, but I just felt like blogging. And it's a feeling I've been waiting on for quite some time. I've fallen in and out of ruts, but thankfully inspiration has always managed to find its way back to me. However, I must say that waiting for it when it's missing is an uncomfortable and downright painful process. There's nothing particularly special about this outfit, but it made me feel like a cool-girl rocking a paper bag and has enough edge to potentially intimidate a stranger upon first glance. SO, it felt blog worthy. This dress was one of those purchases (like many that I make at Madewell) that I had to sort of force myself to buy. But I've quickly become obsessed/plan to never take it off. Seriously: sleeping, eating, plus-ing or minus-ing 15 pounds—this shift can and will withstand anything. The last recorded case of this kind of obsession involves my grey sweatshirt dress which will likely come back in heavy rotation once it starts to cool down in LA.
I can already feel it...this post is going to be long and wordy and much more information than you probably want in an outfit post. I get it—you came here for outfits and suggestive shopping links—I'm the same way. But, I've salvaged my little old internet soapbox, if only for a moment, so I'm going to ramble as long as my html and attention span will let me.
Lately, I've been caught up in everything except myself and as silly as that sounds, it's true. I think sometimes we (and by we, I mean me) lose ourselves in relationships, work, and anything in between. When one part of my life falls out of whack, it takes a while for me to find my center. And when more than one thing is off-balance, well...that's when I don't blog for five months and only pop in to write a few lengthy and wonderfully vague posts about "life, etc." However, I can feel myself gradually bouncing back and I think a lot of it has to do with my active attempt at building a schedule, finding contentment in routine, and pushing myself to just go through the motions until something feels different. Best post-grad advice I've been given. Thanks Mom.
So here's to a long overdue outfit post. And hoping this isn't just a momentary spark of style blogging brilliance. And by brilliance, I really just mean attendance.
I got an amazing deal on this dress during Madewell's after Christmas sale. I feel like I've been in need of more "work appropriate" dresses and this bold shift fit the bill. Even though I really don't need any more floral prints in my closet, I decided to make room for just one more :)
Waking up today was weird, because it was the first Black Friday in three years that I wasn't working retail. If I really wanted to, I could have woken up at the crack of dawn to score some "amazing deals," but I figured my time would be better spent sleeping and taking advantage of my day off. Instead of being a crazed sleepless shopper, I enjoyed a relaxing brunch with one of my close friends from home. I did venture to the mall later in the afternoon to pick up a few things, but by that point the crowds had died down. I also made sure to be extra (extra) nice to everyone helping me, because I have been in their shoes one too many times and, well, working retail on Black Friday is enough to make even the nicest, most patient salesperson go a little mad.
Anyway, I wore this outfit last week on a very regular Friday. I felt like dressing up a little and figured a velvety dress would do the trick. Initially, I bought this dress as a costume for a Great Gatsby themed date party that I never actually attended. But, I liked it so much that I kept it anyways. I just have this thing for shift dresses...mainly because they are essentially nightgowns that you can get away with wearing in public.
Whenever I wear shift dresses I always have the weird desire to throw my hair into a top knot. Maybe I think it makes me look trendier? Not really sure—but I do it a lot. Luckily, my short hair has finally gotten long enough to create some semblance of a bun. I might look a little like Alfalfa...but I'm okay with that. Anyway, I decided to mix it up and pair this moto jacket with something more colorful than I did last time. I've also pulled this black cardigan + shift dress combo once before, so I'm glad the added layer created a slightly different look.
Also, sorry to sound like a broken record, but I seriously can't believe it's already November. I went to Starbucks this weekend and there were Christmas cups...CHRISTMAS CUPS. When did this happen? I'm still convinced it's August. (But thank goodness it's not...)
I found this floral dress on Urban's sale rack and tried it on just for fun. It's not something I would normally purchase (and I had promised myself a while back that I wouldn't buy any more floral prints!), but for some reason it just stood out to me. Although, I'll be honest, I was a little worried it would look like a muumuu when I tried it on :) Surprisingly though, it hung well and I didn't even feel the need to belt it, which I usually do with loose dresses. I have a feeling I will be wearing it out a lot, because its the perfect dress to quickly throw on for a busy day and could easily transition from day to night.
I took these photos at one of my favorite spots in my LA neighborhood. It's just the quiet top level of a little parking garage near my apartment, but I love the city skyline in the background. Whenever I feel stuck in my school's bubble, it's nice to come up here and remember that the real city is only a few minutes away.
Hi! I'm alive! These past few days have been such a whirlwind and I feel like I haven't really been in touch with reality. On Friday, Andrew and I left on our flight to Ireland and arrived (very sleep deprived) in Dublin early Saturday morning. We then took a 3 hour bus ride to Cork and somehow lugged all our suitcases across the city to the apartment we will be staying in for the next four months. After meeting our landlord and being let into our empty room, we set down all our stuff and immediately ventured into the city centre to find general apartment supplies. The first on our list? Bedding. Second? Food.
While we were able to find some bedding (that still needed to be washed), we quickly learned that restaurants close very early on most days. So...we wandered around the city and had to settle on McDonald's since it was the only place serving food at 7:30pm on a Saturday night. You can find beer anytime, anywhere. But sandwiches? That's a whole other story...
Next, we wandered back to our apartment and put our bedding into our very confusing washing machine that doubles as a dryer (I don't know about you...but I thought this was really weird). Unfortunately, the dryer left all our bedding soaking wet which led to the sketchy bedding situation of 2012 as seen here. But, we were both so incredibly exhausted from the past two days of travel that any sort of bed seemed like a blanket of clouds.
The next morning, we woke up at noon, still jet-lagged, and each planned to shower. However, we quickly realized that there was no hot water in our apartment and after feeling like stupid Americans desperately searching for an "easy" button to turn it on, we toughed it out and took freezing cold showers, washed our hair in the kitchen sink, and went on our merry way. We then headed out to do some more exploring which is when we took these pictures by the river that runs through the entire city.
And despite our problematic couple days, walking down by the river and exploring our new city made it all worth it.
P.S. We have since figured out how to (kinda) work the hot water, and (sorta) dry our clothes...
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