I have a bunch of stuff to show you this week, but for now here's a quick outfit post. I found this dress this weekend (which I'll tell you all about later).

All Booked Up

I really like books. Not just reading books either. I love the smell of books, the look of books, the feel of books. I especially love old books. Does anyone else think that the smell of old books is the best, most comforting smell in the world? Well I do. I remember being about 12 and my mom and dad took us all to this used book shop that was just FULL of books (we're talking towers, and racks, and rows upon rows of old books) and I just sat in one of the isles and smelled. I really like books.

It's funny because I didn't read until later in my childhood. I refused to read until I was seven when I started reading American Girl doll books (the Samantha and Molly ones to be exact). Then when I was 10 my mom gave me some old Nancy Drew books she had as a kid. I don't think we need to go into how much I loved those. That was when I really took of reading. I would save up my pennies to go buy the sets of six Nancy Drew books that Costco was selling at the time. Each time I'd earned $12.99 I'd beg my mom to go to Costco so I could get another set. Then came Madeline L'Engle. For a girl who hates pretty much anything to do with science, I loved those. I found Meg Murry to be the closest I'll probably ever come to a literary doppleganger. She had ugly mouse brown hair that was kind of bushy, was terribly awkward, and didn't relate to her peers very well (I was much better at pretending to relate to my peers, but most of my friends were always a couple years older than I). I devoured Madeline L'Engle's books. Then came Little Women and an obsession with all things Louisa May Alcott. My mom's former Aunt gave her the whole Little Women set for Christmas when she was really little and I have already put in my claim for those when my mom finally kicks the bucket (I love you mom).

Between all those there were of course other books, like the Royal Diaries, and Dear America series (I'm a huge history nerd), Trixie Belden, Sherlock Holmes (I also am a sucker for anything mysterious. I spent a good portion of my childhood hoping to solve a mystery), and various stories of Celtic folklore (okay so I'm really just a nerd in cute dresses). My library card was well exersised, and I probably still owe $400 in late fees. In high school my Jr. and Sr. year Lit classes were year long (I was homeschooled, but we had a co-op that did classes every Friday) and we read 30 books per year, all classics. Don't get me started on The Gilgamish Epic (epic my foot, more like drug induced ramblings of a crazy person). I got marked down on papers for proving that Helen of Troy went willingly and was not just a vapid, weakling who was kidnapped. Hello Paris was hot, he liked her, she had a beast of a husband. She went willingly. (someday I will have an album called Helen Went Willingly). I made a whole chart on War and Peace to keep track of all the Sashas. My community college had a pretty good library with an extensive folkelore section and an awesome section on fashion, makeup, and costuming. In my English 1B (upper division English) I had a nutcase professor who forced us to read Kafka and Freud. I'm fairly sure he had shrines to both of them at his house. His entire class was based on the premise that Freud was the only original thinker ever. It was one of the most enjoyable horrible classes I've ever had (and I very recently learned that this professor was punched by a student in one of his classes. He made a habit of insulting his students in a most obnoxious manner. I won't even tell you what he told me, but basically I really need therapy to clear up the fact that I have distict memories from before I was 5. Cuz Freud couldn't have been wrong at all, right?).

The point is, I read alot of books, and have alot of books (you should see my mom and dad's collection). This love of books coupled with my love of thrifting has gotten out of hand. Observe:

This is my big bookcase. The three middle rows are double stacked. Double Stacked? Yes:

See? Then there's the single stacked shelves:

It's bad. I mean that's alot of books. Oh did I mention the stack in front of the bookcase or the two fabric shopping bags full of them?:

These are music text books that have been transfered to binders. The joys of Music School.

And this is sheet music. I kind of have alot. Plus I have this weird thing about getting rid of sheet music. So yeah it's bad. Oh and what's this? Another bookcase full of various editions of Nancy Drew as well as scrapbooks?:

Oh and um, this is my book overflow:

So clearly I need more bookcases, but seeing as I don't have room for another bookcase right now, and I'm not willing to part with any of them, I decided I needed to reorganize. So the Nancy Drew Shrine got shrunk to a single shelf and I moved the stack in front of the big bookcase and Time Life cookbooks I collect to the other shelf:

And that freed up room so that I could move everything from my desk to the book shelf!:

Clearly I still need more room, and the two bags of books and music are still sitting on the floor, but it looks mighty better. Now I just need to stop buying books!

Just be glad I'm not showing you my shoe collection!

What's something you love and have too much of?

Happy Friday guys!

Thoroughly Modern Vintage. Pt 1: Work and Day Wear

Alot of you have been asking me questions about how to get started on having a vintage look. Many have said things about how they'd love to have a more vintage or retro look but don't know where to start. Well I have been in your shoes, and I can tell you it is not that difficult! But like anything it does take effort and a little patience until you get it down. So as a guide, each Wednesday for the next month I'm going to be doing a little feature called Thoroughly Modern Vintage. The idea of this is how to get a vintage look without actually wearing anything vintage. I find this is really helpful to starting out because you are getting things that are easily accessible and come in varied sizes, without having to dig through vintage shops or thrift stores. Granted alot of my more modern pieces did come from thrift stores. But once you know what to look for, you can start finding these basic pieces in thrift stores too. but the idea behind all this is to wear as little vintage as possible, but still look vintage. So let's get started!

Here's some things to keep in mind when you're out shopping:

• Find a vintage muse. Be it an actress, singer, or your grandma, find someone who's style you really love. You can even find a couple and from different eras. Personally mine are Clara Bow, Marion Davies, Dorothy Gale, and Nancy Drew (they don't need to be real.). Use these muses as a guide. Don't copycat exactly, but try to figure how you would dress if you were them. what is it you like about their characters? How does that effect their style? How does that effect your style?
• Do your reaserch. If you know what to look for, then you can actually look for it. Use flickr, etsy, or google image search to figure out what cuts belong to what era. Think of it as eye training.
• It's okay to make mistakes! Just practice! All things get better with practice including fashion.

For my first outfit we'll start with something that is kind of basic. This would be a great outfit for pretty much anything. Work, play, drinks with friends, or anything slightly casual. Also the individual pieces are very basic as well. We'll start head to toe.

This Barrette (which is how most people say my last name, though it's not how it's pronounced.) was originally a brooch of my mom's that was broken. I saved it, took it a part and hot glued the whole thing to a barrette. Barrette's are great basic hair accessories, and have remained a commonly popular choice in hairwear. Whether you use it to clip back your hair into a ponytail, or a half poneytail, or just clip it into the side of your hair, it always looks great! I'm a big fan of barrettes ( also like me some Barretts too!(I crack myself up.)).

Okay, so I cheated a little on the cardigan because it is vintage, BUT these beaded cardi's are pretty easy to find. My mom just bought one from Target a week or so ago. Beaded or embellished cardigans where very popular in the 50's and 60's. They look just as good with jeans and tennis shoes as they do with skirts or dresses. This one I found in Goodwill for five dollars! Cardigans in general are super cute, easy, stylish, and functional. They come in a huge variety of colours, cuts, and patterns and seriously look good with everything. For spring they are perfect for battling that lingering winter chill, or for some of us pale people, keeping our arms unburned. I'm rarely seen without a cardigan.

This blouse I bought at Target, probably three or four years ago. I love everything about it (yet never wear it?)! When I'm buying a blouse I try to look for cuts that are classic. Classic pieces are great for retro-ing up. This blouse, while classic, also has a little whimsy about it with the print and the ruffle. Don't be afraid of prints! Especially small, or floral ones. Novelty prints were very popular in all the various vintage decades. And also look for fabrics that will be usable all year long. This blouse is cotton and thin enough for summer, thick enough for fall, and pretty enough for winter and spring. I've been trying to find a jumper/pinafore dress to wear this top with too. Blouses like this are incredibly versatile (duh!), and easily found (and I just saw this same blouse at Goodwill the other day for five dollars!).

This skirt is a thrifted item that began life in a very different way. My mom found it for me at a rummage sale in it's former state as a Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker trapeze dress, which by the way is the most unflattering dress shape on a girl like me. The waist band of this skirt used to be the bust band, with little shoulder straps. the pockets used to be up around my waist. it was horrible and besides that was just a little too tight in the bust for me to even wear it. However after much consideration I simply cut off the straps and voila! the worlds most perfect high waisted circle skirt! Some clothing items need a little adjustment before they can pass for a vintage inspired outfit, but try it! Most people I know think this skirt is actually vintage, but it's completely modern. But if you are a little nervous about cutting up your clothes, look for skirts with classic cuts. Find a length you like and look for cuts that work on your body. High waists look good on everyone and have become very easy to find in the last few years. Pencil skirts are great too, though finding one that looks good on you might be difficult (it is for me!). This skirt has become one of the staples of my wardrobe, whether I'm wearing it with a blouse, or even a t-shirt, it still looks fresh and vintage all at once.

Ankle socks are of course something that looks very retro, as are saddle shoes, but these saddle shoes are from Payless and the socks from JCPenny's (I think). I have a giant foot and finding vintage shoes in my size is nearly impossible, but it's fairly easy to find repro, or vintage inspired shoes pretty much everywhere now. Remember that shoes and socks are a great way to experiment too. I used to be terrified of ankle socks. I was convinced that they'd make my legs look chunky, and make me look short, and while I've tried them with other outfits that did infact make my legs look chunky and short, in general I really like the look. Most of what you'll find with trying to find a vintage look it that it's all about trial and error. And that's okay! some outfits are going to be a bust, but others are going to be super amazing! And like I said it takes some effort. I know it's tempting just to slide back into your jeans and hoodie, but try maybe one day a week at first until it becomes organic. The more outfits you put together the better you'll get at having an eye for vintage outfits.

As far as accessories go, both my earrings and necklace are modern. My earrings are from Forever 21, and the necklace from a tiny shop in Chinatown in San Francisco. Pearls always give off a classic vintage look, but you're not limited to just pearls. There are a lot of modern jewelry companies who make very vintage looking jewelry. Forever 21 is a great place for that. I hate that store, but they are great for vintage inspired accessories. My sunglasses are also from there. I do have a pair of vintage cat eye sunglasses, but these are less severe, and I'm less afraid to beat them up. As for handbags, vintage ones are fairly easy to find in thrift stores, but if you're still wary of searching, look for boxier styles. Or just use your modern handbag. Remember it's not what you wear but how you wear it!

Now that you have some ideas in your head here are a few online places to buy quality modern pieces with a very vintage feel.
Pinup Girl Clothing- My go to shop for vintage inspired shoes. If I had a million dollars, I would spend it all on their shoes. However, they do carry a variety of other pieces (including plus sizes!) and accessories. Some of it is *coughcough* a little trashy, but they do have a very nice collection. I'm really loving this hair clip.
Baby Girl Boutique- This is alot like Pinup Girl, but I find they tend to have a larger selection. I'm currently trying to justify spending $55 on this cardigan.
Gap- I know Gap tends to have a bad reputation for being mass consumerists, or whatever, but their clothes are well made, classic, and fairly reasonably priced (especially if you can find a Gap outlet!). I think both these tops would look beautiful tucked into a pretty skirt. I'd even forgo the cardigan. They're just too pretty!
Old Navy- Old Navy is also a really good place to look for basics. I love this skirt (though it's a bit short). If you're more of a pencil skirt girl though, this one comes in a really pretty pink.
J. Crew- J. Crew has a strange reputation, but they have great classic cuts. I really like this more modern version of a pearl necklace.
Target- Target is a really great place to get shoes with a vintage feel, especially in the last couple of years. If you're a flats girl I think these and these are perfectly Audrey Hepburn (and come in a bunch of colours! But you can never go wrong with a balck flat!). For ladies who like heels, these two are great options. Personally I love wedges, and this pair looks so 40's!
Forever21- I love their jewelry. If you want a nice faux pearl these are great, and very cheap (especially if you happened to have been an idiot in your teen years and have three peircings on either earlobe (I always win that "how much jewelry are you wearing" game. Always))! Not a pearl lady? How about these earrings?
Sorry for the lengthy post! I'll try to be shorter next week!

Findings

Here are some pretty things I've found lately. Tomorrow I have a very cool series starting! Be sure to check back!

How's your Tueday going?

Um... hi?

yeah so um, sorry about the one post last week. I tried to blog, honest, but between car problems, and people problems, and life problems and things being put off problems (yeah I might not be moving quite so soon. Like possibly September instead of June. I'm not to thrilled, but I'm sucking it up.), I just never got the chance to actually sit down and write. I also forgot to photograph all but one of my outfits last week and some were dang cute, which means I will need to reproduce them for you, because seriously they were kind of awesome. Just sayin. So as a result I'm really behind on my blogroll, and commenting, and probably getting back to comments (though I think I'm actually caught up on that), so if I've not commented/responded to you, that is why. You can blame it on the universe. I usually do.

But last week wasn't entirely unproductive (and today is gloomy and rainy!). I managed to get my car smoged (which is a long story and possibly involves the Arab mob, and as anyone who has known me for more than fifteen seconds knows, totally makes me thrilled and excited. I will probably end up dying because I went looking for the mob, just so you know.), and I did a small amount of spring cleaning. Turns out I've got alot of crap. I blame this on my inability to say no when I see something at Goodwill that only costs $2. It was seriously bad. How bad you ask? Well my room went looking like this:

and this:

To this:

and this:

Yeah it is clearly not done yet (sigh), and I haven't even begun to clean out my closet (I have three loads of laundry to do, and I ran out of hangers.), or go through shoes, though I did manage to go through a bunch of stuff I don't need right now and pack that up in boxes as well as sort through bags and purses and got rid of three. Now I only have 20. See clearly I have a problem. I keep telling myself I should do a shopping ban, but there is this little annoying voice that keeps saying "but think of all the stuff you're going to miss if you stop thrifting" and I have no will power and so I give in. But with the recent developments in my life that don't involve thrifting, I know I really should. So I think I'm going to give myself a $100 a month budget for thrifting and that's it. When it's gone it's gone, and I can't do anymore shopping. I'm also not eating out anymore. Last week killed me (it was Sarah's Spring Break which I will tell you all about our exploits later on, though I sadly only have two photos of the whole week thanks to my camera's battery dying and my forgetting to charge it.) with meals out! So I'm going to start brown bagging my lunch and aside from the 40$ a week I put in my gas tank (grr) and the $20 I pay my voice teacher so we can chat and watch youtube videos (we actually are productive also. Chatting and watching youtube videos are all apart of my training. really.), I'm trying not to spend anymore money this month. Well okay I do have to go to Goodwill today to find a tall basket, but that's actually a necessity so there. I'm shutting up now. Apparently a week away made me even more yakkety. Oh dear.

So how was your weekend?

Monday Inspiration #36: April Snow

All I know is that I really don't want to leave our cabin. Snow is magically wonderful, I don't care what anyone else says, I am in love with it.

Random thoughts and Very Exciting News

I will have a legitimate post tomorrow, but today I am in Big Bear. I will be all weekend. Expect great things.

I have officially tried sushi. Yesterday Bri, Michael, and Jess drug me out to a sushi bar for lunch. My plan was to stuff myself with egg rolls until I was so full I couldn't actually try anything, but that failed and so I had to try it. Don't get me wrong, I love fish. Like love it. but I like it cooked, and I like it to not trigger any gag reflex. Here is my impression of sushi: The rolls are the most disgusting thing ever created. Whoever thought eating seaweed was a good idea was a nutcase. It's gross. However, the actual sushi was not bad. I liked the shrimp and red snapper alot. The Salmon was okay, though the texture did get that gag reflex going. Of course that could have been from the fact that I stupidly named my piece of salmon (his name is Kyle and he is the one in the photo) before eating it. I also had a lettuce wrap that I actually liked alot. All in all it was okay. I think if I ate it more often I'd be okay with it, but at least I've tried it and it's done. Now Bri and Jess can stop bothering me about it. Also it was on my list of 101 things so I can knock one more thing off that.

And lastly thanks to the very beautiful Big Beautyful Mess for passing me the Beautiful Blogger Award (you're a doll!). I'm supposed to list seven random facts about me and pass it on to seven bloggers, but being that I am lazy today I will skip the last part. If you want the award consider yourself tagged! But of course I am going to tell you seven random facts about me, cuz that's what I do here.

1. I was named after a cabbage patch doll. I won't let my mother forget this, nor will I forgive her for it.

2. I have never had a shot. Like ever. Not once.

3. I was born on the same day that Pompeii blew up, but many years after. In case you were wondering.

4. My first sentance was "don't be pedantic." It is still my favourite sentance.

5. The first job I ever wanted was to be a fashion designer. Then one day my punk uncle (granted he was 18) told me he would never wear anything I designed. I was six. I gave up that dream then. Turns out I can't draw worth beans.

6. My favourite food is Lima beans. I am not kidding. Those things are the crap.

7. Laundromats are my biggest fear. I have one childhood memory that might explain this, but otherwise I do not know why I am terrified of them. They freak me out and I will do anything to avoid them.