KAWAII KAT WOMAN

Greetings Earthlings!  Have you ever wanted to wear a "very kawaii thing" but felt like you couldn't "pull it off?"  HAVE NO FEAR, CAT WOMAN IS HERE--

(this is what my photos r going 2 look like since i'm back in Kansas lol)

My mom gave me these faux thigh-high tights as a late Christmas gift and, to be honest, I seriously questioned how I was going to pull them off because they are such a statement.  I think there are the two opposing ends of the spectrum we much venture to in order to consider such a statement item-- Make the rest of your outfit loud and proud, or keep it subtle, stupid.  

Of course, yes, keeping your outfit plain is easy and you can figure that out...my go to is ~* aLL bLaCk *~...per usual.  But what's the fun in that?  Topping things off with a cat hat adds some cheekiness that is fun on a day when you are feeling especially playful. 

I'm not sure where my mom found these but i've seen multiple versions and upon a google search I found these for you guys (SOMEONE PLEASE GET THEM SO I CAN SEE): CAT TATTOO TIGHTS

Preparing to take over the world now, brb <3

GETTIN' HANDSY (A DIY)

It's been a good while but I come to you today with something special....

A DIY

*claps* *hoots* *hollers*

A long long time ago (maybe a few months) I came across the most beautiful and simple and perfect hand accessory.  Sterling-silver plated and topping $250, I knew I would have to keep dreaming...but I also knew that I could probably make something quite similar.

HELLO, CAN YOU SAY, "BEAUTIFUL"?

So, of course, it took me that long long time to get to making my own version but at least I actually did!

Although I'm a city girl at the moment, I'm a country girl through and through (surprising to some, I know!)  My dad operates our small family farm and I grew up following him around everywhere...being his "go-fer" going to get him different tools around his shop while he worked on things.  (I loved this job and it took me a stupid amount of time before deciphering the fact he was not just calling me a cute little gopher :)  One thing my dad always had in the back of his pick-up truck, the front on his truck, in the shop, in the house---EVERYWHERE-- was something called baling wire.  I've referred to this type of wire around some people and in return received odd looks and suddenly reminded that, oh man, I am a farm girl.  Baling wire is something my dad always used around the farm to fix fence---to fix anything really--and is also used for electrical fencing in rotational grazing.  It's a very thick gage wire that my little tomboy hands could barely twist..and still have trouble bending today.  I knew this great little material would be perfect for replicating my dream accessory and lucky for me my dad packed me a small bundle of this magic wire in my toolkit...probably for more practical uses than this.

**for anyone looking to purchase baling wire I would look for something similar to this: 14G Galvanized Steel Wire (I think this is about the right thickness).  I don't imagine craft stores sell anything this thick so search for it at places like home improvement or farm supply stores.  It is sometimes called soft wire or you could ask for electrical fencing wire**

----ON TO THE HOW-TO ISH---

Materials:

- Baling wire (alot 1-1.5 ft of 14g wire)

- Needle-nose pliers

- Wire cutters (many needle-nose pliers will cut through wire, but baling wire is thick so it may be a little struggle)

- A hand (yours) (mine if you are making me a gift)

- Steel wool

- Jewelry File

1. Find the middle of your strip of wire and give it a slight bend into a "U," a little bigger than your middle finger.  This will be the part that will slide underneath your middle finger.

2. Take 1/2" of so of the tip of the "U" shape in your pliers and bend it so that it will lay more comfortably under your finger and across the back of your hand.

3.  Continue to try on the brace, do not move onto the next part of the bracelet until it feels even and right.

4. Run the two sides of your wire towards your wrist until you get near the wrist bone.  Straighten out your wire one last time then begin to form a bend outward on both sides to create the "bracelet" part of the hand brace.

5.  Form form form until your wires meet (or excess overlaps) in the middle of the inside wrist.

6. Cut off excess (maybe you should be wearing safety googles...idk)

7.  Run over the whole piece with steel wool, being careful to not change the shape you've worked so hard on!

8.  File the ends of the wire and finish with steel wool

9. GASP IN AWE

10. TRY THAT BAD BOY ON

11. WEAR IT EVERYWHERE

12. GRACIOUSLY ACCEPT THE SEA OF COMPLIMENTS W/ BIG SMILES

My next post will feature a tutorial on this hair-do (and a less messy version).

Until we meet again, xx

SHADY GREYS

So, as we have come to know, there are like...50 Shades of Grey.  While my go to winter color of despair is all black everything, I felt like posting today about it's close partner in crime--G R E YYY!

Grey can make you feel pretty ugly if you do it wrong, and let me be the first to say I "do it wrong" all the time by living in my collection of grey hoodies.  You must, instead, make the grey in your outfit speak for itself and become a statement...let the people know you are aware you are wearing grey.  This could be based on the structure of a piece-- maybe a bold, textural menswear inspired winter coat--

like oh, i don't know, this beautiful little number from H&M:

Melange Coat

Or maybe to make grey your statement is not to depend upon a singular statement piece but to use the combination of many items to make the statement? Like how about grayscaling your life?  I like the sound of it...a monochromatic look...IN GREY

YES PLZ, EVERYDAY.

So going through your closet you may want to consider a couple things before just slapping on all your grey pieces:

1. Maybe most importantly, know which tone of grey you are going to wear. Are you going to stick to a warmer or cooler tone of greys?  (Also consider your skin tone in this decision, I look better in a more blue-ish grey).

2.  If you are going to go for a monochromatic look, you have to go all in. Think about your shoes, your accessories, EVERYTHING.  (You can allow room for ONE piece of color, maybe in your footwear or hat game...but you don't want to break up things in the middle of your all grey body palette).

3. As I mentioned earlier with the texture of the coat, consider the textures of your items, too.  They need to be able to separate themselves from one another enough to still accentuate your shape-- you're gonna look like a lump-a-coal if you are all one kind of fabric.  (For the winter, consider a knit or wool top!)

So what did I find in my closet?  A lot of things I wear that normally look boring AF by themselves, but I feel pretty confident with them all together:

(unfortunately with the way blogspot handles the compression of files (ackkk), you can hardly tell my jeans are grey, but i promise they are a light-medium colored grey, not near black)

Overall, I am happy to create such a combination. This may become a go-to outfit for the rest of the winter!

xx

SLITS & SKIRTS

Although most of our legs find their way into hiding during the winter, I've been wanting to talk about showing off legs and how people are probably going to be doing it in 2014. Instead of legs though...it's more about just showing off a singular leg.

Such a basic and normal thing in the history of the skirt, slits are basically there to let the garment stick to a certain desired silhouette (like a pencil skirt) while still allowing you to walk without a waddle.  There are so many forms of the slit-- typically small back slits or lately the resurrgence of the double side slits from the front.  Today is all about the side slit though...A REALLY HUGE SIDE SLIT ON A PENCIL SKIRT.

FOR EXAMPLE:

 

Nasty Gal                                                                 ASOS

(I DREAM of this sequin one on the regular)

I think the key to remember with this oncoming trend is the exact placement of this slit.  Slits were cool in the 90's but from what I can recall kept themselves pretty glued to the side seams.  This update is more complicated...to the side but more on the front of the leg.

So, on Tuesday I finally dragged my lump of a body out of the house after the negative degree weather had passed and took a trip with my roommate to Village Discount, a thrift store close by.  In the skirt section I was surrounded by black velvet and quickly spotted a small pencil skirt.  Before examining I was already contemplating how I could (with my less than stellar sewing skills) add in a trendy lil side slit to the skirt.  LUCKY FOR ME it already had one!

How can you beat a $2 thrift?

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T WEAR SNEAKERS & SKIRTS? 

(PROBABLY MY MOM)

I will say...styling something velvet in a casual manner is more of a challenge than, oh I don't know, ANYTHING ELSE. 

I like the idea of the loose t-shirt or crop top and the slit pencil skirt but with velvet you must have the perfect partner and I fear my closet has not shown me a match...for now I will keep soul searching!

xx

  

Good for Health, Bad for Education

Greetings Readers of My Blog,

I hope you've had a lovely holiday season...I sure did!  I just arrived back in Chicago yesterday evening after a 2 week stint back home in Kansas.  I got to see lots of extended family, some friends from high school and college, and best of all my silly pets.

Today's post really has no overall theme or idea but just a few items I have recently aquired and really enjoy!

The most reoccuring item in this post is this grey wool and black leather cap.  I ALWAYS buy hats and never wear them, but I can tell you that I've already worn this religiously and with the wet snow that's in abundance here in Chicago it's a handy lil number.

Along with the hat, I purchased a Men's red polyester baseball jacket.  These items (of course, rather unnecessary) I snagged at the Urban Outfitters outlet here in Chicago.  In conjunction with the stuff being dirt cheap there anyway, UO had a 1/2 off sale happening for about a week so I couldn't resist buying them!

I also like that I now have a colored jacket I can wear when I want to.  I own a massive collection of "beautiful" grey and black and white clothes so throwing on a bright jacket gives me a little liveliness I probably lack with such a wardrobe.

My new favorite thing EVER is this Akira sweatshirt my bestest friend Tyler had printed up and gave me as a Christmas gift.  I can already tell after only having it in my possession for 6 days and having worn it at least half of those days that I'm going to need another 3 or 4 of them :)

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Also, being home at my parents for a good amount of time, I got into all their stuff and made lots of messes.  Whenever I go home, I always dig through my mom's beauty products and lotions and nude colors of nail polish and use all of her expensive shampoo (shhh).  I came across a few things she wouldn't let me take (obviously I didn't beg hard enough) but items that I enjoyed so much I may find myself getting for myself anyway.

Like this nail polish:

the color is called "My Very First Knockwurst" by OPI.  Before I explain what Knockwurst is let me tell you how lovely I think this is.

Now let me tell you that knockwurst is, as you could guess, a kind of sausage like a bratwurst.  Why would you name a nail polish color this?  Now all I think of when I look at my fingers is little sausages!

Another item I can advocate for in these nastily cold winter months is a good ol body lotion.  

I am terrible when it comes to applying lotion to my whole body, but upon the New Year I suppose I'll make it some kind of resolution to treat my skin to some loving.  I have a minor skin condition called Keratosis Pilaris (where extra keratin protein is produced in skin) that appears on my upper arms and sometimes upper legs.  It's really common and it's more prominent in the winter months for people 

because there is less moisture in the air. 

 With this lotion by Aveeno my skin felt sooo soft for once, which is a beautiful thing!  It's nice too that it's a brand you can pick up at most any drugstore!

Keep warm out there if you're deep in piles of snow (If you are in LA or somewhere tropical please go away </3) xx