birds on boobies.

christmas is a difficult time of year for me.

and not in the "ive got the holiday blues" kind of way (what's that?), but in the "i can't stop myself from buying every pretty thing i see for myself while pretending to shop for others."

ok, that's a lie. i do shop for others, i finished my shopping last weekend and i bought bitchin', thoughtful gifts for my friends and family. but i don't know how to exercise any sort of consumer self-restraint during the normal year, but at christmastime, when it is mandatory to shop and be out in boutiques, malls, record shops, i just. can't. stop.

so, on the way home from the xmas shopping the other day with my bestestest friend juliet, i stopped into electric ladyland, this boutique near the restaurant we work at that everyone has said "OMG! you have to go! they have the cutest things!" for months now. anyway, i decided to pop in, and jesus christ. everything glittered. way too "scottsdale clubby i'm a 45 year old mom trying to look 25 with the help of plastic surgery and army pants with sparkly patches on them" of a taste for me, but lo and behold, nestled between rhinestone-laden halter tops and spandex-chiffon dresses, i found this lovely dress that a girl had worn into the restaurant MONTHS ago that i begged to know where she got it,and the reply was L.A. gah!! shellshock-disappointment followed. it looks so vintage chic, with adorable embroidered swallows on the chest and a rope tie around the waist. and there it was!! in this shiny store!! just one left! in my size! clearly, it was fate. lookie lookie:

the photo doesn't do the dress justice, the girl is kinda skanky and she isn't pulling it off very well. i will sport this dress with my vintage black riding boots. plus my boobs aren't fake like hers. so, yes, i splurged way too much $ on this dress but i couldn't let it go. IT WAS FATE, RIGHT?? i had to salvage it from the glittered creepy forest of "HOT BABE" rhinestone tees and "I WANNA BE SEDATED"-embroidered toddler onesies (fereals).

she's baaaaaa-aaaaaaaack.

god that title was lame. but it's 5pm and i'm in a coffee shop and i stupidly ordered english breakfast tea instead of caffeine, and i had to be up for work at 5 am today, and i'm SO TIRED!

...so, perfect time to jump back into the blogosphere, eh? i promise the rest of the post won't b as lame as the title, mmkay?

so! why have i been gone so long?? a few reasons. BLOGGER WON'T LET ME UPLOAD PHOTOS FROM MY COMPUTER! i don't know why. it says they're uploaded, the photo insert box goes away, and then ... nothing. nada. zilch. no photos. no pictoral mass-web sharings of my: bloated wisdom toothless face; trip up north to prescott; new puppy ramses (AH GOD SO CUTE HE IS!); other random items i would like to share with my beaoteeful readers. lame! so lame. so i'll have to resort to uploading photos from the internet only, i suppose. sigh. if anyone knows how this photo situation can be fixed, i'd love to hear how....

...where to begin? let's start with the surgery. thanks for all the well wishes, it actually went much better than anticipated, considering what a hopeless wimp i am with pain. thanks to vicodin and my mum's superduper caretaking skills, and seasons 1-4 of queer as folk, i was better in no time! it was very nice to be home for awhile and see family and friends. my life is so all over the place, having gone to college across the country, and having spent a year abroad and making incredible friends in europe (european and american friends alike), i now have a collection of friends everywhich way, which is marvelous, but also kind of overwhelming. especially when i'm as shitty at keeping up with communication as i am. ah. gotta work on that.

so, all's well here -- i'm gearing up for THE HOLIDAYYYYYYYYYYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! mum is coming out to visit me for xmas, which i'm oh so excited about. my birthday falls on christmas day so this time of year is extra-fun and special and exciting for me. let's put it this way... will ferrell as "elf" speaks to my inner soul. i feel the same way he does about christmas. 'elation' is a nonchalant term for how i feel about christmas.

speaking of elf, when i saw it with my ex-boyfriend when it came out, and the scene came on where buddy the elf doused a bowl of spaghetti with chocolate sauce, candy, marshmellows, m&ms, and other assorted sugary goodies, i leaned over and said "that. looks. so. fucking.good." cut to 2 months later, for valentine's day, he made me the very same meal, and it was so. fucking. good. sounds gross, but if you're serious about sweets the way i am, i promise you'll like it. try it some time. ferreals.

ok that was a major(ly sugary) segue. basically, i'm superexcited about christmas. now time for a nice CURRENT boyfriend story! (i don't mean current in the "this week's boyfriend" way, but in the "not an ex-boyfriend story, this is my now boyfriend and i love heeem" way)

last nite le boy told me to leave the house for a couple hours. when i got home, he had decorated our place from top to bottom in christmas gear. twinkly colored lights everywhere, gift ribbons scaling down the walls, snowmen, candy, and silver balls and holly branches. so purtee!! the boy knows the way to my heart. whee!

onto the next post...BACK TO FASHION!

yes, this will be me...i'm going on a mini-hiatus from the blogosphere for the next 2 weeks. i'm flying home to chicago so i can have my wisdom teeth (all four!!) removed. why fly across the country to have the surgery, you ask? because no one can take better care of you than mom.

wish me luck. eeeep. i'm suuuuuuuuuch a wuss with pain.

<3

a room of one's own

so i moved in with a boy, and there are two bathrooms, and finally, for the first time since i left home, i have a whole bathroom counter on which to spread all of my products/makeup/toiletries/candy/bobby pins/etc. no sharing with girls, no piling makeup away in my room and hauling it to the bathroom everyday to apply. non plus!



IT'S GLORIOUS!!! a right mess, but GLORIOUS.

can thrift overcome dolce?

so i really really really want this dolce & gabbana silk scarf that i found on overstock.com. lookit! it's so lovely! i hardly EVER wear scarves but lately i've begun imagining myself as a woman who wears scarves, and boy, is she chic. i could knot it around my neck to hide my un-impressive jawline, OR around the handle of my new/vintage leather handbag that is just languishing in my closet, waiting for me to have some official business-y meeting that i can wear it to.

and it's in newsprint! in different languages! and it used to be $200! and now is only $30! i have trouble buying anything online over $15. i think it's because in my recent thrifting overload, i have come to realize that in no way do i have to spend more than $20 to own one rockin' item.

however, that usually doesn't include dolce.

or gabbana.

hmm.

facehunting on a saturday nite

2 posts in one evening! madness! it's called hungover from le boy's 25th bday, people. saturday nite, and too hungover to move anywhere that is over 25 feet from the laptop.

anyhow! facehunter inspired me to share some thoughts with you. i LOVE that outfit (above). ok, this has to go back.
LEGGINGS: they are now the bane of many fashionistas, but a year ago today, i was rocking them out (white sparkly ones) with a denim mini and heels, stumbling drunkenly from bar to bar, when i got a most rude awakening.
"HEY, THE 80S CALLED! THEY WANT YOUR TIGHTS BACK!"
came the challenging and utterly unique yell out of the window of an SUV passing by. i half laughed it off, half sparked a tear in my eye, because, well, i LOVED my outfit. i had spent a long time carefully crafting the rainbow striped collared top with the huge caramel leather belt i bought in italy with the denim mini and heels, to COMPLEMENT the tights. SORRY, I WASN'T WEARING SOME BORING GAP JEANS WITH A TOP FROM CHARLOTTE RUSSE, like all the other bleached and boob-job-ed students by which i was surrounded. le sigh. anyway, after that, my love affair with leggings was tempestuous. half-rebellious, eff you, if you don't understand the utter CHIC and FUN of the leggings, half-aware of the looks i was receiving. phoenix isn't the most fashion-forward of places, and when leggings were just becoming "in," few femmes were sporting them, here.

ANYWAY, blah blah, fast-forward a year later and everyone seems to hate leggings and mock anyone who wears them. especially over at gofugyourself.com. i love them, but MAN do they rip on leggings!

so, my point is, this lady (above), captured by the facehunter in paris, eschews the current distaste for leggings and she, i think, pulls them off quite masterfully with her oversized white linen blouse and floral jacket thingie. and the headphones. and the hair! ooh. so pretty. makes me miss being a redhead. i likey the t-straps, too.

today is vintage day.

well HELLO there! it's been so long! almost a month, in fact, which is an absurdly long time to have gone without posting. there really isn't much excuse aside from the fact that i am currently working 6 jobs (yes. bartending, serving, dogsitting, interning at an arts commission, selling vintage clothes in my online shoppe (with an extra p and e), tiniest spark vintage, and running a local vintage store's ebay site) and am a little stretched for time. un peu.

so! with my first foray into blogging in over 3 weeks, i thought i'd mark the occasion by declaring it vintage blogging DAY. i will hereforth (word? now it is.) share with you, my dear readers, my most favorite of online vintage shops. most of them are on ebay, and offer the amazing potential for incredibly cheap finds -- that is, if your fellow vintage lover doesn't place a higher bid. away we go!!



i just happened across the urban collection this eventide, and have already begun bidding. she's got some pretty cute stuff, check out these hot 70s leather boots! currently running under ten buckaroos.

mama stone vintage is ALWAYS a reliable stop for the bestest of the best vintage finds. the only problem is, so many people already know about her store that the bids go up, up, and up before my paltry wallet has a chance to win. but i'm finicky -- if it's the right thing that i find, i'll spend over $50, but i usually reign myself in. if you're a little less thrifty, this is the store POUR TOI! regarde:

LOVE THAT COAT!!!!!!!!! gah. if only i didn't live in phoenix...i hope one of you win this.

noirohiovintage is a rockin' stop for awesome tops 'n' minidresses 'n' coats...none of which blogger is currently allowing me to upload. the eff!! this happened in my last post, too...are we only allowed two photos per post or something retahded like that? gah, LAME. anyway please go there, her stuff is too lovely, and while the prices do go up, up, up, you're more likely to snag a bargain there than mamastone.

next up, another favorite is cake shop vintage, home of sweet vintage finds. she's not that well-known (yet), so you can grab her stuff for less expensive prices. again, bloody blogger won't allow me to upload any photos, so yer gonna have to click the link and see for yerselves.

starlet vintage is another great stop, she currently has a mad-cute paisley minidress that i quite fancy, not unlike one that's up for bidding in my store, tiniest spark vintage.

lastly, i really enjoy ce petit coeur vintage, not only for her sweet clothes (i bought a gorgeous vintage pink camisole extraordinaire from her), but also because she has the BEST HAIR. and i love her freckles, she has the loveliest complexion. which is obviously not a reason to shop somewhere, but a nice perk when you're browsing the photos.

ok, hope you've enjoyed this vintage round-up! let me know if you win any sweet vintage items from these (or other) purveyors, i'd love to see them!

<3

gain a heart in phoenix, leave it in san francisco

To celebrate our one-year anniversary, le boy and i jetted off to san francisco for the weekend, partially as a mini-romantic-getaway, partially as a means to show him how amazing the city is and convince him to love it enough to move there with me next year. His vote has been for chicago, but since i spent 18 years growing up there, i was looking forward to moving somewhere new once i left phoenix. Part of the Operation Fall in Love With San Francisco involved my two roommates/best friends from when i studied abroad in rome, who currently live in SF with their boyfriends and were jumping at the chance to show us a great time and get us to move there.

Operation: SUCCESS!!

It was great, we walked everywhere, ate everything, and drank a lot. Coming from Chicago, where I didn't get my driver's license until I was 19 because it's so easy to walk and use public transportation everywhere, it's been difficult living in Phoenix, land of strip malls and sprawling suburbia and freeways. People take freeways to get EVERYWHERE. I really miss being able to walk around -- with the intense heat and the fact that nothing here is compact, except for small pockets of downtown and around the university, it's just not a walkable place. So, once we arrived on Saturday morning, we spent the next 8 hours walking from Union Square (downtown) to the North Beach neighborhood, meandering along the Italian and French cafes lining its sidewalks, and perused & bought books at Beat Generation Central (i.e. City Lights Bookstore. ah, my heart flutters just thinking about it, below is a photo from the bottom of one of its steep staircases). i bought a simone de beauvoir's she came to stay for me and kerouac's on the road for le boy.

We drank in old-tymey pubs all along the way, and walked up to the overrated and out of control touristy Fisherman's Wharf, and back again. i felt mildly nauseous all day from our dim sum lunch in chinatown, which at the time was delicious but i became pretty sick by the end of the nite. Happy annivesary, honey! Now pass me the Tums and lights out at 8!

but the next day, thankfully, i felt all better and we met up with my friends and we did some amaaaaaazing shopping in the haight/ashbury district. i got some great finds for my vintage site (tiniest spark) and a lovely satin kimono top/minidress for me at one of the gorgeous little boutiques.

oh, and the heart photo above? le boy smelted, smithed, forged, and fashioned the pendant for me for my anniversary gift. as an apprentice to a blacksmith's girlfriend, i got my very own handmade, custom-designed piece. : )

and, i had lots more photos but for some reason when i upload them and blogger says DONE! they don't appear in my post. grr.

all in all, i had an amazing weekend -- i fell in love with san francisco years ago when my older sister lived there, and everytime i visited her was better. i feel like san francisco, more than any other U.S. city reflects my personality perfectly. i feel like i belong there more than anywhere else -- its layered neighborhoods, its cultural diversity, its hilltop views from every corner, its colorful houses and storefronts, its streets lined with unbelievably charming cafes and restaurants and bars and little shops, its prominently independently-owned businesses and its general city-wide eschewing of corporate, big biz enterprises. i love it i love it i love itttttt!

sigh. one more year. <3

aaaaaaack! gwynnie!

oh, GWYNNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as one of my most favorite actresses and a style ICON, WHAT HATH YOU WROUGHT HERE?? (fyi photo found on www.perezhilton.com, i had nothing to do with the mini-yoga-convo). first of all, you have a LOVELY, incredible, lithe, long body. even after two children (cue jealous scoff at the knowledge i will never, EVER resemble her after 2 children. although maybe if the father were chris martin....), ANYWAY, even after 2 wee ones, you have a great body and what do you do? you go and throw it all away with this wholly unflattering combo. the light-wash jeans, the oversized jacket, which i realize is the new shape for fall, but simply does not work here, and the ... oh ,the horror of it all... those LOATHSOME BOOTIES. the booties which are so oddly proportioned that even the skinny jeans don't know what the heck to do with them, so they fold this way and that, attEMPTING to cover up the uggo factor, but nevertheless failing miserably.

sigh.
i'm not even going to get into mr. stipe's offensively whiny voice here. another blog, people, another blog.

NEW BLOG coming soon, with much less negativity!! i spilled soy sauce all over my brand new sexy HP laptop before i left for san fran on friday, so it's still in the shop. until i get it, the grandiose san francisco post will have to wait, because i want to show you photos!
it was a glorious weekend. hope that tides you over.
: )

life imitating posters?

i was surfing poster sites because i wanted to buy some fashion posters to adorn my brand-new office with (whoo! i have my own OFFICE now! it's in my new apartment, but still.), and i came across these (allposters.com) :

GAH! is it just me or does anyone else want to be IN these posters? i want to wear that 1940s candy-striped swimsuit! porkchopgirl has had a swimsuit on sale just like it that i've been eyeing for weeks. an the last one! not a fashion poster per se, but the way her yellow scarf flows in the north french breeze, her stylish hat and her bright red parapluie...ah! i want a parapluie, and binoculars that look over to mont st. michel!

there was such a subtle glamour to these old fashion posters, these simplistic old-tymey graphicsand as much as i enjoy some of today's fashion advertising, i'd take these over a naked waif sporting nothing but shoes (a watch, a diamond necklace, a handbag...) anyday. i think i'm going to buy that first one. but first i need the matching bathing suit.

this may be scandalous, but...

i HATE the majority of the shoes that our wondrous forward-thinking top fashion designers have whipped up for fall/winter 06. Leafing through vogue & elle, i recoil in horror at the monstrosities that we are supposed to don on a daily basis. Even as a SPECIAL OCCASION, these are horrendous: BOOTIES??? are you kidding? upscale booties? iiii think not, my friends. and ankle boots (below), well...i am so sick of ankle boots as the new trend -- they have never looked flattering or appealing in the past (cough80s) and they don't now, either. they have a terrible shape and cut your legs off at a very odd place on the upper ankle. kate moss manages to pull them off and look rocker chic and hardcore, but, well, kate moss can pull off just about anything. i know of no real live human (not that kate moss isn't a real live human, but she is too legendary and removed to think of her as an ordinary model pulling off just another pair of shoes...plus that whole pete doherty soap opera makes her that much more removed from real life) who can actually pull these off and look good. or make them look better than, say, a knee-high boot, or an above-the-knee boot (my personal favorite, a pair of mine are just LANGUISHING in my closet, waiting for cooler nites). anyhow these are awful:

and these ugly things...augh. platform-heeled sandals are the worst thing to happen to sandals in a long time. i work in a very money neighborhood in phoenix, and these rich trophy wives come in all the time sporting high sandals like above -- sometimes worse because the heel is actually a thicker platform -- and it amazes me. you have money and you are CHOOSING to dress like that? sigh.

looks like i'll have to disobey the fashion trends of the moment and rebel against these shoes, choosing instead to stand steadfast by my lovely pointy flats, high boots, and higher boots.

you, meet karl lagerfeld. <>

saluuuut, mes amours,

it's an exciting week in the vintage shop, because i just added a vintage nautical-style karl lagerfeld dress!! it is oh-so-gorgeous, see for yourselves in the photos below. i'm pretty insane to give it up, as it looks great not just on me, but on my waifish model/friend as well. it fits most body-types just beautifully, and is the closest i've ever come to owning a piece of such high-end fashion. i always sigh wistfully at magazine pages of high-end designers, and toss them mournful glances (sometimes indulging in some illicit material fondling) in the designer sections in stores, but never have i actually held and owned (!) such exquisite finery myself.

and i'm giving it away. to you. what a fool!

voila: it is gorgeous, non?

sailor shorts, i covet thee.

so, christina aguilera's video "ain't no other man" came on this evening, and for the 80th time since i've seen it, i felt a pang of clothes-lust. I WANT THOSE SAILOR SHORTS! i'm sure you've all seen the video; it plays ad nauseum on the music video channels. she's singing, her platinum pincurls bobbing up and down as she moves her little frame around in a wifebeater and high-waisted navy sailor shorts that look to have suspenders.

I. WANT. THAT. OUTFIT. SO. BAD.

i've been looking online for the past half hour to find sailor shorts like them, but to no avail. i can't even find any flippin' pictures from the video to post to you all! but i do have this photo, which serves as a pretty similar countepart to what she dons in the actual video:

are those not the cutest effing shorts you have ever seen???? does any stylin' lady (or gentleman!) out there in blogtopia know where i can get access to shorts such as these magnificent ones???

SIGHHHHHHHHHHH.

meanwhile, i scored some AMAZING vintage finds yesterday and am eager to do a photo shoot tomorrow and post them on my site for your bidding/buying pleasure. yay!!

voila mon bonheur

et....les vetements!! let's not forget the vintage site!

it's going pretty well so far, i've done what i can to advertise on myspace and via my friends without crossing the line to obnoxia, and so far i've had a lot of viewers and even a few bidders. i'm hopping that the bids will increase in the last 2 days of listing, as they usually do on my favorite ebay sites anyhow.

you know you want to see some rockin' vintage!

here are some teasers:

go! bid! tell your friends to bid! whee! <3>

http://stores.ebay.com/tiniest-spark-vintage

how many months?

well, it's been a stressful past few days, mixed with highs and lows, fun and exhaustion.
we'll start with the icky stuff:
-saying g'bye to the cutest labs EVAR that i'd been dogsitting for the past 3 weeks. seriously, i have never met dogs this sweet in my LIFE. they literally fall asleep next to me hugging me, their paws wrapped around me. gah! these blurry guys right here:

-standing in line at home depot, waiting for my paint to be made, lunshowered, no makeup, looking like absolute crap and wearing my oversized Zara top that i love because it's basically like wearing a comfy white sheet , and having some dude next to me ask :

"how many months?"
"uh, months what?"
"pregnant...you're pregnant, right?"
::blushing furiously:: "NO...I'M JUST WEARING AN OVERSIZED TOP WHICH I HAVE TIED IN AN APPARENTLY VERY UNFLATTERING MANNER. IT'S JUST. A. REALLY. BIG. TOP."
tears were practically shed. AUGH. clearly must begin feared gym membership asap. :(

-stressful time at work....managers have been up our asses lately and it's INCREDIBLY irritating.
-moving. my boyfriend and i are living amidst piles of our belongings, just waiting for: dressers to be assembled, curtains to be bought, laundry to be done, furniture to be bought...
-$ stresses. man, now that i've graduated, i'm learning how rough it is to have to pay for EVERYTHING on my own. ev.er.y.thing. which is difficult when i refuse to work a 9-5 job. hrmph.

ONTO HAPPY THINGS:

i went to uffie's concert! if you haven't heard her music, go nownownow. www.myspace.com/uffie she's an awesome mix of electrorock/rap, and totally cute. here she is in all her adorable glory:

during her song, "ready to f*ck," she had all the females in the house come up on stage and rock out and dance. oh HELL YES i went up on stage to DANCE. WITH. UFFIE. i am the one in the shiny vintage slip (and boots, femme : ) ) grabbing my own hair in uffie-stasy.

it was a great nite had by all.

also, i have some interviews this week for a very promising arts commission internship as well as a part-time clothing-store gig. wish me luck, eee!

who loves vintage clothes? YOU LOVE VINTAGE CLOTHES!

my ebay auction site is up and running! i just posted the first few items, the rest will be put up tomorrow morning. click away
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZc00lstoryhanselQQhtZ-1

i still have a lot of formatting to do on the listings, but i wanted you, my dear blog readers, to have the first look. the auctions have started, so bid away!!

: )
lovingly,
vintagekira.

hear ye, hear ye! a POLL!

hello!

so i am working hard on getting this vintage clothing site up and running, but i'm having trouble deciding on a name, so i thought this would be a perfect venue for my 4 readers to help me decide. : )

what do you prefer:

*the tiniest spark vintage {it's from my favorite bjork song, isabel : "in a forest pitch dark/glowed the tiniest spark/it burst into a flame/like me/like me}

*a moveable vintage feast

*gateau chateau vintage

*twice is nice vintage

*left bank vintage

*coquelicot vintage

*mais oui! vintage


merci bien, mes amours <3

a bachelorette evening

today was a hellish one. i was given a 9-4 shift at the restaurant, which means working thru both the insane morning & lunch rush, and the ensuing dead-of-the-afternoon clean-up. BLECH! while i hate getting up while it's still dark out to open the restaurant at 5.30 am, i prefer it to the endless mid-day shifts.

anyhow, after a long day i lazed around at home -- well, sort of home -- i'm dogsitting for the two cutest labs EVAR. i feasted on a bachelorette (boyfriend's home sick with the flu :( ) dinner of crackers & deli ham (sounds kinda gross, wasn't that bad) and a huge, perfectly ripe peach, and watching the Drug Years on VH1 (anybody seen it? FASCINATING. i want to read this one commentator's Martin Torgoff's "Can't Find My Way Home," it seems like an excellent overview of America's drug history.).

annnnnnnnnyway, amidst this slothful haze, i managed to find an adorable vintage sailor dress online and snatch it up for a pittance -- $15! -- from her etsy shop. Check her stuff out, she's got some really interesting designs: DanielleDIY.etsy.com. If you don't know already (the horror!) the WONDERS of etsy, please do yourself a favor and your debit card a punishment by moseying over to etsy.com. it's a cornucopia of handmade and craft goods, anything from housewares to art to clothes to jewelry (half the jewelry i own is from this site).

the dress i bought today:

other items i've bought from etsy in the past:

a lovely silver swallow necklace for a mere $8, before urban outfitters started selling them for like $28

a long yellow tee splashed with black umbrellas and a couple plodding thru the rain:

computer key earrings for just THREE DOLLA!

incroyable.

i'm also working on starting my ebay account auctioning off vintage clothing, which should be up within a week or so...stay tuned!

til then, turn on, tune in, drop out. (fun Drug Years fact: did you know that when LSD was first invented and was being used on a minimal level, undercover government officials used to drop LSD tablets in unassuming bar customers' drinks and take them to a hotel to observe them for hours on end while the innocent souls tripped out, presumably for the first time while cops took notes behind a one-way mirror?)

NEVERMIND I FOUND IT!

gahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
always rely on comme des garcons to do it right. i even like those boots, and i'm not usually a fan of heeled slouchy boots.

see below post for explanation of this sweater-dress-orgasm

and it's only $435... ::whimper::

sweater dress fixation

so. after breezing by the gap the other day, i saw a large print ad for a sweater they have for fall-- this one:

of course, this was not the ad and i can't find it ANYWHERE ONLINE, but they made this dress into the most perfect sweater dress in existence, paired with black leggings and topped by a tight denim wonderjacket.

Now: i never shop at gap, ever, except to buy their most fabulous boy-cut undies which are a god-send to the undergarment department. i looooove them. so comfy. go buy! but as for their outergarments, i don't much care for them -- i've always found them really boring and simple, and too preppy for my taste.

but this sweater! oh! how it brought me back! BACK to italy, circa last autumn, october-ish, when i started coveting the Sweater Dress. it was from an ad in a magazine? or some gorge italian lady walking down some cobblestone street with it or SOMETHING, but that was the genesis of my obsession. since then, i have alternately been unable to find one that is perfect, like the one in my head (i can't even find a photo of one online! sheesh! and it's supposed to be the new "in" look for THIS fall!), and forgetting about it because i live in phoenix and usually it is like 105 degrees here, where sweater dresses aren't exactly weather-appropriate.

SIGH.

anyone know where i can find a slim-fitting, deep-v sweater dress with a block trim at the bottom without paying $200+? the gap one would have been perfect if it were just a tad longer...i begged the saleslady to find me an XL to see if it would be long enough to pass for a dress, but to no avail. A SWEATER IT REMAINS. and so should be marketed as one! effin' gap.

also, i found this look and looooooove it. yay prada.

everything is perfect...the caramel boots and the mid-calf length, the layered heavy twill pieces...yummy.

i will post about meeting arcade fire and seeing final fantasy play last nite whenever my friend puts her photos up on flickr. until i buy a camera (sometime this week! whee!) i must roll ghetto-style, depending on others and the net for those featured in this blog.

an ideal day

photos from my year abroad here serve to create a composite of my ideal day. sigh.



cappuccino on a roman autumn morning






a kiss on the blarney stone in my favorite pink h&m jacket








wine and pizza in the park in bayonne, espana




a walk in paris











a new post tomorrow on my weekend -- preview: i met arcade fire last nite! whee!!

hello again, dear reader(s?)!

after much consideration, deliberation, and recreation(al) perusing of the lovely style blogs on this world wide wizneb, i have decided that i would like to share my fashion and style musings on this blog as well as it being a sort of journal in my newly post-graduate state. it's a perfect time to start a public journal, as i just graduated from college a few months ago and am attempting to navigate myself along with my passions into the "real world." not quite yet, though, i'm mainly serving and dog-sitting for the moment, as i have no clue how exactly to get started on my dream life, which is to:
1) write novels in an inspiring fast-paced city like paris, san francisco, london, dublin...
2) travel travel travel, i'm craving europe like women who are preggers crave pickles and ice cream
3) work for a magazine, to eventually start my own fashion/music/film/art/travel mag
4) engage in some sort of intercultural international visual arts attache type job
5) generally be and look fabulous and have millions of friends and spend my free moments in loud, crowded restaurants, walking down lonely cobblestone alleys, filled with lovelovelove, books & art & film & music everywhere, and imagining myself in some sort of lovely romantic haunted black & white photograph. much like in the photo above! (which i can't figure out for the life of me how to post where i want it, not at the top of the post. help?)

gah! i was going to post some lovely guy bourdin photos that move me in my style bits like no other photographer has managed to do thus far, but i'll save him for next time, hopefully after i get advice from my reader(s?) as to how the heck to manage the photo posting on this newfangled thing.

there! now you know ALL ABOUT ME. or about 1/8 of my aspirations, anyway. i'm friendly and would love to e-meet fellow bloggers, so don't be shy! i've felt slightly silly posting gushing comments all over some other blogs (ahem, femme, embrouillllllllllamini), but that's what this is all about, right? making strange friends out in the ether? the e-galaxee?

right, over and out. must be up at 5 to serve food to people who, inexplicably, choose to wake up and EAT at 6 AM ON SATURDAYS. who? WHO? WHY????? GO TO BED, PEOPLE! GO. TO. BED.

and that's exactly what i shall do. g'nite!

hello, world!

testing, testing, blog two three...