Mellow Yellow

One nice thing about having a non-traditional work schedule is that I can sit at a cafe drinking Red Bull on a random Thursday morning. I can also spontaneously decide to paint my bedroom yellow. Which is pretty much what I did yesterday.

Before:

After:

After a lot of help and many hours, my bedroom is no longer a depressing cave of dreariness! It is a happy place. See?

Next step: hang the clown painting!

Outfit: Dress As Shirt

Date: April 14, 2011 / Occasion: errand running, cafe sitting
Details: dress-Frocks / shorts-Old Navy / shoes-Nine West / necklace-Etsy / watch-Michael Kors / sunglasses-vintage

I've only worn this dress as a dress on one occasion. It was way too short and I was uncomfortable the entire night. Solution? Throw some shorts on under it and call it a shirt! Genius? I think so.

Who else got crazy hail storms last night? I'm normally a fan of tipsily enjoying a good spring storm, but this one was just scary. Made me grateful to be safe and sound inside with lovely people near me.

Ta Da!

Today has been crazy go nuts. I am officially done with today. The good news is that I officially submitted my grad school application and secured another letter of recommendation. And I bought a clown painting at Goodwill for $2. Score!

Since my last couple pictures had filters, I thought I'd give you a better idea of what my hair looks like now.

Before:


After:


It's still not really what I wanted (so dark!), but I like it, so I'll probably let it hang out until my next haircut in a month or so.

Seriously, I can't wait to hang that clown painting.

Austin, TX: Food, Drinks, and Mustaches

This weekend Corban and I took a little trip down to Austin, just to get away (also, to eat...the eating was very important.) We re-visited some favorite spots:


Magnolia Cafe for nommy breakfast items


Perla's for delicious food and drink



Once Over for coffee and peaceful reading (Corban is reading The Pale King by DFW and I am working on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer)




And had a few new experiences:


Imbibing delicious cocktails at Peche (I highly recommend the "Bees Knees")


Shopping on South Congress where I bought some lovely sunglasses at Prototype Vintage



Cataloguing all the different types of hipster Austin mustaches



Then, of course, we came home and immediately went out to watch the Rangers kick some Orioles butt.



I took my AE-1 on the trip, but I didn't really use it. I prefer portraits to landscapes, and it was only me and Corban, so I didn't exactly have an abundance of subjects.

A lovely break, but now it's back to the grindstone. Today I am observing an ESL class taught by the famous and talented Ken Myers. I'm excited to see friends and hopefully learn something (crossing my fingers that the "something" is not that teaching ESL is way more than I can handle and I should fall on my sword directly!)

Stripes and Pearls

This is the last outfit post before unveiling the new hair! It's not really that exciting, but I do feel the need to interject some razzle dazzle into my life every now and then. At least I'm not blogging about going to the grocery store (which I did today...and it was awesome if you care to know.)





The occasion for this outfit was a margarita date at Gloria's with Leigha. I do love me some Gloria's. And Leigha. And I love this outfit. I will use any excuse to wear a long string of (fake) pearls. A+! Go me!

Grey Silk and Cotton

It is 6:30 and I am awake, unable to sleep. How should I spend my extra two hours before Corban wakes up? Duh, blogging.


This is a pretty typical work outfit for me. And by typical, I mean "I wear this shirt like every other day."







Again with the awkward posing, but I love these shoes and wear them constantly. I thought it only fair that I share them with you, dear reader.


I finally got my hair colored yesterday (blond stripes with two inch roots are definitely not the look this season) but I'm not 100% satisfied with it, so I'm going to wait and see if it fades a little more to my liking before I post photos. The anticipation is palpable!

Flowers and Braids

The ladies at work love it when I wear pigtails. I think it's because my comparative youth amuses them. This weekend I sported this lovely combination.





Everyone loved the flower especially. It was a gift from the lovely and talented Celia who recently opened an etsy shop. Go. Shop. Enjoy.


I wish I had more to say because I am in a particularly tired and lazy mood this afternoon and want to put off going to the gym for as long as possible. Le sigh.

Texas Rangers: The Stealing of My Heart

Ok, let's talk about
baseball
the Rangers (pre-apology to all non-sportball fans...believe me, I am one of you with the exception of this particular team.) We all know that I love the Rangers. And, not just because they went the World Series last year. posers. When I was a little girl I used to think that I would marry Nolan Ryan. I would still like to give him a hug one day. So, there is a very particular type of devotion here. Let's just say that I was glad to sit in Kenji's backyard, drink tequila, and watch some Spring Training...


(photos taken with the illustrious vintage Canon AE-1...I'm getting better, I think)









...and then I was super excited to tailgate before Opening Day (no, we did not get tickets to the actual game, my devotion does not extend to $300 a pop tickets.) I had never tail gated before and discovered that it includes sitting, getting sun-burned, drinking beer, and eating hotdogs/burgers/ribs.






(self-pics taken with POS point and shoot)





Not a bad use of a Friday morning, I'd say. I promise, I'll try to keep Rangers talk to a minimum this summer. I know nobody cares. Unless you do care. In which case you'd better speak up now.

Grad School and Poncho: The Sequel

My plans for starting graduate school in the fall are swimming right along. I spent part of my afternoon on campus gathering information and generally begging and pleading for scholarships/jobs/financial aid. I have to say that the campus has grown on me over the past few years. I used to think it was ugly, but now I recognize the specific charm of a north Texas public university.






I'm not sure if that last one is an actual college structure or a set piece from a Harry Potter movie. Perhaps one of the Batman movies circa 1995?


Ok, I admit...I actually bought two ponchos at Ahab Bowen. The second one is much more comfy, plus it is from the 70's, which is never a bad thing. I love the pattern knitted into this one, it makes me feel like someone's grandmother made it. In a good way.







Sorry about the cheesy posing. A model I am not. Obviously. B+ for today.

Panchos and Loving Gestures

Mr. Johnson surprised me with beautiful flowers on Monday after I took my GRE. Red roses because he loves me and a yellow daisy because they are my favorite. He is the best at making me smile. :)





As much as I have been enjoying the warm weather, I was excited that it was a bit chilly yesterday because I got to have an 80's moment with flared corduroys and a vintage poncho (impulsively purchased at Ahab Bowen in Uptown over the weekend.) Panchos and I have a love/hate relationship. On the one hand, wearing a pancho is almost like cheating because it's basically a blanket with a hole. On the other hand, they tend to twist, get sat on, and generally be uncomfortable. C'est la vie.






The headband is from Ruffles and Fringe. Buy vintage and handmade! Down with corporate chains! (says the girl wearing pants from the Gap) Outfit gets an A-.


Who else is excited for Rangers Opening Day? Maybe I'm imagining it, but it feels that Dallas is all a-tingle with anticipation. I know I am. :)

Standardized Tests and Florals

I've been keeping this a bit under wraps because I wanted to wait and see how everything works out before I go running my mouth, but I have to go ahead and announce that I took my GRE today and I DID OK! An amazing vote of confidence, yes, but I am just so excited that it is over and I'm pretty sure my scores are fine to get me into the UNT MA Linguistics program (this is assuming that I didn't totally bomb the essays, which scores I will get in about two weeks.) Whew! Now I can finally return all those study books to the library and go out for a celebratory drink. :)






This was my outfit on Saturday. Boring, yes, but laying on a blanket and taking photos at the park doesn't exactly require astounding feats of fashion acrobatics. Plus, I wore the spork which should get me at least a couple points for creativity. The tunic is new, from Frocks (duh, what do I own that isn't from Frocks?) I'll give this one an A for comfort and cuteness.


Note: I want to do something fun to my hair for the summer (color, not cut.) Thoughts?

Kenny's Radical Birthday Shindig!

Radical was the best adjective I could come up with. I'm not sure it does the trick.

So, my childhood friend Ken turned an abysmally old age this week (29) and I was thrilled and excited to be able to attend a birthday party at his house in good old Denison, TX. We hadn't seen each other for many moons, but we've been Facebook stalking each other, so it was the perfect time to become reacquainted. Plus, I got to meet his lovely wife Megan, who is a wonderful artist and soon to be my BFF. This party was the friggin' jam, you guys. It included:

-strangers
-tree lights
-spontaneous jam sessions including multiple ukuleles, a guitar, a violin, and a clarinet
-champaign
-box wine
-wrestling (no punching or groin kicks, however, butt tickling is perfectly legal)

Uh-mazing. I am green with envy of their house, too. I always forget how much I miss being in the county (being able to see the stars and walking around barefoot are two of my favorite things in the whole world.)







So, thank you, Ken (I know you'll be reading this ;) for inviting me to your birthday! I hope to be back very soon...get to work on that program of yours so you can hire me in a couple years!

A Triumph of the Human Voice

I was a big singer in high school. Not that I was big. But my singing was. I sang a lot. I did all the competitions, and I actually got pretty good at it. Then I graduated and didn't sing again (think The Little Mermaid here) until this year (when my proverbial seashell cracked...then I kissed the prince...but it was too late...le sigh.) Last night I sang publicly for the first time in seven years, and I have to say that it felt really good it was the most nerve-wracking experience of my entire life. I was going to take photos of what I wore, but I was too busy trying not to pee myself. It went well, though. I'm supposed to get a recording of the performance, so I may share if it's not totally horrible.

On a related note, a big shout out to my family and friends who came and sat through an hour and a half of novice singers screeching out Italian ballads. You are saints.

With that hellish experience behind me, I am looking forward to going to a birthday party tonight! Here's the outfit:

What do you think, backyard/bar birthday party appropriate? The gold necklace is a particular favorite of mine...I found it at Frocks, a local boutique. It's pretty unique, and I always get comments on it. I'd say this outfit gets a good, solid A-.