Tag Archives: Fashion

Pants And Projects

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Today, I’m wearing yellow pants.

Wait, before you judge me, I know what you’re thinking…You’re totally picturing me wearing hideous banana yellow trousers, aren’t you? It’s okay. I don’t blame you. When I hear yellow pants, I immediately picture double pleated trousers that my Nana might have worn. These pants are awesomely spring, sorbet yellow, skinny jeans that I bought impulsively last night, because shopping seemed easier than writing.

If you know me, you know that I must have been desperate. Writing comes so easily, but shopping? Oh, dear. Shopping is NEVER easy for me, because I don’t necessarily enjoy shopping the way most girls do. I’m not kidding, check out my “about me” section and you’ll read that I prefer a flannel to a plunging neckline. Case and point.

It’s not that I don’t like buying new things…it’s just that…it takes so much time! If I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for, it could take hours and there’s a good possibility that I’ll walk out of the 10th store empty handed. I end up wasting a day trying on clothes I don’t actually want or need.

Yesterday, I bought sorbet yellow pants, and today…I’m wearing them.

Maybe these pants are all I needed, because I’m writing, and everything is good again.
Apocalypse prevented. You’re welcome world.

I wish a writer’s block deterrence button existed. I wish it was like getting a headache. If you see it coming, and can consume a bottle of water, food, and a Tylenol, in most cases it can be prevented. That is not how writer’s block works. Writer’s block blindsides you. It takes you captive, and leaves no prisoners. Nothing left behind, not even a straggling idea of what to write. I usually get writer’s block for one reason and one reason only, exhaustion.

I mean it. I apologize to anyone out there who suffers from writer’s block regularly, and coming up with writing material seems taxing, but it’s so easy for me. Perhaps I’ve just experienced enough wildly embarrassing situations in my life, that if all else fails, I can revert to self humiliation.

Apparently this is what happens when I get writer’s block:

Oh you have writer's block? Want to play checkers? No? Okay, just abuse your notebook paper with sharpie.

I’ve had an INSANELY busy two weeks. I mean, brain popping out of my head and onto my pillow during the night, busy. Luckily, it was not in vain, because I was extremely productive. I took a two day vacation from writing, because I’ve been consumed by paper, pens, and keyboards for the last two weeks and my fingers were bound to disassemble. To prevent completely discombobulating, I needed a break. Last night, when I returned home from work, I shamelessly put on my pajamas at 5pm, turned off my phone, left my computer in my bedroom, curled on the couch in fetal position, and watched American Idol with a cup of tea. Do I sound like your mother? If the answer to that question is yes, then your mom probably rocks, and we should be friends.

Part of my chaotic few weeks has involved collaborating with other bloggers, photographers, and websites.

On Monday, a photo I shot, while photographing a rugby game in Ireland, was published on a photography contest’s website. You can check out my photo published on Photolord HERE

Today, a humorous piece I wrote for AimingLow has been featured and published on their website. If you don’t get enough humorous self deprecation here on my blog, you can check out my published piece titled “Finding My Way,” HERE

This coming Tuesday, a travel piece I wrote will be featured over at EmmyJuneBornInMay for her Tuesday Travel Diaries, so stay tuned!

The busyness will ensue, because I have a To Do list longer than the red carpet, but not quite as fancy, and on my red carpet I’m wearing yellow pants. I’ve been tearing apart my apartment like a madwoman to find a suitable writing set up, and my apartment has been in shambles for the last three days. Blake was amazing and bought me a writing desk for my birthday, and fitting it in took some serious rearranging. There is a side table in our kitchen and I’ve moved our bookcase three times. It’s like a bad game of furniture musical chairs. That, combined with all of the spring weather we’ve been having, and I’m motivated to start getting creative with our living room space.

I’m reminiscent of the fall when my Saturday afternoons were spent hauling thrift store finds into my tiny black escort, in hopes of sanding, priming, and spray painting them hours later. The more the sun shines, the more snow that melts, the more excited I become to pick up where I left off.

I will leave you now with a few furniture makeovers that I finished last autumn. I didn’t know at that point that I would be blogging five months later; otherwise I would have taken better step by step pictures of them. The before and after shots still show some pretty sweet alterations. In a few of my upcoming projects, I promise to take step by step pictures followed by instructions in case you have the urge to be asphyxiated by spray paint, saw dust, and varnish. If you DO have any questions regarding technique or you would like instructions, feel free to ask!

Dyed class bottles - All of these bottles were originally clear, and all of them were found in various thrift stores! The dying process only took about an hour and a half!

Mod Podged Letters - I used scrap booking paper and mod podge to spruce up these originally plain wooden letter blocks purchased from Micheal's. Fun fact - I bought the C for Carley and the B for Blake, but we realized we needed to make an "&" sign to go between our letters. My initials and Blake's initials are the same but reversed. I'm CB and he's BC...coincidence?

I bought this darling side table up at a thrift store, but it needed some serious spice. The first picture is after I sanded it, the second picture is after I primed it, the third picture shows three coats of robins egg spray paint, and the fourth picture shows my map collage with two coats of Polycrylic for a protective finish.


I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday! Now go out and buy yourself a pair of sunshine yellow pants.
Cheers!

Photobucket

5 Fads I Can Get Down With

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I’ve never owned a bump it.
Fact.

The closest I’ve come to “bump it”, is driving in my flashy 2002 Ford Escort listening to old school hip hop. I may have uttered the phrase “bump it” once or twice in my lifetime. An example of this is when The Cupid Shuffle comes on my iPod and, I might say something along the lines of: “This is my Jam! Bump it!”

As far as owning an actual, real life, bump it? Never.
“I don’t even understand what a bump it is!” You might say.
Here, let me assist you.

Aside from the wildly catchy…ahem…theme song, you can see that the bump it is a fad, possibly induced from the show, Jersey Shore. It is meant to bump your hair up, giving you egg shaped extra volume. I’m just as guilty of listening to the B-52’s as the next girl,  because a little “Rock Lobster” and “Love Shack” never hurt anybody, but I’m not about to sport a beehive. I’ve always liked being able to walk into my apartment without wedging my hair in the doorframe.

Fads are an interesting part of our culture. One minute you’re watching tv, and the next minute a commercial comes on advertising the latest fad – a bra that also serves as a flashlight, because who doesn’t’ need headlights for undergarments? However, I am guilty of a few past fads of the late 80’s through the 90’s, and if you’re around my age, I’m hoping you are also guilty of taking part in a few of these guiltless fads.

Fad #1 – The Skip It
Jump roping stopped being cool for a while when Tiger Toys came out with the Skip It. Why jump over a rope when you can cuff your ankle into a protruding cable with a ball on the end? The song didn’t lie either, “the very best thing of all, there’s a counter on this ball!” It was all fun and games in the play ground, skipping and counting along with your girlfriends, until somebody couldn’t jump fast enough. Skinning your knees on the black top was a sure way to land yourself in the nurse’s office, effectively making you late for snack time. If there was a chance the nurse had rainbow bright band-aids, it was all worth it.

Skip faster than the speed of light!

[photo cred]

Fad #2 Tamagotchi
After killing (and crying over) approximately ten fish, my parents pulled the plug. Apparently fish flushing funerals aren’t how my parents wanted to spend their mornings before work, and apparently fish eating too much fish food isn’t comparable to a seven year old eating too much ice cream. The end result of too much ice cream was a belly ache, but the end result of too much fish food was death. The solution – A virtual pet with a restart button. Genius.

[photo cred]

Fad #3 Neon clothing – My fashion sense in kindergarten was on point. Everything was neon. My tube socks were neon, my leggings were neon, and even my scrunchies were neon. At six years old I looked like I was heading off to either teach an aerobics class, or to my first college black light party. While I know my mother would like to take credit, because technically she bought my clothes, the pleading, whiny child in the mall was probably attracting more attention that she would have liked. Mom caved. This all could have been solved if Gap Kids would have accepted my trade bargain of one strawberry ring pop for one article of clothing. Suckers.

Do you have it in Lisa Frank? I'LL TAKE IT!

[photo cred]

Fad #4 Gel Pens
Before Facebook determined the true validity of a relationship, there were gel pens. Nothing says everlasting love like “I heart bobby” all over your folders, notebooks, and hands in pink and purple gel pen. I owned hundreds of them. I even had that all black notebook that you would write on with the gel pens. This was way before Jay-Z said that all black everything was cool, I should get credit for that.  During middle school science and math (the two classes I hated the most), we would all slip gel pen notes to each other between the cracks of our desks. “Jenny told me that Sarah talked to Ben, and HE SAID that Bobby said he wants to be your boyfriend.” From there it was simple, check yes or no.

Use your gel pens to write on your, "black paper, black notebook, all black everything!" -You're welcome Jay-Z

[photo cred]

Fad #5 Roll On Glitter
Bath and Body Works was a roll on glitter gold mine. Roll on glitter was appealing because you had free range to apply however much you wanted. If you wanted a more toned down daytime look, all you had to do was roll the stick once over your eyelids and you were ready for your play date at the mall. However, if you fancied your eye lids to look the flashing side of a disco ball, you could apply, let dry, and reapply again for a real evening look at the school dance. Seriously, apply, let dry, reapply, and you would have been the center star of that awkward circle you know you and your friends danced in whenever “I Want It That Way” came on.

Can you see your reflection in my body glitter?

[photo cred]

I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before more wild fads sweep the nation.  Until then,  I’m going to be wearing lime green leggings, applying my roll on glitter, while feeding my Tamagotchi, with I heart Ryan Gosling on my hand in pink gel pen, during the most epic game of skip it you’ve ever seen.

But I will never own a Bump It.

What are some fads that YOU guys and girls participated in? I am especially interested to hear the male perspective! Did you bleach your tips? Did you play pokemon? Watch Power Rangers? I call the red Power Ranger!