Besties

I have four best friends.  I'm not a person who makes truly close friends easily now that I'm a supposed adult, so I guess you could call them really good friends or some junk like that...but.  They're my best friends.  The first, from birth through always, is my sister, Jen.  She has to like me, it's the law for families that aren't completely screwed up.  It isn't the law that she has to be my best friend.  But she is.  She listens to me whine and moan, loved me even during the middle school-ish years when I threw remote controls, scissors, and just about anything else handy at her head (poorly, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn unless you gave me a gun).  She was GLAD when I decided to go to the same university as her, and then she got me to move to Kansas to live with her and her husband to go to grad school!  The one thing that makes it truly unfair is that she is so darn cute.  Seriously, I often want to slap her one for it.

SMACK!

Plus, she has the most adorable kids ever!  Killy and Ellie (my goddaughter) are so much cuter than any kids you know or have, so much so that I'm just sorry for you.

In college, I met Janelle, a complete sweetheart of a girl.  I managed to warp her a little, and we became great friends.  She is the most sunshiney, optimistic, happy person I know that can be all those things both (a) realistically and (b) without making you want to smack her around the head.  Don't worry, she's cute too!  Apparently, I don't have any ugly friends.

A tiny smile for Janelle!

So, I've known Jen for all my life and Janelle for more than 10 years.  Anna and Katy, I've known for half my life.  Now I feel old.  I met Anna in high school, when I joined choir in the second half of tenth grade.  She introduced me to Katy, a somewhat hippie friend of hers.  (Miss Katy homeschooled through high school)  We turned into a strange little triad; me with my dyed dark auburn hair, Anna with her beautifully natural copper ringlets, and Katy with wavy light brown hair.  All of us busty, all of us curvy.  In high school, I was closest with Anna, simply because we were together every day.  But as time passed, and I was in Richmond, VA, then Kansas, it was Katy that I was in contact more.  Because Miss Anna kills computers, kids.  Kills them dead.  I'm sitting here now, waiting on them to show up for an early dinner and much needed gabfest.  They'll be a little late, because the two of them are chronically late.  But that's okay.  I planned for it!  And I'm using the time to write this entry. 

My Katy!

My Anna!

Rain, rain, go away

I felt like the White Queen today, I had bobby pins threatening to come down all day.  I put my hair back with small pins (regular size, not the gargantuan ones I favor) and I ended up using 15 of them!  I look sort of snarky in the pictures, because we were having issues getting pictures that weren't blurry.

Aren't my little bare feet cute?  You know they are!

Dress -JMS
Jeans - Rider
Teapot Necklace!

On the Subject of Fashion

 To me, fashion is a deeply personal subject.  I believe that fashion is in the eye of the beholder.  And like most bloggers, I would go so far as to say that often personal fashion is a direct expression of someone's personality.  (Or at least the personality they want people to perceive!)  As a child, I was pretty fashionable.  Mostly because my mom was in charge of my clothes, so everything I had was very cute and appropriate for a kid.  Once I hit my tweens, though, and she didn't have any more say in my clothing choices, it all started to fall apart.  This is where I confess my sad, sad lack of fashion skills between the ages of ...say, 10 and 17.  Oh, I thought I was fashionable.  I thought I was the coolest looking girl out there.  And I know, it should work out that if you think you're cool, you are.  But no.  I wasn't even a hot mess.  I was more of a tepid mess.  The eyes that beheld me were often pretty disgusted.  There were shirts I clung to, that I cringe at the thought of, my hair that went poorly brushed most mornings, the fact that most of my clothes I picked out were too big, until the latter half of high school when the tops at least went the other direction.  To be fair, I don't think most kids have a great sense of fashion.  I think it's something we have to grow into to, because our fashion is as personal, and most people don't have any clue who they really are until after puberty.   I certainly don't think it helped that I went through puberty early, and was wearing an actual bra, not a training bra, in the fourth grade.  And then in high school, puberty smacked me around again as I went up multiple cup sizes, and through a lot of new bras.  I had just started to develop a vaguely artistic, slightly hippie, occasionally dangerous looking style of my own when I went off to college.  And then.  I went to a private university, where anorexia and bulimia ruled the women's dorms, with preppy style close behind.  I stayed my true size (a curvy hourglass), but the preppy style slowly crept in over the next four years.  It stayed there in the edges while I moved to Kansas and went to graduate school, working full-time.  Then I moved back to Virginia, and as I kept applying for jobs and not getting them, I gained some weight.  I finally got a job, and as I went through all my clothes to find stuff that fit, I was dismayed at what I saw.  This wasn't me!  I wasn't really this boring, oxford shirt-wearing, plain black pants sort of person!  Last year, my sister showed me some fashion blogs online, I got interested in this concept of finding my own personal style, and maybe even making a outfit blog of my own.  I rummaged through my closet, and set huge piles of stuff on the spare bed.  It turned out that, despite my lifelong snarking about "girly girls", I prefer wearing skirts to pants or jeans.  It just looks better on my figure, and feels more comfortable.  I still like those hippie shirts like I did in high school, but I also love embellished t-shits made of slub cotton, and buttonless cardigans.  I wear flats, not heels, but that doesn't mean they aren't adorable.  I wear leggings under most skirts and under dresses, and I have a deep love of arm warmers and leg warmers.  So now, my sense of fashion has regrown to the point where I like what I wear and I have written proof that others do too!

This is how it works...

I am so TICKED off at my camera!  How could the batteries die right before we got a shot of the back of my hair?!  I've got it up all messily pinned with a bajillion bobby pins of different sizes and styles.  The front looks okay, but oddly enough, I'm more proud of the back.  I did manage to get a picture of my outfit and of the front of my hair.  You can see my new Lane Bryant wrap, the one that looked so blah on the floor, and it looks much better on me.  You can also see how the two front panels are almost a hand's length longer than the rest of it.  Strange, but I like it!  It's very soft jersey, too, so I'm all snuggled in.  I think I need Jen to whack around at my hair again, though.  Just for fun.  Now that I finally have them, I'm liking layers.

How do you like the new blog layout?  I think it's loverly!  (Since I didn't design it, I can say that without sounding like a big old boaster.)

Edited to add photo of back of head, thanks to lovely student worker Jess!

 

Zip it up!

Here's my Lane Bryant zipper shirt. The neckline is much wider than I had realized, so I went for a strapless bra. I always forget what a true PAIN strapless bras are, slinking down your chest and necessitating the ever-graceful hike up of the bra. I had actually brought the straps to attach and wore those maybe a third of the day, but the straps are just placed so that they irritate the hell out of my armpits. Next time, I might have to wear a little camisole underneath and let the straps show. It's super soft, though, and I felt like I looked very cool!

Dotted Shirt and Helena Hair

So I have no idea how to properly describe this shirt. It's like it's studded, but it's not. It's not on the Lane Bryant website, either, so there goes that idea. My mom suggested saying appliques or dots. I'll go with dots, but in my heart it's a studded t-shirt. Ooh, I'm so bad. I wore my new little watercolor shoes, and made the women I work with admire them.



*Sample conversation: Me- "Look how cute my shoes are!" (hikes shoe up onto a desk, to better show it off) Boss and Boss's Boss- "Wow, those are cute! Did you make those?" Me, laughing my ass off at the thought that I could draw a straight line, let alone a flower. Jewelry is one thing, drawing another. I leave that to my 4-year-old niece.*



Moving on to item two of the post...I pinned my hair back while I was in my cubicle with those little claw clippies, since I was doing data entry most of the day (or rather, data un-entry, since I was removing notes from records). I thought this gave me "crazy lady" hair, but then I got several compliments on it. And once I saw the photos, I realized why. Do you know whose hair this is?



Helena Bonham Carter, that's who!



You know, if she washed it more...and got those twigs and sad little bows out...




Shirt - Lane Bryant
Jeans - Old Navy, thrifted
Shoes - Mossimo
Necklace - self-made
Earrings - I have no clue, but don't they rock!

All warmed up

Last week, the temperature was in the high 60's and sunny. This week, low 50's with wind that makes it feel 10 degrees cooler. Where's my freaking spring? Today seemed extra breezy, so I was very grateful for my leg warmers. You can't see in the picture, but I have on footless tights and sock garters to hold up my leg warmers. They tend to crawl down my legs otherwise. The t-shirt underneath is a retro Janis Joplin concert tee, and seeing just the top peek out caused my boss to think for a second that I had a big honking tattoo right there.



The past two weeks I've been working 2 days on, a day off, then 3 days on, then a day off, then repeat. I've learned that this does not work well for me. I need a full weekend (as in two days), not this body confusing stuff. Hopefully, next week will manage itself better. It doesn't matter when the two days are, as long as they stay together.

On the plus side, this photo makes my stumpy little leg(s) look long! (Hey, I take my pluses where I find them.)



Dress - George
Top - Bob Masse
Arm warmers and leg warmers - Sock Dreams

Hey, cute shoes! Nice top!

No outfit post today, because I forgot! I came home and got right into my pajamas. I went to Target today, looking for rain boots. Once again, I was DENIED! As a curvy girl, I have curvy calves. I also have a bizarre genetic predisposition towards very muscular calves. So, a rain boot that's cut straight up and down, and on the narrow side, isn't wide enough for my calves, but it's more than wide enough everywhere else. Bleah.

But, do you know what I did find? Two pairs of gorgeous, frivolous little flats. Both are made by Mossimo, a company that I wear a ton of (including my little gray felt flats!). One pair will be henceforth dubbed my "watercolor" shoes.



The other pair is purple, and I don't think they'll get a special name.



Those little ruffles on the toe are awfully cute, though.



Before this, I made a little trip to the Lane Bryant next door, which is closing. I got three tops, all from the Lane Bryant label. First up is a light embellished gray t-shirt with silver and bronzy-gold flat stud/press-on thingies.



Next is a darker gray long sleeved tee with a zipper detail up the front.



Here's a close-up of the zipper.



And lastly, there's a wrap sort of thing, a kind of button-less cardigan. I have a gray jersey wrap like this, which is so soft and cuddly that I sometimes wear it around the house and even sleep in it. Yes, the photo looks horrible, but trust me, the wrap is very pretty. The front is longer than the back, like a...um...reverse mullet! Except pretty and not trashy, and I completely lost where I was going. Here's the picture.

Tired face

I TOLD you that when I get tired I make strange faces. These two were the best pictures, due to uncontrollable eyebrows and/or closed eyes in the others. I did my best here, but I was very tired. This is what I wore to church and to Jen's munchkin's piano recital. Side note, don't my earrings ROCK!



Pants - White Stag
Top - Faded Glory
Jacket - tagless, maybe from Lane Bryant?

Grey and Black

This dress got me several compliments today. Looking at the photos, I'm having that moment of uncertainty where you think "I felt so cool today, but do these pictures make me look 10 pounds heavier than I am? And why do I always make such bizarre faces in pictures? OH MY GOD, DO I MAKE THOSE FACES ALL THE TIME IN REALITY?!?" The only answer to these questions is that evil little imps live in my camera. This is why pictures can come out blurry when it's set on auto-focus. My parents/photographers love to take photos of my face, and they always end up slightly strange. Did you know that I have a halo?



The dress is from Wal-mart, and it's made by JMS (Just My Size). You can vaguely see a seam there on the bust. I always have issues with faux wrap tops, as do most large-busted women, I think. So the two edges are just sewn together so they don't gap open.

Basse Mode's Lauren answers some questions

This is an emailed interview that I did with Lauren Cooke, one of the creators of the work-in-progress magazine Basse Mode. Yes, I have been plugging the mag a bit, and when you finish the interview and look at the site, you'll see why! Lauren's own blog is "A Typical Atypical", a smashing good read.



Hey Lauren!
I have several questions for you. Feel free to answer/not answer the ones you like. First of all, get comfy. Squash on down in your chair. Get a snack, or a beverage. Turn on some fun music. Now, have a nice little virtual talk with my blog self, LibraryGirl. (Why, yes, I do work in a library! I am so very original.)

1. A Typical Atypical? Explain to the nice confuzzled girl please?

I am a little bit odd, and more than a little bit aware of it. However, I have come to the conclusion that most of us are barmy in on way, making my Atypicality totally typical! Hence I am a typical atypical!

2. Tell us some more about yourself...dreams, hopes, age, shoe size...you know, the basics.

Well, I used to be a size 8 foot, but then they shrank to a 7 (UK)!! Other than that I am a 23yr old girl working in eMarketing and social media. I am starting to make my way in the world, heading into the realm of blogging and writing more and more - and one day I hope to have a career to do with this which lets me work from home - as long as home is a beautifully restored and decorated house!

3. Basse Mode - It means Low Fashion. I read your post (http://tinyurl.com/ydffu9x) about the concept and it spoke to me right away. I understand the desire to read a low fashion magazine (hell, I have it!) but how did you and the other girls decide to actually go for it and create it? And who came up with the title?

It was an accident really, as many of the best things are! I was throwing the idea for such a magazine out there, and Fi and Emma picked up on the idea and loved it! We got chatting, and now just a couple of weeks later we have a blog set up and loads of wonderfully talented girls willing to help! The title came from us already fixing on the idea of low fashion - and it just sounded better in French!

4. You, Emma, and Fi are all Brits. Are you excited about creating a magazine working with fashion bloggers/other creative types from around the world? Do you think that there are significant differences in what's perceived as "low fashion" depending on where you're from, your age, etc., and is this something that you look forward to showcasing in the magazine?

Low fashion really just means clothes and style that aren't purely from the catwalk or expensive designers. When you think about the fact that within one country you can have so many different styles and trends, it suddenly seems less relevant to worry about cross-cultural differences. I think the variety is the real winner here - Basse Mode isn't aiming to dictate fashion, but merely to inspire people with examples of real women from all walks of life. Each individual's take on low fashion will be different, and that is what makes it special - and that difference is what we are celebrating.


5. Obviously, this one is a issue near and dear to my own heart. Please, please, please, tell me that when Basse Mode comes out it will be available in/shipped to America. And I suppose other countries like...um, Canada as well, too.

We honestly don't know. That may seem a bit of a cop out, but currently we don't have a business plan as we have no funders, sponsors or backers - and they would be the ones with the influence over this. This is why we are trying to raise attention, so that we have proof people want this when the time comes. I would imagine, in an ideal world, that it will probably be a UK produced magazine, but that shipping out to other countries will be a major part. I am speculating until we know it is actually going to become a reality, however!

6. Do you (personally) tend to follow more Brit bloggers than non-Brits or is it all a big mish-mash? (This is probably the part where I should confess that I am a huge Anglophile, yet I haven't been following anyone who doesn't live in America. Sigh, the complexity of the LibraryGirl.)

Interesting question, and one I haven't ever thought about before. I think I follow a massive mix up from mainly Australia, America and the UK. However, despite the expected writing style differences and the real spelling differences, I often don't notice the country of origin - the internet makes it seem like we are all writing from the same place!

7. Random question: Do you read Tavi Gevinson's blog, Style Rookie? (http://tinyurl.com/5qucxy) It's so depressing that a tweenager is lightyears ahead of me on the cool train.

She is very cool indeed :) I don't read her, personally, but I do read a few of the blogs that have really been catapulted into fame and fortune.

8. Ultimate future wishes: both for you personally and for the magazine?

For me? To have fun, do stuff that I wil be proud to remember, and constantly push my boundaries!

For the magazine? To actually get it printed, even if just for one issue. Even to make some sort of annual or one off publication would mean I have something physical to save of the wonderful world of fashion blogging, something that I can show to my grandchildren!


9. And finally, finish us off with an e-bay/etsy/favorite item of the moment pic.

I am totally in love with this vintage Laura Ashley dress - I think it is sexy!

Sweatin' to the Oldies

At work today, I was re-organizing the behind the scenes bit of Circulation. You know, where we keep all that stuff that you always ask for, like those books you've been waiting for? We had bunches of random stuff lying about on shelves, all of it dusty, and a great deal of it no longer useful/used. So my boss (and her boss/my top boss) and I talked, I drew up a plan, and then...then I had to implement it. Which in this case meant heave all sorts of junk around, rearrange and move entire shelves of books, CDs, CD-Roms, et cetera. I take my photos after I get home from work, usually, so this explains the tired look on my face!



Top - Merona
Skirt - Peruvian Connection
Leggings - Faded Glory
Fishnet Knee-Highs - unknown
Shoes - Mossimo

And here are the fishnet knee-highs!

Bleah

Tired girl. Hair now looks doofy in the Alice band that looked much better (I promise) this morning. Plus side, the shirt garnered many compliments, as always. I offer up what I have...





pants - White Stag
shirt - old and tagless

sunday nap-time

Practically wordless...

Church outfit:



Self-made necklace (I'm working on the wire-wrapping.)



Jacket - Wilson Leather
Top - New York & Co
Skirt - Uniform John Paul Richard
Shoes - Mossimo

Pale girl in black

Long post today with two outfits (yesterday and today), and a (non-sponsory) plug for a potential new magazine, Basse Mode, that you might have read about on other bloggers' sites. And as per the post title, I'm wearing black tops in all photos.

Here's a quick pic from yesterday of me in my little sleeveless shirt and without my glasses. It has been determined that I am less likely to make ridiculous faces if I am not wearing my glasses. If I am, my eyebrows seem to start acting up like a character in a melodrama (usually the villain).



Amazing! I now have 2 pairs of jeans. Double the amount. My mother brought me home another pair that she thrifted (my mom is where my sister and I learned to thrift). I decided to try working a head scarf today, in a quasi-gypsy sort of way. You know, if there were albino gypsies. This is sort of a dress over jeans look, but the "dress" is very short. My mom thought it was a shirt when I bought it! I would never wear it without leggings or (now) jeans underneath, because I don't feel like flashing my panties at people. But these jeans have a much slimmer fit than my others, so I might start experimenting more with the whole dress over jeans thing.



Jeans - Riders
Dress/Top - George
Shoes - Earth Spirit

You might have noticed the new little widget thing on the side of my blog here, advertising for Basse Mode. It's a self-advertised "low fashion" magazine that's in the works. "Low fashion" as opposed to "high fashion" or haute couture, this magazine aims to be a hard copy mag "about what real women wear, feel and believe". Take a look at the website and see what you think. Follow them on twitter, answer their short questionnaire (warning, the amounts are in british pounds sterling, not US dollars), keep up to date by emails, even put a button like mine up on your own blog.

tooling around town

So, I didn't get the job I was applying for. My boss, in the nicest way possible, told me I totally blew the interview. Which is something I have a habit of doing. So today I'm going to tool around my tiny little town (1 stoplight in the entire county) and just look around in some of the stores for inspiration.





shoes - no boundaries
jeans - old navy (come on, I have one pair of jeans!)
top - George
leather jacket - Wilson's Leather
jewelry - self-made except spoon ring


One neat thing in town was a photo I got. It's of the space between two buildings where the snow/ice is still holding out, waiting for a hot day.

Screw raindrops on roses...

These are a few of my favorite things. And by things, I mean jewelry that I personally have made.

First, the famous teapot necklace, AKA the one up top there on my page in the poladroid picture, and the one I seem to be wearing in every other outfit post.



The "chain" necklace I created out of double layers of jump rings (jewelry doo-dads).



Two little pendants here, a curvy woman (headless) and an adorable little faux magnifying glass with a pretend fingerprint.



This is a stone pendant I bought down at the beach this summer, and for a while I was wearing this necklace every Sunday.



And true, I didn't make this, but I wanted to show off my spoon ring again. From a little antique store in New Harmony, IN to my chubby little hands!



Do you have favorite jewelry? Or make your own?