Winter is coming

My niece is starting to show signs that she'll be all lean and lanky as she grows up. Look at her, all adorable in her little sundress! She'll be 7 in 3 weeks (boo). I ordered a ton of stretch elastic that came in yesterday, so we've started making some hair ties (like the Twist Bands, but DIY). I bought 20 yards of elastic, which would make 80 hair ties if we don't screw any up or decide to make some headbands. That's a ton! Enough to not worry about losing, plus, I bought a ton of colors, even orange for Halloween. You can see the blue one on my wrist to put my hair back once I got to work.

I painted my nails, too. This color came in a Birchbox, and I just kept not getting around to it. It's called "Put a Pin In It" and is a sort of rosy-gold metallic sparkly. I don't usually like the Color Club colors, but this one was cute and it dried very quickly. Which was fantastic, since I randomly decided to paint my nails this morning after getting dressed.

From some weird confluence of Hurricane Sandy and a winter storm, it's supposed to go from very warm today (77, which is warm for the VA mountains) to 38 with possible snow by next Tuesday. I really do need to shift my closet this weekend from warm-weather clothes to sweaters.

Sweater - Target, Pants - Denim 24/7, Shoes - Dexter, Necklace - Send the Trend.

Double-up

Monday morning, not the middle of the night like it looks.

 I don't care what anyone (or any study) says; Monday is a wretched day. And as you can see, the stress of the last few weeks gave me a giant zit on my forehead that my sister attempted to pop too soon. So, it's taken much longer than usual to go away. BOO for stress and not getting enough sleep because I'm too undisciplined to stop reading!

Monday's outfit: Top - Avenue, Pants - Lands End, Shoes - TOMS, Necklace (hidden by hair) - street fair. 

Tuesday. Or maybe a mug shot.

I thought maybe some bright colors would help today. Yesterday's palette certainly didn't do anything to help. And I do love my little epaulets that are so spangly. I'm a little crow-like with the right shiny stuff (aka not diamonds - too glass-like). This is another one of the good t-shirts, in a nice soft jersey that drapes well and shows off all the right curves.

Tuesday's outfit: Shirt - JMS, Pants - Simply Be, Shoes - TOMS, Necklaces - self-made.

Spirit Day

Cardigan, tank, and shoes - Simply Be, Leggings - Walmart.

This tie front cardigan comes in mocha and stone. It seems to me that "stone" is often another word for "boring beige that washes out Erin's skin" so I bought the mocha and I'm pleased to report that it has a bit of a purplish undertone to it! Odd, but pretty. I love how it's long enough to wear over nothing but some leggings and a tank, keeping me warm in a little cocoon.

Today is Spirit Day to stand against bullying for LGBT teens. So I wore a purple tank AND a purplish long cardi! If there's a generation that we need to give some extra support to, it's definitely teens. Puberty can be enough of a wreck when you're CIS. For LGBT teens, we need to make sure that our love comes through even more, since society is still backwards.

Why do we wear makeup?

Barefaced, wearing lip gloss.

I know lots of women who wear makeup; more than I know who don't wear makeup. They wear it everyday, no matter where they're going or what the temperature will be. Some of them wear a "full face" of makeup, some wear "no makeup" makeup. Even though I would count myself as a woman who doesn't wear makeup, do I really fit into the makeup category since I wear lip gloss every day? This isn't really going to be an anti-makeup diatribe; I like makeup, I'm just not invested enough in it to wear it. I'm lazy on the subject on fixing my hair and makeup, so I will only wear makeup if there's a good reason for me to (a job interview, date, or acting on stage are all some good reasons). This is about self-esteem, and how makeup is often used to spackle over the holes we have in our self-esteem.

Are you a woman who wears makeup everyday? Do you just want to look fancy? Or do you have a skin issue that you want to cover? Any reason you want to wear makeup is a good one, I think. If wearing makeup makes you feel pretty, then I think you should. But the important corollary that goes along with makeup is that you need to realize that you're just as pretty without it. The problem arises when women feel that their faces are lacking, aren't pretty, without makeup. Magazines have taught us for years that unless we put on X, Y, and Z every day, we'll look like horrible sweaty beasts. But you'll just look like someone with no makeup on. 

All you have to do is pick which way you want to look. Either way is fine, the way to pick is the way that makes you feel good about yourself. And if you feel better with some foundation and eye shadow on, then slap it on! But if putting it on messes with your head and tears up your self esteem, leading you to believe that you can't be seen in public without any makeup...maybe you need to think about what you're trying to hide behind all of it. Figure out why you're uncomfortable with yourself, and if you do and are ready to pop on some eye shadow after your self esteem is back to normal, then by all means do it!

Feel free to discuss this in the comments, but any mean or hateful comments will be deleted.

Pins and Smiles

Top and Cardi - Avenue, Pants - White Stag, Shoes - TOMS, Necklace - Send the Trend.

Today was definitely a work pajama day. I don't know why this cardigan insists on photographing as pinkish, when it's a stone red color in real life. Of course, this necklace finally broke today (luckily in a way that I can fix it tonight with a jump ring and pliers). I don't know why, it's not like I swing it around it all the time or anything...

So, today you get some of my favorite pins from lately! I can hear your excitement!

http://randomhouseca.tumblr.com/post/30529335649/we-just-love-books-so-much

 Pop Art Book Excitement!

http://sherlock.soup.io/

Soul Crushing Sherlock/Doctor Who Mashup! 

http://www.memecenter.com/search/star%20trek/date/30

The realization that Patrick Stewart will never really age and is still hot! 

http://themetapicture.com/some-men-2/

And finally, some props for science men!

Stressed spelled backwards is a horrible week

Sweater - Simply Be, Leggings - Walmart, Shoes - Dexter.

Last week was just a titch over my ultimate stress level. There was a work day that I actually felt like vomiting from stress for...oh, about six hours. And my period is a week late. Usually, when something stressful happens, my period comes early. But apparently, when I'm completely stressed, I just don't have it. Which would be great if I didn't want to vomit and/or have massive headaches. The work issues that caused all the stress are slowing down, so hopefully one day in the future I'll come home and feel like doing something other than hibernating. PRO TIP: Win the lottery so you don't have to work. (If any of you have won the lottery and would like to donate some of your winnings to me so I don't have to work, I'm also up for that idea.) However, I made it through all of this without a seizure or an panic attack (I have an anxiety disorder that is exacerbated by the medications I take for my epilepsy), so I'm counting last week as a horrible win. Plus, I never did actually vomit. But, I did discover a new (to me) singer. Ellie Goulding, another Brit like Adele, but more pop-ish. This is a cover of the Elton John song, and a little different than the majority of her stuff, but I like this home-made lyric You-tube vid.

Rain, Rain, I hate your guts

Top - Simply Be, Pants - Denim 24/7, Shoes - Target.

I'm a big fan of super-long tunics, aka "tunics". To me, unless the shortest point hits mid-thigh, it's just a long shirt. I don't care what the company calls it, a long shirt is not automatically a tunic! I don't hate long shirts, I like them since I don't have a short torso; but the fact remains that just because a shirt is long doesn't make it a tunic. Semantics are the issue here.

Also, while I'm being grumpy, I have a suggestion of a face cleanser to not use. I had a sample packet of Fiafini's Delicate Cleansing Emulsion from Beauty Army, and even though I'm happy with what I'm using at the moment, I thought I'd try it. As for cleansing, it was nothing special and left my sensitive skin on the dry side. But the smell...oh, Lord, the smell. Listen, I've used tons of fragrance-free stuff on my skin, and tons of "organic cleansers", as well as all the usual drugstore stuff. So I'm used to plant smells, chemical smells, and chemical "no-smell" smells. But this...this was without a doubt the foulest smelling thing that I was designed to put on my face. It just smelled bad, as if it was actually bad. Like the nasty stuff you find under piles of leaves. (If you were wondering what I do use to clean my skin, I alternate between boscia Purifying Cleansing Gel and One Love Organics Skin Savior Waterless Beauty Balm.)

YAY Sweater Dress!

Sweater and Boots - previous season's Simply Be, Undershirt - Target, Leggings - Walmart.

It was 38 outside this morning, so I felt perfectly justified in this outfit. It's only supposed to get up to 60, so it's not like I'll boil if it does actually does get up to that. We've had our cold snap, and turned the heat on, so  it's official sweater time. I've ordered more Simply Be boots and everything! (I'll give a full report when they come in, for other full-calved girls.) And Mia, I know you'll want to know: Yes, those buttons are on two big pockets that just fit a paperback. I figure the bright color perks everything up, and the cable-knit will perk me up.

 Does anyone have a favorite scent? I'm terribly fond of Harvey Prince's Ageless, but I can't really justify the price to myself at the moment. I got a sample in a Birchbox, and used it all up. This month I get a sample of their Yogini, though, so we'll see how I like that. One-notes that I love include any real (not chemically) Lavender and Lemongrass. I used a lemongrass-sugar scrub (a sample of Suki Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser)

this morning and was gloriously happy from the smell.

Officially Dark

Sweater - Nicole Miller, Jeans - Simply Be, Shoes - Dexter. 

It's officially dark now; sunrise is coming around 7:20 am or so, and we leave the house well before that. Autumn is my favorite time of year, and corduroys are so delightfully iconic that I can't resist pulling mine on as soon as the weather cooperates. These royal blue corduroy jeans are super cheap ($35), come in flare and straight leg, three different lengths, and six different colors. Best of all, in my opinion, they have concealed back elastic. I've talked numerous times (okay, complained) about how jeans fit on a hourglass body, but elastic in the waistband solves that huge gap in the back I get otherwise.

And for that much needed pop of color, I put on a necklace I made. Doesn't it look like gumballs? Also, you can't see them, but I have black socks with a blue argyle pattern on them! Walmart has No Nonsense Super-Soft socks now, and they really are.