Joke & a Valentine

headband, shirt, jacket, & skirt | forever 21   tights | a gift   booties | BCBG

It's official.  I'm a walking advertisement for Forever 21.

I'm not even sure I should bother to list where my clothes are from anymore, by now y'all know where they come from, right??  I ordered this jacket and skirt online a few days ago and they arrived on my doorstep yesterday - I'M IN LOVE.  The skirt is high-waisted-pleated-shimmery goodness.  Yes that's a thing.  No I didn't just make that up.  And don't even get me started on the jacket!  That thing is even more beautiful in person.  Good gracious.

Along with my beautiful new clothes, I also came home to find these beautiful flowers on my doorstep: the first valentine I've had in years.  :)  (They were left by my ex, whom I mentioned in this post)  It's  nice to feel loved!

My sister would kill me for talking about her here, but this story is just too funny not to tell!  Gotta take what opportunities you have, people.  She, my mom, and I went out to dinner tonight, and she was telling us about a conversation she had with a friend.  Her friend's mother was concerned about my sister driving her son around (as are most parents of teenagers who aren't old enough for a license), and my sister said to her friend, "Tell her I don't drink and drive; I don't even support underage drinking.  Tell her when I play beer pong I have other people drink the beer for me."  My sister is as straight-edge as they come, so I thought this was a clever example to use to exemplify her suitability as a chauffeur.

Until she said, "No, I'm serious!  I'm really good at beer pong.  I actually have to go find a friend to drink the beer for me."

Then, I lost it.  I have not heard something that funny in a looong time.  Especially because at first I hadn't realized she was being serious!  And that, my friends, is as good a story as I will ever be able to tell, so savor this moment.   Enjoy the laughs!  :)   xx

currently listening to..// Gran Torino

To love and lose, or not to love?

I'm having one of those days.  The ones where you wonder about the choices you make, about how you got to where you are, and whether those decisions were the right ones.  One of those days where you just wonder about life in general.

I think it's the weather.  Gray, gloomy, etc.

One thing that's been on my mind lately is that age-old saying about how it's better to have loved and lost than to have not loved at all.  Or is it?

You might remember a post I wrote back in October about how my girl TSwift would've been proud of me.  I was just starting to date that guy, and we had a lot of fun until things ended six weeks later.  It's been more than two months since then and I'm still hung up on that guy.  Not in the ice-cream-pint-late-at-night kind of way, but hung up enough that my heart still aches for what might have been.

So is it better to love and have lost that love or not at all?  I honestly don't know.  I'd like to say yes, but at the same time... it's so hard having to look at someone and wonder how your life might be different now if things had worked out.  Hard enough that maybe it's better to not love at all.

What do you think?  If you've been in this situation, how do you deal?  Or have you been on the other end of it, wishing you had loved and lost?   xx

(if you're reading this, mom, happy birthday !)

unspeakable.

I'm forewarning you, this post is going to be a tough one.  Sad, depressing, all of the negative words you can come up with: this is it.  So if you're having a bad day, or don't want to ruin a good one, skip this post and come back to it later.

This morning I had to have my first ever filling on my virgin teeth.  I was traumatized as a child when it comes to needles being in my mouth, and it probably wouldn't surprise you that I cried the entire way through the ten-minute procedure, even though I couldn't feel anything.  When half of your face is numb enough that eating and drinking is out of the question, it's a given that you feel like shit.  No way around it, really.  So I came home and wanted to do something to hopefully make myself feel better.  The only thing I could think of was to dig around in my box of über-nice yarn and find a project for it.  Typical.

I sat down on the couch and opened my laptop to peruse Ravelry for a project to start.  Almost automatically, I opened Facebook to check that at the same time.  At the top of my news feed I saw something that froze me.  Literally.  One of my friends had posted, "R.I.P. daddy".  I grew up with this girl.  She and her family lived directly across the street from me for part of elementary school and all of middle school.  When I think back on my childhood, I think of the days and nights we would spend playing in the street, or competing with their mom at Boggle (who ALWAYS won, no matter how many times we played), knitting on the sidewalk, or going to Disneyland for my first time with them.  I consider myself having grown up with this family.

So to hear that their dad was killed in a car accident yesterday is something I literally cannot even get my head around.  I have been staring at my computer screen for over an hour, reading and rereading the article that was written about the crash, trying to make sense of what I'm seeing.  This is not the first time I've experienced death, if that's what you're thinking.  This is the first time I've experienced it with someone whom I had spoken to and interacted with on a daily basis.  I don't think there was a single time I was greeted by him and there was not a smile on his face nor a chuckle in his voice as he said hello.  Never.  That was the kind of personality he had.  To think that is just... gone - I mean, I can't even.

This is what I'm trying to say.  Right now, give your husband or wife or son or daughter or best friend a hug and tell them how much they mean to you.  Because you may never get the chance to do so again.  Life is not a guarantee.  It is a privilege, and I implore you to treat it as such.   xx

XOXO.

What'chu know 'bout poppin' no mint colla?

Alllllright, let's pretend that I can even begin to pull that off.  We should just skim right over my attempt to speak Gangster and move on to my knitting post.

I've had this project on my mind for a full year, and just got around to making it a few weeks ago, when I realized these colors looked fab together.  I had this hat almost finished last month, but it ended up being too small, so after all my Christmas Etsy orders were finished, I took it out and started over.  Time consuming, but so worth it!  By far, this hat is in my Top 3 Favorite Projects Ever.

It's only been a few days since it came off my needles, but I seriously love this thing to death.  It was cold enough to even wear to bed the other night.  Don't judge!

Funny story today: I was standing in line at Rite-Aid to get a prescription filled, absently glancing around, waiting for the one and only clerk to take her sweet time, when the woman in line ahead of me turned around and said, "People probably tell you this all the time, but you could totally model."  I was completely taken aback, and as this woman continued to talk to me about why I should be a model (super tall, "good frame" apparently..), my face got progressively redder.  Pretty sure I looked like a tomato.  I don't take compliments well at all.  So don't try any funny business if you see me on the street, people!  ;)

Enjoy the end of your weekend!   xx

currently listening to..// Home - Michael Bublé

I did something crazy

Yes.  That is me.

Let's start this off by saying:  I am terrified out of my mind of heights.

I don't know what I was thinking either.

One of my girlfriends texted me last weekend saying she and her dad were going to go rapelling and did I want to come along?  I said I wasn't quite sure what that meant but it sounded fun so alright!

That, my friends, is how it all came to go down on Tuesday morning.

You can't tell, but in the picture below, I am wondering what the hell I got myself into.  I was hooked up, good to go, and totally fine, but once I started walking backward toward that edge... I about lost it.  Almost.  Then I made the mistake of looking back over my shoulder.  Ohhhh that was fun.  I was thisclose to saying I couldn't do it and book it back to solid ground.  But I made myself do it, and for what?  A good story to tell you all!  I kid you not.  The single reason I did this was because of the story I'd be able to tell afterward.  I mean, you can see the appeal.  Heights hater goes climbing down a six-story-tall rock!  A tall tale indeed.  (HA, HA.  No pun intended!)

I think my priorities are a little out of whack.  Especially when I tell you this:  I went down that 60 foot rock not once, not twice, but four times.  For this reason: I did it enough times to last me the rest of my life.  Oh, I crack myself up.  No, really, I'm actually chuckling as I write this.

Exposure therapy at its best, people. Not gonna lie, I kinda want to do it again, just to get over my fear..   Say.  Conquer any of your own fears lately??   xx 

{edit: there's only one day left on Bonnie's giveaway so get to it!  One of my coffee cozies is up for grabs!}

currently listening to..// Soldier - Gavin DeGraw

Love in a hopeless place

jacket & shorts | forever 21   boots | madden girl   tights | christmas present

This is my holycrapit'scoldasshitrightnow face.  The reason for only having a handful of slightly-blurry photos in this post: it was about 30º when I took these pictures and well wouldn't you know I just wanted to get my butt back inside already!

You've already seen most of these pieces of clothing in past outfit posts; today I wanted to highlight the tights!  They are fabulous.  I mean come on people, just look at these babies!  I've been dying to wear them for weeks, and today I finally opened them up.  Being back at school means wearing something other than the jeans/orange tshirt/jacket combo I've been living in for the last month for work.  It's weird.  

But back to the tights.  They're beautiful and amazing and the darndest thing happened to them today.  I accidentally tore one of the fishnett-y holes and so now I have a bigger hole. I'm pretty sure this is the third (third!) time that I've torn/ripped a pair of tights/pantyhose on the same day that I opened them.  You know what they say about coincidence: Once is an accident.  Twice is a coincidence.  Three times is a pattern.  I must be cursed.

On the upside, these tights got themselves three separate compliments within ten minutes today.  Why is everything in three's ?!  (I was about to say, three cheers for Tights! when I realized.....)   xx

P.S.  I'm still LOVING my new hair.  Thank you for leaving such sweet comments!  :3

P.P.S.  Hello and welcome to those new readers I have!

currently listening to..//  Let Me Down - Kelly Clarkson

Dream come true

So much for what I said about never putting pictures of me making funny faces on the blog!

I'm pretty amazed to say, that my life-long (literally) dream of having straight hair came true today, thanks to a recent (1990s) breakthrough in the hair world.  It is now permanently straight, and I will have to literally cut off my hair to get rid of the straightness.  Even though it put a $400 dent in my bank account, it's going to be worth it.  

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but my hair is so thick that it's enough for two people.  On top of that, it is curly, and frizzy like you wouldn't believe  (these pictures make it look nice because I slept on my wet hair last night).  In the last eight years (since I was 13, when I discovered flatirons), I've straightened my hair 3+ times a week, and when you add all of that up, you get about 1,250 times (minimum) that I've straightened my hair.  That is a LOT.  I've cut off nearly all of my hair twice (it fell about two inches above my shoulders) to donate it, primarily because my hair was that unmanageable.  You're reading that right: I've cut off my hair multiple times because I simply couldn't deal with putting hours of work into my hair whenever I wanted to wear it down.  I'm not exaggerating when I say hours plural.

My mom says that I'm going to miss my curly hair, and I won't lie when I say that I already do a little bit, knowing I won't see it again for a long time.  That's when I have to remind myself about all of the endless hours I put into straightening it, and all of the damage I've done to it by doing that; when I remind myself about always muttering under my breath about how much I hate my hair, and all those countless mornings I lay in bed mentally debating whether to get up and do my hair or to skip it and lie there for another hour.

As for what's coming up next for my hair: I'm planning on dying it red - something like this, maybe a little darker (despite the way the sun plays on it, right now it's the same color as my curly hair) - and maybe getting bangs.  I was eight years old the last time I had bangs, and it was a disaster because of my hair type.  Always been bitter about that.  So, now that my hair is straight, I might give it a go!  Something like this or this.  Let's hear your thoughts!  I need help deciding.  :)   xx

currently listening to..//  Chasing the Sun - The Wanted