LOVE YOSELF

I've got a lecture on confidence coming to you this morning!

You know I really hate it when people assume that fashion is shallow. Like I'm dressing like this to impress someone with my looks. I'm not, I'm dressing for me. People are all "Oh, looks aren't important, it's what's inside that counts!" Well there aint nothin wrong with looking good, okay! I dress on the outside the way I feel on the inside.

And ya know what, looks are important. If you like the way you look, you feel great all day! Ladies, society expects us to be modest and humble but be beautiful at the same time. Think about movie heroines. They are never vain, they're sweet, snarky, the girl next door. But they look like fucking Taylor Swift! Think "You Don't Know You're Beautiful" by One Direction. Guys have a total boner for humilty (when combined with hotness of course) and we're supposed to find that attractive in a man? How about a guy that thinks I'm attractive because I like the way I look! It's contradictions like this that make healthy self esteem nearly impossible. It takes some work and effort to look nice, to look the way you want to look, and there is no reason to feel ashamed for that! We can't all roll out of bed looking like an Herbal Essences commercial.

So right now, take a look in your mirror, and say "Damn, gurl, you look good." And don't you even feel guilty, you are allowed to know you're beautiful! LOVE. YO. SELF.

Oh and how about a round of applause for my first ever successful jumping shot! You can send me a gift basket if you want (I like chocolate covered fruit).

Passionate rants aside, it is really important to like the way you look, and to be true to yourself. I can't tell you how much more confident and happy with myself I've been since I started this blog. I mean, I always dressed outside the norm (mismatching shoes, anyone?) but being proud of my outfits and the way I look is something that came around after I started working on them. It's something I think everyone should try!

Okay, now about this dress. When I saw it online I was like "OMG this is it, the perfect summer dress!" And I held my breath for 2 months (2 MONTHS) waiting for it to get here. When it did, I was heartbroken. It's so shiny! I had built it up to be utter perfection, and I just thought it looked like a cheap costume. It does not look shiny online. And to return it would have cost half of what I paid for it! So it hung in my closet for another month. Occasionally I would pull it out and squint at it, then put it back on it's hanger.

Since then, I've seen a ton of bloggers wearing it. Check The Clothes Horse and The Pineneedle Collective, for example. And they rocked it, shiny polyester and all. So, slowly I've come to terms with it. On some advice from Annika, I wore it with some more muted accessories, and I'm starting to love it once again!

Dress: Sheinside

shoes: Rack Room?

shirt: American Apparel

hat: thrifted

spike necklace: DIY

unicorn necklace: Forever 21

sunglasses: JC Pennys

Tell me in the comments about how beautiful you know you are!

Hip

I am sofa king proud of these pictures.

Yeah I am well aware that I forgot to smile in any of them, I had some issues keeping myself in frame (?) and you can't really see what I'm wearing. But that light. You know that golden hour that is everyone's favorite part of the day because everything is all yellow and looks like a vintage photograph that was brought to life? I set out to capture it with this shoot! I live at the bottom of a hill and we really don't get any of the beautiful light this time of day, so instead I drove about 5 minutes up the road to a field that I don't think belongs to anyone.

I was also rockin the hipster look today with my cutoff overalls, thick framed glasses, and beanie. I've been called a hipster on occasion (by people who don't know what a hipster is). I am not cool enough to deserve the title at all... I only found out about Vampire Weekend when they had a music video on MTV my senior year! Also I don't smoke weed.

I have been addicted to spikes lately. Desperately searching for something that will make me look cooler than I am! Maybe I am secretly longing for people to scoff and mutter "hipster" as I walk by!

overalls, purse (if you can call it that... it's a glorified wallet on a string): thrifted

shirt: TJ Maxx, DIY'd into a crop top

beanie, shoes: Target

socks: Old Navy

bee pin: for sale in my shop!

If you've ever wanted to pull over and take pictures on the side of the road but never did for fear of people thinking you're a weenie, I highly recommend it. I've never regretted it, and it's kind of a rush! Once a friendly old guy asked if I was having car trouble, but that's the only time anyone's ever stopped.

I left my car door open this time, and a little buggy flew into my car. It somehow wedged itself into the crevice where the windshield meets the dashboard and it kept buzzing, trying to fly out. I was eyeing it warily, mentally preparing myself to help it out with a piece of paper or something when I got home, but it managed to crawl it's way on out and flew right at me! I don't know where it went, but it wasn't in my hair (my first priority) so I hope it got out of my car safely. 

I've been using my Mom's Canon Rebel camera all summer. But I'm saving up for my own so it won't break my heart when I go back to school! Any recommendations?

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I Made A Dress: Dinosaur Edition

I swear I found like one picture of me smiling in this whole shoot (and I didn't even include it here)! I think I was pissed off about something. Grumbly grumbling to myself like "These pictures aren't gonna turn out good ugh ugh UGH."  But they turned out okay in the end.

I've been collecting sheets from Goodwill to turn into dresses for my senior thesis (and for myself really) and when I found this one it opened up a whole other world for me! KIDS bedsheets. I almost bought a spongebob one.

I feel like I keep sewing and sewing and I'm not getting any better at it. My Mom told me I have to slow down. Story of my life. I've got a bit of a reputation around school for being the fastest worker. It kind of pisses people off because I'm always finished hours ahead of everyone. But it really can come back to bite me, this impatience! I'm going to try making another over the course of the weekend and really try and slow the hell down. I made this one in, what, 4 hours?

Right now I'm feeling like I want to get off my butt and do amazing creative things, but I'm just so tired. Don'tcha hate that! Travis has been in Italy for 2 weeks now and I miss him a lot! We can only skype every so often because of limited internet access where he's staying. I'm ready to snuggle with him again!

dress: handmade by me

brooch: handmade by me, available here

necklace: handmade by me

shoes: BAIT

I also re dyed my hair! Not with the bright stuff yet, just the red base. This auburn is nice and vibrant, though, not like the last one I used!

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30 Facts About Me!

I love reading about other people's little quirks, and these posts are always so fun for me to read! So here are 30 facts about me.

 1. I'm allergic to dust.

2. I don't consider myself into fandoms, but I really believe I'd be a different person were it not for Harry Potter and Pokemon.
3. I think I'm funny.
4. I have a pillow pet.
5. I want to be good at everything!

6. My favorite comfort food is mashed potatoes and gravy.
7. I am not religious.
8. Me and my sister used to fight all the time. I would say mean stuff, and she would punch me, and that's about how it went down on the daily. But ever since high school we've been really close!
9. I don't have a smart phone.
10. I used to collect Archie Comics. And I was serious about it, too. I have over 200 comic books up in the attic somewhere, and copying Betty and Veronica pin ups is how I learned to draw!

11. I think I have pretty good body image, but I am insecure about my forehead, teeth, and knees.
12. I'm a vegetarian! Actually a pescatarian. I eat fish on occasion, but it sounds kind of pretentious to say pescatarian. Yes, it's for moral reasons. I try not to get too preachy with people about it, but I do believe that if you have a choice between killing an animal and not... then, well, don't.
13. I'm so scared of growing up!
14. I'm not good at drinking alcohol.
15. My house has an amazing garden! My Mom's really into gardening. She's got an eclectic sort of taste, and there's just different flowers growing everywhere rather than organized manicured bushes in a row.

16. Never have been a dog person.
17. I sucked my thumb until 2nd grade, slept with my blankie until high school, and had a stuffed animal that I named Clouton.
18. I am very self centered.
19. I love watching TV.
20. I always wanted glasses, and I was so excited when the board started to look blurry my 10th grade year!

21. My hair has never been this long in my life. I've always kept it shoulder length or above, save for a frizzy stint in middle school, I think. It got below shoulder length then.
22. I am a feminist!
23. I'm really competitive and I get jealous when people do better than me.
24. Fish mouths freak me out. They're so gapey.
25. In high school I made really good grades and took lots of AP and honors classes. I only took one art class at the end of my senior year!

26. I love my cat a lot.
27. I wish I could play an instrument. I used to take guitar lessons, but I wasn't very good (or patient).
28. I twirl my hair all the time, and I bite my lips.
29. I think astronomy is fascinating! My Dad is a geek about it (and other things) too, and he has his own little telescope. We've been looking at Saturn lately! Growing up, we all went to these Starry Night specials at the local science center where we'd look through telescopes and learn about constellations.
30. I sing a lot in the car.

Okay now tell me weird stuff about you!

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Roses and The Jungle

The day I took these my Mom had the garage door open for some gardening reason, so I went down to the creek to take pictures of this pretty pretty dress. And boy am I glad I did! These turned out pretty damn awesome. If you're wondering why I don't normally take pictures down here, this is why:

The neighbors are basically letting it turn into a jungle. The same field that I took dandelion covered pictures in a month ago is pretty difficult to even walk through now. I guess I shouldn't be judging them for their landscaping (or lack thereof) because I am some weirdo skipping through their yard to take pictures of myself with a tripod. So.

Plus it's pretty marshy down there with all the rain we've been getting.

Okay so let's talk about the beautiful vintage floral elephant in the room. This dress is bangin'. It's slammin'. It's covered in roses and came with a matching red sash. It also was a size 14, so I had to stumble around the sewing machine getting it to fit me. I couldn't just hem it obvi, look at the trim! So I had to cut the skirt off and raise it up. Which proved difficult since it had a zipper in the back. So I had to replace that too, and take in the bodice. The result isn't too shabby! Though the princess seams don't fall on my boobs the way they should.

Since these turned out so good (come to think of it, my last shoot out here was really nice, too), I might have to trek out to the jungle more often for photos! Maybe next time I'll wear proper adventure gear (AS IF).

dress: thrifted

shoes: you can't even see them, don't lie

crown: DIY

ring: etsy (bellatrina jewelry)

Remember guys, follow the blog on facebook! I also got a twitter, but you should only follow that if you're prepared for (DUN DUN) the real me.

Also, as far as I know GFC will still be around even though Google Reader is leaving, but you an all follow me on bloglovin just in case!

Late

I think I'm going to try and make these posts a weekly thing, since I wound up with a ton of photos to post this time! I tried to put them in chronological order but idk idk.

First day I wore my pins to work! No one there gives a shit about my outfits, though. (dats why I have you guys)

A breakfast! It's special because I often forgo the most important meal of the day in favor of an extra ten minutes of sleep.

Workin hard or hardly working?! HYUCKHUECK

Having some pretty rain storms.

My sister hates thrifting but she's actually amazing at it. Look at this mug she found me!

Doing summery things like going to the fair.

And playing with sparklers.

My cat was super cuddly one morning!

I stabbed myself with my pin.

I actually live at Sonic.

If you look closely, you can see my glasses under my sunglasses. #function over fashion