bigger on the inside

Yesterday morning I got a package. Or rather, my mother got a package that was for me, opened the package, re-wrapped the contents in three layers and about enough packing tape to circle the house thrice, and then gave it to me. The package said "muahahahaha" on top.

Me, groggy, un-makeup'd, and desperately in need of a shower. LOOK NOW, IT'S NOT A SIGHT YOU'RE GONNA GET ALL THAT OFTEN AROUND HERE.

I have a friend named Bethany who enjoys being evil around my birthday.

Anyway, what was in this cruelly wrapped package was something I have desperately wanted since before it was purchaseable: Threadless' new TARDamask t-shirt. If you haven't noted that I am the massivest of massive geeks, you haven't been reading very carefully, but if you missed it, well: here's your warning! Anyway, I fell headlong in love with design when it was still in the voting stage and really hoped it would get to be a t-shirt, and then it did! and it was much too expensive for me to splurge on. CUE SNEAKY EVIL AWESOME FRIENDS. It is the best t-shirt ever, on account of being elegant and extremely geeky, and therefore all of my favourite things in one place: Doctor Who and Victoriana and a fetching shade of blue.

My four-year-old sister, upon examining the shirt, exclaimed, "That's Doctor Who's house!" WE HAVE TRAINED HER WELL.

shirt: Threadless, from Bethany
skirt: Bon Ton
shoes and stockings: Rue 21 (whoo $1 clearance stockings! also YES I WEAR OTHER SHOES SOMETIMES)
bow necklace, the closest thing I have to a bowtie: Claire's
almost Amy Pond's wedding necklace: Christmas present from Anna
pearl droplets: WHO KNOWS; there was a pair in one of the sets of earrings Anna sent me but these are not them! my mother probably found them at Goodwill. Pearls are my birthstone; I like them.

you can't take the sky from me

Hello, internet! I have been busy being Away: Merlefest Bluegrass Festival with my father the last week of April, after which I came home long enough to collect my suitcase and an hour of sleep before taking a bus to Philadelphia to hang out with my friend Anna for several days -- and from Philadelphia I flew to Anchorage, Alaska to visit my best friend for two and a half weeks. She'd just graduated from grad school at UAA, so we celebrated by... drinking a lot of tea, watching a lot of films and television, playing video games, destroying the lives of fictional people, and exploring abandoned buildings, among other things. My last week there we went to see geekfolk artist Marian Call, and ended up getting free tickets by volunteering. I took tickets and Official Photographs! And had lovely conversations with a lot of geeky people who spoke the same language of references and multisyllabic words as I. All in all it was rather a fab evening. 

And this is almost exactly what I wore! Kyra snagged me TeeFury's shirt of the day several weeks ago because clearly my life would not be complete without it (she has one too, naturally), and as Marian Call is a huge Firefly fan and references it in several songs it seemed like the thing to don.

I've been wearing the marvellous hat Charis made for me rather a lot the last few months, but it has a tendency to slide off -- so I clipped it in place with this feather clip, and the effect was quite charming. (I've wanted one of these clips for some time, and accidentally stumbled on one while in Philadelphia. Hooray!)

 

My friend Sarah had a welcome-to-summer party on Saturday, and did this henna design on my hand (after I kept forgetting the ones I did and squashing them before they'd had time to set).

shirt: TeeFury
skirt and vest: Rue 21
necklace: skeleton key from my house on an old chain
earrings: handmade, from a Russian shop in an Anchorage mall
boots: thrifted
hat: made by Charis
feather clip: an odd little boutique in Philadelphia

walmart finery

One of the main tenets I've learned for quirky fashion on a budget is that you can find great things anywhere.  Don't turn your nose up, and don't pass on something inexpensive that you like just because of where it comes from (unless you have a moral obligation against it -- I will never shop at Abercrombie and Fitch or wear anything that displays their logo because of the disgusting racist and ableist ways they've treated their employees, aside from all of the other offensive stuff they've done over the years; if your convictions keep you from buying things made under certain conditions, by certain companies, or from certain materials, go for it!).

I don't buy a lot of things from Walmart -- mostly underwear, winter socks, and a stock of basic stockings -- but sometimes I find rather lovely bits. I will even admit to buying some of the Miley Cyrus-branded t-shirts, because, come on! A heart-shaped British flag wearing a top hat? What's not to love? (Anyway her name's only on the tag. On the inside.) Also, Walmart has great sales -- which is quite possibly my main tenet of shopping: KNOW YOUR SALES. It might take a little bit of time, but it is completely worth it. Figure out which stores have good clearance racks, how well you can expect the things you want to end up on them (Rue 21: almost everything gets there within a few months; Claire's, it's mostly just things from specific collections that you can predict), and how long you might have to wait -- and then it comes down to intuition. Do I buy this now, or wait? Knowing the store helps a little with that. Me, I tend to fit the extra-larges in the younger-oriented stores, like Rue 21 -- and the extra-large sizes tend to be the last things to go. So usually I can wait out Rue 21's sales, and the thing I want will go down to as little as three dollars. Or one.

The basis of today's outfit -- the jaunty little dress -- I snatched up for a dollar at Walmart. I'd been watching it for a while, passed it up for five dollars last week because I was there for something else -- and voila! fate!

I have a profound weakness for stripes. My mother told me I looked like a pirate (which was better than the time she said I looked like a mystic she'd seen on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, so), but that was sort of the idea. The military jacket was $7 at Rue 21 and is very cosy.

Now, our local Walmart is in the process of moving into a new Super Walmart building in the next month, so they haven't been getting in much new stock. So when my best friend Kyra (whom fate has decreed to live in ALASKA for some reason) told me Walmart was selling Keep Calm And Carry On t-shirts, I was first delighted, and then irritated -- but she told me she'd get me one and send it. The package arrived Saturday morning, and true to form (because Kyra is awesome), it contained a few extras.

The peacock feather is a pen. You can also see one half of a Converse-themed friendship necklace, thereby fufilling one of my abandoned adolescent daydreams. ^-^

I wore my teapot necklace with this, as it seemed suitably British -- and added turquoise stockings to alleviate the effect of all the black. Everything but the shirt and jacket are thrifted.

And now to dye my hair and return to you a new woman.

what i wore this week, part one

Soooo... whoops. I seem to have a backlog of Things To Post at the moment. My brain's been a bit of an unpleasant (and messy, very in need to airing) place for a while, and I keep taking pictures and forgetting to edit and post them. Here are a few selections from the last week or so.

This lovely grey number is quite possibly my favourite dress -- I snagged it for five dollars at Ross Dress For Less last winter, and it is not only lovely, simple, and flattering, but extremely soft and comfortable. It tends to be a go-to dress for sick days or sad days or travelling on account of its cosiness -- and, another benefit: it is extremely versatile. It's a short-sleeved, lightly shaped handkerchief-hem dress that pulls over the head -- I've worn it with jackets (like this striped bolero), camisoles, floral thermals or lace blouses underneath; with boots and flats and various belts and petticoats. Also: it is fantastic for dancing.

Beloved Turkish pashmina scarf and skeleton key from the house -- I've always wanted to wear these keys but they never seemed to suit the ribbons I usually string things on. This little cord is perfect.

What I wore to go traipsing about town on Tuesday. I'll admit the weather was a little warmer than the sweater suggests, but, uh. I am stubborn? It varied, anyway -- I was bicycling and got chilly sometimes. The skirt is from the Goodwill warehouse sale earlier in the summer; it's so old-fashioned and storybook, I can't help but adore it. (It's also quite good for layering under solid-coloured dresses or skirts that are a bit too short or sheer.) 

BOOTS. Okay, I am beyond thrilled with these boots and wore them almost every day for a week. They are flat, and really comfortable and just the sort of old-fashioned lost-in-the-woods boot I have been wanting for years -- and probably the closest I will get to my long-dreamed-of knee-high brown Legolas boots for a long while yet. They look perfect with dresses and did I mention comfortable?

Claire's gloves (finally wearing them lots -- bought them with birthday money in the summertime as there was only one pair left), pretty kitschy little ring I snatched up for a quarter at a yard sale.

First pair of actual proper shorts I have owned since, um. I do not remember. Early adolescence? I was convinced for years that I had dreadful legs (which I probably did, then -- it was only after I started exercising regularly that my legs acquired muscle tone and an actual consistent shape), and then I don't like most shorts anyway. I still want a high-waisted pair with lots of buttons, but these were three dollars, and they fit, are comfortable, are not too tight in the thighs, and lace up the front (over a zipper for convenience), which gives them the dash of unconventionality that I crave.

The t-shirt. It is my very favourite t-shirt of all the t-shirts that ever were. Um. Probably. I've racked up a decent collection of quirky and pretty t-shirts, but this one -- my love for it knows no bounds. It is Threadless' Vampires Beware shirt -- various folkloric methods of revealing and killing vampires. As my novel-in-progress is a vampire historical fantasy and I've researched this stuff inside-out (...sometimes for fun. folklore is my thing), this is extra awesome.

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More tomorrow! Let this be a reminder to me: NEVER GET BACKED UP.