brogues!

Today's a beautiful, windy summer day -- after two days of oppressive humidity, the gently warm sun and wild breezes are a boon. I pulled on an old favourite white dress and -- oh yes -- my shiny new brogues. :D I've been hunting for an inexpensive and pretty pair of brogues for a year or two now and stumbled on a pair purely by chance at Rue 21 yesterday -- on clearance for seven dollars. They must have got them in while I was away, because I hadn't seen them at all, much less had time to lust after them before they went on clearance. They aren't the best quality, but they're pretty and comfortable, and I am never taking them off.

dress: thrifted
lace scarf: Hot Topic
necklace: Claire's; an early birthday gift from Kyra (I'd just missed snatching it up at my own Claire's and was delighted she fetched one for me)
earrings: Forever 21, also from Kyra
shoes: Rue 21

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

rainy saturday adventures

 I spent today -- a rainy, windy Saturday -- with my four-year-old sister reading all of the books at the library and then dashing through the downpour across the street to the library for muffins (she: wildberry; me: chocolate). So: cosy, quirky, and bookish was the order of the day!

 

blouse, skirt, (probably) stockings: thrifted
belt, boots: Rue 21
necklace, earrings, gloves: Claire's
hat: my marvellous friend Charis made it for me!

 I do own other shoes! I'm just madly in love with these, especially after having watched them patiently for three months till they went down to seven dollars. Plus they're green and buckley and pull on easily and add a nice bit of quirk to any outfit. (They look lovely tucked under my jeans, too.)

  

I managed to snag both necklace and earrings (on different occasions) for a dollar apiece -- Claire's has the best clearance racks, especially if you're super vigilant. I've got earrings that are a miniature version of the necklace (also a dollar!), but felt like wearing these great trinkety ones today.

 

My friend Charis makes a lot of wonderful hats, and as she is making crafts for people every month this year, she sent me this amazing hat for February (also a drawing of a tentacle lady with pull-away skirts, because she is the coolest). It's a skeleton key pattern, which is perfectly me, and I adore it.

carry on!

 It may be difficult to tell from the pictures, but it's blessedly warm again today, after several days of damp chilly greyness; I am therefore obligated to blind everyone with colour. At least a little!

 

Keep Calm And Carry On t-shirt and coffin ring: Kyra, from Walmart (mine didn't get either!)

trousers: Ross Dress For Less (several months ago I finally acquired my yearly Jeans That Actually Fit! whoo!)

shoes, blazer, beret: thrifted

apple necklace: Christmas present from Anna

I've had these fetching green pumps for a long time, but have barely worn them because they were slightly damaged -- they turned up at Goodwill brand new, but with some slices and irregularities in the decorative fringe (like a machine slipped or something). Finally about a month ago I found them in my closet, chopped off the fringe and bows, cut the bows to the same size, and hot-glued them back onto the shoes. You can hardly tell they were meant to be otherwise! I call that a win. 

I am overly fond of my purple coffin ring and enjoy wearing it with otherwise non-gothy outfits. And the necklace! It's very similar to the one Amy Pond wears with her wedding dress in the Doctor Who Season Five finale, which is exactly what Anna had in mind, cos she's awesome like that.

i'd say spring brings out the goth in me, except that everything does

I'm going to gracefully pretend the long hiatus away for the sake of my dignity -- mostly it equals "winter sucks" and "I get miserable and barely wear real clothes under my six quilts anyway". Today is warm and lovely, however! I celebrate by... wearing fur? Okay, Jo, you may be unclear on the concept here.

New favourite skirt! From Maurices, which is normally out of my price range -- even at half off several months ago this skirt was $25... but a couple of them hung around the shop so long I managed to snag it for four dollars, and was delighted. It's the perfect combination of gypsy-wear and gothery. 

My twenty-nine cent thrifted leather jacket is the funnest possible thing to wear bicycling about town; it flaps magnificently behind me and I pretend I'm in a film.

 

And you see, it really is spring. There were flowers and cats in the yard.

blouse: Rue21, quite long ago
skirt: Maurice's
stockings and boots: Kyra, on separate occasions
pendant: Michael's
gloves: Claire's clearance rack (a dollar!)

fur collar: Hot Topic
coat: thrifted

cheer in february

My bff sends epic packages, and I got one today, mostly full of socks, books, and geeky trinkets. And this shirt and skirt, which, as I was in my pyjamas when the package arrived, I donned immediately.

 So, not only is it A T-SHIRT WITH AN ADORABLE BESPECTACLED LADYOWL, but I kind of have spectacles exactly like those. And my passion for quirky t-shirts is as fierce as ever. Also the little button-down folds on the skirt are darling.

COFFIN RING. PURPLE COFFIN RING. Yeah, okay, it is possible to know me too well, perhaps.

 

Now these shoes I have been admiring for months now at the local Rue 21, but they were originally $35, which is a) more than I have ever paid for any single item of clothing in my life, b) far too much to pay for shoes that, while pretty, are hardly quality craftmanship, c) ...uh, yeah, LOTS OF MONEY. Shoes don't always stick around long enough to reach the super-clearance levels from which I typically buy things, but these finally went down to seven dollars and I snatched up the last pair and have barely taken them off in the week since. They are flat buckley boots and they are green; I've such a weakness for coloured shoes. 

The gloves are, of course, my beloved Rue 21 gloves from last winter; the hat from Claire's, the stockings from goodness knows where (I tear my black stockings too often to remember when and where I got the most recent pair), and the fetching wool blazer thrifted last summer.

this is my winter song to you

Lost pictures taken just before Christmas (!!!), or Jo wears mori-girl to fetch Christmas trees.

 Note ALL OF THE LAYERS. Winter is cold!

These were my grandfather's combat boots when he was in the Korean War. Apparently he kept them as snow boots for decades. A few years ago my grandparents were moving out of the house they'd lived in since my father was a kid and we spent a few days helping them clean things out of attics and closets that had barely been visited for a very long time. The boots were going to get thrown out until I, to everyone's puzzlement, claimed them. My grandfather has very small feet, so they're actually a lot less huge on me than one might expect.

I fell in love with this coat (real leather, originally from Maurice's; found at Goodwill, of course), but wasn't going to get it, because... I do have a coat. I have more than one coat. But my mother fell in love with it, too, and insisted on buying it. Guilt abated!

 Honestly I don't remember what I was wearing under the coat that day. But look, delightfully silly furry hat! (Curse you, mori-girl fashion; I never would have been drawn to a furry hat were it not for you!)

 

Fantastic military vest I found on clearance at Rue 21 -- I have a lot of black and dark brown vests, but I really wanted something lighter. Ta-da! 

 

The hat: also a December Rue 21 purchase, and since then a wardrobe staple. It has a cheery striped bow!

 Best Walmart shoes ever!

I BET YOU CANNOT DISCERN HOW COLD I AM IN THIS PICTURE. I BET YOU CAN'T.