Birds and bees

Dress: Arpeja, thrifted;

Belt: LOFT;

Shoes: gift, from Philippines.

How I've worn the dress: here.
Photos by Jeremiah.

As Jeremiah and I plan to move in a couple weeks, we're already hitting up places and events that we've wanted to do but never got around to while we've lived in Gwinnett. During my day off Tuesday, we ate an Indian buffet near our neighborhood. I had never really eaten a lot of Indian before (except a couple dishes years ago) but I thought it was so good. I love spicy food (Thai food is my favorite) so this is something I'm going to have to eat more often.

Anyways, about my outfit. The heat is making me feel very uncreative, and so I've been reverting to my old favorites. I wore this outfit verbatim (except for the shoes) back in April, and since it is such a beautiful floral dress, I decided to repeat it. The weather has been ridiculous the last few days, and when we went to the park, the birds and the bees were going crazy. There were a lot of them, and they were flying around erratically -- it was very Hitchcockian. So we had to move from our usual field spot into the apple tree grove. We've never taken photos there, but I think it turned out well.

We won trivia tonight...in a couple weeks it'll be our last time going for awhile because of the move. That place is like our "Central Perk" or "Cheers" so it's going to be hard not to go every week.

Speaking of the move, I finally have to tell my work today about getting transferred -- wish me luck!

 

PS I've entered Atlanta Magazine's Head to Toe Contest, and featured some of my looks there. If you get a chance, please vote for me!

Fresh start

Dress and belt: LOFT;

Sweater: Faded Glory;

Shoes and necklace: gifts,

from Philippines.

How I've worn the dress: here.

Sorry I've been so MIA the last few days -- things have gotten so busy over here, and I've been trying to keep ahead of it all.

I do have some news, and the biggest part of it is this: Jeremiah and I are planning to move back to Athens at the beginning of August. He's been accepted into a master's program in statistics up there, so we've decided that instead of us living in between Athens and Atlanta, we'd much rather move back to Athens for the time being.

Which means that the last couple of weeks have been busy: we've been tying up loose ends with work and looking for a new apartment. We signed for one yesterday and it's going to be bigger than the one we have now, so we'll have lots of opportunities to spread out and decorate more. You have no idea how excited I am to have an office, and extra closets for my thrifting finds...

I'm excited too, although what it means for me is a little more vague. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue working my retail job (the opportunity to transfer exists, though), but I might for the first couple of months as we get settled, and continue my job search up there. It's been a little overwhelming the last couple of weeks, but mostly I am really excited for a new start.

Anyways, the next couple of weeks will mean wrapping things up in our town, and doing things we never got around to doing while we've been here, like eating at certain restaurants and the like. I'll be sure to document some of it. I've gotten so attached to the farm park, so it'll be hard to not take my pictures there everyday, but I've been scoping out new places in Athens, which I think will be fun.

Since it's my day off, I'll be catching up on my blogroll. I've really missed you all!

Elegy for Cecilia Tallis' wardrobe

Dress: Giorgio Kauten, thrifted;

Shoes: Tayla platforms, Target;

Bracelet: gift.

Thanks for the shopping ban support, everyone -- it does mean a lot to me. 

Here's the dress that prompted the ban. It wasn't that it cost very much -- in fact, I thrifted it. But I did feel a little guilty after the purchase because I realized I was going for, yet again, another floral little summer dress, and I have about 5,000 of those already. 

I've thought long and hard about the psychological factors of why I seem to go for these kinds of wispy dresses, and I think I finally know the root of it, or at least, one of the major influences. I've fallen really hard in the last couple of years for vintage pieces, and it's because of the movie "Atonement." The last year of purchases have helped fuel this Cecilia Tallis Syndrome I seem to have, in which I try to fulfill this fantasy of wearing what Keira Knightley wore in "Atonement." Subtle florals, green, floaty fabrics -- it's all there in this dress. (And now that I think about, these outfits seem to evoke that film too - I, II, III, IV) 

I wish I was kidding, and I know it seems incredibly silly, to blame purchases on a 2007 film and to idolize the wardrobe of a fictional character. But I guess it isn't too dissimilar from, say, wanting to live like the images in an Anthro or J. Crew catalog. It's all about succumbing to a fantasy which becomes less elusive with the more you search and spend. I think I've finally stared my own wardrobe fantasy down long enough to halt the increasing dress collection. I guess I'm atoning for my spending (see what I did there? Harhar).

Okay, I hope this wardrobe musing didn't sound too crazy. Do you find outfit inspiration from the arts -- movies, paintings, music videos, book illustrations, etc. -- and do they ever influence your spending purchases?

Happy Friday,

Shopping ban, part deux

Dress: Laundry by Shelli Segal;

Shirt: H&M;

Shoes: from Philippines, gift;

Bag: Thrifted.

Photos by me.

Here's what I wore on my day off Wednesday. It's been so oppressively hot that I would love to walk around in just underthings, but since society dictates clothing, I chose this instead. I think the outfit is more suited for spring weather because of the layering, but I like the color combination.

I've been having a tough time with wearing my dresses lately -- I feel like they're more fun to wear in winter/spring because they can be remixed and layered endlessly. In the summer, it's so hard to be creative with them when it's more than 100 degrees outside.

Because of this lack of creativity due to rising temperatures (and the buyer culture I work in), I've become a bit of a shopping glutton the last couple of weeks. It's hard not to fall into the persuasiveness of retail when working at a department store. All the phrases we sales associates tell customers ("You'll use it forever"/"It's a really good deal"/"It goes with everything") suddenly were working their charms on me. For the first six weeks of my job I was resolute and didn't buy anything; during the one-day sale, I bought some tights because they were only $2/pair. And pretty soon, the purchases climbed and got bigger in size: a clutch, dresses here, a sweater there. 

After realizing I have several items never been worn yet (which I'll have to spread out their debuts on the blog soon), I've decided I want to curb my spending habits by imposing a shopping ban on myself. I did one during The Dress Project which lasted almost two months. I think I'm just going to do this one for a month as an experiment, and see how much remixing I can do with what I have. One month of no clothing/accessories shopping. 

I think I can do it again. Wish me luck?

Safari at the Taco Mac

Dress: Style & Co.;

Hat: Scala Pronto;

Shoes: from Philippines, gift;

Shell necklace (as bracelet): Aloha Stadium,

Honolulu, HI.

Photos by Jeremiah.

Sorry I'm putting this up way later than I normally do. This is what I wore to trivia Tuesday night. This isn't my favorite outfit combination, but I like that it's very neutral and that I look like I'm going on a safari. The dress is very lightly layered so it's perfect in this horrible heat.

In other news today (Wednesday) marks the one-year anniversary of Jeremiah and I living in our current apartment. It's so crazy how much time has flown by.