26; Handle With Care

Top: Wholesale-dress.net • Shorts: thrifted DIY • Belt and boots: Etsy vintage • Jewelery: F21, antique, and eBay
(Also, gauges are fake! I'm such a wuss.)

Lookbook • Chictopia

I kind of enjoy how much I feel that I look like I belong in a vinyl-spread with the Travling Wilburys. (If you found this blog through the pages for this look on LB or Chic, you probably have already seen this point being made.) If you're unfamiliar with the Wilburys, all you need to know is that they're probably the coolest 80s band ever to exist, featuring the coolest Beatle. (George.)

As I mentioned in post 24, Kathryn and I headed out to the mall to see a film and shop around. (This is what I wore on the occasion.) We saw Pirates of the Carribbean 4, which was...okay. I was glad Barbossa had a bigger role, and enjoyed the bromance between him and Sparrow. (Geoffrey Rush is such an amazing actor, and I like any excuse to see more of his work.) That's about it.

My haul included the necklace you see here, a new denim vest (with a removable hood, which looks cute, but when I take it off, the button attachments are really obvious and look awkward, and I'm contemplating just snipping the buttons off) and my first ever bandeau -- which unfortunately is a little too big, and feels awfully 'small' on me, width-wise. I'd tried one on but didn't like the pattern, so I grabbed an entirely different one instead but never tried it on. Not sure if I want to wear it as a top now, but I suppose I might, if I can take it in and make it fit better. To rectify this disappointment, I found a bandeau resembling the kind I'd seen on a manequin in Forever 21 that I wanted (black, and quite wide) that they no longer had, and ordered it yesterday. Hopefully that will fit. I would love to wear it with the vest I bought and perhaps my black high-waisted pants that I'm going to definitely be turning into shorts soon, or perhaps under my open knit sweater.

The highlight of my day was when Kathryn and I were heading out of the exit to catch our ride home: there was a group of girls standing outside near the entrance, and as we walked by them, I overheard through their combined chatter someone exclaim, "you're so pretty!" Would you believe that she was talking to me? Yeah, me either, but it's true.

I was extremely flattered and thanked her, but I then became overly aware of the group of probably five or six girls just all staring directly at me, and I began to feel a little embarrassed. I hate being put on the spot, you see. I thanked her again and awkwardly rushed back over to Kathryn, and we hopped in her mother's car. Once I got over my stage fright, I was quite happy to hear that compliment. I think more people should speak out when they think someone is deserving of a compliment -- not with the intention to hit on them (necessarily) but wouldn't it eliminate a lot of self-esteem issues if we said things like that once in a while? I think so, at least.


Onto more interesting things, the kitty you see here with me is our outdoor cat Gypsy. I don't really know how old she is, because she's been with Kathryn's family for quite a long time...I believe six years, and they found her as a kitten. As soon as we stepped onto the porch to take pictures, Gypsy showed up and kept harrassing us for attention. For an outdoor cat, she really loves affection. She's very sweet, and I often wish she was allowed to be inside. (There's an indoor cat who has a history of being bad-tempered around other cats.) She's so much fun to hang out with.

25; Heavy Metal

Photos from Tumblr, excluding two that link back to their respective pages on Lookbook

As a teenager, I slipped into that subculture of kids that liked leather jackets and wanted to put studs on their converse and wear spiked collars. I later grew out of that group because I became bored of the music, the attitude, and the general condition involved in the 'punk' spectrum. It was no longer 'cool' for me.

Lately, I've grown fascinated with how the elements of studs and spikes are utilised in fashion, and remember just what was so appealing about them. I am along the same wavelength of Lady Gaga talking about wearing various wigs because she wants to be 'more than one person'; that's where my interest in clothes stems from. I have so many faces and so many facets, and when I'm feeling feminine and pretty, I don't want to represent myself with baggy jeans and a bland tee. If I'm feeling edgy and dark, I can't put on a flower-print dress. When I thought I'd grown out of metal embellishments and dark leather jackets, I discovered that part of my past still holds on to me. It's impossible to fully shed a part of you that was cruicial to how you matured.

I spent all of my triangle studs on a vest that I'm still having difficulties wearing with other clothes, but I bought some spikes some time ago with the thought that I may apply them to my faded-grey faux-leather jacket. I'm still on the fence of doing this, though; they're screw-back, so I'd have to cut holes in my jacket to secure the spikes, and what if I decide I want to wear the jacket without them? But then I saw that latter photo above and thought that spiked shorts would be extremely amazing, and that I may have to go down that route instead. I only have twelve however, and I don't know what shorts I'd want to apply them to, so I'm not sure how I'll go about that. (I could try to buy more spikes from the same seller I got the ones I have on-hand from, who is on eBay. Wouldn't be too hard, perhaps...)

And with my hair so short, I'd probably look a lot less silly in my attempts to wear clothes such as these. (This is an honest thought in my mind. I'm such a silly looking person when I have long hair.)

24; Americano

Top (mini-dress): Crystallized Vintage | Skirt: Wholesale-dress.net | Belt: Delias | Necklace: F21 | Boots: Etsy Vintage | Arrowhead ear cuff: Ebay | Motorcycle: not ours

[Lookbook] [Chictopia]

I worked a pretty crazy shift on Thursday, and my reward was dinner with my fiancée at our favourite healthy-food-obsessed café. We got the usual, and it's looking like the cooks there (who double as waiters and hostesses) are always going to recognise us. And no, I don't typically wear this to work -- I'm forced to wear a uniform. I'm just crafty and wanted to bring a change of clothes for our date. Lame? Ohh yeah.

I'd been so anxious to wear this snakeskin-print mini dress (that I bought from the lovely DisarmingDarling on her ebay store Crystallized Vintage)...even though I'm wearing it like a top in this outfit. It just looks a little too 'going out clubbing' for me to wear casually, though I hope (and somewhat expect) to wear it in June to the next gay pride celebration in Boston. I'd be quite happy if I could get away with that.

Yesterday we went to the mall and saw a movie, and hopefully that outfit post will be up sometime soon. I'm just so busy lately plus our internet constantly dies on us as of late. It's pretty much a daily thing, which definitely hinders my ability to post. This might explain the lack of activity from me here...I apologise!

23; Intermission (Where I pretend I'm a decent photographer)

I sort of had an impromptu outfit shoot a couple of days ago, with this pretty rad biker-y ensamble that I liked when I went out the door that day... Unfortunately, this was the only shot where I didn't look drained, awkward, or uncomfortable. My stances were weird, my smiles were ugly and forced... It just didn't work. Might have another shoot later on today though, if Kathryn was serious about going out for dinner after I get off of work this evening.

However, the new camera arrived! I'm still learning how to use it, but I've been taking pictures of everything to make use of the upgrade from a whole 8 megapixels to an astounding 12.1 megapixels! (There may be a tiny bit of sarcasm there.)

(This guy is a whole two and a half inches tall.)

I read by reviewers on Amazon that one should avoid Auto mode for great photos, but while in Program under Macro, a lot of my flower shots were unfocused. When I switched to Auto, it then went into Macro when I went up near a flower for a picture, and it came out great... (I know, flower-overload here all of a sudden, on my personal style blog of all things. Isn't it relevant if I'm testing out the camera that I will be using to take photos of my outfits, though? Besides, if I could instead hit a flea market and test my camera there, I'd leave work to run out the door and do so.)

A new outfit post will be coming soon; if not tonight, I'll definitely be making one for tomorrow.

22; Liverpool, 1961

Top: thrifted | Jacket: Target | Skirt: Wholesale-Dress.net | Belt: Etsy | Bag: vintage

[Lookbook] [Chictopia]

My new haircut. It's...significantly shorter in the front than what we were going for (Kathryn cut it for me) but it was nine at night (what we were thinking, I'm not quite sure) and the sides ended up being uneven and eventually...it became this short. It's not bad, and the sides look pretty nice. I've never had my hair this short, and my hair was pretty long twenty four hours ago, so I'm still adjusting to the length. I had other pictures of the sides, which is where this hairstyle is at, but I look so damn tired in them that it's not worth posting them. Even being so exhausted, I have an inability to sleep in past eight-thirty in the morning. I have no idea why. I also hold an inability to fall asleep before ten. Yeah, I don't know either. But I digress: I can't wait for it to grow in a little bit, though!

So yeah, this outfit was composed in about thirty seconds before I ran out the door to meet up with Kathryn and walk her home from work. On my way through the house, I passed by a (mostly) full length mirror and felt like I was rushing out the door to catch the Beatles in the Cavern Club. It was only emphasised by the weather outside: cloudy, cold, with moist breezes due to the heavy afternoon fog. It was so much like England weather, and I felt like some rock n' roll teenager in the late fifties-early sixties, sneaking out of the house to meet up with friends from school to loiter around and hit a pub to listen to the newest 45s in the jukebox. Maybe I was having some transcendental moment with a past lifetime or something.


In other (great) news, my trusty old Kodak Easyshare C875 will soon be laid to rest. I'd been saving up all of my tip money from work, plus collecting money that Kathryn's been donating, and leftover cash from various outings, to buy a new point and shoot. I'd love a DSLR, but I can't expect to save up enough money to buy one anytime soon. It's just not a realistic enough expectation. I'd have to be working Kathryn's shifts (six in the morning 'til about noon, or two in the afternoon) as often as I'm working now (five to six days a week) in order to afford one. Not happening. Ever.

Still, I love the camera I picked out, the Canon PowerShot ELPH 300 HS. I'm hoping it's as reliable as it looks, and I hope it delivers. I plan to take mostly outdoor photography (for plants and outfits) which is the best setting for pictures to be taken in, so I'm not seeing any potential issues. I placed the order with Amazon just a few hours ago, and it should arrive next week!

...Oh my god, I won't have to buy batteries anymore, and the camera will retain battery life for longer than a whole five minutes. (This is not an exaggeration.) ;____; I'm not sure if I'm ready for this much awesomeness.

21; Boston Youth Pride Parade & Festival, 2011

Clothing:
Top: Insight | Pants: Forever 21 | Jacket: Target (I'm so classy, I know) | Boots: Etsy | Sunglasses: Newbury Comics (staying classy) | Mala beads (bracelet): Ebay

Pictured: Me, Kathryn (fiancée), Molly (good friend), and a very fierce Lady Gaga drag queen impersonator (who said she loved my hair; I like pointing this out to people).

Latter four photos courtesty of SM Witherow.

[Lookbook] [Chictopia]

Yesterday was spent in Boston Common with Kathryn, her sibling Sarah/SM/Sam/Shraa (I've never figured out how to spell that latter alternative) and her/our mutual friend Molly at the annual Youth Pride parade-march-festival. There was free clothes, some very informative booths and great organisations, drag queens (one being someone that Kathryn and Sarah went to high school with, though didn't know personally), some awesome musicians, protesters, and best of all, gay/lesbian/bisexual/questioning/open teenagers who had the good fortune to make the day possible. Also, Jessica Wild from RuPaul's Drag Race was there to perform, as well as another queen whose name has totally escaped me, and a Gaga impersonator (whom you see pictured above) who...again, I've forgotten the name of.

We wanted to stay for the prom, but Kathryn and I were exhausted from dancing and had to show up for work the next day (aka, today), so we cut out early.

Kathryn and I got a surprising amount of 'congratulations!' from people who read the back of our jackets (and a lot of them asked for pictures of our backs). I didn't expect it, since 99% of the people there were teens, so I figured they wouldn't be so interested...but at the same time, a few commented on how much hope it gave them, which makes sense.

However, there were members of hate groups there who held signs in hopes of getting attention, one in particular who managed to aquire a press pass. They didn't start anything, but she kept lurking around with a video recorder in her hand. It was fairly irritating... I respect a person's opinion if they don't approve of a public gathering for LGBTQIA individuals, but it's annoying if they're going to show up just to take videos and pictures to post on their hate group websites and such. Alas, I suppose I can't complain: like I said, no fights were started, which was a huge concern on my mind. Being that nearly everyone was underage and had parents to go home to that night...well, I simply worried.

I also learned that androgyns (androgynes? It's how Sarah spells it) aren't recognised at these gatherings, which I find to be sad. Sarah/SM is androgynous, and is pansexual, but had no group to be included in. It was interesting to think about.


There's another celebration (Boston Gay Pride, not exclusive to youth, but more inclusive to adults) on June 4th, and a weekend-long parade and celebration the weekend after that. I'm really hoping to go, especially since it'll be warmer. Kathryn and I are thinking of going to the celebration on the 4th, but I need to double-check and make sure the dates haven't been moved. I did originally look them up in January, and in four months, things could have been moved around.

Also, if the quality of my writing is, to put it bluntly, crap...well, I apologise. I worked Friday, partied for five-six hours, and worked today. I'm a little worn out. ♥

20; A feature, my dilemma with wet look pants, and Water for Elephants.

Yesterday, we had no internet...which made Kathryn's and my decision to head out for the day and hit the mall and see a movie much more fitting. Thus, I didn't see until today that Watermoolen on Chictopia had left me a comment informing me that I was featured in an article of hers, "5 Best Short Hair Styles for Short Haired Girls." Apparently, I am sporting the 'shag' hairstyle group. Now I know what to call this weird thing on my head, aside from 'Arthur.' (No one's going to get that movie referrence...and that's okay.) Still, what an honour! I like this whole net-recognition thing.

As I was saying about the mall thing... I purchased some pretty nifty things from Forever 21 yesterday that I plan on wearing as soon as possible. I'd been wanting some black wet look pants but knew I couldn't run the risk of buying some online without trying them on first, so it must have been fate that brought me to the pair I discovered on the clearance rack yesterday. They were originally $22, went on sale for $10.99, and were missing a button, so the price had been lowered even still to $6.99! (Imagine my face when I noticed on the price tag later that a replacement button was still in tact. Score!) Also bought a necklace and some rings on sale.

Unforunately...I have no idea what's fashionable to wear with wet look pants. Checking out Lookbook, it seems you can wear just about anything, so long as you can pull it off well, but for some reason, I'm still feeling disheartened by my options. Other people make these things look awesome:

(Images link back to their proper sources.)

...And yet, I'm still not feeling too confident. Even Madeline can rock these with a t-shirt or a tunic. I kind of want to wear mine with a comfy sweater, but all I have is this one and an off-the-shoulder type, but they're both white, which I worry looks too striking. I have a tunic top that's a muted mossy green, though... And my Insight Chakra tank, but I hemmed up the straps so it's a little shorter now. This is my other worry: I don't want to wear anything above the butt in case it looks too skin-tight, or I have panty lines going on. And yet, I'm short, so wearing long tops makes me look even shorter... Gah, suggestions?

By the way, the film we saw was Water For Elephants. Pattinson was forgettable, Witherspoon was okay, and Christoph Waltz, the only reason we both decided to see the film, was amazing, as expected. Perhaps too amazing, considering I despised his antagonistic character as soon as the animal abuse started up (oh yeah, if that's a sensitive subject for you, I'd skip this film; I cried twice), and he managed to make me feel super uncomfortable at points. Only he can make someone hate a character so much. I was pretty torn between loving the actor and hating his character. I recommend it, especially if you're unfamilliar with the Austrian actor's work (considering he only became popular two years ago in Inglourious Basterds) but also because it is a pretty good story. /offtopic