holiday

I finally had an actual vacation! Like, as in, I got on a plane and went somewhere new and different for fun. Not for work, not for some tedious family obligation, and certainly not anywhere near CT (even though I don't live there anymore, something about it is like, the anti-vacation). I went to San Diego to visit Scarlet and Geoff in their cute new house and celebrate the 4th of July by drinking copious amounts of alcohol and eating way too much food.
The best thing about Scarlet and Geoff's new house is their shower, for sure. I noticed their amazing shower curtain first, with it's impeccable detailing and flawless craftsmanship. Would you believe they sourced it all the way from Target?! Astounding! After cooing over it for like an hour when I first arrived, I was awed to find, the next morning, that behind this masterpiece lies the most fabulous mint-green tile I have ever seen! Of course I promptly forced Scarlet to take slutty photos of me standing in front of it.Unfortunately, the colors didn't come out the way I had hoped, but I promise you, it was the mintiest mint I've ever seen!
Also, check out my outfit! I got the cover-up at H+M and I've been dying to wear it ever since. I was so pumped for this trip, because unlike the Bay, San Diego actually gets beach weather. I wanted to wear my cover-up and get a tan and drink pina coladas! Alas, it was totally grey the entire time I was there, and I only actually wore this outfit for the above photo. Goddamn June gloom!
We still totally had a blast, though. On the first night, we went to this dive bar where they had this old chick handing out these awesome patriotic accessories.

We found some randoms and bought them home with us.
When the sun came up in the morning, Scarlet and I were still awake watching creepy videos like this one.
We slept for approximately five minutes. Geoff made waffles in the morning and Scarlet and I lit things on fire to make bananas foster. Then Scarlet and Geoff had a party.
Lots of people came and we ate lots of food and drank lots of beer and vodka. We went to see the fireworks at the ocean.We sat on top of this cliff and watched the fireworks explode over the water. It was dark out and the waves were crashing over all these dark, jagged looking rocks. It was one of those moments where it's so pretty you wish you could share it with everyone, so you sit there clicking the shutter on your camera, attempting to record it somehow, but eventually you just give up because you know it'll never look as beautiful as it did in person.
After the fireworks, we walked back to the house. There was another fireworks display going off in the distance. We couldn't see the actual fireworks, but it lit up the sky and made it look like magic. We stayed up drinking, yet again, until the wee hours of the morning, and by the time I got on the plane on Monday morning I was in this bizarre, slightly blissful half hungover state that lasted a good twenty four hours. I guess that's how you know you've had a vacation, right?
love always

channeling cher

i remember distinctly, when the movie clueless came out. i was in fifth grade and it was the first time i became truly aware of the idea of personal style. up until then, i had experimented a bit with some ghetto-trashy fashion. even as a kid i was drawn to all the hoochie stuff. but it was alicia silverstone's cher who opened up my eyes to the fact that clothing can be just as artistic an outlet as painting, writing or dancing, and that you can use your image to tell the world all sorts of things about yourself.

from there i went wild, taking fashion risks, going through a goth phase, a glam phase, a slutty phase. i still phase in and out of different styles, tyring to find the one that works best for me, but i always look fondly back at that first phase, the one that started it all.

which is why i'm fixin to bring that shit back! i know that the nineties is experiencing a weird sort of resurgence in fashion lately anyways, so it's not like this is totally original of me, but still, somewhere deep inside, i've always been waiting for the day when i could rock my knee-hi's and plaid skirts with pride again.

now, all that's left to do is find an uber-hot, smarty-pants, paul rudd look-alike and my life will be complete.



love always

short shorts, fat ass

it's finally summer here. the sun is shining. the birds are singing. the rain has slowed to just one eensy-weensy little thunderstorm a day (trust me, this an improvement). all in all, i should be a pretty happy girl, right? i should have little to nothing to complain about, correct?
nope. never!
my latest qualm was actually brought on by the beautiful weather, which has reminded of one of life's little injustices that i never fully could accept:
my complete inability to wear shorts.
for years, i avoided even the mention of them. why? because the second i put them on my big, cuddly ghetto-booty takes one look at them and goes oh! what a cute little pair of shorts you are! let me give you a hug! om nom nom nom! and then proceeds to swallow them whole so that all that's left is a tiny swatch of fabric sticking out of the vast landscape of my bare asscheeks.
now, i've tried some basic solutions i.e., buy a bigger size, shop in the old lady department, avoid anything fabrics that might be prone to riding up. apparently, nothing works. case in point: i recently bought a pair of sturdy denim shorts two sizes too big and a few inches too long. i'm talking grandma style. my mom even borrowed them from me once, reasurring my initial assumption that coochie cutters, these are not. so i wore em out last week and i'm walking towards my friends car and she starts screaming out the window "damn girl! put some clothes on you little slut!" later, after much scowling, sulking and pouting from me she's like "you know i was just kidding right?" and i'm thinking yeah, sure you were.
now normally, i wouldn't sweat it that much, but the situation brought back a seriously painful memory for me. a few years ago, my current beau and i decided to grab a pizza and spend the night in. i wore a sexy little pair of velour booty shorts, hoping to seduce him. so when we went to go pick up the pizza down the street, the owner/manager of the pizza place who happens to be an aqaintance of ours is like "um, excuse me but your ass is hanging out. i can see your buttcheeks. you might want to put some clothes on" and of course, i'm completely mortified! i was just trying to look nice for my boyfriend, and on top of that, it's not like i'm the first woman to ever wear a pair of short shorts. once we got in the car, i told my boyfriend how embarassed i was and he was just like "bae, what do you expect when you dress like a slut?" EXCUSE ME, MOTHERFUCKER, BUT I WORE THOSE FOR YOU!!!!!
i now realize that it takes a huge d-bag to make a comment like that, and an even bigger d-bag to not have his girl's back, but still, the memory of it shames me and induces massive amounts of cringing, not to mention a strong aversion to ever wearing shorts again.
the problem is, i like shorts! who the fuck wants a pair of skinny jeans hugging up on your thighs in ninety degree heat? plus, the fashion possibilities are endless! shorts with tights, shorts with knee-his, shorts with boots. but no matter how i wear em, i always end up looking like this guy:

*le sigh*

love always

fluffems stylie

one of the best things about my vacation in puerto rico, was all the packing. i spent weeks figuring out what to bring, finding the perfect swimsuit, sundress, denim shorts, floppy hat...
what cracks me up, is that fluffems felt the exact same way. he even went so far as to insist that i take numerous different pictures of him, in each of his carefully selected getups, a task that i was more than happy to complete. fluffems' sense of style has become a source of great amusement to me. he is one of the few males i've ever encountered whose fashion risks rival my own.
in the beggining, i was a bit put off by some of the items in his wardrobe. i even went so far as throw away a few choice garments one day when he wasn't at home. since then, however, i've learned to accept his style for what it is. after all, i'd rather be seen with someone whose style clearly shows personality, even if it is a bit ridiculous at times, than someone who always looks bland and boring. in this way, i've come to think of his more, *ahem*, "outlandish" pieces as funny and endearing.
here's an example of a piece that would've ended up at the salvation army. yes, that is a pikachu t-shirt, and it was clearly made for someone about half his size and a quarter of his age.

in this ensemble fluff is trying to channel the spirit of a ten year old girl by simultaneously wearing knee-his and posing like he's in ballet class.

fluff was so excited to finally get to meet his style icon, zac effron. his brother ernie was pretty into it as well.

fluffems' style trademark is none other than the kangol. he has one in every single color known to man. he even has a department store style hat-rack, complete with fake heads, for storing them all.

i must admit, he does clean up pretty nicely, and he is kinda dreamy.



and last but not least, here is my favorite picture of fluff ever, ever, in which he proves how gangsta he really is, depsite the fact that he's wearing women's sunglasses (mine). also, he's wearing a bright blue bowtie which he decided was a good idea after seeing one on some kid from the disney channel. still though, he's a total badass. i doubt that there's anyone else in the world who could put on this same outfit and wear it with as much sauvidad as he can. in the end, that's one of the things i love about him the most. his style is always, one-hundred-percent, utterly and completely his own.

love always

p.s. thanks to k @ blog goggles for giving me the inspiration for this post.

i'm making a fashion statement

so they fired my friend shelly at work, and now i have to tend bar. this is good for a few reasons, namely that my primary expertise is in the consumption of alcohol, and also that i get to wear my own clothes instead of some dumb-ass, manly uniform.
it is also bad for a few reasons. i go to work earlier and stay a bit later, so my free-time has been minimized by a significant percentage. worse than that though is the large contingent of pervy guys who are regular customers at the bar.

some of them are really nice. i mean, they're not all terrible. there are a few gentleman who come in and talk with me, tell me i'm attractive, offer to take me out sometime, but know, in their hearts, that i will never actually date them. one of my favorite customers has made a game of trying to feed me the absolute worst pick-up lines, because he knows it cracks me up.
there's even a guy who comes to the bar, who i totally would go out with, if he got the balls to ask me.
then there are the desperate ones. the guys who have deluded themselves into thinking that i'm uber nice to them because i want them, and not because i work in customer service. i've started wearing my most conservative career clothes from my sales days in an effort to convince them that i am a frumpy, uptight bitch. it hasn't worked. at all. now they just say things like i love a classy woman and did ya dress up cuz ya knew that i was comin in?
the worst came the other day when a group of them was asking me about my upcoming vacation and i told them i was planning on going horseback riding. the grossest one out of all them of course, had to say this:
man am i jealous of that horse, hehe.
i was absolutely horrified! keep in mind that i can be kind of slow when it comes to shit like that, and so i'm sitting there thinking why is he jealous of the....OH!...eeeewww. i had to stop myself from gagging right in his face. and that was my frumpiest day of all. i wore a knee-length, collared, shirt-dress, that is literally shaped like a paper bag.
that night i was driving home from work, racking my brain for some way to get the message across to these guys, when it finally came to me:

i'm rocking this shit at work from now on. because nothing says i don't want to fuck you like the snuggie.

love always

you can learn how to dress just by checkin my fresh

last night i went for dinner and drinks, plus american idol on tv and camp rock in the car. it was quite enjoyable. here's what i wore:









bright pink aviators from urban outfitters
black zip-up hoodie from h&m
big black purse from marshalls by ecko red
vintage leopard tunic from retro2mod
bright pink studded belt from forever 21
black trouser pants from marshalls by michael kors
bright pink jelly flats from hot topic (*blushes*)

yes, yes, those are indeed jellies. take a closer look:

love always

i'm totally not irish, but...

yesterday i got dragged to the hartford st. patty's day parade by steff, who has spent the past couple weeks making every single guiness sign in hartford (whoa!).
we went shopping the day before for some green gear that was appropriately flashy yet fashionably subdued. in other words, we wanted to go green without looking like every other girl in downtown hartford.
here's what i came up with

(i look uber-pissed, but i'm actually not. i am however quite innebriated in this particular photo)
mostly, it ended up being a good time. we started drinking around 10 am (car bombs and jameson on the rocks- yes, i'm hardcore). the parade included a fairly large number of grown men in skirts which was entertaining, but the cheerleader's uniform's were so short that i also saw a fairly large number of pre-teen asscheeks, which was a bit disturbing.
the other thing that was disturbing was the lack of public restrooms. they literally had two porto-potties for the whole parade, which meant that steff and i spent a lot of our day squatting behind various dumpsters.
when the parade was ending we decided to hit up spiritus to get our drink on in case the bars got too crowded. consequently, i ended up carrying around a bottle of cono sur pinot noir (one of joe schling's favorites for y'all that dont know about that) in a black bag like a straight-up hoodrat.
at that point, we were navigating through this intense, thick sea of people and every two seconds someone kept stopping me to be like "OMG!!! kanye west!!!". obviously, it was because of the shades. i mean, aside from them, i do not resemble kanye west in the slightest. but seriously people, did kanye west invent shutter shades? is he the only person in the world who has access to them? i get that he did indeed wear a pair of them once, but other than that, is there any reason to get so starstruck over a pair of glasses?
after a while, we thought it would be funny if we let vinnie wear them, because he bears a much stronger resemblance to kanye west than i. i didn't get to snap a pic with the glasses, but just try to imagine it

it really did look kinda convincing. the funny thing is that as soon as he put on the glasses, not one person came up to us. not one! perhaps they thought he really was kanye and they got intimidated.
in any case, a fun time was had by all. i've been hearing about this particular event for a really long time, but it never really caught my fancy. i'm glad that steff suggested it, because i plan on leaving CT as soon as i possibly can, and it really would've been a shame to miss such a crap carnival as this.

love always

i'm such a trendsetter

when i was just a wee lass of about twelve years old, i used to wear a studded dog collar to school. i think it goes without saying that i was teased mercilessly for it. but now, those of you who were doing the teasing can politely raise your hands and bow your heads in shame, because i have the pleasure of announcing that shit is officially in style!
not necessarily the dog collar, but the studs in particular. i've seen them everywhere. on shoes, shirts, bags, earings, you name it. i'm especially pleased about this because it means that i will be spared the embarassment of walking into hot topic just to purchase my studded accesories.
sometimes i get really possesive about fashion statements. like, if i've been rocking a particular style and all of a sudden everyone else is wearing it, i feel kind of jilted. studded accesories however, are one trend that i really don't mind sharing. i seriously love them that much. they are just so classic. i mean, nothing says badass better than the three-row pyramid belt.
the best example of this new trend that i've seen so far are these amazing sandals from urban outfitters. admiteddly, they are pricey as shit, but some things are just worth it.

love always

everything was worth this

i'm truly, truly ecstatic right now. i just received conformation from expedia that i did indeed purchase a round-trip ticket to san juan, puerto rico, and i will for sure be leaving CT for puerto rico on may 6th!!!! i can't even believe that shit is real!

sometimes i get scared that i won't do enough stuff before i die. that's there's just too much beauty in the world and i won't be able to experience enough of it. that's why things like this make me so happy. i get to step outside of my little box and really do something new.

now, of course the most essential part of such a vacation is figuring out which swimsuit i should buy to bring with me. for this, i have been neurotically consulting the orchid boutique . i can't decide between the aqua de arcoiris from aqua bendita or the dezert love bikini from maaji.....
in addition to my little trip to p.r., i'm also planning another big adventure in september, but more about that later. suffice to say that right now i'm not so upset about losing that job anymore.

love always

lifestyles of the young and reckless

i had such a fabulous weekend this past weekend, that i kept waking up in the middle of the night on sunday, just to mourn the fact that it was over.

as i mentioned before, my weekend started with an extensive sherry tasting on friday, accompanied by assorted spanish treats, such as marcona almonds, serrano ham, and the most amazing garlicky olives ever. the tasting was led by a seriously charming spaniard, who simultaneously had a british and spanish accent. technically, this event was a "sales meeting", but halfway through it, i was feeling so light and fuzzy that i drunk-texted everyone i was mad at, and made up with them right then and there.



post sherry extravaganza, i napped, bubble-bathed and pretty much luxuriated in every way possible, so i woke feeling happy and refreshed on saturday morning. i hit the gym to burn off some of those extra pork-fat calories, and then treated myself (along with heater and her adorable daughter) to a delicious lunch of fresh spring rolls, coconut soup, and spicy-steak salad. afterwards, heather suggested that we go shopping at marshalls, where i picked up three pairs of the cutest sunglasses i've ever seen, including these bad boys:















i also got a pair of professional looking, black kors pants, a sheer white tee, a pink, halter-top bubble dress, sexy boyfriend jeans, and tweed pants from the limited in their cassidy fit, which is my fav. as we were ringing up our purchases, i realized i was late for my hair appointment, so i hightailed it to the angry chair , where i got the best haircut/dye job ever, courtesy of dan, who's a real cutie. check it:





when i arrived home from the salon a million hours later, there was a dinner party in full swing at my humble abode. i spent the evening eating delicious food and having some very entertaining conversation with just a few of my most favorite people.



i woke up early on sunday and just barely managed to make it to the gym again, before i had to help sarah shop for her super-bowl party. we then went back to her house and proceeded to make quacamole, buffalo wings with bleu cheese dip, some really tasty snack mix, artichoke dip and ceasar-deviled eggs. steff and vinnie arrived around 4 with yet another dip, one of my favorites, cream cheese, chilli and melted cheddar. we started pouring pink punch and before i knew it, i was once again in a food/booze induced stupor. unfortunately, all the fabulocity became a bit overwhelming and i had to call it an early night before the super-bowl even ended (not that i was paying attention to it anyway).



i then fell into a fitful sleep and dreamed of being on a permanent vacation....

i am a sucker for all things fluffy

in regards to yesterday's post
the new weetzie bat was.....
just like the old weetzie bat.
weetzie ends up with my secret agent lover man (who is now called max, weird) even though he is a total buzzkill, but first there's lots of magical stuff. i think the last three lines of this book may in fact be the same last three lines from i was a teenage fairy
that being said, of course i loved it. it was great fun. there was creepy hermaphrodites, mermaids, elf-babies, goat boys, a spider-woman, a flying bride and yes, tons of hot clothes and delicious food to keep me drooling the whole way through.
but dude, witch baby shaved her head. that is so not even right. now all of us girls who loved her because we shared her tangly hair are left out in the cold, with no snarly-headed fictional heroines to relate to (except hermione, but she doesn't count because her hair is flat in the movies).
speaking of movies, i would love to see this book as a movie. baz luhrman should totally direct it, and robert pattinson would have to play the hot goat boy. i swear they were gonna make a dangerous angels movie, or was that just in the book?
in any case, it was pretty fab. unanashedly feminine, fashion-focused, and fantastical. i did not discover any hidden secrets about how to kiss better, or retain my youthful spunk well into adulthood, but i was quite inspired by weetzie's sparkly sense of style.
do y'all think pink vintage chanel qualifies as professional attire?

love always

now that i know how to post pics....

okay,k, k. i've been home for almost a week and i still haven't even discussed the most fantastical part of my trip; san fransisco!
we went to san francisco on a wednesday and it was super nice and sunny out. as we drove into the city, i was literally swooning in the backseat. yes, folks, believe the stories. san francisco is fucking gorgeous. none of that grimey, gray sludge that coats the atmosphere in nyc. it's all blue skies and clean air and weird achitecture.

















in short, i'm in love.
after we parked the car, we took a trolley to chinatown, which is so way better than any other chinatown i've been to before. i mean, you can tell that you're in chinatown, not because it smells like fish, but because it looks chinese.










like, this building is a fucking bank. how cool is that?

we ate lunch at this place called brandy ho's. the food was remarkably similair to the food at forbidden city, but seriously, these people should win an award for having the best restaurant name ever.

aslo in chinatown, i shopped for super-cute, super-cheap clothes and jewels.
after chinatown, we walked back through the city to the car. on the way we hit up this crazy fountain, that is also a monument to martin luther king jr.













i looked pretty hot inside of it!


after that, we went to the filmore, which is a shnazzy nieghborhood that costs a million dollars to live in. we took the dog for a walk in the park and at the park we could see the whole city. sheryl said "it's like meeting a guy who's really hot, and really nice and he's totally into you.", which is in fact, exactly what it's like.
we ate dinner at spqr, and i'm still confused about why the hell food and wine named the pasta carbonara as one of the ten best dishes of the year, but somehow neglected to mention the insane lasagne, which almost had me rolling around on the floor it was so good.
so now that i'm in love with san fran, i think i will get super-rich so i can move there and live in a house that looks like this:



















or even better, one that looks like this:




















love always

i feel justified in my risque fashion choices

i just wanted to tell everyone that apparently, lace tights are totally in this week. i have noticed that the models on all my fave vintage sites (my mosted trusted source of fashionable inspiration) are sporting them. this makes me super-psyched because i actually own a pair of lace tights that are so ridiculously hot that jamie couldn't handle it and banned me from ever wearing them to work again.

love always