The Outside Sauna Is Working...

Along with the heat is humidity and lots of it. Thus, my hip is now broken. (Not literally, but sore like never before.) Yay! Bring on the rain (imagine that last heavy with sarcasm) My hip joint is killing me today. Yesterday I stayed home to try and rest, but ended up doing more around the house than I should have. So today, I am still paying for it. I always have a hard time just resting and sitting around when I take a sick day. That is the whole point of staying home sick, I know, but I’m mental, so there.

My family is coming to visit this weekend and our house is kind of a mess. Overall, it’s such a work in progress right now. We have so much organizing, getting rid of and cleaning various corners and closets it’s overwhelming. It feels so good to be done when this necessary work is done, but the process itself is daunting and meticulous. I swear, owning a home means never being done with the “to do” list, and it just keeps on growing.

On a brighter note, I wanted to post pics of the rehearsal and wedding I went to this last weekend- at the peak of the heat no less :) I managed to look like I was dry – but darn it, we were all glistening. The venue was stunning and the drinks were cold. Despite the heat, the time we had was grand AND Pasadena is stunning - PERIOD! (Spelled that out in CAPS to make my point - you catch that? LOL)

Just look at this place, beautiful right?! The owner did all of the architechture and landscaping - AWESOME!

As you can see my hubby went a bit more casual for the rehearsal. He whispered to me sheepishly when we got there “I think I may be a little under dressed.” I assured him he was OK because as the night and socializing when on, the heat only seemed to get a bit more stifling. The result was that he was comfortable as the evening wore on. Good. I told him, it is better to be slightly under dressed than pouring sweat when you are talking face to face with someone. He's a big time sweaty dude when it's hot out.

 When he looks to me for fashion assurance - It’s positively adorable.

I LOVE this leopard dress. It’s a London Times dress from Overstock.com (it's on super sale for $21.99 right now too!) It fits nicely, not snug and I like how I’ve never seen a magnified Leopard print like it. It’s a bit abstract, if not a lil 80s, but with a retro shape. I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of it for sure. – Neat!

I want my girlfriend's dress! It's the most fabulous style!!! I'm jealous!

I didn’t dig my dress for the wedding very much, but I thought it did the job. I’m just not a fan of simple spaghetti style dresses. I thought adding the green sash and shortening it a bit would make me like it , but that didn’t really pan out. I think that this may be the only time I wear this sucker. Good thing I only paid $40 at It’s A Wrap when I did a shopping day with my girlfriend Karla a couple weekends ago (JS Selection Brand). That’s not a good cost per wear, but sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss. I did manage get a detail of the fun necklace I also found at It’s A Wrap and the earrings and bracelet I made to match.

One strange thing was I didn’t get any pics of the heels I was wearing with either dress. Oh well, I’ll have to remember for next time I attend a function and forget to get pics before I go. I was able to grab a pic of some of my friends and their awesome ensembles, but again, I wish I had thought to get shots of people's shoes, they were great.

I thought this was a fun pic to include to see how different each dress was. I didn't see one dress that was the same style or color at this wedding (aside from the bridesmaids of course). Fantastic!

The Heat Is So Strong the Watercolor Is Melting

OK California,

I get it – you pulled heat punches all summer and now?! Making up for lost time I see… Truly – it’s very unnecessary, unseemly even. We all got comfy and happy with normal temperatures, like we were old friends. Well, friends shouldn’t shock friends so drastically. Also, my wallet hates you as my power bill soars.

News report: Yesterday was the hottest reported day in L.A. of ALL TIME!

You have got to be joking?!

Clearly Mother Nature wasn’t.

In other happenings I purchased another dress. Shocker I know. I saw it in Nordstrom Rack during their big clearance, gasped and grabbed it. My first Calvin Klein dress and I dig it. The print is ridiculously loud (but pretty like a watercolor) and the colors are so primary – I love it! I’m not the only one either! All day I was fielding compliments (something I do quite sheepishly). It made me feel pretty good :)

I traded out the matching belt tie and used it in my hair. The belt I chose really wasn’t a great color for the dress, but I hadn’t acquired the brown belt that matched the shoes quite yet. (I have now, however.)

Lesson learned: Use a belt that appears to actually match the dress.

OK - Check

I really like the classic style of the dress with the slightly boat-necked collar and A-line skirt. If this dress was fitted at the bottom, it wouldn’t have made it past the fitting room. The waist is too generous, but the bust fits great. It works overall because of the belting.

Calvin - "Why can’t your 10 & 12 size dresses combine to make a perfect fit for me?!"

Anyhoodle, that is my life story.

Side note: I finally purchased the shades I have been coveting all season. I don't think I've ever spent so much on sunglasses (135 bones is a lot - and don't even think I didn't try for months to get them cheaper), but nothing can beat a good pair that is stylish, effective and doesn't slip off or pinch my nose! Bravo D&G - so there is a reason you're so popular, you know what you're doin'! (Well Duh)

...Wait A Minute Mr. Postman

YAY! My Gilt package came! And the necklace is beautiful.

A hearty “YUP” to the quandary- will it be as awesome as I imagined?

Since I made the purchase, I have been picturing it with a black background to make the colors pop. However, I looked in my closet to find, that oddly enough, I don’t have very much black by way of tops  (even though my closet is exploding). I have a couple dresses and some skirts, but only a couple of black tops. The ones I have acquired are either a little snug and show all forms of back fat – which I HATE!!!! or they just aren't blowing up my skirt anymore. So I promptly went out to KOHL’s to find a black top with the primary requirement that it doesn’t show all my physical insecurities. I came upon this cute retro cut top. It's not plain black, but a fun graphite and black pattern.  Love it! I can’t get enough of the boat neck and cap-like sleeves. I like that it’s a tunic rather than a dress. What really helped sell me was the belt. You know I love a good belt.

And in other news...I've become a Jeffrey Campbell convert.

this is how much i love them

I bought these Jeffrey Campbell's as a “you’re done with your commission and you got paid!” treat. I waltzed into Nordstrom during their shoe clearance and walked out with these beauties. I’ve worn them almost everyday since their acquisition. I can’t believe they fit so well for a closed toe shoe, they are DA BOMB! Honestly, they should be though, even on sale they were $100. That’s one big splurge for me! Yikes, but I’ve already worn the heck out of them so they will be put in my “Stellar Purchase” file.

Also, I have returned to my old faithfuls – BANGS! I have had thick bangs on and off since high school. I think they totally work for my face and I really shouldn't be without them (but they get boring after a while, hence my bang-less period.) I have to resist the urge to go too short. They looked good this day, but they're kinda long so I actually have to “style” them in the morning – read: blow dry them with a round brush. I’m going tomorrow to get them trimmed up and my hair recolored. I’m working my way back towards lighter red on the hair spectrum. I love dark red/aubergine but, it’s pretty dark and I’m ready for a change – again. I must resist going back to blond. I’m sure my stylist wouldn’t even do it on principle because he would be afraid my hair will fall out J

WEEKEND ~ HERE I COME!!!!!!

GILT Goodies

I’ve been on a spending spree… well not a total spree, but mini spree in my lil world. I rarely buy stuff from the daily updates I receive on sales from Shopittome.com and Gilt.com etc… but sometimes the Gilt sales are like clearance sales at a regular store, but they still have some stuff in stock. (I have had trouble reserving inventory in the past when it says available, when it’s really not, but anyhoodle, I had luck this time around!) I have always loved Native American bead work so I am super stoked it has come back into fashion. I used to have a couple of necklaces when I was younger and collected Kachina-like dolls for years, but haven’t seen those types of goodies around for some time. (I actually just unearthed all the beautiful dolls I used to collect with my sister and darn it if they aren’t all in great shape. Yay! I am currently on the lookout for a vintage style curio cabinet.) Anthropologie and UO had some cute ones if not a bit overpriced so I decided to wait until I found one I couldn’t live with out. Guess what? I found it :)

It’s by a designer I haven’t heard of, but am now a great fan: Josefina de Alba. I dig the length, the colors are totally kitchy and the design is pretty contemporary, but like a moth to a flame (or me to a shiny object) it had to be mine! Sewing beads is something I dabble in and what I create is pretty simple yet still takes a good chunk of time, therefore I know what an effort it takes to make something of this caliber. Verdict - it is super awesome. The craftsmanship is something I can totally appreciate. I sure hope it meets all my expectations when it comes in, like – forever. Have you ordered anything from Gilt? It seems like it takes 3-4 days longer than anywhere else I order stuff. I guess that’s one of the reasons they can offer the deals they do? Who knows.

I also randomly purchased this Tarina Tarantino bracelet. I don’t have anything with sculls on it since they have come into popularity. My opinion: they look pretty cheesy if you take them seriously, but I think in a bright color I could make them work for me. One drawback from the fabulous $20 sale bracelet is that I can’t find any matching earrings or necklace anywhere! I don’t normally have to be matchy matchy, but I would have really dug the matching earrings within the same Tarantino style. So – potential solution: I am going to try my hand at sculpting some of my own. I was going to get on that project tonight. I’m apprehensive, it’s one of my 50% projects - 50% chance of being totally awesome and me being really proud of myself, or a 50% chance of turning out totally crappy then I will have wasted a bunch of time. I guess I’ll find out what 50% it’s going to be later. Wish me luck!

My Determined Skirt

My sewing machine pretty much gave up on me when I was making this sucker. The tip of the needle broke off and fell into the bottom and stitches stopped well - stitching :( I have been planning on getting it serviced for the last month or so, but do you think I have? Nope. That would be entirely too responsible of me. LOL

I can do the hand stitch projects no problem, but no machine time for me until I get my butt in gear and get it to the service shop.

The only good thing about not having my sewing machine in working order right now is that it prompts me to start other projects – jewelry, painting, cleaning, crafting that I have been wanting to start, etc… I go through phases in the year inspired by different types of crafting. My summer fabric phase was cut short due to the demise of my machine, so onto the next medium: Paint and jewelry~ We’ll see what I come up with.

So I was able to make the pleats and connect the front and the back, but when it came to the elastic, I think I went about 3 stitches on my machine then the needle broke. I was so friggin determined to finish it before the end of the day, I did it by hand. It was soooo difficult and tedious. I had to find a way to stretch the elastic to the fabric, but I needed both my hands to hand stitch. I had to fit the elastic over my knees and stretch it while stitching. It took about an hour and my hip muscles had never been used so diligently in like, forever. The next day I thought about my completed skirt every time I took a step ‘cause my butt/hip muscles were so tired from stretching the fabric. I had to use Stitch Witchery to hem it since I wasn’t about to take on another hand sewing job. I really should wear it once a week to make all the trouble worth it, but shoot, all I have to do is glance at it a couple times a month and the fabric makes me smile. Not bad for $2.50 worth of fabric and $2.50 worth of elastic. Overall I feel pretty accomplished making something that is on regular rotation in my closet.

Anyhoodle, I gotts to get on fixin’ that machine!

Just in case your day is dark - I had to include these pics of my youngest dog investigating my activities with the camera. She’s just so darn cute! My animal babies make my day EVERY day. Life would be so boring without them!

Bubble Yum Dress

I'm back and rearing to go. I think I am hitting one of those "get things done" modes as of late. I picked up a sewing project last night that needed some attention and actually finished. It wasn't a large to do, but I still want to pat myself on the back... Yay me! Now maybe I can get back to bloggin' some...

Back to my favorite kind of post - purely about happiness in what I was wearing this day. I love this dress. Aside from the style being simple and comfy, it reminded me distinctly of the Bubble Yum Original package of gum.

It's that turquoise and pink combo that I can't associate with anything else other than gum. There are also light brown stripes to break of the pink and blue.
When I found it on the clearance rack at Target a couple of months ago, I grabbed it immediately. They only had Mediums and Xtra-Larges. At first I was distressed - I don't wear M in junior's sizing, but since the dress wasn't fitted (also I couldn't relinquish it from my grasp) I decided to give it a try. It should fit a bit baggier on the top, but the diagonal ruffle helps it to look like it fits right. I can't get enough of the flirty little ruffle at the bottom too, sooo cute! I think I'm becoming an enthusiast of the color pink. I find myself picking up more and more of it when I'm out and about shopping. 

This is one of my favorite drinks to put together. I seem to end up drinking a few of them whenever good Vodka is available. The frosted glass is key.

The month of August held quite a few celebrations for me. A wedding anniversary, a birthday and another mini vacation. Simple-tini's were a favorite indulgence, throughout.

And if you're lucky, after a couple of Simple-tini's you'll end up doing something silly like climbing out of the safety of your in law's backyard...Kind of like this:

Look at this view! Isn't it beautiful?

I also thought I would leave this little chestnut for your eardrums. I am in love with this duo La Roux. This is my favorite song on the album. It's such a jaunty ditty and the background sample reminds me of a little Casio keyboard that I had in the eighties. I took it everywhere with me. There were a couple of settings like piano, trumpet, flute and violin that sounded like synthesized versions of those instruments. I swear the violin one is what is being used here - Awesome! 

Cute, random video and dontcha love her hair? How can you not?!