A Fox in Trousers

Hold on there for a second. Who's wearing pants again? Not me! Yes me. You might think me Emersonian, saying I abhor pants-wearing, and then next thing you know, you get two consecutive posts of me wearing leg-splitters* (see previous post for clarification) But I have a legit excuse: I had to carry a watermelon.

My husband and I are obsessed with the watermelon we've been getting from our local farmers' market, and we wake up as early as we can so we can get a good melon to last us the week. Since the market is only a block away from our house, we like to hoof it even though that may mean we get all sweaty and tired from carrying all our produce.

I got charged with carrying the gigantic watermelon (which I expertly passed off to my husband using my "I'm adorable, I dressed up like a fox today" technique) so I had to wear pants since, you know, skirts and dresses hike up when you're lifting stuff. Plus, really, have you ever seen a fox in a dress?

How I feel about things that separate my legs

I got a kick out of Tracy's comment in a recent post where I was wearing pants. If you recall, I've confessed my immense dislike for pants even though you'll find me always wearing trousers of some sort whenever I'm at work. Maybe I'm equating work with pants, and that's not helping at all. Anywho, here's proof that I do have thighs, and that I do wear things that separate my legs.

In truth, I only wore these shorts because it was still too hot to wear anything longer, and I really wanted to show off this thrifted floral jacket. It's actually really really really huge on me, but I pinned it in the back for these photos, and I'm planning on altering it when I get a spare moment.

Yesterday's spare moment was spent taking photos and editing them for the shop. I'm so excited to be selling scarves again! You'll see some familiar designs and patterns, and I'm working on a bunch of new ones to be listed next month. Want a preview? Check it out, all Brady-bunch style and such. I am super proud that I got this collage done all by myself: from set up to  photography to editing! I'm getting better, right?

Oh Frabjous weekend, callooh! callay!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen a glimpse of my frabjous weekend. I had an extremely long and stressful work day last Friday, so I was immensely relieved to join my bff J and my husband B for a pint or two. We stayed out way too late and spent most of the night carousing.




After a scant 5-6 hours of sleep (we regretted that later), we went to this pretty awesome tattoo parlor to get J a small filler tattoo for his sleeve. I have to admit, being there for hours and hours revived my urges to get one myself, but I am very non-committal, so I'll live vicariously through everyone who has a tattoo.

J ended up getting an anchor!

Funny story about this same tattoo parlor: I went to get a nose piercing there a few years back and the piercer hit a vein/artery, so blood was just pouring all over the place. It was hilarious and devastating at the same time. I really really REALLY want a nose piercing.



To end the night, we visited the Sweet Corn Festival, though we got there way too late to actually get any sweet corn. Bummer. We did, however, get some Korean tacos and munched on kettle corn while we sang along to Sweet Cherry Pie, the only song we knew from Warrant, the live entertainment of the fest. And for a nightcap? Funfetti cupcakes with strawberry icing. 

the cover very rarely matches the story

I had an unplanned frabjous weekend as my very dear friend, J, drove down from Chicago to pay us a visit.    And though having him around means many impromptu trips to various fast food chains around town (he's addicted), we sneaked in a lot of catching up and other sundry activities (to be showcased in tomorrow's post).

What I love about hanging out with J is that I get to be my catty self without any restraint. I've noticed that most of the people I've met get quite taken aback by my acerbic personality. Something to do with the cover not matching the book or something. It's true, but depending on the time of the month, it can be the other way around. That is, that I look mean but I'm really quite nice. In any case, I'm glad that J accepts my personality waffling and unmatching spine-to-story self.

Because I didn't get a lick of work done during the weekend, I am quite anxious to get back to sewing, sewing, sewing today. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Scrappy

I feel like I look really scrappy in these photos. It must be the early morning lighting, my "I'm barely awake" face, and the nasty "fade into orangutan orange" color my ombre highlights are taking. C, a friend of mine from grad school, confessed that my personal adjective, in his opinion, was "scrappy." And I think he meant pugnacious since the conversation that ensued after that was about how we both would be characters in a noir-ish detective story, he being the cranky, semi-alcoholic, always disheveled private eye and I being the argumentative, ultra-organized and stylish secretary.

6-month California Girl

chocolate ganache pie

When my husband and I first met, he thought that I was born and raised in sunny California, which, he thought, explained my unfortunate Valley girl-esque accent. (It's gone now, or at least most of it is.) I did, though, live in California for about 6 months, and I totally fell in love with the bohemian vibe that every Californian seemed to exude, like it's in their pores or something.

A wonderful woman who lives in California gave me this lovely Buddha tassle necklace, and I can't help but feel like I'm a bit boho just by adding it to my outfit. And the kimono! I've been obsessed with kimono tops lately, and because I can't find any pretty ones within my budget, I thought I'd make one for myself.

This is the first time I've ever worked with stretch knits, and they're an absolute nightmare. But I love how this top fits, so I'll have to grit my teeth and keep my hand steady so I can get more boho kimono tops in my wardrobe. 

conversation-free dinner:: bean burrito recipe

The hardest part of this whole Laura-goes-vegetarian adventure is my husband. We just had a really long "conversation" about how much longer he has to eat non-meats since I do most of the cooking. Now, I like meat. But my husband? He LOVES meat. AND Mexican food. 

So I thought the best way to compromise was to cook more Mexican dishes. I made the beans that we used to fill these flour tortillas (homemade, of course) and then used the leftovers to make veggie nachos the next day.  With a side of mango pico de gallo, dinner was definitely "conversation" free. 

Bean Burritos (Modified from One World Vegetarian Cookbook)

Serves 4
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans kidney beans, liquid drained, washed.
1 20 oz can diced tomatoes
1 t chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t parsley
8 flour tortillas
salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil
*hot sauce or srirachs for spice, optional

1. Saute the onion in oil until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic.
2. Add in the beans, tomatoes, and spices and cook until heated thoroughly. Using a potato masher or the back of a fork, crush the beans slightly.
3. Fill tortillas with the beans and top with salsa, pico de gallo, plain greek yogurt, or hot sauces. 

still completely geeky

I realize that though I often talk about my geekiness, I rarely have been incorporating aspects of the geek into my wardrobe. I recently made this felt X-men pin to wear as if it was my own personal communications link. And I've also made some to pin onto my purse and wear as a clip on my hair. I'm not selling them in the shop yet, but if you're interested in purchasing them for yourself or for a die-hard X-men fan, email me. They're $6 apiece or 2 for $10, + shipping.

I've always been a hardcore X-men lover, ever since I watched the animated TV series back in the early 90s. I'm drawn not only to the mutant plight of human acceptance vs superiority, but also the complex and continuity-heavy relationships among the characters. I always get a kick whenever I can recognize references to decades-old events or mini factoids.  

To pay homage to the bright and bold color combinations of my favorite mutants, I stuck to a very simple color scheme for this outfit. I brought out this dress, which I think looks like a girl version of a super scientist speed suit, ala Rusty Venture. Then I applied a bright red lippie, because all superheroines wear bright red lips, right?

Europe Dreaming

I've been hanging out with friends visiting from Switzerland which explains my lack of presence on the interwebs. With all the talk about Europe, I am seriously tempted to sell all my belongings and move there with only a suitcase of essentials, a backpack full of catfood, and 3 cat carriers in tow. (My husband, of course, will be lugging the rest of my luggage.)  

Much of the allure of Europe for me comes from its history. How fun would it be to walk down narrow streets lined with houses and shops built ages ago? I already know I would spend much of my time ogling ancient castles or battle sites and especially exploring barrows. And then, there's the food. We're not even going there now as I haven't had breakfast at all and any mention of edibles would probably drive me insane at this point. 

Have you been to Europe?

Laura wants 003:: Wonder Woman edition

star dress: $52 // lightning cutout dress: $54.40// vintage cuff: $20//
star earrings: $10// Wonder Woman chucks: $60

I'm thinking I need a bit more red, white, blue, and gold in my wardrobe. 

simple and clean

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a blog that knocked me off my feet. And not in a good way. This blog had a glittering background, a blinking cursor that changed images when hovering over a link, 20 or so animated gifs in each post, and almost 50 large images in each page. Thank goodness there was no music playing or else it probably wouldn't have ever loaded on my screen. 

I thought that the site may have been a relic. You know, a webpage from days past when gifs and pixels were huge, and everyone wanted to show off their adoptions or savvy at having multiple effects on their sites.   Goodness knows I had one or three back when I was learning how to make webpages Geocities-style. But nope, it's current and still active. And really annoying.

I understand the desire to have a blog that stands out from the rest, but overloading it is not the way to do it. A simple and clean layout that's easily navigable is a much better solution. 

What say you? 

vegging out

remember these Thor hair clips? I wore them to embellish my top!

vegetarian nachos:: organic tortilla chips, homemade Tex-Mex beans, guacamole, mango pico de gallo, & Greek yogurt

It's been 14 days since I had a shred of meat. 

I had been feeling really bummed about not taking advantage of the yummy, fresh summer produce this year because my work schedule conflicts with market hours, so I decided that I would force myself to eat only vegetables in the hopes that this would push me to make an effort to find different ways of enjoying them.

Now, I'm not a shabby cook, but I have to say, cooking vegetarian takes up a lot of time and calls for a lot more creativity to put together satisfying dishes. I'm used to having meat as the main part of the meal and vegetables as a side, you see. That's just how I've eaten my whole life. So this "going all vegetarian" is really like delving into uncharted territory for me. 

And yes, it's very time-consuming. But yes, it's a lot of fun. And by gollies, it's ridiculously delicious.

the times, they are a-changin'

I've been busy, busy, busy. I get all sobby and whiny about my current state of unfulfilling underemployment in this post, but I'll keep it short here: I've decided to devote more time to sewing and creating cute stuff for the shop, so I'm just making and making and making these days. And whenever I do make something that I absolutely LOVE, I feel a sense of validation that what I'm doing is good and right for me.

I've been toying with the idea of making clothes to sell, but I won't be comfortable doing so until I at least get a decent dress form. I just finished sewing another skirt and my first ever cardigan ever, and hopefully, after a couple more practices, I can feel more confident about selling them. My perfectionism holds me back a lot, I know, but it's time for a change, and I'm really excited! :)