24-30 December 2015: End of the Year Fun

My outfits this week have not been so pretty. Mostly jeans and Disney, to be honest–held two Frozen singalongs on Monday, then am celebrating the scheduling of my next trip (11.5 months!!!) with a castle shirt today. So let’s talk about other pretty things today.  Like Christmas. And a proper snow that fell on the 6th day of Christmas instead of the 1st.

But we can do two outfits.

HerUniverse Black Widow jacket, Old Navy Sweetheart skinnies, Converse

OMG LOOK AT THIS JACKET. I love it so hard–it’s totally stealth fandom. If you don’t know Widow’s symbol, it just looks like an awesome jacket. The back has the same princess-style seaming to give it great shape. Of course once I got it, the temps dipped from the 50s to the 20s and 30s. I find myself hoping for a mild January so I can wear it soon!

Target Ugly Christmas Sweater

Okay, yeah, so the second outfit is Bingo’s. But look how cute he is!!! My mom and I were taking dozens of photos of him and then I went out on the porch with him (60* temps), and used a treat to get him to look the directions I wanted, and voila. He cooperated beautifully. Isn’t he the best??

I had a very fandomy Christmas, actually, and it was a delight. Above are my brand new Besame Cosmetics perfume and lipstick samples. I love 1930 best so far, but 1940 is great. 1950 disappeared a little too quickly. Still haven’t tried the others. I wear Red Velvet (1946) a lot so I know I love it, but American Beauty (1945) goes way more pink than red on me, boo. It’s supposed to be a berry red, but if I want pink, I want to go Portrait Pink (1963) or Dusty Rose (1969).  I’m hoping those two end up in matchsticks so I can try them. I’m also intrigued by Carmine (1930) and Chocolate Kiss (1970).  Anyway, I also got a Hawkeye hoodie for my jogging (sleeves zip off), and Doctor Who blanket, pillow and Monopoly game, so I’m super excited by all of that!

Oh, AND I got a new ice skating rink for my Christmas village! The skaters skate on their own. ❤

Also did some fancy pants nails:

China Glaze Heart of Africa, topped with some OPI gold shimmer. Super pretty, and the China Glaze was opaque in one coat! It was amazing.

I sewed my mom some placemats for Christmas, and she liked them, yay! I’m glad, because I thought the fabrics were both really cute.

I also had a lot of fun making cards for friends this year. I always make a handful, but I doubled my number this year because several of them shared in my Avengers comics and movie spiral and I wanted to commemorate that:

I was really pleased with my stroke of inspiration in Santa-hatting Hawkeye’s symbol, but I think Cap’s shield is my favorite. Once I saw the white snowflake, I knew what to do. (And for those who don’t read comics, one has two Hawkeyes because there are two Hawkeyes, Clint and Kate.) (Kate’s the other, better Hawkeye.)(I love them both madly, but KATE.)

The SHIELD logo made me despair a bit, but then I figured out how to make it seasonally appropriate, too:

Hee!

It was a brown Christmas because of the 50 and 60* temps the week before, but the lights and luminaria were pretty:

And then the snow came on the 6th day of Christmas and it was glorious:

Way better than the 4th day of Christmas’s ice storm. That was a painful walk.

So that’s been my week. Tonight I just plan to hang out and watch some movies and wind down the year restfully. Keep an eye out for my 2015 reading challenge wrap up–I have one book left, so I’m going to stay in and read instead of seeing Star Wars after all, ha.

Hope you all have a super fun NYE and a marvelous start to 2016!

14-18, 21 December 2015: Christmas Colors

Final post before the holidays! I think I’ve finally got everything. Done all that’s left is wrapping, reading Christmas novels and watching Christmas movies. Whew!

Forever 21 Peter Pan collar sweater, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, Captain America sweater clips!!!!!, jingle bell bracelet, Bass saddle shoes

Check the amazingly awesome gift from my friend! I had to pick a sweater that made it easy to show off my shields. How cool and creative is that??

Gap tee, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, olive cardigan, jingle bell bracelet, Avengers charm bracelet, Bass saddle shoes

Christmas tree colors, ha. Picked this cardi up at a swap and I like it. Also, woe, my Avengers charm bracelet lost Widow during a particularly energetic rendition of Wimoweh with shaker eggs! The company is going to fix it, though, yay.

Gap sweater, White House Black Market sparkle sweater, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, Clarks

I shake my head over this sweater every year. I love the sparkles, but it’s an awkward length and hard to find things to wear it with. And yet every year, I persevere. It looks OKAY. Just not GREAT.

Gap sweater, anthropologie embroidery skirt, Victoria’s Secret leggings, vintage brooch, Jingle bell bracelet, gift bow barette, Clarks

I have a narrow window of about three months to wear this winter white skirt. It’s always more stiff than I remember, but I love the pattern and doodads, so I keep returning to it.

Ann Taylor tie sweater, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, vintage brooch, snowflake necklace, jingle bell bracelet, Crown Vintage booties

Another hard to style top! It’s a little boxy, but it looks better with jeans than it does with skirts, I think. I should remember that.

Anthropologie dress, Old Navy tights, Agent Carter necklace, jingle bell bracelet, clarks

Christmas lunch with my friend! Geez, I love this dress. I’ll be overdressed wearing it to work, but whatever. Wouldn’t be the first time, I guess.

While shopping after lunch, we stopped at the Disney Store. OF COURSE. And just look what I found!!!!

A ladies cut Captain America tee! The Disney Store is finally realizing that women like the Avengers!!! Of course, I bought it. (And because it was 2 for $30, I also got a new Elsa shirt. Can’t have enough snow queen tees.)

On the way out, a lady was bemoaning the lack of Widow merch in the Avengers section. I very happily pointed her towards the tshirt section, where she was on TWO TOPS. And one of them involved Clint, too! And then we high fived when I told her about the Cap shirt, ha. It was an unexpected fun thing to meet another Clintasha fangirl who also buys everything she’s on, ha.

Speaking of, I had fun making holiday cards this year. To wit:

I later redid the Shield one to include a santa hat on the eagle, too, ha. I made some great new comics friends this year and I wanted to show them my appreciation!

I’ll be back next week with a round up of my 2015 Reading Challenges–I may yet finish the last one!

Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!!! xoxo

7-12 December 2015: Christmas Adventures

Hurtling towards Christmas now, so expect to see a lot of red and green through this post and the next!

Merona sparkle bow sweater, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, Avengers charm bracelet, Converse

And pink. Every year, I take a day to visit the city and all it’s Christmas fun, and while I usually try to dress nice, this year I didn’t bother. I didn’t have tickets anywhere and I was going to wear my coat all day, so sweatshirt it is. it was a fun day, pics below, plus I spent time with a friend and found a new-to-me bookstore that I fell for. Yay.

striped tee, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, Winter Soldier necklace, Avengers charm bracelet, White Cliff flats

I thought I was doing some filming, so I dressed nicely up top! And then we didn’t. Oh, well. Always fun to wear this shirt. Though it was chillier that day than I thought, and I did miss socks, ha.

JJill tank, Anthropologie cardigan, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, Natasha arrow necklace, Crown Vintage booties

Man, I adore this cardigan. It’s such a perfect fit and so awesomely retro. I definitely need to wear it more.

sequin sweater, Old Navy flirt capris, Forever 21 leggings, Avengers charm bracelet, Clarks flats

And then it went up to the 60s. In December. SO WRONG.

Disney Inside Out tee, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, H&M cardigan, Mickey necklace, gift bow barrette, Merona socks, Clarks

I was so excited to find the tee on sale! I loved the movie, and It’s Complicated just makes me laugh. But the quality is not up to Disney par – it’s thin and short and the seam on one side is already frayed with one wear. BOO.

Modcloth Story of Citrus dress, H&M cardigan, Old Navy tights, snowflake necklace, vintage brooch, jingle bell bracelet, gify bow barrette, Clarks

New dress!! I put in a black Friday weekend order and I am madly in love with all the pieces, but this one is best by far. I feel so 40s in it! It was the perfect dress to wear for my annual Christmas adventure with my friend, which this year was a trip to see a double feature of White Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life. We had a super magical day, where everything went perfectly, and it was just a blast.

City adventures: I shopped Macy’s for cute replacement hats for the one left behind in Colorado. Alas, gold is not a popular color. I found these, though, that I liked a lot:

And of course I had to check out the holiday windows. Hi, Sally!

And a stop at the Christmas market is a must. Currywurst and fries made a perfect lunch.

Yay Christmas!

29, 30 November, 1-4 December 2015: Fancy

Ugh. Unintentional break–we were interviewing for a new librarian, which was exhausting, and everything sort of piled up. I’m going to try really hard to catch up this week.

Karen Hallion Back for the Last Dance tee, Gap boyfriend cardigan, Old Navy sweetheart skinny jeans, Crown Vintage booties

FINALLY TeeFury sent me my shirt!!! They’ve been having major problems the past few months, which doesn’t bode well for them. 😦 If only they’d explained the new distributor when things started slowing down. But I love my shirt and it makes me super happy.

tee, Kate Spade skirt, JCrew Jackie cardi, Old Navy tights, Avengers charm bracelet, Sephora arrow barrette, Clarks

Day one of interviews, we dressed nice, ha. This is a new top from a clothes swap, and it’s so cute.

Anthropologie top, Old Navy Flirt skirt, BP cardi, Old Navy Tights, jingle bell bracelet, Winter Soldier necklace, Clarks

Day two of interviews, we were all more casual, ha. I cannot for the life of me remember why I chose to wear my jingle bracelet. OH! No, I do. It’s why I’m in green and white, too – my friend came over after work for pizza, Flash and Shield and tree decorating. ❤

JCrew Factory striped dress, Limited crop cardigan, Old Navy tights, Mickey necklace, Avengers charm bracelet, Hawkeye bracelet, Crown Vintage booties

Rocking the purple, so had to do a mini Marvel party arm. Last day of interviews, back to dressy! I super love the length of this cardigan, I really need more like it.

JCrew snowflake tee, Old Navy Sweetheart skinnies, H&M cardi, Avengers charm bracelet, Bass boots

Celebrating no interviews with jeans! And snowflakes, because outside of the major snowfall in November, there’s been none. Woe.

Daisy tee, Old Navy Sweetheart skinnies, Modcloth Airport Greetings cardigan, Avengers charm bracelet, Hawkeye bracelet, Converse

Dressing comfy for staff day, with lots of sitting. Another new swap top.

Behold: my Christmas tree.

It was so nice having a friend to decorate with this year!! And after that episode of Shield, especially, we needed the fun distraction of cute holiday decor, ha.

Check my newest ornaments:

Disneyland 2015, from my February trip, plus Cap and Hawkeye. ❤ ❤ ❤

Also, randomly, demonstrating my mom’s awesome new hat. With bluetooth speakers built in.

Looks like a normal hat, but I was totally hearing Adele sing Hello right into my ears. AWESOME.

Project 365 catch up

a quick catch up!

Dec 7/Santa Shrek house

Dec 8/Pins we’re giving out at work – the Twelfth Doctor and Hogwarts represent our upcoming Scottish program, the ornament is in Welsh because I like Welsh.

Dec 9/Snow!

Dec 10/One of the Christmas cards I made this year.

Dec 11/Kids Christmas concert at work

Dec 12/Taking American Girl dolls around our department for a photo shoot

Dec 13/Christmas tree in my apartment lobby!

Dec 14/Newsies!

Dec 15/White Christmas in theaters!! Can you tell the question for this answer?

Dec 16/The photoshoot was for our new collection of dolls to circulate, yay.

Dec 17/My friend sent me tons of pics from Disney World. Technically, I took this in that it’s a photo of a photo she sent?

Dec 18/I organize an ornament exchange, and this year, I got my exchange ornament plus this awesome super elf as thanks for running it. ❤

Dec 19/Crazy flock of birds swarming from tree to tree.

Dec 20/Tea and lavender cookie bought on my walk after my cookie baking day got canceled.

Also, this is what I baked instead:

It was meant to be gingerbread brownies, but I didn’t pay enough attention to the recipe and it ended up being gingerbread cake. Slightly singed. Oh, well.

 

21 and 22 December 2014: Christmas Prep

Final days to get things ready!

JCrew snowflake top, H&M cardigan, Old Navy Sweetheart Skinny jeans, vintage tree brooch, bow hairpin, Keds

Still no snow, so I bring my own. Apparently we’re going to get clocked Christmas eve? Not bad timing, really.

I’ve had a few things going with my nails, but this is my favorite:

The green has stuck around for well over a week with very little wear, it’s astounding. The grey is OPI Glee and I love it because it shines green or purple depending on light, and the green shine looks great with the green accent. When that chipped, I left the green and made rose gold be the main color. It looks great.

Gap drape neck top, H&M cardigan, vintage tree brooch, jingle bracelet, Old Navy Sweetheart Skinny jeans, Keds

Last minute errands, done! Everything mailed, check! Christmas movies watched, check and check and check. Yay.

Also:

Rudolf pillow sewn for my brother: check.

I was going to post today’s outfit, but it’s just another red top and jeans, ha. I own a lot of red.
So, instead, I leave you with this holiday post card and wish you all a merry week, whatever you celebrate. Hugs to you all!

16-19 December 2014: Christmas Colors

My goal was new remixes on my usual Christmas outfits. I succeeded there, though I’m not totally sold on them.

Harry David tank, H&M cardigan, JCrew button skirt, Sock Dreams lace socks, brooch,, jingle bracelet, Keep calm neckace, BoC Canty booties

My friend commended me on autumn, but I was aiming more Christmas tree, ha. Second day curls doing weird things. I finally bought clips for my hot rollers, so we’ll see what those experiments yield.

Jones NY tie top, Maurice’s polka dot skirt, vintage candle brooch, Mickey necklace, green bracelet, White Cliff flats

Yeah. I tried. I wanted to bring this top back, but I don’t think I succeeded. It’s a bit boxy, and that makes it hard to match a good bottom with.

Glitter top, Merona skater skirt, Victoria’s Secret leggings, anthropologie hairband, Mickey necklace, jingle bracelet, Crown Vintage booties

This one did come out just as planned, so, hurrah! The skirt is short and fitted, neither of which is my usual wheelhouse, but I am a sucker for skater skirts so I persist in trying to wear it. I love the effect, even if it’s not 100% comfortable.

Gap top, Old Navy sweetheart skinnies, vintage bell brooch, Mickey necklace, gift bow hairclip, jingle bracelet, Bass by Rachel Antonoff saddle shoes

A cheery outfit for the last Friday before a week vacation. (Last Friday, not last day; I also worked Sunday.) My phone does not always like to take pics upside down, which is easiest to hold, and I don’t understand why – it works 90% of the time! And then it doesn’t and I get funky angles. But at least you can see my pretty Disney castle right side up.

I officially have everything I need bought, and everything that needed to be mailed is mailed. Huzzah! I’ve been reading and catching up on TiVo, all Christmassy stuff. Now to put on A Christmas Carol Concert and wrap everything. I think some white hot chocolate with my peppermint syrup will also be a grand addition to my afternoon plans!

I’m planning one more post before the holidays, so fingers crossed.

14 and 15 December: Seize the White Christmas!

Which is to say, I saw Newsies this weekend, and then White Christmas in the theater. You guys. Newsies was so amazing. I am a sucker for dancing, and these were very talented men dancing and leaping and ballet spinning and tapping. And we were five rows from the stage and it was so incredibly lovely, I can’t squee enough! I also hung out at the local German Christmas market.

Halogen sweater, Gap skirt, Forever 21 necklace, Mickey necklace, vintage tree pin, Kate Spade glitter fishnets, Bass Heritage boots

It was a gorgeous 50 degree day….which meant there wasn’t much moving around at the market because the hordes of people. But I did get my plum germknoedel:

And hit anthropologie:

I was initially un-thrilled with the extra volume it gives, but I sort of like it. But I need it an inch or so shorter, I think, hitting just below my knee.

And on to Vermont:

Forever 21 sweater, Forever 21 plaid skirt, Forever 21 hair bow, vintage brooch, keds

I wore Keds because I meant to walk at lunch, and yet, I did not. Oops. I tried to go a little retro-y, but I don’t think I got there. I got a patron compliment, but I think this was one of my more out there looks. Lol

I can’t get over how amazing the movie looked on the big screen! I’m spoiled now. I don’t know how I can enjoy it on the small screen now, hee. The dancing was incredible so huge, and Danny Kaye even more charming and it was just fun. When my friend and I got there, we were half the audience….and brought the average age down a generation or two. Three others came in late, but it was tiny. Everyone else’s loss!!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I have the day off and it’s snowing. Obviously my tree had to go up. But first, last week’s Project 365:

16/Christmas card snapshot!

17/The American Girl store lounge. SO PINK. So friendly.

18/Snowy, but the flurries didn’t show up.

19/Gorgeous twilight walk

20/Town tree going up!

21/Packing my first American Girl doll kit YAY. It all fit! 3 outfits, a book, a journal, a bed, a hairbrush and a soccer ball. *g*

22/The most amazing pumpkin gingersnap cheesecake I split with my friend. We couldn’t even finish it, but it was seriously amazeballs.

And now, today! I hate decorating alone, so I instagrammed as I went, for some community.

New additions last year:

Beloved penguins on parade:

A touch of plaid to fill in gaps:

The final product!

I feel like I might get one or two Disney princess sketchbook ornaments this year. And Pier 1 had some amazingly adorable things. Plus I’m getting my annual ornament exchange gift. So, yay! New things coming, too.

Merry Christmas!

I am on my way to my parents for Christmas – this mostly means jeans and pajamas for 3 or 4 days, heh. I will return next week with new and adorable things.

Until then,

Unless you don’t celebrate Christmas, in which case I offer you

and

(Those gifts are totally for Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, etc.)

Oh, and PS, I took a Lush bath with Star Light, Star Bright and I cannot recommend it enough! It turned the water a gorgeous Tiffany blue, smelled divinely of lime and ginger, and I am shimmering with tiny glitter bits. Yeah, I scrubbed for 10 minutes with Comet to get the blue ring off the top of my tub, but it was so worth it. Consider this recommendation a holiday gift!

xoxo to you all, lovely people!