At This Volume: March 2014

Spirit In The Sky

Heeyyyy guys. Long time no see. I lost track of the days here getting hooked on bejeweled blitz. I wish I was kidding about that. Lol. I have a killer score to show though!

Haha aside from my obsession with bejeweled blitz, I've been really busy at work learning all new things. It's already been a month in my new position and I still have lots to learn but I'm totally getting there. I just wish I had more time! Ain't that always the case for everything though? It's a breath of fresh air to finally love your job and love the people you work with. So happy and soooo grateful to the universe for making this happen.

In other news, I got a call from my mom last monday telling me that I need to get all my stuff out of my room at my parents place ASAP so that my cousin can move in. It's super cool my parents are taking in my cousin but I definitely feel a little weird. I mean, I knew this day would come, it's been a year since I moved out but have a lot of my belongings there still. I was gradually (very slowly actually) packing things away and bringing them over to my place now but that got increasingly difficult when I didn't have car access anymore. So I mean, I was prepared for it, but I feel very weird no longer having a place at my parents home. I'd have to crash on the couch if I wanted to stay over. I need to get over it I know, because I have to grow up, it just feels, I dunno, unreal.

So that nonsense happened last week and i'm still not even done. I'm taking a break since i need to clean and organize and make space at my place before i can bring any more of my stuff over. it's going to be a really long process. so i apologize in advance for any sporadic absences.

can we please take a moment and talk about this amazing St. Eve necklace? I'm obsessed with this beautiful necklace I scored for half off during a siiiiick sale Threadsence had a few weeks ago for newsletter subscribers. If you're not on that mailing list get on it now! There are always amazing deals going on!

(can you tell i am partial to silver jewelry?)

outfit details

In Dreams: All Who Wander, ThreadSence Spring 2014 Lookbook

i'm definitely a few weeks late on this but the new ThreadSence lookbook for spring 2014 was too good not to share. the lighting they captured is too dreamy. also, the novella royal kimono from this photo is killing me. I. NEED. IT. So many good photos but here are a few faves:

photography: nicole hill

styling: kathleen bonus

sidenote: i don't use my back patio at all. in fact, i don't think i've even been out there. you can see all the sad leaves piling up like crazy. i've got a whole year's worth of leaves you guys. i think i'll get around to picking them up sometime and building myself a teepee, because why not?

this was probably my absolute favorite outfit. so much awesome, all in one outfit. i can't even.

this Fair Game Asymmetric Dress is such a beaut in real life. one of my coworkers was wearing it and it totally convinced me that i need it. hopefully it's still around by next paycheck. did i mention it has optional straps? WHAAAAT. so many options now.

here's what's on my wishlist from this lookbook:

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

Now, head on over to ThreadSence to view the rest of the lookbook. i promise it's good.

Through the Looking Glass(es)

This past week I went to get my annual eye exam. Even I'm surprised I did it in a timely manner guys. Usually I'd wait like two years or I'd go only when I reeeeeaaaallly needed new glasses. There was even a year I found glasses in costume storage at uni with a previous prescription and I totally wore them. It was a little strong at first but eventually my eyes got adjusted to it. Can we say BAD IDEA? Yeah. Lol. One night of crazy dancing at part time punks and they flew off my face and a big lumberjack type dude stepped on em. Saddest story ever.

But rest assured because luckily, my prescription didnt change much! If anything the optometrist said that my right eye got a tiiiiinnnyyy smidge better. Weird, but cool. So thankfully I won't need to get new glasses but I'm totally going to get new ones for one reason only: finding them in time.

As you can all assume, I'm like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, always running late, or even if I'm actually not because I'm one of those psychos who needs to leave an hour earlier all the time, I'm always stuck in panic mode until I reach my destination. And more often than not I have spent my entire morning looking for my glasses because I couldn't remember where I put them the night before. Yes, I know, why don't you put them in the same spot every night? I don't know. I'm lazy.

So to solve this dilemma, I'm just going to have to own several pairs. Plus it'll be cool to wear different specs depending on outfit don't you agree? Last week I got notification that i won a contest for glasses over on Belphoebe's Rags of Love from MyOptique promoting London Retro specs and i swear, this couldnt have happened at a much better time! yes! (thanks again, Bel!) I chose the Nancy frames in mixed from London Retro and i can't wait to get those babies. Also, i'm going to order the fab Kimball frames in marzipan tortoise from Warby Parker.

I've got my eye on a few pairs over on lookmatic too so when i recover from my giant bike purchase i'm definitely getting more frames. In the meantime, i'm also looking at sunglasses because i don't have any and the optometrist suggested i get some. i have a pair of awesome raybans but sadly i can't wear them anymore because they don't have my prescription and every place i've taken them to wants to charge me $350+ to put prescription lenses on them UH NO THANKS. that's certainly more than the sunnies even cost me. so until i figure that out, i'm thinking about getting these sweet Greta shades that Warby Parker did in collaboration with Leith Clark and these Ricky shades from lookmatic.

One last thing...

this may be weird but here are retinal photos of my eyes. crazy right!? diabetes runs in my family, and unfortunately diabetes has permanently affected my mom's vision. Now that they offer these cool digital eye exams that basically scan the back of our eyes for any tumors or irregularities, we owe it to ourselves and our well being to have the exams done, especially if you or your family has a history of a particularly damaging disease. good news, nothing irregular here :)

Red Blues

riding a bike is so hard you guys. i know i said this before, but i'm gonna need to say it again. I NEED A LOT OF PRACTICE. seriously, a lot. we went bike riding on sunday and everything started out well, until i figured out that i actually am not as good as i thought balancing my body on a bike. i gripped the handlebar so hard my hands were hurting. but i'm not sure if that was just because i always get pain in my hands (sewing forever destroyed my hands) or because i suck at riding the bike. i think my basket is far too heavy for me right now because i have a feeling it's what is throwing the front of the bike off balance. so i'm going to have to remove it until i can figure out what is wrong with the front and why i have such a hard time balancing it. also, i'm more out of shape than i thought. sunday's ride kicked my butt and we only did a short bike path.

sigh. i sound like a whiny baby, but that fear i get, it's really scary. i had to stop riding because i felt like i was going to throw up and i felt dizzy. it was just awful. my body tensed up and i felt the same way i felt when i got in that scary accident in december. i don't know what's wrong with me and i don't know why the fear is so real. i can only take it one step at a time i suppose. here's to trying!

details:

Fangirl

now that i'm really into flares i'm totally dreading the coming of summer. especially because here in socal we feel summertime at full blast. full nasty melt your face off heat and i just wanna wear flares every day. i'm probably going to try to stay in my city this whole summer since i'm so close to the beach it's always like ten degrees cooler here than anywhere else. anyway, back to flares, I LOVE THEM. i bought a sweet pair from free people and theyve got a crazy print but apparently free people runs larger than i thought and sadly i got them on sale. soooo i'll have to put that sewing machine to use.

i wish they made flares that aren't super long. not everyone is 6'2"! i want to not have to wear heeled booties sometimes with flares ya know. yes, i am aware that you can always hem them, but then you lose the bell shape if you hem them too much. the pants struggle is real.

so by now i'm sure you're all aware that i am the BIGGEST Erica Weiner jewelry fan so let me tell you how ridiculously happy i am that i actually won an erica weiner contest on instagram! i'm always entering contests because why the heck not? and this time i actually won for something i really really really wanted: these super dainty erica weiner shape bracelets. YESSSSSS. thank you universe! these bracelets are so delicate and elegant, but honestly, you can wear them with anything! i certainly have been. in this case theyre dressed down, but you can definitely dress them up. so many possibilities. ah, so grateful!

details:

(i told you i was a big erica weiner fan girl)

Linus

Aaaaaannnnnd I finally have my bike!!!! Woo!!! SO EXCITED. I'm still ridiculously rusty, and by no means am I safe riding around people, but I think with enough practice I can make this happen. But now let's talk bikes!

I chose the new gold mixte, because I'm crazy and I need color in my life. But man isn't this color a beaut? At first look I was a little underwhelmed in person, I think I was expecting a more green gold, but I mean, it IS green gold, so I actually don't even know exactly what I was expecting. But it's okay because after a while it just grew on me. It was probably just initial shock of "damn, I actually have to ride a bike now".

This bike got a lot of adjustments because I need special things like a less aggressive riding position, thus easier handlebar situation, and in turn it did cost me a freaking pretty penny. However, I justified it because I'm not going to buy a car anywhere in the near future so, that's that.

Now as for Linus bikes themselves I LOVE them and highly recommend them. The reason why I chose these over the bobbin bike I was actually thinking of first was very simple. Bobbin bikes are from the UK and only very and I mean very few places carry them making getting parts for these babies rather difficult should you need it. Also I was afraid I needed a standover frame especially because I'm a new rider but I just wasn't convinced by the overall look. Now the Linus mixte had that sportier look I was more interested in. And as a major plus, Linus bikes are from Venice Beach, CA so I felt better about supporting a California company. Plus, getting anything for a Linus bike would be much easier I supposed. I test rode the Linus Dutchi and I was a hot mess on the bike. I wrongfully assumed that it would be much easier to ride solely based on the fact that it has a standover frame, but boyyyy was I wrong! It just was more of a hefty frame to deal with and I felt like I had no control at all. I thought I would end up with that one anyway, assuming I'd have a worse time on the mixte, but I test rode the mixte anyway and boy am I glad I did! I had a much smoother ride and I felt more in control. Now I don't know if that was just my mind playing tricks on me or what because I'm a completely inexperienced rider. But that doesn't matter now. I can't wait for my journey with this bike!

I won't be riding for realsies (in public areas, we'll stick to deserted parking lots for nows) especially because I've yet to get a new helmet. Technically I don't really need a new helmet because I have a black pro-tec helmet I use for skateboarding but I feel that I need something with color so I can be seen out on the road. Now that I know the real color of my bike I feel like I've narrowed down my list to the following:

| 1 | 2 | 3 |

Decisions, decisions.

Outfit details: Sweater: Threadsence, zodiac top: wasteland, jeans: kohls, beanie: tulle, boots: urban outfitters (old), bracelets: Vanessa Mooney / Erica Weiner / Threadsence
x

It's like raaaaaaaain

finally that really necessary rain has come! unfortunately, it had to be here the weekend i was scheduled to go pick up my bike! we were supposed to go to today to pick them up but because of the rain we had to postpone that until tomorrow. i am so impatient, i want it now! i really and i mean REALLY need to practice riding my bike especially if i want to be able to ride from the train to work. i'm not kidding when i tell you guys i was a freaking hot mess riding a bike the day we test rode. D didn't believe me that i hadnt been on a bike in over 12 years. "you never forget to ride a bike" he said...and i get it, you don't but the fear that comes with it, man, that fear is REAL. luckily i got the hang of it and the people at The Bicycle Stand in Long Beach are really great help! more on them later...

these photos were taken on Friday at work when there was a small break from the rain. my co-worker Iman of Polka Dots & Purses and i have teamed up to help each other with photos for our blogs! so yay! i'm going to actually try to put more effort into posting and i will feel much better about it since D always hates it when i make him take outfit photos, haha.

also, it was crazy socks day at work and of course i had to participate! litte miss mismatched socks lookin so good through my new jellies! heck yea i'm totally an adult wearing jellies! i dont really care that they're a page from my childhood memories, I LOVE JELLY SHOES. there. i said it. you can't really tell in these photos but believe me when i tell you that they are clear with glitter!! GLITTER! ahhh!!! i wish i could wear them everyday and not look like a total psycho.

okay, i've embarrassed myself enough, so i will leave you with that. haha

glitter jellies: urbanog, socks: little miss mismatched & target, jeans: kohls, sweater: urban outfitters (old), umbrella: urban outfitters, necklace: jens lekman merch, lip color: tarte lipsurgence lip tint in lively

The More You Know...

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