Monday, May 5, 2014

May Flowers

April showers bring May flowers, right?  Well, we're currently having some May showers, but I still wore some flowers:


Sweater: Vintage   Dress as skirt: Old Navy  Flats: Piperlime


I am obsessed with this vintage sweater.  It is pink and embroidered and possibly twee as hell, but I love it.

I just think the embroidered flowers are fabulous:



And I like it paired with the black and white stripes, they may just save it from being twee as hell.  But, I'm not sure I like it paired with these black and white stripes.  I think the proportions may be slightly off.  The sweater either needs to be shorter or the skirt longer (or both?):



I think I'll pair it again with stripes next time, but with a midi and see if that fixes the issue.

Happy Monday, All!  And don't forget to link up here tomorrow for Literary Stylings!

Gracey

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Meet Carlene

As most of you know, I am frequently startled attacked by the killer squirrels that live in the trees around my office building.  But, I have never been as startled as I was the other day when I met Carlene.

This is Carlene:


She is a baby possum that may in fact be a boy.  I'm still going to call her Carlene because if I were a possum, Carlene would be the name I would choose for myself.

This was my face when I realized Carlene was in the tree behind me:


As you can see, I tried to smile through the fear, but I was terrified that Carlene would decide I was a tree and try to climb me.

She didn't, which is why I'm here to tell the story, but it was touch and go for a bit.  Okay, not really.  I think Carlene actually just fell asleep in the tree.  It was odd that she was awake mid-day so I'm not surprised she was more interested in sleeping than in whatever I was doing.

Happy Sunday, All!

Gracey

Friday, May 2, 2014

The Chicest Chain Gang

Although I tend to wear outfits made of items that "go" rather than match, I actually have a soft spot in my heart for head-to-toe matching.  I just think it's kind of cool.  I do NOT think front pleats are cool, but this outfit may have changed my mind:



Are the front pleats attractive?  Hell no, they aren't, but I promise you, I would wear this outfit every day if I thought you all wouldn't notice.

Because, to me, it's just that great:



I mean, I know it doesn't seem like my usual style; not only does it match and have front pleats, it has no color.  But, what it lacks in color, it makes up in fringe:


Baroque Fringe Necklace via Sole Society

And you all know I'm a sucker for some fringe.

And this necklace?  It has fringe in spades.  I don't often run out and buy things featured on other blogs, because they don't come in tall, but when I saw this necklace on Oomph, I knew I had to have it.  It's plenty long for a tall girl and helps alleviate the pain I feel about not being able to find a similar vintage piece (like Jen's).

You know what is vintage though?  This outfit.  And I got both pieces from Goodwill for $7.99.  Also, interestingly enough, it's a petite, which I love because I think the pants are the perfect length to show of my navy sandals:

Pants & top: thrifted vintage   Sandals: Enzo Angiolini

That's right, folks, I only paid eight bucks for this awesome, slightly-institutional-looking outfit. Trust me, you usually have to pay much, much more to look as though you may have escaped from the chicest damn chain gang ever.

Happy Friday, All!

Gracey


Thursday, May 1, 2014

April's Books

Man, April was a lllooooooong month for me.  Maybe that's why I read so many books.  Because I did.  I did read many, many a book.  And, of course, I have no idea which book I will base my Literary Stylings look on, but we're still having it next Tuesday, so please to link up with me then.

Here are the many books I read this month:

Getting Waisted: A Survival Guide to Being Fat in a Society That Loves Thin, by Monica Parker



This is the first book I read in April and I think I actually finished it at the very end of March, but it didn't included with my March post, so I'm including it here.  I've already written about this book and wrote about my interview with the author, but I'd like to say again that this is a great book.  The author is all about body diversity and that is a  topic that is near and dear to my heart.  I think if more people were to embrace body diversity they'd all understand that we can't possibly look like everyone else and we'd stop killing ourselves trying to.  Anyway, let me get off my soapbox and just end with this: read this book.  It's smart and funny and great.


The Divergent Series, by Veronica Roth




This series is basically the reason my numbers were doubled for this month.  The first two books, especially, are very quick reads.  And Roth does a good job of hooking the reader so you want to read them quickly.  I thought the first book was great.  I thought the first three quarters of the second book was great.  But, the final book, Allegiant, just didn't do it for me.  In Allegiant, I felt like the author wasn't sure what direction the book was going and kept changing her mind.  Which is cool, but she just slapped the new ideas in without editing the previous work so a lot of it didn't make sense.  At least not to me.  But, I admit that I'm not her target audience, so if you like YA and somehow still haven't read these, I say go for it.


Bad Things Happen, by Harry Dolan


 I was actually surprised by how much I liked this book.  I'm not a huge fan of mysteries, but this one was great.  The plot twists were actually twists and they were all unexpected, at least for me.  That's pretty rare, but this author did a great job.  I believe he's written a couple of other books featuring the same protagonist and I think I'm going to try to read those too.  I definitely recommend this book, especially if you're a fan of mysteries.


A Child's Book of True Crime, by Chloe Hooper


I selected this book based solely the title.  Because sometimes, that's just how I roll.  Sadly, it wasn't as good as I had hoped.  I really, really like how the author writes, she can definitely turn a phrase, but I didn't like the story that much.  It was the opposite of the Twilight for me; great writer, terrible story whereas Twilight was a great story and a terrible author.  In my opinion; don't yell at me Twihards!


Don't forget, Tuesday, May 6th, we're linking up here, for Literary Stylings!

xoxo,

Gracey






Stripes and Bikes

Great news!  My complaining about the weather has finally caused Oregon to warm up.  And now it's really, really warm.  Like in the 80s warm.  Of course, it's not that warm in the mornings yet so I'm still layering for my morning commute.

Today I layered stripes and added some bikes:


Dress: c/o eShakti   Jacket: Lou & Grey (LOFT)  Boots: Nine West


This scarf is a recent purchase and I'm wearing it a lot.  I mean, a lot.  It's just so perfect though.  It's nice and lightweight and it has bikes on it.

Scarf: Modcloth

Bikes!  So, um, yeah, I'm wearing it a lot.

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

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