Shoe Love

I am absolutely 100% obsessed with these shoes. I ordered them online and while I was interested in them I didn't know if they'd actually impress me in person. They're not only gorgeous but also super comfy. I've been running around in them all day and haven't once thought I'd like to take off my shoes and work the barefoot hippie thing. Made by Seychelles, Akomeogi Peep Toes, $128, also available in Taupe at Anthropologie.

What I'm Wearing Today

New favorite outfit...

This is one of my "own 8,000 of them" staple pieces. It's the "double scoop tank" by Nordstrom BP and sells for something like $15 but they're always on sale. They also come in about 20 different colors which is awesome.

I fell in love with this top the second I saw it and am so glad I caved and bought it (at 40% off thanks to Lana!) from Free People. It's so dreamy and playful in a sophisticated way and I can't wait to wear it on some of the more dreary Winter days when I need a little pick me up.

I bought these years ago from J.Crew. Probably on sale. I'm all about down to earth sparkle, the glam with the natural.

You've seen this one before but I broke it out in yellow this morning. Another sale item from Anthro plus my 40% off...this may very well be the most thrifty outfit I own!

I'm in love with body con skirts. They look fantastic with a blouse-y top and heels. They're also super affordable if you know where to look. I have a post on them planned but this one in navy is from Nordstrom BP and cost a whopping $22.

The tried and true DV by Dolce Vita sandals from the beginning of Spring...

And the fringe purse that makes me feel like an awesome chic hippie flower child.

Wishes Granted

First things first. I apologize for ditching you. I've been in a blog funk. I think of things to write then realize I'm not excited to write about them and I never wanted this to be an obligation, part of the reason I didn't put too fine a point on what was going to happen here. I have, from the beginning, wanted this to be fun and full of whatever I felt like in the moment. I'm trying to make a comeback here but I may be slow to get back into my groove. So bear with me.

In less whiny news...you know how every season I make a wish list full of pretties I want to wear? Well for Fall 2011 you're not getting one. Because I couldn't possibly wish for another piece of Fall fashion after my recent stock up. Now I know I didn't ever follow through with a birthday post but I got some gifts. Trista's boyfriend Zach made me a beautiful serving bowl (he does ceramics), my friend Amelia got me the cutest ever rectangular espresso cups, Johnathan gave me a fantastic comic book and a garland he made me out of vintage postcards...my friend's were great to me. And I hate to play favorites here but Lana may have been the greatest. You see, Lana's gift to me was making me her significant other.

Now before you get all excited Lana works for Free People. So, by making me her significant other I get a card that gives me huge discounts at Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie. Which means this girl went on a major 40% off shopping spree. This is what I'll be wearing this Fall.


Side lace up moccasins! (Free People)



Is it a dress? Is it a maxi skirt? It's both! (Free People)



Love the big open stitches, love the color, love the length. (Urban Outfitters)



Not totally sure about this one but I think I could work it out. Plus it ended up being like $20 after sale and my discount. (Free People)



Perfect purse. Small enough, big enough, color, and shine. (Free People)



I'm in love with this one. (Free People)



Silk and leather. Divine combo. Also the lining is red with tiny white polka dots! (Anthropologie)



Cardi with super thin black and tan stripes. Will go with everything. (Free People)



A slip. For peaking out from under or through things. (Urban Outfitters)





This dress is fantastic. It only cost me about $30 and I cannot wait to try wearing different things under it and belting it. Check out the detail. (Free People)



A lace pullover! (Free People)



Wearing this one today with a black slip dress underneath and bare legs. So flowy and comfy. Total year round piece. (Free People)



Cropped leggings. So cute with flats. (Free People)



Big open stitch cozy sweater. Love. (Free People)





So pretty and feminine. (Free People)



Wanted these for a long time. Super cute with skinny jeans tucked in. (Urban Outfitters)

Sunny With a Chance of Gorgeous

This is my drive to work. One of the things I love about Portland is how green or, um, red/yellow/brown it is. Basically I love all the trees. I once had a friend from out of state visit and while on the freeway she said "It's like driving through a rainforest!" Whenever I leave town I notice how few other cities have trees in the city, lining the highways, and just generally everywhere.

The best part though, is how lovely they smell this time of year.

What I'm Wearing Today

I assume everyone is tired of my giddily exclaiming over Fall by now but I'm not quite ready to be done. Today I love Fall because of...knee high socks!

I was exhausted last night and even though I tried to go to bed at 10pm I couldn't actually fall asleep until closer to 2am. Also I accidentally woke myself up during the night. I was having a dream in which I slapped someone which resulted in my real life knocking everything off my night table, including two glasses of water. So, by the time morning came around I was looking to get as much sleep as possible. I gave myself 20 minutes to get ready.

After some quick teeth brushing and face washing I went to my closet where I had no idea what I wanted to wear. I was rifling through hangers when I came upon a black slip. From there I decided on this outfit.

This slip is one of my favorite items. I usually wear it under a black shirtdress I bought on sale at Anthropologie forever ago. The slip is by Free People although I forget the name and it's no longer available. You could easily find something similar though and it's great for going under lots of sheer or short dresses. The shirtdress I'm wearing is no longer available either and I can't find an image of it. It's made by Lil though, which is a great company that makes very pretty patterned clothing with very feminine structure.


This scarf is one of those "infinity" ones. Basically it's just a circle that you can loop. They aren't shown but there are also four wooden buttons at one point on the scarf.

Weightless Infinity Scarf in Seagate by Frenchi

I'm in love with the whole knee high socks and boots with bare legs look. I even love it over skinny jeans. Here's a tip for getting boots on over cold weather socks, which are usually thicker than regular socks: plastic bags.

It sounds silly but I'm sure I'm not the only one who it sometimes takes ten minutes and lots of laying on the floor with legs up in the air and tugging just to get boots on. Put a plastic bag around your foot and your boot will just slip on. Once your foot is in just pull the plastic out, it will tear easily.

Nordic Tall Sock by Free People in Berry

These boots are my favorites. They've been around for years and while completely reasonably priced at around $130 they last and wear wonderfully. I have these in the below pictured Cognac, gray suede, green, and red. They go with everything and are incredibly comfortable.

Intyce boot by Steven by Steve Madden in Cognac.

Only Treats

I absolutely adore the girls I used to nanny. We're still very close and I watch them in the evenings or on weekends whenever I can. They call me "Nanny" and think of me as a sister. I think of them as my own children but I'm in the lucky position of being able to still spoil them. I look for any excuse to give them gifts and Halloween is no exception.

The thing is, I know their family isn't huge on the candy thing, and they're already going to be getting tons of it. I wanted to give them something they would enjoy but that had more substance than a simple sugar treat.

Here are some of the things I picked for them. The full list includes umbrellas, stick on earrings, window clings, headbands, stickers, crayon pens, Goldfish crackers, Slinkys, Silly Bandz, bubbles, pumpkins, pretend mice, monster erasers, and sticker puzzles.








This is as close as I got to candy for them.


Although I did try to wrap things sort of like old fashioned candies. Not because the kids would get it but because I thought it was adorable.





I bought these little party favor bubbles but they weren't labeled except on the larger package they came in. Which I thought was really stupid because who thought giving kids tiny unlabeled bottles of liquid was a good idea? I wanted to label them, if only with a sharpie and my own handwriting, so that 1. they would know what they were and 2. their parents wouldn't freak. I decided calling bubbles "boo-bbles would be cute. Until I realized it's really close to sounding like slang for breasts. Oh well.


Oh look, Javier caught some mice.


These sticker puzzle things were actually pretty cool. I got them at the grocery store, they were with all the Halloween candy as an alternative to passing out more sugar to children. I think they would be too expensive to really do if you had a lot of trick-or-treaters but they were perfect to sprinkle into the baskets for two kids.





I wanted to just throw these pumpkins in with the rest of everything but then I decided to draw jack-o-lantern faces on them. Then I started drawing out my ideas and the whole concept of positive and negative space was sort of escaping me so I decided to write their names on the fronts and a message to each of them on the backs.





These are the finished products. Well, the real finished products will be sans tissue paper covering their names but I decided to let them remain anonymous. We can just call them Monkey and Sweetie.

Punkins!

Friday night my friend Craig and I decided we wanted to carve pumpkins. So after some shopping for an outfit worthy of someone officiating a wedding (him, not me) and some dinner we picked out some pumpkins, which took forever. We also got some Halloween candy just in case there were some very early trick or treaters. Oh we also got this movie called Monster House which is awesome. It's animated and for children but very clever.

Anyways, we picked out pumpkins and went over to his place to get to work. We had also picked up one of those kits full of tools. I always thought they were sort of a marketing gimmick but they're so much easier to work with than knives. The set also comes with a book of designs for those who are not very creative. Craig is one of those not very creative people so while I free hand drew and and planned out my work of art Craig resorted to using someone else's design. It was called Boo-gie Nights though so he can be forgiven.

We both wanted white pumpkins but we also wanted an orange one. All the orange pumpkins were gigantic though so we bought one of these hideous painted ones. They all had paint chipping off them so we figured it'd be fairly easy to scrape the rest of the face off and use this one.


Pretty much right off the bat I failed at pumpkin carving. My stem fell off.


Since it was now significantly more difficult to get the top out I requested the use of Craig's muscles. He used two steak knives to get it out and while he nearly stabbed himself in the chest I took photos.


I'm pretty sure it's against Halloween rules to have a stemless pumpkin so I found some old glue from some project Craig had done and decided to glue the stem back on. The glue was seperated and weird but I stirred it with a butter knife and it was all good.


All hollowed out!


This was my pumpkin carving plan...


This was Craig's pumpkin carving plan.


I decided I drew him a little too fat the first time so I drew him taller on the pumpkin.


I've done this cat on a pumpkin before but for some reason I always forget how difficult it is to carve out these tiny thin lines.


Almost done...


Yay! Kitten pumpkin!


This is Craig's pumpkin. We watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre followed by Monster House while pumpkin carving. He was finished about halfway through TCM. My pumpkin took about five hours. Yes, seriously.


Here are our pumpkins chillin' out together.


Craig roasted the seeds while I finished my pumpkin. I accidentally told him you put pepper on them then corrected myself and told him to use salt. He ended up using both and they were the best pumpkin seeds ever. I could have eaten the whole pan.


Some of you know I used to nanny. I did pumpkin carving with the girls last year while visiting them one night. Mine was the rainbow one. I was pretty in love with how adorable and girly these hippie pumpkins were.


The year before the younger of the girls drew her face on her pumpkin and I cut it out for her. I did the cat pumpkin (obviously).