work 101

i've just started a new job and normally i don't reeeally care too much about what i wear, i just wear what makes me happy. (as the sub-title declares, i love clothes, but brands and junk don't affect me too much) anyway, back to the job. i don't own work clothes; i own "church" clothes, but my job title is "runner" so i don't need to look that dressy, just enough to be presentable when i go on errands/ serve subpoenas (<--- AWESOMENESS). this has turned out to be a greater undertaking than i had previously expected. people don't make clothes for the "in between". they make dressy suits, and they make cute casual, but i can't go running around in a flannel button-up and skinny jeans and my wonderful flip flops. clearly you can see what my desired wardrobe is. also, home girl specifically shopped at 5 different places (t.j. maxx., francescas, j. crew, target, forever 21) for a brown skirt. just a simple brown skirt. a waist-tie belt would be a nice touch, but i don't need too much. i know i'm a beggar in this area; dear hateful earth, you provided me with nothing. well that's not entirely true. i found one that made me look like i was leftover from soviet russia. it is not advisable to look like you support communism at a new job. also, when i think about the old soviet russia, i picture the women in head to toe khaki, and not having any part of their body showing, besides the hands-- which would most likely have gloves covering them-- and their faces. I know most of them aren't muslim, so i'm not concerned about offending them on that point. and since i canNOT  wear a floor length skirt without looking retarded, or like a 4 year-old at the christian girl scout day camp, i absolutely tried on the mini, and you know i would have been the soviet whore. also not O.K..

there i am shopping. and today in one of the stores i decided to test my wardrobe fate, i found a super adorable skirt (fig. 1)

fig. 1 (let's pretend my legs are that lean)

i'm with jennana, who is HOOOOMEEE!!, and i of course have a small fashion show. one dress i put on, looks like something marshall, how i met your mother, would wear as his night shirt. it was horrendous. and ginormous. so then i put on fig.1 and said, "you must stay on my body because you are precious". so, naturally i walked out, asked the girl if i could leave with the clothes on and put my old clothes in the shopping bag. she laughed and said yes. well i was in a predicament because the shirt i had on was see through, but before i found fig.1 i had on a sheath over the otherwise scandalous top. had to get a cami... this little blue skirt made me happy to have something new, but cost me a pretty penny.

back to work clothes. i've been doing an absurd amount of online therapy trying to find things to wear. i have a plethora of comfortable clothing; i stocked up on jeans over the break, biting me in the butt now. however, i realized swiftly that i have lots of tiny dresses and only one skirt that i can wear and be comfortable in. oh. no. tiny and picking up boxes and micro managing a place that, let's be honest, is in need of a meticulous clara, where ever she is, do not go well together. skirts and pants are almost exclusively the way to go. unless i want to be unique and wear some volleyball spandex under my dresses. i think that might be more scandalous than people seeing my undies... they're basically the same thing. we'll find out.

since the shopping excursion started i've come out with 2 skirts, 4 tops, 2 belts, a new wallet (what? i needed something to pay homage to my bank account...), and a depleted bank account. i'll have to continue this shopping spree later, like when i get my next paycheck. so far job, you're costing me money to work. that better change soon, or you better start giving me some change (heyoo, punny)

leftovers

there are 3 staple articles of clothing that i bring with me on almost every trip i take: pajama pants, sweatshirt and an over sized t-shirt. together, these make up the most comfortable trifecta known to (wo)man. these are leftovers from ex-boyfriends, and sometimes could be considered the best part of them. these 3 articles are from 3 previous relationships. 2 of the pieces are from big time ex's, the other piece doesn't deserve the title ex, he's more of an "eh".

i went out to arizona recently and when i was packing i remember scrounging to find that overly loved t-shirt... then i caught my self asking why. why do i need this so badly? why must i always have this t-shirt/ sweatshirt/ pair of pj's when i go away? *gasp* oh now... why do i "need" them? (insert deep thoughts about feelings and all kinds of crap) (psychology, gets me every time)
i "need" them just like i need my bright red stilettos, because i have a relationship with them. i love them, and they make me happy.

• pajama pant guy: boy went AWOL after we broke up. i would see him around and i don't think even catching your best friend making out with your boyfriend could have felt more uncomfortable than this encounter made me feel... every time i bloody saw him. the worst. he got over it soon enough and got married to some fresh meat, and now he's happy... at least i think he is. he defriended me on facebook. (wonk, wonk, wooooooonk)

• t-shirt guy, a.k.a. the "eh"... i tried to give his clothes back. i didn't even want them, which is kind of a huge thing since guy's clothes are the most comfortable in the world. however, he's severely conceited, so while we were hanging out for the last time, he forgot about them and traipsed off to play with his purposefully disheveled hair. i'm keeping them because i plan on never seeing him ever again. if i do ever see him, well, i won't so that's that.

• sweatshirt guy: we're actually wonderful friends now, and he knows i'm never giving that blessed sweatshirt back and i never even once attempted to give it back, along with another few t-shirts i took... in fact, i wear that thing in front of him and relish in its warmth and happiness. i know, sorry buddy.

i certainly don't treasure these items more than any other articles of clothing, but they were free and they come with a handy-dandy memory or two. and sometimes, just sometimes, i feel like i got the better end of the break-up... i get the joy of being warm and comfortable all the time. what else could a girl ask for?

i wake up to...

i love etsy. there are so many adorable shops and all kinds of wonderful designers out there and they are just so sweet to share their talent with the world. i stumbled on this shop this morning. they have things like:

hello lovely...

and then this...

every morning i wake up with songs in my head. sometimes they can be as lame as "mary had a little lamb", or they can be as wonderful as adele songs, like this gem "rolling in the deep". have a great wednesday everyone!

listen. love.

SOTD: The Civil Wars - Poison & Wine

so i saw these guys last week and i can't get their songs out of my head. this one and "falling" have been on repeat, so i need to share them. This is The Civil Wars and "Poison & Wine". prepare for all the loveliness in the world to collide in your ears.

listen. love.

potterarians

I have an issue. I let books that I read affect my daily life. The biggest problem so far is the most wonderful books ever written ever, ever, ever Harry Potter series. As an avid fan, I have allowed my imagination to run wild (like that's any different from what I allow my mind to do anyway) and almost always link any conversation into "Potterarian" concepts. Btw, I totally have dibs on coining that word. Here are a few scenarios:

• I was leaving my friend Alaura's house one night really late, or really early in the morning, and sleepiness had encroached upon me. It was painfully cold and all the water in any sewer or drainage ditch was steaming up from the ground. Her neighborhood has no lights on the street, not good for this girl who 1) is horribly directionally challenged and 2) is almost as blind as a bat, especially at night. I'm driving, I don't see it coming, but there's a drainage ditch ahead. (dun uh... dun uh...) I get closer. (dun uh, dun uh, dun uh...) WHITE MIST!!! All alone in the car I scream, "AHHH DEMENTOR!!!!". 

i totally saw this

• I have just recently fallen in love with The Civil Wars. Their new album is called Barton Hollow. False. To me it's Godric's Hollow. 

•  I use "disapparate" at least 3 times a week in regular conversation. My friends can vouch for this.

• Sometimes, when I'm talking about Voldemort, I refer to him as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named".

•  Also, @Lord_Voldemort7 is one of the most influential tweeters in my day. That's mostly because he's hilarious and sometimes he says things that I always want to say, but I'm too afraid to type it out. So I retweet.

I think more so now than ever do my Potterarians surface, because I have friends finally reading the books. And probably because, and let's be honest people, being a muggle isn't all that it's cracked up to be, am I right? Also, knowing I could produce magical babies!! What?! Is anything cooler? I'll answer that for you. N-O. I know the guys are British, but let's get real, George and Fred? Yum. And Harry is presh... and for you sick Twilight fans, hellooo, Cedric Diggory.  Magic over glitter any day. Didn't you people see what happened to Mariah Carey after she did "Glitter"? She had to marry Nick Cannon to get popular again. Nobody needs to suffer like that. I don't know how I got to this point... Potterarians to Nick Cannon. Eh, whatevs. If my serious tangents haven't convinced you to read or reread these books, which wasn't my original intention, I know I've just convinced myself to reread them. Check 'em. I'll even help you purchase them... here you go. Remember, if you don't read them, you'll marry a Nick Cannon.

disney nailed it

little did we know, as wee children, that disney was already corrupting our minds to view the world as they viewed it. now, since lsd wasn't available to children, most of us had to rely on our imaginations to think like the disney imagineers. (<--- this has almost nothing to do with this --->) for some reason i get very reflective when i shower. not that i start to glow or anything, but i start thinking about things that have happened to me in my life. i always think about auburn. there are about 9 bajillion things i forget that happened until something stirs my memory. so, the other morning, as i was showering i remembered this:

I lived on this little road in Auburn called Hampton. It was completely duplexes and the street was just lovely. It was quiet and, lucky for the 6 year old in me, there was a creek that ran behind my house. The creek was connected to the back side of a wonderful park called Town Creek. TC had a sweet running trail, and being cheap and not wanting to join a gym, I ran all the time. There was a huge (to my little legs it was huge) hill that went through a side of a cemetery, then it would loop out to the main road, and circle back into the park. I ran that trail either twice a day or twice in a row, which explains the tendinitis I suffer from now. On the back side of TC, where I typically entered, there was a nice pond. I've had 2 sets of friends gets engaged at this park... I wasn't kidding when I said it was wonderful. On one gorgeous spring day, I was minding my own business and going through my run. Most of the time I forgo listening to music when I run so I can either just take the time to not think, or take the time to enjoy no electronics and it's just me and the gravel getting to know one another. When I fall, the gravel gets to know me too intimately, but that's another story. It was a good thing I didn't have my ipod because I would have never heard my enemy approaching. The pond had a ton of ducks, if the day was right. That day, was the right day. I was almost done, winding back around to the back entrance, closing in on the first bridge when I hear a loud and angry "QUAAAAACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK!!!". I turned to see 3 ducks chasing me down.

GET OFF MY LAND, HO!

I stop jogging and start running. I see two other runners coming towards me and I start yelling, "TURN AROUND!! DUCKS!! EVIL DUCKS!!". They laughed initially, but then after they passed me, I heard them yell and change directions. I was terrified. This didn't go on for just a second, they were on a hot pursuit. They followed me all the way over the bridges and down the road to University. It took me two weeks before I could run in that park again. I was scarred. And the fear hasn't left me. I like ducklings, just like I like kittens, but once they grow up, game over. I pretend to be excited about going to feed them with the kids I babysit, but I try so hard to make sure I don't have to be anywhere near them.

he wants to see if you smell good enough to eat

nothing about this is cute

so when i say disney nailed, i mean it. donald duck had a quick temper and was easily pissed off. warner bros. had daffy duck. also an angry and easily aggrivated duck. maybe they were just preparing us for when we were older. lisa frank was trying to make bears and tigers look like your friends, all glittery and covered with flower stickers if you wanted them to be "look kids! tigers and bears love to be sparkly and flowered up! pet them, love them." see how they never brought ducks in? disney was spittin the truth and lisa wasn't going to pretend they were wrong. 

fig. 1

fig. 2

Wonderful Wednesday

I love everything about college. I do, really. Even though I complain about tests or paper or any other kind of work I have to put into passing a class, I still love everything about it. It's prevented me from entering the big, bad world  yet and I'm okay with that for right now. I'm mainly okay with this because it leaves me time to do things I enjoy doing, like reading, drawing, or SHOPPING. This post is not about clothes, even though there are about 500 things I want for the Spring months; cardigans take up 59% of my desired wardrobe. (rabbit trail) I saw this guy today on campus, actually had the pleasure of passing him, and he had on the most wonderful outfit ever; grey wash straight jeans, dark corduroy TOMS, a vintage wash graphic tee, and a glorious dark mustard and brown old man cardi with over sized brown woven buttons and a collar. I know my jaw dropped, and I don't even care. I relished in his "pshh, I don't care what I look like, I just threw this on" attitude, and his amazing ability to dress*.

Anyway, this wasn't about clothes. Or was it... remember how I love college and clothes? Sometimes great things come out of both of these entities being put together. Sometimes, things get ugly. I know I'm not in impeccable shape--working on that-- however, I also have the foresight to know when an outfit can turn into something dreadful. Leggings. I adore them. I'm a cold natured person, except when I sleep... [Dear Future Husband, if your body touches mine and I'm sleeping, that's not drool, it's sweat. Also, If I snuggle with you and I'm playing big spoon and then I move away from you, your shoulder does not have drool on it,  it's sweat. Never drool, always sweat. Weird, I know. I apologize in advance.]... so I wear leggings under jeans on a regular basis. I even wear leggings under jeggings. It's an issue. Anyway, I know how to wear leggings if I don't have them under jeans. Long shirts girls, long ones. Ones that cover your hiney, and ones that don't hug to your body, kind of defeats the purpose. Too often I see girls breaking this rule. Short shirts... ugh, WHY?! Wait, short shirts and you're 5'3 190 lbs? Oh. Em. Gee.  Sweetie... just no. Never shall you ever. I saw a girl the other day, as I was walking out to the Liberal Arts parking lot and was trapped behind this girl who moved like molasses. Look honey, just because a hot dog is fat crap squeezed into a case and people eat it does not mean people will like it if you try the same thing with your legs. I kept wondering if the seams were going to bust. Rude? Maybe. I think I might have been more rude not to point out that she looked like a sausage link. Guh-ag.

Alright, who's next? Mom Jeans. They need to die. Those along with Dad Jeans. One of my professors, my favorite by far this semester, rocks those like a hurricane (<--- see what I did there). No lie. He is the exception. He's got this serious built upper body, like he used to pick people up just to carry them around and show off how strong he was. He's not disgustingly built, I've never understood the appeal, but he's so broad and "Rrrrghh"-ish. Back to the pants, he wears them to every class. The thing I don't get is that he's an attorney and I thought, by default, those men typically ran to nicer, in style clothing. I was sorely mistaken. I can't hate on him though, he's much too endearing. But those "pants". I can't take people seriously in them. Hello, 1995? You have a time traveler lost in the 21 Century. You can take his pants back? I need to redress him. Oh boy, he's lucky I like him.

So clothes... sorry about that. LOOK! Something pretty :)

i need the freaking heck out of this.

* Story may have been slightly exaggerated... Did I mention he had dark hair and and scruffy face? Hollaaa!
Journal: beautiful