Goodwill Tour--and Apron Giveaway!

(clockwise from top left:  short sleeve empire, pink stripe oxford, pleated button down, T-shaped sweater, pillowcase tank dress, short sleeve jacket, long sleeve empire, and balloon sleeve top)

Last Sunday on my way home from church, I accidentally found myself in the turn lane when I had intended to go straight.  I decided that since I had to circle back anyway, (and didn't really feel like watching the football game that was being viewed at home) I would check out the nearby Goodwill.  While I was there, I remembered the Clothing Wars challenge that Beth presented.  I giddily completed my entry for that (most likely making the staff and customers wonder why on earth I was hauling such a hideous assortment of items to the dressing room.), but I'll hold off on posting those photos for now, because I have my own mini-challenge for you, my readers--Read on!

Remember when I said a while back that the Mac and Me household was without a full-length mirror?  Well, we are still without one, but I have found it to be sort of helpful in a way.  On the days when I photograph myself, I discover certain things.  Things I wouldn't necessarily notice in a mirror.  For instance...some things don't look as good as I thought...some things look better than I thought...some things work/don't work together when I had previously thought otherwise, and some things are just plain boring.  I don't know why we see ourselves differently in a photograph than we do in a mirror, but I guarantee you it's true.

Anyway, I decided to apply my 'makeshift mirror' technique in the dressing room at Goodwill.  Here are some of the discoveries I made:

1)  It was easier to narrow down what I really wanted to take home with me (and I am a spendthrift with a part-time job so it had to be a VERY narrow list) when I took photos of what I was trying on.  If looking back at the photo made me think, "Yay!", then I knew I had a contender.  I'm sure some stores frown on this, but sometimes I need a second opinion and this was as close as I was going to get without asking an unsuspecting employee/customer/child playing in the nearby toy section.
2)  I discovered that I tend to gravitate toward empire-waisted shirts a.k.a. baby-doll shirts (but not like the 90's belly shirts!!) and plain cotton button down shirts (like preppy man-shirts for girls).  I decided maybe I should curb my penchant for both.  The former is something my mom would probably say "doesn't do much" for me...though I partially blame her and all her cute maternity tops in the 70's for the allure they hold.  The latter is safe for work, but becoming a little bit boring.

So...having said all that, I'm proud to announce that I went home with only one item.  My challenge to you is, which item do you think it was?  Tell you what.  I will send one green apron (pictured at right) to the first person who guesses correctly!  One guess per person...One additional guess if you choose to follow my blog (and are not doing so already).  Crafty, ain't I?  The rules are pretty simple.  Just leave a comment on this post and an e-mail address spelled out (i.e. sweatsuited at yahoo dot com) so I can get in touch with you!  I don't expect this to last long...I'm not that hard to figure out!

P.S.  As for the red cowboy boots and fedora, I can tell you I didn't go home with either of those (darn, right!?).  They were part of the Clothing Wars challenge so you'll be seeing them again soon!

Clothing Wars

Dedicated to my dear friend, Beth.

When I feel blue, sometimes it cheers me up to go to a store and try on something I would probably never purhcase (or wear) in a million years.  My friend Beth and I developed a game around this when I was still living in Montana.  It's called Clothing Wars and here's how it works: 

We would enter a store together and within 5 or 10 minutes, pick out the most ridiculous clothes we could find for each other to try on.  The person who came up with the silliest/worst outfit (for the other person to wear) won.  Beth always won.  Seriously, I would pick out what I thought would be the most hideous thing and somehow, they always looked almost wearable on her.  Whereas I, on the other hand...well, you get the idea.

Another version of the game was the Prom Season version.  I don't think there was ever a winner or loser with this game, because really we both just liked to try on ridiculous prom dresses.  Yes, we were in our mid to late twenties.  Do you see the second photo below?  It is blurry because the shop girl was very angry with us for sharing one dressing room and demanded that we get out at once.  So scary!

I really miss Clothing Wars.  While it did cheer me up quite a bit to try on something I normally wouldn't wear and make silly faces while holding my camera in awkward positions...it just wasn't quite the same without my friend.  So here is what I propose.  A long-distance Clothing Wars that goes something like this:  Walk into ___________ store and pick up the first ___________ (i.e. brown) shirt you see.  Now grab the first ____________ (i.e. pleated) pants you see...and on and on until we have a competition worthy ensemble.  Then we photograph ourselves and post the pictures for our readers to judge...and then we hope that the stores don't sue us or publicly chastise us.  Hm...perhaps one day we should consider trying to make the best outfit instead...then the stores will thank us for all that free publicity!

What do you say?  Anyone else want to join?

P.S.  I actually ended up liking that black dress I tried on!  Too bad it was so baggy up top and too bad I never go anywhere but work and church.  It was cheap!

My Weekend Apron...or, New Year's Revolution Success!

I did it!  I said I was in the mood to sew and I actually did something about it!  Granted...I was only motivated because of a last-minute gifting opportunity which failed to materialize in the end (didn't finish in time, didn't like it enough to give it away)...but hey, I sewed!  It's been way too long, I have to say.  Both me and the machine could use a few improvements, but all in all I'd say we got along rather handily.

I made up the pattern for this one, but as I was brainstorming and gathering inspiration online, I did come up with a few patterns that look fun to try.  Best of all, they're free!  I really love the internet sometimes.  I'll try to post the best of my findings soon...I'd like to make another apron in the near future.  No real reason...they're just simple and fun, and I like having the freedom to experiment without worrying about whether I'd wear it (in public) or not.  (Sadly, this worry has become less and less frequent of late, and I think I may be in need of some fashion counseling soon.)

My workspace was looking so inviting this weekend, how could I help but sew!?

Walkin' in a Texas Wonderland

As promised (sort of)...some photos of our Christmas day stroll.  To help set the scene for folks far away:  December 25th.  Mid-afternoon walk along a town lake, that's also a ladybird lake, that's really a dammed up river running through town.  Roughly 50 degrees, a married couple's first Christmas.  She loves walking, he hates walking, they both love each other.  A little duckwatching, a light breeze, lots of Spanish spoken, but not by them. 

I think my very favorite part was at the end, when Carol of the Bells started chiming out from this tower, or at least I think it was this tower:

It's called Buford Tower.  Did you know that one of the first--if not the very first--friends that Mac and I made in Austin is named Buford?  Pretty cool.

Yay for walks with sweethearts and best friends, and for Christmas walks at that!  I think it was the best gift Mac could've possibly given me.

Awkward Fashion Shoot, or...How I Convinced Myself to Buy a Mirror

So apparently, in addition to matches, the newlyweds also neglected to purchase a full-length mirror when starting a life together.  Strangely, I have been living without one now for about a year and a half.  This strikes me as kinda awesome, as I used to be the person who never left the house without a comprehensive image study, usually followed by harsh words and an evaporating desire to leave the house.  Perhaps it's best I haven't had one for a while.  There have been occasions of late, however--mainly job interviews--when I have no clue what I look like and decide that it's necessary to know. 


Enter the self-timed photograph, my makeshift mirror.  A lame little photoshoot preserved for posterity and hereby exported to the world at large:

While it's a pretty handy little tool for playing 'What Not to Wear' with myself (left photo), I think I can say with some degree of certainty that I will never become a fashion blogger.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm a big fan.  To a former fashion magazine junkie who quit the habit out of increasing: 1) poverty 2) discontentment with actual life in comparison (or was it magazines in comparison to actual life?) 3) annoyance over fat pages of advertisements and depressing articles about the 47 ways to ensure your lover will never cheat (and the 21 ways to find out if he is)...the discovery of daily little fashion inspirations that are both free, free of the aforementioned annoyances, and a little bit closer to my reality (they thrift!)...is kind of sweet.

A few of my favorites...

1.  Adored Austin

2.  Kansas Couture

3.  Blue Collar Catwalk

4.  Jen Loves Kev

Reader (self) beware...hours seem to get swallowed in the oohing and ahhing over their photos!

P.S.  Yes, I know I'm a dork.  (Might as well insert this postscript after every entry from here on out).

The Little Things

I'm fairly obsessed with these Pom-Pom Trees here in Texas.  (Anyone knowing their proper name should feel quite free to correct me--I'd correct myself if I wasn't so tired).

I'm also pretty much wonderstruck at the sight of this.  One thorny Pom-Pom escaping to make its new home on a telephone wire.

Most often, it's the little things that keep me churning, and every once in a while, I have to check myself. When my wondermeter's off, so am I...and it usually means I must look up instead of down.

Brrrr!

Brrrr + Texas = Weird, I know...But if there's one thing I've learned about living here, it's that you have an indoor wardrobe and an outdoor wardrobe.  Every day.  Mac teases me for changing my clothes so much, but it's not just me being indecisive.  Restaurants, coffee shops and stores (not to mention husbands) seem to keep the A/C just south of Arctic, so leave the sweater at home and you're in for a shaky meal/drinking/reading/browsing/shopping session.  Texas girls know this. 

Couple this phenomenon with a week of cooler, rainy weather which one of our pastors jokingly called "Faux Fall" (he's from Wisconsin and I think Mac and I were the only other people in the room who laughed instead of staring blankly), and you have my current state of mind:  Fall on the brain and in the house, 90 degree confusion outside.  Anyway, all this is to say...Hm, not much.  Just a glimpse into our surroundings and "Look Ma!  I made Chicken Tortilla Soup!" and "Look Sis!  I'm wearing the scarf you gave me from Russia (and I'm terrible at tying it)!".  I love Fall, even Faux Fall.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

You know the other funny thing about it all?  I think I see more pale skin here than I did at home (which sorta makes me fit in...right?).  I guess it's too hot to be outside so everyone hides and fades in the A/C.  Small irony:  I tried to resupply myself with sunless tanning lotion (speaking of all things faux) when we first got here, only to find that they only sell it for medium to dark skin.  ?.

P.S.  In accordance with my Fall brain, I plan to start a knitting project any day now.  Because Mac's not wrong that I am indecisive...I may have to ask for your help in deciding on a project : ]

P.P.S.  A word about ghosty hands (top photo).  They remind me of this video (proceed with caution), which Mac sent me the other day in an attempt to cheer me up.  If scaring me almost out of my seat = cheering me up, then...success!  Okay granted, we did have a pretty good laugh about my reaction hours later, but oh man...

My First Quilt...almost

Lately I have been feeling painfully inspired...and deeply unmotivated.  This, as you can well imagine, is a frustrating combination.  Today I got inspired to make my first quilt (maybe it was my talk of patchwork in the last post that did it).  I found some pretty hopeful beginner patterns here (Amy Butler!) and here...but alas, the above montage demonstrates precisely how far along I got in the project.

Well anyway, it was nice to unearth some of my fabric from storage.  It's also nice to know (in theory anyway) that one day soon I might possibly justify this weird addiction I have to cotton prints.  As for the jumping on the bed...Well, Mac was safely out of the room, the camera was rolling, and I'm afraid I couldn't resist.  Speaking of silly bedroom photos...

Mac dug my Seabiscuit costume out of the closet one evening and said, "You should take a picture for my profile".  I was more than happy to oblige...and more than pleased with the results.  He did not, however, end up using the photo, as he suddenly became afraid of the unsavory comments that might ensue.  Well, call me innocent, I just think it's funny.