Frozen Halfway Down in the Ice

Sweater: thrifted * Pants: Old Navy * Boots: Target * Belt: thrifted * Socks: Smart Wool

Monday! Okay, I admit, my excitement is a bit misplaced, but I figure it's better to start the week off with an exclamation point, right? In any case, it is Monday, and we're all just going to have to deal with it. Joe and I spent the weekend doing a variety of something and nothing; we slept in, made big weekend breakfasts, went grocery shopping, played cribbage, took a long walk, did laundry, went on an impromptu Saturday night date, and nearly froze our little toes off in the snow. There wasn't anything particularly spectacular about the weekend, but I think that's what made it feel so right. There was nothing forced, and nothing extravagant, but we had a nice time together and I feel somewhat rested and ready for the week.

I really feel like Joe has been knocking it out of the park with pictures lately. I recently upgraded to a Canon DSLR, and I couldn't be happier with my new toy. It's worth more than I am, so I'm massively paranoid that I will break and or ruin it at some point (hey, there's a reason that my old camera was nicknamed R2D2 - hint: it looked like a scrap robot). But I love it, and I love how beautifully it takes pictures. Joe said he likes it because it makes a clicking "camera noise" when it takes a picture. I, too, appreciate the sound effects.

It's the last day of February today, which means that March is almost upon us, and Spring is right around the corner. The days are getting longer, and I've been so happy to catch some of that beautiful late-afternoon light that Joe has so perfectly captured in these pictures. I noticed this morning as I woke up that dawn was just breaking over the buildings, and I couldn't help but breathe a little sigh of relief. I'm so looking forward to sitting in my comfy chair, coffee in hand, with the bright morning sun pouring into our living room.

I've been contemplative lately, and I feel like I've been spending a lot of time waiting for certain things to un-wrinkle and sort themselves out. It's not in an impatient way, actually. It's a satisfied sense of waiting, instead, a sense that I just need to let certain things smooth themselves out, in their own time. I'll be ready when everything does get sorted out (though, in reality, does everything ever really get sorted out completely?), but I'm not really in a rush to get there. For now I'm content to watch the days get longer, and slowly wait for the winter's ice to melt off of the lake in quiet anticipation of spring.

Title song: Dar Williams, "February"

How Many Lives Are Living Strange?

Shirt: thrifted * Skirt: Talbots, thrifted * Tights: We Love Colors (charcoal) * Socks: Target * Boots: Classique * Scarf: thrifted * Belt: thrifted

What's up, world? What's shakin'? It's Friday, and I'm warding off a teensy bit of a champagne hangover from last night's lovely festivities (I'll be posting about the cause of said hangover on Monday). What is it about champagne that gives you the wickedest hangovers, no matter how much or how little you drink? It's a special kind of hangover, so I'm going to start calling it a champangover. At it to your vocabulary, people, it's going to catch on quick.

The sun is out this morning, which makes my world a million times better. I loved all your comments on my post about the seasonal doldrums; I've been stocking up on my vitamin D all week, making sure to walk as much as possible, and trying to keep a positive face on things. So far so good, and March is right around the corner!

I have a couple of slightly longer, more word-heavy posts planned for next week, so as I've been working on those I'm keeping things a bit light on the current posts. Too many words make my champangover brain hurt, anyway. So for now, happy effing Friday, everyone! Go have the most smashingly fantastic weekend of your lives. Eat waffles, watch movies (and the Oscars), listen to music really loud, sleep in, drink tea, and have a regular bang-up time.

Title song: Oasis, "Champagne Supernova"

Cooked up a Plan

Sweater: Gap * Cardigan: UO * Jeans: Gap * Boots: thrifted * Socks: AA

Somehow it's already Thursday! This week, and last, has just been flying by. Things are still really busy at work, which I definitely prefer to slower spells, so I'm focusing on catching up and keeping up. My brain is currently a combination of blank and mush, so I'm afraid I'm going to be a bit short on words today. This outfit is actually from this past Sunday (I'm woefully behind on posting, yet again, and I have to admit that I've been posting my 30/30 outfits somewhat out of order). I spent three hours in the car, and most of the day lounging, so I knew I wanted soft, warm layers and loads of comfort. These socks are proving to be an MVP accessory this winter, especially on lazy weekend days.

I'm spending today cozied up in a turtleneck sweater, at my desk, drinking loads of tea and Emergen-C, and getting shit done before the weekend rolls into town. I'm really hoping to have a real, relaxing weekend. Last weekend was kind of hectic and felt short-lived, so I'm hoping that Joe and I can do some proper lazing around this week. I've been really in the mood for cooking and baking lately, so I'm hoping for a trip to the co-op and at least part of a day spent inside baking cookies and breads. Sounds cozy, no? What are your weekend plans?

Title song: Tegan and Sara, "Nineteen"

How Can I Get Any Rest Now?

Shirt: thrifted * Cardigan: H&M * Skirt: thrifted * Boots: thrifted * Belt: thrifted * Tights: Hue

I'm really happy with the combination of thrifted, vintage, and retail items that I picked for my 30 for 30. I rarely wear outfits that are entirely composed of new pieces, and as much as I love thrifted and vintage clothing, I usually need to add a bit of trendier sass to those pieces. So it's been easy and fun to combine something out of each group for most of my outfits for the 30 for 30 challenge so far. This outfit is a perfect example of that. The shirt and boots are both thrifted, but, from what I can tell, only about 10 years old. The skirt is definitely vintage (based on the tags, I think 70s or 80s, so I guess it depends a bit on how you define "vintage", but I won't get into that here), and the cardigan is new from H&M. I think it's one of my favorite challenge outfits so far, and I think that stems at least partly from the combination of pieces from so many different styles and eras.

Now I'm going to be really boring for a second and talk about the weather. It's cloudy. It's been cloudy for awhile now. We've gotten some rain, some snow, but very, very little sunshine. Now, I'm not trying to rag on the people who love them some clouds. I'm cool with clouds, but I grew up in a climate where even on the coldest, most wintry of days we'd get hours of sparkling blue skies. It's a big challenge for me to get through multiple days without sunshine. I thrive on it, and despite my best efforts, my mood is consistently affected by the amount of sunshine (or lack thereof) that we get in any given day or week.

During my first January in Chicago, there was not a single day in the entire month when the city got more than 30 minutes of consecutive sunshine. It was rough. It's insidious, too. I don't realize how much my mood is being affected until I'm already feeling lethargic, despondent, and constantly grumpy, and by then it's too late. And then the sun comes out, and I'm bathed in sparkling rays of shining sunlight, and my mood is lifted. For the most part, I really don't mind winter in Chicago. I can deal with the cold, and the ice and snow, because those are things that I'm used to. But the cloudy days that come with winter here are totally new to me, and I haven't quite figured out how to deal. 

Maybe I should invest in a tanning bed. Or up my daily vitamin D supplements. Or eat lots of carrots, so I turn kind of orange and fool myself that I'm actually "tan". Or quit whining about it and just get through the rest of February. Spring is around the corner, after all.

Do you guys get SAD in the wintertime? How do you cloudy-day lovers do it? Any tricks for a girl who comes from a land with 350 days of sunshine/year? Anyone want to loan me their tanning bed?

Title song: Matt Costa, "Sunshine"

And of All the Things that We Knew

Shirt: thrifted * Cardigan: H&M * Cargos: Old Navy * Socks: Target * Boots: Target * Scarf: Target * Belt: Joe's

One thing that I've discovered since starting to blog is my love of photography. I took a couple of photo classes in high school and college, and always appreciated a good photograph. Joe and I always head to the photography gallery in the Art Institute first, to see what's new, and I love looking back at old albums and pictures, taken by me, or family members and friends. But I've been taking my own pictures everyday for almost two years now, and I've learned new techniques and new passions for this form of art. One thing that particularly affects me is the idea of the capture of a moment, and the powerful emotions that come with that. Photographs can communicate intense emotions to their viewers, or subjects, or photographers, by the simple aesthetic of the image. They of course capture real moments in time, and both the photographer and the viewer can look back at the picture and recall the precise tactile and emotional feelings that they were experiencing at the time. But part of what lures me into photography is the ability to create a moment, and call forth a set of emotions, that were perhaps not present at the moment in which the photograph was taken.

This weekend, after a day of working hard at a coffeeshop, eating waffles, and hitting up shoe stores to get Joe a new pair of kicks (to no avail), we were driving through town towards home and the grocery store. It was a simple Saturday afternoon, rather matter-of-fact in its events and our own sentiments toward it. I think we were both a bit tired, having worked all day, and we had both gotten chilled from the sudden return of winter. When we drove by a long winding road that was marked as an entrance to a park, I ventured in, hoping to get a decent backdrop to snap my daily pictures. What we found was a hill, bathed in the last light of the day, looking out over the town and strewn with remnants of winter. There wasn't a soul in sight, and the final rays of the sun that peeked over the trees set the hill awash in this warm, gorgeous light that seemed to set the world ablaze. We busted out the camera and got to work. These pictures, and particularly the set of portraits that Joe framed and directed, are probably some of my favorite ever. They convey the sense of deep calm that I've felt my life has been missing recently. I look at them and see a woman ready for the world, content to be within it, and at peace with the stark winter surroundings she has been placed in. I see a woman waiting on the last days of winter with a smile, looking to spring with calm anticipation. I can feel the frost crunch under her feet, and the intense warmth of those final rays of sunlight, thawing the frozen winter air.

The moment that is conveyed to me through these photographs is one of quiet contemplation. The air is still and calm, and that centered quality radiates into me, the subject and now viewer, as I look at and think about the images. I have looked at these pictures at least a dozen times since this weekend, allowing the calmness that I feel when I see them wash over me. I'm so glad we drove that route to get home, and I'm glad I suddenly decided to stop for pictures, and I'm glad we spent so much time running errands that day so that the light was just perfect at the moment that we needed it.

It seems a bit narcissistic to say all that about a set of pictures about myself. However, I don't know that I would have the same reaction to pictures that I wasn't in. The emotions that I feel right now, that I am assigning to the woman in the photos, are emotions specific to me, and are emotions that I feel I need to be experiencing at this moment. I'm not sure how that would translate to someone else. What are your thoughts about photography as an emotional art form? How do you react to powerful photographs? What are surefire emotional markers for you, when you look at an image?

Title song: Jim Croce, "Photographs and Memories"

How to Get Ahead Without Even Trying, or "Salome"

Save That for Later

Shirt: Target * Skirt: Goodwill * Cardigan: H&M * Belt: Joe's * Tights: We Love Colors (navy) * Boots: thrifted * Earrings: Tree & Kimball

It's Monday. It's Monday and I'm not altogether okay with that. It's Monday, and I had lasagna over the weekend, so we may as well just come out with it and start calling me Garfield. I ended up having the kind of weekend where you wake up on Monday morning and wonder how in the world it isn't still Saturday. And I'm still quite exhausted, which is a shame, and means that when I burned my finger on my straightener this morning, it resulted in an entirely unnecessary amount of tears. Okay, seriously, the pity party is over. Onward and upward, my friends!

Joe got me these altogether magical earrings for Christmas, from Tree and Kimball. Lisa of T&K is delightful, and I am positively obsessed with her creations, so I was ecstatic to see a little box of hers under the tree. I've worn them a few times, but keep failing to properly document their awesomeness. Aren't they fantastic? And they're lace, so they're super light, which is perfect for my sensitive ears.

I wore this outfit last Thursday, when Emily and I were the happy hosts to Lisa, of Archives, and Tabitha, of Fashion Therapist, for a dinner at our home. As much as we all love all of the more structured blogger events that we've been to, it was refreshing and wonderful to have a more laid-back excuse to hang out. I cooked while wearing a vintage fur crown and Lisa's fabulous stole, we gabbed about blogs, Chicago, and all things awesome, and it was a positively lovely way to spend a Thursday night.

We made homemade manicotti for dinner, which was, of course, cheesy and delicious (seriously, you can't go wrong with inordinate amounts of mozzarella). Tabitha brought the vino, and Lisa came with cupcakes in hand (you can witness their progressive carnage above). It was delicious, and I think it's safe to say we were all sufficiently stuffed by the end of the evening. It was a delight to hang out with these ladies, and I was happily unsurprised by how easy it was to chat and be together. There was plenty of silliness, plenty of laughs, and plenty of cupcake-frosting-noses, which, in my mind, are crucial to a good dinner party. I can't wait for the next excuse to chill with these rad ladies.

I was also insanely happy with my outfit. I had picked a few items for my 30 pieces that I'd never worn before (which, in retrospect, seems like a classic rookie mistake, though it seems to be turning out okay. This cardigan and skirt are two of those pieces. I snagged the cardi months ago at H&M, but it's really light-weight so I haven't had the balls or cooperative weather to bust it out yet. I love the dark navy and thin white stripes, and I'm obsessed with the exposed zipper (though I don't think you can see it in these pictures). And this skirt was a $2 impulse buy at the Goodwill near Joe's house. I'd been on the hunt for a good knit skirt for months, and I love how this one fits and feels.

I have another crazy week ahead of me, with a to-do list a mile long and more emails to write than my little fingers feel up for. But I'm trying to keep a positive face on all of it. I have leftover lentil soup for dinner tonight, and I'm planning on keeping the hot tea flowing throughout the course of the week (with maybe a cup or two of hot chocolate thrown in for good measure). Add in one or two mid-week movie viewings (I just got Atonement from Netflix), and I should have no problem getting through the week.

Title song: Beck, "Cupcake"

One of our Bravest Brides..Anna

Toes and Tulle!!!!

Anna came to us looking to order her entire Wedding Ensemble from us and we were so chuffed to be working with such an adventurous bride. Anna opted for a Bonzie Victorian Embroidered Blazer and our Signature Tea Stain Romantic Tulle Skirt. ( A really unique Vintage looking combination!)

I have to admit, I can only imagine how scary it was for Anna to be ordering her made to measure Wedding Gown over the Internet and from a designer based in Ireland ( Anna is based in the US) but one can only say that her bravery paid off and she looks an absolute vision in her finished look!

We hope both Anna and her new Hubby are very happy together!

Thanks to Anna for sharing her special day with us!!!