day two hundred ninety-six.

Oscar and Marley not feeling the camera

Day Two Hundred Ninety-six Monday  6/21/10 HAPPY SUMMER.

Dress: Blue H&M Dress

Purchased From:  MOLLY DELANEY!

Year or Era Purchased: Spring 2010
Price: $Free
Accessories:  Black flats, ribcage necklace, giant black sunglasses

Hair and Makeup: Up in a pinned up ponytail that fell and got on my nerves so then down

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  

It was super hot so I didn't put tooooo much effort into my outfit.  I wanted to wear as little as possible.  This is another of the 17 dresses from Ms. Molly Delaney and it was easy to wear.  I also had to bike to my Kelly and Rica's since I was borrowing Rica's car for the day so I wanted something that wouldn't flash the whole world, or well, the whole of Fishtown.  It may have been the biking or just the walking in this insane heat but I totally had pit stains by mid-day.  Yummy.  I spent the day working and then headed to class.  It was amazing and I got awesome feedback on the third draft of my story.  I was wicked nervous since it involved a man's perspective and dialogue- two things I'm not familiar with and have been scared to write for most of my life.  People said the nicest things.  My professor said he feared I'd get a big head from his comments.  Ha.  Please.  I get super happy and feel great until I sit down to write the next piece of it and then -boom- terror strikes all over again and I'm filled with doubt.  

After class I went to Whole Foods and did some much needed grocery shopping.  I knew Michael was still in Downingtown as it was "Go Skate Day" and our friends were throwing a contest/fundraiser for the Downingtown Skate Park.  Read their  DSP Blog and stay up to date.  I bought myself ingredients to make an amazing sandwich among lots of other yummy foods for dinners this week.  I came home, dropped off my groceries, returned Rica's car, rode my bike home and made an amazing sandwich.  I spent the rest of the night doing homework until Michael came home and fell asleep next me.   Such a good day, I could barely tell it was a Monday. 

day two hundred ninety-three.

daytime with a scarf and Emily and Mia

 nighttime. all boobs. 

Day Two Hundred Ninety-three Friday  6/18/10 

Dress: Blue H&M Dickies Style Button Dress

Purchased From:  Circle Thrift (when it was next to Rocket Cat)

Year or Era Purchased: 2006-2007ish
Price: $4.00
Accessories: daytime: silver flats, black studded vegan bracelet, black and white striped scarf  nighttime: purpley flower wedges, black studded cuff

Hair and Makeup: Curled a bit, usual makeup with some mauve lips.  I'm all about the lipstick this week. 

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Let's see- Kristin called me busty, Cheryl said "I see you brought your boobs to dinner" or something like that, Michael said I love that dress.  Also some weird drunk barfly at Dirty Franks said "enchante" when we showed up.  Ha.  

Friday ruled.  It was soooo much better than crankydress tired, hungry Thursday.  I woke up and weighed myself, as I do everyday.  I realize this is dumb but whatevs.  I was down quite a bit from lack of water, actually.  I ate my usual amount of calories as I scarfed a veggie turkey sandwich around midnight and ate red (minus the dye and the red part) velvet cake with cream cheese icing but I did not drink my usual 60-90 ounces of water.  I don't so much do this on purpose but I genuinely love water.  If I'm not drinking alcohol or coffee I'm drinking water.  Occasionally I'll have an iced tea or a lemonade but my all time favorite is ice water with lemons. My friend Katy taught me that the best way to drink it is from a giant ball jar- those suckers are a good 30 ounces. and I always have at least one, if not two with dinner/nighttime stuffs.  I also generally carry some sort of travel cup with me all day, also generally a 26 to 32 ounce ratio.  So anyway I guess that packs on the water weight because the scale was serenading me with sweet, sweet digital nothings.  And all of that is the long version as to why I chose this dress- it hasn't fit me in a long time but I love it so much I've been holding onto it with hopes of the day it would.  It still doesn't totally fit because I can't button it over my boobs but whatevs, those ladies are here to stay apparently.  In order to rock this dress during the day and not look like a total slutbag I wore a scarf over the boob area, masking the cleavage.  When I came home the ladies came out because it was way too damn hot for a scarf!  

After work I did a little shopping- Payless, Rainbow and Kmart because I am a high class motherfucker.  (sorry mom.) I got two pairs of shoes, one shown above and the other a $5 pair of airwalk grey mary janes, four dresses at rainbow, a cute glass pitcher with a red lid, and a new curling iron since the handle broke on mine.  I purchased all of these goods for around $76.  Awesome. 

We had plans to meet up with friends and go eat dinner at Lolita, a byot (tequila) as they have margarita mixers you can purchase by the pitcher and then they mix the tequila in tableside.  Genius!  The trolley from West Philly was running late so that meant our friend, Cheryl, was running late so we jumped half a block over to McGillan's and had a beer.  Cheryl arrived just as we were finishing, perfect.  We sat and ordered a pitcher of blood orange margarita mix and it was perfection! It was perfectly tart, not horribly sweet and just super refreshing.  We ordered chips and guac for the table, also amazing and fresh.  The best thing about Lolita is that you can sub tofu or portobello mushrooms for the meat or seafood products in several of their dishes. Thanks!  Michael and I split two meals- one being the wild mushroom and cheese enchiladas with tofu and one some hearts of palm and tofu goodness.  The enchiladas ruled it all. We'll definitely be going back!  I am anxious to try a few of their appetizers/salads as well as their desserts.  

After dinner we walked over to Dirty Frank's for an after dinner drink.  It was interesting.  The regulars were all outside smoking and were excited to see so many women appear.  We stayed for a beer and some conversation and then left.  Upon leaving Michael and I walked by a woman splayed face first on the sidewalk, a crowd around her, and a man in a wife beater over her, his motorcycle parked next to them.  We weren't sure of the circumstances exactly but deduced there was some sort of incident involving the motorcycle as Michael noticed the headlight was out, maybe cracked, I can't remember.  I implore anyone reading this that may operate or ride on a motorcycle to please, please, please always, always, always wear a fucking helmet.    I don't know for sure that this was the case here, well there were no helmets to be seen so that's a fact but, she may have been walking and he hit her, she may have been drunk and fell off, etc. etc.  Still it was a frightening and disturbing sight.  We heard sirens coming as we walked towards the el and tried to block the image from our minds.  Once  home it was bath time.  I love that freaking bathtub!    

day two hundred eighty-three.

Day Two Hundred Eighty-three Tuesday 6/8/10 

Dress: Black H&M Sheath Dress

Purchased From:  Thrift Fair

Year or Era Purchased: Spring 2010
Price: $4.95
Accessories: super hi-top converse, brown cardigan, studded waist belt 

Hair and Makeup: Double braids, usual makeup 

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Lots of shoe comments/compliments, mostly from strangers. 

This dress is a basic black sheath dress that could be used for fancy job type events with a nice jacket thrown over it.  Since I walk dogs and don't work in an office I decided to change it up a bit and make it less stingy.  I added a studded waist belt and paired it with some extra hi-top chuck taylors.  I like it but wish I'd paired it with a different cardigan or jacket, I'm not feeling the cardigan.  Oh well.  I've had those shoes for almost two years but they're not broken in yet and still look brand spankin' new.  I guess if I wore them more than five times a year that'd work itself out.  I think I love them so much I'm afraid to ruin them.  My sneaker boots have holes in the bottom of them and the one zipper just broke, blasphemy.  I'm so sad that all of my favorite shoes have been worn into the concrete so hard they're literally falling apart.  Guess it's time for some shoe shopping. 


I really need to get my ass in gear and start updating these blogs in a more timely fashion.  My brain is not strong enough to remember my daily activities after a few days, apparently.  Good stuff.  I spent the day working, I know that, and I had class, I know that.  Class was awesome and it was my second writing workshop.  It went really well and again I'm grateful for all of the suggestions and ideas.  I need to work on it lots this weekend since I have to hand in my third draft in one week.  Yikes! This class will be over in less than a month, crazy.  


After school I came home and made breakfast for dinner: BRINNER! Pancakes, cheesy eggs, veggie bacon and hash browns.  Ok, yeah, I think I got it all. Oh wait no, job blurb, I saw one of my clients completely naked.  Yeah, I guess I tried to block that shit right on out of my brain.  Same lady I've seen topless three times prior and she's 70.  Yup.  The perks of being a dog walker! 

day one hundred eleven.

Day One Hundred Eleven 12/17/2009 
Dress: Pink Babydoll Dress
Purchased From:  H&M
Year or Era Purchased:  Summer 2007
Price: $25 or $30? I can't remember exactly. 
Accessories: Jeans, black cardigan, sneaker snow boots, giant white fake fur hat, deer necklace
Hair and Makeup:  down and gross, usual makeup 
Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Lots of hat compliments
Day: 


It was another early day and it was cold. Blech.  I woke up with Michael and made him lunch since he was to be in meetings all day.  I made him an awesome veggie turkey and cheese hoagie with chips and a pickle on the side and a clementine for dessert.  I also made him breakfast and brewed a pot of coffee in my fabulous twelve cup button push coffee maker.  Word. 


I knew it was once again cold outside so I wore jeans and this dress works with pants because of the cut.  I know the shoe choice isn't super cute but man are those suckers warm, as is my hat.  I got the hat at I. Goldberg last year for $20 and it was worth every penny.  It helps so much on bitter cold days.  The dress was my bridesmaid dress for Sue and Jake's wedding.  Rica and I went shopping at H&M a few weeks before the wedding and found this dress.  I have worn it a few times now and I know Rica wore hers too.  Well done.  


I worked a bunch and did a little Christmas shopping and managed to get myself to the gym for a third day in a row.  I had big plans for the night but I got home so late that I just made dinner and vegged.  We had a cayenne pan seared tofu, potatoes au gratin, mixed greens and roasted carrots. It was tasty. I finally got my hair washed so I'm going to go rag curl it up.  I made an appointment for my hair for Tuesday.  I'm so getting bangs. 

day one hundred and seven.

Day One Hundred and Seven 12/13/2009 
Dress: Black and White H&M Tweed Shift Dress
Purchased From:  Free at a Clothing Swap
Year or Era Purchased:  Fall 2009
Price: $0
Accessories: Green tights, fox necklace, orange cardigan (yes, same as yesterday), black boots 
Hair and Makeup:  down and wavy, usual makeup 
Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Several compliments on the fox necklace, Michael loved the dress
Day: 


We woke up so early today to go meet friends Heather and Jon and Heather's Mom for a crazy buffet breakfast at the Coleman Restaurant.  I actually woke up at 7:45 on a Sunday morning and got out of the house on time.  I was happy to have today's dress from the clothing swap because it was a little fancy and a little casual and it has pockets.  I wanted to wear a black cardigan but I couldn't find it in my several piles of clothing.  Yes, it should be in a closet but no, it's not.  Sorry.   We had a lovely breakfast that involved some serious eating.  The omelet station was my favorite and I had an asparagus, cheedar, swiss, wild mushroom and olive omelet.  I topped it with more asparagus and some artichokes from the grilled vegetable section.  I kind of want another one right now.  After our almost two hour gluttonous breakfast Michael and I did some Christmas shopping and it was actually fun.   After several hours we came home and lounged about watching too many episodes of Criminal MInds.  I actually got hungry again so I made us some tomato soup and grilled cheese with veggie bacon and we played Words With Friends and then watched Dexter(woah!).  I am so very tired from my early morning excursion so now it is time for a shower and then bed.  Yup.  

day one hundred and six.

Day One Hundred and Six 12/12/2009 
Dress: Brown Strapless H&M Cotton Dress
Purchased From:  Free at a Clothing Swap
Year or Era Purchased:  Fall 2009
Price: $0
Accessories: Turquoise tights, crazy pattern boots, orange cardigan, octopus t-shirt, orange beanie, 
Hair and Makeup:  pigtails, usual makeup 
Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Michael likes the shirt and the combination of the dress/shirt, a random Fishtown teenager complimented my boots
Day: 


Again I find myself just wanting to crawl into bed and avoid writing this blog.  It has been a lovely day I have to say and I'd like to go laze about until I fall into an abyss of sleepytime. Tomorrow we must arise and drive to Landsdale for breakfast with friends.  


The dress I wore today was one of my clothing swap finds from this past Thursday.  It's super comfortable and I since I like to pair strapless dresses with undershirts I did so with my awesome octopus shirt so the octopus would be showcased perfectly.  The shirt was purchased at my friend Sam's store, The Point.  I really like this dress and I"m so glad I went to the swap and made it my own.  


I spent the day being lazy and lounging, made some pancakes and then decorated for Christmas.  It was nice and exactly what I wanted.  Michael and I then watched Marley & Me and went to the Sidecar Bar for dinner and so I could get a dark smokey beer like I've been craving, so not like me, weird.  I got a Old Engine Oil and ate some truffle mashed potatoes and a crispy goat cheese salad.  Dinner was super yum, as was the beer.  I guess we had a little unintended date night, cute.  Now it's time to power up with sleep for tomorrow's crazy buffet breakfast.  Weekend of gluttony equals fabulous.

day seventy.

Day Seventy 11/6/2009
Dress: Grey Fancy Promy Strapless Dress
Purchased From: H&M
Year or Era Purchased: Winter 2006 or 2007
Price: $29.50
Accessories: Argyle tights, black boots, grey cardigan, grey neck warmer made from chopping off part of a turtleneck sweater
Hair and Makeup: Down and curly with a bow headband, black eye makeup
Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Kelly said she liked it and that she liked my headband, Rica joked it was my new year's dress, Michael said "boobs".
Day: 


I have to be getting sick. No good.  Do not want. I woke up feeling a little crappy and hung out in bed for an extra hour playing with the cats and my phone.  It was so cold, so very cold and our heat wasn't on so under the covers was fantastic.  I finally got up, made coffee and fed the squirrels.  While I was doing all of that I missed a call from my Mom.  I called her back and she let me know that my Uncle Tony had passed away after a long illness.   Even though we knew it was coming it was still a shock to hear it.  He was in pain so I have to think he as at peace now.  


I spent the next few hours at my computer playing with photoshop and reading photoshop tutorials online. My hands became ice and I finally broke down and turned on the heat.  Ugh. 


Since I only have thirty days left it's time to wear some of the fancier dresses that I have left.  I'm glad it's at least Friday as I feel I can sort of get away with it more so than on a Tuesday.  I really love this dress even if it is a little too small in the boobular area.  I originally bought it as a maybe New Year's Dress along with another 50's dance inspired dress from H&M. I ended up not wearing this dress for New Year's because it wasn't doing it for me when I tried it on, I was much skinnier then.  Since I've put on a few pounds the dress fits a lot better, score.   I paired it with a grey cardigan and grey argyle tights.  Grey is one of my favorite colors so this outfit made me really happy. When shopping with Jen the other day we saw this huge turtleneck scarf thing in the men's section at H&M.  I have since been obsessing over it and I wanted some sort of neck cover with this outfit so I dug through my donation pile and cut off the top part of a turtleneck sweater and voila, a cute little neck warmer.   I accidentally cut it a little asymmetrical but now I love my mistake. 


I worked a little bit and ran a few errands and then came home and ate cheerios since I didn't get a chance to eat before I left the house.  I then went over to my friend Kelly's to see my new boyfriend, Fergus, or maybe he's Finn, or his original name Weenie.  Whatever his name is he's amazing! I want him but she's keeping him so that's awesome. Check out his cute little face. 

I came home and made sandwiches for dinner and Michael and I watched The Office and 30 Rock.  Now we'll venture out for Friday night and get into some trouble, or not, probably not.  

day fifty-six.

                                    




Day Fifty-six 10/23/2009
Dress: Striped Shirt Dress
Purchased From: Circle Thrift
Year or Era Purchased: Fall 2009
Price: $5
Accessories: Cream Thigh Highs made from cut off tights, pink knit hat
Hair and Makeup: Two braids under a hat, blue and purple eyeshadow and black eyeliner
Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Michael, Kristin (said I looked like a fruity candy cane), Kelly
Day: 


I woke up with a smile today, not for any particular reason, which might be the best kind of smile.  The day proved average, the weather was chilly and eventually the rain trickled but it was still worthy of a waking smile.  Jody and Kristin came over for some Project Runway and then Michael and I had lunch before I started working.  After work we headed to Johnny Brenda's for happy hour and friend time and stayed for hours.  We grabbed some Ekta takeout on the way home, my first Ekta over Tiffin experience.  Too spicy and the yogurt sauce was sour.  Sorry Ekta, you lose.  I wish I had just made dinner instead.  I went into an Indian food coma and hung out on the couch for many hours. Boring Friday night.  


Today's dress was one of the five Circle Thrift Fall 2009 purchases.  It's from H&M and I believe falls into the category of thanks to the girl my size who donates to Circle Thrift! It buttons all the way open so I will most likely wear this over jeans and tank top in the future.  This week has totally confused me weather wise and I probably should've worn tights instead of or in addition to thigh highs so I was a little cold for some of it. Since I cut them off from tights they don't have any stay up power and would be considered "quitters", a word I learned from my friend Chad that refers to socks that don't stay up on their own anymore.  My solution to these particular quitters is to use a rubberband to hold them up, covered with the excess sock fabric. After a few hours they hurt though so be sure to get big enough bands! 


Oh and I messed up last night.   I meant Riot Punch! 

day fifty-four.

Day Fifty-four 10/21/2009
Dress: Rainbow Striped Sundress
Purchased From: H&M
Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2008
Price: $12
Accessories: Black tights and cardigan,black boots
Hair and Makeup: Low bun with bangs, almost no makeup
Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Michael was a big fan of the dress
Day: 


First off, woot, yay Phillies.  Please don't flip any of my friend's cars this year.  It was like 75 degrees today.  Seriously, last week I was wearing my winter coat and today I'm struggling to figure out which lightweight dress I can wear.  I am in Fall fashion mode now so it was pretty hard and I changed like five times before settling on today's dress.  I don't really love it so much but it is super comfortable and pairing it with lots of black made me accept it as the dress of day fifty-four.  I was sort of in a hurry to start work today so I pulled my wet from the shower hair back into a bun, threw on a little bit of makeup and headed out to work.   I worked a bunch, grocery shopped and then picked up this little dog dude Wally to stay with me for a few days.  He's a six month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  So far he loves the cats but it is certainly unrequited.  I didn't like any of today's pictures as a whole but I also didn't care enough to keep taking any.  I blame it on my eyeliner addiction and apparent inability to smile in pictures anymore.  I'll have to brush up on my America's Next Top Model. 


I made a pit stop today at the bakery that opened on my street, literally like 1/2 a block from my house. This terrified me at first to have access to sweets so close but after today's visit I don't think I'll be a regular customer.   It's more of a home base for the actual baking of custom orders with only cupcakes sold to the public.  Not that I don't like cupcakes, I was just hoping for a better selection.  Today was opening day so I guess I should cut them some slack but when I asked if there would be more selection the owner told me, "maybe cookies."  I would definitely use them if I ever needed a badass cake or cookie set but as my local bakery, nay.  I bought six cupcakes today, three to give as a good-bye gift and three for home. I still haven't eaten any of them so I can't give my full report just yet, an update should be in tomorrow's blog after I snarf one down.  I'm now looking forward to Sunday's opening of Bella Sera Cafe and their vegan menu.  Mmmmm. 


I got home from work in time to pick up Michael from the train and then we walked his bike over to Volpe Cycles so he can get his tire blow out fixed and get parts for future blow outs and some other bike stuff I didn't understand exactly.  I then made a scrumptious dinner of Field Roast "Meatloaf", leftover mac n' cheese that I modified into smoked mozzarella mac n' cheese by making a sauce and re-baking it, sauteed rainbow swiss chard, biscuits, and roasted asparagus.  It was so yummy and badass but I forgot to leave room for my cupcake.  There's always tomorrow.   We watched the game while we ate and then Michael totally fell asleep and I watched it alone, well I had Wally with me and he has a Phillies collar so not totally alone.  I am exhausted now and must retire to sleep.  Tomorrow is my friend Kristin's birthday so I will have to pick out a super fun dress since we'll be have dinner and drinks to celebrate her birth.  Boosh! Phillies! Goodnight! 

day sixteen.

Missbluebirdcreations on Etsy

photo by shea roggio

Day Sixteen 9/13/2009

Dress: Black Strapless Dress

Purchased From: H&M

Year or Era Purchased: Spring 2008

Price: $25

Accessories: Lloyd Dobbler necklace, pirate ship ring, crazy patterned boots

Hair and Makeup: Down and wavy, black eyeliner

Comments/Compliments/Complaints: the mister

Day: Today is mine and my lovely husbands one year wedding anniversary. We spent the morning booking part of our trip to the south of France and Corsica. After that I gave the mister his anniversary gift.  As a surprise I booked a room at the Omni hotel in Olde City since we stayed at an Omni in Montreal for our honeymoon and it ruled.  The rooms are huge and the beds are comfy.  I wanted to try to recreate a bit of our honeymoon and it turned out to be a pretty successful day.  We ate at Beau Monde, walked through the parks, napped and went to eat fries and have beers at Eulogy.  Now we're watching a Phillies game, as the playoffs were during our Montreal trip last year. Sorry I'm going to cut this short tonight but I promise to make up for it with a detailed blog tomorrow.  I've got very important business to attend to and it's called snuggling and watching hbo shows.  Seriously, today has been perfection.  The dress was my 30th birthday dress and it's from H&M, the necklace another etsy find.  More details tomorrow.   I'm also including a wedding picture because it's my blog and I'll do what I want.  

day twelve.

Day Twelve 9/9/2009

Dress: Red Tank Dress

Purchased From: H&M

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2009

Price: $7.00

Accessories: none

Hair and Makeup: Two buns for some of the day, one bun for the other. I really need to wash my hair. I also wore orangey eye shadow.

Comments/Compliments/Complaints: The Mister

Day: Today's dress is a clearance dress from H&M. It's not my usual style dress because I don't generally dig on straight or tight style dresses due to my lovely little pot belly but it was $7. If I ever actually go out and buy some spanx I think I'll like this dress style way better. It got a little cold later in the day so I totally went with a ketchup and mustard theme and wore a yellow cardigan. Cardigan weather!!!

I woke up late today and needed to start work early so I just threw this dress on without much thought. I did a bit of makeup, threw my hair up in two buns because it is wicked greasy and tangled right now, grabbed my coffee and ran out the door. Seven dog walks and a Trader Joe's stop later I came home for lunch as Michael was working from home. He did so because his new baby was being delivered today. He got a new video camera. I don't know what the specs are but I think it's fancy and he won't stop recording everything. I made us sandwiches of the awesome variety because that's the only sandwich I know how to make. This particular awesome sandwich was on a french baguette that held cheddar cheese, fresh mozzarella, Tofurky Hickory Smoked slices, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a pickle on the side. While I was making the sandwiches our main squirrel Maalox tried to break into the house right in front of me. He already did so once so there's a hole in the screen with a paper towel stuffed into it. I watched him try to remove the paper towel. I totally blamed our other squirrel, Steven Andrew Orsborn, but after today I can't kid myself any longer. Oh well. I still love him.

I then ventured back out for another walk, a trip to Walmart to return seven unused rafts and finally dragged myself to the gym for some elliptical fun.

Tonight I did laundry and then we watched episodes of Lost and ate salads until we went to Matt and Ramona's house to help them with anything they needed help with as they are getting married on Saturday. I am absolutely exhausted now and will retire to bed. Sorry for such a lame post today!

Oh and today's featured pup is Twoshi.