day three hundred hundred sixty-five.

Day Three Hundred Sixty-five Sunday  8/29/10 THE FINAL DAY!

Dress: White/Cream/Pinkish Fairy Princess Dress

Purchased From:  Hand-me-down from Ms. Mishel, aka Violet Temper, of the Philly Roller Girls, and host of a clothing swap I attended. 

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010

Price: $FREE

Accessories:  Silver ballet slipper flats, two flower hair clips, pink slip, heart locket and lock necklace

Hair and Makeup:  Front poof and the rest curled (this dress begged for a fancy hair do) and lots of black eye shadow plus the usual makeup

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Lots of dress compliments, blog compliments, questions about what I'd wear the next day, etc. 

It's taken me over a week to write this final day.  I think it's because of several factors.  One of which being that I'm not totally ready to end this whole thing.  Don't get me wrong, it's over like a cancelled TV show, one that I was really, really fond of.  I've already worn shorts, a skirt, jeans, and even reworn a few dresses from the past year, number one hundred ninety-six, number one hundred ninety-four and number two hundred forty-seven to be exact.  But all good things must end, right? Right.  That doesn't mean I have to be totally comfortable with it.  I guess I'll start off this blog just like any other.  I'll tell you about my dress and my day- both of which were pretty damn special.  

I woke up and felt a little blah.  It had been my original intention to wear my wedding dress on my last day of dresses and maybe go to the grocery store or around the corner to a bar buuuuutttt, my fat ass wouldn't fit into it.  Okay, actually my ass fit into it just fine but my boobs and back fat refused to budge and I was not trying to wreck its zipper in any way.  I love that dress and I'll spend the next year getting these ten pounds off so I can fit into it again.  I still had about five dresses to choose from since I'm crazy and actually own about 375 dresses.  I went with this beautiful fairy/princess inspired dress. I got it at the last clothing swap I attended when my friend Mishel dug through her stuff and produced it, saying she'd never wear it again.  Man, I'm a lucky girl cause this dress is gorgeous! I felt all kinds of like Baby from Dirty Dancing in it.  Since the dress was a little over the top for every day wear I decided to make my hair and makeup match.  I teased and sprayed and created a big poof and pinned it up and curled the rest.  I went with lots of black eyeshadow and lots of blush.  The combination of lots of hair, makeup and a super dressy dress made me feel a little bit better.  

Michael tried to work on the Element but to no avail since he couldn't reach what he needed to, so he drove me to my jobs. He was all about us eating something before we left and forced half an english muffin on me.  Around this time is when I should've realized something was up.  He drove me to my jobs, was patient, stalled even, and then suggested we go to 700 for a record swap since he talked to our friend Bob and he was there.  I was all, I'm hungry dummy, why would I want to go to a record swap without records to swap?!? He was all, we're stopping by so shut it.  I pouted a bit, dreamed of an avocado, tomato and veggie turkey sandwich and sucked it up.  We parked and went in and I saw my friends, Georgia and Rica and didn't think anything of it.  We headed upstairs to the record swap.  When I first walked up the stairs I saw my friend, Spano, and thought, okay that makes sense, he's really into records so of course he'd be at a record swap. When I turned the corner and saw the rest of my friends and then heard surprise I was like, huh? what? and I was met with a room full of giant ass posters of me on the walls, stars with pictures of me hanging all around, a huge banner, food, books consisting of all of my blog entries and people yelling surprise.  I was so shocked I was borderline mortified.  Have you ever walked into a room with giant poster sized images of you all over a wall? Try it some time!   Despite my embarrassment, which is not like me usually- I generally dig the whole center of attention thing-I was so honored and touched to have such awesome friends and family and such an amazing husband.  He decided the last day of the blog needed a party and got lots of people involved to help.  Again, I felt like such a brat because really, let's be honest here, what did I actually do? I wore clothing, took my picture and wrote about it- can you be anymore narcissistic? But since I have so many awesome people in my life they helped and joined in for a celebration of my commitment to narcissism.  Thanks everyone! 


Sue and Rica were the decorating committee and Sue made chocolate oreo cupcakes and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.  Nicole made strawberry lemonade cupcakes and her and her man friend picked up a pretzel tray while my mother-in-law made fruit tarts in a variety of flavors.  Yum.  Spano made a playlist and he and Jody picked up the hoagie trays, and did I mention giant posters of me all over the walls that Michael printed at work?  Creepy. Kristin made a banner and my mother-in-law made me two beautiful books of my entire blog.  Jake bartended an open bar, and lots of people took time out of their Sunday afternoons to show up.  Wow.  Despite the embarrassment I was beyond flattered, I felt amazingly special.   I tried to hang out with everyone, but barely drank since I was still not feeling one hundred percent from Friday.  I think the most asked question of the day was "what are you going to wear tomorrow?" to which I replied I didn't know yet but maybe probably a dress.  Teehee.  I actually did wear a dress, a black cotton one that was not featured in this blog, but was obtained at Mishel's clothing swap.  I couldn't help it; it was 95 degrees and dresses are ust the best option for it.   Here are some photos of the lovely event: 

We left a little after seven and Michael's Mom came over to help us drop off stuff and grab season one of True Blood and I totally made myself a tomato and avocado sandwich because I just couldn't get it out of my head.  We watched True Blood and entourage and headed to bed, exhausted from the day.  I felt a little sad knowing it was all over but to be honest a little relieved too.  


I spent the last week thinking a lot and also doing a few calculations.  Turns out I spent a total of $2843.46 on all 367 dresses (there were two days in which I wore two dresses).  My average price per dress was $7.75.  How rad is that!?!  Thrift stores, clothing swaps, vintage stores, buying dresses on the street, bargain shopping all pay off apparently.  I hope I helped to show some people that you don't have to spend a ton of money to put together a cute outfit.  And if you don't think my outfits are cute, well then, I think you're dumb. 


This whole experience has been absolutely amazing.  I'm so thrilled to have a year of my life recorded and expressed through writing and fashion.  So many things have happened this year and it flew by at warp speed.  I found out my best friend was pregnant on day two and now she has a four month old baby.  I went to France (and Italy for a few hours) for my proper honeymoon and got beaten up by the Mediterranean Sea.  I went to my first of several clothing swaps and relearned how to thread a bobbin and a sewing machine.  I decided to go back to school and am now in my third semester at CCP on my way to completing a certificate in creative writing.  I got my first of many Brazilian waxes.  I pooped outside.  I lost fifteen pounds and then gained back a few.  I made a giant paper mache head and a dress and some other components to be Moishe for Halloween.  I put my kitty lady Easter to sleep, which was the first time I've ever had to do something like that, and now in her honor I'm fostering a little black kitty lady.  Michael and I finally moved on to our third floor, our master bedroom with bath, and I've taken many baths in our amazing claw foot tub.  I don't know if it was because I wanted more to write about or because I was just feeling good about life due to this project but I definitely felt more motivated and generally happy.  Thanks so much to everyone who read along with my narcissistic journey.  I plan to do something else in the future but I'm still crafting it in my brain so stay tuned I'll post future endeavors here as they come.  


Now it's time for me to concentrate on my Fall classes, and finally clean our guest room/my new closet.  I will be purging a lot of the dresses that didn't work for me as to make room for new ones in the future.  If this blog did nothing else it certainly fueled my addiction for a good (and cheap!) dress.  I hope to also maybe finally become an organized and fabulous adult lady with an amazing guest room/closet. Ha!


I've found several other blogs the readers of this blog may be interested in so please follow and support them as well.  I know I will be using them to cope with my own withdrawals.  
New Dress A Day  This lovely lady is spending $1 per day on her dresses and altering them to fit her frame.  I dig her alterations and style. I bet you will too. 
The Uniform Project This is that amazing same dress every day for a year blog but beyond.  People can now apply to be part of it and wear one dress for a month and raise money for charity.  That's awesome and super stylin'.  
The Great American Apparel Diet No clothes shopping for one year! Oh dear.  This one would be insanely hard for me.  I think clothing swaps are okay so I might just have to become a professional clothing swapper if I ever tried this. 
What I Wore Just a cute daily outfit fashion site that my friend Sue sent me. Love it. 


And here are a few fun street fashion blogs I dig on: 
Street Teeth 
Click/Clash
And... There's a HUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEE clothing swap soon in Philly.  I am beyond excited for it! Check it out HERE.   Check back here sometime after October 3rd.  I may update with a clothing swap blog and details on any new or upcoming ventures.  Until then, thanks so much for coming along on this journey with me.  It's been swell! 

day three hundred hundred sixty-four.

Day Three Hundred Sixty-four Saturday  8/28/10

Dress: White Striped Vintage Dress

Purchased From:  Country Gift and Thrift Shoppe 

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010

Price: $1.50

Accessories:  Grey slip, black Payless pumps, vintage floral locket
Hair and Makeup:  Usual makeup with some  extra blush, hair pinned into a bun with swooped and swirled bangs.

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  I swear I got more compliments on this dress than anything I've worn all year.  Michael liked it and made fun of the sleeves at the same time,  the ladies of one of my favorite stores, Omoi, liked it and my hair color, Georgia and Rica liked it, a random Fishtown resident liked it and I think that's it if I remember correctly. 

Oh Saturday.  I was sooooo very hungover from drinking too, too much whiskey and too many high alcohol beers. I woke up at 8:30 with a full on headache and nausea.  I realized I was still in my dress from the day before, potato chip crumbs littered the floor and I had no clue how I got to bed or what may have happened the last hour or so of the night.  I also had a burn on my arm, several bruises and quite a large scratch (or gash) on my leg.  Ugh.  And I thought it was just vodka that did it.  Apparently I should just be a grown up and stop drinking so damn much.  Ha! I'm sure that'll happen.  I took some ibuprofen and drank a pint of water and went back to sleep for four hours.  I got up and made crazy people hangover breakfast food: leftover flatbread goat cheese pizza, an english muffin, veggie bacon and sausage, hash browns with scrambled eggs and cheese mixed in and a bowl of rice krispies. Overeating always makes me feel better when I'm hungover.  After breakfast, which was really around late lunch, I got back into bed and read a bit and then took a nap.  I finally got ready and headed out to do some jobs and grab a gift for my friend Georgia since it was her birthday last week.   I love this dress, and even more so since it was $1.50!!! It was the tag color on sale at the thrift store by my parent's house.  That meant it was half of its regular asking price of $3.  I paired it with a slip since it's sheer and then thought a bun would go well with it, to really show off those puffy sleeves.  Since it was Saturday and I was happy to pair it with some cute black non-leather pumps from Payless.  This whole outfit cost me something like $25, including the shoes and jewelry.  Word.  

I stopped at one of my favorite stores, Omoi, and drooled over awesome stuff I wanted before settling on a cocktail infusion set for her.  On the way to my jobs the Element started acting like a jerk on me, with the check engine light on and a lovely lurching, stalling motion.  I really enjoyed driving it like that, no really.  I stopped at a gas station to get oil as the two times the Element has acted up in this way before it was due to a need for an oil top off.  Weird, since I just had an oil change.  Ugh. So I couldn't get the damn oil cap off and this nice gentleman helped me do so.  He struggled a bit too so I didn't feel super terrible about it.  He then lectured me about not adding too much oil and blah, blah and had no interest in what I had to say of the car's previous shenanigans.  I just wanted to get out of there.  Finally he let me go and I headed home, calling Michael to lament on how annoyed I was with the situation.  

Once home he drove me to, the new to Northern Liberties, Dmitri's to meet up with Georgia and Rica for dinner.  It's really lovely there and for a seafood restaurant I was able to eat a ton of stuff.  They have pasta, small Greek plates, etc.  I opted for the Plum Tomato Pasta and the Feta and Olives plate.  Holy feta batman!  I had to take some home, sooo much cheese!  The food came out super, duper fast and we ate and gabbed liked hens.  It was quite a lovely lady/birthday dinner.   We stayed after our food to finish a bottle white wine, well I had one glass since I was still feeling pretty ick, but managed to consume an insane amount of water.  Afterwards we got gelato and sat in the Piazza and gabbed some more.  We walked back to Georgia's so she could get her bike and then we headed to Kraftwork and met up with Georgia's man friend Bob, my man friend Michael and Georgia's coworker, Karen for a night cap. Unfortunately they had changed the keg of the one beer Michael and I were craving, that amazingly sour Russian River Consecration.  Ugh.  I need to get back there and get a goblet of that goodness.  I nursed my goblet of Victory Baltic Porter for quite some time; my body was not feeling it at all.   We headed home and I got right back into bed to kill my hangover for good! 

day three hundred hundred sixty-three.

Day Three Hundred Sixty-three Friday  8/27/10

Dress: Green and Blue Floral Vintage Fancypants Dress

Purchased From:  Circle Thrift Clothing Swap

Year or Era Purchased: Spring 2010

Price: $FREE!

Accessories:  Feather hair clip,  green flats, blue rose ring
Hair and Makeup: Big puff with a feather hair clip (from Art Star), teased bangs, the rest curled, tons of black eye makeup and usual makeup 

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Michael liked the outfit, Jody liked the hair clip, one of my clients asked where I was going and said I looked adorable.  I told her nowhere in particular, I just felt like being fancy. 

Sometimes a girls just got to get fancified for no good reason, because it's Friday, because this dress begs to be combined with this feather hair clip, because it's the third to the last blog in the year of dresses, because I got an A in my second summer class, because, because, because. It felt silly to walk around all day like this and walk dogs.  I got a lot of weird looks but I'm used to that so I just laughed.  I spent my day working and then came home and freshened up before heading to Kraftwork for dinner and drinks with friends Spano, Jody, Sean and Marie.  Stupidly I hadn't eaten anything all day because it took way longer to get fancy than I'd expected and because the box of nutri grain cereal bars in the cabinet was an empty box.  D'oh.  So yeah, I got a little drunky on Friday.  I had a flight of okay beers (the Victory Baltic Porter was the yummiest, the rest were blah) and then a wicked yummy goblet of Russian River Consecration Wild Ale.  That one, in retrospect, is probably the one that knocked me on my ass since it's a ten percenter.  I also enjoyed a goat cheese and summer veg flatbread pizza. Delicious! 

After Kraftwork we headed home to pick up Steve and then went to Kung Fu Necktie for a show.  Our friend's band, Live Not on Evil, was playing.  There I switched to Powers and ginger ale and continued on my drunken merry way.  The show was really good, but really short and so after we headed to the M Room for a few drinks for a night cap.  I think it was something like 10:30 at this point.  Steve and I decided to get specials (a pbr and shot of whiskey) and then we did more shots of Powers.  This is where the night gets hazy.  I apparently punched my friend Chad in the back of his neck, breaking my awesome rose ring and somehow I got a ton of bruises and a huge gash on my leg.  I also remember hanging out with a cat on Girard Ave, he was super sweet and let me hold him.  Once home I apparently made sandwiches, burned myself on the toaster oven, took my sandwich to bed but passed out before I could eat it and then woke up startled and put my hand in my sandwich.  Good times.  I guess maybe getting fancy wasn't the best idea after all!

day three hundred hundred sixty-two.

Day Three Hundred Sixty-two Thursday  8/26/10

Dress: Pink Lace Vintage Grandma Dress

Purchased From:  Country Gift and Thrift Shoppe 

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010

Price: $4

Accessories:  Black flats
Hair and Makeup: Down and curled a bit with pinned back bangs

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Michael liked the dress

This dress is from one of my favorite thrift stores ever.  I used to shop there in high school and they even sell "plain clothes" so you know I went through a phase of wearing Amish girl dresses and combat boots.  They have the cutest stuff here, both clothing and household goods and man oh man, they are wicked cheap compared to Philly thrift prices.  They're wicked cheap compared to any thrift prices really.  I don't really want to share this secret place but I guess I shouldn't be greedy.  It's here, so happy thrifting if you wander there!  The dress itself is lovely, though got a little itchy as the day went on since it's lace.  Thursday was a pretty good day.  I spent the day working and then headed to school to pick up my portfolio.  My professor told me I had the most organized portfolio of the whole class, that I got an A and that she looked forward to hearing me read my work someday.  That was pretty cool.  I headed over Chic Petique to buy cat litter and food for the little foster lady and then to Yappy Hour, in Liberties walk.  I saw a cute wiener dog and drank a little sangria and hung out for a bit with my friends Chad and Lindsay.  I then headed to the liquor store and bought a bottle of red wine, Arrogant Frog Pinot Noir- maybe the best wine name ever.  I then drove into center city to pick up mr. flat bike tire husband man from work.  We came home and I made us veggie meatloaf with tater tots and homemade cheese sauce and tri-color beans sauteed with almonds and sesame seeds.  We ate and drank red wine and watched The Informant.  I'd say Thursday was a pretty amazing day.  

day three hundred hundred sixty-one.

 

Day Three Hundred Sixty-one Wednesday  8/25/10

Dress:  Green Cotton Pinup inspired Dress

Purchased From:  Circle Thrift

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010

Price: $5

Accessories:  Brown knee socks, bird/swirl pattern boots, leopard print cardigan
Hair and Makeup: Two buns and bangs twisted and pulled back, usual makeup with green eyeshadow, yellow and clear sunglasses

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  Some dude asked (from a moving van) if I needed any help "walking those dogs" when I was walking two large dogs.  

This dress is actually longer than knee length, but I wanted to wear boots since the weather was so delicious so I pinned it up on both sides to change the length and shape of it a bit.  I dig the boob area of this dress quite a bit, it's flattering for the larger chested ladies.  Man alive it was awesome to wear knee highs, boots and a cardigan.  I wish it could always be seventy-something degrees.  

Wednesday was a pretty good day.  I spent the morning dorking out on the computer, got ready and headed out to work.  After work I hung out with Sue and Lemon and we took a trip to Whole Foods.  My friend Kristin had mentioned she'd eaten an avocado, bacon and tomato sandwich the night before so I was craving one something fierce, veggie though, of course.  Sue and I had a nice shopping time and Lemon dug the sites and sounds of a bustling Whole Foods, cute.  I came home and made avocado, veggie turkey and bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches on 12 seed sourdough.  DELICIOUS! Michael and I watched Louie and then I watched Whip It.  Cute, but it was more of a coming of age story with some derby peppered in.  

Oh and this little lady (NOT the fat one, he's mine) needs a home so if you're interested leave me a comment! I'll make a serious flyer for her very soon.  She's wicked sweet! 

day three hundred hundred sixty.

Day Three Hundred Sixty Tuesday  8/24/10

Dress:  Denim with Red Piping Vintage Inspired Dress

Purchased From:  Morgantown Reuzit Shoppe

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010

Price: $5

Accessories:  Hunter wellies, two red barrettes, new cardigan from Target ($9.98!)
Hair and Makeup: Two low buns, bangs parted, usual makeup 

Comments/Compliments/Complaints:  A few dress compliments, my professor loved my portfolio, pictured above. 

That's my new cardigan.  I love it! I got the dress on Saturday and the cardigan on Sunday and the weather was beyond gorgeous on Tuesday so it sort of felt like when you're young and you get to wear your fresh back to school clothes.  I know it's still Summer but it felt like Fall and ooooooh man do I love me some Fall!!! How cute is that dress?!? I scored it thrift shopping with my Mom and the tag says faded glory so you know what that means right? It's from Walmart originally! Crazy. My hair was a little gross still from the hairspray incident of Monday so I just brushed it and threw it into two buns and added red barrettes to match the piping.   Because it was a tad rainy I also got to wear my favorite Wellies.  I am in need of some new Fall boots since I had to throw away my favorite faux suede black ones late Spring, as the entire back was blown out and the bottoms had holes.  Now my newer black sweater top boots are falling apart from the inside out and my favorite funny bird/swirl pattern boots have a huge hole/are ripped from the heel seam in the back of one of them.  Blargh!  Guess I need to make a trip to Payless or Bare Feet Shoes right quick! 

Anyway, enough rambling about boots.  I spent my morning working on final revisions of two of my stories and then headed out to work.  I came home for more final revisions and then headed to school to drop it off.  My professor was all about my actual portfolio- pictured above.  I got it for $10 at Target. I am quite fond of it myself and added a cute embellishment to it- a name tag made from card stock, a Martha Stewart address label sticker, patterned craft scissors and a hole punch.  I hope she likes the stuff inside just as much.  

I came home and cleaned for awhile and then made gnocchi, pesto sauce, pesto cream sauce, red sauce, garlic bread and small salads for dinner.  Michael's cousin Michele came over with her son, Cash, and we hung out with them for a bit before eating and watching a dvr'd episode of Weeds.