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 fifty-nine.

Day Three Hundred Fifty-nine Monday 8/23/10

Dress:  White with Black and Red circle Vintage Dress 

Purchased From:  Circle Thrift

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010

Price: $2.50 (color of the week half off)

Accessories:  Red knee socks, black flats and then later I changed into my Hunter Wellies, one white butterfly barrette
Hair and Makeup: Down and curled and those bitches fell out quick, usual makeup

Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Michael liked the dress/whole ensemble, a few other compliments I think. I can't remember. 

I love this dress! Imagine my excitement when I picked it up off the rack and saw that the tag color matched that of the half-off color of the week at Circle Thrift.  I was even more excited when I tried it on and it fit quite nicely.  I guess I should stop buying dresses at this point but they're like my crack.  I need to organize and bag a boatload of clothing.  My friend Rica just told me about a giant clothing swap in the Naval Yard in October so I'm going to have to get my stuff in order for maximum swappage.  This one sounds amazing with Buffalo Exchange and Urban Outfitters participating.  I can't wait! 

Monday was stupid humid.  I curled my hair and even used hair spray but it was nasty and ratty within an hour.  Good thing I took my pic for the day pretty early on! I didn't realize they were calling for rain so I wore flats but came home mid-day to change into my wellies and work on school work a bit.   I spent the day working, did some work on my final project for school and then headed to class.  Ugh, another day where we didn't do what she had planned.  It was supposed to be a final workshop but we were only to bring an excerpt of our story and all of us would read it and then discuss.  This didn't make much sense to me as reading aloud and only an excerpt does not a workshop make, but, at least it was going to be something.  Wrong! She let three people read their entire piece and then we were out of time.  I so didn't get any constructive criticism out of this class and I discovered in my last class that I kind of thrive on it and it's a huge freaking help.  We were also told that we had no actual class Tuesday or Thursday- that we could just drop off the final portfolio on Tuesday and pick it up Thursday.  So I totally got robbed of an entire week of class since she had cancelled the previous Thursday class.  I am such a nerd, but seriously, that's like two weeks of a regular semester.  I left school annoyed, came home and said Bye to Michael as he and some boys were watching motorcycle something or other- isle of man is that something? Yeah, let's go with that, at 700.  That left me to make myself some pasta with mushroom alfredo sauce and watch dvr'd episodes of Jersey Shore and Top Chef before spending the next four hours putting my final portfolio together.  I guess it was a pretty good night actually. 

day three hundred hundred forty-seven.

Day Three Hundred Forty-seven Wednesday 8/11/10

Dress:  White Floral Dress with Fancy Crocheted Back

Purchased From: Mishel's clothing swap 

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010
Price: $FREE

Accessories:  Green flats
Hair and Makeup: During the day two low side buns and barrettes, in the evening the side pinned up and the other side in a bun, usual makeup with tons of green and blue MAC eyeshadows.

Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Michael, Sue and Rica liked my dress

I love this dress.  It's so pretty I can just stare at it and it makes me happy. The back is pretty fabulous and fancy too.  I snagged it at the clothing swap and will probably hand it down to my friend Becky next since her friend thought she'd like it.  I told her I'd wear it and give it to her because we all know I don't need any more dresses in my house. 

I got up early today and took the newly fixed Element to get inspected.  Ugh.  Next up on the agenda is a new clutch.  I am such a bad person when it comes to cars.  I have successfully murdered a Toyota Tercel via a thrown engine rod, a Honda Civic via a transmission but then some asshole fell asleep at the wheel and totaled it so that sort of worked in my favor, a BMW 318is via too many issues to list but one of them included a new clutch too and now the Element.  I need a fucking tank. I drive like an asshole, and often.  So I dropped it off and continued to use Rica's car, thanks Rica!  I came home and tore my house apart looking for something I got for Sue's birthday back in June.  Apparently planning ahead is not a good idea for pack rats.  The gift has jumped ship.  I did start on the cleanup of our middle room, the wood stove room.  It was torn apart during third floor bathroom construction, as we needed to run pipes to the basement.  This resulted in me losing a built in bookshelf, no good. All of the things that called the bookshelf home were boxed or bagged and placed on the futon.  It is piled high and looks awful.  I moved most of the books to our bedroom but so many other random things still reside on the futon graveyard.  The floor was also becoming inundated with junk, including the camping gear that needed to work its way to the basement.  I got a good bit done but there are miles to go before it's clean.  I did work some magic with the one piece of the oven that Michael salvaged when he got rid of his garage and two old ovens.  It now calls the top of the cabinets home.  Please ignore the awful wallpaper and cabinet colors.  We'll get to those eventually. 

After two hours of cleanup I still did not find the damn Sue jawn.  Ugh.  I'll track it down someday I'm sure.  Maybe in time for Christmas.  I realized how late it was and got my ass in gear, slapping on some makeup and making a veggie turkey wrap.  I spent the day working and then headed home for a quick hair change and freshening.  I picked up Rica, then picked up the Element- $450 later it's inspected and we got a $992 clutch replacement estimate.  Blargh.  It never ends.  I left the shop and started walking to Sue's, right around the corner, then realized that I had to walk back and get the Element.  After two weeks of not having it I guess I got used to it.  Ha.  I picked up Sue and Rica and we headed to Horizon's for dinner. Nom, nom,nom.  We all split a pitcher of sangria and Sue and I split the bbq seitan app and two entrees- the pan seared tofu and the grilled seitan.  It was delicious but I think we were both under the impression that splitting entrees means you should eat both of your halves in entirety.  We were quite full.  Our plans to head to Govinda's for vegan ice cream were foiled by our inability to stop eating.  After dinner we headed back to Sue's so I could load up her itunes with lullaby renditions of awesome music.  I had no idea this existed, it's really beautiful.  I gave her The Cure, Radiohead, Bjork, Journey, Nirvana, and The Ramones.  Lemon will be the coolest baby ever.  

I came home and snuggled with Michael and now I guess I should do some homework.  Yup, I'll do that. 

day three hundred hundred forty-five.

Day Three Hundred Forty-five Monday 8/9/10

Dress:  Off White and Grey Polka Dot Dress

Purchased From: Clothing Swap/Rica hand me down since I had first dibs on her bag 

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010
Price: $FREE

Accessories:  Black flats, squirrel bottle cap ring
Hair and Makeup: I stole this hair style from my friend Kelly- one side up and then the rest pulled over to the side.  She did a ponytail but it was hot so I opted for a side bun and twisted bangs. Usual makeup with some grey eyeshadow and red lips. 

Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Rica commented that I took her dress, Michael said something nice but I can't remember what. 

I snagged this dress from my friend Rica's bag that she asked us to take to the clothing swap for her since she was out of town for a weeding.  It was a little big and showed my bra so I used a piece of ribbon to connect the two straps in the back and one safety pin to make it more fitted.  I liked the romantic, classic feel of the dress so I went with some romantic hair and makeup.  I took a few pics of the hair/makeup but I was already sweating profusely so they are beyond not cute in the sweaty forehead department.  

It was so, so hot today.  Lots of people said no, it's nice, there's a breeze.  I whole heartedly disagree.  I drank something like forty ounces of water by 3 pm. I peed and sweated a lot.  Dumb.  I spent my morning working on my Cinderella revision and I think I have some ideas to fix it. I'll keep working on it.  I headed out to work in the heat and then went to school early and worked more on the story. The revision wasn't due today so that's good, I need to speak with my Professor about it before I hand it a fully revised story. Class was short because our Professor's husband had visited the hospital and been released earlier in the day and was waiting for her at home.  I went to Whole Foods and then came home and made dinner of sour cream mashed potatoes Quorn veggie gruyere chicken cutlets, and a small spinach salad.  Michael and I watched some of Pineapple Express until he fell asleep and I headed out to the airport to retrieve Rica, Albert and Keith.  I got home and did some more tv therapy when I should've been doing homework.  Blargh.  

Before I go I need to mention that my Mom had to put our final dachshund to sleep today.  He was the last of five that spanned twenty-four years.  I remember when he was born and when my now roommate Steve came to meet him and maybe take him home.  I was not happy about that situation and had no clue we'd become great friends and one day live together.  Luckily Chewy stayed with us and I bonded with him something fierce.  He will be sorely missed, as will the rest of those fabulous wiener dogs.  Rest in Peace little doggies. 

day three hundred hundred thirty-eight.

Day Three Hundred Thirty-eight Monday 8/2/10

Dress:  White and Red Floral Sundress

Purchased From:  Conway

Year or Era Purchased: Summer 2010
Price: $8.99

Accessories:  Black flats
Hair and Makeup:  Brushed, usual makeup 

Comments/Compliments/Complaints: One of my clients complimented my dress

I like the dress better on the hanger.  It fits sort of weird and the ruching is not so much flattering.  My boobs are a bit unfortunate in it at certain angles and it doesn't offer up much support.  Oh well. I put very minimal effort into anything beauty related on Monday because  I was exhausted and had a full plate.

I woke up early and started my homework.  I knew I had an insanely busy day that included homework, work, picking up a dog who is staying here, midterm, school, and eventually home.  I had to rewrite Cinderella, which I found extremely boring and uninspiring.  I suppose it's my own fault.  Now I know what all of those stupid reality show contestants mean when they say it's hard to show themselves in challenges. Ugh, did I just commiserate with reality show contestants?  I find that in this particular class we have a lot of small writing assignments and I'm having trouble fitting my style and voice into the assignments.  I need to fix that asap.  I made my Cinderella story a figment of my main character's imagination, as she is a patient in a mental institution.  I did not do it very well.  It's supposed to have a twist type ending, though I sincerely don't love those so I'm not sure what business I have employing them.  See what I mean, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Stupid Cinderella.  I pumped that story out in two hours, started work and worked all day, got to school at 5 to take the midterm I missed on Thursday then went to class.  Phew. That's a lot of running around in one day.  By the time I came home I was exhausted.  I made sandwiches for dinner and Michael and I watched True Blood, which was a great way to end the busy day.