Try-it-out Tuesday: slightly Goth

Zara silk buttondown, thrifted

Style and Co. petite dress, Macy's

necklace (shortened with a bracelet), Forever 21

         This outfit has a bit of a Goth feel to it - I think it's because of the sheen of the silk and the puffed sleeve. I like the simplicity of black and white but I'm not sure this is 100% my style. Still, it was a fun outfit to wear to take my friend out for drinks and dinner. Somehow I end up being the friend who drives ... and gets to drink an ounce of wine as a result. I usually don't mind, since I'm much more interested in the food! 
         I found this buttondown at Goodwill and decided to take it home, despite it being an XL. It's obviously too big worn as is, but can be knotted, or layered under something.

          Whenever I look at my photos lately, all I notice is my massively overgrown haircut. I enjoy having long hair, but in reality I keep it in a messy bun all day to keep it off my neck. I need a haircut soon because it's getting so heavy that it's uncomfortable. The crazy curls and waves in the first photo are what happens when I first take my hair out of the bun. And then it gets scraped into a ponytail for going out ... I know, it doesn't make any sense.

chambray, flowers, and a dose of randomness

New York and Company chambray shirt, thrifted

Style & Co. petite dress and Fossil necklace, Macy's

      I've been liking longer necklaces lately, so I extended this necklace with a bracelet. The nice thing about lengthening it is that you get a peek at the charms attached to the clasp.

      I'm feeling random today, so here are some random snippets from my life (hopefully they distract you from the fact that I am wearing this chambray shirt again): 

      Random grammatical error that irks me: when people confuse "weary" and "wary." In other words, I am weary of people who are not wary of grammatical errors and are too lazy to do some basic checking to figure out the difference.

      Random thing I learned about myself: It looks like I will be a fourth-grade teacher next year, so I was browsing fourth-grade-teacher blogs for tips and projects the other day. What did I learn? I learned that I absolutely cannot follow bloggers who use the word "cray-cray," multiple exclamation points, and ellipses in every other sentence. She may be a great teacher with engaging lessons, but I'll never know - because her writing gives me a headache.

      Random obsession: Homemade chocolate ganache, eaten straight out of the container. Tonight I just might slather it onto macadamia nut shortbread. 

     Random wardrobe realization: I can't remember the last time I wore my beloved jeans (according to the blog, it was on May 6, although I did wear other kinds of pants since then). I suppose my jeans forgot to tell me that they were sneaking off for summer vacation -  they got spoiled last year when I sent them away for Jeans-free June. I love jeans, but it's great to make better use of my dresses and skirts. 

     Random new responsibility: One of my aikido instructors is out due to health problems, so as the senior student, I have taken over teaching the twice-a-week classes. I don't have much confidence in my ability to teach aikido yet, so this is a stretch, but sometimes not-so-comfortable but necessary experiences help us grow.  And, it's a wonderful feeling to give back to the club after having benefited so much as a student.

Want to tell me something random? Leave me a comment. :)

Try-it-out Tuesday: rockin' the socks?

knee socks, Wal-Mart

dress, Macy's

      I am pretty sure that 35-year-olds are not supposed to be wearing knee socks. But then I spotted this pair for less than $3 at Wal-Mart, and figured, why not? This outfit kept mutating (red cardigan or linen buttondown knotted at waist? chunky pumps or sneakers? pink belt or no belt?)
     This post could also be titled, "for want of a shoe." I was excited to thrift these Dansko pumps, but like just about every pump I've met, I cannot keep them on my feet. Even with heel inserts and the socks, I feel like I'm about to walk out of them. I've heard that some folks put double-stick tape under their heel, and I'll try that before I send them back to the thrift store. So for practicality I went with the sneakers, which definitely don't go as well with the knee socks, but oh well.

      Does anyone else get blog fatigue? I've noticed that for the last week or so, I haven't been really excited about reading my bloglovin or Google Reader feed. Never thought the day would come ... but I guess the good thing is that it frees up some time to read books!  : D I'm looking forward to diving into Nova Ren Suma's "Imaginary Girls" next.