Cue the Harmonica Solo

Posted in Fashion by Girl Friday

Two 12-hour work days left me a little loopy this morning. I pulled out this old favorite necklace of mine — a small harmonica — and while taking photos, I regaled B with an improvised harmonica concert. When I was done, he graciously clapped for me — and then the ham took over and I went into full-force bows and curtsies like I was at Carnegie Hall.

Too. Much. Work. Too. Little. Sleep.

This dress is a recent buy from Old Navy. I’ll use my mother’s favorite phrase: “It was on sale and I had a coupon!” What can I say, it’s genetic.

Old Navy’s been making dresses like this all year — a-line skirt, fitted bodice, spaghetti straps. While I hate having to always wear a sweater over these, the flow of the fabric is surprisingly nice and the fit is perfect. They also don’t all apart in the wash like so many Old Navy things do (like my awesome red pants just did this week — woe is me!).

We’re at that point in September when I don’t know what I should dress for. Monday through Wednesday this week, the temperatures were in the 90s, then yesterday is was in the low 70s and rainy. I decided to pretend it was actually fall and pair the frock with my favorite mustard cardigan, tights, and cutie Oxford flats. I think the colors all pulled together in the end and made this a playful, Friday look.

Dress: Old Navy

Cardigan: Anthropologie

Tights: Target

Shoes: Naturalizer via DSW

Harmonica Necklace: Marolsha’s Shop via Etsy

10Sep2015

I’m Berry, Berry Tired

Posted in Fashion by Girl Friday

Last night was my first shift back at the theatre, and, phew, I was beat today! I had forgotten how hard 12+ hour days can be!

Waking up this morning was a struggle, especially since it was so grey and dreary out. I think I changed my outfit three times — each one, unintentionally, having a polka dotted element to it. I finally settled on black on black, with a dash of pink to brighten things up. One of the ways of making sure today’s outfit worked was making sure I could stretch in it. Odd, right? I pulled out the old half moon pose followed by hands to feet posture from Bikram yoga, to help awaken some muscles up. My cats think I’m a weirdo.

Tank: Old Navy

Cardigan: LOFT

Skirt: H&M

Shoes: TOMS

Necklace: Kohl’s?

One of my favorite ways to look awake (notice I said “look awake” and not “feel awake) is a good old swath of red lipstick. I also couldn’t resist sampling the new vampy hue I received yesterday from Birchbox, called “Smitten” from ModelCo. I own two other great shades from this brand because they’re so highly pigmented and, even when they do fade, they still leave a wonderful tint. It was another helluva day — including a meeting I was not looking forward to and a second round at the theatre tonight — so I used some of my favorite tricks to look and feel professional.

3Sep2015

Labor (Day) Pains

Posted in Fashion by Girl Friday

I couldn’t help playing “labor pains” off of my disappointment over summer’s end with Labor Day. Sorry, folks!

When I buy clothes, there are certain qualities I look for: comfort, ease and wearability over 12+ hour days; some originality and fun-ness (yes, that’s a word now, deal); a great shape. Pockets are a plus too — especially in dresses.

At one point this morning, I seriously questioned why I ever bought this dress. It is a full wrap style, meaning I was relying on a button to stay in place all day for this to work. Risky. To fix that problem — and the weird button-lump that was happening — I decided to safety pin myself in. Ladies with large chests with understand this: it is flipping hard to twist yourself in such a way as to see under your boob. I needed both hands for pinning so I couldn’t, like, lift myself out of the way. I instead had my neck and shoulders cranked and contorted around and kind of underneath… Really not glamourous.

After four (!!) attempts, I finally asked B to help. When he too failed, I pulled the frock off, laid it out of my bed, pinned accordingly and shimmied back in. And, wonderfully, that method worked.

Dress: H&M

Shoes: TOMS

Jewelry: Global Odyssey

The guffawing in the fourth and fifth photos are reactions to one of our cats, who is out of the frame. Sweetie was casually laying around watching this mini-photo shoot. As we weren’t paying attention to her, she flung her little purple ball at me — attempting to photo-bomb everything. She obviously elicited a reaction, so I guess she won.

16Aug2015

Balancing Act

Posted in Fashion by Girl Friday

Dress: Old Navy

Cardigan: Loft

Belt: Target

Shoes: TOMS

Earrings: Old Navy

I was rereading some old posts and noticed how often I mention that my work days are hard or tough or trying in some way. There are few people in the world who can say that their occupations are stressless, worry-free, ideal. While I’m not one obviously, I also don’t want to imply that my professional life is somehow abysmal: in my full-time gig, I’m lucky to work in my favorite little city, learning its ins and outs, and talking to people everyday about it; in my side job, I engage with people at a theatre — a place where they are actively partaking in hours of social make-believe. Considering I’m not-yet-30, I would say those are pretty sweet deals.

That said, here’s the rehearsed line: “yesterday was a hard day.” We had a huge work event in the high heat of August. There were unclear expectations, a lot of problems to resolve on the spot, and some unkind actions. I came home — hot, sticky, tired, achy — took a bath, drank a glass of wine and cried. It was one of the hardest work days I’ve ever experienced.

As I’m about to turn 30, I’ve been thinking of the changes my life should take. (In some weird, macabre way, when I was a child, I never thought I would live to 20, let alone 30, imagining I would die young, tragically, romantically. Too much Poe and Shakespeare for me, I suppose.) I’ve considered the professional, the financial, the familial, the physical; yesterday’s event, though, veered me to the hardest needs and wants, goals and dreams to consider — the emotional, the personal, the intellectual. “What type of person do I want to be?” “What lessons have gone unlearned thusfar?” “How will I be remembered when I’m gone?”

I have an unhealthy work-life balance, as in, there is no balance. I work a lot — for ten months a year, I average 50-60 hour work weeks — and I let everything else slide. Friendships have withered, my exercise routine is null, and I’m left tired and dull feeling so often. That’s not who I want to be, nor is that how I want others to think or remember me, the workhorse with no life. Yesterday truly made me think: is this it? Is this all I have to hold on to — this beat, extinguished feeling? I reflected back to this window when I was 25 when life was perfect: I worked a full-time and a part-time job; ran several times a week; took poetry writing classes; organized a high school reunion with old friends; and courted B by walking around the city. There was hope and happy exhaustion. And that’s want I want again.

While this is mainly a fashion blog, over the next few months, I’me endeavoring to share my “30th birthday resolutions:” the aspirations I’m hoping to incorporate as I close one chapter to open another.

13Aug2015

Vampin’ It

Posted in Fashion by Girl Friday

You know when you’ve hit that point when you’re so tired and so stressed that it comes out in fits of giggles? Yeah, that’s this week. (I’d much rather have that than an explosion of anger or tears!)

Today was (yet-another) a long haul day: running around in prepping for an event Saturday, a private group tour of the museum, and then manning the museum for an after hours thing that takes place outside the building. This dress, though, is my go-to for such days. I slip it on like a jacket, zip it up, DONE. And it looks classy. It’s so easy to wear, I was — literally –showing a coworker how to do downward dog in it. (I made sure to put my butt toward the wall because, despite being magically wonderful, this dress is still too short for yoga. You pick your battles when dress shopping.)

I upped the ante with some vampy red lipstick. While not autumn just yet, I couldn’t resist the nod in its direction. I’m trying so desperately to savor the last bits of summer, but I can’t help looking to the fall: tweed jackets, scarves, boots, and all.

I felt very 1940’s starlet with the lipstick and “fancy dress” (as a volunteer called it) that I tried to channel that in some of these photos. That obviously devolved quickly into goofiness, including the quintessential “lemon face”/”lion face.” B, who is still recuperating from surgery last week, laughed at the inanity of this mini-shoot. While there are some photos here, I declined posting those in which I: shook my butt dancing; nearly fell over; made overly animated face and hand gestures while on a phone call. You don’t need to see that, I promise.

Considering I’m still a day away from this big event, I’m really curious about how the punchiness will manifest in the near future!