thirty before thirty progress

I'm happy to report that I'm making some pretty good progress on my thirty before thirty list, and I've only been 29 for about two weeks!

The biggest thing, and the reason I look like I'm bursting with happiness in this photo, is that I booked a trip to France and Italy for next August! And I'm going alone! I am so excited I keep grinning ear-to-ear. I'm doing a group tour that starts out in Paris and then ends in Rome. So this will take care of numbers 4 (Travel to Europe) and 5 (Travel somewhere alone) on my list. I seriously can't believe I'm actually doing it. I've been dreaming about this my whole life.

I'm doing well with number 1 (learn French) which is really going to come in handy now! I've been trying to use the Duolingo app every night and I've only missed a couple days so far. For number 6 (complete a 30 before 30 watchlist) I've completed the list of movies I want to watch over the next year (you can view the list here) but so far I've only watched one of them. It was Eyes Without a Face, one that I'd been wanting to see for a while and I'm SO GLAD I finally watched it. It's one of my favorite new-to-me movies this year.

I'm also making progress with number 7 (start driving) I actually drove myself to the movies last week! I'm still a little nervous about actually being on the road (I'm mostly scared of other drivers more than anything else) but I feel like I'm very skilled at handling the car now. And once I get even more comfortable I'll be able to really get to work on numbers 28 (go to the movies more often) and 15 (volunteer)

I've made a little headway on number 13 (reading books on the middle ages) I have a book called 1215 that's all about the year that the Magna Carta was signed, and I'm dead set on finishing it while it's still 2015, the 800th anniversary year. I'm about 1/4 of the way through. I also started this book on The Black Death, which seems like it'll be very good, too.

The one that I'm still having a lot of trouble with is 22 (spend my time more wisely) This one is probably going to take all 12 months of being 29 because it's more of a lifestyle change than just trying to complete a task, you know? I waste way too much time on the internet or just dawdling when I should be getting work done. Sometimes I legitimately decide to skip projects entirely because it would take away from my movie-watching time. It's slightly pathetic. I'm working on it though!

That's about it so far. I'm seriously so excited about Paris and Rome, though, I think this must be what it feels like to be in love. I'm giddy and floating and I cannot stop smiling. Somebody pinch me, this can't be real!

shirt - asos

happy thanksgiving

Feeling thankful for my family, my cats, my friends, my health, my brain, potatoes, sleep, the internet, pizza, $1 unsweetened iced tea from mcdonalds, living in an era where we have access to almost every movie ever made, Tina Fey, being my own boss (which allows me to sleep late every day and travel often), color, music, crisp fall air, Alain Delon, and this pretty vintage dress. And more stuff that I just can't think of right now. Oh, air conditioning. And modern medicine, duh.

dress - vintage | shoes - bait footwear

(ps. bait is offering 30% off everything right now. I DIE.)

winter mood

First of all, this picture of Claudia Cardinale is HAIR GOALS x 1000. I mean, seriously, this hair might be all I've ever wanted in life. I'm actually kind of close to achieving it (!!) so I might do a tutorial. I'm in the process of growing out my bangs so it doesn't look exactly like hers yet but I'm working on it. THAT DAY WILL SOON COME.

Anyway. This is just a little post of pictures I've been accumulating on my computer that are inspiring my winter wardrobe and hair/makeup. Right now I'm really into darker colors, a late 60's/early 70's aesthetic with a little bit of edgy 90's thrown in for good measure; heavy eye makeup and nude lips. And bell sleeves, always. I really need to start taking more outfit posts because I've been VERY happy with a lot of my outfits lately. It's just such a hassle to take them in like the only five minutes in the early afternoon when the lighting doesn't actually suck. I've had the same issue with product photos, I swear I have the cutest batch of little Christmas brooches that have been ready to go since October but I keep missing the time of day when you could actually see them without turning on all of the lights in the house :\

So somehow this turned into yet another post complaining about lighting, blerg. Okay, here are the pictures!

















60's hair and makeup + middle ages armor and chain maille? YES PLEASE.

anything goes

This probably shouldn't even count as an outfit post since I didn't get good photos, but it's really the only outfit I have left to share from the trip. I did wear clothes every day, I swear, I just didn't get good pictures of most of them.

I wore this the night of the theme party, where you're supposed to get all dolled up. I've never been on a TCM Cruise before so I had no idea if it was like ballgown-dressy, cocktail party-dressy or semi-fancier-than-jeans dressy so I just played it safe with a little black dress. As it turns out, people really do get super dressed up, a lot of people wore period clothing (it is a classic movie-themed cruise, after all!) complete with feather boas and everything! I'm definitely going to bring something fancier when I go next time!

I've been in a horrible funk ever since I got home, to be honest. I'm usually really excited about getting home after vacations but this time I'm having a really difficult time getting back into my normal routines and I've been kind of grouchy. I've been spending way too much time looking at group travel packages to Europe and dreaming about my next adventure. I guess a lot of this is tied up in my whole age-crisis stuff (#firstworldproblems) but I just feel like I need a major change.

dress - asos | shoes - blowfish

sail away

Time is such a funny thing. It seems like just yesterday that I was packing for my trip, dreading waking up at quarter to five in the morning to catch my flight. Now I've already been home for a week and my vacation is only a memory. And I'd give anything to be preparing for a sleepless night and early flight.

These photos were taken when we docked at Disney's Castaway Cay. I'm not even going to try to describe how pretty it is there, but suffice to say my photos don't begin to do it justice. I don't think even the most expensive camera could capture this kind of beauty. And humans haven't invented technology yet that would let you feel the breeze and the warm glow of the sun (although I'm tempted to turn on my oscillating fan just for effect.)

I found this cute vintage sweater a week or so before the trip and I thought it was so perfect! I'm not usually very good at packing for trips, I always choose things that are wildly inappropriate for the weather or they aren't comfortable enough, etc. but I think I did really good this time around.

Now I'm off to play catch-up on the work that piled up while I was away! Thanks a million to everyone who took me up on the postcard sale offer! I'm hoping to have everything shipped by Monday. And my parents just got the postcard I sent them, so hopefully everyone's cards should be arriving now! I hope you like them!

sweater - vintage | shorts - asos | shoes - bait footwear | sunglasses - ebay

take me back

Well, I'm home. I'm usually really glad to be back home after vacation, but this time I've having some pretty intense vacation withdrawal. I just want to be back there so badly!

I went on the TCM Cruise, which stopped in The Cayman Islands and Disney's Castaway Cay in The Bahamas. If you're not familiar with the cruise, it's a Turner Classic Movies themed voyage where they show classic films on board, have interviews with classic film stars (this time they had Eva Marie Saint, Angie Dickinson, Roger Corman, Lou Gossett Jr. and Ruta Lee on board!) and events with the hosts on the network, Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz. To say it was bliss would be the understatement of the year!

I watched 12 movies during the trip, and still had plenty of time leftover for what quickly became my favorite thing to do on the ship - stare at the ocean. It might seem boring but it was mesmerizing and even thinking about it gives me goosebumps! I'm clearly a pretty big movie fan (I wouldn't have been on this trip if I wasn't!) and while *watching* movies is certainly one of my favorite pastimes, there's something to be said for feeling like you're in a movie as well. Standing at the railing overlooking the water, nothing but sea and sky around me, my hair blowing in the wind, was as cinematic a moment as I've ever had. I felt like I was Monica Vitti and I'm not sure much else in life can top that.

dress - vintage | shoes - bait footwear

bon voyage!

When you're reading this I'll be completely surrounded by ocean without a single spot of land in sight!! I'm away on my very first cruise (and the TCM Cruise, no less!) So exciting! I'll try to stop back and share snippets from my vacation, but if I can't then I'll definitely share more when I get back.

In the meantime, I left my shop open during my trip and I'm doing my absolute favorite store promotion while I'm away! If you make a purchase using the coupon code "SHIPAHOY" any time between now and November 7th you will receive 15% off. If you are a US resident & you make your purchase using this code before November 5th I'll also send you a hand-written postcard while I'm on vacation! I'm so happy with how this postcard design came out (pictured above.) If you're interested in taking me up on the sale offer, you can shop right here.

where are these mangoes?

For Halloween I dressed up as my favorite clone from Orphan Black, Helena! I went with her season 1 look -- black pants, a white shirt, boots, and a dark green hooded parka -- but I had to include Pupok, too! According to the creators of the show Pupok has been a part of Helena's life since she was a child so even though we don't see the scorpion until this past season it was probably keeping Helena company in season 1 too.



I really wanted to do the bloody white wedding dress look but I couldn't find any cheap dresses that would do the trick. This is probably way more functional, anyway, since I'll definitely wear the jacket and white shirt in daily life (the pants and boots were already in my closet) The wig won't come in handy again unless I get to cosplay at some point (fingers crossed) btw if you're interested in dressing up as Helena at some point, this is just a curly blonde wig that I teased and I colored the roots in with a black sharpie!



And a Helena costume wouldn't be complete unless I was stuffing my mouth full of food, right? Behold - the least flattering photo of me in existence. If Tatiana can do it for her art, I can do it for Halloween ;D