belt it out

With few exceptions, I really like the classic hourglass shape for most of my wardrobe, so I tend to cinch almost everything I wear with a belt. I love wearing them, but most have this long trail of extra belt fabric with nowhere to put it! So these are just three ways that I deal with that little fashion conundrum. The first (and one I use most often) is looping it around itself so that the excess gets tucked downwards, and doesn't just flail about all over the place. It's perfect for skinny belts!


Wide belts are the hardest to deal with, since you really can't tuck them or knot them without seriously wrinkling the belt. I use decorative bobby pins (they have to be tight or else they'll just pop right off) and they work like a charm! If I'm wearing a cardigan over the top, I'll just use a normal black bobby pin since nobody can see it anyway.


If all else fails, I just make a knot out of the belt, and stick it off to the side. For really long belts (some of mine seem to have like three feet sticking off the end! What the heck!) you can even make a bow!

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Make your ultimate ice cream sundae! Sprinkles? Walnuts? Hot apples? Asparagus?

Television prettification DIY

They sell skins for your ipod and covers for your cell phone. A utilitarian lamp can be beautified with a pretty lampshade. Windows, beds and floors can all be personalized with curtains, sheets and rugs. And yet televisions are universally sold in either black or gray (I lucked out finding a white one, albeit I had to resort to buying off-brand to do so.) They don't sell clip-on tv covers or special tv-paint to spruce up the giant ugly black THING sitting in your bedroom corner. Unless you have a cabinet in which to tuck away the hideousness, it sticks out like a sore thumb in your living room.

This problem has annoyed me for years - ever since I first got a television when I was about 14 years old. My parents gave me the old living room tv when they upgraded, and as thrilled as I was to finally have one of my own, I was super peeved that it didn't match the rest of my room. It was silver and black with wood-grain paneling on the sides. Being oblivious to things like fire hazards at the time, I covered the whole box in a faux-textured acrylic paint and made it look like a giant block of cement. It lasted me at least 6 years before I had to get a new one, believe it or not!

Now that my previous tv kicked the dust, I had to start from scratch yet again. Not wanting to paint this time, I sought advice on how to personalize my tv on twitter. The ever-ingenious Casey from Noir Girl suggested contact paper! I zipped over to etsy and found a roll of vintage 60's contact paper for only $6. Score!! My mom and I covered the tv today, and it only took about 40 minutes. Granted this particular pattern is not for everyone (once finished I asked my mom how she liked it and she said "well... it's definitely YOU." I took it as a compliment.) but the results are endless depending on what kind of design you choose!

We measured how tall my tv was, and how much of a lip we wanted on the sides. Then we cut that out using the grid on the back. Then we measured how far in we had to go on the top & sides, and cut that out as well, creating an open box in the middle for my tv screen. The rest was done using an exact-o knife, running along the plastic ridges on my tv box. Only pressing lightly I was able to cut the paper without even really touching my tv.

Since the paper is really old, I reinforced the edges with a little bit of clear tape to make sure it wouldn't unstick. I finished by cutting out designs from the remaining scraps to cover my cable box and dvd player, too! Now I have a whole matching entertainment console that blends in with the rest of my room, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb! :)

don't get around much anymore

It's not very glamourous, but this is my ideal night. Cozy on my couch with my cat, watching one of my favorite tv shows (or movies) with grapefruit juice. Hypatia's actually been under the weather again ("when is she not?", you're probably thinking .. I know, she's a hot mess!) and a trip to the vet today confirmed that she has a bladder infection :( At least now she has medicine in her system and should be back to normal soon! I'm just a little down because she was finally starting to look fluffy again after I had her shaved last year, and now all the fur on her back legs is patchy and thinning from her licking too much.

I know it's TMI.. sorry! A family friend stopped over our house today with her baby boy, and I had to try REALLY hard to suppress the urge to respond to all of her baby stories with similar stories about my cats. Sometimes "crazy cat lady" isn't having too many cats, it's taking the few you do have wayyyy too seriously lol! ;-D

ps. If you saw me tweeting about my new tv, this isn't it. I took the photo a few days ago before the new one got here :) Pictures will be up after I cover it in contact paper! Oh yes.