sick day

Hey, long time no see! I'm currently getting over a nasty cold, and I remembered this post from 2011 when I was SO determined to share five outfit posts per week (PER WEEK) that I took sick-day outfit pictures from my bed. My god, I can barely muster five outfit posts per year now.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to recreate the photo and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I'm wearing a wig that I picked up on Hollywood Blvd. when I was in California a couple weeks ago, and a vintage robe that I got on etsy a few years back. That 2011 outfit post has always been one of my favorites but, dare I say, I actually like this new one even better. I guess it just fits my current aesthetic more.

I know I'm always promising to do more posts and then disappearing for weeks (months?) but I really do intend to pick up the outfit posts again shortly :)

DIY-ish VHS tape purse

Last week I saw this purse on Forever 21. It was one of those things where something catches your eye and you get excited about it but then you look closely and realize it's not as awesome as you originally thought. I mean, the concept is AMAZING (especially for a rabid movie fan like me!) and the attention to detail is pretty great. I don't know if you can see it in my photos but the bag is embossed with "Be Kind Please Rewind" and "Open this side only" along the top of the purse.

Unfortunately, it says "VHS and Chill" on the label *vomit*

It also has a cheap chain for a strap (actually not the one pictured here. I threw mine in the garbage as soon as I got it -- I hated it THAT MUCH lol -- and just grabbed this one from another bag in order to take the photos.) which is acceptable if I'm just hanging something up in my room for storage or decor but if I want to actually use it and wear it, I never wear bags with chain straps.



Anyway. So I obviously bought the bag anyway. And I thought if anyone out there is as obsessed with novelty bags (esp. movie themed ones!!) as I am, and wants to be able to wear this one without Forever 21's tacky slogan, I better share what I did to my bag :)

You'll need:

This VHS bag from Forever 21
A black shoulder strap (I got mine from amazon here)
Vinyl sticker paper
An inkjet printer
My VHS label template* (download here)

*If you want to make this more personalized, you can take a photo or scan a label from your own VHS collection and print it on the vinyl sticker paper. Just make sure it's sized to approximately 3 1/4" x 2 1/8" to fit over the F21 label.




I scanned the label from one of my old VHS tapes and then in photoshop I wrote in the titles of my favorite movies. I alternated pen styles so it would look like I had recorded on the tape on different days, and I crossed out one title like I had recorded over it. If you don't have photoshop, you can just print out my label template and then write directly on the label in sharpie.

Attach your strap, cut out the label (I did slightly rounded corners when I cut it out to mimic an old VHS label) and attach the label to the bag. Since it's vinyl it'll be more weather resistant than a regular paper label and it should hold up to wear-and-tear if you use the bag.

I'm so excited about this bag now! I can't wait to wear it to the movies!

the sun will come out right now

I had some health problems for a big chunk of January, and I'm finally starting to feel good again. You know that first "well" day when you just wake up feeling better than the day before? Food tastes wonderful, everything smells amazing, you finally put on makeup and remember that it is ACTUALLY POSSIBLE to not look like a zombie. I still don't feel 100% but I'm SO glad that I'm on the mend because I'm leaving for a short trip to Disney World on Sunday!

I'm just flying down for three days (one in the parks) but I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't been back in over two years! Considering I used to be an annual passholder, that's pretty sad. But this is my first time back with contacts, so I'm finally going to be able to watch Philharmagic without layering the 3D glasses over my glasses! And I can wear sunglasses outside without sacrificing my vision! It's all very exciting.

I tried to take a close-up of my sweater/brooch combo, but the sun came out in full force and my blinds started casting striped shadows all over my room and I couldn't keep my eyes open without squinting! Tbh though I'll take it! I feel like it was raining for the last like.. three weeks? The sun is definitely very welcome, no matter how many photo ops it might ruin ;D

sweater - amazon | dress - asos | brooch set - my shop | shoes - bait footwear

memories are made of this

I feel like this bag deserves its own post here on Scathingly Brilliant. If you've been following for a while, you might already know that this bag is the STUFF OF LEGEND. The earliest mention I could find is from 2012, and then I brought it up again in 2013, and once again in 2014. I even talked about it (although it wasn't included in the final copy) in an interview about my Delia's catalog collection just last month. It's been at the top of my ebay wishlist for at least a decade now. I have literally searched some variation of "roxy strawberry bag" every month for years.

It's funny how memories change over time -- I am positive now that I had the bag in high school (I found a photo of me in front of my locker where the straps of the bag are visible. It's like I'm engaging in narcissistic archeology here) but in the past I referred to it as a bag from middle school, and 'circa 1999' (it's more likely 2000-2001.) I mentioned once that I sold it on ebay, but now I think I might have either given it to my grandmom, just lost it entirely, donated it to Goodwill... or sold it on ebay. Who knows.

But regardless of how fuzzy my memories of when and where I had it, the image of the bag itself has always been crystal clear in my mind. And when I typed in "roxy strawberry bag" on ebay last week and saw it show up in the results, I knew immediately I had FINALLY found it again. I don't think I've ever added something to my cart and completed checkout so fast in my entire life.

Getting it in the mail the other day, holding it in my hands again, I immediately flashed back to being ~13, sitting in the passenger seat of my parents' station wagon, Delia's catalog in hand, emphatically making my sales pitch to my dad. We didn't have a ton of money and I didn't beg for pricey items very often, so the ones that I did ask for, the ones that I did get, stand out in my mind: an oversized Adidas coat in 5th grade (I STILL have it and it's STILL my play-in-the-snow coat!); a pair of wide-leg Limited Too jeans in 6th grade; a Roxy shoulder bag with embroidered strawberries from the Delia's catalog.

Things don't matter that much, but memories do. And sometimes the two are so intertwined that the things take on a significance much, much greater than their thingness.

ps. thingness is a word! I thought I was making it up at first but then spell check didn't underline it, and I googled it, and it is a word. You learn something new everyday...