What I wore today: 06/30/2011

I'm quite pleased with the photos I took at the railroad tracks today. How do you like them? Today is the hottest of the year (not saying much since it's been all rain so far) but I was feeling the sun today!

When Ryan saw these pictures, he said I looked like a girl from the 1920s in a town too small. Haha, love it!

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Vintage boater hat: Ebay

Lacy bobbie socks: Ruche

Vintage saddle oxfords: Ebay

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The cutest thing in my closet

The cutest thing in my closet? Velvet of course.

P.S. How many fabrics do you recognize from previous posts? Two are dresses I've made since I've been keeping this blog.

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What did I buy at the Outnet?

I just dropped some cash at The Outnet, an online designer outlet that is seriously my new obsession. The great thing about The Outnet is that you can own some amazing designer items that you might not be able to afford otherwise; the bad thing is that amazing deals like 75% off might lead you to forget that 75% off a pair of Alaïa shoes is still a $700 pair of shoes.

I didn't get anything that expensive myself, but I did spend a substantial portion of my paycheck. I'll show you everything when it arrives, but, while I keep you in suspense, here's a preview . . .

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Vegan potluck and horses

Last night I went to a vegan potluck at my friend Betsi's house to celebrate Solstice and June birthdays (including hers, mine, and my good friend Leah's)

The food was wonderful.

After eating I spent most of my night in the barn, petting horses and letting these two adorable deaf girls play with my camera. One of them would always demonstrate for me what facial expression or pose she wanted me to do and then take a picture. It was so cute.

Leah and Orion

Kisses

I brought apples and the girls help me feed them

Kim put this baby to sleep by scratching his forehead.

When I'm with the Joneses, we always have to do a classic foot picture. Can you guess mine?

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Happiness and beautiful things

I've been listening to The Happiness Project in my car and it's gotten me thinking about my own happiness, what I can do to savor it when it comes and what I can to to create more of it. It's an extraordinary power, the ability to make yourself happy.

So today, my first day of rest in a long time has been, in large part devoted to doing things that bring me joy. Of course this means a lot of sitting by the pool reading, but I've also been productive. I hung a belt rack in my closet this morning (Using a power drill honest makes me really happy! - something I discovered working in the scene shop when I was a drama student).

Another thing that makes me really happy is getting packages in the mail. I know I'm not alone there; after all, "brown paper packages tied up with strings" is a line in "My Favorite Things." So it just worked out that this was waiting for me this morning...

Mystery package . . . What could it be?

Here's what it was!

Don't you just love eBay?

Then, as I was doing some cleaning/organization/playing with power tools, I came across a pretty clementines box that I've been wanting to do something with. Then I remembered that I've also been wanting to find a more practical and aesthetically pleasing storage solution for my nail polish . . . and voila!

Now I'm sitting by the pool enjoying a talk glass of lime and basil sparkling water and a Marie Claire I've been trying to find time to read for ages.

Okay, I'm gonna jump in the pool now and get some exercise. Then, more Marie Claire. I hop you are all enjoying your weekends!

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The blog's new look

Have you noticed? In the last few days I've been able to post larger pictures for you, thanks to my new flickr account and today I gave the whole page a makeover with yellow and white stripes and link in very favorite color ever: mint green.

I hope you enjoy the new look!

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Nail polish trend: singling one out

My first exposure to this trend was about two years ago when I saw Jennifer's Body (great movie) and noticed Megan Fox's nails painted all pink with a black middle finger.

I was smitten with the look's unconventional whimsy, so I thought I'd give it a try. My first attempt, was simply a direct imitation . . .

. . . But since then I've been experimenting with other colors and ideas to create my own look.

At the Red's game, my sister-in-law Jenn told me that she was interested in trying it and we discussed which finger to single out. Later she gave it a try with very cute results . . .

Soon after, I saw that some of my favorite bloggers had embraced the trend, but with glitter instead of a different color. Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere did some graduated glitter, calling it "Mermaid Nails" . . .

[Photo credit: Cupcakes and Cashmere]

And Elsie of A Beautiful Mess painted only her "Married Finger" with glitter for her wedding . . .

[Photo credit: A Beautiful Mess]

So, today, I decided to apply glitter to both of my ring fingers, and I love the look . . .

The top coat I used (Cover Girl Boundless Color in "Disco Dazzle") has super huge chunks of glitter in it, so I think only doing one nail was a good choice in several ways: the glitter isn't too flashy or overpowering, and I only have to remove the big chunks of glitter from two nails instead of ten later (a plus since it's a bit of a pain to take off). I don't usually make fashion decisions for purely practical reasons, but I like when my decisions just work out to be practical. ;)

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