Bone Yard

 Hat: H&M, Necklace: Estate Sale, Boots: Dolly Python, Leggins: F21, Sweater and Glasses: thrifted

Dog Daze

U.B. Had her first photo shoot today! After rescuing her off Cedar Springs I couldn't wait to take photos of her, and I FINALLY got my camera back. She wasn't very attentive...actually I don't think she looked into the camera once, but we worked with what we had. Also, we ran into some new friends, and I snapped a couple of photos of them too. 

I went kinda heavy on the adjustments in photoshop with these few. Sometimes I like to go crazy and then draw it back to find the right amount of post manipulation. They turned out really stylized, and UB40's look almost motion picture-like. (FYI our new dog's name is UB40. Jonathan and I have an affinity for early 90's pop). 

Google-y Eyes

 This look was brought to you by 2 things. 1. My green suede black man church goin' shoes and 2. My google-y eyes ring. I happened to acquire both of these items in the same week. The ring is my nod to Tavi, the most inspirational middle-schooler I wish I knew. If you read her blog or Rookie, you know. Sometimes gals just need to wear items that make them feel silly whether it be a google-y eyes ring or a candy necklace or a locket out of a gum ball machine. I fully endorse incorporating child-like mementos and novelties into your grown-ass woman outfit. (Whether or not what I wear on a daily basis can be considered "grown-ass woman" is questionable)... 

It took a minute for me to figure out what to wear with these shoes. If they were oxfords it would be one thing. Alas, they are fastened with a buckle which gives them a elven quality and makes outfit assembly a tad more difficult. Another option would be wearing them black skinny jeans....maybe a leopard blouse, yes?

Another little trick I don't do enough in colder months is layering 2 collared shirts and messy rolling the sleeves.  Man! I'm really getting a lot of ground coverage with this one!

Shoes and Gold Belt: Vintage, Chords: H&M, Chambray Shirt: F21, Striped Shirt: Thrifted Ann Taylor, Necklaces and Glasses: F21, gifted.

Fun with Phones

Hello Weekenders. Jonathan and I finally got a day all to ourselves. The past couple of weeks we were drifting by each other preoccupied with a million other things happening. So yesterday we decided to stop....and it was lovely. It was a mild weather havin' taco feasting thrift store perusing suicide slurpee sippin shopping cart surfin kinda day. Then to top it all off Fort Worth invaded Dallas via Club Da Da and I watched 4 amazing bands with all my homies and homegirls from o'er yonder. 

Wearing: Gibraud Cutoffs, Target Dotted Tights, Vintage Boots from Dolly Python,  Husband's Hat and Thrifted everything else.

So my camera has been "being serviced" for nearly a month, and I'm pretty sad about it. However, I've gradually become entirely enthralled with iphone photo apps. As you can see (or maybe not, so let me tell you) I'm wearing Gibraud cut offs. Remember when these were the jam? No? Me neither, but my husband is an old man, and he does. He used to rock these pretty hard apparently. Probably while wearing Drakkar Noir. 

Sayonara Suckerrrs!

Ice Aqua

I got the opportunity to go thrifting the other day. It was actually a pretty cathartic experience. Typically I have this "hunting" mentality when I secondhand shop, and plow through racks rapidly jerking clothes this way and that. This time, I was alone and really took the time to comb through everything. Thrift Town was actually playing some groovy lounge/organ music, which was a nice change from the usual Contemporary Christian and/or Adult Soft Rock tunes they have pumpin. Amongst my findings was this Givenchy ice-y aqua cable knit turtleneck sweater.
That was a lot of adjectives. 

I gave this hair style a try. Very Little House On The Prairie, yes? It was my first go around, but not bad.

 I just separated the top layer of my hair and pinned it to the top of my head to get it out of the way. Then, I did three thickish braids around my neck fastening with clear rubber bands. (1 for each side and one in the middle). Then did one braid on each side with the remaining hair I had pinned up. (5 in all). To finish up I wound the braids in a random serpentine manner pinning to the lower back of my head, hiding and tucking the loose ends. (It takes lots of bobby pins, and a little trial and error, but it turned out cute). If you have bangs or want to tease/curl or pin back some front wisps do that first so you can style your braids to look best with whatcha got goin on up front, and so you don't have extra hair you don't know what to do with. 

xo,

a

The Difference

Little Rascals is one of my childhood faves. I love this clip. MK and Ashley have a little cameo in this one. I had almost forgotten.

And of course who could forget the letter to Darla:

Dear Darla, 

I hate your stinkin' guts.

You make me vomit.

You are scuuuuum between my toes.

Love, 

Alfalfa.

Apple and Rocket

This is Chris Sabat. He's a voice actor/all around sound guru and founder/director of OkraTron 5000. You might know him from a little anime (is that right?) series called Dragon Ball Z. The first time I met Chris he was wearing a shirt that said, "I'm fat, Let's party".... needless to say I knew at that moment we were gonna be buds. Him and his wife Tabitha are probably the coolest nerds I know. Also, they are very good at naming things. For example their adorable daughter's name is Hero and these are their two pups, Apple and Rocket. I got to shoot Chris and his fur children for a FUNimation voice actor calendar benefiting the Acadiana Humane Society. 

And now my blog is going to get 1 million hits because of all of his diehard anime (is that right?) fans!

Booya!

Royalty Done Right

 Well, kiss my ring! The jowls of my obsession with high waisted anything are chomping at the bits. Stumbled upon these knickers which can be purchased at Five Go Mad for a mere 16 Euros, and nearly peed myself with excitement. It's the whole gang! Henry XIII, Ann Boleyn, Lizzy the 1st and William Shakespeare! If I owned these I'm not quite sure I would wear pants. Perhaps I'd tuck a classic Oxford shirt and show off the Highness of that waist band.

See what I did there?

Cheerio!

A

The Wood Girls

Over the break, I shot my friend Lawanna and her two daughters, Whitney and Courtney. This was a really fun shoot. All three of these girls are pretty stylized. I've shot Lawanna's interior design work before, and she was also chosen as one of Dallas' best designers of 2011 in D Home. Whitney does visual for Anthropology...her wardrobe makes me sick with envy. Homegirl knows how to put a look togetha. Read her blog here. Courtney is a senior at OU, and she knows how to jam to some Spice Girls. That girl was cracking me up the whole shoot. 

Calendar Year

It's been far too long since I've posted. So here's a doozy. (And by doozy, I don't mean long and boring, I mean scandalous)! My holiday season was pretty swell. Tons of lounging and eating just like most of you. I watched The Help and cried about 9 times, made Shepard's Pie for the first time, shot a few Christmas Photos for a few families, and totally scored sweet presents on Christmas. 

The most hilarious task I took on this season, however, was my Christmas gift to Jonathan. 

A vintage inspired pinup calendar.....of me. It was pretty hard to take myself seriously when shooting these, but hopefully it added to the playfulness of it. Really, you should shouldn't see the out takes. 

It was a lot of work putting it all together, but the calendar ended up pretty damn cute for a first try. Very special thanks to Brenna, and Kandi for their surprisingly lofty collections of hats, hot pants and heels.  And also to Haley and Liz for shooting. So, here are a few of the edited shots...of course these are not the most revealing, ya know...cause that's none of your damn business!!!

but you get the idea. 

 I did the calendar for Jonathan, but it was a bit for me too. Turns out walking around with victory rolls and red lips with M.I.A. blaring in sequin hot pants or dressed like a cowgirl kiiiiiiiinda makes you feel like a badass. There was lots of winking and "oh! you surprised me" faces...and there was even a sailor girl with a salute for July. 

I did my own hair and makeup which was time consuming, but easy with the help of some very adorable Rockabilly/Psychobilly girls on youtube. Those chicks are pros at looking perfect all the time. 

If any of you ladies are considering a boudoir or a pinup shoot for yourself or your significant other,  I highly recommend it.

 I am simultaneously bashful and proud of these...because I'm not wearing enough clothes to be posting this shit, but I worked so hard in post on these. Seeing as I usually just stick to your basic color adjusting, zit removing and a little clone stamping trash out of lovely landscapes....this was quite a task for me. I mainly used the magnetic lasso and the shadows and highlights setting to give them have a little bit of an aged look. Plus a yellowish color layer with a low opacity.  

In short, he loved all twelve months. 

Hope you're sticking to your resolutions!

A