Supportive as Spanx!

Thanx!

You guys are always so sweet when I put up my silly fashion posts. I love it.

Lest you think I am always mindful of the latest trends, I'll let you in on a little secret. Tonight, when we showed up for the banquet, the neighbor who invited us actually did a double-take! "I didn't recognize you!" she exclaimed.

"And why would that be? Because all you ever see me in are my sweats and pajama pants?"

Um.. yah. It's true folks. There are many, many days when that is my daily uniform. Sure, I get dressed to go to library time or to church. Most of the time I look better when I'm on my way to Jazzercise than I do on days when I stay home all day with my kids. And my bedroom is always a mess. And now you know the truth about me.

But here's how this whole get-up turned out.

I drove down to our local boutique - they usually carry some unique jewelry and hair accessories. I couldn't find anything. But while I was there I was inspired - so I asked if they had any fake feathers. Negative. "But," said the saleslady, "you might try the sports shop downtown." So I did. I walked in and said, "Hi! Do you have any fake feathers?" The young man working there answered, "Like for tying flies?"

"Yah, or for making hair accessories."

And he did! (We won't mention the fact that I later found out he assumed I was making a Halloween costume... ahem)

So for $1.39 for feathers (they were even real!), $3.99 for a 3-pack of headbands, a few vintage buttons I got from my MIL last time we visited and a little glue, I ended up with this:



And since Justin was in bed by the time I got home from dropping off the babysitter (our first ever!), all you get is this dorky picture of me standing in the kitchen taken with the self timer.

No seams were ripped during the wearing of this dress.
Phew!!

More Fashion 911

We were invited to attend a "semi-formal" banquet tonight to help raise money for our local pregnancy clinic. The last time we went I felt a little too formal so I decided maybe I ought to funk it up a bit tonight.

What do you think?

Vintage Dress with
$10 thrift store cowboy boots?

I purchased the dress over ten years ago - one pair of Spanx later
and I was able to get it over my thighs! Mwah! Love you Spanx!


Close-up of the lace/neck-line

As usual, I'm stumped on accessories.... am considering a flower in my hair? Perhaps just plain pearls?

Any ideas? I'm really visual - links with photos of ideas would help.

Thank you! You're all just as supportive as Spanx... just in a different kind'a way.

Not On My To-Do List

But definitely giving my mama brain a little creative rest while Justin is working - which lately, seems to be more often than usual.

Glittering up some skulls.

(I like to think of them as friendly skulls)

Makin' sweeties with my sweetie.



Tryin' to get my skinny on.



Feeding my odd skull affinity and Halloween love
(courtesy of our local fall craft and antique fair)



Staying up past bedtime to make a new church skirt



For this sweet girl...

who keeps me on my toes lately!

The Skinny on the Skinny

On Wednesday morning I posted this on facebook:

Ok... what's the skinny on skinny jeans fb friends? Has anyone out there found any that aren't skin-tight or too low-rise? Comfortable? I'm thinkin' I need some to wear with boots.

And guess what? I got 46 comments. 46!! I think that's even more than I got when I announced that Xochi was born. I guess people have a lot of opinions when it comes to skinny jeans.

Out of those replies, along with recommendations on brands and stores, here is a smattering of what people thought (anonymously to protect the innocent... and the large-thighed):

Skinny jeans and my welsh warrior legs don't get along. No matter how hard I try...

Boots or ballet flats. I really don't like it when people mix sneakers with skinny jeans. I don't wear skinny jeans. It's for the good of humankind.

I think you're suppose to be "skinny" to wear them so, NO, I will NOT be wearing them! You're welcome!

If you get a pair, I'm getting a pair. Then we can have matching mother/daughter outfits. Just kidding.

From what my wife says and I can attest to... you have to spend some money to get jeans that look good and that actually fit. Nothing out there for less than $75 for the most part from what I hear. I know this conversation was all ladies but I figured I would join in!

I think skinny jeans are best left to the teenagers...

Cutz, you should totally do skinny jeans! Personally, I only think they're flattering when worn with a long shirt, but they're so cute with boots. I get the fake Uggs from Costco and wear them with skinny jeans all winter long. SO comfy!

I say go for it! I agree with Gertrude (name changed to protect the innocent, skinny-thighed) though...only with a long shirt or layers on top...you know what I mean right? GAP has some great ones, I agree. I was just in there and some of them are super soft. Skinny jeans are kind of all you see in NYC, and its also the same look with lots of stretchy pants that have zippers, etc on them. H&M has loads too. I say with boots or ballet flats, depending on the weather.

And so... I decided I would give them a try.

Now don't laugh at this next part. Here was my thought process. One night when I was at Walmart I thought to myself, "I think I'll try a few pairs on. Then, I can see how they look and if I think they'd work for me. If I'm not really sure, at least I didn't spend a lot of money on them."

This was WRONG thinking, my friends.

The skinny jeans at Walmart were, as my friends so readily shared, only for skinny people. They were too low, too tight, too.... weird.

At which time I posted this on facebook:

Skinny Jeans Round One. Bulging thighs: 1, Cutzi and her hopes of cute fall outfits with boots, scarves and tunic sweaters: 0

I decided my next stop would have to be the Gap or Buckle. Both got high ratings on my little facebook poll.

Until I came up with a brilliant plan based on a blog post I recently read (which I would post if I could find).

I'm seriously so excited about this I can barely type fast enough. The pictures are crappy but, like I said, I'm just too excited to wait and take better ones.

Since I wasn't sure I would actually like them and since we just spent an insane amount of money on home schooling curriculum and an unexpected car repair - I decided to take a pair of my OWN jeans and make them into skinnies. I took ones that fit me well on top, drew a few lines, sewed a few seams, ripped a few seams and finally! Success!!

So without further adieu... Cutzi's skinny jean re-fashion. (Made from a pair of Old Navy Sweetheart jeans that I got for $12)

With flats



With awesome $50 leather boots from Target
(Now in more colors. Run! Get yourself a pair!!)



With fun cowboy boots that my husband found for $5 at a garage sale
with intentions of re-selling until I promptly stole them

Now, I agree with my commenters. I think these will be worn best with a tunic shirt or a tee and a cozy, thigh-length fall sweater. I do still kind of think they look better on, how shall we say, less hour-glassed figures? But I am pleased. While searching for the Sweetheart link I found out Old Navy actually sells them in a skinny! I just might have to try those next.

And now? This sunny Pacific Northwest Saturday is turning out to be full of creative opportunity. I'm off with a can of spray paint!!

Drumroll Please...

TA DA!

I barely got a picture as I was running out the door late.
So this one shot will have to do.

In the end, I decided to go with the flower in the hair, thanks to my friend Jessica's suggestion on facebook. If I would have had more time I would have taken off the outer petals - since as I look at it now it just looks like I have a big red blob in my hair. Part of the problem might have been that I was gluing it together so fast - I think it would have looked better more to the side of my head and less on top. But the general vibe of it worked.

I also decided to go with black glass earrings. Here, if I would have thought about it more - I would have gotten some hoops to wear. At first I wasn't sure if they would go with the flower but they totally would have. I wanted to wear my bracelet too so I didn't wear the black necklace. Anyway - it was fun to think about fashion for a little while today. Thanks to all of you for playing along with me!

The wedding was great. The young man getting married was the grandson of my grandma's brother.... so I didn't really know the couple but nonetheless, I looked so cute I thought I'd get up and say something.

That's not a joke.

And I didn't even have one sip of alcohol.

One lady stopped me at the reception and said, "You look beautiful!" It was good for the 'ol self esteem for sure. But the thing that made my heart swell? Sweet Adia Moon as I walked out the door to leave. She took one look at me and said (these are her exact words):

Oh mama!! I like you! You painted your toes! And you painted your lips too!

She just kept staring at me and smiling and smiling.

Quite the contrast from earlier in the day when she had patted my behind and said:

Look at your big fat bum...

What the????

Help!

I'm going to a wedding tonight with my grandma. For some reason, I always see a wedding as an opportunity to buy a new dress. Lo and behold, while at Target yesterday, I found a cute little black number. I thought to myself, "A pair of red wedge heels sure would look cute with this." In an epic and monumental moment - I walked into Famous Footwear and found just the thing - on sale for $20. A fashion miracle! Since we all know that the exact thing you're looking for fashion-wise is usually the most expensive.

Here's where you come in - I need some help with accessories. My mom suggested one of the red dahlias I made for Mother's Day. I think it looks cute but am not sure if it's too much with the ruffle? My other thought was just white pearls and pearl earrings. I also have some fancier black glass vintage jewelry. What do you think? Any other ideas? I'm going into town today and could look for something more. I'm leaving home at 5 pm PST - so post up!

Pay no attention to the make-up-less bedhead.
Pay close attention to the cutie pie smiling in the bottom right-hand corner.


Close-up of ruffles.


Sassy red patent leather shoes.