Oy Vey!

Where have I been!?
(Oh yeah. Playing songs on my guitar)
Name that movie and you get a prize, i.e. my undying affection.

Well, getting back from the cruise was pretty killer. I shuffled around for days trying to find someone to make my food and clean my room for me. After my mom refused to start doing that again, the harsh reality hit that I'm now responsible for like . . . you know. . . my own living again . . . or whatever.

So back to the grindstone! Spending 4 hours in the morning job hunting then maybe work or errands later. I know. It's a hardknock life. I've gotten back into that routine again, so time to get back to the fun stuff too! Blogging!

We took a couple hundred pictures on the cruise, so there will probably be a smattering of pictures throughout the next couple weeks. Today, we focus on outfits. This was our first ever cruise, presenting us with some packing conundrums. Sure, we'll be in Mexico, but also on the water. Does that mean warm clothes? Cool clothes? Will it be too hot for me to even consider dressing cute and I'll just want to lay around in a swim cover up so that if I sweat all over it, it doesn't even matter?

Pre-trip packing disaster that exploded all over my bed.

In Cabo San Lucas
Old man hat + high waist shorts I altered + hand me down tank top from Dana

Cabo Day 2
Anyone feel like going back to the 90's? Where's rollerblading Barbie when you need her. . .

Puerto Vallarta
Forever 21 romper + Ross white shirt + Ross wedge shoes
And yes, that is a lunch box I converted into a camera case. Who would have guessed?

On the ship
Yes, that is the dress that I altered before the cruise! I have some pictures of the process that I'll post later.

Ps did you notice how HUGE my new pictures are?? I've been so frustrated with Blogger's teeny tiny posting limitations so I did a little research and discovered that you can upload from Flickr! (I know most of you are saying, "Duh, you twit" right about now, but come on. I'm excited here.) Eee! I'm excited for picture posting now!

*K

Meet Your New Best Friend

I've been wanting to do this post for awhile since it plays such a HUGE part in determining what I thrift-fully buy. But being a perfectionist combined with a procrastinator, I just haven't dug up either the nerve or the drive to do it yet. So I'm going to put my perfectionism on the back burner and be both artfully lazy and innovative at the same time and use pictures that I already have, rather than new ones taken specifically for this post.
On to the point!

Alterations.

They're the key to your thrift store finds. When I shop I look primarily for fabrics that I like and move on from there. It can be size10,000, but if it's made of good fabric (i.e. nothing synthetic) you can make it work specifically for you.
(Before we move on, please note the high-tech photo-shopping program I bought to simulate what the following outfits looked like before. )

Exhibit A:
Shorts. Technically I didn't buy these at a thrift store, but they were on clearance and were hideously ugly before I bought them. Imagine bell-bottoms made for a child that fit my hips, but are so short that they hit me right in the middle of my calves. I'm mentally going "Blechh" just remembering-- and then mentally blocking out the fact that I actually wore them a couple of times like that.
But with the magic of my sewing machine...
BA-ZING!


Exhibit B:

My favorite outfit that I've ever altered. This romper was originally a jumpsuit a la' Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, being 30-40 years old, the legs were all stained around the bottom with no hope of ever being removed. Except by scissors! Cut. Roll. Iron. Sew. Done. *PING* Completely new romper.


Next time I'll take some actual before/after pictures, even though I know these recreations were so incredibly accurate it was probably hard to even discern that they had been edited.


And yes, that is the hotel in Runaway Bride.