see ya next year!

ment to do a blog post or two before leaving for massachusetts for the weekend but i didn't get around to it. more to come in the new year. i have a great feeling about this one. see you all in 2011!

time bandits

im not all too good with coming up with post titles. i only chose this one because i just watched the movie with jeremy, we came across it on instant watch, never heard of it before, but its pretty cool.
these photos are from yesterday, i went with my best friend ali to help pick out her first sewing machine! she just wanted something simple that she can learn on to do basic things.. for now ;) i think she can do really amazing things, and to know construction is so important! she does a few things by hand, but i firmly believe in learning the good and proper way to do things when it comes to sewing so that you know. and then you can make things however it feel most comfortable. i tend to "wing it" a lot when i sew and design, thats why iv always gravitated towards draping rather than flat pattern. but i went to school for it and i do know how to do it all, and knowing and being able to picture how a garent goes together is so much fun anyway!
so we got her a singer and went back to her house and i taught her some basics. how to string a machine seems to be what intimidates people most, but dont be! its really quite easy, just dont sew your fingers (at school that would happen sometimes with the industrial machines. they always stressed keeping your fingers away from the needle..) gross.
i took a few photos of her room too which i am going to share with you probably tomorrow. ali has such a great collection of curiosities, and shes really gotten the hang of keeping things minimalistic but still so beautiful. more of that to come!

green coat- vintage, thrifted
collar- ones i have been making to sell in my shop golden fur vintage in the next few weeks. so keep your eyes peeled for an update!
short sleeve sweater- vintage, thrifted
belt- thrifted
plaid skirt- vintage, thrifted
ruffle socks- xmas gift from ali sock dreams
boots- thrifted






'

snowed in

a few photos of christmas night. after dinner with out respective families ali and steven came over for gift giving. 5 years to the day ali and i hung out xmas night 2005 driving around our hometown do nothing with out x boyfriends, excited to meet one another. best friend of my life.
next day, all day, it snowed. called out to work. it was a fine time being snowed in. always means good food, good drinks, and good tv (finished watching boardwalk empire, just started watching carnival, we have also been watching parks and recreation recently as a light weight thing) ill let the photos of those two nights do the rest of the talking.









ps. my dad made that painting of the mountains for me for christmas. hes an amazing artist. i asked for something cosmic, and he gave me this airbrushed beauty.





spent a lot of time snowed in making things for the shop to come in the new year. many beautiful things!

yule blog

so today is christmas! for those of you who celebrate, i hope it was a merry one, filled with joy, food, friends and family. this was a very different christmas for me this year. it is the first im moved out of my family home, both my brother and i actually. so only my 13, soon to be 14, year old sister was there alone to open gifts this morning. i know shes been feeling a bit lonely now that we are both out of the house, so christmas must have been extra sad.
i dont know man, teens of this generation are hard to figure out. i love my sister to death, but she is really a victim of these times. shes a bit bratty sometimes, and kinda superficial? my family has never really had much money, and i fell iv always know that and never asked for too much or wanted too much. i think its something that really made me into the thrifty person i am today. however my sister dosent seem to know or care what my familys financial situation is and continues to ask for things like a mac book when she already has a net book. both of which are way more than i could have hoped for at her age. i got a tv in my room when i was 12 and it was all i needed and was happy to get it. she has had a tv in her room since she was 4. a cell phone for a few years now, as well as a little net book laptop. today i read her posts on facebook saying how all her friends got ipads and iphones and all she got was a kit on making sock puppets (this is not all she got, but it was a bit of a modest christmas..but she got a $100 gift card to abercrombie..) which i think is way cool!
sorry to get on a bit of a scrooge ramble.. but my boyfriend dosent celebrate christmas because of his religious views growing up. he no longer practices, but was raised without the holiday so he carries that with him. i am not a huge christmas person, i dont like the materialism of it.. but i do like the holiday time of year. i like the festive spirit going around, holiday parties, gifting my friends and family with things really from the heart. so it just upsets me to know the generation a decade younger than me was raised by tvs, computers and cell phones. and walmart.

anyway.. back to things being happy, we started off the day lazy at home with christmas breakfast, chillin with the cats. then headed over to my parents house for dinner and gift exchanging. my mom got me a gift certificate to get an hour long massage!! i am over the moon, my back has been in a lot of pain for a few months now. i do a lot of heavy lifting at work and my internship took a lot out of me. we watched elf, had dinner and then watched toy story 3, which i had never seen. it was a relaxing holiday. i got to see mt cat mongo who was my boy at home. i miss him, hes like 12 now. a big fat black cat :)
now we are back home waiting for ali and steve to come over so i can give them gifts! i really do love giving things to my friends, especially ali so i cant wait!

i hope you all had a great holiday, i cant believe the year is almost over, its been a really really amazing one for me and i cant wait to see what the year ahead has in store. im feeling great things :)

ps- my roots are coming in really bad. need to do something about that..

plaid hat- estate sale
black velvet dress- this is actually going to be going into my shop soon. so if you love it, keep your eye out! it fits great and is so cute. the neckline is perfect!
tights- christmas gift from my sister
socks- christmas gift from ali
boots- recently thrifted, not a huge fan of the rhinestones, but i needed some black shoes. more specifically black boots. and these had a great small heal and are VERY comfy!
coat- vintage, thrifted











oh and heres fred on my lap as im typing this. gotta love my boys.

23rd birthday bash

saturday night i had a real official birthday party. i cleaned the apartment really well. did a bit more or hanging things on the walls and such, i also made some fabric baners to make things look really festive! i didnt have my camera on me most of the night so i dont have very many actual party photos, but i do have some of how great i made the place look!
i had a really great time, drank loads of great beers including this delish green apple one by a brewery called unibrow, ha! and the place wasent even really a mess at the end of the night! well, i fell asleep before the last few party goers left. i went into the bedoom to pet the cats a bit and ended up drifting off to sleep. it was 2 am by this point and man i was tired. thanks everyone who made it! it was a great time!
oh and thank you everyone for the nice comments on my previous two posts. all the birthday wishes were well appreciated, and for the post before that one, thanks to all the people who said hello, your feedback really helps. hope to keep seeing ya all around here!










my brother taylor and his girlfriend ashley on the couch, friends matt and mike deep in convo.

mikey p on the guitar!



i didnt really get any photos of myself that night, though i wish i did! my hair was looking crazy and curly! this was the second day with the curls afte my birthday. when i rag my hair i can usually get away with one of two days after, then it becomes a bit knotted mess. this was pretty kniotted in the back, but it looked great. never thought my hair could have so much volume!

birthday

so yesterday was my 23rd birthday, and it was the best iv had in a long time. i have always kind of hated having my birthday in december, (except for the fact in a sagittarius, that i love) its so cold out, the days are so short. im always jealous of people with summer or spring birthdays. getting to wear some cute birthday dress actually out and not have to cover it up with a big winter coat! this year i looked past that long enough to have a great time!
it started off kind of slow and lazy around the house, then my boyfriend took me out to lunch at this place called tiger lily cafe where they have really good wraps and a nice vegetarian selection. there really aren't very many placed for us to go out to eat around here. vegan restaurants dont pop up too often, actually never.. so we are usually left with ethnic food places as our option. but any who, this place is good, i got a wrap with tomato and mozzarella and pesto, basically all my favorite things. and we just missed a rush of people and got a nice couch seat!
then we went home and ali and her boyfriend steven came over, she gifted me with amazing things! i will have to get better photos of the things she gave me, but it was a beautiful blouse, great socks, a photo of hers of me in a beautiful frame, art work by whom ill have to get the name of from her, and this nice herbal smoke blend. oh! and this awesome book from 1985 which shows you how to do all these different braids!
we went to one of the highest elevations on long island to watch the sun set. its not very high, but you had a good view straight towards the west and winter (well almost winter) has the best sunsets. then we came back home and had a cozy night just the four of us, and it was great. more magical then i can say. and now tonight im having a party with some other friends to end my birthday with a bit more energy. thanks to everyone who made my birthday amazing!
















ali handmade te paper she wrapped my gifts in! so beautiful i had to open them all so carful so i could be sure to save it!







this silly picture just pretty much sums up how happy i was. it was an AMAZING sunset!







comfy at the end of the night, watching lord of the rings and harry potter :)