Fashion Post 2: Style on a Budget

Being an adult means having to dress like one.  I need to buy some work clothes, since I am determined to have a job.  So I turned to Polyvore for some budget fashion inspiration.  I made a work outfit.  If I can find something similar to it at Goodwill, Buffalo Exchange, or Crossroads Trading Company, I'll be pleased.  Next step to being a real grownup: learn to walk in heels.  I  have been practicing a little bit each day and I'm getting better,  but nowhere near the point where I would try wearing them for any sort of a length of time outside of my house.  Anyway, POW! Fashion!

Fashion on a Budget by jaythejedi featuring a butterfly necklace

Did I mention that I actually kind of love fashion?  Just not fashion trends, but I like putting together outfits and stuff.  So if you're a guy and you're thinking, "Ugh, when did she start fashion blogging?! *Unfollow*."  Well, don't unfollow me, because I'm going to start blogging about football soon.  And if you don't like that either, then maybe you'll consider sticking around for my movie reviews, art, and occasional wit? Maybe? Please?

Eyes and Jobs

Today I became both dilated and elated.  I had my appointment to see how bad my glaucoma is today.  After I finally managed to get there, after my bus was over 20 minutes late from downtown when I was transferring, so I had to call the hospital and have them look up another bus for me to take instead.  I finally made it, had my appointment, and found out that it is very likely that I do not have glaucoma.  I probably was just born with weirdly large optic nerves, so that's super awesome news.  Then, they sent me on my way and forgot to provide makeshift sunglasses.  If you've never had your eyes dilated, you won't understand, but they are incredibly sensitive to light for hours afterward.  So I got pretty blinded by the light *resists urge to sing that song* but I finally made it home.  Before I got home, I got some tasty teriyaki from one of my favorite restaurants.  Then the bus got overrun by about a million high school students on their way home from school.  I don't think the schools around here have school buses, or if they do, they don't go to my neighborhood.  There were at least a hundred kids on the bus, no exagerration.  High schoolers are ANNOYING, no offense if you're in high school.  I was probably annoying when I was in high school too.  After I got home, I called my mom and talked to her for an hour.  Then I attempted to watch my Hulu queue, which was difficult, but I managed.  If you haven't heard of "New Girl", you should definitely check it out.  It's a sitcom with Zooey Deschanel, so what's not to love?

Now for the elated part.  I posted my resume on Craigslist the other day and actually got a response!  This guy who makes super-intense medical equipment wants me to do algebra for him to help expand his computer programs.  He doesn't have time to do it himself.  I checked out the company and it looks legit, so hopefully that will work out.  He's in California this week for business, but we're meeting next week.  But that's not the cause of my elation.  My elation is one part: I did a phone interview for a frozen yogurt place that's opening nearby and found out today that they want to do an in-person interview!  You might be like, whoop-de-doo, frozen yogurt.  What's so exciting?  Basically, I have never had success at a job interview before.  The jobs I have had in the past did not have interviews, so this makes me feel like I could actually get a job and be a real functioning member of society and all that nonsense.  So hopefully one of these job things will pan out, and I'll continue to be able to pay my rent.  And the other part of elation is this amazing chocolate I bought yesterday.  If you've never had Hershey's Nuggets milk chocolate with toffee and almonds, you totally should, because they're REALLY delicious.  I can't stop eating them! Om nom nom.

On a completely different note, one saying that I think is totally pointless is, "I'll get there when I get there."  Really? When else would you get there?!  Before you get there? After you get there?  Are you some sort of time traveler, so this phrase is actually necessary?  Even then, you would get there when you get there, although you might get there before and after your initial arrival as well.  Let's face it, time travel is complicated.  Maybe that's the hidden meaning behind the saying.  When people say that they aren't just wasting their oxygen, they're saying, "I'm secretly a time traveler, but time travel is seriously complicated.  Don't tell anyone."

I'm an Adult

As an adult, it's sometimes okay to play video games long into the night with your boyfriend (I love saying that word :D), and believe me, Little Big Planet is super fun, so fun that we're going to get Little Big Planet 3, and we beat some insane levels, including one called Skulldozer, which really, the name itself just drives fear into your heart, but during the day you have to do grownup things, like get a job.  Sidenote: longest run-on sentence ever? Perhaps.  So, after I Google "how to write a killer resume when you have pretty much no experience", I'm going to write said killer resume, then post it on Craigslist, and cross my fingers hard.  (That's all true, except the Google part.  I use Bing.  Is Bing a verb yet? I don't know; sounds kind of weird.)

It's been hot lately, and my sunburn is peeling.  I walked 30 blocks total yesterday to go to the bank and deposit a check.  I would have died on the way back if I hadn't given up the dollar and eight cents for a ginormous can of Arizona Iced Tea.  (Grownups definitely use the word "ginormous", for reals.)  The clothing repurposing didn't go too great the other day.  It was all fine and dandy until I started practice stitching on some scrap fabric, which my sewing machine promptly sucked inside itself and tangled up.  Thankfully, G bought me some screwdrivers so I could get into the belly of the beast and remove the offending scrap.  Even better, when the screwdrivers he bought were too tall to fit in the small space, he brought the machine to his house when I went over and fixed it himself.  Hopefully when I start sewing the actual shirt, a similar incident doesn't happen.  I've never used this sewing machine before, so who's to say that it doesn't hate me and plot to destroy my every hope and dream? (That's a rhetorical question, by the way.)  Further proof that I am, indeed, and adult: I can cook things consistently that taste delicious.  I even learned how to make salsa, which we devoured most of while watching the first UW game last Saturday.  Huskies won, and I managed to stay awake to see it, while G slept peacefully for the last little bit.  Did I mention that I like football?  Because I do.  Remember that one post a long time ago about watching football then attending a baby shower? Yeah, that's me.  A bevy of contradictions. Like Starburst.  Also, wow that post was short.  Here are the foods I have made lately: Apple Cinnamon Meatloaf, a pepper-onion-chicken mixture that is tasty plain or in tortillas, hamburgers with bacon and pepper-jack cheese (simple), mashed potatoes, smoothies that are a personal favorite of G's, some sort of Italian chicken with a name that I can neither recall nor pronounce, along with yummy unpronouncably named pasta and (a little too vinegar-y in my opinion) spinach salad with strawberries and cheese and tomato and pistachios.  G says that I make the best salads.  Want to know how to make a simple salad that's super delicious?  Spinach leaves, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, pistachioes. Dice the tomatoes, then mix everything together with some store-bought Poppyseed (deliciousness) dressing and you're good to go.  Pistachioes are pretty expensive but they make any salad taste fantastic.

So I have to go do important things now.  I'll let you know (if) when I get a job and I'll take photos of my repurposed clothing (if it turns out okay).  Oh, and also, G might get me a lip piercing on Friday.  So, if that happens, I'll share pictures.

Falling in Love

It's been a while since I posted, but here I am again.  Did you miss me?  You may or may not remember that this past weekend I was planning to go to my family picnic.  I did and G came with me.  My entire family adored him - yay :)-especially my adorable 4 year old cousin who had way too much fun attempting to put girly dress-up clothes on him.  She did manage to get some pink sequined bunny ears on him and he removed them right before my mom could snap a photo.  Then she tried to get him to wear a princess crown and then a pink sun hat.  I told her he might be willing to wear a fireman hat, and he agreed to that.  Then she started putting headbands on it.  Silly child.  He has a four year old niece though, so he was a good sport.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle Friday night and watched a couple of movies.  Their TV shuts off by itself a lot, and makes movie viewing difficult.  Then we went to the family picnic on Saturday.  It was near a creek, so it wasn't too hot, and I ended up swimming in my clothes.  It was good seeing my family, and there was lots of good food.  Then my parents drove my brother and his girlfriend home and we followed them.  My brother is going to boot camp for the Marines September 19th, so it was the last time I get to see him for a while.  He showed me the new knives and throwing stars he got, and he gave me this necklace he made, which I love. 

Then we played Call of Duty, but it was 10 on 1, the one being him, and I never even managed to find him.  After that, we stayed at my parents' house for the next two nights before heading back.  I brought back some clothes and my other guitar, as well as my flute and keyboard (think piano, not typing). 

some clothes and these shoes

I also brought back my sewing machine, because I have some clothes I want to turn into other clothes (I guess it's called upcycling, but that word can have some pretty negative connotations).  On Sunday, after I went to church, we visited some people I wanted to see, and then we climbed up Beacon Rock, which is about a half an hour from where I grew up.You wouldn't picture a rock with trees growing on it, but it's basically like a small forest on the rock.

the view to the right

view to the left

the trail

You may or may not recall that I was in a wheelchair from October through May.  I thought I was fine for the hike, and I was on the way up, but on the way down my left leg wanted to give out, because it was too tired.  G helped me 2/3 of the way down and my dad helped me for the middle 1/3.  We stopped to take a few breaks.  The convenient thing about it being a rock is that there are lots of places you can sit to rest.  When I was taking one of my many rests, I looked up at G and he mouthed the words, "I love you" with a tear streaming down his face.  With a huge smile on my face, I mouthed back, "I love you too."  That was the happiest moment of my entire life.  Since then, we've said it to each other out loud, and I still smile hugely every time.

I also learned some other things that G and I have in common: we use the same shampoo, Herbal Essences Body Envy, and we're both mad they changed the scent from white nectarine and pink coral flower which smelled SO GOOD, to something I don't even remember, still smells good but no longer AMAZING; we wear the same size of pants and pretty much the same size of shoes (I have big feet for a girl, and he has small feet for a guy), we both like classic rock and he's going to raid my iTunes.  We're also within a half inch of one another's height.  He's a tiny bit taller, but we already knew that.

So yeah, I'm in love, and my blog will probably continue to not have a single post that doesn't mention G.

In other news, I discovered Polyvore, and all I can say is, where has this been all my life.  I'm not into fashion trends or anything, but I do like putting together outfits and stuff, especially jewelry, and they have this little add-on that allows you to use images from around the web.

My Own Style by jaythejedi featuring Topshop

That's some of the stuff I've been drooling over, and with the prices of most of them, I'll just have to keep on drooling.  I'll stick to thrift stores, thank you very much.  It's fun though. I'm going to a concert with G on Friday.  It's called Summer Camp Music Festival 2011.  10 bands for only $20.  I've only heard of a few of the bands, so I'm listening to them a bunch today.  They're all pretty good, and it would be fun even if they weren't since I'll be with G.  Hopefully I'll get some pictures for you guys.