Sparkly!

Top, Cardigan, & Skirt: Forever 21, Black tights: Target, Sparkly silver tights: Sock Dreams, Pink ring: Ragin' Daisy, New Orleans Oxfords: Delias

Holy smokes, it's almost 2010!

As far as holidays go, new year's eve has never been a big deal to me until fairly recently. Last year I was determined to get tons of things done in 2009 and that was reflected by my long list of goals. Miraculously, I accomplished a good chunk of them! (Among those that failed were doing yoga three times a week, taking vitamins everyday and shooting tons of video.)

Overall, 2009 was a less-than-stellar year for me both personally and creatively, but there were still bits of awesome sprinkled throughout: like our Epic Road Trip to New Orleans and (of course!) my first blog post!

Here's the thing about New Year's Eve: resolutions have a bad rep. Tons of people don't even bother because they already have a sense of failure floating over their heads. But no, this is terrible! Remember that nothing at all is wrong with setting goals for the upcoming year. You should always have goals of varying degrees--the new year is just a fresh start so that you can say "I've been doing ____ since ____." (The start of each month is also a good time for this, so keep that in mind if you also fall off the yoga wagon!)

For 2010 I have lofty, lofty goals. I love lofty goals. I also love the word lofty, although I don't mean it in a negative way, just a sort of floaty optimism. The blog and shop fell way behind when I started working, but this will be remedied! I have quite a few posts already planned, will be updating the shop fairly regularly, and even have a couple of giveaways coming up! Yay.

But anyway, back to resolutions-- please don't refuse to create goals for yourself for fear of not accomplishing them. You will most likely get them done, even if they seem a bit out of reach at the moment. And I just thought I'd share since that's my favorite part of the new year. :)

And before I go, I must mention that the shop is having a massive 20% off sale until the end of January!!

I hope the new decade is wonderful and sparkly and surprising for you all. ♥

A new romantic.

(Ahh, my roots!)
Vintage Laura Ashley coat: thrifted Dress: Jovovich-Hawk for Target Tights: Hue Leg warmers: Sock Dreams Mary janes: thrifted

Today we braved the cold long enough to take a few outfit photos at the river. This velvety little kid's coat is one of my absolute favorite thrift finds! It's a bit too swingy to wear with everything, but great for little above-the-knee dresses. I feel strangely romantic in this outfit.. kind of lacey and velvety and delicate. Like I should go on a carriage ride if I didn't despise them so much (those poor unhappy horses!)

Rose ring: shop in New Orleans

I'm taking the time for a number of things..

Black '60s pea coat: Thriftwares Handmade vintage dress: Marzipan Vintage Oxfords: Delias

The weather here is so weird. Yesterday it was cold enough to for me to yank my giant pea coat out of the closet; today it's super rainy and warm.

Jeremy and I are both home today (gasp!), snuggled up in the living room with the cat and dog, hiding from the drizzle outside. This morning we had breakfast at a little bakery downtown, browsed through the dog boutique (shush!) and went treasure hunting at the flea market. I found a gorgeous early 20th century black bonnet (very Doubt, actually, but strangely I loved it so much!) and dropped lots of Christmas-y hints.

I know lately it seems that every time I post I'm apologizing for not posting, but school and work have just been so hectic. With the semester being over I'm hoping to have a better internet presence-- I hate not having time for things that I love. I haven't had much time for getting dressed properly either, because I tend to wear such boring clothes to work (usually some variation of pants and a cardigan and flats). It's so sad.

Also, Haley from Haleyknitz has given me an award!

You should all check her out immediately--I met her at the library's teen book club and she turned out to be a surprise book blogger! I'm usually so bad at returning these things, but here goes:

Rules: List 7 Favorite Things and send this award on to 7 other bloggers

Top 7 Favorite Things:

1. Painting while listening to The Beatles and David Bowie.
2. Re-watching all seven seasons of Buffy every eight months or so--just long enough so that I've forgotten little things and can get appropriately teary and nostalgic.
3. Spending a rainy afternoon curled up with a book (a delicious cliché).
4. Seeing all of my out-of-state friends at the Harry Potter convention each year!
5. Getting up early and having lots of alone time with coffee and blogs.
6. Hanging out with my husband and being insanely silly.
7. Baking while listening to music and dancing in the kitchen. (Amy Winehouse is usually my baking music of choice!)

I'm going to tag just a few ladies, should you choose to accept it:

1. I Have a Garden!
2. Darling Darling
3. our.city.lights
4. quickentheheart

John

Today makes 29 years since John Lennon's death. Try not to be sad, though-- celebrate his life by listening to his music & doing a few of the lovely things suggested by Gala Darling!

One of my favorite interviews:



(Click to youtube for the rest!)

A fantastic quote from this interview:

John: We don't fit into most people's bags.
Yoko: Well no one should fit into anyone else's bag--
John: --we should all have our own bags, you know.