11 Things

This post from Skunkboy Creatures made me realize that I've been seriously neglecting this whole blogging thing.  Part of why I've been so terrible with this is some recent time constraints (I've been studying my butt off because I'm getting ready to sit for a project management exam) but another part has been...well...you know when you put something off until tomorrow.  And then off until tomorrow.  And off again until it's been so long that you start pretending like it never existed?  I've been reaching that point with the blogging. 

But anyways, enough about that.  I can whine about that later.  Onto the challenge!

There are five rules:
1.  Post these rules.
2.  Post a picture of yourself and 11 random things.
3.  Answer the questions set for the original post.
4.  Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5.  Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you've tagged them.

1.  I developed a major crush on my fiance a long time before I ever even met him.  You see, he's a house DJ sometimes.  He put together this mix several years ago and posted it on the internet.  There was just something about it that made me feel like dancing and swooning all at once.  Danswooning.  It involves a lot of shaking of the booty.  Anywho, we didn't actually meet in person for several months and didn't actually get together for many years/after several other relationships.  I like to pretend that I knew I was going to marry him all the way back then.

2.  I have three cats.  More cats than people really makes me a crazy cat person.  But there's something to be said about having a lap full of fluffy purring love any time you want.  (even if that love is sometimes sharp).

3.  When I was a teenager I didn't believe in purses, much makeup, or general styling.  I wore a lot of motorcycle boots with dresses (I still have the boots).  At some point, I turned into kind of a make-up whore and I'm slowly getting that way about fashion too.  I occasionally look at myself and ask "wait, what?  When did all of this happen?"

4.  I like salads without dressing.  I like them with dressing too sometimes, but I actually prefer the taste of lettuce to the taste of some nasty bottled crap.

5.  I don't believe in dancing like no one's watching.  I dance like everyone is watching.

6.  I initially went to college for vocal performance.  I ended up majoring in English instead.  I still fiend for karaoke fortnightly.

7.  When my mom asked what I was going to be when I was little, I told her "famous."  This included that I was never going to learn to drive because I was going to be driven around in a limo.

8.  If anti-gravity existed, I would harness it to act like a brassiere so I could finally wear some of the adorable backless stuff that I long for.

9.  I saw my first DC Roller Girls bout in October.  I now own derby skates and pads and I've started working to audition to train to be a roller girl.  My first skate clinic is on March 10th.  I can't wait.

10.  Summer is my favorite time of year.  My favorite place during that time is by the pool (or in it) with a good book and an adult beverage.

11.  My ultimate comfort food is grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Questions from Katie:
1.  Do you drink coffee and if you do, why did you start?
 I drink at least two cups a day if not more (black).  I started because my dad drank coffee so I wanted to too.




2.  What is the most important quality you look for in a friend?
 A slightly warped sense of humor.  If we can laugh together about some stupid (and probably mildly offensive) video we found on the internet, we'll be BFFs.

3.  What was your #1 favorite toy when you were young (K-4th)?
 I was a pretty big Barbie collector.  I had a dream house and a Barbie camper all stuffed to the gills with Barbies.  I actually had New Kids on the Block action figures too that my Barbies went on dates with.

4.  Do you prefer sunshine or rain?
 Sunshine for sure. 

5.  What movie can you watch over and over and never get sick of?
 Clueless and Beerfest.  And Mirror Mask (which someone borrowed from me over a year ago and I have yet to get back).


6.  Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
 Married.  With a baby or preggers.  Hopefully in some sort of project management or technical writing role. 


7.  Skype:  is it more awesome or more awkward?
 I've never actually Skyped but I find video chat to be generally pretty awkward.  I get too hung up on how I look on camera.

8.  Who is your favorite band and what were you doing when you discovered them?
 Jamiroquai.  I was watching MTV when I first discovered them.  When I rediscovered them I was out of college and going through a break up.  I now know most of the words to most of their songs.  I would probably lose my mind if I ever got the change to meet Jay Kay.  


9.  Cats or dogs?  (and don't say one is dumb and the other is great)
 I have three cats so...hedgehogs.


10.  What's your favorite thing to collect?
 I have a collection of Kid Robot toys.  They're the souvenir I always get when I'm traveling because stores that sell them seem to be everywhere.  And I love that they come in mystery packaging and are always a surprise when you open them.

My questions:
1.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
2.  What is one of your favorite memories?
3.  How old were you when you learned to drive?
4.  Do you watch awards shows? 
5.  If you had to chose between losing your sense of touch or your sense of taste, which would it be?
6.  Will you buy me a pony?  Why not?
7.  What is your favorite outdoor activity?
8.  You magically receive $1,000.  You're not allowed to use it for anything responsible.  What do you do with it? 
9.  What's your guilty pleasure?
10.  What was the last thing you read that wasn't on the internet?
11.  What kind of contest would you be a shoe-in winner for?

People I'm tagging:  Nat, Chris, Julia, Kye, and Kendall.  If anyone else wants to give this a shot, feel free!

Long Time No Post...

So, it's been a week and I haven't posted.  Bad Celia!  Sorry guys, life got in my way.  But I did something awesome this weekend.  I got together with a good friend of mine who has an eye for pictures and about five different cameras and got some non-cellphone, non-blurry pictures!

My friend Nat (the guy with the camera), has been taking pictures for years.  He's quite the photographer.  He's recently started a travel blog here.  He has a big trip coming up soon so I would suggest checking it out.  You can also check out some of his other photography here.

I should note that I opted to not really do anything to these pictures, processing wise.  For one, I'm not really looking to present a perfected version of myself.  I'm human.  I'm imperfect.  I'm not embarrassed.  

For two, I'm admittedly a little lazy.  Also a little short on time.  Right now is the first moment I've had a chance to even log onto blogger since these pictures were taken let alone even think about editing them.  I have more pictures.  I will do some minor things to fix them (cropping, color adjustment, red eye, etc).  I, honestly, just wanted to show you all some of these pictures.  So look!

Let's talk shoes.  OMFG shoes.  I got these from Piperlime.  They're Tinley Road.  I got them on clearance. I adore them.  They're ridiculously tall but also incredibly comfy, light, and stable.  The ankle strap, the detailing...they just make me girl the hell out every time I have them on.  Love them.

The jacket, you've seen before.  I got it and the shirt underneath on clearance at New York and Company.  The jeans are Banana Republic.  The necklace, again, you've seen before (United Colors of Benetton).

Jason Wu for Target Fail

So, after the whole debacle with the launch of Missoni for Target, I should not have been surprised.  For those of you that aren't aware, Target released a line by Jason Wu this Sunday.  There were some really cute things in their look books that I saw online beforehand, so I thought I'd check it out.  So, this Sunday, around 10:30 AM (two and a half hours after Target opened), I got to the store to check it out.  I found this:

For those of you keeping track at home, that's nine shirts (all in XL except the one I tried on in L, the white one with the tie) and two dresses (also in XL).  And the shirt that I tried on was terrible.  You could see right through it and the material felt really cheap.  Like, $5 bargain bin at walmart cheap.  It was some sort of nylon.  And it was priced at $23.  Yeah, no thanks.

So, I decided, I'll check out the accessories.  So, after hunting for a Target employee, I asked "where are the Jason Wu accessories?"  "They're not out."  "When do you think they'll be out."  "We didn't get any."  Seriously?!

Ok, so there's another Target within driving distance of my house.  I thought I'd go check it out there too.  When I got there, I could find no Jason Wu displays what so ever.  The Target employee I spoke with had no clue what I was talking about.  None.

Overall, fail.  So much fail.  And what really makes me angry is that Target spent so much time and money hyping up this line with ads and and look books only for them to send a very limited number of items to each store and to not even send everything to all stores?  I understand that they're wanting to create some sort of collectability factor here, but I am certainly never going to drag my butt out of bed early enough for a Target opening on a Sunday.  I am absolutely sure that someone probably went into the first Target and bought up half the rack so they could put it on ebay later.  And, on Sunday, I probably could have gone home and ordered something from the online exclusives, but the terrible quality of what I tried on at the store certainly didn't make me want to.

So, I might be slightly disappointed here.  But really, I didn't need to spend the money on the sub-par quality, unnecessarily hyped BS that Target was offering. 

I felt like Julia Roberts at the end of Pretty Woman...

So, between the large hair, the white jacket, and body con dress, this outfit totally made me feel like tonight should have been 1990 and I just made the transition from prostitute to career gal.  I'll be doing a post later on how I did the hair, but here's a few pictures of what I wore!

Isn't the chair amazing?!  My fiance and I went to a friend's house tonight for a small party.  She just finished remodeling a 70 year old row house in DC and it came out fantastically.  She has such an eye for design.  She designs jewelry too.  This chair is in one of her upstairs rooms.  As soon as I saw it, I required a picture.

The jacket is new. I got it on clearance from New York and Company yesterday.  The dress came from express.  And the shoes are those same python booties I wore a few posts ago.

I seriously love the hair.  It was so easy.  I used something called "bantu knots."  Like I said, more on this later.

Happy weekend guys!

My Mission...

Starting this blog was a part of my goals for 2012 (no, not resolutions.  Goals).  Goal accomplished?  No.  Not so much.  You see, there's more to my starting this blog than just saying "hey, I have a blog!"

I actually want to do something with this.  So, here's a little bit about why I'm doing this and what I want to get out of it.  My blog manifesto, if you like.  With this blog, I will:

• Develop my style.  Currently, I have clothes that I like and I feel that I can put myself together pretty well on a regular basis.  But I don't feel like I have my own "style."  In high school, I had something akin to style (it mainly consisted of short skirts and combat boots but it made enough of an impression on people that they've mentioned it to me since).  A part of my blogging is really me trying to create a style for myself.
• Step out of my fashion comfort zone.  I don't know if you've noticed, but I have a thing for Express editor pants.  I'm totally comfortable in them.  I wear them constantly.  I also adore shoes and wear the ba-jesus out of them.  I have dresses!  I have skirts!  I have clothing besides jeans and editor pants!  I will be showing them to you, just as soon as it isn't negative thirty outside and I don't need to wear fifty layers between my front door and the car.  (Yes, I love hyperbole.  Yes, it's been a mild winter.  I just really hate cold weather.  HATE IT).
• Become a better self portrait photographer.  So, my camera is not so fantastic.  It's a many year old hand-me-down from my father.  It gets the job done because it has a timer and I own a tripod.  My pictures are not currently fantastic.  My apartment lacks decent lighting, it's usually too dark to take pictures outside when I get home from work, and I don't always have time to snap a picture of myself before I change for the gym or just come in the door, yell "BYE PANTS!" and get comfy.  Excuses galore.  Part of my mission is to set myself up for more success when it comes to getting more regular pictures of what I'm wearing and better quality pictures.  I have plans in the works.  
• Review more makeup and beauty products.  I have a problem with beauty products.  I have WAY too many.  I buy them constantly.  Sephora and beauty.com are sites that I cannot visit unless I have money to spend.  I really intend to do something with all of them and keep reviewing them.

There it is.  There's what I'm going to do with all of this bloggy stuff.  

Is there something you'd like to see me do with this blog?  Is there something you'd like me to review?  Is there something I should be trying that I'm not?  Do you want to see me try to stand on my head and take pictures of the aftermath?  I'll do it.  Really, I will.

Winter is pretending it's spring

We've had a nice stretch of warm-ish very un-January-like weather here in northern Virginia.  Last Friday, I decided it was so nice out that I needed to get some pictures of my work outfit outside while it was still nice out.  This meant I had to ask my fiance to take the pictures for me because the light was fading fast and I didn't have time to screw around with the timer on the camera.  He's not the most patient of men, so this lead to me making some derpy faces while arguing with him.  He thinks my silly poses are too dorky for words and usually refuses to take the picture when I'm posing all crazy.  This also lead us to realize that his phone takes better pictures than my camera.  Sad.

This was what I wore to work on Friday.  I've had this long sweater thing for years now.  I have no idea where or when I got it but I adore it.

I've also had these boots for frikking ever.  See what I mean about the derpy face?  That's my "check out these sweet boots" face.  I'm actually wearing those boots again today but with a dress.  I'll see if I can't make someone take a picture of me at the epic dinner I'm going to tonight.

The shirt I got on clearance at Ann Taylor LOFT last summer.  I love the neato built in layers.  The belt came from Express and the jeans were hand-me-downs and are also, I think, from Express.  The necklace is a string of fake black pearls.  They were a gift from an aunt and uncle one Christmas.

Things I Loved from the Internet This Week

Here's some link love for things I saw on the internet that I loved this week.

Lisa Eldridge did a video tutorial on Marilyn Monroe's makeup last week.  I had fully intended on trying to recreate this and take pictures for your amusement.   I still might do it, but the lovely makeup blogger Jangsara of Makeup your Jangsara has already done it with some fantastic results.

The Budget Babe recreated a budget friendly version of a red carpet look that Sophia Bush wore involving a red maxi skirt and a moto jacket.  How much do I love that skirt?  I might have to buy it.

Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere did an amazing kitchen reorganization that I'm totally putting on my list of things to try.  I just hope I can find risers like she has.

I love this older post from ...love Maegan with a DIY fabric flower necklace/headband.  She made a belt too but I'm not so keen on it.  (She featured the belt this week in a post wearing the DIY pearled v-neck shirt I linked to last week).

There are some gorgeous pictures of femmehawkes from Cult of Pretty.  I wish I had the braiding skills to pull one of these off.

Lifehacker has a post about keeping your house clean in 20 minutes a day.  I printed it out...that's a good first step...right?

So, people of the internet, did I miss anything that I should be raving about?