Hello, Plaid

Things have been busy lately, and I have too much to say, but for once I'm going to save my rants about my personal life for the end of this post because I have to talk about this dress first. A little while ago, this dress appeared on Modcloth during a week when new arrivals happened to be on sale. I immediately put it in my cart without thinking, as if I were possessed by some sort of dress addict with a problem on par with alcoholism. Just as I was about to make the purchase, however, the logical part of my brain suddenly woke up and yelled at me to shut it down. I really didn't need to spend the money, even if the $65 dress was only $38 for a very limited time. I kept thinking about it all night, but I knew that I did the right thing. Somehow, though, I got lucky. I'm not a big believer in fate, but I have to admit it was a crazy coincidence that my brother and sister-in-law happened to send me my belated birthday present in the form of a Modcloth gift card the very next day. Immediately, I went to the site and put this dress back in my cart. It was kismet. It arrived soon after, and it's just as perfect as I hoped it would be. For my first time wearing it, I went with cat eyes and blue wedges, but I'm already looking forward to colder weather so I can pair it with cardigans and a scarf. I'm also a little bit obsessed with this set of photos that Elyse took for me, so I kind of can't stop staring at them. Is that narcissistic? Probably. You'd do it too if you had this dress.

As for my non-dress life, I've had a great past few days or so, even if they did come with a lack of sleep. I saw "Skeleton Twins," a fairly serious and excellent film starring Kristen Wigg and Bill Hader, on Thursday, watched "The Room," the greatest worst movie ever made (I could talk for hours about this movie. If you like movies that are so bad they're good, this is the holy grail.), over pizza and margaritas with some good friends on Friday night, and I went to a beautiful wedding for a family friend on Saturday. Yesterday, I continued my coffee tour of Southern California with my friend Chelsea by spending the day in Venice and Santa Monica, drinking iced coffees from Intelligentsia, eating delicious sandwiches, and wandering in and out of adorable stores on Abbot Kinney. I followed it up by getting more coffee with Adam last night, so yeah, I celebrated National Coffee Day like a pro.

Flock Together: Hot Wheels

I'm over on Flock Together today, posting about this seriously incredible dress I borrowed from Marisa. If you can't tell, there are bicycles with puppies all over it. I know. This might have been the most difficult one not to steal. You understand. Hope to see you over there!

Dress: Modcloth, borrowed from Marisa

Jacket: H&M

Oxfords: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Jewelmint

Still Summer

There's a good chance that wherever you're reading this from, you're enjoying the cooler weather, you're loving the colorful leaves on the ground, and you're pulling out all of your sweaters out of storage. Or maybe you live in California like I do, and you're coming to terms with the fact that, once again, "fall" doesn't really exist here. After spending the past four years living in the Midwest, I had finally come to know and love autumn, so I'm a little sad that I don't really get the season (or any seasons) now that I'm back in Orange County. It's pretty much sleeveless tops and 80 degrees until around the time when "winter" should be here, and only then will I be able to put on a couple of layers and "warm up" with a hot chocolate. Of course, I'm not blind to the fact that I'm lucky to live here. I keep reminded myself that I don't have to suffer through months of avoiding slipping on ice this December through April, but I can't help but be a little sad. I'm still struggling with missing out on friends hanging out and working at the newspaper back in Illinois, so missing out on the changing seasons (especially missing out on doing things like going to an apple orchard with my brother and his kids) is taking some getting used to.

On the bright side, I still get to do things like walk around Venice Beach yesterday, hang out at an awesome outdoor brewery with my best friends on Monday night, and wear sandals and this sleeveless gingham top. I really love this top and this skirt, so I was kind of surprised when I realized I had never put them together before yesterday. See? There are still plenty of "summer" looks to put together. 

Holland, 1945

Are you ready for this, world? I'm wearing a T-shirt. Not only that, but I willingly bought the T-shirt, AND I was excited about it. I wasn't even still sick. I honestly don't remember the last time I wore a T-shirt that wasn't for work or to bed, but since last week's concert was most likely the only time I'll ever see Neutral Milk Hotel live, I figured that I had to get a shirt to commemorate the event. I thought about getting a tote bag, but I have a million and one of those, and I couldn't get over how awesome this shirt was. Plus, if I've learned anything from Jessica of Midwest Muse (among other things), it's that band T-shirts can, in fact, be stylish.

I swear after this post I'll stop talking about Neutral Milk Hotel, but I'm still on a high after the concert. It doesn't help that my weekend wasn't extremely eventful so it's not like I have anything else very exciting to talk about. Other than re-watching "30 Rock" for far too many hours, I got lunch with my friend Christian, watched some episodes of "Party Down" with my friend Jon, and had great pizza and beer with my family. So basically, my weekend (like most of my life) just consisted of food and TV. It's really all that matters in life.

Two Headed Boy

I apologize ahead of time if this post ends up not making any sense since I'm writing it late at night and half asleep, but this is what I wore to see Neutral Milk Hotel yesterday. In case I haven't said it enough times, Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favorite bands of all time, and my best friends, Adam and Whitney, bought me a ticket to see them at the Hollywood Bowl for my birthday earlier this summer. I've been in love with Neutral Milk Hotel since I was about 14 or 15, and it's one of those bands that got me through high school and that I have a huge emotional attachment to. Since the band officially broke up in 1999 (after only putting out two albums, including one of the greatest albums of all time, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea), I've spent most of my life under the impression that I would never get to see them perform live. Fortunately, the band surprised everyone by announcing a reunion tour last year, and I knew I had to see them. Of course, when I missed the chance to see them in Illinois last year, I went back to assuming I had missed them forever, so getting to see them yesterday was an actual dream come true. I can't even put the concert into words since it was so incredible. It was surreal seeing a band I'm so attached to and have spent years listening to through headphones and in my car, especially on particularly bad days, live. Jeff Mangum, the band's creator and lead singer, is one of my musical heroes and hearing him sing "Two Headed Boy," one of my favorite songs of all time, solo on stage was one of the best experiences of my life. I have no shame in admitting that I got pretty emotional. I think it's pretty understandable though.

Enough of the emotional rants about Jeff Mangum, though. Let's talk about this dress. I had contemplated getting this Dahlia lace dress for my birthday from my parents, but as you know, I settled on the Swedish Hasbeens instead. I'm obviously happy with my decision, but I never really stopped thinking about this dress. So, of course, when Dahlia had a huge sale recently, I had to snatch this beauty up for a steal. It's a little tricky to wear since it has an open back, and I can't exactly get away with going bra-less. Instead, it just gives me another good excuse to throw on  a cardigan. Not that I need one.

Oddball

Well, we have some things to catch up on, don't we? As you most likely saw, I was away from the blogging world, and just the world in general, last week while I was sick. To make a long story short, it was bad. I couldn't really get out of bed, I had a high fever for the entire week, and I had to visit the doctor's office three times, where I got two shots and blood drawn. So that was fun. I'm still not feeling 100% since I have a pretty bad lingering cough and a general lack of energy, but I'm much better than I was last week. Phew.

I finally started feeling better on Saturday, which was a huge relief considering it was the night of Oddball Comedy Fest. I've been talking about it for a while now, and since I bought a ticket and was looking forward to the chance to seeing some of my favorite comedians do stand-up in one place, I wasn't about it to miss it. As you might have guessed, it was absolutely worth it. I got to see nine comedians including some of my all-time favorites like Demetri Martin, Hannibal Burress, Marc Maron, Chris Hardwick, Sarah Silverman, and of course, Louis CK. It was incredible. It was amazing seeing all of them, but no one compared to Louis CK. He is a god. His set was flawless, and seeing him live was surreal. So despite the fact that I felt like dying a little bit, I would do all over again in a heartbeat. 

Sick

Just wanted to stop by really quick to let you know why I've been absent all week. I've had a fever since Saturday, and yesterday my doctor told me I have a really bad sinus infection as well. I don't have very much energy at the moment, and pretty much all I've done all week is sleep. Obviously, that means blogging and outfit pictures are out of the question, especially since I'm assuming you don't care about seeing me in my p.j.s with my hair all over the place. I'm considering getting a couple guest posts lined up since I don't know when I'll be better, but fingers crossed that I'll be back with new posts next week. Thanks for understanding.

Things That Caught My Eye This Week #44

My obsession with white dresses continues, and this number from Lauren Winter just jumped to the top of my list.

Madeline

I've been saying this for a while, but September is going to be an exciting month for me. Much to my surprise, however, the excitement started a little earlier than expected. Yesterday, my brother and sister-in-law welcomed their new baby daughter, Madeline Elisabeth, into the world, and I was fortunate enough to get to meet her soon after. I absolutely adore being an aunt (I have two nephews and now three nieces), so I'm overjoyed at her arrival. Both my sister-in-law and the baby are doing wonderfully, and I already can't wait until I get to visit them again this week. Forget everything I've said about feeling weird about moving back home. Obviously it's all totally worth it just for this. And other things, of course, but mostly this.

I got woken up pretty early by my parents (after working three 7 a.m. shifts in a row) and then spent almost all day at the hospital, so I wanted to change into something that I felt good in before I left the house later last night. This dress has been another all star of my summer wardrobe, and it has yet to fail in making me happy and being comfortable. This outfit is simple and very typical of me, but it's one of those ones that I just really enjoy. Feel-good outfits are always important to have, even if they do include cardigans that you talk yourself into wearing when it's 80 degrees. I'm pretty confident in saying that I don't think I've ever regretted wearing a cardigan, even in the middle of summer. Cardigans forever.

Bloopers, Round Seven

I don't know how I let this happen. I've failed my readers, I've failed my blog, and most importantly, I've failed myself. I haven't posted bloopers since March. That's almost six months without photos of me making ugly faces, laughing hysterically, accidentally closing my eyes, and generally humiliating myself. Well, I'm here to make it up to you. I've gone through my archives and dug up the funniest pictures from late March until now. I actually found more than 40 bloopers worth sharing, but I decided to limit it to these. It's still pretty photo heavy, but I think that this many photos is necessary. Enjoy, and may this inspire all of you to make fools of yourself on the Internet as well.