What Up Fashion World.

Let me tell you a story, a story of pain and then redemption.

Two years and one month ago, I was in Vegas with some of my roommates, shopping at H&M. On the lonely clearance rack in the corner, I found a pair of denim pants. They were bright blue, and they cost 8 dollars. And they fit me.

So I purchased them.

Then I wore my bright blue pants the next week, and I thought they were pretty cool, but then this girl said "Wow, your pants are so bright..." in a voice that meant "I'm judging you right now."

So I still wore them once in a while but I was worried that I looked like a weirdy wearing them. Even though I thought they rocked. Eventually I just left them at my house in Vegas because I didn't wear them very often.

NOW?




Boo yah, fashion world! I already OWN bright blue skinny jeans that only cost 8 dollars!! And even though I was too chicken to wear them before, now I WILL wear them* to blend into current fashion trends at BYU cuz' I roll like that. Lemming pride, woot woot!

*I first have to retrieve them from the back of my closet at my parents house the next time I go home.... so wearing them is still an eventual thing.

The important thing to note here is that I am way ahead of the fashion trends, and by that I basically just mean that I buy bright blue things from clearance racks whenever I can.

Nineties Nostalgia

My childhood ROCKED. Growing up in the nineties was definitely the way to go, especially because of the clothes. I had the best clothes ever as a child. I distinctly remember the intense comfort of neon-colored bike shorts with giant baggy shirts. Also, matching sweat suits.

coordinated sweatsuits. i know what you are thinking...
NO, THESE WERE NOT PAJAMAS.
we wore them places. (minus Sarah's robe)

SO COMFORTABLE. I swear, everything I ever wore was loose fitting. And it was actually cool.

When I think about it, it makes me weep a little that I have to wear stiff, tight jeans now. :(

Also: overalls. Overalls were cool back then! Like, really cool! And the baggier, the cooler! And jumpers, especially denim jumpers! Anne and I were just discussing this last week. We feel strongly that overalls should make a comeback.

Other fashion items from the nineties: shirts with Disney characters. I think a large majority of my closet consisted of Disney outfit sets--so much swagger.

Did you know that for years (YEARS) I got away with wearing stretchy cotton pants with crazy designs on them to elementary school? It was basically like wearing pajamas. What I wouldn't give to wear nothing but soft cotton pants in ridiculous colors with matching turtle necks.

Yup. this was as comfortable as it looks.

making mud pies in November in SUN DRESSES.
(i miss you Vegas)

And scrunch down socks. And barettes in my hair.

And puff paint shirts. My mother was a saint... she let us make TONS of puff paint shirts.

And on Sundays, we would wear these ridiculously frilly dresses covered in lace with ginormous puffy shoulders. And sometimes my sisters and I would all wear matching church dresses. And white tights---oh heavens, putting on those white church tights on Sundays...

The nineties were definitely the BEST decade for having the funnest childhood clothing.

I MISS MY CHILDHOOD. If you see me wandering Provo wearing stretchy leggings with giant neon green polka dots and a super baggy minnie mouse shirt with barrettes in my hair... do not be alarmed.

I'm reliving the good ol' days...

Cousin's Play to Wedding Day!

I am definitely a fan of people getting married, especially when I am invited to the festivities. And especially when there are beautiful decorations to ogle over. And triply especially when delicious food is involved.

Earlier this week, my cousin Melissa tied the knot with her main-man Bryan at the Salt Lake Temple. (to learn more about temples, go here.)

Melissa grew up in Salt Lake. I grew up in Las Vegas. Therefore, we didn't get to hang out a lot. But I remember being pen pals with her for a while when we were little and getting letters from her. When I went to visit Utah, we would play ping pong in Grandma's basement and dress up in old clothes from the 40's.

And once, we went to a pioneer village and Melissa provoked an angry chicken and then we had to run from it. It made the day memorable.

Mel and I circa 1999. On a horse. In heavy shade.
Big HOLLA to Jess for finding this picture for me! :)

And now, years later, Melissa is a married woman! A funny one at that. A while after she came out of the temple, she said, "I hope you write about this on your blog!!"

Anything for you girl. I mean, we survived that angry chicken together. After we lived through that,I feel like we have to be there for each other.

M + B

Sarah, Jess and I basking in the wedded bliss of the day.

I loved her beautiful, vintage-y dress, and I loved her classy dinner. She has a unique style of her own and I admire that she planned everything to reflect her own tastes.


Isn't it fun to appreciate the different styles and ideas from different weddings? I love it. This is coming from a girl who just spent her Friday night at home watching Say Yes to the Dress and eating chips and salsa. (Shut up, I'm cool...)

Congrats Melissa and Bryan! May your married life together be full of love and happiness, and not too many angry chickens. Although with spunky Mel, you never know.

;)

Great News.

Thanks to a nail salon outing with my glam friend Chandice and my new acrylics, I can now successfully perform one of my favorite camera poses ever:

rawrrr!

Now its time for the bad news: I am suddenly poorer and I can't take out my contacts.

But back to the good news:

so satisfying. you will never understand the joy of this pose until you try it.

Yup, TOTALLY worth it.

Domestic Goddess in Training.

I'm pretty sure yesterday was the most domestic day of my entire life. Nay, I am certain that yesterday was the most domestic day of my entire life. I went grocery shopping, I cooked, I cleaned, I scrapbooked, and I SEWED.

Yes, you read that right. I sewed. As in needles and bobbins, stitches and sewing machine kind of sewing. You see, I have this thing where I really like fashion (I can tell many of you are suddenly skeptical...) and I have been craving summer skirts.

Yes, craving, like you would crave a strawberry popsicle on a warm afternoon. Those light, cotton-y bright skirts are so summery and I want a ton of them, so I decided to commandeer my mom's sewing machine and her cupboards of fabric and make myself some skirts. I didn't need help, I didn't need advice. I know how to sew baby blankets and pajama pants. How hard could a skirt be? I found instructions entitled: the Twenty-Minute Skirt.

I think there should of been a disclaimer that said: the Twenty Minute Skirt***

***Unless your name is Amy and you fail at life, in which case plan on four hours.

I measured. I cut. I ironed. I pinned. I sewed. I sewed some more. I sewed some more. I tried on my skirt. It didn't fit. I ripped out hundreds of stitches. I sewed some more. I ripped out more stitches. I sewed again, and this time it even fit!! I wore it all around the house admiring my domesticity.

this is my skirt. it was sew hard to make. boom I went there!

Then as I was getting ready to leave the house wearing it, my dad said, "Uhh Amy.... I think there's a hole in your skirt...."

"Oh that's impossible Dad!" said I.

I looked. My stitches were falling out of the back seam, leaving a gaping hole.

So in conclusion, sewing is a fun, inexpensive way to have new clothes, except that if you wear something I sewed, there is a good chance you may suddenly find yourself naked in public.

You know what I miss?

My Olympic spirit glasses.

you couldn't help but feel joy while wearing them.

Lovingly invented and constructed last year during the Winter Olympics and worn with pride for many an Olympics watching sesh.

my birthday plus Olympic spirit glasses? A winning combo.

Then brutally destroyed by an accidental sitting-upon. I am still in mourning.

London 2012 Summer Olympics... I am eagerly waiting for you to come so that I can construct a new pair of Olympic Spirit glasses... maybe even with a little British flair??

Construction paper has never been so beautiful.

Headbands... the way Nature intended.

I am talented at a few things. Things like picking up small objects with my toes. Things like sleeping through alarm clocks. Things like saying tongue twisters with impressive speed.

Did you notice that my list did not include doing cute things with hair? So did I. Therefore, when I actually do succeed at finding a hair trick that is successful I am... pretty psyched.

I present to you: Nature's Headband. (I took the liberty of attaching a name to the 'do)


Nature's Headband: Get the amazing hair- holding abilities and the look of sleek sophistication without the toxic chemicals of plastic or the painful side effects of tight metal headbands.

Pure. Organic. Endorsed by hippies everywhere.

All it takes is a low braid on one side of your head, pulled up and over the top of your head...

...and pinned! And if your hair is too short to go all the way over like mine, then just stick a flower over the bobby pins!

TA-DA!! I am so proud. I am even more proud that I am dressed, because I spent the morning in my pjs, throwing up. The hair is just like the cherry on top.

Check back tomorrow for another tutorial:

"How to Groom a Sexy Foo-Manchu in Five Minutes or Less."

The Laundry Cycle of Amy

Laundry is a viscous cycle in my life....

It all begins when the laundry basket is empty and all the clothes are clean. All is well in the world. I make a solemn vow to myself to keep up on my laundry.

A week passes. The laundry basket is barely even full!

Two weeks pass. I feel a twinge of guilt every time I see those smelly clothes crammed into that basket.

About three weeks have passed. Utter denial.

A month later. I desperately need to do laundry, but I would rather poke my eyeballs with hot needles because now my laundry basket resembles Mt. Everest. I shudder.

I finally do my laundry. It takes hours and hours of hauling heavy loads down the slippery concrete steps, dozens of quarters, spilled detergent, awkward laundry-room encounters, clock-watching, trips back and forth, back and forth, drying wet loads over and over as I watch my money disappear, and I am filled with despair as wretched tears are wept while my hours slip away.

I haul all my laundry (consisting of almost all the clothes I own) back to my apartment and throw them down in exhaustion.

The next day, now that they are well-wrinkled from lying in a pile, I remorsefully hang up every piece of clothing I own and re-fill my wistful looking closet.

Empty laundry basket. PURE JOY.

All is well in the world.

I vow to keep up on my laundry next time.

REPEAT.

Guess where I am in the cycle today? Hahahahahahaha....

Dang.

To Tie or Not to Tie: Help a Girl Out

Dear Blog Readers,

Today I walked all the way from the football stadium back to my apartment. I had a sweatshirt with me but it was too warm to wear it, and I had a long ways to walk. I didn't feel like carrying it.... so I tied it around my waist.

I used to do it all the time in fifth grade. But I don't think I've done it since. And I was suddenly very uncertain.

IS THIS SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE???

I had no idea. I did it anyways. But I could not for the life of me figure out if cool people did this anymore. At least since 2002 ended. Haven't given it any thought since then.

So I began searching for evidence. Lots of people had jackets with them on this unseasonably warm day. Surely I would see some cool people with theirs tied around their waist!

Nope. Most people were carrying their jackets. But I saw one other jacket tie-er.

An old man.


Please friends. Share your gems of knowledge. Give me a nugget of your wisdom. Even if I don't know you. Knowledge is power!

To tie or not to tie?

• Tie... its hands-free comfort!
• 
  
• Its ok, but only in situations like athletic events and camping where its cool to look like a tomboy.
• 
  
• If you tie, it will make you look like a ridiculous old man with a enormously out of proportion saggy butt.
• 
  
• I have never before even given this thought, nor will I judge someone who does either and Amy is just crazy.

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Thoughts from the library

-I am reading my science book about deserts. Except not really because I am blogging.

-I love the desert. I think it’s even prettier than where it’s green.

-I don’t like being sappy or sentimental.

-Sometimes I look at other people’s blogs and they are so artistic and chic and I get jealous. Then again I am the one sticking pictures of pigeons and grizzly bears on my blog. But I think I like my blog how it is.

-I don’t like the color pink at all.

-I don’t understand over-dramatic people.

-I love the color blue so much that I have a hard time stopping myself from buying everything in that color. Right now within sight my computer is blue, my mouse is blue, my water bottle is blue, and my shirt is blue. Oh yeah, and this blog is blue.

- I need to work on the diversity of my wardrobe. Right now I don’t own a single green shirt. Or pink shirt. Or orange shirt. Maybe one yellow shirt.

-Last year I hated fall clothes. This year, I am really excited about all the trends in fall clothes and I want to go shopping to get some of them. Boots! Tights! Scarves! Dresses! Layers!

-But I am really, really, really happy that it is still warm. Being cold makes me cry.

-Maybe I should toughen up.

-I like going to lunch with Ashley. And when she breaks things in public and flees the scene. What a gangsta.

- I listen to Glee Pandora almost every day when I do homework in the library. Defying Gravity comes up way too often.

-I have this fear that I will be rocking out to music in the library and my ear-buds will slip out of my computer and I won’t notice.

- I love the Beatles. I listen to them every single day.

-Today is my friend’s birthday! She is twenty! I swear her last birthday was two weeks ago!

-I really don’t want to turn twenty!!! Guys, I am not ready to NOT be a teenager.

-Conclusion: I need to make a list of things to do in my last 4 months of being a teenager…. Make some suggestions in the comments! Ready GO!

Oh, and have a happy Friday! :)

Blisters

I really was going to go running the other day. But then I didn’t. It’s not that I was unmotivated; I just came home from classes with blisters on the bottom of my feet.

Dang sandals.

At the beginning of this year, I was like “Why did I never wear cute shoes last year!!? I have cute sandals and flats and wedges GALORE, and I feel like I never wore them!” So I started wearing cute shoes.

Then I remembered why. It’s called: Walking Everywhere I Need to Go.

It’s also called: BLISTERS.

Oh hello again Converse!


So basically I am going to wear sneakers everyday and wear a sign pinned to my shirt that says:

“ I really do own a lot of cute shoes. Really.”