The Mane Event!

I'm a firm believer in giving oneself bunny ears. It's what all the cool kids are doing these days.

(Blazer detail)

Dress: Pointelle Sweater Dress/Anthropologie

Blazer: Twill Honeybee Blazer/Anthropologie

Beetle Necklace: Anthropologie

Charm Necklace: La Vie Parisienne/Blue Ruby (jewelry boutique in Vancouver, B.C.)

Earrings: Marc Jacobs/Nordstrom Rack

Shoes: Old Navy

Last Thursday night, Cascade Ice Water hosted an event at the amazing Mane Blow Dry Bar in downtown Seattle. I had never had a blow out before, but I figured they had to be marvelous and magical because I've routinely seen women come walking out of blow dry bars looking like they stepped out of an Herbal Essences commercial. SO, I squealed with delight when I realized that I would finally get to experience a blow out for myself.

I was not disappointed. Look at my curly hair! LOOK! LOOOOOOK! (Excuse the flash... the camera was being temperamental). I'm already planning a Girls' Night return trip for the full treatment!

                                 

                           

Our very generous hosts, Cascade Ice, provided us with delicious refreshments for the entirety of the evening. I took advantage of their tasting bar, and sipped on four or five different flavors. My favorite: their low calorie margaritas. They were absolutely delicious. So were the Cosmos. Grapefruit was good, too. Coconut was pretty awesome. Okay, really, there wasn't a bad flavor in the bunch. They were all fantastic. 

And perhaps most exciting of all, they had chocolate covered strawberries. Sooooo many chocolate covered strawberries. They also had delicious food on skewers. Side note: can I just tell you how impressed I was at some of the other bloggers' abilities to eat these things daintily? I saw at least two or three people use the skewers in seriously creative ways so they wouldn't have to eat the chicken like a popsicle. Alas, I'm not a skewer ninja, so I embraced my more barbarous instincts, and just ate it like a chicken popsicle.  It was glorious.

To Mane, Nunez PR, and Cascade Ice Water: thank you so much for a wonderful evening! I had an absolute blast meeting each and every one of you. To my fellow bloggers in attendance: it was so amazing to meet all of you! Thanks for all the laughs!

Walk, Don't Waddle!

Top: Gap

Cardigan: August Silk (Nordstrom Rack)

Skirt: Thrifted

Tights: Gift from Mr. CP! (Modcloth)

Shoes: Old Navy

Sweater Clip: CatRabbit

Earrings: Marc Jacobs (Nordstrom Rack)

Head Band: H&M

I tend to fixate on things. It's just how I'm built. I get all worked up about something, and dwell on it. And dwell on it. And, for good measure, dwell on it some more. My current fixation centers on the relative lack of colorful and/or patterned tights available for plus sized women. At least three times a day in our house, I can be heard complaining at length about it. I usually conclude my daily rants with, "What the [insert expletive of your choice here]?!" (In my more PG moments -- which are admittedly few and far between -- I tend to favor, "What the crap?!") Poor Mr. CP is the one who has to listen to my rants. And let me tell you, it's the exact. same. rant. day in. and day out. Nothing really changes except the expletive I use. Poor, long-suffering Mr. CP. 

Because he's just that spectacularly sweet -- and also, I suspect, in an effort to get me to stop complaining -- Mr. CP put his mad Google Fu skills to good use and hunted me down two pairs of colorful, patterned tights! That's right, colorful and patterned. I got what I wanted -- two beautiful pairs of tights -- and Mr. CP got what he wanted -- silence. Okay, well, not complete silence, because I'm still me, but he no longer has to listen to my seemingly endless diatribes on tights. Hooray for Mr. CP!

I tend to be reeeeeally picky about tights. I want tights that are durable, that fit (dur!), and most importantly, that don't result in what I've dubbed Penguin Crotch. Penguin Crotch is best described as the result of a pair of ill-fitting and/or poorly made tights such that the crotch sits somewhere around the knees and causes the wearer to waddle in a rather unsightly way. I am pleased to announce that these Modcloth tights fulfill all three of the above requirements: they seem durable, they fit, and I do not waddle to-and-fro like a Pacific Northwestern penguin. Yippee!

p.s. I apologize for the wrinkly skirt. I had been sitting for a while. =)

Floral and Elephants and Mustard, Oh My!

 

Please excuse the awkward proportions. I think I was standing on a slight hill, so I look ever so slightly like a hobbit.

Stop it! You're making me laugh!

 

Smirking just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Top: Old Navy

Cardigan: Nordstrom

Skirt: Coldwater Creek (you can find a similar one here)

Tights: Macy's

Shoes: Thrifted (brand spankin' new for $1.20!)

Head band: H&M

Sweater clip: DIY

Brooch: DIY

Earrings: Vintage (they're tiny elephants!)

As promised in my last OOTD post, I decided to go ahead and show off one of my colorful new purchases. I absolutely love this floral top. It initially had a bow in the back that sat between my shoulder blades, but I removed it. I don't mind bows on the lower back or on the front of my blouses, but inexplicable ties in the vicinity of the shoulder blades just confuse me. Why are they there? What's their purpose? What's my purpose? Who am I? Before long, I'm in the throes of an existential crisis, and find myself gasping for breath with a bag fixed over my face. So I figured I'd just hack the bow off and save myself the philosophical stress.

Perhaps one of you can help me with this. I love tucking my shirts into whatever bottom I happen to be wearing when the occasion or outfit calls for it, but how in the name of all that is holy do you keep the top from, well, poofing? My shirts always poof out and end up looking decidedly 1983 (I hate myself a little for saying that...) I thought a belt might help, but ultimately decided against wearing one, figuring that it probably wouldn't solve the problem. Have you discovered any remedies to the unfortunate poof?

September Wish List

There are so many things I could include on this list. I have, however, managed to restrict myself to the following items. While most of them won't be mine for quite some time, I'll probably try pick up a couple of the pieces this month.

Custom Sohomode Tea Dress

And she has a lot of other fabrics you can choose from, too! Gotta love Etsy!

Made with Love By Hannah: Winter Woods Skirt

Best part about these skirts: the little animals are brooches, so you can keep them on the skirt or wear them on a cardigan! I personally love the brown skirt with the bunny pin, but I think they are all marvelously whimsical.

Custom Black Circle Skirt by TallGiraffe

I love my thrifted gray circle skirt so much that I've been longing for an identical one in black. This looks like it would fit the bill, and a custom made skirt for $30 certainly won't break the bank.

Old Navy Tie Back Floral Tank

At some point, I apparently decided that I needed a tank top in every single color under the sun. Lavender? Check. Olive green? Got it. Every shade of brown you ever have or ever will see? Covered. But in terms of patterned floral tops, I have... one. Maybe. Somewhere. So this would actually be really useful for me to pick up. On a side note, is it just me or have Old Navy's prices gone way up?

 

Old Navy Faux-Suede Cap-Toe Flats in Mustard (Mustard!)

These shall be mine!

Banana Republic Double-Breasted Sweater Blazer

Sometimes I think Banana Republic exists only to taunt me. Their prices preclude me from purchasing more than a few basic things, which is why this blazer will remain on my wish list for the long haul. Speaking of which, have you all seen the new Mad Men Collection? Beautiful! But it runs waaaay too small to accommodate the Ladies. Which is probably for the best, actually, since I would buy everything in the collection (both for myself and Mr. CP), and we would end up eating cat food and refried beans for the rest of the month. Year. Decade.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm going to be heading to Charlotte, North Carolina at the beginning of October for a wedding!  I had been planning on wearing something suitably Autumnal -- lots of rich browns, and warm oranges and yellows, until I received a bit of surprising news. Apparently the wedding is going to involve copious amounts of black, accents of red, and... well, coffins. This will be a first for me. I can't say I ever thought I'd be going to a wedding like this. I'm actually quite excited to go, though, as I love unique weddings! At any rate, I think that means mustard is out...