You want a toe? I can get you a toe.

There has been a bit of sadness and worry in my house lately. Things are not looking good with the house. We were supposed to close on the 27th but issues with the title prevented it and now we don't know if it's going to happen at all. Here's hoping we have somewhere to live come December 31st. So, I thought I would lighten the mood with a story at Husband's expense.

During dinner yesterday Husband and I got into a game of "Quote the Big Lebowski" because mid conversation I said, "Am I wrong?" Which, of course set Husband off into a slew of quotes.

Husband: Where's the money, Lebowski?

Me: I don't roll on Shabbos!

Husband: Hey, nice marmot.

Me: You are entering a world of pain!

Husband: Shut up, Donny!

Me: Donny, you are out of your element!

(anyone else notice mine are all Water quotes?)

Husband: ...and thural.

Me: Wait...what?

Husband: ...and thural.

Me: *dumbfounded look*

Husband: ...and thural.

Me: *dumbfounded look*

Husband: *sigh* ...and thural?

Me: Are you saying words?

Husband: *loud sigh* Yes. As in, he's a good doctor...and thural.

Me: *things begin to click into place* Thural?

Husband: Yeah, as in, thoroughly?

KAAAABOOOOOOOOOMB!

Me: Do you mean thorough??? With an o?

Husband: *laughs* Yup.

Me: Oh my god. Have you spent your whole life saying thural?

Husband: Yup.

Me: How are you not more embarrassed right now?

Husband: I'm pretty embarrassed. Especially, since I walked around saying that quote at work all day long.

Me: Oh god.

That's my husband.

Couple new pieces here that I scored on Black Friday. Amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, luscious, to die for, bargain boots from Modcloth and comfy corduroy skinnies. For how much I love the individual pieces, I am not loving this outfit. Meh.

So let's see what else I can do with these things!

Blogger Inspiration

A few weeks ago, I was reading through some blog posts and I opened up a link to the most fantastic dress I had ever seen. Dani of DIY Fatshion, had put together an amazing outfit around a killer floral bodycon dress. I was so in love with the sex appeal of the bodycon dress, the femininity of the floral pattern, and the toughness of the denim vest. These three elements are so perfectly combined in this outfit that it just kills me.

Dani in her gorgeous outfit.

After seeing it I couldn't resist trying to create my own version of it. I don't have a bodcon dress so, I just used a floral print dress and it was freezing the day I wore this so, I added the tights and socks.

I did really love this outfit but, it's not definitely not the dress of my dreams that Dani is wearing. I'm thinking of trying the outfit again with the black lace dress from my last post as, I'm getting more sweetness from this flowy, floral dress than I want. I think the black lace dress will be perfect sexy/feminine/tough outfit.

I just decided I'm going to coin that term. Instead of LBD we're all going to looking for our SFT dresses. Just remember you heard it here first. Not buying it? Yeah, me either. But, stay tuned for version #2!

*I'm having a grammar dilemma here. I know I should use "an" in front of LBD but, I tend to say Little Black Dress instead of LBD, even if it's just the acronym. Which, means it should be "a" in front of it and when I read it, it gets all clunky in my mouth.

See ya  later, Alligators!

Freakum Dress - Every Woman's Got One

A couple bloggers I follow have taken part in a new challenge called the ways to wear challenge ran by Gemma of Big Girls Browse and I am really excited to jump in too.

The first challenge is an LBD. I am not really a simple black dress kind of girl. I know how versatile they are and I am trying to change my shopping habits to include high quality simple pieces. But the way it is now, I really only buy things that have details that make me go, "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang." So, this is my version of a little black dress.

I bought this dress a couple years ago at Torrid and it has served as a birthday dress, Christmas dress, and a date night dress. But, lets be honest. It's a freakum dress. This dress says, "Honey, don't worry. Tonight I'm a sure thing."

I felt this dress was so strong on it's own that it didn't need a lot of accessories  So, I just decided to accessorize it with my sparkly nude heels, a bright red lip, and my booty.

Style Imitating Art Time!

The Great War by Rene Magritte

I am sad to admit that I am not that knowledgeable about art. I know the obvious artists like Da Vinci and Picasso and a few others that are more personal favorites but, I don't know nearly as much as I would like. I have no technical knowledge of art and when I look at art I go strictly by my gut. I may not know what the art means but, I fall in love with the colors, the composition, and how the painting makes me feel. 

Rene Magritte happens to be one of those personal favorite artists of mine and I was so excited to see one of his paintings as Style Imitating Art this week. I have no idea what his paintings mean but, I am captivated by the images.

I thought the book was the perfect real life way to interpret the flower for me, as I usually have a book glued to my face anyway.

A Very Belated Halloween

Ok, I know it's half way through November but, I didn't get my camera back until a couple days ago and I really wanted to share my Halloween with you all.

This year we put together a Candyland group costume. Candyland was one of my favorite games as a kid because it always seemed to a bit more magical than any other game. As I was seeing all the pieces come together I was really excited about this one. Everybody that participated did an excellent job becoming their character. 

I really wanted to do some serious group and individual shots for the blog but, once we got to the party we just got into too fast so, all I have is a few quick pictures. I think you'll get the idea though.

I was Princess Lolly and I made my skirt out of pink and yellow tulle and yellow ribbon from Joann Fabrics. I followed this tutorial and just made a few adjustments to suit the look I wanted. All the lollipops around the bottom of the skirt are made of felt and hot glued on.* I used an old yellow shirt I had and hot glued sparkely felt circles to the top. The pink pumps were a pair of shoes I already owned and I got the tights from We Love Colors (where else?). The crown is an embroidery hoop with dollar store lollipops hot glued to the inside.

*Funny story. When I was hot gluing the lollipops to the skirt I was being really dumb and hot glued it right on to the table. A bunch of varnish came off and I now have lollipop shaped swirls all over my kitchen table. After I did it I groaned, "Ugh! The dumb things I do for Halloween!" Sawyer picked up on it and kept calling my Halloween costume, "Mama's dumb things for Halloween!"

I really wish you could see everyone better because there are some really fantastic costumes here. The brown guy is my husband as Gloppy the Molasses Monster. What you can't see is the awesome reeds, grass, and felt fudge pops all along the bottom of his costume. The green guy is Plumby and he had one some killer green suspenders and knee high green socks. There is King Kandy, who's costume is all handmade out of felt, Gramma Nut, who rocked it by bringing real peanuts. My sister is Queen Frostine (so elegant and supreme) and my mom, who did the BEST job this year, is Mrs. Mint. We also had a Jolly but he wasn't there when this picture was taken.

The white things on the floor in the clown picture are lollipops. I was sprinkling them on people and apparently causing lots of trouble. Sounds like me. 

 Happy very belated Halloween, everybody!

Studs and Stockings

This is the last of my backlogged pictures so I am officially caught up! Yay!

When I started following blogs I discovered a whole multitude of plus-size stores that had amazing on-trend clothes that I never knew about before. Some of the stores I discovered were Simply Be, Asos, and Evans. After only being able to shop at like three stores for the longest time I went a little crazy purchasing things from these new stores. I broke a lot of rules but, I think the boost in confidence I get when I put these clothes on makes it worth it. So, yes, $75 for this dress was a bit much. But, I love it so much. I am crazy for the studs on the shoulders, the color, and the pleats. I feel absolutely fantastic in this dress. Plus, everything else in this outfit was pretty much free. The clutch was my grandma's, I compounded a bunch of coupons to get the tights for nothing, and I stole the socks from my mom (thanks Mom). So, there ya go, justification.

I wore this to go out to dinner and see a play with my husband and his co-workers. The play was not my cup of tea (it was a courtroom drama and I'm way more of a musical person) but, I still really enjoyed it. As we were leaving we passed the star of the play outside and he called out, "Those are fantastic stockings!" Which, was awesome.

See ya later, alligators!

Everyday is a Winding Road...

Trying something a little different here. I don't know.

Another backlog outfit. But, I got my camera back today! Hurray!

These boots are becoming my official favorite pair of shoes in the whole wide world. They work with almost everything I own and they make me feel like 20% more hardcore when I where them.Which is cool.

This is one of those times where I am using clothes to make myself feel better. We have a lot going on right now and we honestly do not know what our lives are going to be like next month. We could be living in a new house, Husband could have a new job, and I could be working again or, nothing could change. I don't do well with uncertainty. I get anxious and I just want to make a plan but there is nothing to plan. I find myself getting overdressed for everything just so I have something else to focus on for ten minutes. 

Oh, well, I guess. Que sera, sera 

Printed Denim from the Backlog

I have taken a few days off the internet this week for a few reasons. The first is that my husband and I are trying to buy a house and I have been incredibly busy dealing with loan stuff, making the house flawless for the FHA appraisal, and staging (and keeping clean) our apartment so that we can rent it without any overlap of rent and mortgage. My brain is officially reduced to paint chips and buckets of dirty water and my body is reduced to a throbbing, aching mess. The second reason is that I left my camera at the Halloween party I went to so, I can't take outfits pictures until I get it back. I have a backlogs to get through so, here's an oldie!

I was, at first, appalled by printed denim. I have a mental block against anything that was trendy when I was a child. I think it's because I spent my fashion formative teen years hearing how awful fashion was in the 90's.  But, I am trying to stretch my comfort zone and I spotted these very subtlety printed jeans on sale and decided to give them a try. I like them and I definitely am loving how the prints mix with this shirt. (Print mixing rules, mix big prints with smaller prints and bold color prints with neutral color prints.)

I think I might be persuaded to try another pair of printed denim. I am trying so hard not to be that girl that hates every trend before it's too late!

Trick-or-Treating with Wild Things!

When Sawyer turned one we had a gigantic Where the Wild Things Are themed birthday party. I am a children's book enthusiast and that is easily my favorite. So, of course, I expose my kids to it whenever possible. Anyway, for Sawyer's birthday we got him a pretty expensive Max costume from Etsy. It is beautifully made with high quality materials and the details, like the bright gold buttons just enrich the whole costume. Obviously I had to use this costume again!

That made this Halloween costume picking fairly simple. If Hudson was going to use the Max costume, Sawyer must be a wild thing!

I looked up wild thing costumes and boy, were they expensive! I couldn't possibly spend $80 for a costume this year and so, I decided to make it. 

I went to Goodwill and found a women's size small orange, chunky sweater, a purse with faux fur accents, and a pair of grey wool pants. I picked up some light grey felt from Jo-Ann's and got to work.

Despite being a small, the sweater was still huge on Sawyer. I cut off a large amount of the sweater at the bottom and at the sleeves. Then, I took the sides in and finally, I sewed the narrowest bits from the pieces I cut off to make a waistband and cuff. 

To get the yellow stripes, I just used yellow acrylic paint on the sweater. I liked the way the paint mimicked the illustrations more than sewn on fabrics stripes would have and I had the paint already anyway.

 To make the scales, I cut out pieces of felt in the right shape and hand sewed them to the grey wool pants. This was very time consuming but, I loved the final result.

For the tail, I cut the fur off the purse and simply glued it to the back of the pants.

The only other thing I needed was a mask or a hat and, it coincidentally came in the form of a belated Christmas present from my friend. 

Isn't that the perfect hat?

The Max costume originally came with a crown but we lost it the week before Halloween.

It was so cold, they both have so many layers on under their costumes!