In the Name of Fashion

I had some downtime this weekend and for some reason I decided to go through and read some of posts on my old blog that I kept while I went to FIDM. I found this gem from back in February 2009 when I was interning for BCBG. It still cracks me up, so I wanted to share it here. Oh the things we do in the name of fashion...

Today I flat ironed a dead goat. 

How many of you can say that about your job? (And really, isn’t that a great opening line?) I went to my internship and one of the design departments needed help preparing the clothes for the runway (New York fashion week is coming up in spring) and they took me into a side office where a piece of curly (what I thought was faux) fur was laying. They handed me a comb and a flat iron- as in a hair straightener- and said they needed it straightened. Now I was thinking "why didn’t they just buy straight faux fur?", because I know you can get it. But when I sat down and picked up the fur, I realized it was an actual pelt.  I thought it was a llama originally, but I asked and they said it was a goat. I sat for 3 hours straightening a dead animal’s hair.

And you know what? It was hilarious. I mean really, I get to come home at the end of the day and when people ask “how was work?” I get to reply “I flat ironed a goat, what did you do?” And tell me that is not the best response ever. 

Also, straightened goat hair is really soft. I sort of want a giant one for a rug. 

Also also, besides giving dead things makeovers, I got to sit in on a meeting with the creative director and watch while the different departments showed her their lines. It was very Devil Wears Prada. 

It makes me miss all the crazy adventures I had in LA and school.

This pretty much sums up my weeknights

"Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably." 
— C.S.

And I couldn't agree more.

Literary Inspirations - Call of the Wild

Today's Literary Inspiration is based on Call of the Wild by Jack London. I had some fun with this, truth be told I read this book back in elementary school, but I wanted to see if I could make one of these based on a book with animals as the main characters. It was surprisingly easy actually, but Babe definitely isn't next on the list!

Prepare for the cold blast of the arctic wind as you drive your dog sled team across the hard tundra. Zip your parka up tight and slip into your fur lined boots as you harness up the dogs, giving them an extra pat and a piece of jerky. Warm your hands by the campfire and tie your scarf securely around your neck. No one said delivering mail across the Yukon to the miners was an easy job!

San Diego

Whew, I didn't mean for it to be a week since I last posted. After the whirlwind of Christmas, New Years, and a impromptu trip to San Diego, life finally caught up with me. But I wanted to share some pictures of the trip! 

I kept saying I would be so happy to see California again that I would hug the first palm tree I saw.

Oranges at the Orange County Flea Market

Trying on fun hats!

In La Jolla

Visiting local coffee shops

Attempting to surf

Beautiful ocean sunsets

Awesome friends to share it with

One of my old college roommates now lives in San Diego with her husband, who is stationed in the Navy there. One of my other college roommates and I decided to escape the frigid cold of Wisconsin and  visit the sun. While it was a little chillier than what we were hoping (typical January weather for California, but we were hoping for some crazy warm weather anyway) we had a ton of fun surfing, exploring, and catching up on all that's been going on.

Game Day Fashion

It's been Packer mania up here after this weekend's game! I decided to have some fun with Polyvore and create some looks to wear for (cross fingers) Super Bowl Sunday. I tried to keep it super casual, but that doesn't mean it still can't be fun and cute.

Cheese heads are optional.

Another gorgeous internet time waster

Can I just say how much I love Pintrest? I finally signed up for it and I love it so much. It's a giant inspiration board right at your fingertips, and oh the pretties that I've been able to find! If you need me, I'll be looking through all the gorgeous photos.

San Diego Bound

I'm off on a fairly impromptu trip to San Diego to visit my awesome friend Becky for the next week. I'm super excited because one of our other friends is coming along and since she's never been to California before we're going to play tour guides and take her all around the city. I can't wait to go back, it's been almost exactly a year since I moved back to the midwest and I'm definitely looking forward to being somewhere warm again!

New Things to Try in 2011

With everyone kicking off the new year with resolutions and advice on how to improve this and fix that, I started to think about something that I'd like to improve - my mornings. I'm up at 6am everyday and have a 40 minute commute to work, and it's been getting harder and harder to wake up. Here are some things I'm going to try to make my mornings go a bit smoother and put me in a great mood for the day.

1.  Prepare for the next morning the night before. I can't tell you how many times I've run out the door later than I wanted because I was trying to find everything I needed for the day. After reading 10 Ways to Upgrade Your Morning Routine, I am definitely going to start doing a better job of getting everything ready at night so the next morning is smooth sailing.

2. Do push ups in the morning. Well, I'm going to try. There's no saying if this will actually stick or not. I tend to be really into stuff like this for about 2 weeks and then forget about it, so we'll see if we can't make this stick around for a while!

3. Drink more water. My boyfriend Kacey has been after me for years about this and I finally started getting better about hydrating this year. Even so, I know I'm not drinking enough water so I'd really like to get a giant water bottle, fill the whole thing up with water and some lemon slices, and sip on it all day.

4. Apply more face masks and scrubs. Apart from being fun and girly, there is a point to this one! I tend to be so sleepy when I wake up that I zone out in the shower and suddenly I have 10 less minutes to get ready. Yesterday I concocted a homemade face scrub from olive oil and brown sugar and applied it to my face in the shower. It kept my mind occupied so I wasn't blankly staring at the wall while I waited for my conditioner to rinse out, and I saved myself 10 minutes of wasted time.

5. Take vitamins daily. When I was living out in California I did this all the time, but I've been pretty lax about it recently. I'll take them if I remember, but honestly I'm not that good at remembering. I think I may start leaving the bottles out on the counter instead of in a cabinet, out of sight out of mind, right?

And if none of those work, I'll just dance around a bit!

Spring Fashion Inspiration

Now that it's January and all the holidays have passed, I can start looking forward to spring and warm temperatures again! Although it's going to be months before Wisconsin starts to see spring weather, I've already been eying the resort and spring 2011 collections for inspiration. Marc Jacobs Resort 2011 collection is particularly sweet and retro. It has that hint of quirkiness that reminds me a bit of Zooey Deschanel. I'm especially fond of the pink polka dotted dress!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good New Year's Eve. I'm ready for the new year to start!