the birthday dress

It is my birthday today, and I just love birthdays. No, not because of the cake and the gifts and the general merrymaking (though I do quite enjoy that too), but because it's like a celebration of evading the clutches of death for one more year.

I mean, I see a lot of those "humorous" (in ironic quotes because these purportedly funny cards are typically not very funny) birthday cards that treat birthdays as if it's an occasion celebrated solely because you're one step closer to the grave. But I disagree. I'd like to see more cards treating birthdays as a celebration of the sheer luck that you've made it to another year. I know that sounds incredibly morbid, but isn't that more of a reason to celebrate? You've survived.

You didn't perish from embarrassment when you discovered your skirt was tucked into your underpants for the past hour. That ill-advised experiment of the fork in the toaster did not end up as disastrously as it could have. You've managed to escape all of Wile. E. Coyote's attempts to flatten you with an anvil (that guy's a jerk, by the way). CONGRATULATIONS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Doesn't that seem fitting? Maybe it's just me.

I should have Bear Grylls on my birthday cake, despite the whole controversy of "did he or did he not sleep in a hotel when he was supposed to be sleeping in the Siberian wasteland?" And that whole getting fired from Discovery thing, but whatever. That dude is crazy.

dress, h&m

jacket, american eagle (dyed)

belt, j.crew

ring, novica

necklace, larkinandlarkin via etsy

the spring witch

Whew. I just got back from a 3-day trip to Boston (or, 1.5 days in Boston with 1.5 days of travelling) for a conference and boy am I glad to be home. Not because I don't love Boston (because I do!), but because plane trips just take it out of me. Even though all you do is sit when you're on a plane, it's still incredibly tiring. I couldn't tell you why.

Oh wait, yes I can — it's because being crammed in a tiny seat for 4.5 hours next to people who don't understand the concept of keeping their elbows to themselves so that you can actually nap without waking up every 5 minutes from a bony jab to the ribs and/or head (this actually happened) is vexing, and being vexed for extended periods of time is exhausting.

Air travel is a lot less fun now that I'm all grown up. Maybe because now I know that Disney World isn't at the end of the flight.

But anyhoodle, here's a little something I wore the week before my trip...

And those dots on my nails aren't random. They're wee little constellations.
dress, vintage via ebaysweater, f21tights, xhilarationboots, vintage via etsybelt, j.crewheart ring, coachstone ring, novica

the polka dotted standard

What do you do when you find yourself in a sartorial rut? When every morning, you're faced with a closet full of clothes, but your mind refuses to do anything other than come up with increasingly unconvincing reasons as to why you should just go back to bed? ("You can sleep in for another 5 minutes, right?" "Come onnnnnnn. Go back to sleep." "Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.")

In those cases, I find that go-to dresses and bright tights can usually make it at least a little better.

So, may I introduce to you my go-to dress of the moment and some very bright blue tights.

dress, cotton on

cardigan, lacoste

belt, j.crew

tights, j.crew

flats, urban outfitters

watch, fossil

skull ring, ebay

stone ring, novica

silver band, from australia

gold bangle, kate spade

bag, kooba

Still have to work with Boyfriend on the whole "don't make me look like a bobblehead" thing.

giveaway -- lash genius and brow kit

That's right guys, it's GIVEAWAY TIME! The people over at Anastasia Beverly Hills contacted me to try out their waterproof mascara top coat (available at Sephora later this year) and beauty express brow kit ($39.50 value). They also sent me another set to give away to a lucky reader!

To enter, leave a comment on this post with:

1. Your name
2. Your email address
3. Tell me about what beauty product you can't live without

The giveaway will close on Wednesday, March 21 at noon CST. Please only enter once. The winner will be drawn randomly and will have 72 hours to respond to a notification email, after which another winner will be randomly drawn.

Now, I love getting stuff to try out from companies, but I won't advertise it, praise it, or even give it away if I don't actually love it myself. But I do have kind words to say about these two products from Anastasia.

I wear mascara every day, but I avoid waterproof ones because they tend to be clumpy and heavy. The waterproof top coat I got from Anastasia is clear, and it goes on top of whatever mascara you're currently coveting (Maybelline's Falsies line!) and instantly makes it waterproof. Surprisingly, it does so without adding much heft, which is much appreciated, especially now that the weather is warming up and I'll undoubtedly be battling Houston humidity (aka "the slayer of of mascara") on a regular basis.

The brow kit is lovely -- it comes with a brow wax to keep brows in place, a brow powder, eyeshadow, and something to add that little highlight right under your brows. I only recently forayed into filling in my eyebrows, so I'm still kind of a novice at it. The kit comes with stencils as well, but I didn't find them very useful because I have no idea how someone's supposed to hold a stencil with one hand and do a good job at filling in the stencil with the other. I'm just not that dexterous. But, I do like the brow powder and wax -- both go on velvety smooth, and the you don't need a lot of the powder to get a really rich color. The angled mini brush (included in the kit) is easy enough even for me to use.

In this giveaway, the winner will get the brow kit and waterproof mascara top coat -- both of which will be brand new and unopened, for the record. The brow kit is best suited for someone with dark brows, but you can always give it away to a lovely brunette in your life if you can't use it for yourself. GOOD LUCK!

the wrinkled theater patron

I went to see the Mythbusters live yesterday at Jones Hall for their Behind the Myths Tour. For those of you not in the cool kid know like me, Mythbusters is a show on the Discovery Channel. I have a strange addiction to watching it.

It's been a while since I had a random weekday date night with Boyfriend, so it was nice to get out and do something rather than just staying in and watching endless episodes of Friends. Though the latter is nice, too.

I must have tried on every single thing in my closet before deciding to just go with this skirt and a white shirt. Boring, but after "testing out" a bunch of ensembles for this event, I was just too tired to think anymore. I mean, I went through more wardrobe changes in the span of 30 minutes than a Jubilee! marathon.

The downside of this simple outfit? How insanely wrinkled my pencil skirt was after a car ride. Hence my completely unamused expression here:

shirt, gapskirt, j.crewpumps, steve maddenbag, rebecca minkoff

But I have no excuse for Boyfriend's expression here:

I don't know what makes his face so funny in that shot, but ohhhhh, it is.

I brought in my (flashless) Polaroid 220 camera too, which predictably garnered a few stares and murmurs of "What is that?" But for these pictures, it was all worth it.

The bottom I took after the show, when Boyfriend and I met Adam Savage (half of the Mythbusters duo). He was trapped behind a glass door (which explains the glare), but was nice enough to pose for a picture anyway. Plus, I got the back signed after someone eventually set him free. All in all, not a bad evening, despite the skirt wrinkles and high heel blisters.

Giveaway post tonight!

the mullet dress, once more

Daylight savings can be a pain for someone who takes her pictures early in the morn — you know, before the sun even peeks its golden head over the horizon. Ah well. I'm making it my mission to hunt down a tripod this weekend so I can at least snap photos on the parking garage roof, where it may be one iota brighter. My cramped, shadowy balcony just isn't going to cut it.

But at long last, here I am again! And with much less hair.

dress, cotton onblazer, urban outfitterstights, xhilaration (target)belt, j.crewbooties, vintage via etsymonocle necklace, gift

Is it incredibly obvious that my Andre-the-Giant-sized Boyfriend (at least, that's how big he is compared to me) took these photos? Bless his heart, but the guy can't snap a picture of me without me looking either incredibly fat (shooting angled up) or incredibly bobble-headed (shooting angled down). I tell him to just back up and keep the camera level, but he can't quite get the hang of it yet…

Finally, check out my little witch booties! I'm fairly certain they're from the '80s. That decade wasn't all FRANKIE SAYS RELAX and cone boobs.

Tomorrow, I've got a nifty little giveaway to tell you all about! Woohoo! Just think of it as a thank you for sticking with me, even when I disappear for weeks at a time.

roadblocks

I wanted to start posting like a regular and responsible blogger (like, more than just 3 random times a month), but then last week was BONKERS and then this week kicked off with me getting food poisoning. *shakes fist*

I thought I was getting back into the groove of things today, but then during lunch I ate a muffin and now my digestive system is protesting all over again. I guess it doesn't think solid food is a good idea just yet. Merrrrrrmmmmppphhhh (that's my frustration sound effect).

BUT, I will be back as soon as I shake this thing out. After all, I have to show you all what I now look like after cutting off more than 12" of my hair, right?