The Continuing Adventures of the Case Against Pants

When it comes to fashion, I still dislike pants. True story. I've only worn pants three times so far in 2010. My goal in 2011 is to NEVER WEAR PANTS.

"But why," you ask, "do you hate pants?"

Well...

#1: They don't always flatter me. I am a hair under 5'0" but was blessed with curves. Lots of them. I have a proportionate hourglass figure with some extra squish on it...and abnormally short legs. They're nice, sturdy, shapely legs, but mega-short. Wearing pants just makes me look...well, stumpy.

#2: I don't find pants comfortable anymore. I'm really not sure why. All I know is that unless there is an elastic waistband and a considerable amount of stretch (or flannel, flannel is good too...) I am distinctly uncomfortable.

#3: I am a girly-girl. Aside from second grade, when I became a tomboy because my BFF Samantha said she wouldn't be friends with me other wise, I have been a girly-girl. Frills, lace, bows...the whole nine yards. And I feel my girliest in skirts.

#4: I have to dress up for work. And let's face it, it's easier to throw on a dress and call it a day than stare at a pair of basic slacks and think all right, let's get this going...

#5: Dresses are easier to sew than pants.

So that's why, when P and I were moving into our apartment, I tossed a megaload of crap. Jeans with holes in the heels, khakis that I wore day in and day out in high school, knit tops that were faded and pilled and had a tendency to slide up my tummy squish. All the stuff that I wore to death in college, but I really shouldn't wear as a young grown up.

All in all, it was rather cathartic.

However, that left me in a predicament. What shall I wear to work? Pretty much everything that's still in my closet is still ancient (you buy a lot less when you stopped growing at the age of twelve) and is splattered with the remnants of a life as a theater kid. You know...diluted paint. Wood glue. Glitter. Snags from getting caught in the flies. (Don't laugh...it happens.) Am I really supposed to wear that to my new big girl job?

Luckily, my parents offered to help me get some new pieces of clothing. HALLELUJAH.

And, oh wait, it gets better.

My mother has become a fan of getting me things from Modcloth.

That's right, the Holy Grail of all things adorable and retrochic. I am now the proud owner of four Modcloth dresses.

How This Dress Got Its Groove Back (which I wore for my rehearsal dinner)

The Soda Fountain Dress in cola (because I have to wear black for trunk shows)

The Tea Rose Rendezvous Dress (so comfy!)

The Indie Darling dress (which is currently awaiting me at my parents' house)

I'm going to have to face it, I'm addicted to lo...um, Modcloth.

Now I just need to sit down and figure out how to match up my outfits and figure out what else to get and what else to get rid of. So...maybe I'll start doing fashion entries? Maybe? Yeah...that'll be fun.

I also have plans to sew up plenty of things to augment my wardrobe. The only thing is I have about a hundred unfinished projects. I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. I spent about three years going "ooh! I wanna MAKE THAT!". So I would buy up the supplies, perhaps get started, and then move on.

It's ridiculous.

So I'm trying to sew through my stash in hopes of putting together some redeemable outfits. Some of them, however, are just awful. You know how I was going to make New Look 6722 in yellow knit? Yeah. Yeah, that was a travesty. Just awful. Thank the pattern gods that that bad boy has been discontinued.

(I'll discuss it further when I've figured out how in blue blazes I can salvage the remaining fabric, but let's face it- there's only so much you can do with a highlighter-yellow knit.)

Oh, well.

I hope you enjoy my further fashion endeavors! Now I'm going to give Simplicity 2622 a try!

A Dress...for a Hockey Game?!

I might have mentioned this earlier, but I hate pants. I've worn them maybe three times so far this year. I don't like how they fit my short, curvy frame, and I don't like how restricted they feel. So dresses it is.

Well, tonight I am going to my VERY FIRST hockey game. Kat and Rose have been promising to take me for like two years, and now I finally get to go! And yet I have nothing to wear. I don't have a dress that I feel is just right, and I definitely don't have a tee and jeans I can just toss on.

Luckily, the last time I was at my parents' house I picked up about a dozen or so of my unfinished projects. One of them includes two yards' worth of a yellow ribbed knit that I bought from Walmart's dollar-a-yard table.

I texted Kat to ask her if yellow was a Preds' color. She responded by saying "Yes...you're making a dress, aren't you?"

What can I say? My best friend knows me well.

I originally planned to use New Look 6722 for it, but I wasn't sure.

I wasted a heck of a lot of time looking at other potential dresses, and whadaya know? This dress from Modcloth (it's not available now; I had saved the image) caught my eye.

So it looks like...if all goes as planned before 5:30pm when I have to leave for Kat's apartment, I'll be rocking a little yellow wrap dress for my first Preds game!

OH MAH GAH!

Dear sweet goodness, everybody, it's been a month and a half (thereabouts) since I wrote my last blog! And STUFF HAS HAPPENED.

Like, I got married.

And we moved into a new apartment the week of the wedding. Yeah, I said it. We moved on Wednesday...the wedding was on Saturday. Were we crazy? YES.

And I am still working steadily at Bridal Warehouse, the shop where I purchased my wedding gown.

And I have been writing up a STORM. Without rehearsals to go to, I spend my evenings in a state of vegetative boredom. Hence, I have been planning about twenty new novels and scads of short stories.

But...

I haven't been blogging.

I just don't know if I'm that interesting anymore. I mean...no reports on rehearsals or audition freakouts. No "here's-an-interesting-thing-I-heard-in-class." No obsessive wedding planning posts. And while P and I are QUITE happy being married, there are no babies in the works (and won't be for a while), so this shan't become a pregnancy/mommy blog for another two years or so.

(unless there is a surprise. But I doubt it.)

In short, I am now boring.

Oh, well.

I guess there are still other things to write about. Like being a newlywed...a very young newlywed. It's weird, but I still feel like a little kid even though I'm a twentysomething wife.

And my kitchen adventures. Like the time I substituted hard lemonade for lemon juice, and it ROCKED.

And our apartment. Although....don't expect any super amazing home decor ideas. Our design scheme is best described as "poor newlywed who takes all the free stuff they can get."

And my continuing adventures to update my wardrobe, which will become even more complicated since, you know...that whole "no money" thing.

And my writing. I have so many novels. SO, SO MANY. And so many heroines. Apple...Beatrice...Anna...Caroline...Ginevra...I love them. And I want you to love them. I might have to start posting excerpts so you can tell me what you think of them.

(Especially since I really want to get Beatrice and the Cat published.)

Also, in the realm of writing, I need to confess something. I've mentioned it before...but I'm going to declare it proudly. I am a fanfiction author. And I love it.

I know, I know, it's like the dorkiest thing ever. I've been doing it since middle school, though, and it's such a great stress reliever and a brilliant writing exercise. Besides, I'm famous in Singapore for it. I'll explain that later, but yeah. I love it...and despite all the times I've tried to retire, it's proven to be impossible.

And of course, when I get my pro pics, there's going to be a whole series of recaps about the wedding.

So maybe I won't be a stick deep in the mud.

And I like blogging. And that's always a good reason to do it.

Wardrobe Overhaul: the Case Against Pants

A while back I decided to overhaul my wardrobe. And recently I purged through my whole closet. It was an interesting experience. I've sorted through my wardrobe before, but I did this time with two ideas branded into my brain.

#1: I'm about to be a married lady instead of a little college girl, and I need to dress like one!

and

#2: I want to have a distinct style rather than my current one...which can basically be described as "whatever is on sale right now."

I pitched several pieces that I was holding on for no real reason. Like my button up shirts. After being forced to wear collared shirts for all four years of high school, I pitched my polos as soon as I graduated, but I held on to the blouses as a sort of safety net. I realized, thought, that I haven't worn them in forever. So out they went!

I went through a phase where I felt I needed a lot of "business professional" blazers. I had a couple...and hated them. They made me look top heavy and awkward and overdressed, no matter how or where I wore them. Out they went!

I also finally got rid of some pairs of hand-me-up shoes. That's what happens when your little sister is taller than you...she gives you her outgrown shoes. Some of them (like the gray plaid flats!) are terrific; some of them (like the kitten heel slingbacks with the awful velvet bows) needed to go.

The big thing I got rid of, though, are my skirts. I had a profound realization: I hate skirts.

Weird, right? I'm such a girly girl. You would think I would love skirts. But no.

Well, I guess to make this completely correct, I should say that I hate my skirts. I got rid of most of them- the ill-fitting khaki corduroy skirt, the ill-fitting denim skirt, the ill-fitting pink corduroy skirt (see the pattern here?) I also released my light blue peasant skirt and a hot pink floral skirt.

I like skirts, but I like mine with a vintage shape and vivid patterns. None of mine measured up (except for a brown and pink silk skirt that P lurrrvs), so I got rid of them.

My final realization was something that had been nagging at me for a while.

I dislike pants.

I own two pairs of jeans, a pair of khakis, a pair of brown pinstriped pants, and a pair of black pinstriped pants. And I dislike them all.

In previous years, I have worn these items in glorious abandon, pairing them with inexpensive knit fashion tops purchased from the clearance rack in the junior's department. Now that colder weather is upon us, I dread putting on these staples. They're just so dull and bland. Plus, the cheap knits are pilling and worn and faded. It is most disappointing.

I think I'm going to write out a game plan on how I'm going to go about this. I'm determined to start my new life as a wife (hey look, rhyming!) looking like a grown-up pretty girl, not an overexcited six-year-old who just learned to dress herself.

(Case in point: this is what I wore for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince midnight show...)
(but this is what I would like to dress like, feminine and retro but not childish:)
(and just for poops and giggles, my work uniform:)
(lawlz polyester mom pants!)

Wardrobe Overhaul

I've decided to go through my entire wardrobe and purge it mercilessly.

(What a way to begin an entry, eh?)

My wardrobe is just so weird. I mean, my clothes fall into five different categories:

-Items I've had since middle school and high school and I've kept just because I haven't outgrown them.

-Items I bought on the spur of the moment, and I've never had the chance to wear.

-Items I bought because they were cheap. And only because they were cheap.

-Items I made.

-Items that I wear to death, and they're now falling apart and pilling and gross.

Plus, most of the stuff I wear either A) makes my boobs look huge, or B) makes me look like a six-year-old. Or a six-year-old with big boobs, which is very unsettling and I don't want to think about it at all.

P tends to give me very sensible fashion advice, but sometimes I just don't pay any heed to it. My mom isn't that great giving me tips (they mostly say something like "cover up your boobs!") and my sister is in her "artsy college freshman" stage, so I can't really get much fashion tippage there.

So, I mostly look online for my inspiration.

Sally at Already Pretty:
She has a lot of really good advice, both about your clothing and how it relates to you as a person. Plus, she's funny!

Zooey Deschanel:
She's very retro and fun and quirky. Have you seen the coat she wears in Yes Man? The movie's just all right, but that coat...that coat trimmed in bias tape...it's glorious! And I'd love to have her hair. At the moment I've got the color (just not for much longer).

Kate Nash:
She's my all-time favorite singer. And she's British. And she plays the guitar, plays the piano, and writes her own music. So in short, she's fantastic. That, and I don't know if I've ever seen that girl wear pants. She wears the absolute cutest dresses!

She's also really close to my body type, so I can definitely copy her styles without too much trepidation. And I've actually had her haircut before, and it looks really cute on me. I just don't have a picture of it...

The Pipettes:
It's another awesome British singer!...er, group. The three girls- RiotBecki, Rosay, and Gwenno- wear supercute retro clothes. And again, I want Rosay's hair (she's the brunette in the middle). Sadly, Riotbecki and Rosay left the group for solo careers, but they're still amazingly awesome. (And their backup dancers are three guys called the Casettes. I want one.)

Modcloth/Modlife:
It's an absolutely great website with classy retro clothing...and they show you how real people have put it together!

So this is rather rambly post, but I hope it makes sense. I'm ready to be a married lady instead of a little college girl, and I need to dress like one.

Hopefully I'll succeed. :)