Sunday, August 11, 2013

Damsel in this Dress

Hey there!

I missed you guys. And I missed blogging.
  My elbows are glued to my sides because I am shrinking out of my clothes. Stupid stress. Lately I am so cranky. I will be better soon, though. \m/ -_-
  Tonight I stepped out a bit from my summer school panic and hand-waving freakoutery, as my dear friends Matt and Cathy treated me to dim sum, and then I was treated for my roommate's birthday dinner at a delicious restaurant, and amazing food was had by all.  Sometimes, watching a gorgeous display of wushu, or an amazing dancer, or eating food that makes me stare at it, incredulous, I'll say, "I am in the presence of a master."
  Should you get the chance to visit Coco500, get the squash blossom flatbread and the charred carrots salad and you may say it, too.
    I'm not sure about my choice of jacket now that I am looking at full length photos. Something about the 7/8 length sleeves combined with slightly longer than calf length dress isn't sitting right. I think it looks gangly- like my limbs are a little too long for everything I'm wearing. Gangly! There's an adjective I never thought I'd use to describe myself. :D
  I was really excited when I found this jacket, though. Any jacket I don't have to alter the sleeves on makes me excited.
  Maybe I'm just startled by a strong resemblance to my aunt in these pictures. The women on both sides of my family are smaller (though taller) than I am. I tell them it is the American diet*. Then I flex.

* Sarcasm, because my father, his sisters, and my grandmother were all born here, and my great-grandparents came they were 14 & 15**.

** Though on second thought, they all came of age before the era of fast food. As a child of a single parent, I had a diet reasonably high in pizza and fish burgers. :D Not complaining at all, just wondering if that played a role.
  Japanese-y print! I was so excited to find this on the thrift rack, some years ago. The ribbon around my waist is from a box of chocolates. A lot of times, when I am reading Sheila's blog, or Megan's, or Gracey's, I think, "Man, they have such awesome thrift finds." And then I scroll through my blog entries, and remember I have awesome thrift luck, too. It's always easier to overlook the gifts you've got. (;
  Low heels! I love low heels.
  Forgot to take photos with purse, because I almost never carry one. I usually carry everything around in a small sports backpack my friend Cathy bought for me 10 years ago. I sure like metallic blue, though. It looks like I skinned one of those aliens from the Avatar film and made a bag. (I do not actually support doing this.) I just realized the fortune cookie shape fits into the whole Asian outfit theme.
  Check out this awesome sketch from Megan Mae. It's me and Meghan from Cirque du Frock! So cool. I am super excited to be a sketch. Look how toned my arms are!

  I will leave you all with this strip from a web comic I just discovered, called Momga:
  Take care you guys, and remember that sleep is important!

Dress: Jaloux /zalu/ (thrifted)
Ribbon belt: Recchiuti chocolates box
Jacket: eci new york (thrifted)
Shoes: unlisted a Kenneth Cole production (thrifted)
Rhinestone button cord bracelet: unknown (old, The CAMP)
Bamboo earrings: CostPlus World Market (old)
Blue topaz ring: self-made
Metallic blue purse: Sorial Fortune Cookie hobo (Nordstrom, gift)

12 comments:

  1. Such a pretty dress! It is hard to remember how many goodies are in your own closet when reading other people's blogs. Plus I've gotten in with some awesome thrifters as we utilize our thrifting luck by shopping for each other. That way, finding something awesome, but not in our size - we can still send it onto a good home.

    I also spend way too much downtime in the thrift store on the hunt. I enjoy the browsing as much as the treasures.

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    1. Man, that is such a fantastic idea. Do you guys trade favorite brands, as well? So far I've only poked around for shoes in Ally's size, since she mentioned it on her blog.

      Yeah, one of the thrift stores here became my default place to decompress last year. Much wardrobe resulted. >.>

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  2. You look beautiful, and I like that jacket. :-) What is a dim sum? I hear people talking about them but I never know what they are.

    OMG Megan drew us!! Isn't she the best?!

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    1. Ooh, dim sum (or as it's called Stateside, yam cha-literally, "tea things") are little dishes made to be shared and munched on while drinking tea in a group. It's kind of like Japanese izakaya, or Spanish tapas.

      Common ingredients in a lot of the dishes are pork, mushrooms, and shrimp. There's a variety of dumplings, bbq pork buns, very soft tofu dessert, egg custard, braised spareribs, Chinese broccoli, and many more. (: Often takes place in a crowded banquet room with high ceilings with steam carts being pushed about by ladies.

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    2. Why *are* all the food carts always pushed around by ladies? There's an academic paper to be written here, I'll bet.

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  3. So, I don't think the problem is the length of the sleeves, but the length of the jacket. The dress has excellent proportions on it's own - and the ribbon-belt (from chocolates - how cool is that?) helps. The jacket moves the waist down lower and takes the shape away from the top of the dress, which makes your legs and arms sticking out seem... odd. I love the jacket, though. And the dress. They just aren't allowed to be friends. Sorry :(

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    1. Yes! Spot on. Oh man, thanks so much for figuring that out. I will have to search for a cropped/half jacket or sweater to wear with this, then. Maybe something slightly pointy, like a cropped moto/biker cut.

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  4. Glad to hear your leaving stress behind and embracing the joy of dressing well.

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    1. Thank you Ally, I'm looking forward to catching up more with everyone's blogs once summer school is over.

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  5. What a lovely dress! It looks amazing on you! You obviously have the knack for spotting good quality in the thrift stores! It takes a long time for me to find things - lots of times I'll spend 2-3 hours and maybe find one thing!

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    1. I wish I could claim credit, but the thrifting in San Francisco is just really great. I love taking my friends when they visit.

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  6. How did I miss this dress?! Very pretty. Glad to hear you had a chance to de-stress.

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