Don't Leaf Me!

Here in Chicago, fall seems all too brief. The leaves have barely started changing colors before it's time to bust out ye olde winter coat and adjust to bare trees and dark afternoons. I've tried to make the most of those few glorious weeks of autumn, though. This has mostly involved the following: 

• trying out new and exciting foliage-heavy photoshoot locales
• wearing blazers as coats and ballet flats with my tights 
• pointing out every single gorgeous tree I see to Jeff and refusing to let up until he acknowledges how lovely they are.

 

On Odd Coping Habits

It's been a rough week, to say the least. If you saw my Election Day post, you probably know what it is that's been getting me down. I pride myself on being a positive, optimistic person, but I've really struggled in the face of everything that's been going on. Old anxieties and negative thought patterns that I'd thought were in the past have re-emerged with a vengeance, and I've had a difficult time figuring out how to address them.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Nicole)

News flash: I'm slightly Bernie Dexter-obsessed. (Well, this isn't so much a news flash as it is a confirmation of something that's probably pretty obvious from my love affair with the Kelly dress, the Chelsea cut, and this red gingham number.) I've had my eye on the Winter Wonderland print for ages, and had already decided that this was the year I'd finally nab it when Bernie released the Winter Wonderland Nicole dress. The timing couldn't have been more perfect: here in Chicago, the cooler weather seems to have finally settled in for the long haul, and I've been thinking about beefing up my winter wardrobe. I think we all know where this is going…

Review: Leopard Vixen Wiggle Dress

Well, if you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen my election reaction. I don't really have all that much to add at the moment, so I'll register my feelings in a different way, with a body-positive dress review.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting over my fear of wiggle dresses, and it's all thanks to two things: Micheline Pitt and leopard print. (Well, one thing really: leopard-print wiggles designed by Micheline.) The dam began to crack when I got the leopard Vamp dress last spring, and discovered that it made me feel awesome! Still, when I saw sneak peeks of the stretchy leopard wiggle from Vixen by Micheline Pitt, I wasn't sure if I was ready. While I've made major progress in accepting my Kewpie-doll belly, stretchy spandex/ponte wiggles still felt like a bridge too far, as they're often particularly unforgiving.

It's Election Day: Go Out and Vote!

Well, our long national nightmare is almost over: it's Election Day! (At least I hope the nightmare's almost over. If this turns into a 2000-style, months-long odyssey of litigation and hanging chads, I swear I'm leaving. For the Moon.) To commemorate this momentous occasion, I'm wearing my Most Patriotic Outfit and (probably) hiding under my desk until someone tells me that Trump lost.

Style vs. Fashion

Given that this is primarily a blog about retro-inspired style, you might not be *too* surprised to learn that I'm not much for keeping up with fashion trends. I know what I like (full skirts, the color red, anything and everything space-related, sparkly brooches) and I'm totally a creature of habit. 

This outfit includes many of my sartorial faves: red, full skirts, a fun print, sparkles, and more red!

Restaurant Review: Cafe El Tapatio

First things first: YOU GUYS THE CUBS WON THE WORLD SERIES! It was the most excruciatingly thrilling baseball game I've ever watched and I almost couldn't handle the tension, but they WON and life is good. I liveblogged the agony and the ecstasy on my Insta and stayed up way too late after the game ended.

Anyway. It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Mexican food in Southern California is damn near perfect, and after living in LA for eight years, my standards for Mexican food are ludicrously high. Alas, our new life in Chicago affords us far too few opportunities to have a proper taco and/or chile relleno. Before last week, I think I must've gone something like three months since my last proper taco. To clarify: a proper taco is a soft taco on a small tortilla, filled with nothing but meat and topped with onions, cilantro, and salsa.

Thankfully, as I discovered last Thursday, there's good Mexican food to be had in Chicago. I honestly don't remember how Jeff heard about Cafe El Tapatio, but I'm glad he put it on our ever-growing list of restaurants to try, because it was absolutely epic.

My Charity-Shop Haul

Admittedly, my priorities for my trip to England last month were a bit unusual. Apart from having a proper English breakfast, eating Scotch eggs, and going to English chains like Primark and Marks and Spencer, I was most excited to try my luck in the charity shops. For my American friends: charity shops are secondhand stores whose proceeds go to a specific charity (i.e. Oxfam and the like.)

Happily, while Jeff was at his conference, I got to live the dream!

A Very Star Wars Halloween

It's almost Halloween, which means it's finally time for me to reveal this year's Halloween costume! I've been ridiculously excited about dressing up this year, since this is a costume I've been dreaming of for at least five years! If you know one non-style-related thing about me, it's my abiding obsession with all things space, especially the original Star Wars trilogy.

What you might not know about, though, is my abiding love of mashups. (Brace yourself: it's digression time!) The seed was planted in my high school jazz band, we used to occasionally do something we'd refer to as 'jazz fusion:' half the room would play one song, while the other half played a different song. (This was not a bandleader-sanctioned activity.) In college, I was obsessed with the very first Girl Talk album, and devised a running route that was exactly the right length for listening to the entire album. In grad school, I bonded with one of my now-closest friends during trips to mashup night at the Echoplex. (Fun fact: I stood in the front row when Lady Gaga played Bootie LA, right before she got famous. That is my one and only 'I saw XYZ before they were big' story.)

Anyway (and here's where that digression starts to make sense), I decided to go the mashup route for Halloween 2016. Without further ado, feast your eyes on the Pinup X-Wing Pilot!

The Witching Hour

October certainly has been a red-letter month for hanging out with blogger friends in real life. Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with two of the most awesome petite bloggers in Chicago: Devinne of Mox and Socks, and Mariam of the Petite Bijou, and let me tell you, these ladies are awesome!