La Mariposa

One of the best parts of my trip was a shopping date with my sister Rita (check out her blog - she has an incredible archive of refurbished furniture every week). Instead of going to the mall, which I also did but at a different time, we went to the Bishop Arts district and to a few shops on Henderson. The sad part of it was that we decided to go on July 3rd and little to our knowledge, a lot of the shops planned on closing for the holiday weekend. Such a bummer! We found the loveliest little vintage boutiques with the prettiest sea foam green exterior that was just begging me to stop in. I guess I'll have to go back next time. One boutique that I couldn't miss was a hot pink shop called "La Mariposa". I was in LOVE.







There are a lot of things that I gravitate towards, but I don't know if anyone really expected me to be blown away with this shop as much as I did. It did a couple of things to me. It took me back to my childhood with all the Mexican embroidered dresses, cute little bright colored woven change purses and of course all the turquoise you can imagine. It was so full of memories and inspiration because it was so authentic. Then it got me thinking about where we are in fashion right now and everything is a duplicate, a hugely manufactured copy of my culture. I'm not here to preach about it, I just found it intriguing. While I was here, my niece and I bought friendship bracelets and I got a fantastic ring from one of those trays in the second picture.

I wonder if there were shops like this in the Midwest, would they survive? Is this just a Texas thing or would these trends be strong enough to survive heavy traffic cities like Chicago?

Come tomorrow, I'll be on my way back home

I can't believe I haven't blogged since June! I have to admit, July felt like forever and while I've been documenting most of my time, I haven't had a chance to breathe and work on blogging. The first week of July I flew back home to Dallas and had a great holiday week with my family. Part of the festivities included a long overdue graduation party, a massive trip to Sephora, and finally getting a smartphone (which I'd end up having to get replaced in less than a month but more on that later). As much as I love Chicago, I really miss home. I never remembered Dallas having so much charm. It was so refreshing to go back revisiting old spots, people I used to know, and visiting new places I seemed to have overlooked so long ago.



My sister Rita made my graduation banner and decorations. She bought all of these vintage sewing patterns and made the letters with the illustrated photos on the packaging and paper flowers from the actual patterns. She gets me. My sister Andrea should still be mentioned as she did most of the actual event planning. I love my sisters!



And talk about the cutest graduation cake ever. Strawberry cake with vanilla icing... my fave.



My Fourth of July was spent watching my youngest niece Alyssa in a parade, hanging out, laughing, and playing games with the rest of my family. In the evening, I sat parked in my grandmother's neighborhood of 50 some odd years with my mother and her mother watching fireworks. I can't remember that day being any more perfect. I'll never forget it.

So the rest of my July went a little something like this: First week spent at home, 6 days of work in a row, 6 days of my brother visiting Chicago, massive flood in my apartment due to an insane storm, phone totally wiped out, and 6 days of cleaning it up/fixing damages. But I am alive! I survived July!

Vintage Virgin

Well, it's the last week of June and it's definitely been the longest month ever. I've been so stressed out that my skin has been breaking out because all I can think about are possible changes in my life. But that's normal, right? Anyway, thank goodness for my week vacation in Dallas! I leave July 1st and I'll be back in Chicago on the 7th so I'm super excited about that. Even though all my vacations in the last four and a half years have been to Dallas, I can't be bitter. I miss my fam! On top of that, my brother is visiting me in Chicago a week after I return to the Midwest. Yay for family!



Speaking of family (I love a good segue), I have been obsessing over Vintage Virgin, a fashion blogger that is also a mom. Her look isn't 100% my style, but I appreciate that she styles her vintage pieces in a very current way. Just seeing her blog really inspired me to bust out my vintage clothing and play around with my more modern pieces. It seems like an obvious thing to do, but sometimes I ignore the more unique pieces in my closet because my newer pieces are just easier to style (aka I've been caught being lazy, haha). Anyway - her story really got me thinking the other day. I know I've been one to speak about how little time I feel that I have to spend blogging, but if this mom can do it, and OFTEN, then maybe time isn't an excuse for me? Maybe there's something deeper that passes photo opportunities and the like that I'm not willing to admit. Hmm. Food for thought.

Shop Olive

SHOP OLIVE is finally open! I wanted to go the bigcartel route, but honestly, I can't justify paying each month to sell my clothes through their site! So, in all of my cheap glory, I worked some html magic on Tumblr to create my resell shop. I hope you guys find something! Most of the sizes are 14-18, some size 20/3x in the mix, as well as shoes from 7-8 Wide. As always, thanks for reading!

$41,000

Top: Anthropologie // Pants: H&M // Necklace: Talonalia // Bracelets, Cuff: Art Effect, and Erica Weiner // Shoes: Bass, from Zappos // Sunglasses: Buffalo Exchange // Bag: Borders & Frontiers, from ASOS

...is how much I owe in student loans. But more on that later. There are a lot of outfit things going on in this post that I'm excited about! I'll start with the top. I bought it on a whim at Anthropologie and it's become one of those tops that everyone I see tells me they love. It has a great weight to it and I can play with the sides of it to manipulate the shape. The pants are easy breezy and another on the whim purchase from H&M. I've only worn them a few times in the past couple of months but they really are perfect for this weird in-between hot and cool weather we've been having in Chicago. And the shoes. The shoes have a funny story, but honestly I'll spare you guys the details because it's kind of ridiculous. Basically, I returned like 4 different pairs of shoes through Zappos in order to get to these and the customer service girl told me that I was banned from any more exchanges. I'm really pleased with these shoes though, so I guess in the end everything worked out.



All excitement about my sort-of recent purchases aside, I have put myself on a serious spending ban due to student loan repayment plans starting next month. Such a bummer, I know. I'm actually in the works of putting around 25 or so things online to sell if anyone is interested! I have some SUPER cute things to sell and a lot of them I've never worn more than a handful of times. So please be on the lookout for that within a week or so.

My favorite daydream

Blazer: Gap // Tunic, Shorts: Forever 21 // Boots: Evans // Sunglasses: Buffalo Exchange // Cuff: Nakamol, from Art Effect // Necklace: Free People // Bag: Thrift

I've been looking high and low for an ankle boot perfect for the summer. Boots are kind of essential for me since I'm on my feet for long periods of time as a full time sales girl. Even if it's just one day a week, my feet feel much better by the end of my fifth day if I wear my boots or my white sneakers. It's funny because I have this image in my head of what I want but I cannot stress enough how difficult it is as a wide-footed gal to find cool and comfortable shoes. Does anyone out there know of any websites that have a nice selection of wide shoes? I have a lot that I know of and check daily (Torrid, Evans, One Stop Plus, New Look, Zappos) but I'd love to know if there's something I'm missing!

Forgive me...

I've been such a bad blogger. You may see consistent Tumblr posts from yours truly, but when it comes to making an actual blog post, I've been pretty lazy these days. Not to mention the weather has been absolutely terrible for motivation! Still, I found time to take the dress pictured above to my tailor for shoulder alterations and it was well worth my money (especially considering that I bought it for a mere $13 on ASOS last summer). I've been aching for a pair of espadrilles, and I think these from Style 369 may do the trick. I really feel like they'll go with nearly everything I own. The necklace will be a replacement for my other Laura Lombardi necklace that was taken from me... ugh, it's a really long story. Thankfully Urban Outfitters is carrying her jewelry now because I get a company discount (though I secretly wish they had my original one because I loved it so so much). Sally Jane Vintage has had this bag for a while, and I can't justify the price but gosh is it nice to look at.

I still haven't bought rings like I promised myself I'd do. I think these stacking rings are a great start for me and the price isn't bad for 14k gold filled and sterling silver. Lastly, all I really want this summer is good music to listen to. I already went with Ryan last Monday to see Bonnie Prince Billy for free downtown in Millenium Park. As I've said before, that is my favorite thing about summers in Chicago. It was a great start to my summer and I can't wait for more!

Blue Valentine

Dress: H&M
Shoes: Evans
Necklace: Talonalia
Bracelet: Species by the Thousands, from Renegade Handmade
Bag: Aldo
Tote: Borders & Frontiers, from ASOS

The sun is officially on our side in Chicago and I was finally able to debut this dress that I bought back in February. As creepy as it sounds, when I saw this dress on the rack I instantly thought of Michelle Williams. It was around the time when Blue Valentine came out and I could not shake every second of that movie out of my soul. I would literally wake up with that Penny & the Quarters song in my head every morning for about two weeks! In fact, thinking about that movie still makes me sad. It damaged me! Anyway - all sad feelings aside, I LOVE Michelle Williams. She's always seemed like my kinda gal, even during the Dawson's Creek days. I saw these press photos for Blue Valentine with her wearing this lovely blue dotted vintage inspired dress. Aren't our dresses so similar?

The Wild, Weird, and Creepy

Just a quick post highlighting a couple of my (almost) everyday pieces of jewelry. The skeleton bracelet is by Verameat which was a gift from Ryan for Valentine's Day. It's adjustable and supposed to look like a "monster hug" when it's wrapped around your wrist. Pretty adorable, right? Definitely the cutest Valentine's Day gift everrr. The ID bracelet is by Species by the Thousands and has a really gorgeous eyeball that was engraved into the metal. I got this at Renegade Handmade with a gift certificate I got from my sister for Christmas. I have an odd eye for jewelry (no pun intended). I do like simple jewelry, but my heart will always prefer the wild, weird, and creepy.

Stripe Season

Blazer: We The Free, from Crossroads
Top: Gap
Shorts, Necklace: Thrift
Shoes: H&M
Bracelets: Verameat, and Species by the Thousands

Today's outfit is definitely inspired by one of my favorite brands, J. Crew. I've been a fan for years because of their incredible ability to make prepster clothes not preppy, and instead, cool, fresh, and relevant. In a way I'm glad that they don't carry my size because I know I'd be in trouble! Their brilliant styling continues to make me look at my own wardrobe in different ways. So really, I blame them for giving me the idea to pair my blazers with ripped up jeans and silk blouses paired with sneakers. None of it really makes sense but in the end I'm happy I took an unpopular idea and made it my own.