Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 Re-Cap: Part 1

Wow, I really can't believe it's the last day of 2010, this year has just completely flown by! I'm going to do a re-cap of the year in two parts sharing some of my favorite memories, today is part one and I meant to have part two ready for this afternoon, but these things take longer than expected so it'll be later in the weekend. In part one we'll look back on January through June:

January:
In January things were pretty quiet, I introduced my second "Hair-Do How-To" and I had my first magazine feature (and promptly ordered five copies)!

February:
In February we introduced the Delightful Dozen, I celebrated Valentines day with my sweetheart, Bea and I had our second collaborative show with This Collective Pull, and Jen and I travelled to NYC where she told me she was expecting baby Rowan and we celebrated NYFW with some amazing ladies!

March:
In March Chris and I attended the illustrious Trashfinders Ball, I launched a third "Hair-Do How-To", I found some amazing shoes, and professed my undying love for Barbie. Oh and Zephyr finally got his close-up.

April:
In April, I was ecstatic to announce that I had been chosen as ModCloth's "Blogger of the Moment", I debuted the "Orchid Grey Dress", Chris and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary, and i showed you one of my favorite places.

May:
In May I introduced you to the Swapaholics, I appreciated my body in "Dress Your Best Week", I started taking better care of myself, and the weather finally got warmer!

June:
In June my little brother shocked everyone and graduated from high school, I celebrated the one year anniversary of Orchid Grey, I watched two wonderful people get married, somewhere in there I left my job as an admissions counselor, and i posted more photos from the swap!

I'll be posting July through September later on this weekend so stay tuned!

Have a happy and safe New Year!



Thursday, December 30, 2010

Introducing the Delightful Dozen Calendar!

The Delightful Dozen is super excited to announce a calendar for 2011. All profits will go to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) which helps women fight eating disorders of all types. We believe in healthy bodies and healthy minds and want to help support women struggling this holiday season.

Calendars are $15, which includes shipping. They come in a high-gloss photo quality format, months January - December of 2011, spiral bound. Each month has a different Delightful Dozen member.

We have worked really hard on this project and are so excited to be helping through personal style this holiday season! Thank you, everyone!

To pre-order, please click here. If you have difficulty with the link through Paypal, please contact Tieka at tieka@selectivepotential.com.


We're also so excited to welcome a new member, James of Bleubird Vintage! Are you friends with the Delightful Dozen on Facebook yet?

Little Birds

Sweater: Vintage thrift ($5)
Dress (worn as a top): AA
Belt: J.Crew outlet (gift)
Shoes: Vintage thrift ($7)
Necklace: CuteAbility (secret santa gift from Annie)
While I absolutely adore dressing in winter, with all the layers, texture, and warmth, trying to find a decent location to take outfit photos is an entirely different story. I drove around yesterday for about 40 minutes looking for somewhere that wasn't covered with two feet of snow. I finally came upon this maintenance building in the graveyard, most of the snow around it had either melted or blown away in the intense wind so i was able to hop over a snowbank and take some pictures. Thats the problem with winter: it's so freaking messy!

Anyways, when I saw this cute skirt on ModCloth last week, I knew I wanted it. But when I received it, I had a little bit of a hard time styling it. I feel as though as my 27th birthday draws closer (January 27th), I've become acutely aware of wearing items that may seem too "young" on me. I'm not saying that I'll necessarily stop wearing these items, but I can't exactly wear a short skirt the same way an 18 year old would wear it, I wouldn't even want to wear it the same way. So, when I received this skirt in the mail, I wanted to make sure I styled it in a way that reflected my style and didn't make me look like a five year old! I think adding a big sweater and keeping the other colors neutral worked like a charm. And speaking of charm, I was so excited to receive my secret santa gift from Annie of Time Enough for Drums and the Delightful Dozen! I don't wear a watch so a necklace/watch works perfectly for me, plus I love the thought put into the swallow charms on the side which match my tattoos.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Crystal Lake

Jacket: Urban Outfitters ($30 sale)
Sweater: Madewell (sale)
Plaid Shirt: Vintage thrift ($3)
Necklace: H&M (old)
Belt: AA
tights: AA
Shoes: Matiko ($40 sale)
This is one of the most photographed, painted, and recognizable spots in New Hampshire, and - incidentally- right down the road from my house in Maine. I had Chris stop for photos when we were making the rounds on Christmas day. Christmas is always a little hectic for us, we grew up about 20 minutes away from one another which means we have A LOT of family to visit on holidays and it's never a simple task to see all of them. This year I made sure we slowed down at least a little, a least to take some photos! This lake is one of my favorite spots. I went to summer camp for 9 years right across the street, and when I was in high school me and my friends would often swim across it to swing on the rope hanging off a tree on the other side. These are the things I miss most about living in rural Maine and New Hampshire, depending on the season there's always a lake with a rope swing for swimming or a cleared off icy spot for ice skating.

I'm not usually one for dressing up for the holidays. I always have the best of intentions- this sale made it hard to resist all things sparkly- but in reality the snow and cold make sweaters pretty hard to resist! I decided to make some kind of effort though, even if the outfit is something I've been wearing a lot lately. Yes, it's pretty much the same outfit as this one, but instead of jeans I added some amazing suede shorts. I almost passed over these suede beauties, thinking that for the price they must be ultra-suede (faux), but they're real and I love them! Leather is a great material for winter, despite being shorts they held in warmth like no other and kept me toasty throughout our Christmas travels.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Oh, the weather outside is frightful!

Wow, did anyone else get completely pummeled with snow? Our town seemed to receive the brunt of it in our county, I can't tell exactly how much we got though because of the snow drifts: in some spots it only looks like a couple of inches, and in some spots it's a few feet high! Chris and I spent the morning digging ourselves out. Literally, we had to dig out the front door! We then dug out the car, and then helped dig out the plow truck because even it got stuck! I'm thankful that I don't have to be in to work until five tonight, hopefully by then the roads will be cleared up. We're STILL not plowed out though. When we awoke this morning, all of our windows were completely incased in snow, I still can't see out the living room windows. Hello, winter!
I couldn't help but have Chris take my photo in front of one of my outfit photo walls, even if my outfit was less than stylish: Sorel boots, AA riding pants (warmer than jeans), Gap jacket (quite old), Chris beanie. Any Northeast lady in her right mind owns a pair of Sorel's- extra points if you have a pair of tread chains on them- they're the warmest boots, I couldn't live with out mine!

Did everyone have a good holiday weekend? Mine was great, we had a wonderful Christmas with a bonfire, family, and good food. I can't wait to head North again for New Years!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Dogs on ice

These photos were taken last weekend at my mom's house in Maine. We've been going ice skating on this pond for years, when I was a kid we would have ice skating parties where we would build a bonfire on the ice and skate around and roast marshmallows and hot dogs (because the two go so well together.). I know, not safe, but the best things rarely are. We took her dogs down to the ice last Saturday, dogs on ice are pretty funny to watch.



I believe she's decided to keep Buster (the puppy), and I can't blame her, he certainly is endearing. At only two months old he already retrieves, sits, and gives you his paw. Very advanced.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend and eating lots of treats! I'm excited for our bonfire tonight, hopefully the weather holds, it's supposed to be 5*f tonight! Brrrr!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Let's take the road before us

Cape: AA
Sweater: Madewell (sale)
Button up: Vintage thrift ($3)
Necklace: H&M (old)
Belt: AA
Jeans: Madewell (sale)
Wedges: Matiko ($40 sale)
I'll start this off by saying I have so much shit to do (that's right, swearing), this week really hasn't been about fashion. It's been about baking, scourging thrift stores for last minute gifts (the best places to shop for the unexpected...and not spend a lot doing it), and drinking rum and egg nog. This is really one of my favorite times of year (the other is when the trees finally have leaves again), I love preparing for Christmas almost more then Christmas itself. This year we're considerably more broke than last year, so we've gotten creative with gifts. This afternoon I'll be baking, baking, baking and wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. I can't wait.

This is what I'm wearing today. Nothing special, but very comfortable for the tasks at hand. I've been living in these jeans all week, I know I already sung their praises with Monday's post but seriously, I love them. The first pair of jeans that I actually am able to feel comfortable in and not completely claustrophobic. This is also my favorite flannel, it's pretty much disintegrating, but it's the softest thing I've ever worn.

Ok, just popping in to say hello, I'm now off to bake cookies, pies, and candy. I'll check in tomorrow, but probably just with photos of my mom's puppy again. Because he's cute, and because I'll be too busy to be stylish!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Let it snow!

Coat: Urban Outfitters ($30 sale)
Sweater: Madewell (sale)
Button-up chiffon shirt: AA
Skirt: Vintage thrift ($7)
Bag: Vintage D&B thrifted ($10)
Tights: AA super opaque in "truffle"
Shoes: Vintage thrift ($5)
Bracelets: vintage
It's snowing! I absolutely love unexpected snowstorms, the whole world gets quiet and our ugly winter-ravaged city is blanketed in soft white. I'm already having such a better day compared to yesterday, I'm determined to finish up my christmas shopping and get all our Christmas cookies baked today!

This has been one of my favorite outfits lately, it's comfy, easy, and warm. Perfect for winter. I picked up this sweater at Madewell along with the one from the other day. As much as I love finding an awesome thrifted sweater, nothing beats a new, unworn, cozy sweater! I paired it with an army collared shirt and a skirt to match. I found this vintage wool skirt on a thrifting trip the other day, I was supposed to be searching for christmas gifts, buuut I found some stuff for myself as well! I added my go-to vintage purse and vintage loafers and a simple necklace from Noble Town Vintage, and done!
I haven't forgotten about the giveaway, I'll post the winner of the Bearcat vintage certificate later today! I'm off to search for gifts for people, wish me luck!