Retrospecticus: 2010

It's the last day of 2010! How this year flew by; seems like just yesterday I was in Lawrence, Kansas preparing for my NYE dinner party with Michael. This year has brought me lots of wealth in many ways than one; I received a promotion and raise at my day job, my Etsy stores have been a success, I've started selling my jewelry and vintage at pop-up shops. I've become more confident as a sales person and as a jewelry artist. And perhaps the best event of 2010 is that Michael, the love of my life, moved to Chicago!

As most do at this time of year I am reflecting on goals I made for myself for this year. From the blog, let's revisit:

Resolutions and Goals for 2010

• Get up 15 minutes earlier every day (outfit photo + get together lunch + not have to run to the bus)

I'm not getting up earlier, but cutting my hair has also cut down my morning routine!

• Take outfit photos way more often (see previous)
• Update blog at least every other day

Eep. Maybe this is why I'm not late to work as much? I'll try harder next year!

• Get a lot more stock for both my etsy stores

Yes! I also remember telling Michael I'd like to hit 100 sales in my vintage shop before my birthday, which I also did. :)

• Save money so I can go to L.A. in March and Boston/Salem in September or October with Michael

Yeah, neither of those happened. But I *did* do to Madison in Febuary, a bonus trip to Lawrence in July, and New York City in May so I did get out of the state!

• Make solid, fashionable attempt to wear pants more often

I am wearing pants more often! I just never photograph it. ;)

• Only buy shoes that are durable, comfortable, and stylish

Except for a stupid purchase here and there (it's hard to justify spending more than $20 on novelty heels!) I've been pretty good about this.

• Get rid of even more stuff

I got rid of A LOT when I moved...of course now I accumulated some more. Ha.

• Buy a better sewing machine and learn how to sew (this is not likely, but I'm still putting it on here)

I did NOT buy a new sewing machine, however I DID learn to sew! Or at least hem. Thanks to Alma and her sewing machine. :)

Goals for 2011? Let's see:

• Travel! Travel travel travel. I started tearing up on the bus to work this morning, frustrated at how badly I need to leave Chicago for a little while. Ugh.

• Sew my first garment from scratch.

• Try to relax, be less insecure about myself and my relationships, and remember that I am loved.

• Get my driver's license, or at least renew my learner's permit.

• Spend less money on clothes and more on experiences and pampering myself (massage, anyone?)

• Maybe get another kitty friend for Seymour!

At the risk of this being too long, I'm going to post photos from a few of my favourite moments in 2010, and wish you all a happy, healthy 2011. Thanks for sticking with this blog, I hope to be even better about updating it next year! I love all of my readers. :)

Happy Anniversary

Two years ago Michael flew out to Chicago for the first time, and we've been crazy about each other ever since. We saw each other once a month, once every two months a few times, until he moved here a month and a half ago. We have talked every day since early August of 2008. I love him more than anyone else, I have never been so happy with anyone else, and I've never been so loved by anyone else. Sometimes we snap at each other and sometimes we act weird (who doesn't?) but I know in the end he will always be there. I love you, Michael, and here's to many more anniversaries!

Happy Birthday, Michael!

Wishing a happy 26th to the love of my life. I'll save the big block of photos of us for our anniversary, but I'm glad to spend another birthday with you. ♡ ♡ ♡

Daddy's Little Girl

Happy Father's Day, daddy! I love you so much, and you are more than just the best dad I could ask for. You're also one of my closest friends. Thanks for always being there not just for me but also for others who are close to me and Ben. Your warmth and compassion has spread beyond your children, which is admirable and amazing. Thanks for all the little things you do that mean the world to me, like letting me tag along to shows, driving me up to Chicago when I was an angsty suburban kid, making me dinner and letting me take the leftovers when I go home, burning me music, dancing with me at weddings...the list goes on and on because you are that awesome.

Love to you, Pater Familias!

Remembering Roxanne

Pardon my being incredibly personal today (especially with my absence as of late), but today is one that does not fail to lead me into deep introspection. Today is the tenth anniversary of my mother's death. Even though I was still a child when she passed, many memories of her still stick with me stronger than many others and not a day goes by where I don't think about her.



She taught me many things, and why not, she was a high school English teacher after all. I remember her little tips for remembering spelling and grammar, the advice she gave me about boys, the do's and don'ts of colour-matching, the joys of giving people little presents any time, and so much more. And even while I still like to mix navy and black (sorry, mom!) I can still her her saying them in my head as if it was last week.



My mother was crafty, which is where I got that trait from I am certain. I used to watch her in her study making her miniature rooms (which were amazing, and on display at her wake) or letter-writing or painting. I loved her dedication to even the smallest things, like the calligraphy she would write letters in as Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy in response to mine.

She even took what might be my first Wardrobe Remix photo:



(Please ignore my little brother passed out on the floor.)

I don't know if I will ever have children, but I am positive that I will be a very similar mother to my children as she was to me and my brother. I have honoured her memory in many ways already, including various projects in my undergrad career (in particular a self-portrait project based on her lifelong collection of journals entitled A Portrait As Roxanne). Even though my time spent with her was short in the grand scheme of things, and I am deeply saddened not to be friends with her as an adult, I know she would be incredibly proud of all I have accomplished thus far and I am happy I got 13 wonderful years with her.



I love you and miss you, mom.

Friday Links for 03.26.10

• They are reissuing The Babysitters Club books And this is a really interesting editorial stating why it's important that they do get reissued.

• Spring Cleaning: Detox Your Space There's a million articles about cleaning out your closet, but this one had me at "What fashion enthusiast wouldn't lust over a closet that could pass as a little boutique?"

• Spool No. 72 I am lusting after all these delicate Spring items, especially the tops, even though I can't afford them. Story of my life, though. Swoon.

• "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" Worth it just to see Patton Oswalt as Dr Demento.

• DYI Tutorial: Make Your Own Kraft Packages A must read for anyone who likes sending post that's anything but ordinary!

• Do You Alter Vintage? Jennine at The Coveted asks, and defends, her answer to this question. I, too, am torn and can see both sides. I hem a lot of garments, sometimes take them in, but have yet to do a "dramatic" rehaul. I'm really curious of everyone's opinions on this. Please share!

Feast of Saint Lucy

I am not Catholic, but today is the feast day of my favourite saint, Lucy!



From wikipedia:

Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends grew up, reported in the acta that are associated with her name. All the details are conventional ones also associated with other female martyrs of the early 4th century. Her Roman father died when she was young, leaving her and her mother without a protecting guardian. Her mother, Eutychia, had suffered four years with dysentery but Lucy had heard the renown of Saint Agatha, the patroness of Catania, "and when they were at a Mass, one read a gospel that made mention of a woman who was healed of the dysentery by touching of the hem of the coat of Jesus Christ," which, according to the Legenda Aurea, convinced her mother to pray together at Saint Agatha's tomb. They stayed up all night praying, until they fell asleep, exhausted. Saint Agatha appeared in a vision to Lucy and said, "Soon you shall be the glory of Syracuse, as I am of Catania." At that instant Eutychiaea was cured.

Eutychia had arranged a marriage for Lucy with a pagan bridegroom, but Lucy urged that the dowry be spent on alms so that she might retain her virginity. Euthychia suggested that the sums would make a good bequest, but Lucy countered, "...whatever you give away at death for the Lord's sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death." News that the patrimony and jewels were being distributed came to the ears of Lucy's betrothed, who heard from a chattering nurse that Lucy had found a nobler Bridegroom.

Her rejected pagan bridegroom denounced Lucy as a Christian to the magistrate Paschasius, who ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the emperor's image. Lucy replied that she had given all that she had: "I offer to Him myself, let Him do with His offering as it pleases Him." She was sentenced to be defiled in a brothel.

The Christian tradition states that when the guards came to take her away they found her so filled with the Holy Spirit that she was stiff and heavy as a mountain; they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Even with a dagger through her throat she prophesied against her persecutor. As final torture, her eyes were gouged out. She was miraculously still able to see without her eyes. In paintings St. Lucy is frequently shown holding her eyes on a golden plate.

If you don't want to read all that, here is a dorky comic I made of her life when I was 18.

She is the patron saint of vision, light, and for those with eye afflictions. Always having bad vision, and being such a visual person, I think that's part of why I find her so interesting. I also first heard about her at the International Museum of Surgical Science, my favourite place in Chicago FYI, and they had an amazing painting of her up (that unfortunately isn't up anymore):



My ex gave me a bunch of Lucy relics, which I have in my room- a statue, a candle, and a prayer card. I would really like to see her shrine in Venise one day, as well as get a saints medal for her. In her honour today, since I did not celebrate the Scandinavian tradition of waking my roommates up at 4a with coffee and hot buns wearing a headdress of candles, I am "taking out my eyes," so to speak, by donning my spectacles instead of my contacts (a strange tradition I have found myself doing the past few years).

Here's a few more pictures of my lady of light:

New Treasury, Layout, and Some Family History

My new treasury! Femme Fatale. This one was really fun to do, and I've got another fun one coming that I hope to do some time in the next week. Please check it out and leave me a comment!

Also, I totally redid the ole blog, take a look and let me know what you think? The photographs are all the stylish women of my family (all on my mom's side, not saying my dad's is less stylish I just didn't have any photographs handy!). L>R 1st row: aunt Pam, my grandma; 2nd row my cousin Amy, my mom, my grandma again.

My grandma, Betty Lucille (we all called her Betty Lou) was one stylish lady. When she had my mom, her youngest, she was 44 and rode to the hospital in a leopard print dress in a Convertible with the top down. She was born in 1908, so when I was 17 I was so jealous of her being 17 in 1925. Quel glamoreuse, n'est pas? Here are some more pictures of Betty Lou:



far right, I think she looks absolutely stunning here





on the left, I love her suit



Every time I see Pammy she swears I look just like her, but I don't think I'm nearly as pretty. I do dress like her, though, and every time I find a photo of her I want her clothes! She lived to be 81, quite a feat, but unfortunately I wasn't even 3 when she died. I know she and I would have been great friends, my earliest memories are actually of seeing her before she died and she was still as spry and crazy as ever. I never tire of hearing stories about her, too.

On Why I Blog

Sometimes I get excited at the seemingly never-ending slew of fashion and design blogs on the internet, but sometimes I get really daunted and self-conscious. For one thing, I work full-time, so I can't blog whenever I get the urge to write something. I can't even take an outfit pic every morning before work because of time! (Though I suppose I could wake up a bit earlier each day and do that.) I have a myriad of unfinished bits of entries, and have very few pictures of my own because most of the time I find to write is when I am at work.



It used to be different. When I was 16-17 I was on livejournal, taking photographs and writing entries all the time. I had photographs that were the blossoming of my self-portrait oeuvre, but also looking back some are reminiscent of amateur fashion editorials (fashion blog photography, anyone?). I was inspired by fine art photographers, fashion spreads, other livejournalers, art, early cinema, etc. I was thrifting a lot and watching Turner Classic Movies pretty much non-stop.



I had a lot of weird clothes that I thrifted purely for photographing myself in, some of which I am selling now. This dress you might remember from an entry a few weeks back about vintage dresses I was going to sell:



And this dress is currently in in my shop, the vintage stole is my grandmother's:



I started expirimenting with crazy makeup, too. So begins a long affair with eyelash glue (I later did a series in college with miniatures glued to my face). This isn't a mask, these feathers are glued to my face! The pearls in my hair is similar to how I did my hair for prom a few months previous, and dress and gloves are vintage.



And, more like the wardrobe_remixes of today, I would take outfit posts on many days. Here are two outfits I particularly liked at the time:



Many of these photographs are super embarrassing (boy how I want to go back in time and tell myself to get bangs), and some of these outfits are perfection except for some unfortunate choice in shoes or eye makeup. Still, I feel proud in some strange way to be almost "ahead of the curve," and glad I documented my youth so well. It's neat going back and saying "oh yes I should look for that skirt" or "I never thought to pair that hat with that dress." And of course, I was more risky with my choices back then, such as being unafraid to wear a garish coat or unusual hat (or any vintage hat, really, at the time). Maybe this blog is an extension of that part of me from high school I want to keep alive, and part of it is to share ideas I have for various things (and those have been lacking, too). Either way, I need to post more!