zigazig ha!

First of all I must address the title of this post- yes, I am listening to the Spice Girls. I’ve spent the last few days listening to really terrible music from my youth. It’s been AWESOME.

Speaking of awesome things- every year the local alternative paper, CityBeat holds a reader-voted Best Of Cincinnati contest for all kinds of things, food, music, nightlife, etc. Well, my shop Chicken Lays An Egg was voted #3 best new shop by readers and CityBeat staff voted us “Best Quirky Personality for a Vintage Resale Shop”!! I’m so flattered and honored! It means so much to win these, especially since certain members of my family don’t understand that my shop is like a real thing. And of course it’s always nice to be recognized for your work. :)

So things have been pretty great here, I just wish it would WARM UP already….. but I guess you can’t have everything. I guess I’ll just have to settle for being happy and wildly successful.

I love my Danys so much, I’d wear them every day if I could.

WHAT: fur collar (taken from an old coat), chicken lays an egg

green sweater, thrift

skinny belt, chicken lays an egg

lace dress, forever 21

tights, gabriel brothers

dany platforms, jessica simpson online

WHERE: work at chicken

WHEN: wednesday, march 30

it runs in the family

Having a big brother is kind of like having training wheels on being awesome- at least for me. For as long as I can remember my brother has been teaching me cool things, and style this is definitely notwithstanding. From an early age he was fascinated by antiquated things; cars, clothes, basically the entire 1930′s (and earlier) aesthetic. So for much of his life that was how he dressed- suspenders, fedoras, wingtips and bowties. As you can see, it rubbed off on me.

I was recently doing some cleaning at our dad’s house when I found an entire bag of bowties from Dan’s childhood! Needless to say I was pretty thrilled and immediately grabbed them to bring home. After I sent him some of these pictures he told me that he received that particular bowtie in first grade as a present from our Gramma. I’ve also taken to wearing a bunch of the antique watches that she gave me as bracelets, which is a great way to still sport them since none of them work! She knows how to make stylish grandkids for sure.

WHAT: fedora, thrift

oxford shirt, thrift

bowtie, my brother’s

leather belt, chicken lays an egg

pleated skirt, flea market

socks, chicken lays an egg

oxford heels, macy’s

watches, my gramma

WHERE: work at chicken lays an egg

WHEN: monday, march 21

found

One of my favorite things in Cincinnati is the Contemporary Arts Center, which has been offering some really amazing shows for years. Last month they hosted Davy Rothbart of Found Magazine and author of The Lone Surfer of Montana Kansas. Occasionally you can catch Davy reading a short story or talking about his family on This American Life (another of my favorite things). Being the little garbage-picker and nosy person that I am, I’m a huge fan of Found. It is a compilation of found things ranging from love notes and pictures to homework assignments sent in by people across the world. Anyway, I’d always really wanted to go to a Found event because Davy reads all the items himself, and has a really great delivery. I have to say, the best part of the evening definitely had to be getting to meet him at the end and give him my big shoebox full of finds. I took some pictures but I felt too awkward using a flash so they didn’t really turn out.

Anyway, on our walk from the CAC to our car, we passed my favorite downtown photo spot, The House of Adam! I was also sporting my fabulous new Jessica Simpson shoes and a sparkly sweater, so what more could you want??

Here’s our fat sleepy pigeon friend.

I should have gotten a close up of my amazing new shoes, but I’m out of practice and forgot.

He didn’t move a muscle the entire time!!

I love the House of Adam so much.

EDIT: I was playing around with photo booth and rediscovered this one of myself playing with my sparkle sweater and new hair!

WHAT: sparkle sweater, my gramma

tan bag, charming charlie

high waisted jeans, urban outfitters

dany platforms, jessica simpson online

WHERE: kick my heart’s ass with davy rothbart, contemporary arts center

WHEN: february 5