Anyway, this is one of the super-fabu new blazers that I got last week and I am so in love with it! This whole outfit turned out pretty great I think, especially since I was half-asleep when I threw it together. :)

This is what your face looks like when you try not to squint into the sun. Yup.

WHAT: straw fedora, forever 21

blazer, thrift

maroon shirt dress, chicken lays an egg

watch necklace, yard sale

bullet necklace, pixel 19 vintage

combat boots, thrift

WHERE: work at chicken and hangin’ at the bar

WHEN: saturday, november 13

Jacob has really been steppin’ up his style lately (which I love) so I of course have been making him pose for pictures. I think he was a little mad about it at first, but he gets more comfortable as it goes along.

I love that he put the glasses on. So cute.

I love these boots that he found too and can’t believe they fit his super-wide feet.

Love having a dude who like dressing up!

Murderface the alligator attacks a Cabbage Patch Kid

Have I ever mentioned that we have four dogs in our apartment? Maya (roommate/business partner extraordinaire) has two and Jacob and I have two.

Maya’s Jack Russel, Dexter

Lady, Maya’s other dog is a beagle/shih tzu mix.

Charlie is the puppy that I got Jacob for Christmas last year. Supposedly she’s a boxer/collie mix, but she looks nothing like either of those. She actually looks like a tiny bloodhound or something. Whatever she is, she’s very sweet and a master of looking sad.

Chopper has the extra-sad face going on because she had just gotten in trouble for growling at one of our friends. She’s a little skittish sometimes because she was abused so badly by her original owners, so we are forgiving when she freaks out. It kills me when she looks that sad, but she also knows that and also has it down to a fine art.

Jacob took this earlier today at the shop, and it’s my favorite picture that’s been taken with my camera so far. The entire brick wall of the building next door to us is covered in ivy but it’s starting to die off for the season, hence the black base. This picture hasn’t been enhanced or anything, that’s just how it came out! Oh wait, this is a style blog right? I guess I should show you what I was wearing.

I love these fucking jeans so much. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to them.

That is a real horseshoe crab, covered in gold and made into a brooch. I got it from my friend who sold me the sweet parrot necklace from a few entries ago.

And I’ll leave you with a little emoface.

WHAT: vintage brown fedora, borrowed from Chicken Lays An Egg

striped sweater, Chicken Lays An Egg

horseshoe crab, yard sale

jeans, urban outiftters

socks, yard sale

high heel brogues, macy’s

WHERE: work at Chicken

WHEN: friday, october 1

]]> http://www.mascaraormotoroil.com/2010/10/01/new-camera-day-one/feed/ 1 http://www.mascaraormotoroil.com/2010/08/27/birthdays-galore/ http://www.mascaraormotoroil.com/2010/08/27/birthdays-galore/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:02:10 +0000 jessy http://www.mascaraormotoroil.com/?p=263560784 Maybe it’s due to the fact that my birthday is in August, but I feel like it’s non-stop birthday month! The trend of me being a total summer slacker continues; I am just now posting the pics from my birthday which was August 5. Not that I’m behind or anything.

This year my birthday fell on a Thursday, and I was crazy busy and stressed getting ready for the fashion show we were participating in that weekend. So the Monday of my birthday week, my boy and I took a mini road trip to Indiana and spent the day driving around in the country. When I was first out of high school I joined my brother and some of our friends working at a summer camp out there for a few years, so it is kind of like going home for me. Although I only worked there for 3 years and it’s just a summer program, I feel like I’m home when I go back. It’s definitely the same kind of rolling countryside that I grew up in too. It makes me so happy to finally get out to those wooded areas where you can feel the temperature drop 5 degrees automatically; I can just feel my whole body relax.

Fun side story: my boy and I thoroughly enjoy driving around listening to music, and this trip is definitely no exception. Unfortunately, someone ripped the stereo out of his car about a week before. Surprisingly, we didn’t have a boombox around the house so we were starting to get really bummed about not having tunes all day. That’s when my MacGyver of a boyfriend fashioned this!

One cell phone, one camera tripod, and one gaping hole

What a man! :) AND since his phone has a navigation function, it also served us very well as a GPS! Anyway, back to our trip…

Hope you weren't in a hurry, cause you're not going anywhere soon!

Look at that gorgeous corn! We spent a few hours just driving aimlessly around looking at the countryside and stopping at little shops. I could spend days doing just that.

One of my absolute favorite things ever are abandoned buildings, especially houses like these. There are so many out in the country too.

One of many Amish homes in that area; it reminded me how amazing sun-dried sheets smell. I swear, there’s nothing in the world like it.

At some point during the day I absolutely had to be in a creek at some point during the day. Originally we had planned to go to a swimming hole that I used to know about, but we never did find it.

Ahhhhhh….

Our next big stop was in Madison, this cute little river town in southeastern Indiana.

I’m a total sucker for old movie theaters, I wish there was one around me that played classic movies.

This is what I really came to Madison for. Hinkle’s is a must if you are ever near there!

They have the best milkshakes there too, and everything is supercheap. What more could anyone ask for?

After we gorged ourselves on mini burgers and milkshakes, we decided to walk around the town a little. It was just getting to be sunset so it was perfect for a stroll.

We walked down to the river and sat on this pier for a while, just chillaxin’.

I shall hide.

We’d been gone for 7 or 8 hours by then and it was getting late, so we hopped it the car and headed home to let our pups out.

Almost home!

More very soon!

A few days ago, my very handsome boy and I went to see Inception at the movie theater up the street. Since it was such a lovely evening, we decided to just walk there. We have a really adorable little neighborhood, so I thought you might enjoy the walk with us!

The giant park by our house where our pups love to play (and where most of my pictures are taken), Burnet Woods.

You can’t catch me!

Not sure why it looks a little foggy??

Like those giant cuts on the backs of my knees? That’s what happens when you have your dog on a retractable leash and she wraps it around you and bolts after a bird. Thanks Charlie.

Just ignore those old lady socks sticking out. My shoes give me really bad blisters in the back without them. :(

Alright enough of that silliness- we’re gonna be late for the movie!

Almost there!

At this corner if I were to turn around, you’d see this really cool fountain!

Oh, look – it’s my roommate/business partner/fabulous friend, Maya! I really do see her everywhere I go!

Right behind her car is Skyline, Cincinnati’s most well-known regional food. Their specialty is chili with spaghetti and a giant mound of cheese, which is how we eat all chili in Cincy. I actually can’t imagine why you’d wanna eat chili without spaghetti under it, and cheese makes everything better, so… yeah. if you’re not a vegetarian and you’re in Cincinnati, I guess I’d try it. It’s not really the best chili, but after a night of drinking it hits the spot pretty well.

Here it is, the Esquire Theatre! It’s the local art house theater, and is very near and dear to my heart. One of the first jobs I had in Cincinnati was at the Esquire, and among many many of my other friends, I met Maya there. She actually trained me over six years ago and we’ve been friends ever since. Sadly, this is also where I leave you guys. I can promise that I will be back soon though!

WHAT: white ribbon, leftover from a gift

blue pinwheel button earrings, handmade by me

navy scoop neck, forever 21

floral linen skirt, chicken lays an egg

vintage brown belt, thrift

gold bangle, toronto thrift store

saddle bag, chicken lays an egg

old lady woven shoes, street fair

WHERE: our walk and movie

WHEN: who even remembers

Pretty heinous and unflattering right? I mean, I love the pattern and what they became, but I can see why everyone seemed kind of horrified when I was excitedly showing them around. I just think they’re so goofy- I mean, they actually say the words ‘primitve’ and ‘ethnic’ on them! I also love them for the extreme M.I.A. factor.

Annnyway, I started by turning them inside out and having my very handsome boyfriend pull them tight and pin all the way down. Make sure to leave enough room unpinned at the top to get out of them!

Doesn't he look so thrilled to be doing this?

So next I took them off veeeery carefully so none of the pins would fall out and laid them down to go over the hemlines with a pen. Basically just draw a line all along your pin line. Ball point pens work great for marking fabric and usually come out in the wash if you don’t want to invest in a fabric pen. (That’s what I use.)

Don't mind my little voodoo pin cushion...

Depending on how much you take them in you may need to snip some of the extra fabric from the edge so they don’t look bulky. Just make sure you leave at least a half an inch so your stitches don’t get pulled out. If you’re working with polyester you can use a lighter to singe in raw edges so it doesn’t fray- but be VERY CAREFUL not to set yourself and your garment on fire.

Sorry it's so blurry!

Tah-dah!!

I am probably the most proud of these than any other alteration I’ve done. I wore them out last night and got some great compliments on them, and they’re also super comfy since they’re a little stretchy.

I hope these tips may help some of the sewing-impaired, and there will be more Bootleg Tailoring posts very soon! Please ask if you have any questions, I’d love to help other people enjoy sewing as much as I do!

Just inside the front door

Cutie McGee

WHAT: perfect summer dress, consignments by julie

brown belt, thrift

ring, gumball machine

pillbox bag, chicken lays an egg

stripey scarf, chicken lays an egg

brown oxfords, macy’s

WHERE: krohn conservatory

WHEN: monday, may 3

Thanks for reading!

These are some of the gorgeous pictures taken by our lovely photographers, Amy Rudnik and Rachel Elliott from our Spring Sale and Soiree at Chicken Lays An Egg. I am going to put a bunch of them on the Chicken site also, but these are mostly the ones of me. I feel a bit narcissistic putting up this many artsy shots of myself, but I’ve never had pictures like this taken of me.

This is how my photos for my blog are usually taken.

My favorite picture ever. <3

My adorable boy

I just like this one because our mannerisms seem so similar.

It was a blast of a day, we did fantastic business. Unfortunately we bought too many hot dogs, so now whenever anyone comes to our house I try to force them to eat some. Having drunk friends helps with that.

Here’s a good shot of my outfit for the day. I got this dress the day before the party and it was another maxi dress, so I stayed up until 5 am hemming it by hand.

All the white parts on the flowers are fuzzy!

The blister-makers

WHAT: fuzzy floral dress, chicken lays an egg

daisy brooch, thrift

green ring, bubblegum machine

mary janes, target

WHERE: chicken lays an egg’s spring soiree

WHEN: saturday, march 10

Well, here’s the last of my Nashville thrift and vintage store review! I would like to do one for Cincinnati, although I do have an obvious bias to our store.

Our first stop is Katy K’s Ranch Dressing, which I first heard about from Bust magazine’s Around The World In 80 Girls feature. In it, they highlight a city and mention a few of the places that are must-sees. Lucky for me, I save every issue I buy and remembered that they hit Nashville in a past issue! Anyway, Katy K’s was pretty awesome, and definitely a must-see.

They’re known for outfitting Nashville’s finest country royalty, and I see why. Rhinestones and embroidery as far as the eye can see!

For the tiniest, most adorable cowboy ever.

Jacob found a shirt exactly like one he owns!

Overall, Katy K’s was fun to see, but overpriced for something I’m in the market for. I totally recommend checking it out though, especially since it’s right down the street from a bunch great vintage stores on 12th Avenue. Speaking of which, if you drive about a mile down 12th, you’ll see Savant Vintage Couture on your right. Stop immediately and park.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was honestly in shock. Their store is almost as packed as mine ours, but twice as big! And while I definitely got some sticker shock when I looked at the prices, they had some gorgeous items; I had a constant huge smile on my face the whole time. And even better the owner and the clerk working were both really friendly and welcoming. I was wearing my super bright outfit that day and they were totally digging it. We chatted about Cincinnati and Nashville for a little and they even suggested some bars we might like. I was running low on funds by this point, so I didn’t even really let myself shop. But I loved the print of this dress that I saw there soooo much!

Right around the corner from Savant on Linden Avenue is Local Honey, which was also mentioned in the Bust article.

There is a very sweet vibe about this place, and they had some pretty cute stuff too.

Their prices were a little high for me (skirts at $20), but they had some really adorable upcycled dresses for $50, which I thought was a pretty good price, especially for all the tailoring. The biggest bummer about Local Honey however was that the guy working there was really rude. I was in a pretty good mood and shot him a very friendly “hi!” when I walked in, he unenthusiastically returned the greeting with a snotty “hi” and returned to his book. I brushed it off, but when I asked if it was OK to take some pictures for my blog (out of politeness mostly), he got kind of an attitude with me. I mean he said it was fine, it was just the way he did so. He kind of laughed and rolled his eyes in this ‘yeah, whatever’ way. I don’t know, the whole exchange just bummed me out and made me feel stupid.

Last but not least, we stumbled across Flashback Vintage. We were actually trying to go to a soda shop down the street, but before we got there I saw this place from across the street. It looked a little dated from the outside, but was actually fantastic!

I was still on the hunt for a fur collar at this point, so I just happened to ask the woman working if they had any. I’m so glad I did because she immediately lead me over to a giant box they had stashed under a rack of coats! I’m not even kidding, my body could have fit in this box. Needless to say I was so happy I almost did a little dance. And best of all, the prices were really decent. I wish I hadn’t found this place so late in my trip, I would have spent way more money there. I found a beautiful lamb’s wool collar that I chose because it didn’t feel super furry. I don’t know if that makes any sense the way I worded it, but I personally can’t handle the feeling of fox or anything like that on my skin. I just feel like I’m wearing someone’s pet. Anyway, I was really happy with the one I got and the very sweet clerk even gave me a bit of a discount! Overall, a surprise treasure!

That brought an end to our shopping in Nashville, mostly because we were almost out of money. I learned once I got home that I missed a few vintage stores, so I guess I’ll have to go back and hit ‘em all! The ones I didn’t get a chance to go to were The Hip Zipper, Clothing Xchange, Venus and Mars which all look awesome!

We started our day at Noshville New York style deli which was totally delicious and pretty reasonably priced. I imagine if you live in Nashville this is probably one of the only places to get a stuff like bagel and lox.

After lunch were stuffed, so we decided to walk off our full stomachs a bit by wandering around on Broadway. We hit a few little shops there and then piled back in the car for some serious thrifting. After we exhausted our sale finding abilities, we headed down to the touristy end of Broadway. While there are a lot of stores selling chintzy key chains and junk, there are few really cool shops mixed in. Definitely check out the Hatch Print Show, a serious old school letterpress print shop.

I wish I’d had the money to buy this amazing print!

After we left Hatch Print I saw these signs posted on a small bookstore. After I read these I decided that this wasn’t the kind of business owner I particularly wanted to support. Who thinks that people will want to even come in if you’re that unwelcoming? We also saw a hot dog stand along there that sold $5 flip flops. Mmmmm, meat and discount footwear.

So we kept walking and I saw this very friendly handsome cab driver with his pup! I was having super dog withdraw by then, so I had to stop to give some pets and get some licks.

Eventually we wandered into a little record shop (not Ernest Tubb Records), and it was vinyl as far as the eye could see! I initially went in because they had a poster in the window that I wanted, and luckily they had more for sale.

They're all cassette tapes!!

This is the poster that drew me in. I had to buy it for my brother, since it pretty much describes his outlook on life.

We exhausted the tourist strip pretty quickly and didn’t have any plans until later, so we decided to go do some putt-putting. I had never heard of indoor putt-putt before and really thought that my boyfriend had made it up when he asked if there were any. Of course as soon as he Googled it one popped up in the nearest shopping mall. Not only was it indoor, it was black light putt putt!!

It was a cheap waste of time and we had fun. Later we grabbed some grub at the awful waffle (Waffle House) before we departed for the bar. We don’t have a Waffle House near us really, so it was a wonderful treat. I could eat it everyday.

That night there was a dance party of sorts going on at one of the hip bars in East Nashville at The Five Spot. I was bummed to find put there was a $5 door charge, but once I was in I decided it was worth it. There a live band playing some great songs to dance to and just like everywhere in Nashville, everyone there was so hospitable and sociable! There was a really welcoming vibe there which was really perfect for a dance party. Jacob was really stoked to find out that they served Yeung Ling there since it’s his favorite beer and you can’t get it in Ohio or Kentucky for some reason. The cranberry and vodka I ordered basically came in a small barrel and was quite delicious. I can’t believe I forgot to take pictures while I was there, although I have a feeling the drinks played a part in that. I dug up this picture, and although I think is from New Years, but the vibe was honestly pretty similar when I was there.

It was the perfect end to the weekend, like a cherry on the top of our Nashville experience. And more than anything else made me consider moving to Nashville a little. We crashed that night with some awesome friends of friends and departed pretty early the next day. All in all a great vacation, and an even better escape from reality!

We had a really great time in Nashville though, the people were so incredibly friendly and down to earth. Thursday was our first day there, but we got in so late that all we really did was eat dinner and go to bed. That dinner was probably the best meal we ate there too!

Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack‘s specialty fried chicken originated when the current owner’s great-uncle cheated on his girlfriend and she got revenge by over spicing his dinner. (Probably the lamest, but most scrumptious revenge ever.) Unfortunately for her, he loved the extra hot flavor and he ran with it.

I have to say, even though I was damn near crying from how insane hot the MEDIUM (it went all the way the extra hot) was, it was hands down the best chicken I’ve ever had. Although it’s hot, it’s also really deliciously sweet and salty at the same time. The spice is caramelized on the top and kind of falls off as you eat it, and the actual chicken is still super moist and flavorful. Anyway, if you’re ever in Nashville it’s a must try.

After that we just kind of crashed and woke up early to go explore the Adventure Science Center, Nashville’s kids’ museum. It seemed so small compared to Cincinnati’s! Our history and kids’ museum is in the former train station called Union Terminal and it’s HUGE. For as small of a city as Cincinnati is, we have really good museums. Anyway the Science Center was small, but we still had a really good time.

Some cheesy green screen thing they had. I believe this was 'volcano', but we were being more like Godzillas.

underwater

We did hit one vintage store before dinner that first night, Pre To Post Modern, where I got my gorgeous new gold foil bag (among many other amazing things). Obviously I was really excited to use it as soon as possible, which I did. It was well worth it’s $15! It really does match this outfit so well, and the museum provided a perfect background for some outfit shots. It wouldn’t have been possible without my wonderful boyfriend and his fantastic photography though!

I had a good time pretending I was Tom Hanks in Big.

Jacob was sweet enough to take a few more of me while we were out walking around thrifting.

WHAT: navy blue studs, thrift

my new favorite shirt, chicken lays an egg

white dove ring, forever 21

baroque ring, my gramma

white watch, borrowed from maya

brass buckle belt, thrift

high waisted jeans, urban outfitters

brown boots, chicken lays an egg

tan coat, free from clothing swap

fantastic gold bag, pre to post modern

WHERE: vacation!

WHEN: friday, february 12

PARTS TWO AND THREE COMING SOON…..