guest posting at beauty or swaag

Please visit me over at Beauty or Swaag today for a Little Red Riding Hood fashion-inspired guest post, with a collage and a little discussion about how I like to put outfits together.

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a sobering look

While flipping through old pictures again for some more retro fashions, I figured out what the hair in yesterday's outfit actually looks like. Not Cindy Lou Who, not Harley Quinn...

Nope, it's me. As a toddler. Lordy.

I seem to have regressed.

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guest posting at Feathers+Futons

Hey guys, I'm guest blogging one of my outfit posts at Feathers + Futons today. Go on over and check it out (and let me know whether you think this style works on a woman my age or not, haha.)

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ruche winter lookbook video

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know I'm always charmed by brands' preview videos of their upcoming lines and lookbooks. I think it's something to do with getting to watch the models play out a story, becoming personable, and not just seeing clothes in motion. Ruche has just put out their winter lookbook, and lo and behold, a video! A romantic, wistful video that has me missing le boyfriend more than usual today, to be honest.

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the fashion retrospectograph: that's some fly ride, george

I have very little context for this photo, which I came across in my grandmother's family albums, but I thought you guys might appreciate the early 20th century driving outfits (designed to keep out the dust and exhaust, which was probably considerable.) Not to mention that totally fine car. I mean, I wouldn't want to be racing in it like this group, since safety glass hadn't been invented yet, but wow indeed.

The only person I recognize in the picture is the seated man in the middle, wearing the cabbie/newsboy cap. That's George Keen, the husband of my last Retrospectograph subject.

View a larger version of the picture here.

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don't block my colors

Northern New England is supposed to be known for its autumn leaf colors, but looking at my neighborhood, you'd never know it. Notice the pretty reds and oranges in the Japanese maple I'm posing against? Yeah, that'd be the only one as far as the eye can see. With a yard otherwise full of oak and birch trees, which turn straight to brown, and big maples that don't seem to realize they're supposed to be brighter than a muddy-looking yellow, fall foliage just ain't that interesting at my house. (With three out of four of the adults here injured, this year's leaf-raking could be, though!)

I do look forward to driving through nearby areas that have front yard rows of  boldly-colored decorative maples. It's too bad that the most amazing spot, one town over, has such busy traffic, or I'd snap some photos to show you all. (In my area people just planted dogwoods, which do nothing but smell terrible all summer long.)

Shooting this outfit, I was reminded of one of my pet peeves about locations in movies and television shows. Creators rarely bother to film anything on this side of the country (aside from New York City), even if the story is set here. For example, the attempts at showing seasonal weather changes on Gilmore Girls are often so unintentionally funny because the outdoor California studio sets look nothing like the northeast. Everything is wrong, from the types of trees to the color of the sky and grass to the intensity of the sunlight on the actors' faces. (There also isn't nearly enough rain for it to be Connecticut.) Yeah, I know it's expensive to film on location (and to do weather effects on a set), but sometimes I just get bored of every story looking like it takes place in LA during the summer.

 I give total props to the makers of Hocus Pocus for not only managing to film in this region, but doing it during the proper season. And you know what? It makes the film look freaking great.

WARDROBE:

skirt/shoes/cardigan: Charlotte Russe

leggings: Forever21

top: restyled

socks: gift

lipstick: MAC Slimshine in Pleasing

CAMERA:

Laura

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cinematographic: snow, glass, fashion

When the Night Comes Twinset Dress - Chicwish / Clara Faux Fur Trim Hooded Toggle Fastening Cape - Boohoo / Big Buddha Saddle Bag - Piperlime / Rocketdog Mirra Flats - JCPenney / Oat Double Rib Over the Knee Sock - Topshop / Revlon Black Cherry Lipstick / image of Morena Baccarin from Fanpop

Just watched the trailer for one of the Snow White adaptations coming out, this one called Snow White and the Huntsman. My first impression of it is that although there are some interesting ideas and artistic beauty going on, overall it looks like it's not going to be so great. I got a distinct The Brothers Grimm vibe from it, is all I'm saying. Considering the bizarre shoehorning in of battle sequences, menfolk, and the serious scenery-chewing, I'm thinking this might be a mess on the level of most fantasy movies these days. And by that I mean hammy without the charm of being purposefully hammy.

Also did not love the not-so-iconic styling given to Kristin Stewart, who plays Snow White in the film. Hence today's collage, with Morena Baccarin, a.k.a. Anna on V, giving something a little more striking.

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cinematographic: seeking stephanie brown

Found this old collage, which I think I made for a contest, over at my Polyvore account. Aside from being reminded of why I use my own image editor to do collages now, this one stood out to me as unlike my usual picks. I realized that it's because I usually try to keep things within a price range I could conceivably afford, and this one has some pretty pricey things in there. Guess that Gotham City superhero look takes some green!

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through a lens, blurrily

Some bizarre things happening with the lighting in today's unusually gorgeous weather, as evidenced by that last photo. But that's not my major frustration with taking photos lately.

Normally my sister's camera (your basic Canon Rebel XSi) is great, but now it rarely wants to focus on subjects in anything but a closeup. Sometimes everything, back and foreground, is blurry. Had to do a lot of work on that first photo to get it looking vaguely in-focus! The weird thing, too, is that it's not all the time--one out of thirty shots will be shockingly crisp in comparison. Wonder if it's likely to be a problem with the lens or with the computer part.

This is especially annoying when I'm behind the lens, since I can already add "user error" to the list of likely issues. Shaky hands, not so awesome for photography. Thank goodness I'm not usually the one in charge of taking pictures here.

Also, if you hadn't noticed, I've added a Facebook link to the menu bar at the top of the page. Yep, finally got around to making a page for this blog. I know some people prefer to get their updates over there, so feel free to hop on over if you like.

WARDROBE:

dress/flats/socks: Charlotte Russe

leggings: JCPenney

cardigan/sunglasses: Target

bag: Liz Claiborne

CAMERA:

Laura of the steadier hands

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friend friday: book edition

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'll have realized by now that I'm a voracious story-devourer. Movies, television shows, comics, audio tapes...and, of course, books. You might see a lot of visual media posts on here, but believe me, books are still my one true love. (I'm one of those loser kids who cried on the first day of kindergarten when I realized they weren't going to teach me to read yet. Er, this was back when kindergarten was treated like preschool, and most of the day was spent learning how to get along with other kids, memorizing your phone number, and driving a little wooden mail truck to the principal's office. Yeah, I don't know.)

Part of the problem with being such a bibliophile is that making a favorites list is really damn hard. There are too many choices, and I have a problem talking about things I like without also qualifying it with my criticisms. Welp, I linked up with Katy Rose over at Modly Chic for this week's Friend Friday and gave it my best go anyway.

My top 5 favorite books of all time: (I'm basing this one on re-readability, not necessarily overall quality. That means less of the high-falutin' literature you might expect from an English major and more in the way of genre works.)

Cosmos - Carl Sagan
The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
The Long Winter  - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

There were quite a few runners-up I had to eliminate, including The Little Prince, Frankenstein and Sarah Crewe.

The Most Recent Books I’ve Read and Loved:


Going Postal - Terry Pratchett
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century - Barbara W. Tuchman
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm


I'm very behind on actual book reading lately, especially in the nonfiction arena. Next up is an overview of Ancient Egypt, done by a writer whose fun archaeology-themed romance/mystery novels I've just finished. Should be exactly the opposite of dry, if her fiction writing is anything to go by.

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walkin' in an autumn wonderland

Do these pictures ever look like they were taken in December! But no, this is what my backyard looked like early Saturday afternoon, just before Halloween, at the start of a ridiculously early snowstorm. Pretty, isn't it?

What wasn't so pretty were all the still-leafy tree branches getting bogged down by snow and snapping right off later on. There is a reason snow doesn't typically come before all the leaves have dropped! We lost whole tops of trees, but luckily nothing hit the house. The rest of my town looked a mess, too, but I didn't hear much about any major home damage. Instead, the main topic of conversation was the fact that the falling trees took out enough electrical lines to kill power to most of the area. Glad we got ours back Monday night. Others are still waiting on it, including schools and businesses.

We knew ahead of time that there was going to be some snow, and bundled up that morning to pick up some last-minute costume pieces. This cape may not look warm enough for wintry weather, but I'm pleased to say that appearances can be deceiving! It's at least as protective as any winter coat I've ever worn, save for the forearms. And here I thought I was making a silly impulse buy.

On a side note, if you've left me a message recently, rest assured that I'm not ignoring you. It's taking me some time to get through the backlog of work and blog-related communications.

WARDROBE:

cape: TJMaxx

leggings: Forever21

flats: Charlotte Russe

tunic: New York & Company

socks: gift

hat/scarf/gloves: borrowed

CAMERA:


Laura

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