Marooned but Not Doomed: Hello, Snowstorm

Top: INC, Macy's; Skirt (a dress!): JCPenney

Bubblegum Beauty Necklace

Shoes: Jessica Simpson, DSW

Bow: Kohl's

Bag: Kelly & Katie, DSW

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

I like big baubles and I cannot lie.

Looking forward to florals.

Bag: Madden Girl, Kohl's

When your coat's doppelganger is a duvet.  Coat: Madden Girl, Macy's

Tiers for cheers.

Giant Dancer Necklace

Sometimes I think I need to make smaller necklaces.  And then I say nah and make something like this.

Skirt: Wild Fable, Target

Boots: Nine West, Kohl's

Sweatshirt: City Streets, JCPenney; Boots: Olivia Miller, Kohl's

Not Your Average Diamond Necklace

Bag: Liz Claiborne, JCPenney

Poodle, bow, and ornament: Michaels; Fragrance: Too Faced, Target

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bow: Art Class, Target

Chances are, you got snowed in last weekend.  As you (may) know, I don't like snow.  It's cold and wet and, above all, dangerous.  So when the flakes fell, I was happy to stay inside and (while Charlotte napped) play dress-up.  The theme?  Maroon!  Because 1) I'd worn a maroon dress for my birthday and wanted to do a trifecta and 2) maroon makes an ideal backdrop for my new necklaces.

Being marooned in maroon was a bonus.

That said, I hope you stayed cozy doing something you love -- even if the only ice in your life was clinking in your Coca-Cola. 

Exposed Seams and Bold Color Schemes: Living Life on the Wedge

Top: So, Kohl's

The exposed seam trend has been big this season.  So when I spotted this baby tee on a Kohl's crawl at the beginning of the summer, I thought, yes.  Yet at twenty-something dollars, it seemed overpriced.  So I bided my time and recently snagged it for just four dollars.  There's something kind of '90s about it, don't you think? (A little too ironic, yet I really do think!)  

Here are some other bargains I scored, although only the chair art was as cheap as the tee.  The blouse was seven dollars, and the shoes were close to thirty.  I ordered all the wearables online; if you've been out and about in the brick and mortars, then you already know it's slim pickins'!

Top: New York & Company

Wall art: Michaels

Shoes: Sugar, Kohl's

And just because I'm not done playing yet, here's a digitally enhanced pic from my craft room:

There's yet another nod to the '90s here in the form of this melted Coke bottle sand art.  Who else has one of these haunting her house?!

Until next time, friends, aloha!

Filtered Pop and Photo Op: I Like Cold Beverages

Tee: Macy's

Sandals: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Skirt: Modcloth

Scrunchie: Macy's; Cream bangle: Mixit, JCPenney; Bag: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's; Midnight Magic Necklace, Sunglasses: Betsey Johnson, Zulily; Love bangle: Boscov's

Skirt: Mossimo, Target

Flip flops: Sea Star, Brigantine

Bag: Circus by Sam Edelman: Kohl's

Tee: Kohl's

Jeans: City Streets, JCPenney

Tee: Kohl's; Sunglasses: Amazon; Shoes: Katy Perry Collection; May Berry Charm Necklace; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Modcloth 

When I was a kid, I thought that soft drinks got their name because the bubbles made them feel soft and airy as they made their way down your throat (so, the opposite of one of those half-chewed, pointy Doritos).  It was years before I realized that "soft" was a negative space term created to counter hard drinks like rum and tequila.  And that disappointed me, because it implied that soft didn't mean dreamy and delicious but weak, denoting the consolation prize for people who couldn't have or didn't want a "real" drink.  

So it's no wonder that I'd advertise my lifelong love of Coke products and Icees by parading these pop culture tees.  Not only are they cute and colorful, but they bring me back to the days when the most decadent drink I could down was one that was carbonated.  If this post had a theme song, then it'd be G. Love & Special Sauce's "Cold Beverages," that iconic '90s toe-tapper that pays equal tribute to martinis and root beer. 

I even wore my blink-and-you'll-miss-it Fanta tee to the beach -- and then ordered an orange Fanta!  

 

By the way, this was my first -- and so far only -- restaurant visit (albeit al fresco, not, ha ha, a Fresca) since before the pandemic.  Sometimes it's fun to leave my bubble.  Or to exchange one kind of bubble for another.  Or to bubble over with enthusiasm for, yes, bubbles.

Okay, I'll stop.

Suffice it to say that I look forward to my next outdoor soda.  As do the tropical creatures hanging out by my head.  

I wouldn't blame you one bit if you thought there was vodka in my cup after all. 

Stripe Hype: For Those Times When You Don't Want to Polka

Bag: Lily Bloom, JCPenney

Dress: Lula Roe

Bag: Sugar Thrillz, Dolls Kill

Skirt: Modcloth

Bag: Olivia Miller, Amazon

Shoes: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Dress: Rock & Republic, Kohl's

Polka dot, that is.  Because even wearing such a slaphappy print, let alone doing its namesake dance, demands a nimble spirit.  Not so with stripes.  They bring to mind, not rollicking reels, but maps crisscrossed with equators and prime meridians as indelibly as gym class Fs on a report card.  Because globes, round though they may be, don't deign to serve volleyballs or don sweat-stained uniforms.  No, they sit still in the study, and when you're with them, you must sit still too.  Call it revenge of the nerds.  And not the slick kind in Silicon Valley, but those who putter in academia or even just eat macadamia nuts while writing Wikipedia entries.   

I think we can all agree that none of this makes any sense.  Especially because my black Betsey wedges are, however subtly, polka dotted.  But posts don't always have to dot their i's or drink their t's.  

They just have to have a good time and a cold Coca-Cola.

But more on that (maybe) next time.  

If I Dreamed a Desert . . .

 If I Dreamed a Desert Barrette Brooch

Glamp Fire Girl Necklace

Rustic Rose Earrings

Top: Marshalls

Skirt: H&M

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon

Red/orange striped bangle: Target

Mint bangle: Decree, JCPenney

Rainbow striped bangle: ZAD, Zulily

Red bangle: B Fabulous

Pink bangle: Don't Ask, Zulily

Orange Bangles: B Fabulous

 . . . then it would look like this:  

Bold, bright, and sunny.  And with a Coca-Cola waterfall cascading just out of range.  (No, your eyes aren't deceiving you; there's no waterfall here.  Just think of it as a mirage).  As you know, I'm fascinated by deserts.  Well, by the way they look, anyway.  Not by the way they are or feel or weigh on your skin and soul (see above for my need for ready liquids.)  I think it all began with my parents' desert-themed bedroom.  This was in the early '80s, so we're talking dark and a little foreboding, not at all like the airy pastels of today's succulent-studded decor.  I had a sort of love-hate relationship with the bedspread and matching curtains (not the brown corduroy boyfriend pillow; I straight up hated that).  Even now I can see those brownish-green saguaros standing so stalwartly -- and, yes, a little menacingly -- against the backdrop of blistering sunset.

Thinking about my childhood makes me think about bedtimes and how I never had one.  My mom used to joke that "round here we stay up very, very, very, very late."  You know, like in the Counting Crows song (yes, we've now fast-forwarded to the '90s).  Which is funny because Adam Duritz was certainly singing about something more chilling than snubbing sleep to watch more Nick at Nite.  What's more, that song mentions the ocean, so there isn't a desert in sight.  Still, it has a desert kind of feel.

When I was looking for a song to sell this post, maybe I should've gone for "A Horse With No Name."  It too is a little creepy.  But at least it has a desert.  And a horse.

Anyway, I wanted this barrette brooch (technically, it's a barrette because it's a clip, but even I know it's probably way too much of a wide load to wear in one's hair) to be as memorable as that bedspread.  Although on the flip side of "love," instead of "hate," I'd rather have "makes you laugh so hard that limeade comes out of your nose."  The limeade thing happened to me yesterday, so it's fresh in my mind (and nostrils).  I teamed it (the barrette brooch, not the limeade) with more timid accessories to really let it shine.  Kind of like how you serve spicy meatballs with unseasoned rice and Brussels sprouts.  Not that I eat Brussels sprouts.  Or spicy meatballs.  Rice is okay; I like to think of it as the Coca Cola of starches. 

In case you're wondering, pasta is the root beer.