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. 

Something from the Star: Bright Light, Lite Brite

Neon Orange and Chartreuse Barrettes

Neon Purple, Blue, and Pink Barrettes

Banana Bow Barrette

 Neon Pink, Chartreuse, and Orange Barrettes

Inner Circle Barrette

Neon Purple and Pink Barrettes 

 Yellow Bow Barrettes

Top: Candie's, Kohl's

Skirt (a dress!): Modcloth

Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's

Bag: Princess Vera, Kohl's

Belt: Gifted

What do G. Love & Special Sauce, Gremlins, and that Christmas light-like toy have in common?  They're all about lights and getting lit.  Although not necessarily in that order.  

Because Friday was the solstice, I thought it was a good time for a party look made for -- what else? -- northern lights and winter nights.  Enter this fluorescent frock, sparkly black top, and starry clutch  (holographic parka to ward off frostbite excluded.)  The top reminds me of an inky black sky, making for a spangled, albeit slightly smoggy backdrop for the brooch-styled barrettes.  I've worn it only once, to the movies.  This outfit, however, is ideal for clubbing in Juneau or Helsinki while downing mulled ciders and hot buttered rums.  Or, in my case, hot chocolates and herbal teas (see aforementioned sentence about me wearing this top to see Daddy's Home 2).  Because December is no time to guzzle the cold beverages so immortalized by the Sauce. 

So, about these barrettes.  I can't stop staring at them!  What can I say, their vivid colors and graphic shapes speak to me.  To make them, I decided not to fool with the craft store fare of openwork metal French and alligator clips and instead headed straight to the source, a.k.a. the grocery store grooming aisle, for Scunci and Goody.  These high-quality barrettes are comprised of French clips covered with durable plastic bars that make sturdy perches for cabochons.  The finished products make me think of candy, all colorful and shiny.  And yes, tasty.  Is it bad form to call one's own stuff tasty?  Not according to wannabe rap icon Big Tasty.  Then again, it's probably bad form to view the misguided middle kid from The Goldbergs as any kind of role model.  

One thing's for sure; these barrettes are a step up from the first barrette I ever made, which featured a weird, disembodied harlequin head.  I was about ten and big into harlequins, which were everywhere in the '90s.  Don't ask.  Anyway, the barrette was a big, gold-rimmed white plastic rectangle to which I affixed a ceramic sparkly green and purple turbanned head.  It was pretty heavy (figuratively and literally, clown motifs always being disturbing), and I don't think I ever wore it.  Kind of like how I rarely played with my Lite Brite set.  That was more of my sister's thing (literally; it was her toy.)  Maybe that was because of the if-not-menacing-than-unquestionably-unsettling clown head on the box.  The head that was most certainly that of a workaday circus performer and not a high-brow harlequin.  

It always comes back to clowns.  Maybe they're the ones we shouldn't feed after midnight.