when one door closes...

Well, today is my last day of work! Pretty excited, I must say. Yesterday I totally overslept and was late for work. Whoops! I don't think anyone noticed. It was funny because I was in bed dreaming that I was late for work and then my mom comes to my room and is like, "uhhh do you work today?" and I was like, "ah! I was just dreaming that I was late!" Crazy how the mind does that. I guess that'll teach me to not have phone conversations till after 2 am when I have to wake up at 6:30. Oh well, it was worth it.

My Brave tote bags are being printed this week, so hopefully I should have some more information to you guys about ordering, etc. in the near future. It's going to be a limited edition of 24 (unless I want to keep one... then just 23 for you guys), so there's not going to be a lot of them. I'm keeping the film transparencies of the bag print and I'm thinking of doing an edition of the same print but on paper when I go through Spokane. I'd really like to spend a few days at my old school visiting with my favorite prof and printing a limited edition serigraph of that same artwork. So if that all gets to happen, I will be offering you guys those prints too in the next few months. I think Spokane is going to be my first destination once I get through Canada, so that might be the first thing that happens! I'm really hoping I get to print. I adore being covered in ink and spending all night in the print studio working on editions. I want to do an etching when I'm there too. I think I might want to buy a copper plate to work on beforehand though... ah all this printmaking excitement is just blurting out of me, sorry!

dress/ruche :: skirt/from jenloveskev via delightful dozen :: shoes/minnetonka

When I got this skirt from the Delightful Dozen I realized that I don't really wear brown and don't really know how to wear brown. I mean, I just don't have anything in my closet that is brown (that I can think of right now, maybe I'm lying). So it sat in my room for ages with me trying to figure out what to do with it. Then I decided to try a more fall color palate with the oranges and browns together. Meh. I'm not sure brown is my color. I feel weird wearing it.

Borne on the FM waves of the heart

It was one of those amazing Alaskan summer days yesterday, and I really wished we could've gone out to our cabin, but alas! We sold it this summer and we don't even own it anymore! Kind of sad to see places that hold so many childhood memories be sold. I hope someday my kids have those kinds of places. Right now I feel like such a nomad that it's hard for me to even think about committing to settling in one place and just staying there for decades. We moved to Anchorage in '91 and have lived in our current house since '97, but I just can't imagine living in the same place that long right now! Perhaps it's moving every year the past few years for college. Living in dorms, then apartments/condos, moving back home temporarily, and now living in the Brave in random places, it's all so temporary.

dress/UO from Tieka (via Delightful Dozen) :: shoes/kensiegirl :: shirt/billabong via pacsun

I'm sure eventually I'll want to settle down and find a geographical location that I can cozy into and make my own, but for now I guess I just have a wanderlust. I think it's a good thing to have at this time in life though. I've never wanted to just settle for anything in my life, not men, not mediocrity, and I don't want to live somewhere just because I happen to be there. I want to seek out a place that fits me. I love Anchorage and I adore living in Alaska, but if I stay here it will be settling.

I always thought I would find someone in college, marry them and then settle down as a young person, but it has definitely not turned out that way at all, and I wouldn't change anything. Even the parts of the last few years that have supremely sucked. And now, I think the person I am is much better able to be in a relationship, even though I'm not and don't necessarily care to be. I'm just so much more confident in who I am as a person, the things I like and what I stand for.

Yesterday I spent almost an hour outside taking pictures of my outfit, and then upon stepping inside and standing in front of a mirror again, I tweaked my outfit and liked it way better. Consequently, some of these pictures are from before the tweaking, and some are from after. I like both versions, what version do you guys like better?

Oh, and I dyed my hair the other night too. It's a little bit darker and I think my roots are less of a line and more of a gradient now. Ombre wasn't a complete success, but I like how it turned out. And my nails have been painted CMYK again! If you're not a printmaking geek like me and you don't know what CMYK is, it's the four colors used in process printing- cyan, magenta, yellow, and K stands for "key" which is black.

The Remedy: Autumn inspiration

I'm having a hard time coming up with outfits lately, probably a result of a creative dearth overall. I thought I'd browse the street style archives around the net for a little bit of inspiration. I love all the layering and texture of these outfits. I need to bring out my tights and get back into the practice of layering. The simplicity of summer sundresses has made me totally forget how to layer! Since all my money is being sucked into the Brave right now I can't afford new autumn outfits, so I'll have to make my summer stuff work for fall and winter. Granted, this is what I usually do, but it'll be even more-so this season. Frankly, I'd rather eat and fill up with gas than have a new wardrobe.

looks 1-4: Vanessa Jackman looks 5-9: Stil in Berlin

The best of the rest

What with seeing everyone's outtake photos lately, I just had to post some of mine. I swear, sometimes it feels like 90% of a day's shoot are ridiculous photos like these. The things my face does on a regular basis are just terrible! Haha. Granted, sometimes I end up taking silly photos on purpose, but I think the goofiest ones are the unintentional outtakes. I went back to last summer looking through my deleted photos, so here are some of my outtakes from summer 2009...

I think the thing I like about blogs is that they aren't magazines. We don't have thousands of dollars to spend on retouching, photographers, sets, etc. We do everything ourselves (or with the help of a friend/boyfriend/husband). Another thing I love about blogs is that we represent ourselves accurately, not like magazines that manipulate people's bodies with retouching so that they aren't even anatomically correct sometimes (I can spend hours sifting through photoshop disaster sites. It's like watching a horrific car wreck, I just can't look away). I love that we are just us! And at least for me, I don't retouch anything except colors/contrast and I hope you guys know that I try to represent myself accurately here. I promise more outtake posts. Trust me, I have hundreds.

Flower Child + Giveaway!

Autumn is seriously in the air up here. Leaves are already changing and starting to fall. I love autumn as much as the next person, but I'm not sure I'm ready for summer to be over yet! This is why I'm excited to be traveling. I'm hoping I'll be able to chase down some warm weather in the more southern latitudes. I do like the wintertime, but I don't think I'm ready for it quite yet. Especially since our summer hasn't really been that "summery". Last summer when I wasn't home, Alaska had one of the best summers ever, and this one where I actually am home has been very dreary and grey. Granted I like the grey, but I still do love having an actual summer. Ah yes, talking about the weather. Sorry I'm so boring! Hopefully more excitement will occur in my life soon. I suspect hectic and exciting times will be coming soon enough, so I'm kind of taking advantage of this down time.

dress/violet folklore :: shoes/minnetonka

I've been having trouble writing posts lately. Sometimes it feels like I have so much to say and other times I just feel like my head is full of mush. Do you guys ever feel totally bland? I feel that way sometimes. It makes me scared that if I get bored of myself, how is someone else going to be interested in me enough to want to hang out all the time/get married to me/etc. I guess I always come around and like myself again eventually, so maybe that's some hope? I think I fear mediocrity more than failure. Mediocrity is just hovering there in the middle, neither one extreme or the middle. You can't even feel bad for yourself being mediocre because you have the ability to change your status quo. Either fail, or work harder and succeed. Granted, sometimes feeling mediocre is just a feeling.

Okay, that was a killjoy paragraph...

Moving on to less debbie-downer topics... I love this dress, but it's not staying in my closet! One lucky reader gets to win this dress from Violet Folklore! It's a size small/medium and it's a medium length. It hits me around the knee, but I'm 5'1", so it'd be shorter on anyone taller than me.

To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post between now and next Wednesday, September 1 at 9pm akst (10pm pst). Make sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you win! This giveaway is open to international entrants. One entry per person.

A little late friday night giveaway update!

The winner of the All That Lace vintage $25 giveaway is...

Alyssa from Beauty, Simplistic!

Alyssa was chosen as the winner of the giveaway with help from the random number generator at random.org.

You guys can still take advantage of the 20% off discount to All That Lace until the end of the the month using the code, "delight"!

transcontinental

Well, my New York plans are finally nailed down, after some finagling and reorganizing. Unfortunately I booked my plane a few days before I found out about the IFB conference, which was the one thing I was really looking forward to, so I bit the bullet and spent a lot of money to switch my plane flight. But I'm really excited to have everything set to go now. I just have to figure out what to pack and how I'm going to fit it all in my carry on.

I always fly with a carry on, never a checked bag. Not only does it save money, since pretty much all airlines charge to check a bag nowadays, but I like it because I always know where my bag is and never have to wait at the baggage claim. The only thing that's a little troublesome is the fluid restriction. As you can imagine, the amount of conditioner I need to un-dread my hair is rather significant. Oh, and when I go to NYC I ride the subway, so I can't even imagine trying to do that with a big giant checked bag!

dress/courtesy of the novel hunt :: top & shoes/vintage

Maybe I'll do a post on how I pack my carry on to be uber-efficient. Since I live in Alaska, I fly relatively frequently. Unless you want to drive down the AlCan (which takes around 5 days), flying is the only way to get out of the state. I feel like I'm one of those business people who fly all the time for work. I know exactly how to get through security quickly, and how to organize everything properly for efficient flying. I have a little folder where I keep all my flight and travel info/papers. I always look up maps online of airports I've never been to before so I know where I'm going, and I google map pretty much every route I'm going to be taking at my destination unless I know the city. Haha, I'm such a goon. I guess I just like to be prepared. I'm all about flexibility, but I'm not a fan of being caught without a backup plan.

The Southern Cross

Lately I've been wanting to work at coffee shops again. I mean, I don't really like the customer aspect of being a barista, I don't know maybe I just had some bad customers. But I love making espresso. Maybe I'll get to pick up some barista jobs here and there while I'm on the road. Clearly I'm aching to leave my current job if I'm pining after being a barista. I never thought I'd say I wanted to make coffee again.

I'm hoping RVing will (somehow) strengthen my arms. Since the last 9 months have been spent doing basically nothing but sitting in front of a computer screen, I've become a pile of no muscle and general out-of-shape lameness. I love being active, and the past year or so has been particularly inactive for me. Growing up I was always running around outside, and then from 10 y/o on I rode horses competetively, which was probably when I was in the best shape of my life. Now I struggle to lift the file boxes in the back room at work, which makes me simultaneously depressed and angry. I hate feeling weak. Also, I think I have some sort of tomboy complex which makes me want to be way more hardcore than the boys I know. Currently, my hardcore level is far too low. Maybe I'll go do pushups tonight...

symphony at sea dress & flowers keepers skirt/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/seychelles

It's the time of year that nasty huge spiders come out and they're all over. Makes it difficult to go tromping around outside. I'm not as scared of spiders as I was when I was younger, but I still would rather avoid them altogether. Why are spiders so damn scary? They're relatively harmless besides being nasty looking and creepy crawly. Last week at work I was just sitting at my desk working on something in Illustrator when my hand kind of had an itch so I looked down and this spider was just perched right there on my hand while I was clicking the mouse and everything. I squealed and lept up, so creepy. I'm glad my coworker was gone. Luckily I was the only one in the room so no one saw my spazz attack. Of course the rest of the day my hand kept feeling phantom spiders.

I'm accepting sponsors for September (and beyond), so if you're interested in sponsoring Delightfully Tacky and the Brave Journey you can check out my sponsorship page and/or email me if you have more questions or want to know my rates!

delightfully-tacky@hotmail.com

sweeter than honey

Did anyone else watch the Miss Universe pageant last night? Thanks to the wonders of twitter I found out it was on, and since nothing else was going on I decided to veg out and watch a little ridiculousness on the ol' tube. I try not to think too much when I see stuff like that on TV, otherwise I get totally depressed about our society. It was so odd watching all those girls, they all looked remarkably similar. It's such a shame that our culture constantly is telling us as girls and women that to be beautiful we must be a certain way. Be tall! Be skinny! Have ample breasts! Have long straight hair with loose, shiny curls!

Sometimes I feel like the discussion of the issue of body image in our culture is just so tired and never seems to get anywhere, but as long as I feel upset and dissatisfied I know that I'm not buying into the crap they keep trying to feed me about my body. Not that the Miss Universe ladies aren't beautiful and I'm sure most of them are lovely people, but wouldn't it be amazing to see a pageant of just regular non-pageant girls? And I really have no clue how they judge stuff like the bathing suit competition. Seriously, they all have the same body, they all look great in a bikini...what are they scrutinizing? I don't get it. I know a lot more goes on behind the scenes and there are more criteria for judging that we don't see. Still. It's so odd to me. My brain doesn't get it.

dress/forever 21 :: scarf/hand me down :: sister wedge/courtesy of modcloth

Look at how bad my roots are getting! I kinda want to fade them into my red but I'm waiting till we move back home this week to do it. I'm worried I'll ruin the bathroom at this house with my dye. Somehow every time I use dye it ends up getting on something. I can't decide what I want my hair to do for fashion week. Should I blend the dark down into the red, or lighten the dark up a bit to be less stark? I'm eventually thinking of doing an ombre look, but right now the black portion isn't long enough and is just kind of silly. Eh, I'm not sure. I need to dye some of it red again though because the back is really light, almost blonde in places.

Know how when you're in love with someone and you just want to take pictures of them all the time because they're just so amazing and photogenic and blah blah blah gushy stuff....?

... clearly I'm in love.