Fangirl Symmetry

"The Paisley Leopard Overlord"--Wednesday, 8/31/16

In this post about wearing olive handbags, Bridgette suggests matching olive shoes to your olive purse.  I'm not about using different colors of purses--I am sticking with the basic black purse I've had for about 20 years--but I can get on board with maroon top, black skirt, olive shoes, and patterned scarf.

From bridgetteraes.com

The original ensemble has one patterned piece, but mine has two (three if you count the white flecks in the chambray skirt as a pattern).  What a surprise.

Maroon knit blouse (thrifted, East 5th), $1.50/wear
Black chambray skirt (thrifted, Larry Levine), $1.00/wear
Olive leopard flats (Nordstrom Rack), $4.28/wear
Teal/brown/rust paisley scarf (Kohls), $4.37/wear

Outfit total: $11.15/wear

At least the patterns are pretty muted this time.  The paisley leopard overlord has to think of her dignity.

I think this broken mini lop coordinates well with my scarf too--I especially like how the rufous fur in her nape matches the rust color in the scarf.  But I don't think she would consent to riding on my shoulder all day, parrot style.  (I'm glad I didn't save this outfit for September 19--Speak Like a Pirate Day--because that would've been too disappointing.)
 

In other news...I absolutely inhaled Fangirl and am already looking forward to reading the sequel Carry On--a novel about the characters that the fangirl was obsessed with.  It's clearly going to be pretty much Harry Potter-meets-Twilight.  I admit I'm not 100% sold on that concept but I trust this author to make more of the premise than one would expect.

I am now reading Her Fearful Symmetry.  The writing is very good and the characters are interesting.  I'm not so sure about the plot, though, and the behavior of at least one character seems...uncharacteristically inept.  I hope we're not getting into a "somebody act dumb to drive this plot, please" scenario.

Pokebun Go

"The Paisley Floral Overlord"--Tuesday, 8/30/16

I am always on the look-out for inspiration photos featuring a floral top because I have so many of them that I am working on for Operation Cost Per Wear.  This is a case where I saw "floral top + solid skirt" and then complicated it in my typical Rule of 4 (or more!) way.

From puttingmetogether.com

I decided to pair a black and teal one with the not-matching-but-tonally-related aqua skirt and add my new open weave shrug to it.  (I am all about the open weave this spring and summer, am I not?)

Black/teal paisley/floral top (thrifted, Kohls), $1.33/wear
Aqua skirt (JCP), $3.33/wear
Black open weave shrug (thrifted, Westbound Petites), $0.44/wear
Aqua/silver teardrop necklace (JNY), $1.70/wear
Blue/black sparkly flats (thrifted, Target), $1.31/wear

Outfit total: $8.11/wear

Put on a matching necklace and some statement shoes and voila!  A Sally outfit.

This year, we will not be seeing the Hop, Flop + Sniff rabbit display because they are having it during the week in between the 4H and Open rabbit shows. 

In other news...A week or two ago, Robert was wondering how schools were going to handle the Pokemon Go phenomenon.  Here's an article on the subject.

Plus: "Why are sales suffering at so many women's stores?  They make bad clothes."  I think Banana Republic with their blazers that most women could not fit their arms into wins this round.

Now I want Pokebun Go to be a real thing.

Monday GRRRR

"Seeing Purple Elephants"--Monday, 8/29/16

Alice's pattern mix features a pretty feather print top, striped pants, and a good dose of purple.

From happinessatmidlife.com

I decided to try a version with a purple t-shirt and shoes instead, plus an elephant print scarf.  Class Mammalia rather than class Aves but at least birds and elephants are both Chordates.

Purple short-sleeved T (Target), $2.33/wear
Black/grey striped skirt (thrifted, Loft), $1.20/wear
Grey short-sleeved cardigan (thrifted, Target), $0.94/wear
White elephant scarf (Charming Charlie), $3.33/wear
Purple flats (thrifted, Target), $2.62/wear

Outfit total: $10.42/wear

After all, I wouldn't want my outfit to lack backbone.

"What's that you say?  Grey and black is a timelessly chic combination?  We agree."

Chinchilla rabbits:  Wearing gorgeous fur coats since 1919.

In other news...Irritating work day.  Server was non-responsive again all morning; they turned it off and on again, again; then was non-responsive again around 4:00.  GRRRRR.

All the Rabbits

"The Devout Hatter"--Sunday, 8/26/16

I enjoyed reading the story behind this blogger's first big purchase for herself--a Native American created turquoise ring purchased at a pow-wow, bought with money from a crappy telesurvey job.  (The ring is gorgeous!)  My outfit is, sadly, not going to have a lovely piece of handcrafted Native jewelry, but I am on the blue sleeveless top + black bottoms + black and white scarf formula.

From kateintheclassroom.com

And in my case, how can that scarf not be Alice (handcrafted by a nerdy vendor on Etsy)?  It feels a bit strange and a bit apropos to be wearing the scarf in the style of a liturgical stole.

Black knit hiking skirt (Patagonia/REI), $3.00/wear
Light blue Hatter tank (Disney Alice/Kohls), $8.00/wear
Alice scarf (NerdAlertCreations), $5.00/wear
Medium blue flats by Sofft, $3.88/wear

Outfit total: $19.88/wear

I loved this rabbit costume comic from Regarding the Secret Life of Rabbits.

In other news...I did not manage to post this last night because after spending hours editing rabbit photos (374 in all!), I was practically blind and had to get myself off the computer.  Instead I spent the remainder of my evening finishing up the stellar Hard Light, the third (I hope not final) book in the Cass Neary series by Elizabeth Hand (an outstanding modern noir series).

I was almost disappointed to finish the book last night, but today I am starting Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, of which I have great hopes.

Tunnel Lockers

"Look Ma, No Tights"--Saturday, 8/27/16

Oh, Los Angeles, you strange place where people can dress this way the week before Christmas.  (Though with a teal faux fur stole in some of the photos.)

From hellokatiegirl.blogspot.com

Speaking of which, do you find it weird that two of the main female characters on Big Bang Theory--Amy and Bernadette--almost always wear tights, despite living in LA?  How can they tolerate the heat?

From pinterest.com

Anyway, I am enjoying not wearing tights with this simple white top + floral skirt + gold flats outfit of my own.

Beige/orange/green floral skort (thrifted, Walmart), $0.44/wear
White Rabbit graphic tank (Disney Alice/Kohls), $6.00/wear
White short-sleeved cardigan (Nordstrom), $1.42/wear
Gold flats (Nordstrom), $2.17/wear
Gold fish charm necklace (Ann Taylor), $2.90/wear

Outfit total: $12.93/wear

Alice in Wonderland themed rabbit comic fun from Regarding the Secret Life of Rabbits.

In other news...Today Robert and I went to the library to pick up books from the "tunnel lockers."  It's an odd thing--right there from the sidewalk you go down a set of stairs (which gives you that Fallout subway entrance feeling) into a tunnel where you kill the radroaches and molerats use your library card to open a locker.  You swipe your card or enter the last digits of your bar code into the keypad and a locker door swings open (which is so reminiscent of certain scenes in Skyrim).

We ran into a problem because despite having gotten an email telling me I had 5 books, there was only 1 book in the locker.  It took two library staff and a bit of time for them to figure out that my books had been put into 2 different lockers (because they arrived from branch libraries on different days).  I had wondered whether that was the case and had intentionally entered my bar code a second time to see if a second locker opened, to no avail.  Apparently I shouldn't have been assigned two lockers in the first place--their standard practice is to check that a person doesn't already have a locker before assigning a new one--and furthermore, my bar code should have opened both lockers together the first time it was entered.  So that was weird.  But I eventually did get my books. 

Otherwise I pretty much spent the day editing rabbit photos, reading one of those books, playing Make 7 on my phone, and generally lying around moping about how my gum is more sore today than it was yesterday.

Buntastic Friday #1

"An Analogous Color Scheme"--Friday, 8/26/16

She calls this lovely color combination "navy, fuchsia, and turquoise."  Substitute navy and pink-orchid (and a sometimes hidden aqua Fitbit) and I'm good to go.

From shealennon.com

It is a testament to the Snow City/Coldville weather patterns that I have this navy tank, purchased in 2013, that I've only worn once.  And it's not because I have a million sleeveless shirts to choose from, either.  I have 11 in my main closet and only 6 of them are cotton tank tops (the rest are blouses that are definitely wear-to-your-office-job wear), plus I have about another half dozen that I mostly wear for exercising.

I like how the peacock necklace stands out against the navy.  (This bold '70s flashback is more my style of necklace than the pretty, dainty one that she featured.)  And I had to get a pattern in there somewhere so I wore it all with striped ballet flats.

Navy tank (Hanes), $3.00/wear
Pink-orchid cardigan (thrifted,Target), $1.25/wear
Denim skirt (thrifted, Great Northwest Indigo), $0.25/wear
Navy striped flats (Payless), $2.12/wear
Gold/pink peacock pendant (Target), $3.17/wear

Outfit total: $9.79/wear

I can see why this color combination works--it's an analogous color scheme, taken from the blue-to-pink region of the color wheel.

And I like stripes, don't you?

In other news...I didn't wear this outfit this morning to the state fair--I can't believe I'm about to say this but I wore yoga capri pants and a t-shirt.  It was quite a pleasant day (cloudy, low 70s) so I didn't need to go sleeveless.  I figured I would get dirty in the animal barns so I didn't want to wear "normal" clothes, and it turns out that I did get my pants smudged up.

We saw so many rabbits!  (Although we did NOT see any stripey harlequin rabbits; the photo above is from last year.)  I mean, not as many as last year because this was only the 4H rabbit show (the open rabbit show is next week)  but still a lot.  I also like talking to the kids about their rabbits.  There were also a good number of rabbits out for people to pet, including at least 3 mini rex.  (SWOON.)  It is always a pleasure to see someone touch the impossibly soft mini rex fur for the first time.

We also spent some time hanging out at the "rabbit agility" area, which turned out to be more like the "rabbit hilarity" (my term) or "rabbit antics" (Robert's term) area.  Some 4H kids had their rabbits (who were there for the rabbit show) out on the course--the MC explained that the rabbits were selected for their appearance/how well they conform to breed standards and not for their agility course ability or experience.  So it was rather like being at a rodeo and watching the clowns.  I took a bunch of photos of rabbits doing their thing (chinning everything to mark it as their property, lying down underneath the A-frame, flopping out in the middle of the mat, chewing on the bars).  I haven't uploaded my photos yet so I'm not sure how they turned out but I hope that at least some of them will capture the silliness/cuteness.  A rabbit in a harness unwilling to hop over anything--good times, folks!  It was interesting to note that none of the rabbits did the thing that I am certain Leo would have done--grabbed bars and flung them away.

It was a good rabbit-filled day.  I will tell more about it as I start to post photos here and on FB.

4H Bunnies

"Maximum Awesome"--Thursday, 8/25/16

It was the color combination that really drew me to this outfit...but then I decided that I have worn the navy + red (even navy + red + aqua) a lot lately and took it in a slightly different direction.

From looplooks.net

A more matchy-matchy direction with this black blouse with red (and other color) polka dots.

Red pencil skirt (JCP), $2.97/wear
Black blouse with red/burgundy/white polka dots (thrifted, Notations), $2.62/wear
White Rabbit pocket watch pendant (Zad), $2.93/wear
Leopard flats (Nordstrom), $2.38/wear

Outfit total: $10.90/wear

This is about as simple as it gets, but I do like the leopard print shoes with the red and polka dots...and wearing the White Rabbit pendant gets you an automatic +10 bonus to your Awesome stat.

More pattern mixing fun with a Champagne d'Argent and an English Spot.  I've made this something of an unintended Throwback Thursday because these are both domesticated rabbit breeds that have been around for a long time.  The d'Argent has a documented history back to 1631, and the English spot was a common breed in that country by the mid 1800s.  These are both older than Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit, born on the Thames River near Oxford in July 1862.
 

In other news...Tomorrow morning we are headed to the fair for the 4H rabbit show!  24 hours from now I expect to be flopped out, allergened out, and...well, not bunnied out, but adequately rabbited for the nonce.

Last night I charged all my camera batteries (4) so I can thoroughly document the display of lovely lagomorphs.

I hope the weather forecast holds.  Clear and a high of 75 F sounds really good to me!

Crimson But Not Crimson

"Blush-ing Florals"--Wednesday, 8/24/16

I'm not sure whether I'm more inspired by this spring 2013 pastel outfit or the fact that she dressed up her baby girl in an insanely cute tutu outfit.  Well, I don't have a tutu so I guess I'll stick with mama's outfit.

From annasaccone.com

I liked the combination of the light pink with a light brown (though I went darker than the beige in the photo--my beige skirt and I parted ways when I realized that I didn't need both a beige linen skirt and a light brown linen skirt, and the light brown one seems more versatile in color and shape).

Light pink short-sleeved cardigan (thrifted, JCP), $1.50/wear
Light brown skirt (thrifted, Ann Taylor), $0.83/wear
Beige/lavender/peach floral top (Eddie Bauer), $2.50/wear
Brown flats by Frye, $5.84/wear
White/brown bead necklace by RB

Outfit total: $10.67/wear

As usual, I had to go with something with a more saturated pastel palette for a shirt (though I liked the texture of her light colored top), and this floral graphic T with a background shade that matches the skirt is an obvious choice.  I wasn't immediately sold on the light pink with these brighter hues but in the end, I was satisfied that the colors went together well enough.

On this mini lop, you can really see the agouti fur--how each hair has bands of different colors, giving that overall speckled "wild rabbit coat" look. 

In other news...Last night I finished Crimson Shore, the most recent of Preston and Child's Pendergast novels.  Whoa.  Like seriously, WTF?  But I mean that in a good way.  Unlike many customer reviewers who thought that the last third of the story seemed forced and superfluous, I think it's pretty clear how it's setting up the next stage of the "who is dead, who is back from the seemingly dead" ongoing story line of the series.  Regardless of its plot relevance, that whole Sherlock Holmes/arcane mysteries/monster movie mashup goes down a treat for me.  Cannot. Get. Enough.

I have requested a few more library books, this time asking for them to be kept in the "tunnel locker," which apparently is an after-hours location outside the central library.  It sounds like a place in Fallout, but hopefully I will not have to fight off bandits, super mutants, or mirelurks to get my books!

Dental Mental

"Blue Mojito"--Tuesday, 8/23/16

Blue, white, and a bit of mint.  Today's outfit inspired the creation of this delightfully cool-looking alcoholic beverage.  You're welcome, world.

From cocktailtimes.com

Summer Blues is what this Reverse Inspiration blogger called her outfit, created for a Create28 Challenge last summer.  I liked the blue/mint color combo (and pattern mixing) a lot.

From alovelylittlewardrobe.com

Because I am (thankfully) not dealing with Texas summer heat, my outfit has an additional lightweight layer (short-sleeved cardigan) that further brightens up the look.  (Man, my shirt looks wrinkly in this photo!  I think I must have dug it out of the laundry for the photo session because when I wore it today, it was its normal smooth self.)

Mint shell (Nordstrom), $9.75/wear
Navy paisley skirt (thrifted, Target), $0.60/wear
White short-sleeved cardigan (Nordstrom), $1.53/wear
Blue/crystal bib necklace (Baublebar), $7.43/wear
Nude wedges by Cole Haan, $7.05/wear

Outfit total: $26.36/wear

I hadn't paired this sparkly statement necklace with my mint top yet--I am a fan of the combination.

Another winning combination?  A small Dutch, a medium food dish, and a huge Angora.

Someone else really glad not to be in the Texas heat.  Summer fur is tough, y'all.

In other news...An essay on pregnancy as performance.

Today's been a bit tough because I have an infected spot on my gum that hurts a lot.  Luckily I found a small bottle of Anbesol with an expiration date of 2007 that still has a numbing touch.  I need to remember to bring the bottle to work tomorrow to reapply some of it after lunch.  It was bothering me all afternoon.  I have a dentist appointment a week from Thursday, but I might have call for an earlier appointment if it doesn't improve.  This happened to me a few months ago when I cut my gum by hitting it hard at a weird angle with my toothbrush.  I'm not sure what's going on this time.

Monday Bonday

"Chambray Bunny"--Monday, 8/22/16

In this outfit from early last summer, she is wearing a polka dot dress with a skirt over it...a skirt that was originally itself a dress, too.

From rebeccalately.com

I took away from this not to wear a bunch of confusing clothing items, but the idea of combining a navy patterned top, grey skirt, and mustard flats.  I had initially thought that I would wear it with a navy cardigan, as in the inspiration photo, but then I found this prize at Goodwill--a new-with-tag chambray blazer, exactly like I've been wanting all summer!

Navy rabbit blouse (Disney Alice/Kohls), $6.60/wear
Light grey skirt (JCP), $2.26/wear
*Chambray blazer (thrifted, Target), $9.99/wear
Mustard flats by Mia, $1.00/wear

Outfit total: $19.85/wear


For the shirt, of course I had to wear my navy rabbit blouse.  It even has small yellow flowers to match my shoes.  Perfection.

The bunnies on my shirt are stretched out running.  This loooong white rabbit is in perhaps the most stretched out loaf I've ever seen. 

Mr. Buntastic, to be played by Iboan Gruffudd in the all-rabbit Fantastic Four remake...which would HAVE to be better than the human version, Ioan Gruffudd notwithstanding.

In other news...An essay on clothing in books, with a bonus link to that semi-famous Mallory Ortberg commentary on clothing in Atlas Shrugged.

I am happy because Saturday night, Robert and I did a Target/Walmart/Cub Foods run and I came home with a bunch of new short pants for exercising in!  I only had 2 pairs of shorts before, and with my trying to exercise most evenings, that wasn't cutting it.  We went to Target first and everything they had was both horrible and overpriced.  Even the men's department let me down--I can usually find basketball shorts that work but they only had running shorts with built in compression undies to hold the junk I do not have in place.  As usual, Walmart had simple knit exercise clothes at inexpensive prices--I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the knee-length shorts I've bought from them before, but I got several pairs of yoga capris and one pair of compression capris.  I know, I'm against capri pants as "real" clothing, but for exercising, they will work very well, I think.  I changed into a pair of them when I got home tonight and I can report that they are great loungewear.  They will also potentially supplement the grand total of 1 pair of pajama bottoms I have that aren't flannel.

I also finally got an olive t-shirt at Target and found several t-shirts at Walmart to replace colors of tops that I've recently put in the donation box (coral; they didn't have my preferred t-shirt style in mint), colors I've been looking for (beige! or well, actually, a very light brown, plus the heretofore elusive white t-shirt with black polka dots, as opposed to black t-shirt with white polka dots), or just pretty colors (a light magenta).

Two amusing things at Walmart while I was trying on t-shirts:

(1)  Someone came over the intercom to warn us that they would be closing in 30 minutes, at 11:00.  When we got into the car to drive to Cub, Robert said, A Walmart that closes at 11?  I said, A Walmart that closes?  (It was a Walmart without a full grocery, which is not a kind of Walmart either of us are used to.)

(2)  Robert reports that a Somali woman (in a hijab, that's the giveaway) was speaking to some other Somali employees, in Somali, and also to a Latina employee, in Spanish.  I don't really expect my Walmart workers to be trilingual (or more).

Secret Life

"Piscine Lagomorph Hoedown"--Sunday, 8/21/16

Well, I lost the inspiration photo for this one, too, so we'll just have to get straight to my outfit--which is kind of insane, but in a good way.

The fullness of this skirt is just unstoppable.  It's like wearing a square dance skirt or something.

An actual square dance skirt--from etsy.com

See what I mean?

Watership Down graphic T (Out of Print), $3.83/wear
Navy cardigan (Kohls), $2.74/wear
Black/blue/white plaid skirt (thrifted, Liz Claiborne), $0.75/wear
Chambray flats (Payless), $2.43/wear
Gold fish charm necklace (Ann Taylor), $3.16/wear

Outfit total: $12.91/wear

But the upper half is definitely not your typical hoedown attire...or typical anything, really.  Fish and rabbits? 

Oh god, the very first link in a search for "fish and rabbits" brought up this disgusting information.  Fuck you, Pope Gregory.

I like this better!

And this.

And this.

And this.

Check out all the bun comic goodness at Regarding the Secret Life of Rabbits!

A World of My Own

"Cats and Rabbits Would Reside in Fancy Little Houses"--Saturday, 8/20/16

While Jennie styled her graphic T, polka dot skirt, and floral shoes for Mother's Day this year, I think it's got cuteness for all summer long.

From apocketfulofpolkadots.com

As usual, I have eschewed the French writing T for something dearer to my heart--in this case, the misleadingly sweet face of Alice from Disney's Alice in Wonderland.  She's not really such a nice girl, but this image is from the beginning of the movie, when she is talking to her cat about what it would be like in a world of her own.  She's basically thinking of bunnies so of course she looks all dreamy and blissed out.

White Alice graphic T (Disney Alice/Kohls), $7.20/wear
Black polka dot skirt (Walmart), $2.58/wear
Black floral flats (Payless), $1.18/wear
Pink swag necklace (Kohls), $7.00/wear

Outfit total: $17.96/wear

See for yourself, as the Doorknob said to Alice.

Bunnies = BLISS

In other news...The day started out kind of rough because I got a bad headache with ear pain late in the morning.  I assume this was related to the rainy weather system (which brought temperatures down to delightfully cool, a high of 67 F today, so it wasn't all bad).  But after lunch I took a near 2 hour long nap, which helped tremendously.  Naps are not just for Superbabies!  I'm still feeling less than great, but hope that tomorrow is better because it is going to be cool (high of 72 F) and not expected to rain, which would make for a good birding day.  We'll see.

I finished Seating Arrangements earlier this week (pretty good, but at least one of the point of view characters is an asshole, which is a deal breaker for many readers) and started the light office romantic comedy Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.