skating down the mountain, skyline in our rear view mirror.

Monday

a simple DIY.

It's all too often that I have a bit of spare time that I want to fill up with a fun little DIY, but it just so happens to be 1am, when no hardware store runs can be made for those chains, fasteners, or other oddly specific appliances it's hard to have just lying around. So, here's an easy idea that only takes a needle and thread, scissors, and any article of clothing!
Step 1 (the only step): come up with a phrase or quote that suits your fancy, and get to work sewing it on the back pocket of pants, the bottom hem of a t-shirt, sleeve cuff of an oxford, or anywhere else you think it would look cool!

Tip: I started with the top, right corner (the 'E' in 'COME') so I was sure not to run out of room. I proceeded to sew each word backwards, making sure to line up the last letters vertically.

Opinion: your text does not have to be extremely neat, or even in any special 'font' for it to look good. Of course it depends on what your text reads, and where you are sewing it, but in my case - a worn-in pair of jeans with a sort of 'grunge' mantra, the imperfections work to its benefit!
Happy sewing!

-christen

Friday

featuring:

None other than theeeee Breeeee Crum (aka. Bitchin' Camaro)! She's a marvelous being with a tight hairdo, tattoos that take total guts but that she rocks so hard, and here she is wearing a dress equally as spectacular as all of these things. In my opinion. 
modcloth dress, bakers wedges, vintage bracelet
Bree is a pretty bomb diggity fresh graphic designer, too! I think it would be a smashing idea for you to check out some of her work here, although that doesn't include all the killer cool work she's done as ModCloth's Design Intern. Words of wisdom that Bree often offers to those around her, and would now like to share with the world are, "Oh God I don't have any quotes..."


Give it up for Bree, folks!


-christen

Wednesday

good job.

Things I accomplished today:
        + eating a dozen donut holes (I'll admit - after the first half dozen, the rest kind of became a goal)
        + finally accepting that feta is definitely in the 'goat cheese' category (mine was quite goat-y today)
        + wearing this leopard print dress as a not-dress yet again (remixability! woo!)
        + shaving 10 minutes off my morning commute (thanks for the new route, dad!)
        + narrowly escaping getting my fingernails cut off with a pocket knife by a man with no teeth...in a friendly way (please do ask, I'd be happy to relay the story!)
modcloth dress, american apparel skirt, modcloth belt, modcloth tights, aldo wedges
Things I did not accomplish today:
        - forcing my gas light to turn back off merely by strength of will (I swear it's worked in the past)
        - forcing my old lady of an iPod to actually play music merely by strength of will (time for the ol' restore, womp, womp)
        - receiving unexpected snail mail merely by strength of will (hint, hint)


Feel free to join in the listography fun by contributing below!


~christen


P.S. how do you like my new hair color?! I'm lovin' it m'self, thanks for asking!

Photos taken by Mandy Fierens of The Curvy Model.

Monday

thanks for bein' a thing.

I'm currently undergoing what I think could possibly be a character-defining switcheroo in my answer to the question, "If you could live in any other era, which would it be?" My response up until this point would have, without hesitation, been the '20s, and specifically, I would have been named Daisy Buchanan. I'm not going to completely let go of that dream, however I'm finding this new fascination with all things '60s. I'm still on the surface of my love for this location in time - I don't know too much about it that others don't know, but that doesn't stop me from re-realizing almost every day, while surfing the web or shuffling my iPod that, "Holy heck, the '60s are where it's at!" So, here are a few of my and Shane's original favorites about this time in history...


1. Britt Eckland's bangs. Need I say more?
via Google Images


2. The Sound of Silence. Simply beautiful, each and every time.
via Tree Swingers


3. Marlo Thomas' utter insanity as Ann Marie in That Girl, while remaining #1 most fashionable ever, in my opinion!
via Google Images

4. The colorful collective brought together by George Clinton beginning in '64.
via ArtInBase

5.  Our list of all things groovy from the beloved 60s couldn't be complete without the timeless and funky Volkswagen Bus. No doubt, millions of miles have been traversed in these efficient little shoeboxes. I can only dream of the day when we set out in our very own..
via http://www.lomography.com/search/volkswagen/1/15146596
6.  And of course: Light-tastic dance floors centered around that shimmering silver orb...
via Google Images
What '60s music or TV shows should we be digging into? What era are you enamored by?

-christen
+
shane


Friday

shades of gold in the cold.

What a pretty day it was! Surprisingly cold, and it actually began to snow (and snow, and snow) shortly after these photos were taken, but man, look at that sunshine...really does a girl some good.
gap checkered shirt, mom's j.crew cashmere cardi, anthro belt (on sale), hand-me-down-from-mom free people pants c/o the former rustic roots, jeffrey cambpell c/o modcloth shoes
After work yesterday, I made a quick stop at Avalon to semi-satiate my recent urges to go thrifting! The reason I say just 'semi' is 'cause the shop is often chock full of certain name brand clothing from more recent years, rather than your solid retro resale shop, but I tend to find it handy for basics that I don't want to spend a pretty penny on. I was a bit more successful than anticipated - I found a lovely fitted black dress with a square sailor collar that I would guess is from the '70s, and a marvelous white mink collar from the '40s. I can't wait to style them! Hopefully one or both will be making an appearance this week, so stay tuned ;) and Happy Weekend!

-christen, xoxo

Photos taken by Mandy Fierens of The Curvy Model.

Thursday

coat even think about it!

I feel so lucky to have the privilege of taking daily outfit photos with the loverly ladies of Orchid Grey and The Curvy Model at work every day! Of course among all the semi-serious, prettily posed photos, we have a little fun! Here's a peek at a particularly goofy afternoon...it's in the nature of the coat...

tularosa coat in afternoon - bb dakota c/o modcloth
8-) christen


Photos by Mandy Fierens of The Curvy Model

Wednesday

some things i quite like.

This teacher sweater. ^_^
Pictures that turn out blurry because they're full of laughter.
anthro sweater, american apparel dress (underneath), anthro skirt, target tights, frye boots (christmas gift from years ago), vintage necklace (was great grandmother's), bracelet was a gift from an old, adored friend
Beautiful walls. (^This wall isn't beautiful...but this one is! It's made out of old glass bottles by a splendidly courageous architect who's worth learning more about)
The fact that when you don't know what else to do...you can always dance! (My [amateur] modeling secret)
'If there's no wind, row.'


-christen


Photos taken by Julie O'Boyle of Orchid Grey.

Monday

hangin' in between.

We're at a weird and wild point in time here on Mother Earth. Floating around between seasons, we're hardly sure which way is up. 
50 degree days. 
10 degree nights.  

January.  

But some places remain relatively unchanged. The concrete gives way to more cracks and crevices. Paint fades and gets replaced. Buildings decay. Less buses pass. But the cycle will continue.   

Any divergence is up to us. We're in charge of repainting, filling in the cracks--making new ones if we're lucky. But for a moment, time stops. The sun shines, the temperature hangs in limbo; irrelevant. Paint neither drips nor fades. Everything is still.

I kept this^ picture in the line-up because, for some reason, I feel like it's a perfect example how odd graffiti is as a backdrop for a photo. To me it has a timeless feel to it. We're hangin' tight up against a few sprays of paint from the hand of a human on the decaying infrastructure laid by more human hands. One word comes to mind: meta. So meta. Doesn't this picture just scream meta to you?
Whoops. It happened again. **One of those moments when I stop counting sheep and the sheep start counting me...


**Serious reward for anyone who can come up with a better analogy for those ridiculously twisted meta-moments.


Peace, Love, & Little Donuts,


-Shane

Friday

dog lips.

free people shoulder warmer (old christmas gift from parents), anthro dress (crazy post-christmas sale purchase), frye boots, modcloth watch necklace (free with purchase!)
Lucy van Pelt's reaction to the many unwanted Snoopy-smooches she received was a miniature freak-out, accompanied by what's become my favorite way of expressing disgust, "Uck! Bluck!" There's been a lot of uck, blucking going on in regards to this weather. No snow in January? Sad, but I can deal with it. Rain? Yuck! This blindingly bright red dress cheered up my day both by its vibrancy and its pure coziness <3

-christen

Photos by Bree Crum.

Monday

traveling pants.

You know I like magic. Whether it be in the form of a mystical friend or a mysterious transformation, I'm always tossing the word out, as it's a sensation I commonly feel in my heart. But today...today, I experienced real magic. 
Ever seen these jeans? Didn't think so. That's because they went missing for just long enough to awaken some fear within me that my memory is turning to mush! But then it happened...
anthro jacket (post-Christmas super sale), citizens of humanity jeans c/o nordstrom, urban outfitters scarf (gift), target satchel, anthro sunglasses (below), anthro top (beneath jacket)
I pulled a random hanger from off my mess of a pants rack, and there was nothing on it! This because the bottom bar of it had somehow broken in half, causing any pair of pants put on it to slide right off. I dug deep beyond the hangers full of pants, only to find this pair acting as a dust magnet on the floor.
Doesn't sound too uncanny, I know, but the spellbinding part is that I could tell this morning when I put them on that they hadn't been cleaning the floor of my closet that whole time; rather, they had traveled to an otherworldly land via wizardly void in my floorboards and returned a bit withered from the trip.
So today I revived them by saving them a special spot next to this springy jacket, which is fascinating in its own way for the fact that I wore it today (not spring)!
Cool, huh?

:) christen

Photos by Mandy Fierens of The Curvy Model

Friday

#thanksmom.

...for this dress (one of many awesome Christmas gifts!)
...for the style tips every morning (today's tied belt was all ma's ideer)
...and for not telling me lately how tired I look, even though my cold has me all crusted over! ;)
dress c/o modcloth, target belt, modcloth tights, payless wedges, j.crew cardigan
you da bomb.
<3 christen

Photos taken by Julie O'Boyle of Orchid Grey.

Thursday

professor steam punk.

^'twas just one of many nicknames that were granted among our traveling clan of total goofballs over the past week - this one was thanks to these totally weird shades my padre got for me during those dang sales everyone has the few days after Christmas (the time when you need things the least, but their low prices cause you to cave most hastily). We're back from our New Years road trip extravaganza, but still living in the past through the multitude of videos and photos we captured...  
...and for me, also through this outfit. Although this was my first official road trip, I'm going to go ahead and assume that despite packing ample outfits for each day, most long-distance drivers can relate to how I fell into wearing pretty much the same few things the entire time. This ensemble, exchanging the boots for moccasins, and the blouse for a cat tee and cardigan every now and then, was more or less my uniform.
j.crew chambray blouse (gift from parents), j.crew black cords, anthro shades (post-christmas sale), gap infinity scarf (post-christmas sale), thrifted vintage purse, francesca's row bracelet (gift from parents), alex&ani feather bracelet (gift from dad), american eagle beaded bracelet (gift from grandparents), lucky brand duck boots, moleskine planner
Included in my arm carnival is a small souvenir we each got tossed to us by a friendly stranger at the end of the New Years show. Mine says 'UR A [STAR],' which I think is quite an aspirational way to start out the twelve-month series that lies ahead of me, and so I decided to nix my normal urge to clear things like this off my wrist, and keep wearing it as long as it lasts! Hey, it's fun! I also have a new beauteous red planner with pages that are waiting to be filled, which is such an amazing feeling. I have an entire year waiting to be molded into the most magnificent collage of unbelievable experiences that somehow continue to top one another, and I. AM. SO. EXCITED!!!
<3 christen

Photos by Bree Crum, graphic design marvel.