What I Wore Today + Rings & Tings

It's Friday! I'm super in love with this dress I've been sporting today. And of course I had to pair it with my brand new Jeffrey Campbell Mariah wedges. LOVE!


So let's be honest for a moment. I moved to Chicago about five months ago and somehow (SOMEHOW) managed to gain twenty-five pounds. Whoa. It wasn't so much due to a change of diet but a change of activity. Sure, I've been walking almost everywhere, but when I get home from work I either chill out infront of the laptop or go out with some friends. The winter had me off my bike and in my apartment. I gained the weight rather quickly. SO. Fast forward to today, about two weeks after realizing exactly how much I had put on. I've been jogging and biking and keeping track of all the food I'm putting in my body. At the beginning of the year I officially stopped eating meat — which has been unsurprisingly easy. I've already cut off a third of the pounds I put on and I'm finally feeling myself again. Positive vibes and healthy body!


I want to give a shout out to my new sponsor Rings & Tings. Featured here are the Double Finger Heart Ring, Triangle Necklace, and Skull Earrings. There are lots of great pieces on their website and I recommend checking it out!


And of course, these. Say hello to my fourth pair of Jeffrey Campbells! I wore the Mariahs for a nine hour work shift and my feet are amazingly not destroyed. I suppose that's not a stretch since I always wear heels at work, but these are just wonderful. It took me a moment to get used to the height (6" to be exact), but once I was comfortable, I was good to go.

This weekend is going to be excited. A beautiful man I know from Boston is moving to Chicago tomorrow, I have lots of packages to mail out, and I'm looking forward to having a couple of days off of work. What do you have planned?

Thistlepearl lace overlay dress, UO
Bow and dot tights, Sneaky Fox
White and black studded belts, UO Surplus
Jeffrey Campbell Mariahs, UO Surplus
Gold cuff, H&M
Triangle necklace, c/o Rings & Tings
Heart ring, c/o Rings & Tings
Skull earring posts, c/o Rings & Tings

New Spring Etsy Listings!

It's that time (finally!). I have listed lots of new and wonderful items to my Etsy shop. Check them out below:


Blue and White Zig Zag Dress - Size Large, $32


Mint Button Up Dress with Belt - Size XS, $24


High Rise Yellow Gingham Shorts - Size 24, $24


Basic Grey Heathered Maxi Skirt - Size Medium, $18


Black Fishtail Dress - Size Medium, $26


Black Shortie Jumpsuit - Size S-M, $28


Cropped Fringe and Studded Dolman Tee - Size S-M, $22


Peach Pintuck Silk Dress - Size L-XL, $32


Blue and White Leaf Dress - Size L, $26

Enjoy!

Butter Fingers and New Etsy Shop Items.

Oh, what a treacherous past few days. Normally I have pretty darn good luck, but it seems like one thing after another has been going crazy lately. First of all, this:


My poor baby. I probably held my breath as I watched this gal slowly hit the concrete yesterday morning. I'm telling you, I've have every version of the iPhone and haven't had a single break — that is until I got the iPhone 4. This is my third broken panel, two fronts and one back. The worst part is that I know how much it costs to replace the front (ie: they replace the whole phone). Remember how I said the Chicago move has been a struggle for me financially? Yeah. Then this. Let's just say that squinting through the shards and packing tape are just going to have to do for now. Luckily the entire touch screen is still responsive. It just looks so.... terrible.

ANYWAY. Good things are coming, right? I added a few new [amazing] items to my shop. I've been dying to get these up for you. Check them out below.


Floral Print Sleeveless Blouse Size M-L, $22


80s High-Rise Purple/Blue Tie Dye Denim Size 27, $34


Sleeveless Denim Dress Size M, $25


Vintage United Colors of Benetton Cardigan Size M-L, $34


Green Crochet Vest Size S-M, $22


Floral Tapestry Vest Size M-L, $22

That's all for now! Hopefully I'll be able to bust out some projects this weekend for the shop. Goodnight Minis!

Tutorial // DIY Wall Mural

I'd say that my least favorite part of my current rental is that my landlady gave me the big fat "NO" when I asked her if I could paint my walls. Shoot, she wouldn't even agree to a nice grey. So here I am, four months later with these eggshell walls. Don't get me wrong, it looks clean and all that jazz, but it's just so boring for my taste. On top of that, I only have so much stuff to hang right now and I don't like the eggshell walls with my floor color.

So I needed a solution. Recently I remembered that I a pack of wall paneling from work which I saved from certain dumpster-doom doom. It was a display element from a few years ago that our store never used. They were going to throw it out and I nabbed it just in case I ever found something to use it for. Well, guess what, I did.

Here's what you need to make your own:

• Printed panels
• Double sided tape (I used just barely over two rolls)
• Level (optional but recommended)
• Razor or exact-o knife for perfecting edges

Like I said, I was lucky enough to grab these panels from work. They're legal-sized pages on glossed paper. With a few steps, you can make your own. You just need a image or collage of images that you'd like to use. There are programs available to make mural-sized prints easy — Check out PosteRazor (Mac) or Rasterbator (Windows). There are endless possibilities and you can search Flickr for ideas!


Here is a close of the guide and panel detail! I recommend printing a guide just for ease. Looking at all these dots can get a little confusing if you're not paying extra close attention!


This is my 'before.' I haven't done much with my bedroom since I moved in. The walls are bare and random — strange for me because I normally have my wall decor game on point. This room has rather fallen by the wayside. Naturally, I figured this wall would be great for the project. It's pretty low traffic and should wear well.


I worked from bottom to top, left to right. Each panel got 8 pieces of tape — one on each corner and then one on each side. They went up smoothly.


And this is the end result! I absolutely love the outcome and am thinking about possibly doing it to the backsplash in my kitchen on maybe along my entry hallway.

Have you ever tried this? I'd be interested to see if any of my readers take on the task of DIY wall murals!

Rust.

Click to View on LookBook

Okay, everyone, hold onto your hats. Guess what I have here? An outfit post.

Yes, I can't contain my excitement. I miss awkwardly posing in public with passerbys giving me the look of "why is that top-heavy girl posing like that?" It's really not that fun posing alone in my apartment against a plain white wall, and today I was lucky enough to get out with some friends who were agreeable enough to give me a hand.

Meet Lauren. She's a cool broad from Arizona who is in town for a couple of days. We follow each other on Instagram and since I had today off work, we met up in Wicker Park for some ice coffees and chit chats. She's a freelance pattern maker, which is totally awesome. What am I doing with my toes here? I don't know. It hit 65° today — which was an amazing change from the snow we had yesterday. I swear that this has to be the strangest Chicago winter ever. I'm ready for spring and bike rides! (Follow her on Instagram at @laurenologie)


And this is my pal Josh. Josh and I met about six or seven years ago through a music sharing network — we both were straight edge and listened to hardcore. After years of being Facebook friends and Twitter followers, we finally met in person when I moved here in the fall. He's pretty awesome and you can thank him for these delightful photos of myself and Lauren. (He's on Instagram as @themightyear if you want to check him out).



I met up with Lauren at a little espresso bar that I haven't check out yet — Cipollina. It had a nice atmosphere that was reminiscent of Jeni's Ice Cream in Columbus (but without the yucky attitude). Since it was so warm, I went with an iced Americano. Good call.



We hit up some little shops — including Lenny & Me and the Urban Outfitters on Milwaukee. As dorky as it is for me to stroll into UO when I'm normally there five days a week, I really wanted to check out the spring window set. Since I work at the outlet, we don't get to do all of the fun things that the regular stores do, and this crazy dyed-ribbon-and-fencing splash of color it too awesome not to want to examine up close.


And as we left Urban and walked up the street, Josh ran into someone he knew who was walking a couple of cute doggies. This is a short-legged pitbull. He was a total sweetheart and the young lady informed me that she is currently fostering him — so if you're looking for an adorable and lovable dog, look no further. She mentioned that he has some ear complications from where they clipped his ears too short and is going in for some sort of surgery to correct them. At the moment he is deaf but they're unsure if it will remain that way after the surgery. If anyone is interested, I can point you in the right direction. He needs a loving home! And look at those cute little legs!


Oh, and would it be Chicago without wind-destroyed hair? Of course not. Bring it on, spring. Bring it on.

Striped button up, thrifted
Double-wrap belt, UO
Rust mid-length skirt, XXI
Woven flats, UO
Gold cuff, H&M
Braided suede bracelet, DIY
Brace ring, H&M
Men’s spike ring, Topman

New Items for Sale

Great news! Scratch that, EXCELLENT NEWS! I have fixed my flash! Almost immediately, I pulled out all of the new goodies I have to share and started photographing. Here's the first round. Stay tuned for more in the coming week!

And to celebrate, use the code WELCOMEBACK at checkout to get 15% off of your order.


70s Plus Size Yellow Dress  — Size XL $28


Vintage Crochet White Heels — Size 7.5 $30


70s Western Levis Vest — Size XS $30


Black and White Leopard Cardigan — Size XS-S $22


Brown Leopard Print Cardigan — Size S $22


Pink/Red Open Wrap Cardigan — Size XS $24


New Mexico Vintage Puzzle Piece Necklace $12


Kentucky Vintage Puzzle Piece Necklace $12

I also have some new items that will be listed soon for mega cheap as part of the shop my closet sale! I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Remember, the sale ends Sunday at 9pm CST, so don't miss out!