hello handsome

necklace - Anthropologie / jacket - Forever 21 / striped shirt - thrifted / overdyed skinnies - Zara / watch - Arkanoplatz flea market, Berlin / loafers - vintage Bass, thrifted / yellow dog - American Lab Rescue

I'm sorry for the major photo-overload today - but can you blame me with this handsome guy by my side? We're spending the next few weeks in a temporary sublet in New York, and unfortunately we can't bring Winston up to join us until we find a more permanent home. Since we knew it'd be a few weeks 'til we saw him again, I thought I'd bring him out to co-star in some outfit pictures we took over the weekend, and he was a total champ! I think he was honestly pretty bored by the whole procedure, but I did manage to encourage some goofy faces out of him (and, ahem, myself) with a little ear-scratching.

five things

...I haven't done in the last five months - that I have done in the last five hours.

1. Worn polish.

Sunset Orange by Rimmel London, to be precise.

2. Gotten mail.

Both Pigeon Trading Post and that adorable cycling rat sticker are by awesome artist and friend Allison Sommers - check out more of her work here.

3. Driven a car.

Much less a big old pick-up truck, as seen here.

4. Eaten tacos.

And yes, that is a margarita in the background - I know how to lunch.

5. Hung out with these guys.



Yes, the mystery of where we are now (and why I haven't exactly been posting regularly) can be put to bed - we're back stateside for the next month, and currently visiting my folks in Virginia. We hadn't planned to come back for a visit mid-trip (we'd actually planned to be in Russia this month) but a number of unexpected factors conspired to bring us back for a little vacation from our vacation. We'll be back to our lives of international mystery next month, but for now it's nice to slow down a little and enjoy being home.

on a boat

Hey y'all! Just a quick little blog update for you - I've got a few more new outfit posts up on my tumblr* (wild turkey, archived, & feribotu). I also guest posted for Archives this week while Lisa was road-tripping to Austin (so. freakin. jealous.) - you can check out my post on her blog here.
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EDIT: In the interests of maintaining a reasonably contiguous blog archive, I have amended my posts from Tumblr below - you can now read them here, or in their original home (with all the original comments) on Tumblr (click to read wild turkey, archived, & feribotu). Enjoy!
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3.14.11 WILD TURKEY

brass whistle necklace - vintage via etsy / painted wood bangle - vintage, childhood dress-up box / watch - La Mer / navy striped sweater - H&M / overdyed jeans - Zara / socks - Target / boots - Steve Madden / coat - UO

One of the things I still haven't gotten used to while traveling is the prevalence of stray animals. So far every place we've visited has had its own distinct character, but one thing they have all shared is a plethora of feral fauna. For years I'd thought that the legions of cats that roamed Parque del Retiro in Madrid were a particular kind of local color, but since then it seems they're found absolutely everywhere that isn't North America. In Spain, they hunted mice and dropped chorizo in the parks; in Morocco, they lived on the rooftops of the Medina and were offered goat scraps by street butchers; they disappeared in the UK (guess they couldn't swim the Channel); and now in Istanbul, they live in a cardboard box on our balcony and sometimes try to photobomb my outfit shots.


I still don't really know what to do when approached by friendly strays. My animal-love-starved soul is like, PET-IT-PET-IT-PET-IT-NOW! But the cat-fearing germaphobe in me insists that they're all diseased/filthy/will bite me and feast on my eyeballs. (Realistically, I'd say most of the time only two of those possibilities are true.) This may have something to do with the cat at Montserrat who acted super friendly until I tried to touch it (honestly, sometimes I still count fingers when I think about it). I did make one exception in Marrakech, but that was for the smallest kitten I had every seen in my entire life (who only had one eye! Stay strong, little cyclops buddy!) My internal struggle has only grown worse as we're finally in a city with almost as many stray dogs as cats, and even the ones in really rough shape where you can't even tell what color their fur is inspire me to yell, "PUPPIES!!1!" every time.

So for now, my solution is to do as you see in the above photo: chat with them, on subjects varied and erudite. "Hello kitty! You are fluffy! I am totally afraid to touch you! I am also probably the only person in this park who does not have a fish sandwich to share with you. Sorry, buddy!"
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3.15.11 ARCHIVED

necklace - vintage, Brooklyn flea market / purse - custom via etsy / jacket - Zara / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / watch - La Mer / pink striped sweater - H&M / pink button-down - custom / jeans - Target / brogues - Primark

I really think the Man Repeller is on to something with these buttoned-up collars - after trying it a few times now, I think I am hooked! (Boyfriend is not quite so sold, although he admits that it's cute when worn with a '60s mod look. I'll wear him down yet.)

These are just a few outtakes from some pictures we took over the weekend - today I am guest blogging for the lovely Lisa over at Archives, so to see more photos of this outfit and to read about my own road trip to Texas (Hint: It was not for a blogging conference.) go check out my post here!
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3.16.11 FERIBOTU

scarf - vintage, thrifted / purse - custom, valhallabrooklyn via etsy / jacket - Zara / cardigan - Primark / fox print tee - Zara / belt - vintage, thrifted / ring - Primark / overdyed skinnies - Zara / shoes - Toms

The other day we took a spur-of-the-moment ferry ride up the Bosphorous to Ortakoy. We headed up to the top deck of the ferry just as the sun started going down and managed to snag an unoccupied corner for some quick outfit shots. I think I'm slowly building up my immunity to embarrassment over taking pictures in public places, although I wouldn't mind if my photographer were a little more inconspicuous about it - something about how he backs a full twenty feet away from me and bends halfway over to waist height really attracts strangers' attention!

This outfit is maybe not the most original thing I've ever put together, but it's a pretty good representation of what I wear when I don't have a ton of time to think about it. We decided pretty late in the day that we were going out, so I just grabbed the sweater I'd worn least recently and went from there. I wore almost the same thing on our first day in Turkey, but I felt like pairing it with my army jacket this time around gave the whole look a much-needed color boost. As much as I'm sick of hearing about color-blocking as a trend for spring, it will be nice to have my recent desire to wear every single color at once pass for 'stylish' instead of 'colorblind.'
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lost weekend

I haven't managed to take any outfit photos over the last couple of days (in part because I've only technically managed to dress myself). We've pretty much spent the weekend in jammies, playing cards, reading books, brainstorming architecture projects, and now watching a little football. We did venture outside successfully for coffee and croissants, and unsuccessfully for groceries. Tomorrow I will be forced to do a little shopping, as the heels on my boots are in desperate need of repair and I need to find a wearable replacement for my gray flats pronto. Oh, right, and we still need food. I guess that's important too.

The super-stylish Kyla of Blue Collar Catwalk was sweet enough to include me today in her new Blue Collar Collective feature, and the lovely Ms. Wiley of wily wiley praised my new cat print obsession shirt in her post on interwebs inspiration - thank you to both of these awesome bloggers, and to new readers of the other emily, welcome!

I'm off to curl up on the couch, drifting off to the soothing sounds of color commentary on Bill Belichick's coaching strategy, but I'll leave you with some evidence that my new jetset lifestyle isn't totally perfect - here's the guy I'm missing:




Best. Grad school. Buddy. Ever.