custom cut

necklace - vintage, great grandmother's / trench - H&M / button-down - custom tailored, Shanghai / custom buffalo Larch bag - gift, valhallabrooklyn via etsy / leggings -Target / boots - Steve Madden / sunnies (below) - thrifted
Yesterday's outfit included two of my favorite custom pieces - along with my successful escape from the enticing bounds of my balcony! This sort of tunic-y button-down is one of two I had made for me in China about a year ago. I had a few friends going on a school trip and had heard that it was shockingly inexpensive to have things tailored, so I packed a little bag with a few yards of fabric and this "dress" from AA. I got back two super-cute button-downs with matching sashes for the incredible price of $11 (yes, for both), which I now wear more than the (then $40) original. Of course, only a few short hours after these photos were snapped, I managed to splooch this pink one with a few dime-sized dollops of red wine, but I still have hopes that they'll fade out after a few washes. If not, I can always go to my Rit dye fallback plan...
My beautiful purse wasn't quite as inexpensive, but it has been absolutely worth every penny. If you are ever in the market for a custom leather bag, I highly highly recommend perusing valhallabrooklyn's shop - she makes really gorgeous stuff, and is super helpful and easy to work with in deciding what you're looking for. This bag is huge (read: awesome), incredibly soft, and, well.... it smells fantastic. I've had it for a few months now, and I still have a little bit of a daily pet-and-sniff routine.

'Oh, is there a crazy dragon thing spitting water over my head? I'm sorry, I was just too busy being cool over here to notice.'

Now I'm off to bed, if those ne'er-do-well kids in the youth hostel across the alley would ever stop playing rowdy drinking games with the windows open.... I am old, y'all.

neutral territory

Since I'm now mostly recovered from the food-and-wine overdose that was our Christmas away from home, I wanted to show off my one non-travel-fund gift - this super slick black-on-black bag by Jack Spade, courtesy of fantastic boyfriend. The dipped black canvas and brown handles practically begged to be matched with similarly mixed neutrals, and I was all too happy to oblige yesterday.

This look also gave me an excuse to break out a couple of my favorite jewelry pieces as well. I got this incredible vintage necklace from Christina through her etsy shop this summer, and I love the mix of wood, bone, and gold beads. I definitely tend to gravitate towards earthy materials in my accessories, especially as a way to tie together blacks and browns in an outfit. My thrifted wood and brass bangle is another great earthy piece that I just can't seem to get tired of.
necklace - vintage, Second Skin Style via etsy / sweater - H&M / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / bag - Jack Spade, gift from boyfriend / leggings - Style&Co, mommed / boots - Steve Madden
P.S. While I'm obviously enamored with my balcony here, I promise we've been going other places too! I'm still just a little shy about tossing my coat over the nearest fencepost when we're out and about to take a few outfit snaps. We nearly managed it at the aquarium.....

....but I kept just making my FISH FACE!

¡Besos a pescado!

le grand (re)tour

Well, I'm back. On the interwebs, at least - in real life, I'm pretty much anything but. Because see that church behind me? Yeah, that's in Barcelona. Spain. Across from my balcony.

I know. Let me 'splain.

This summer I was pretty psyched about the idea of doing a little style blogging. I'm a great blog-reader, so I thought I'd be cracked up to be a half-way decent blog-writer. Not so. It turns out it's actually pretty tough to take passable photos of oneself when you leave for work before it's light and return once it's long dark, and striking fierce poses by the copier at work was really not happening. So, I thought it was time to upgrade - my work schedule, lifestyle, and surroundings.

In truth, the aforementioned darling boyfriend was sweet enough to win a big ole traveling fellowship, so we've traded closets for suitcases and we're living internationally itinerant for the next nine months. Since I was only allowed to bring as much as I thought I could plausibly haul up to a fifth floor pensione, and since I can now afford neither the euros nor the suitcase space to do much shopping, I'm sort of on the longest 30for30 ever.

Now in the interests of making the most of my newly limited wardrobe - which is not helped at all by the ziploc bag of my clothes that got lost (hopefully temporarily) in Madrid - and as an outlet for sharing a little bit of the bizarre fantasy which is now apparently my day-to-day, I'm going to try and blog a little more from time to time. At the very least, I think I can promise some pretty excellent photo locations.






cashmere snuggie cardigan - Cynthia Rowley via Marshall's / floral button-down - gift / jeggings - Target / boots - Steve Madden / earrings - Anthro / belt - vintage Etienne Aigner via rummage sale