Thrifted Earrings.

What can I say, I love them.
Sure I've been gifted a few new earrings in the past five years, and I've even made a few of my own in my summer camp counselor days, but I'd say 75% of my earrings have been found in thrift stores...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Lately I've been noticing that a lot of people shy away from them, or are nervous or suspicious of them. My advice to you is to give them a shot.
They all have the potential to be tasteful, kitschy, or trashy...but it's what you make of them.
Just dust off your bottle of rubbing alcohol and go to town.

These puppies are even handmade, sucka!

In the future, I won't have to spend $500 everytime I have an asthma attack.

Dear President Obama,

1. Thank you.
   
2. Let the haters hate. They probably have health insurance.
   

Love,
Connie

Inspiration

I am not a rich woman.
I'm probably borderline comfortable, if that. Because of this, a lot of the clothes that I wear are either gifts or thrifted. This has never been a problem for me before, but I'm starting to worry now.
I start school at the end of March, however I also start student teaching at the end of March as well. The big problem here is that I don't own professional clothes. Old vintage dresses just won't cut it when I'm going to have to be teaching night school because I have to work fulltime too. My students would probably think that I'm a loon. I mean, let's face it, we're all a little looney, but I don't want to look like it while I'm working towards my career.
When I'm nannying I will wear whatever I pick up first in the morning as long as I don't mind if it gets snot on it, but I feel afraid to be in a world where I need to look 100% everyday (or at least 95%!)
Don't get me wrong, I feel that I am not a fashion idiot...I'm just not a rich woman. How does one get around trying to find thrifted professional clothes that aren't:

1. pleated or
   
2. made of polyester??

Anyway, I put together some inspirational pieces to give me some confidence to still be thrifty and buy second-hand, only with the intentions of putting more effort into adding embellishments.

The truth is, I don't even know when I'll have time for homework, let alone embellishing my wardrobe!

Going buck wild.

A girl I went to college with posted this website as her facebook status, and ever since I have been on this site (about five minutes ago) I have been busy telling Jason random facts and probably driving him insane simultaneously.


So now, I will pass it onto you, so you can drive your significant other/roommate/cat/mother insane with your utter amazement as well.
Here it is:

learnsomethingeveryday.co.uk/

Some of them I knew already, and others were pretty interesting.
Here are my favorites.

1. Scary fo'sho.
2. Including King Tut (supposedly).
3. No wonder why my cat is so mean.

Go buck wild.

Mill-walik-A.

I'm not originally from Wisconsin, and that's why when I go to Milwaukee, I don't think of Beer, The Brewers, or Lake Michigan....I think of Wayne's World.

Felt Alive.

The show this weekend was awesome. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, it was a pleasure spending the evening with you! Everyone else, it's okay! :)
(I'll post more about it tomorrow.)


In other news:
My friends Cat and Edwin of Plum Union (Please go take a listen, they make absolutely beautiful music together.) stayed with us for a good portion of the weekend and we had some pretty interesting conversations. One particular conversation dealt with the craft of needle felting (probably one craft that I can't picture myself doing, at least not today.)
While looking for some good examples on google images, I stumbled upon this deviant.art page that equally amazes me and scares me half to death... leading me to this post.

FeltAlive

I never thought I would live to see the day
a felted Bob Dylan would be in existence.Photo by FeltAlive.


Conclusion: Scary/Amazing/Mostly scary.

Mad Men and Women.

So, I think basically everyone likes Mad Men, and I especially love the fashion, so I decided to Mad Men Myself.
And Jason! They even had his glasses!

What gets my blood pumping?

What gets my blood pumping, you ask? Great deals on craft supplies.
I love it. I never buy clothes, and I buy shoes once a year when I absolutely have to. I'm a saver.
The only thing I spend money on is food (duh), going to the movies, and materials to feed my craft addiction.


I will be the first to admit that I have a hard time saying no to pricey fabric in Gayfeather Fabrics (3 blocks from my house...could it be any harder??) and I certainly can't say no to buying at least one yard or fat quarter of vintage fabric at any thrift store I walk into.
Whatever. At least it's not crack.



Anyway! For those of you who have similar addictions as mine, I want to share with you a somewhat recent discovery that has certainly been an enabler.

After purchasing something at Michael's Arts and Crafts Store (a craft store with locations all over the United States and Canada) they will give you a 40% off coupon with your receipt for your next purchase.
Fantastic, I know.

Today I bought a 28 Piece Tip Set for cupcake decorating for $20.
It was originally $33.

Yes please.

Milwaukee/WILD PLUMS.

I went to Milwaukee this past weekend.
It was fun.
Milwaukee is an okay place.
Some pretty cool people live there.
It is currently being taken into consideration for the home of my future bakery.
We'll see.

(Speaking of which, I am about to bake a tart for Jason out of wild plums that our friend Ben gave us on Monday!! Isn't that the coolest thing you've ever heard in your life??

WILD PLUMS!!)

Anyway. I found two unbelievable items while I was there.

1.) A Reconstructed Ralph Lauren Polo
from a pretty neat vintage shop for $12.
I never buy clothes, but I couldn't let this one slide.

2.) The Labyrinth on VHS for free from my new friend Ana.

Most girls daydream of finding the perfect shoe or purse...
I daydream about finding one VHS for months, and finally it finds me.

Paper Heart

Well, Jason and I just got back from another movie (I know, you're probably thinking, tell me something new.) and dinner with our friends Alec and Marin.

Alec and Marin = fun

Paper Heart = Cute

Cat Painting/Dancing

Yesterday Jason and I spent the day canoeing and swimming on Devil's Lake with our lovely friend Marin.


It was on our way home when she told us about Cat Painting.



How to find out if your cat is artistically inclined.
I wonder if Willi is?

Stars and Swipes

1993

Acrylic on paper and wall

40 x 85cm

_______________________________________
Holy moly, I also discovered Cat Dancing.

"The question to ask is not "Will my cat dance with me?"
but rather "Will I dance with my cat?"

I'm in love.
My life will never be the same.

willi eavesdropping

So I've had 408 hits on my blog this week since I've put up that counter.
I'm pretty excited about it! I have a theory as to why that number isn't, oh, I don't know...408 every hour of the day, and I have come down to this conclusion:
I do not have adorable children yet.
One day, I too will have an amazing blog where I can document all of the outfits and toys that I make for my babes and everyone will love it, but I will love it most.
One day, my pretties!

Anyway, I do, however, have an adorable kitten who might be in need of companionship?

I think you might agree with me after watching this video.

Baking, knitting, sewing, eating, and loving as much as possible.

Jason and I go to the movies often. Once or twice a week. Excessive, I know, but we love it.
Today we went to see Julie & Julia, and it left me feeling inspired to

1. Write more.
2. Never go a day without wearing the pearls my grandmother gave me for my birthday this past spring.
   
3. To maybe throw in the towel on going back to school to be a teacher.

The main reason why I want to go back to school to become a teacher (besides wanting to enrich the lives of kids with my historical knowledge, which is otherwise useless except for maybe "did you know" dinner discussion) is for the security it would bring to my future family.

I felt as though this would do for a while, but I don't want to be a teacher for the rest of my life! The only thing I ever finding myself wanting to do is bake.
Baking, knitting, sewing, eating, and loving as much as possible.

I am a nanny right now.
That's my occupation. I'm a nanny with two bachelors degrees that I cannot use.
I'm taking this year off of school to pay off my loans as much as possible so I can go back to school to become more in debt.
So now I'm left asking myself three crucial questions:

1. Why shouldn't I own a bakery like I really want to?
2. Why shouldn't I do what I love?
3. Why did I feel undeserving of this, and like I could not own a successful business?
   

Whatever. I'm good at baking. I love making up my own recipes and I love making people happily chubby. Why shouldn't I do what I love?
So now I'm ending this ranting blog post with my fourth and final question.
4. Why can't cupcakes suffice?

Photo originally posted on newsday.com

hair

As a girl who studies her fair share of history (I just wrote four huge history papers this week, sorry I haven't been around much!), I like to really look into the roots of everything.
Lately I've been thinking about shaving, and I've really been wondering how I feel about it.

The origins of women shaving is widely debated.
Some debated reasons:

• Women were made targets for marketing razors.
• Shaving was used to make more of a differentiation between men and women. (um, hello. why can't men just have longer eyelashes than women and just be content with that?)
• Shaving was mainly practiced by prostitutes because their clients wanted "youthful" concubines (aka, little girls). Later crossing over into the mainstream.
  

Now.
I don't really care where the origins come from in this case.
I am not a little girl, I am a woman. Do I really want to be involved with a practice that was originated by pervy men being turned on by the soft legs of little girls?
UM, NO.

I don't know how I feel about this. I don't like the origins, however, I don't like wearing skirts unless I have shaved legs either because I feel straight up unattractive to myself.
What the heck, social expectations and gender roles?
You are sending me on one heck of a hairy rollercoaster!
You suck!

Rooster Tease.

Something I've been called lately,
which kind of annoys me, yet leaves me amused.

Question:
How can someone be a you know what tease when:

1. they are not intimate (physically, emotionally, etc..) in anyway, shape, or form and
   
2. make it completely clear that they are not interested in a relationship?

How silly!




Currently Knitting: a green cabled hat
Currently Hearing: early 60's sunshine pop
Currently Loving: staying up late to listen to early 60's sunshine pop.

I like + Alaska Update

The tour to Alaska is almost completely booked. I am pumped!
I can't wait to be living out of a car for a month and a half with two lovely young men again.
That probably sounds completely sarcastic, but I am for serious, for sure.




I like Milkmaid Braids.

My mom used to do this to my hair when I was a little girl.
I love. Still.

I cut my hair short in November of '07 when my best friend Anthony left for Iraq, and I said I would keep growing it until he came home. By the time he came home this past January my hair was down to my shoulders. I decided to keep growing it out because I wanted to wear my hair in milkmaid braids for my wedding.
Now that my engagement was broken off, I still find myself growing my hair out, and I realize that I'm doing it for myself.
I like that reason most of all.
So, we'll see if I can reach to goal.

Rural Pennsylvania & Theft vs. Starving Children.

I go to school in a very rural area of Pennsylvania, which is extremely impoverished. It's not rare for me to see children in shoes that are falling apart with dirty faces and hair that looks like it hasn't been washed in a week or maybe longer.
It breaks my heart.
I often find myself wanting to get down on one knee and do the lick the thumb mom thing to clean the dirt smudges from their cheeks and foreheads.

Yesterday I was in the supermarket and as I was waiting in line there was a couple with three small children under the age of four. The family had huge boxes of soda under their cart, and paid for their frozen pizza and boxed macaroni and cheese and rushed away without paying for the soda. I watched as they walked away, and looked at the cashier to see if he had noticed. He didn't.

My heart went out to these children. I wanted to hug them, take them home, give them baths, and feed them a warm meal to nourish their bodies instead of the soda and frozen pizza they were going to be given.





I watched these people steal and I didn't say anything.

I'm the kind of person who will confront someone when they are doing something wrong, especially if it is hurtful, harmful, or offensive in any way, but I didn't say a thing about this.

Was it wrong?
I saw them as clearly being victims of their situation.
Was it wrong of me not to have said anything?
I think I would have felt worse if I had said anything.

When is the earliest time a person can be a foster parent?

Update:
Age 21 (In Pennsylvania)
Now I'm wondering if it's a good idea for a single,
22 year old strudent to be a parent to troubled children by herself.
A part of me says wait until you're married and have a partner to do this with.
The other part of me says there's no time to waste.

What I will miss about college:

(Isn't that picture so funny?)

The first thing I think of when I think about
what I will miss about college:
free birth control

Is that bad?
I mean, not because I'm a big ol' hoebag, but I do think every woman should have the right to know what's up with her bod, whether she wants to know when her monthly visit will be or if she doesn't want to get prego.

Oh, nevermind.

I just found out today that I have to take two more courses before I can graduate. I am livid. Thanks Mansfield University. I'm thinking of getting my degree in Art History here (since it's completed) and then finish my History degree and teaching certification at ESU for next fall.
I love going to school, but I don't love how they love screwing people over.

It doesn't look like my free birth control days are really over after all.

lachrymose

My new favorite word. I just like the way it rolls off the tongue.

lach⋅ry⋅mose

 /ˈlækrəˌmoʊs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [lak-ruh-mohs] –adjective

1.	suggestive of or tending to cause tears; mournful.

2.	given to shedding tears readily; tearful.

And to end on a happier note:
I can't wait to see fawns this spring.

Oh, hey.

Well, I'm officially leaving for the tour to Alaska on May 4th, and arriving home on June 7th.
My second birthday on the road, living the d-r-e-a-m.







Oh, hey, you're cute.
I want you on my feet.




Currently Knitting: that effing coif.
Currently Hearing: "Sax Rohmer #1" -- the mountain goats
Currently Loving: old thread.