You Look Like a Doily

 Not So Dainty Doily Necklace

Dress: So, Kohl's

Shoes: Guess, Marshalls

Bag: Marshalls

Belt: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Jacket: Decree, JCPenney

These were my wedding shoes.  I purchased them for $12.99 from Ami Clubwear.  They started out life solid red, their only adornment the rhinestone-sprinkled flower perched above the peep toe.  I added Hennytj's lovely pink satin roses and rhinestone buttons as well as craft store peach, yellow, and mint ribbon roses and danced all night with nary a mishap.  Talk about a testament to Gem-Tac!

Garden Guest Star Necklace

Dress: Modcloth

Shoes: Ami Clubwear, embellished by The Tote Trove

Bag: Krystala Creations, Etsy

Scarf: Gifted

Campus Queen Corsage Brooch

Top: Delia's

Jeans: Sears

Shoes: Worthington, JCPenney

Bag: Fred Flare

Scarf: Marshalls

So said Ethan Hawke's Troy to Winona Ryder's Lelaina in Reality Bites when she emerged in a crochet dress to meet Ben Stiller-as-Michael-the-smarmy-record-producer back in the mid-1990s.  A grunge coming-of-age classic if ever there was one, it went right over my head the first time I saw it. (I think I was twelve.)  

Kind of like "Girls."  Yep, that's right.  I'm retracting my former criticism of Lena Dunham's critically acclaimed angst-filled HBO series.  Partly due to my new-found mission to be a kinder, gentler blogger, and partly because I recently watched the entire first season on DVD.  It was good.  Gritty and real and in-your-face and all those other adjectives attached to things that make you squirm.  In the wake of the sad-song-staged final credits, I couldn't help but think that it should be mandatory viewing for twelve-year-old girls, a kind of cautionary tale counseling tempered by a good mom's tough love commentary.  (The irony of my twelve-year-old self lacking the perspective to appreciate even Lelaina's considerably tamer trials is not lost on me.)  Life, after all, isn't all tea house heroine getups.  A point, by the way, most masterfully made in the romantic comedy Austenland, albeit ironically and with more glitter than grit.  But more on that later.  

And with that, we've come full circle.  Not an unfit end for a post starring a doily.  

Make and Tell Challenge, Day 72: Totes Galore

Last night, I gave myself off from the Challenge. I didn't really want to. But I knew I couldn't pick up a paint brush. It happens. But I made up for it today. I had off from work (thank you, veterans), so I had plenty of time. I finished the Mandarin Magic tote and the Fruit Splash tote and even started this Flame Rose tote, which will have an olive green background peeking through with a little leopard. Thanks to all who entered the First Ever Tote Trove Giveaway, by the way (closes at midnight on Sunday so you can still enter!). Your feedback about my large totes has been helpful. I had a feeling the animal print and floral themes would win out, and I was right! I'd started playing with this theme back when I was doing only medium totes; in fact, I was trying to do a whole line of them. But then I moved on to the large totes and sort of forgot about it. So thanks. The fish were also pretty popular, which is also good to know.

While painting, I watched Reality Bites and Singles. I'd seen Reality Bites only once before, when I was about twelve. I didn't really get it then and thought it, well, bit. But today it made perfect sense. Which is kind of strange when you think about it, because now I'm in my late twenties and supposedly past all that idealistic post-college angst. Um, supposedly. As for Singles, I'd never seen it before. The highlight was Matt Dillon as a clueless, long-haired rocker with Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell as band mates. Hilarious.