dash of tape

since last year i went extra unsaturated for my christmas wrapping, this year i went crazy overboard with my gift tableau.  i'm talking wrapping paper pattern mixing, dumping out my whole collection of grosgrain ribbon, gift tags made from giant helvetica initials, and (best of all) making bows out of a W magazine editorial about tilda swinton.  yes, you heard right, tilda.



pink for christmas.  it's the next big thing.  



black and white and red all over.  not unlike a newspaper.



kinda minimalist, but only so that tilda stands out.  get instructions on how to make bows from magazines over here at how about orange.



christmas strawberries.  



a helvetica d.  such a good letter.  



i tried to make an "L" out of ribbon, but it came out more disease-awareness than cursive letter.  oh, and a chanel ad bow.  

dotty, stripes, and sequins

[wearing]
wool stripes: j.crew
sequin pencil skirt: thrifted (similar)
fleece-lined tights: forever21
wedges: old navy (exactly)
talon necklace: forever21 
arm party: forever21, inpink, gifted


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i found this j.crew skirt at a thrift store on my usual pass through skirts for bright-colored wool.  i think it's from the late 90s and set me back less than a lincoln.  it's got a full coat of sequins plus extra blobs of sequins for texture or depth or something.  i haven't been thrifting much in chicago, so it was a perfect welcome-home-to-the-land-of-awesome-thrifting gift from the state of michigan. 



(snow-speckled hair)

dotty and some winter white

[wearing]
jeans: bdg (similar)
top: forever21
coat: j.crew (similar)
boots: vintage


[going]
to the toledo glass museum. it's been on our "buildings to go see" list for awhile and when we found ourselves less than an hour away from it we decided it was time to check it off.









(a little sanaa goodness)

dotty and some neon pink

[wearing]
sweater dress: j.crew
neon belt: forever21
purple tights: simply vera (similar)
flats: cole haan (similar)


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this wool dress makes things seem so easy.  a funny belt, some slightly less punchy tights, my go-to flats, and done!  can i just wear this all winter and just swap out the belts and tights?  








[previously on] purple tights

dotty vs. a pigeon

[wearing]
beaded top: vintage (similar)
jacket: michael kors (exactly)
jeans: bdg (exactly)
scarf: handknit (similar)
boots: old navy (similar)


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i thrifted this top from the dresses-you-only-wear-once section last summer and have been pondering how to dress it down. all those beads make it pretty heavy, so i kept the layers to a minimum. wearing it this way seems kinda anti-holiday season, but i figure there will be plenty of sequins and shiny things in store over the next few weeks!  











oh, and i had a pigeon trying to get in on my photo shoot, so i chased him.  i kicked a pigeon once in florence accidentally.  true story.  feathers went everywhere.  

dotty, rust, and mustard

[wearing]
top: club monaco
skirt: banana republic mad men collection (similar)
belt: j.crew (exactly)
scarf in a big bow: forever21
tights: target (similar)
heels: urban outfitters (exactly)


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i am totally addicted to these rust-colored tights and am thoroughly convinced that they go with all sorts of other colors.  it's weird how some punchy tights, like my turquoise pair or smurf blue pair, i can't seem to match with much.  then this pair i picked up randomly at target (when i stopped in to get headphones) have been on repeat for the last six weeks.  maybe next year i'll be really into blue and make use of all those other tights that have been pushed aside to make way for these suckers.  

superhero dotty

[wearing]
liquid leggings: ross (similar)
floral tunic: lc lauren conrad
moto: forever21
boots: old navy


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back in 2009 i saw these shiny leggings at our local ross for $7 and bought them for their superhero quality.  (since if i were going to fight crime, it would most definitely involve some awesome leggings!)  the backup plan was to incorporate them into some sort of halloween costume.  neither of these things has happened yet, but when i packed up my tights for chicago i resolved to find a way to wear them that didn't involve dressing like catwoman.  








[previously on] cream moto jacket
i have this jacket in two colors because i liked the first one i bought so much.  it's one of those randomly higher-quality pieces that exist somewhere hidden in the messiness of forever21.