Deconstructed Part III: Random Edition

These first two are from Oak NYC, another online store I love. I'm not usually a big fan of the asymmetrical look (are you sleeves or not? make up your mind.) See this article on the insanity of one-sleeved shirts from Allie Brosh, the hysterically funny creator of Hyperbole and a Half webcomic which has pretty much caused me to lose all bodily control on multiple occasions. GO NOW AND READ IT. I'll wait while you compose yourself.

Ok, diversion over. Let's return to the important business at hand, which is looking at clothes. This skirt isn't really deconstructed but I found it yesterday and I want it. It's from Alexander Wang, and you can find it all over the internets, like at Revolve Clothing.

Way over on the other end of the fashion spectrum from Alex W, we have the Brooklyn-based etsy shop ruffeoheartslilsnoty. I found them a long time ago when I wanted some undies produced by someone more responsible than Target and not slimy like American Apparel (turns out that's not that hard, who knew, and instead I ended up just making some myself), and they make a lot of their stuff from deadstock (new fabric discarded from other manufacturers I think) and vintage. So they're actually really deconstructed.

I really want the t-shirt on the jumping girl in the first photo. And the last tank top reminds me of high-school cross-country so hard. And there's a cool Jane Jetson-meets-Wilma-Flinstone minidress that looks like something from an acid-tripping Star Trek.

Don't be scared off by their hipster talk! They've got some more normal (one or two non-neon color) stuff too, like some sweatshirts with cool stand-up turtlenecks and hoods. And crazy neon triangles bodysuits. You know, everything you need.

Lazy Summer

As I don't have a set time to be at work this summer, I've been really bad about sleeping late and then lazing around in the morning. I guess today I got something done: I put two new vintage clothing items up on my etsy shop! But, it's getting ridiculous, I have money that I need to be making! So I'm thinking of buying (makes sense, right?) this vintage alarm clock from etsy seller AMradio. It's only $12! She has lots of cute industrial & mid-century modern home decor items, and she's a midwesterner (+10 points).

Banner I Made + That of a Swede

Sometime last year, when I was made aware of the trendy-trend of bunting/banners/pennants, I decided to make some for myself. I was working at a library at the time, and we tied up the books that were starting to fall apart with cotton cord that was much like seam binding. It was either white or sortof red, and when we took it off a book, most people threw it away. Of course, I found that unacceptable and started squirrelling away pieces of the red, and a few of the white. So anyway I had amassed quite a bit, and used it to make my bunting. For the paper, I used a piece of pink construction paper, a grocery list on green lined paper, the yellow wrapper from some soap my boyfriend bought in Chinatown, and the blue wrapper from a candle I was given for Christmas. Hooray for recycling!

I hung it in my bathroom in my old apartment, and put it up also in my new one in the weird space under the stairs. It's so hard to take pictures of the bathroom: no natural light, and it's so small that I was up against the wall just to get in this narrow angle. You can also see my orange mini suitcase I bought at my grandma's thrift store (she actually volunteers at a fantastic thrift store run by her church: it runs in the family, you see), and a picture frame with three photos of my family all mashed together.
And, tacked on to the end, this much-better-lit picture from Sandra at Niotillfem. She has a lovely blog full of her own pictures of her life in Sweden. I love blogs that are all original content, and hers is great because Sweden in the summer seems like such a wonderful time, all kinds of boating and parties and drinking in parks, and she and her friends are so retro and stylish, and that Sebastian is a hottie (I think he's married, though). It's in Swedish and google translate is charmingly off, but Swedish is so close to English you can really hit the high points anyway.

But my point was, I like her room! The bunting and suitcase are cute; the rug is especially great; the dress hanging on the wall is something I will be doing more of next year without a closet (I see it in a lot of "styled" photographs but I think it would be a nice way to actually store my nicest dress or two); and the shelf above the bed with photos, art, and books is something I'd like to do in my new space-challenged room.

This Morning

• Realized only 2 more days of World Cup! What will I do now to procrastinate? Never fear, I can think of plenty of things.
• Saw that it is my mom's birthday in a week. I want to get her something, since she likes presents, but what? She likes Scandinavian design, so maybe these earrings from Madison, WI? Sadly she has very sensitive ears, and is a minimalist about most clothes and jewelry, so more things is not often a good idea.
  
• Sweated bullets as soon as I came upstairs from my blissfully cool basement bedroom.
• Spilled ground coffee all over the inside of the now-broken-in-two-ways coffee machine. Time to get a french press. (Especially since soon there will only be 2 coffee drinkers in my new apartment, instead of 5!)
• Had a PB&J made of bread from a local bakery and the jam that Claire & her very-soon-to-be-husband Mark made with me last summer. It's this kind of good homemade eating that I miss when I go back to the semi-suburbs of home.
• Ate the last of Jess's delicious pumpkin walnut cream cheese muffins!
• Worked on an etsy treasury, inspired by the blue lake picture from my Fourth of July post.
• Got my google reader down from 1000+ to 55! (this took a few days and required unsubscribing to several blogs, goodbye wedding nonsense, thanks minimalist)

The picture is just my room. I am reading: The Psychology of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman, Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Architecture for the Poor by Hassan Fathy which was recommended to me by my good friend Lila and I had to return to the library the other day, sadly. I wasn't reading it straight through, and I was basically done with the interesting parts, so it was ok.

Sneak Peak: My New Etsy Page!

Trying to downsize a bit before I move, I started an etsy page! Here it is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/amydix. My wonderful roommate J helped me take pictures tonight. They would be better had we taken them outside but it was so hard to find the time when neither of us is working. Plus, all those costume changes in the heat would be a drag anywhere but my cool basement. So, I thought I'd post a particularly blurry picture from our photo session. I have three items up already, but this dress is not up yet. J is modeling for one of them! It was fun taking the pictures but it sure is time-consuming to measure and label and upload everything! Here's hoping it pays off!