Being Samantha Jones

If I had to pick one Sex and the City character to identify with, it would certainly NOT be Samantha Jones. I'm too much of a romantic. I'm kind of prude. And I've always had this inexplicable belief that most (if not all) guys will take advantage of me if they can. The powerful and intimidating woman that Samantha is would totally say, "April, I'm not going to disagree with you - all men want sex. But this is a good thing! All men want is sex, all I want is sex, it's the perfect situation!"

Hah. Anyway. While I may not share the same beliefs as her, I still love her as a character who empowers women and totally rocks in her confidence.

And today, I felt like her in this outfit.

I was totally subconsciously channeling Samantha:

(perhaps my subconscious was telling me something...)

I just loved this outfit. It's all about the red! It's SUCH A GREAT COLOR. How did I not see this before!?

And with teal! Who knew?!

I made these earrings an eternity ago from this feather boa bracelet thing and a couple of good ole plastic pony beads!

More Samantha goodness:

Just looka' that RED!

who else is loving red at the moment?

love and right triangles,

april

[dress, Express]

[blouse, Garment District dollar-a-pound]

[belt, thrifted]

[shoes, Charlotte Russe, gift]

[earrings, made by me]

catching up - Saturday's outfit

Heyyo.

I had a couple more grad parties to attend on Saturday and this is what I wore. It was probz way too hot for that sweater, but I like it way too much.

I mean, it's like, chunky rainbow knit flowery ness. What could be better, honestly?

And there's that red H&M dress, again. Sorry for wearing it like, every single day but it's just so easy!

And I'm still not over my red obsession. I'm infatuated.

These UO imitation-keds are GREAT. I always buy the ones on sale for $10 (though usually they're only 2 for $30) and they smell kinda funny but they're comfy and come in amazing colors and prints. And I like the shape better than real Keds.

One more outfit post coming right up! Stay tuned!

Also, check the new header, made by a lovely reader, Liz! Your votes were unanimous for hers! It's a little small right now...I'm working on adjusting the size a bit.

love and right triangles,
april

[dress, H&M]
[sweater, thrifted and recon'd]
[shoes, UO]

my sister

Five years ago, I graduated middle school, and one year ago, I graduated high school.

Tonight, my sister graduated from middle school.

Middle school graduation is a BLAST. Because there's no serious transition involved, you're not leaving anybody behind, you don't have to anticipate any teary goodbyes. Plus, the only real reason for it is so that the PTO can throw a party/dance for all the 8th graders and they can dress up all fancy schmancy.

Like my sister, Vivi:

She is not one to wear pink, or ruffles, so when she asked me to make her pink, ruffley dress, you can imagine my surprise. But I think it turned out well, and she looks adorable. I hope she's dancing up a storm in that dress as I type.

The dress is made of rayon jersey. It's sooo soft, I love it. I totally approve of this fabric and I wanna buy more and make lots of ruffley skirts and comfy teeshirts and soft circle scarves.

Swish, swish, swish :)

Now. Let me talk a little about my sister. It wouldn't be right to just do a post about her, post pictures of her, and not tell you about her. Her name is Vivi, and she's turning 15 in August, which is CRAZY. God, I feel old.

She was born with Apert Syndrome, which is an extremely rare cousin of Down Syndrome. Because of this, she's had open heart surgery at the ridiculous age of something like 3 months old, and she's had eight or so surgeries on her hands - she was born with her fingers stuck together, and has had to surgically separate them. Her toes are the same way, but my parents decided not to put her through another eight surgeries for her feet. On top of that, she's had many, many surgeries on her face and head, including a major one which took her out of school for weeks. I realize I'm not giving a lot of medical detail - mostly because I don't know anything, and also because I don't think it's necessary.

This is about Vivi, not her medical history.

She's a happy person. She's brave and outgoing. She's fun and she loves to laugh. She's also crazy annoying, but I mean, she is my sister.

And like I said, she's so NOT a pink, ruffley dress kind of person, which can be extended to mean she's not a makeup-hair-jewelry-fashion kind of person. She never understands my addiction to shoes and shopping. But for tonight, I had a TON of fun doing her hair, her makeup, stylin' her outfit - with almost 100% my stuff. The necklace is mine, the belt is mine, the makeup is mine, the curling iron is mine. Everything but the shoes is mine. :) And who can resist getting dolled up, at least some of the time?

She's the only person/place/thing in my house that I miss when I'm away at school. I don't miss my bedroom, I don't miss my pets, I don't miss my parents (seriously). (Okay, I sort of miss my kitchen.) But I do miss her when I'm 3 hours away. And I seriously feel for her, having to be an only child with my parents for 8 months a year. That must suck. I would probably die, or crawl into a ball, or something.

I always feel like I should say something like, "Growing up with a sister who had to go through all that has really changed my life." But I can't really say it's true. Though maybe it's just been so much a part of my life that I don't realize how different I would have been if she had been born without Apert Syndrome. She's just been my sister - and that's totally enough.

So thanks, Vivi, for being my sister :) I love you lots.

love and right triangles,
april

[dress, made by me]
[necklace, gift from mom]
[belt, thrifted]
[shoes, Vivi's]

another day, another dollar

I worked my second shift at my new job today, and it was much shorter than the first, so it went by very fast.

I also attended a good friend's grad party today, and it was so fun. We played Duck, Duck, Goose! It's fantastic to just be a four-year-old again, ya know?

In other news, my little sister is graduation from 8th grade tomorrow night, which is pretty crazy. She's going to be in high school in the fall! Ahh!

I mean, with my senior friends graduating high school, my sister graduation middle school, my complete and utter confusion over the SillyBandz trend, I feel SO OLD. And I'm only nineteen!

It's crazy how time flies. My next birthday is my 20th!! Granted, it's still in another like, 10 months, but still.

Another thing that makes me feel old? Toy Story 3. I went to see the very first one in theaters with my dad with I was only four years old. And I just went with my sister to the third. And can I just say how AMAZINGLYFANTASTICWONDERFULSPECTACULARINCREDIBLE it was?!

For serious. It's so perfect. Just PERFECT. GO SEE IT. NOW!!

love and right triangles,

april

[tee, made by me]

[skirt, diy recon]

[belt, F21]

[shoes, Target]

[ring, H&M]

[watch, NY&Co]

inspiration and self-stitched-september

(chictopia)

(chictopia)

I'm loving the mustard-skirt-white-shirt combination.

Anddd, additionally.

'I, [April],

sign up as a participant of

Self-Stitched-September.

I endeavour to wear

[at least one]

handmade [and/or refashioned] item(s)

of clothing [and/or accessories/jewelry]

every day

for the duration of September 2010.'

Thanks to So, Zo for hosting this awesome month of handmadeness, and thanks to The House of Mirth for telling me/her readers about it!

love and right triangles,

april

this dress. this necklace.

Yesterday was my first day of work (!) 

It was...manageable. At the very least, it gives me somewhere to be, which gives me a reason to get dressed, which gives me things to blog about! And of course, the paycheck doesn't hurt.

I did a test-wear of this new necklace design.

Gotta say, I'm a fan.

I did shorten the chain, and someone suggested I make it more curved in the future, which I totally agree with.

I'm making a deliberate effort to incorporate more jewelry into my outfits. I own SO MUCH and I stopped wearing all of it years ago, but I still continue to buy buy buy. I really need to get some use out of it.

I have no obligations today, so stay tuned for a DIY. Plus I'm making my sister's 8th grade graduation dance dress so you'll see that soon too! :D

love and right triangles,

april

PS: If you haven't seen this yet, DO IT. It's wonderful. The Seventeen Magazine Project.

[dress, H&M, $8]

[cardigan, F21, $15]

[shoes, Payless, $10]

[necklace, made by me]

[ring, random shop, $2]

[watch, NY&Co, $15?]

and the grad parties begin

I may have graduated from high school a year ago, but that doesn't mean I can't attend grad parties for my sen10r friends :)

The next 9 days are full of grad party attending, burger and hot dog eating, too much pasta salad for my own good, and lots of being outside. Honestly, what better way to spend my umemployment? Free food and old friends  - there's nothing better.

And since I would be spending a large chunk of this 90-degree day outdoors, I dressed appropriately.

This skirt used to be a giant dress found at Salvation Army, which I then turned into a dress, which I then outgrew, and now is a skirt!

Remember how you read five seconds ago that I am gradpartying in my unemployment? WELL. As I was writing this post, I got a call and I got a job! YAY. It's actually a very sucktastic job, the one I interviewed for yesterday. But HEY, it's a job. Although this does screw up my grad partying plans.

love and right triangles,
april

[skirt, made by me] [tank, Old Navy] [belt, F21] [bracelet and headband, made by me] [earrings, vintage] [sunnies, UO] [shoes, Chico's]

another interview, but amazing day nonetheless

I was meeting my friend at the mall this morning and then heading straight to an interview, so I brought a blazer and pumps to spiff it up a bit.

And now for an array of shots, both outfits included.

This is when the camera freaked out and ate half of each of my legs.

Blurryblur

BOO i'm a ghost!

Lemme tell you more about this skirt. It started as a pair of ridonkulous shorts from Salvation Army that I refashioned into a skirt. And since that wasn't enough, I sewed a line of metallic multicolored seedbeads along the bottom hem.

I've recently become obsessed with bejeweled things. Anything with awesome beading, sequins, jewels, embroidery, any sort of spectacular detail. So I'm trying to incorporate that into my future sewing endeavors :) I usually watch movies/tv nonstop while I sew - beading/sequining is even easier to do while mindlessly staring at a monitor.

Okay, seriously guys. Someone needs to hassle me until I follow through. I'm failing at my 5-per-week lists, both writing them and doing things on them. So I promise promise I will get on that! And on that note, I PROMISEPROMISEPROMISESWEARONMYLIFE that I will post a tutorial this weekend. It's going to be super simple - just turning thrifted shorts into way better skirts. But the possibilities are endless and we could all use more skirts!

On another note, my interview today was for a receptionist position. If you can call it that. Basically I would call people asking if they want to set up an interview for an undesirable job for 8 hours straight. But hey, a job is a job. Nobody said it would be glamourous. And that's if I even get the job. Still being unemployed would be even less glamourous. Sigh.

But it's okay, I figured out some backup plans and I'm feeling better about the inactivity that has defined my summer so far.

Question of the day: How do you feel about the size of my photos? They're all "X-Large" according to Blogger, because I like big photos. But I totally understand the whole large-photos-are-a-pain-in-the-ass-on-my-screen thing. So let me know!

love and right triangles,

april

[skirt, diy recon] [top, Marshall's] [belt, thrifted] [sandals, NY&Co.] [pumps, Payless] [blazer, thrifted] [earrings, gifted]