a week of wardrobe. take two.

This is the second edition of my Week of Wardrobe feature. Two themes emerged as this week progressed. See if you can guess what they are...and I'll let you know if you're right at the end. =) (One is pretty obvious, and the other one is not so obvious.)

.:.:.Sunday.:.:.

(photos by Hosh & Jec)

b&w striped tank: American Eagle. green dress: handmade by me and Gramma. black cropped sweater: Dress Barn. vans: Plato's Closet.
It was a beautiful day out today with temperatures reaching just slightly into the 60's. I'm feeling a little sorry for my friends in Filth-a-delphia who probably still have a butt-ton of snow...but maybe you like that...and then I'm not sorry.

I decided to include Hosh today as well. This photo was snapped as he was on his way out to meet some friends from church for a bike ride.
D.A.R.E. T: thrifted/altered. shorts: J. Crew. vans shoes: WRV Surf Shop- VA Beach. beastly physique: frequent climbing on the bouldering wall.

.:.:.Monday.:.:.

(photos courtesy of Hosh)

(I had to document the outfit of the day, but I really wasn't in the mood for photos and Hosh wasn't really in the mood for taking photos. My apologies.)

polka-dot dress: 'Thrift Store'- NN, VA. pink string: Goodwill- Yardley, PA. shoes: gift from Mamba.

It is a monumental day in history. "Why?", you might be asking. Well, I'll tell you why. I wore these heels all day long. Yes, I know. Very impressive. There are two main reasons why I choose not to wear heels on the regular. Number 1: I am not a small woman. At 5'8", I tend to feel like an amazon when wearing heels and towering over most men. Number 2: My calves do not need any extra attention drawn to them, and that is precisely what heels do for me. However, I felt like these shoes were the best option for the outfit today, so I decided to brave the consequence.

(Woof, woof!) What's that? (Woof. Woof!) Oh, I have to go! My dogs are barkin'. =)

.:.:.Tuesday.:.:.

(photos by Addster)

zebra striped dress: Ross. black cropped sweater: Dress Barn. opaque tights: Wal-Mart. lace-up pumps: Wal-Mart.

Regs, Addster and I had a date tonight to see Christopher Newport University's orchestra performance featuring my good friend Nicklaus. The performance was great (!) and I'm still kicking myself for missing the first half of the Hungarian Rhapsody due to my stupid bladder. Today's outfit (heels and all) lasted me all day through work and fun--from 7:45am until 10pm. Long day? Yes. Comfy outfit? Surprisingly, yes.

.:.:.Wednesday.:.:.

(self-timer photo of Jecca, game-room photos by Reg & Jecca)

polka-dot dress: Gap. sweater: American Eagle. scarf: CHKD Thrift Store- Newport News, VA. hose: Wal-Mart. brown shoes (that should be thrown away): Target.

This outfit successfully made the transition from work today into youth group tonight. My co-workers commented on my boldness and daring clothing choices, and the kids at youth group commented on my cool clothing factor. I'm so honored.

After youth group, Regs and Aaron came over to climb for a bit in the game-room. Regs and I made a super-sick climbing mix too.

Hosh found a tag on the floor from the crash-pad that we've been using for probably a month now. He was baffled.
...and this species of monkey is native to the Carolinas... Oops! That'd be Aaron. :]

This was my second long day in a row, and I was getting pretty tired towards the end there.

.:.:.Thursday.:.:.

(self-timer photo)

dress: Dress Barn (gift from Ma). shoes: Payless. hose: Wal-Mart.

On every other day I'd say, "Death to hose!!," but this day was not like every other. I found some new hose the other day at Wal-Mart and my view on hose has been changed forever.

.:.:.Friday.:.:.

(self-timer photos)

'Casual Friday' shirt: BayPort Credit Union. skirt: hand-me-down from aunt DJ. hose: Wal-Mart. Doc Marten's: Salvation Army- Langhorne, PA.

Friday was another long day (with a boring outfit--eww!). The credit union is open for an extra half-hour on Fridays, and we celebrated Pop and Nini's birthday at Gram & Papa's afterwards. I was extremely happy when it came time to change into comfy clothes.

tank: Kohl's. plaid pj pants: Sweet T. boots: Minnetonka (they do double-duty as slippers every night in the frozen tundra that is my mother's house).

This picture was taken around 10pm and I was in the bed quite shortly afterwards.

.:.:.Saturday.:.:.

(photo courtesy of Hosh)

polka-dot coat: Dress Barn. white T: Old Navy. skinny jeans: Wal-Mart. coral pumps: Payless.

I spent most of Saturday in my room in pajamas working on a craft project, but I did go out on Saturday night. Nicklaus got us tickets to go see the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at Christopher Newport University. The production was amazing, but there was unnecessary foul language. I'm not usually bothered at all by foul language (except a couple words I CANNOT stand), but this was just unnecessary and I couldn't imagine Dolly Parton would've approved.

Ok, that was my Week of Wardrobe. Did you guess the themes? I pegged this week as "Dress Week" and "Long Days". Five out of seven days this week I wore a dress (or a skirt), and on at least three days I wore my outfit for at least 14 hours or more (heels and all). Pretty impressive, ay?

I'm off now to craft(!), listen to Mother Mother- O My Heart and drink some coffee. Oh baby!

Lerv, lerv.

Jecca

UPDATE: Two other bloggers have been inspired to feature their very own Week of Wardrobe. You can check out my Mamba's here and Kate's here. Woot woot!!!

(I'm only slightly concerned that the two of them will do a better job than I have and show me up at my own game...eek.)

change of plans.

The Week of Wardrobe post that was promised today will most likely be posted tomorrow. I'm going to see a musical tonight and am still in my pj's. Yes, I know it's 4:30 in the afternoon.

For kicks and giggles, I'll leave you with this photo:

(I miss them terribly.)

...and I guess I'll get back to work on a pair of knickers that I've been working on all day, part of my Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four challenge.

Lerv, lerv.

jecca

Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four: TWO.

Number two on my list of "significant things" actually ended up being two hats inspired by a post on Elsie's blog. I am currently following several crafty blogs, and Elsie's is probably my favorite. When I saw her DIY post a couple weeks ago, it looked like a great project to work on in the airport on my journey to see my loves in Filth-a-delphia this past weekend (...and it was).

The project is very simple. Knit (or crochet) a rectangle. Fold the piece in half and sew up one of the sides. Add some sort of strings (braided, crocheted, knotted, etc.) and a pom-pom (if desired).
I had never made a pom-pom before today, but it wasn't hard at all. I loosely followed this tutorial. The hardest part was attaching the pom-pom securely to the top of the finished hat. As you can see in the picture below, mine turned out a little lopsided but I think it adds character. =)

(Hellooooo, Rattie.)

This is not an optical illusion. I am indeed wearing a tank-top outside. It was a beautiful day today (...but has since gotten cooler and I've added my usual sweatshirt).

I finished the first hat this weekend while I was at PBU, and it was (surprisingly) met with ridicule and repugnance. I was shocked! (Let the haters hate.) HOWEVER, Barley loved (?...liked?) it and kept it.
Barley and I are currently in a debate as to whose hat is cooler. He thinks his is cooler, and of course, I think mine is cooler.

I guess it's up to you, bloggy buds. Whose hat do you think is cooler?

=)

***Be on the lookout for another Week of Wardrobe coming this Saturday! Woot woot!***

Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four: ONE.

The first "significant thing" on my list of Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four was a super secret crafty that I started several weeks ago.

My crafty inspirations come from random places and at random times. This crafty was inspired solely by my dear friend Ham and my absence from him for what seemed to be so long (read about a month and a half).

Behold the Michael Jackson pillow cover!

I started by making a pattern out of quilter's grid. Let me just tell you...that stuff is a dream! It's marked with a grid (duh) of 1" square blocks, which makes measuring and cutting extremely easy for square or rectangle pieces.

After I got the panels measured and cut out, I went to my closet to find some sort of black fabric I could use for a silhouette of the King of Pop. An old, over-sized shirt from H&M did the trick. Cutting out the silhouette seemed to take FOR-EV-ERRR. The black fabric was so thin that it kept slipping, so I pinned it to a layer of batting and that helped to stabilize things a bit.
Once Michael was cut out, I pinned him and the batting to the front panel of the cover and whip-stitched all along the outline.
Since this super secret crafty was for Hammie (and I love him so), I stitched his name on the bottom of one of the back panels.
I also stitched/signed my initial on the top of the same panel. You would only see it if you know it's there, because the second panel on the back overlaps it.
I pinned all the panels together then used Jonah to sew them all up... and Voila!

This might've been blogged sooner, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise for Hammie. I am also quite happy to say that I personally delivered this "significant thing"...which made it all the more sweeter. =)

new challenge.

Dearest Bloggy Buds,

I have recently undertaken a bloggy/life challenge. Now some of you know already how much I enjoy a good challenge, but some of you might not be aware. Just so we're all clear, I live for a good challenge. =) So now, without further ado, I give you my new challenge:

Twenty-Three before Twenty-Four

The premise of this challenge is to accomplish 23 significant things before I turn 24 in December 2010. My list of "significant things" will include several crafts, at least one athletic endeavor and whatever else comes along. I'm up for suggestions of things to add to my list, and I'm looking forward to sharing my attempts and successes with you all.

Woot woot! Here I go... (I'm actually off to meet a friend for some coffee first and then it's) time to get working on my list. I've already accomplished a couple things on my list and will hopefully post them later today.

Until then, good luck to you in your pursuit of coffee or whatever else you're searching for on this lovely Saturday.

Lerv.

february is american heart month.

In honor of the month, I decided to take a few steps toward heart health by visiting some of my dearest friends and family at PBU this past weekend.

Barley picked me up from the airport on Friday and my heart expressed its thanks by jumping nearly out of my chest and making it hard for my lungs to take in enough air. It felt like death was knocking at my door, but I know that feeling is just my heart's attempt at expressing such immense joy.

The weekend was full of love, fun, great music, great people, more love, some pain and more love. For the most part our adventures did not make it onto film, but here are a few moments that did.

The above photo and the photo below show the aftermath of an intense gummy worm fight.

So much pain, but oh so fun.

Barley tried out my knitting needles in his ear holes. They fit.

I cut the Stanley boys' hairs. (The usual.)

We went on a quest for Cadbury Creme Eggs for Barls. I think it's safe to say that he lervs them.

Stephers & Trev

Who even knows what they were laughing at?

T pierced Ninj's ears. Owwweee!!!

(I lerv this picture of T and Langs.)

The scissors I used for hair-cutting were utter crap, if you wanted to know.

Hammie's new cut was uber-cute. I'm not tooting my own horn because I just did what he told me to do...but HONK, HONK!

Jake is obsessed with large icicles, and on this particular occasion he retrieved one for his good friend Barls as well.

Hammie got super-sweet new plugs. They're squishie and make it look like he has nothing in. So cool.

(This photo is preciously ridonk.)

So, there you have it. The photos are really in no order whatsoever. The captions, I'm sure, are less than entertaining or even helpful...but that's all I've got.

Thanks so much to everyone who let me borrow stuff (Langs, Ninj, Ham, Krista, George), to everyone who let me "stay" in their room (Langs, Ray, Krista, Gwen Stefani), to everyone who gave me freakin' awesome music and helped me navigate my new Maccy (Barls, Ham), to everyone who encouraged/helped me to stretch my ears (Jake, Barls, T, Ham), to everyone who aided me in my pursuit of coffee (BARLS, T, Ninj, Ham) and to everyone who lerved me enough to forgive me when I left without saying goodbye (Stephers).

For now, Cass McCombs is calling my name along with a cup of coffee and my product knowledge manual for work. You can look forward to a couple new posts coming up this weekend hopefully. I've made a couple crafty things that I'd love to share. (1) My special gift for a special someone has successfully been delivered and can therefore be revealed. (2) A quick weekend project will also be posted if I can get the current owner to take some pictures of it. (3) I also have at least one more (probably 2) projects in the queue to get to work on and hopefully post soon!

lerv.

happy birthday, sweet T.

(*This post will just barely make it onto your birth day, T. I'm sorry I failed in the birthday department this year. I feel rotten.)

Happy Birthday to one of my dearest friends, Sweet T.

When I think of you, I recall any one of the following moments (or a million others not included in my life-documentation). You are such a precious part of my life. It feels like I've known you for 37 years instead of just 351 days.

Remember when...

...Cameron got pooped on by that bird on the way to the park on the Fourth of July?


..."where's my chalupa?" at Playa Cancun?


...you just wanted to sleep at Belmar when we went to watch the sunrise with George?


...you took me for a ride on your bike/airplane thing and then it broke...but we got to look at that neat dirigible?

...we used to go to IHOP with Jer in the mornings?


...we went to Cam's game and that bee kept bugging George but didn't even come around you or me?


...you were Tanley. (For the record, this might be my most favorite picture of you ever.)
...you and Carl made me do stupid things in the caf and then take my picture?


...we went to the beach and played and sunned and read that book about strange things (and on the way home you found that shell in your suit...which I still have in my car, by the way)?


...we laughed at poor Jer trying to make that bracelet, sang along with Celine and made plans for the new semester?

...Ian pointed the camera at you, said "Do the Jecca smile!" and you came up with this right away? (Priceless.)

Well, I do!!! How could I forget?!

I love you, T. Happy Birthday. <3