miscellaneous

Just random shots (photo 1 is of my rings at IFB conference, taken by Christina from blog Trop Rouge) of my past few weeks that didn't make it into formal blog posts. I'll be posting a couple cool things this weekend like my new shoe purchases, a few giveaways, outfit shots (DSLR camera's in the mail with 3 new lenses!), and some fall looks that's been inspiring me.
PS. I lost that double dragon ring in Union Square Park right as I was hurrying to the Chictopia 10 conference. I've been looking for a replacement since my zodiac is the Chinese dragon and I've always gotten tons of dragon stuff from China as a kid that I've all eventually lost due to passage of time and multiple moves (Urumqi, China to Las Cruces, NM to Round Rock, TX now to Austin, TX). Let me know if you find something similar...I'll do anything to have something that so dearly reminds me of my childhood back.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

laced up

Velvet Angel shoes (via ideeli), Asos dress (old), thrifted belt, overstock.com bag, mixed necklaces (2x charlotte russe + f21)

So like I said on twitter yesterday, 2 pairs of shoes I ordered online from the huge ideeli clearance came in. I also got some lace-up boots with my $100 Nordstrom's giftcard from the Lookbook.nu x Collection B photoshoot I did wayyyy back. This would be my first ever Nordstrom's purchase since usually the pricepoint in there is way too high and I would rather thrift and shop online sample sales. Speaking of sample sales, these new shoes were marked over 80% off, bought along with a pair of knee-high flat boots. Since I got these on an impulse, I have to wait a few more days before I can get the DSLR camera I've been eyeing...but it should be here soon! I can't wait until I can finally take some decent pictures.
It was nice to just grab some BBQ and chill last night... although I got hit on walking out the restaurant door and had to catch myself from cussing at him. I hate random creepers.
Today I was so excited about the weather being around 70 degrees instead of the usual 90 it's been the past few weeks. Maybe I can pull out my new favorite faux leather jacket (nice and soft...stand in for when I have enough patience and money to get a real leather one) and my favorite fall coats.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

knotted

thrifted shirt, topshop clearance skirt, jeffery campbell shoes, amrita singh necklace, modcloth clutch

I dressed like a crazy person today just because I am so bored with my wardrobe right now that I've been experimenting with ways to wear knotted shirts. The cropped top combo was probably not the best idea to wear to a fried chicken place in Lampasas, Texas (small small Texan town) but I realized this fact a bit too late. PS. Meet Ace, Tim's hyperactive blue lacey.
WHY ISN'T FALL HERE YET? I've got the most amazing fall/winter pieces lined up and the weather just won't cooperate until about somewhere around Thanksgivin...then it'll go from 70 degrees to 40/50 degrees in one day. 
Some people have asked me about what's my inspiration behind an outfit and how do I take inspiration from the runway. I pretty much just grab whatever looks good on my figure (which is totally different than what looks good on the typical model figure) and is also undeniably pretty (imo anyway). I then just grab an item of clothing that I really want to wear that day in some shape or form and build it up from there. As for trends/inspirations I have bunches of inspirational photos saved on the computer from other bloggers' outfit posts and streetstyle photos but I don't really watch the runway much. Certain trends like leopard just don't appeal to me...and then I find it weird to have "Native American" or "jeans on jeans" or "western" or "camo" or "rocker" come into trend. Camo, jeans on jeans and cowboy boots are worn so much in these Texan towns that to me it just seems weird to wear it all of a sudden because it's cool now. Tim has camo stuff he wears for hunting all the time...and a gazillion skull jewelry and rock tshirts and band jackets from being a metal head all of his life. Therefore I connect these items in the store more with Texas or rockers rather than what's on the runway. On the other hand, I do like it when stuff like lace or faux fur or leather or wool capes come into style because I've always loved those things and now it's easier for me to find the perfect pieces to wear for seasons to come. I hope my ramble kinda made sense? In any case, I will always love things from the 50's in terms of silhouettes and wool items, things that reminds me of flappers like beading and sequins, things that accentuates my favorite part of my body (my waist), and things with a lot of texture and volume (faux/vintage fur, leather, embroidery, brocade, tweed, drape/pleats/ruffles). For night time I go to concerts a lot so I also love rocker jewelry, shoes and pieces with leather/chain/stud detailing.
I'm sure the above ramble typed up in a stream-of-consciousness manner at 2AM in the morning won't make sense to me tomorrow. Kudos if you actually read it.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

floral flapper

vintage blazer, thrifted shoes, thrifted blouse, free people skirt, overstock.com purse

Not much going on except a lazy/mundane day for me (finally!!!) to relax a bit other than classes and research (no programming, no grading hwk, no tutoring...). I got to finally semi-catch up on reading my magazine subscriptions. As for sleep? Obviously not yet since it's almost 1AM and I have to get up at 7AM but that's what weekends are for right? I was invited to over a dozen music, food and fashion events this weekend and decided to ultimately take it easy and drive to the countryside tomorrow after my 11AM class.
By the way, who the hell eats an ENTIRE PLATE of molten lava cake with cookies n' cream whipped cream topping after already downing an entire plate of fried shrimp? My boyfriend. I told him his sweet tooth could be put to good use if he started a local desserts blog....seeing as we visit enough sweets shops as it is. Although we joked about doing so "in his free time" because he truly is the only person I know that has a more hectic schedule than me. 
PS. I bought Tim's mom a lavender pashmina scarf with gold embroidery from NYC to cheer her up post-heart surgery and I think it worked! According to Tim's dad she's shown it to everyone that's visited her in the past 1.5 weeks...nurses, doctors, and house guests. Out of all of the new york shopping I did, that was the best money spent. Second place goes to the Type O Negative patch I got for Tim on the infamous St. Marks PI (yes I visited Trash and Vaudeville like I always do and Jimmy the store owner liked my rings); it's one of his favorite bands and since the singer just passed away recently it's pretty special (plus rare). They're slightly too goth/morbid for my taste but I do like a couple songs from them.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

neverending summer

vintage blazer, forever 21 skirt, asos clutch, asos shirt, etsy vintage belt, thrifted shoes

It's still 80-90 degrees here, what's up with that? I want to be able to wear tights, wool coats, and layers. I can barely wear this light blazer outside without being too warm (it's perfect for indoor A/C though). I've been collecting a thousand inspirational images for fall. By the way, I was informed of the fact that today's the last day of summer by a fellow geek chemical engineer. Speaking of engineering, if you follow me on twitter you would have known that I've been writing polymath code and lab reports constantly. I frequent the CPE computer lab more than my apartment...I spend around 10 hours in my apartment and then the rest of the 14 hrs at the lab. It's been really stressful but I hope it's worth it.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

umbrella

modcloth dress, thrifted belt, thrifted shoes, ebay necklace (old), asos clutch

It's currently drizzling in ATX ...and it feels all gloomy so I had to wear some bright colors. I am trying to explore more colors since I seem to only do monochrome and pastels. I used to wear this necklace all the time but stopped doing so for some reason for the past year or so...it went well with this new dress from the modcloth clearance sale so I decided to bring it back out.
I'm not going to say much since I've been working since 8AM to type a lab report, tutor some kids, do some reactor programming, and research. I'm dead tired and I need to get up early in the morning to study for cell biology...so much crap to do, so little time! Thank god for the nice engineering dudes that let me mooch 2 slices of Mangia pizza off of them in the chemical engineering computer lab or else I would have skipped dinner again. Hope everyone else is having a less stressful week than I am! Off to bed...

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

eeelectric blue

necessary clothing shoes (SOHO!), lulu's pants, vintage blouse, H&M scarf, modcloth bag, thrifted belt
(also seen: a huge piece of red velvet cheesecake, aka Tim's dinner Friday night as he had 2 slices of this baby instead of real food)

Both the shoes and the scarf were bought during the NYC trip...the scarf was actually bought during Fashion's Night Out. Julia observed that I hate lines because every time I saw something cute at a store during FNO, I would either ditch it due to the super long lines to the dressing rooms and the cashier or give Julia money to purchase it for me if she happened to be in the line anyway to buy for herself....yeah I'm lazy. I did manage to purchase these shoes the first day I was in new york as I walked along Broadway, waiting for me to become useful behind the stage at a fashion show. Colbalt blue is one of the few bright colors I wear. The bag is a recent addition and maybe it'll be an incentive to reduce the amount of shit I carry around.
List of things that are hilarious surreal about a group of fashion bloggers meeting for the first time after stalking each other on their blogs are:
1. When you meet your favorite bloggers, you might know every. single. piece. of clothing from their wardrobe, their favorite food, their favorite color, their boyfriend/ex's name(s), their pet peeves...but you might not remember how to pronounce their name...you might even only know them by their blog/chictopia/etc. name. I was called "turquoisepassion" the entire time at the Chictopia conference by people coming up to introduce themselves.
2. People always have preconceptions of your height. In my case, people were surprised that I was tall (5'9'').
3. People have preconceptions of your personality...surmised from your blog personality. I had to remember that no one knows I'm an awkward chemical engineering geek and play cool confident. Also, I had to keep my "that's what she said" quirps to myself...for now. Remember, I hang out with all guys due to my major!
Anyway, I'm going to grade some papers now...ugh I feel like such a loser for freaking grading papers on a Saturday night. It's alright because I'll be at a concert tomorrow though. Oh and PS: I'm thinking about upgrading to a DSLR camera after groping everyone else's way-more-awesome cameras during fashion week. Luckily, my measly paycheck for being an engineering course grader is coming in next week so I might get my dream camera! Here's to hoping...
Finally, Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" was fittingly ironically stuck in my head all fashion week...so I'm going to share it here. (note: certain scenes might be disturbing to some)

 

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

sheer

vintage blazer, american apparel skirt, forever21 shirt, bakers sandals, overstock.com bag

I went back and forth on whether I should purchase this skirt for over 2 months now. When I saw it in person (usually I do most of my shopping online) at the Soho store during Fashion's Night Out I finally purchased it on an impulse. As for life, I am currently trying to still finish the 100000x school-related tasks on my neverending to-do list. I already miss walking up Broadway from the Financial District to Chinatown for dim sum, Little Italy for gelato, and then Soho for shopping. Oh, and to run into UT fashion students in Soho across the street from Topshop was really awesome. I'm going to miss NYC! 
This weekend is going to suck but I did enjoy last night's date! Red velvet cheesecake, pasta carbonara...and then Barnes and Noble for a couple hours...and then Gamespot. Yes, we are that nerdy. Yes, we are pigs. :)

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

the golden coat

vintage coat, forever 21, colin stuart pumps, asos clutch

I'm back in ATX but still catching up on work (a couple midterms, some polymath programming on reactor hwk, 2 analytical chemistry lab reports, 50+ sets of hwk for biochemical engineering to grade, etc etc etc) so here's a really quick outfit post before I head off to researching stuff. This was what I wore the last day in NYC for the chictopia 10 conference. More on NYC later.... :) All I can say is I've had a grand time NYC thanks to my newly made friends but it's good to be back in Texas.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.

red balloons

vintage blouse, UO shorts, thrifted belt, forever 21 shoes, overstock.com bag

Most of the photos courtesy of Christina and Julie...I hung out with these two lovely gals after the Renegade Bloggers Meetup. Fashion's Night Out was kind of nightmarish for so many reasons (super long lines....EVERYWHERE...congested traffic...EVERYWHERE). I was so worn so I spent today walking around NYC, familiarizing myself with manhattan. I was reminded of the fact that it was sept. 11th by the rally in the financial district (picture above). Oh, the random belt photo was taken of a fellow fashion blogger's vintage belt that had the previous owner's "bedroom conquests" written on it.

Facebook fan page  HERE.

Twitter HERE.

Fan me on chictopia HERE.