Uncharacteristic

So, it seems that summer decided to have one last hurrah before letting autumn take over. It was kind of funny. I've been dressing overly warm since September began, but today I dressed weather-correct, while my whole campus was consumed with jackets, sweaters, and boots. Instead, I vouched for my new skirt, since the color was just so bright, and a floral top.



Skirt: American Apparel, Top: Delia's, Sandals: Steve Madden



This week's been rough. School's kind of suddenly picked up, and I'm scrambling to get grounded again. I've got a paper due next week on the Iliad, and I'm at a total loss. Like, nearly frightened at a loss. I know I'll get something done, but the class is just so intense and frankly, I've been feeling like a bit of an incompetent idiot. And today, I had my first poetry critique and it didn't go so well. It's not so much fun to have confidence in something and hear people tell you completely valid reasons as to why what you've written isn't as good as you thought. But I suppose that's the critique process. Blah!



Sorry I'm updating a bit late tonight. I've been a bit swamped with work tonight. I hope you're all doing well, and being happy!

Until tomorrow,
Nicole :)

Something Old and Something New

If it were possible to be in love with a pair of pants, I think I would be, with these navy corduroys. I picked these up on a [very frustrating, but that's another story] shopping trip over the weekend. I had tried them on and wanted to purchase them about a month ago, but they were a bit too expensive. I saw that they had been reduced by twenty dollars, though, so I decided to get them! Oh my goodness are they comfortable. They're stretchy, but don't stretch out as the day wears on. I was worried about this since nearly all of my other pants do this. I also think the dark color is a bit slimming, which is always good. And also, I just love navy corduroy.



Pants: Espirit, Sweater: Delia's, Shoes and glasses: Mom's

This sweater is the "something old" I'm referencing in the title of this post. It's probably from around sophomore year of high school. I really haven't worn it (or seen it?) for years, and I had forgotten about it until I was trying to figure out what exactly to pair with the pants (inadvertent puns!). I knew I wanted to wear a sweater because it was another blustery, rainy day today, and when I found this sweater hiding in the back of my closet I was all "I think I'll wear this forgotten sweater today" (exact self dialogue, incase you were wondering). It has a bunch of mismatched buttons along the crazy neckline, which I find endearingly quirky.





Until tomorrow,
Nicole :)

Singing In the Rain

I love days like today. The ones where it rains all day without stopping. There's something so cozy about waking up to a dark and rainy day, and luckily I had the day off to just stay home, do some work, and wear a skirt made of sweater material. I really love this skirt, but I can only wear it when it's colder out since it's knitted, so I wanted to take advantage of the cool drizzly weather and wear it!



Skirt, Sweater, Boots: Urban Outfitters, Shirt: Delia's, Tights: Macy's





Considering the title of this post, I think this would be a good time to mention how much I LOVE the movie Singin In the Rain. I got it from netflix months ago and never watched it until a few weeks ago. Seriously, it is now one of my favorite movies. It's ridiculously funny and the songs are great and Gene Kelly is adorable. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it and like classic movies. Do you have a classic movie that you really adore?



Well, I hope you are all having lovely starts to the week!

Until tomorrow,
Nicole

With Grace In Your Heart and Flowers On Your Feet

I am so happy for this week to be drawing to a close! School has been making me feel all sorts of overwhelmed. Mainly it's my genius of a philosophy teacher, as my brain is too tiny for his grand thoughts and I'm kind of just barely grasping the crazy things he's saying about Aristotle. Oh goodness!



Shirt, Skirt: Urban Outfitters, Belt: Target, Shoes: Mom's, Necklace: Modcloth




Anyway, if outfit looks familiar, it's because it's nearly identical to the second outfit I posted on this blog, ever. Oh, memories (even though it's really only been 4 months..). I think it's kind of funny that I haven't worn this shirt in a while, but when I finally decided to wear it again I paired it with the skirt I wore the first time I wore the shirt. That was a very wordy sentence. I just added some little floral socks ("for a pop of color!" as my mother triumphantly remarked) and some penny loafers to switch it up.



I'd like to share a little story about my mustache necklace. I wore it to class yesterday, and as I was talking with my friend and leaving class, my teacher stopped me and remarked that he saw my necklace, and that it was cool. I was flattered, and thanked him. He then was all "So, do you ever hold it up to your face and pretend you have a mustache?" and I was all "OF COURSE." Then he said "Well, let's see it then!" and so I preceded to hold the mustache up to my face, which garnered a laugh and that it was cool. For the record, this is the cool teacher who wears bolo ties sometimes, not the crazy ridiculous philoso-man mentioned previously in this post.

Well, I'm off to eat and not do any work whatsoever (but maybe a little if I feel guilty). I hope you all have lovely weekends!

-Nicole

This Newly Impassioned Soul

My goodness! It's only Wednesday, but I'm exhausted from this week for some reason. Maybe it's all this Iliad reading I've been doing. Don't get me wrong, I'm a complete fan of literature and find it fascinating that I'm able to read something that was written so long ago that still has resonance today, but it's dense and a lot to take in at once. Anyway, I'm going end my complaining right here. Instead, I'll talk about my dress. I'm extremely fascinated by chance and how particular things (and more so, people) end up in your life when there are so many things that could prevent your meeting. This dress is one of those things. I found it at a Salvation Army store. It happened to be cute and it happened to fit me. There was only one there, and someone else could have purchased it. Or it could have been a smaller size. Or someone could have decided they wanted to hold onto it for a little bit longer and I would never have found it! Oh, I'm over thinking this, as I so often do, but I think it's fascinating.




Dress: Salvation Army, Shoes: Mom's, Brooch: Gift




Do you ever have those moments when you feel like you're exactly where you should be in every way? I have those moments rarely, and they're certainly fleeting. But yesterday, I was walking around campus, heading from a meeting to the library and I just felt...correct. I've been receiving validation on a few things I care deeply for lately, validation I don't often receive but so badly desire, and it hit me at that moment that things are right. It was just a moment, out of nowhere, and since then I've gone back to my normal, uncertain state, but I look forward to that next moment where things just feel right. Do you guys ever feel this way?



Hope you all are having lovely weeks so far! I'm looking forward to a night of new fall television (Law and Order: SVU premier tonight!) and maybe a little bit of work!

Until tomorrow,
Nicole

Looking for a mystery

So, I start nearly every Tuesday and Thursday, once I get to school, complaining to my friend Charlotte about how awful everyone drives during rush hour (I hit morning and night traffic). Today was possibly the worst yet. The drive home was seriously awful. A kid ran into the street, two cars almost hit me, and on top of rush hour traffic there were three accidents on the highway. I got home and just started crying because I was so overwhelmed by all of it. I wasn't going to take any pictures today since I was upset and exhausted, but I thought it might make me feel better to do so.



Dress: Thrifted, Sweater: Thrifted, Tights: Macy's, Shoes: Mom's, Necklace: JCPenney



So, once I got home I checked my email and was really excited to see an email from Modcloth. Turns out, they featured me on their blog today! I was so so excited, and this news certainly made me feel better :)


Well, I have some work to do so I suppose I should get to that!

Until tomorrow,
Nicole

Uniformal

Hello! So, yesterday was super lazy, since I had a whole bunch of Iliad to read, among other things. But on Saturday, Zak and I decided to head out and play some mini golf (one of our most favorite things). In Cape Cod, Zak and his family play a whole lot, and I mean a WHOLE lot of mini golf, and they get super duper competitive about it (there was a scoresheet and bonus points...) but Zak and I aren't so into the competitiveness. So, we played two games and only kept score for one, and we really had a good time! So much so that I don't even mind that I very obviously lost, even when we weren't keeping score :)



Dress: Urban Outfitters, Sweater: H&M, Belt: Target, Knee Socks: ?, Moccasins: Minnetonka, Necklace: JCPenney





So, I finally decided to try out the knee socks trend! I've been tentative to do so, despite seeing many lovely bloggers wearing them well. This is in part because I went to Catholic school for 13 years and had to wear knee socks all the time. Honestly, though, I remember cleaning out my sock drawer after I graduated, getting rid of a bunch of navy and maroon tights and knee socks, and being kind of sad to let go of wearing knee socks. So, when I was getting dressed on Saturday I was searching for a pair of navy tights to wear, but I couldn't find any. I did, however, come across my lovely navy knee socks, and once I put them on I knew I had to wear them. I really thought I would feel self-conscious wearing them, but I was actually really comfortable and happy with my outfit.



So, I'm in a bit of a tizzy because of my poetry assignment this week (to write a poem with vivid, concrete imagery and not a lot of feeling WHAT?). It's frustrating to have the allotted time to do work, but to not have an idea to write about. OOF! I'm also in a bit of a tizzy due to a dream I had this morning. I guess that's what I get for hitting snooze eighteen times. I had just shut my alarm, convinced I would get up in a minute, when I fell alseep and had a dream that made me miss people I had already been missing and become concerned over relationships I've already been concerned with. Oh, goodness.

Well, I hope you all had lovely weekends and are not in any sort of tizzies!

Until tomorrow,
Nicole

The Beauty of Love As It Was Made to Be

Hello! Today has been wonderfully lazy. I've really only done some work and gone food shopping. Exciting, I know. BUT, I may be going shopping this weekend to do some shopping for my sister (yay, income!) and maybe just a little for myself as well! There are a few pieces I would just really like to have in my closet for fall, one of which is a black cardigan. My cardigan collection is really spotty, as I'm finding out now that I'm wearing more and more sweaters. I would also really like to find an affordable pair of oxfords. I've almost purchased the steve madden tuxxedo oxfords about eight hundred times, then backed out at the last second. I just have a problem with spending eighty dollars on some oxfords. Are there any items you're longing to have in your fall wardrobe?



Top: Forever 21, Jeans: Levi's, Boots: Delia's, Belt: Purse strap




I felt super duper seventies in this outfit, but I'm not sure why. I think it was really just my mom's amazing old glasses and my hair, which I attempted to curl but it just ended up kind of poof-wavy. I'm pretty sure I love wearing my mom's old glasses way too much. The other day, she handed me a plastic bag full of her old, super-oversized glasses and I squealed/immediately tried them on. This pair is one of my favorites :)



I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

-Nicole

Dust Bowl Dance

Boy howdy am I tired! So tired, in fact, that I just started a post with "boy howdy." Oh, goodness. This week has been tiring, what with copious amounts of work and commuting during peak rush hour times. But, hooray, I'm done for the week! Also,on an only semi related note, a few classes ago I noticed that one of my teachers has a pocket watch and one of them wore a bolo tie. I bring this up only because I think it's cool that I have teachers that like quirky, outdated things. Also also, I'm now on the hunt for a pocket watch.



Dress: Modcloth, Sweater: Thrifted, Tights: Macy's, Heels: Madden Girl



So, I purchased this dress during modcloth's crazy 70% off sale last week. I had been eyeing it for months but it was way out of my price range and, honestly, it's not really similar to what I usually wear (though, I seem to dress extremely differently from day to day anyway so maybe this point is invalid..). But, huzzah, it was on sale for super cheap so I decided to buy it (the last one in my size, may I add). It was more form fitting than I expected it to be, and I'm slightly uncomfortable with it showing off all my lady-assets, but I still like the dress. I knew I wanted to layer under it rather than over, and I have a whole nother look planned based on the layering. But today, I decided to go super neutral and dark, also sort of unlike me, but I like how it came out.




I'm sorry that I'm lacking in magical adventures to share with you. Honestly, I'm quite pooped and am about ready to plop down on the couch and watch the top chef season finale that hasn't yet been spoiled for me.

Until tomorrow,
Nicole :)

Good to Go

Hello! So, today began as one of those where EVERYTHING made me super duper over-emotional: the morning traffic, the driver in the bus lane who shouldn't have been in the bus lane, the girl who walked through the exit door when I was holding the entrance door open for her (seriously, who DOES that?!). BUT luckily I realized about halfway through the day that I was being a big silly pants and tried to make the best of everything. Also luckily, I was wearing I dress I felt cute in. Though, I was told I looked like a stewardess (my mom quickly assured me it was a CUTE stewardess) as well as a grandma (Zak quickly assured me it was a CUTE grandma),I didn't care!



Dress: Salvation Army, Belt: Delia's, Cardigan: H&M, Shoes: Minnetonka
This dress was one of my Salvation Army finds. Despite being long and poofy, it reminded me of a sailer, and I enjoy sailer related clothes so, voi la, I bought it! I seriously want to go back there and stock up on oversized sweaters and maybe a blazer or two for the cooler months.






Also, I voted for the first time today! I currently feel extremely self-important. It's only the primaries, but my US History teacher in high school, whom I love dearly, told us we absolutely needed to vote in every election we could because so many woman fought incredibly hard to get us the right do so. And honestly, we would all be complaining if we couldn't vote and men could, so I want to try and vote as often as I can.

Until tomorrow,
Nicole

Dog Days Are Over

Hello! This weekend was a pretty lazy one after Friday. I was feeling a bit under the weather, still am, but better at least! Yesterday, Zak and I went to go see Going the Distance. It was pretty good, a little too profane for my liking, but it had some really funny parts. And Jason Sudeikis, who is my favorite.



Top: Delia's, Skirt: UO, Shoes: Mom's, Belt: Target, Tights: Macy's

It was so chilly and rainy yesterday (my most favorite weather to dress up in), so I went straight for my tights and super cozy crop top.





I'm sorry I have hardly anything to say. Or, rather, I think I have too much to say that I don't want to take out on here. I've been doing a lot of work and questioning myself a lot lately about a lot of things, mainly my writing and capabilities. I'm questioning the decision I made in high school to focus on English for my future, wondering if it's the right choice. I'm probably over thinking things but I just can't help it. I like certainty and I like security, so these things are getting to me quite a bit.

Anyway, I hope you all had great weekends <3

Until tomorrow,
Nicole