New Hair and Office Sequins

Ta dah! Check it out, I have new, all natural hair.

Last spotted in 1998 and a two-year work in progress, it's my all natural hair color. I was more than a bit shocked when I discovered just how dark my hair really is and to be honest I wasn't all that pleased. But it's been a few weeks now (I'm quite the delayed blogger) and it's really starting to grow on me. The cut was inspired by a curly haired Maggie Gyllenhaal and while not quite as dramatic as I was hoping for it did re-dedicate myself to my stylist who I was thinking about breaking up with after a very long relationship.

You like?

I've also got on a very cute, new to me dress. I picked this up on my trip to Portland this past fall on Hawthorne Boulevard in the Southeast. Portland was glorious and I can't believe I never told y'all about it. When I finally wear the dress I got from Fat Fancy I'll give you an update.

It's just a simple black sweater dress that has the most AMAZING 80's shoulder pads and sequins. It's a continuation of my desire to bring sequins to the office, not just the weekend. I've paired my sequined sweater dress with some Duo boots and a headband from a Brooklyn street fair.

Photo credit to my beloved Ateqah.

Sundresses and Snowstorms

This is what it looks like outside of my apartment today. We've had 20 inches of snow fall and it's insanity outside.

But I want to take you to a different place, where you don't have to wear ugly shoes and trudge through waist high snow. After London I headed over to Israel for a few days to visit my sister. The temperature rose by 50 degrees and I spent my days either playing with my niece and nephews or lying in the sun, reading trashy magazines. Good times.

It also meant that I got to wear a new dress that I had picked up on the Evans sales rack the week before in London.

Can we have a moment of silence where we appreciate how little clothing I am wearing and how sunny it is. Ok, thank you.

The best part of the dress is the crocheted back. I love details like this and yes, next time I'll wear a black bra.

I have little on, but as for details my dress is from Evans, my flip-flops are Havianna's, my bag is Botkier and I picked up these sunglasses at a market in Turkey.

My hair piece was purchased at the Bust craftacular a few years ago and I think I got these earrings at a NYC street fair. My wonderful sister was both my tour guide and photographer for the day.

And just because I am a woman obsessed, here's a photo of my sister's "baby." It's official, my nephew is cuter than yours.

Day 13. Apartment Hunting is Exhausting

Apartment hunting in New York is exhausting and depressing and overwhelming in a way that I cannot quite explain. Seriously people, it is the worst and it's been driving me crazy. I've now found a place (and will likely write about it more soon) but the stress has been driving me to want to put on sweats and not get out of bed. However since it's September I have to rally and put on a dress. I should probably be thanking you all for that.

I wore this tunic a few weeks ago so I wanted to showcase it in a different way. In that end I paired it with some jeggings from Faith 21, a cropped cardigan from Banana Republic and my new favorite moccasins.

I added a headband from some crappy accessory store on 14th street and my pink, sparkly moustache necklace that I got at the Bust Winter Craftacular. One of the fun things about this necklace (aside from the fact that it's a pink, sparkly moustache) is that it's reversible and is black on the other side. Yeah for utility!

Photo credit goes to my co-worker Ben who helped a girl out very late at night.

Day 8, Dress 98: Remixing a Dress Is Hard

When I decided to continue this blog after September 2009 I said that I wasn't sure what I would do come next September. Could I blog a dress in September 2010 if I had already blogged about it earlier that year? I realized that I would never be able to do 30 Dresses again if I didn't use some dresses I had previously worn and blogged (albeit not in September 07, 08 or 09).

Some dresses are easier to remix than others. I had worn and blogged today's dress a few months ago so I wanted to do wear it in a different way than I had before. I discovered that today's dress, a Target dress via Ross is not a dress that is very easy to remix.

With a busy pattern I figured all I could do was change up the accessories. I went with a silver palette. I'm wearing a mirrored necklace and a flower in my hair that both came from Forever 21.

Paired with some silver shoes from Office.

If you have other remixing suggestions for this dress I would love to hear them.

Photo credit goes to JoJo.

What a Wonderful Night

After a few days of rain and cold and May dreariness, we had a beautiful day today. The 80 degree weather was an excuse to break out one of my new Ross purchases - yay, yay, yay!

When people ask about me why I'm so obsessed with Ross, today's dress is a great example. I find it terribly adorable - I love the pattern, the pockets, the shape of the cap sleeves and all for the bargain price of $8.99. How can you not love that?

Of course with me, I'm also obsessed with accessories and today I finally get to showcase the sandals that I purchased in India. Ooh, I'm in love. In a funny twist of fate they cost more than twice as much as the dress. And I bought them in INDIA. The dress was purchased in North Carolina. Crazy people.

I kept the other accessories very simple. A little headband that I purchased at a different Ross visit and the earrings are a hand-me-down, but I'm not sure which of my lovely friends gave them to me. Speak up if it's you. Can you see the pattern on my nails? Each week I'm getting a little bit better at nail art.

But wait bloomie, this photos look like they were taken in the daytime and your title is about having a wonderful night. Well that's because tonight I attended the wonderful panel Fat Politics and Sexuality in the Face of Hate at the McNally Jackson bookstore and ohmygoodness was it wonderful!

The panel was hosted by Marilyn Wann, the author of Fat?So! which was the first fat acceptance...anything I ever picked up and it changed my life. Next up on the panel was Substansia Jones from the Adipositivity Project and she recognized me!!! I was going up to talk to her to tell her how much I love her work and would she please photograph me naked when she told me she recognized me as the 30 Dresses Girl and was a fan. You could have knocked me over with a feather, I don't get recognized from my blog and we had a bit of a mutual love fest for a minute. She told me she loved my smile and wanted to set me up with someone. We're best friends already.

The most exciting panelist for me to hear and meet was Lesley Kinzel, of Fatshionista fame. I've "known" Lesley online for awhile and tonight I finally got to meet her. I can't begin to describe how much Lesley's activism (not to mention fatshion sense) has meant to me and how much she has helped me come to truly love myself just as I am. To say I was excited to meet her was a bit of an understatement. Honestly if I was allowed to have a dinner and invite anyone in the world Lesley would be high on my list. Here she is talking about two whole cakes.

Overall it was just lovely to be in a room with so many happy, satisfied, gorgeous fat women and men. Look at that crowd. Who wouldn't have a wonderful night hanging out with all of them?

Rainy Day Simplicity

Rain can present a bit of a problem if you have curls or wear glasses or have an inability to walk in the rain without kicking it up all over yourself. I have the great honor of having all three of these traits. The first two are fairly easy to fix - wear contacts and pull back your hair, but the third one presents a bit of a problem. I lack the ability to walk around in the rain without kicking water all over myself. It's really kind of amazing. Rain boots help, but they don't completely solve the problem. Why? Because I'm three.

For the rainy weather I decided to go simple. I'm wearing one of my favorite purchases of the past year - a simple denim skirt from Target that I've topped with a black t-shirt from H&M and a cropped jacket from Torrid. I needed something to spice up the outfit so I opted for some bright tights from Dorothy Perkins that perfectly matched my boots from Laila Rowe. I hate flash, but it does help you see the true color of the tights in the photo below.

For a little bit of personality I've added my pearl necklace with a bow that I got from Primark. I saw a ton of multi-strand necklaces with bows attached when I was last in London and I'm surprised that the look never crossed the pond to become as popular here as it did there. Last but not least, I have a black, sequined leaf in my hair that I got at the 2009 Bust Craftacular.

I'm Not Afraid of Color or Patterns

I know there's a lot going on in this dress and I didn't help the situation that much with my hair band and earrings, but when I have accessories that work so well with a dress I can't resist, even when I know that I should. When I get dressed I always think of the famous Coco Chanel quote "always remove the last accessory you put on" and I try and take something off, but I'm not always so good at actually doing so. I'm trying dear readers, I promise but I just love accessories.

This dress, like many others is from Ross and while I wasn't so sure about it when I purchased it and really went for it because it had long sleeves, I've come to really appreciate it. You really don't have to do anything other than throw it on and you've got a complete outfit. I of course never do just that, but one could.

The boots I'm wearing are from Evans and the tights are from Target. I've added a headband from Dorothy Perkins and some hand-me-down earrings from the darling Ateqah.

This is a pre-haircut photo and it was taken long enough ago that I can't recall who gets photo credit. Sorry JLR.

If You Shop Spring it Will Come & Chub-Rub Solution Part 2

Last weekend I found myself at a suburban mall. I do not spend much time at suburban malls so this was an odd experience in many ways. What I quickly discovered (or remembered since it was the mall of my youth) is just how easy it is to spend large amounts of money in a small amount of time. Fun!

It was a cold day after a few days of warmth and I was enamoured with the possibility of spring. So I shopped for spring, with the thought in the back of my mind if shop it, it will come. Turns out I was right and I was able to showcase my favorite purchase the following week on a day when the weather topped out in the mid-70's. Note the drinking of beer outside. Sometimes global warming isn't half bad.

I absolutely love this skirt and I picked it up last week at NY & Company. I have to say my visit to this shop was much nicer than the last time I went there. The skirt is so busy that I went for pretty minimal look otherwise. The top is a hand-me-down from Banana Republic and the jean jacket is from the Fat Girl Flea. The necklace is from a sample sale, the earrings were purchased at a street fair and the shoes are from Office. I didn't have time to wash my hair and attempted my very first bouffant which was only semi-successful - tips are most welcome. The flower in my hair is from Forever 21, which is a great place to shop for inexpensive hair accessories.





Finally we arrive at chub-rub solution part 2. I want to thank everyone for all of their comments of support and suggestions the other day. It's funny the problems that so many women can have, that so few of us are willing to publicly discuss. Thighs rub people, there is nothing shameful about that. And guess what, even thin women suffer from chub-rub.

This all brings us to peek-a-boo photo of what is underneath bloomie's skirt #2. Are we enjoying these? My friend took this in a crowded beer garden with the statement that it'd probably be smarter to do so in a bar than outside my office building which is where I originally planned to take it. Pamie is smart like that.


So I know I said that I used to love Evan's comfort shorts and then last summer the new design didn't seem to work for me. Well I decided to give 'em another try and I dug a pair out of my drawer and suddenly they started to work well again. Last year they would always ride up when I wore them, which kinda makes a chub-rub solution a big, fat failure. This time they didn't do that. I don't know if it was because they seemed tighter so they didn't ride up or maybe it was a pair of the old design. Either way I think I'm going to order some new ones from Evans and give 'em a go again.

I had historically been a fan of these because they're very light and comfortable and are made for the express purpose of stopping chub-rub. Unlike Spanx they don't suck you in and unlike bike shorts they're not heavy and they don't add any bulk or lines to your outfit all which appeal to me. Not to mention that at 5 pounds a pop, it's a fairly inexpensive solution. I would say that if you're planning an order from Evans, throw a pair of these into your cart and see how they work out for you.

Photo credit goes to both Nicole and Pamie. Thanks my darlings!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Although it pains me to admit this since I relish any occasion to dress in some sort of themed outfit, I forgot that today was St. Patrick's Day. Oops. It wasn't until I got off my subway station at work and was swarmed by Staten Island teenagers resplendent in green that I realized "shit it's St. Patty's Day and I'm not wearing green." Well I'm wearing this, so there's a bit of green but not enough to really count. I lived in Dublin and love the Irish (although not those that run the NYC St. Patty's Day Parade) so it's particularly disappointing.

I did however rock a green outfit last week so shh, lets all pretend I'm wearing this today.

I think everything I'm wearing has been featured before on my blog - no I take that back, I can't find the vest anywhere. The dress is from Old Navy, the vest and tights are from Target, the boots are Laila Rowe, the necklace is Betsy Johnson and the hair piece is from the Bust Craftacular.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is coming and if you couldn't tell from my beaming smile I am overjoyed about this. The last few days it has been sunny, in the high 50's and everyone is walking around New York in a chipper mood. I've put away my down comforter, am sleeping with the window open and had a beer outside the other day. I know I'm getting ahead of myself and soon there will be a bitter backlash, but for now I'm just running head first into Spring.

I am also loving the opportunity to whip out some of my spring clothes that have been hiding in the back of my closet. You saw this dress and hoodie combined before during my September month of 30 dresses. The dress is a size 12 from H&M and the hoodie is a medium from J. Crew. The dress I got from a Friday fats sale and the hoodie is a hand-me-down from my lovely friend Mirka. Believe me there's no other way I would have ever thought to try on a medium from J. Crew otherwise. However every time I wear it it's a good reminder of how you should ignore the size on the tag and always try things on.






My headband was purchased at a crafts fair in Savannah for a pittance of what I would have paid in New York. I really should have bought more because this headband always brings a smile to my face and to the face of others.




Candy shoes are from my beloved Office and they're definitely among my top 5 favorite pairs of shoes, which much like my headband often make people smile as well. I couldn't seem to get a shot that properly highlighted the colors in the shoe, so here's a link to another photo that shows the color a bit better.


Photo credit goes to my co-worker Joshua who didn't quite understand what we were doing, but graciously did it anyways.

Sickeningly Sweet

I'm back from India! Once I've gotten over my jetlag and have uploaded my photos I'll post some of the best ones and share some of my thoughts, but for now thank you for all of your comments over the past few weeks - I'm sorry if I haven't responded to all of them. Until then, here's a quick outfit of the day for everyone.



Here's a confession, I felt like an impostor in this outfit. A farce, a fake, it just wasn't me. I'd had a vision of how this outfit would look in my head and when I actually put it on the outfit both didn't look like how I'd envisioned and it wasn't quite me, but I kept it on anyways in order to try something a bit out of my comfort zone.



Truth be told the whole outfit was just too sweet for me. It felt like something that girls who live on the Upper East Side would wear. Also it incorporated a solid button down shirt which usually make me break out in hives so that also added to my discomfort. The only reason I even own that button-down is because it was a hand-me-down and I figured I should keep it in my closet for work related functions.

The skirt is from Lane Bryant and may just be the first article of clothing from that store that you've seen featured on my blog which is kind of hysterical considering it's the store for fatties. Aside from bras I tend to not shop at Lane Bryant, but I passed by it one day and got sucked in by this bright, poppy skirt in the window. I love it the pattern but I never know quite what to wear up top which is where the inspiration for the outfit came from. The hand-me-down button-down is either from Gap or Old Navy and the tank underneath is a hand-me-down as well but from someone else (hi James!).



The tights are from Target, the shoes are Office, the belt is from Peacock's and the headband is from H&M. In my attempt to be more comfortable in the outfit I added my new bad ass earrings from Brookadelphia. I've talked before about them and my concerns about online purchases from them, but I got these in person at the 2009 Bust Craftacular so no ordering issues. A reader told me that he had ordered from them after seeing their products on my blog (with no problems I will add) and when I mentioned that to the owners they actually remembered it since he was their very first ever order from that state. I thought that was kinda cool:)



Ok I'm soon going to bed. Jetlag can be a bitch.

Anatomy of an Outfit

I was getting dressed yesterday the other day and at one point had to stop and laugh at all the different things I tried on before I was satisfied enough to leave the house. So I thought I'd take you on a walk-through of what it's like when I get dressed in the morning and all the different things that run through my head when I'm putting together an outfit.

The basics of the outfit stayed the same. I put on the pants, no excuse me "treggings" which I was wearing for the first time that I just got from Dorothy Perkins. Treggings is a terrible word and one I'd never heard before I was on their site. They're interesting, closer to pants than leggings and kinda remind me of something I once bought at Rampage for "post-prom clubbing." That however is a story for a very different time.

The top I got at Loehmann's and is one of those uber-soft, fancy cotton shirts. I cleaned out my long-sleeved t-shirt drawer the other day, throwing out anything that had a rip. I was pretty good, but I just could not bear to give this one away, even though there was a small rip on the seam. I made a deal that with myself that if I wore the top in the next month I was allowed to keep it, tear or no tear. Yay, I guess I win!

So I'm sitting in my room with treggings and t-shirt on, when I grab my black, cropped vest out of my closet and throw on a long black and gold necklace. I looked in the mirror and thought "no, not quite right, plus I might get cold" so I grabbed my long, black, cashmere hoodie. I put that on and didn't like the length. So then I tried a regular black cardigan and I didn't like that either. So I removed the vest and cardigan and stood there with just the necklace on as my only accessory.

I went to the blazer/jacket section of my closet and looked around and saw today's Torrid blazer which I don't wear that often, but I grabbed it and thought "aaah this will be perfect." I liked the blazer but I wasn't completely content with the look so I opened up my drawer of hair accessories and tried on a few different headbands, settling on the one I'm wearing which is from H&M.

Then while I had my drawer of hair accessories open I spotted this silver, sequined, skinny scarf that I got from some random store in London while we had been searching for hijab scarves for a friend. In the past I've only worn it as a belt or as a headband, but I had a blast of inspiration and thought "this might look good with the blazer." I tried it on, liked the look and then removed the necklace.

Amazingly and unusually so, I only tried on one pair of shoes and was happy with the first ones I put on. This is pretty rare. These boots I've had for many years and are from the shoe department at Evans.

Finally, my darling photographer of the day Ms. Ateqah decided we should snap me in front of my office wall since I matched it that day. I thought it was a funny idea, hence the mid-laugh photo, but I included it cause I love Ateqah and she liked it. Plus after everything I've told you, y'all probably think I'm crazy anyways so what's one more photo.

Am I alone in my crazy getting dressed in the morning saga or do other people go through similar things? On the upside, now I have a slightly logical reason as to why my bedroom always looks as if my closet has thrown up all over it.