DIY White Button Down Shirt: REMIX

As Lena Dunham so accurately describes in her show 'Girls,' the post college era is a mess. A real shit-show. It sucks for everyone. It is confusing, poor, full of bad decisions, peppered with low self-esteem, and generally not sober. Hopefully, in spite of that, or maybe because of that, it is also a time of great growth. 

I would like (hope) to think that I have officially passed the 'post-college' phase. I have a steady job, I'm killing it on the blog (yeah, I'm tooting my own horn - my stats are excellent), I have my own apartment that I actually really really like, I finally know how to cook a healthy meal and can manage to do the dishes afterwards, I like my friends, my furniture (kind of) looks intentional, I can afford a nice meal, I have a kitchen table and I use it, I belong to Equinox - most of the ingredients for functioning adulthood. SCORE.

I first realized what a changed bird I was a few weeks ago. A foreign friend came over for dinner. We had not had a hang-in since college. He was amazed at my life and kept asking how proud my parents were of who I have become. I was confused, because even though my parents are very loving and proud, they have not been exceedingly, extra proud since I last saw said foreign friend. In fact, they were probably more proud then because, ya know, I was graduating college and that's kind of a big deal. It was clear there had been much time and space since my amigo had last come around and he was in shock to see that I was no longer a dysfunctional college student. (Go me!)

Then again, right before I headed home for Thanksgiving. I was doing Fall Cleaning (Let's make that a thing instead of spring cleaning. I am so much more inclined to stay inside and scrub when it's cold than on a lovely spring day.) and found my sketchbook from freshman year. That thing was DARK. I don't at all recognize the person in those pages. Strange, because these days I wear a lot more black, much less glitter, and absolutely no peace signs. (Not even sorry.)

Speaking of, I also found some photos from my college days and another mammoth change has been my wardrobe. Granny-chic is not my thing anymore. Nor is hippy-dippy. Nor is desperate wannabe hipster. Also, I grew out my short granny hair and decided to stop wearing particularly baggy, shapeless dresses and intentionally ugly glasses. I used to look like a person who has many, mulitple cats, and was proud of it. I don't. I have one cat and that's enough. Maybe one day I'll share a photo of my college ID, because it is HILARIOUS. Today is not that day, though.
Too soon.
Sorry. 

As I filed through old photos I began to comprehend how much clothing I have purchased and soon after discarded over the years. Super wasteful. So, point of this very long, self-appraising story, happening now: I have pledged to try to 'upcycle' my clothes before committing them to the red cross.
(See how I used 'try'? Giving myself an out. Because my follow through is lackluster at best.)

I had previously purchased an over-sized white sheer button down from American Apparel back in my I-prefer-to-wear-clothes-that-look-like-bags days. I have been thinking about eradicating the thing for a while because I never wear it. Part of this has to do with the shape (or lack there of), but I think it mostly has to do with the shitty detailing. Let me clarify: AA is great for basics. However, anything beyond a t-shirt, leggings, or tights is usually poorly sewn and has crappy details. Case in point, the aforementioned shirt. Whoever chose the buttons on that shirt should leave the fashion industry. It's not for you. 

This is what the updated shirt looks like now:

This is the lame before version:

OK, it doesn't look THAT bad in this photo, but you have to remember, this is the BEST CASE SCENARIO for the shirt. It will never actually be this clean, or pressed, or on a model figure, or professionally photographed. Notice how the fabric pulls near the seams on my shirt but not on the model's. Just sayin' - IRL, it's a very different shirt. 

So I made it better with pretty buttons. Duh. 

DIY Tutrial: How to crop a t-shirt.

Let's all embrace our inner hipster while I reveal to you my new favorite t-shit.

Here is it in all of it's cropped glory:

It's great, isn't it?

Fall uniform: This tee, black jeans, docs, bike jacket. Instaballer. 

A few weeks back one of my more bad-ass coworkers (Hi, Adam!) directed me to this dream of an e-store. I spent hours, nay, days debating which shirt to buy. They are all so so wonderful in so many ways. It was a tough call, but in the end the three wolves howling at the moon was the one. It was always the one. I sized up and went baggy, because the shirt is a men's cut and I have boobs. Pre-crop, it was quite long and the sleeves were too baggy for my lady arms. It looked alright when I rolled the sleeves up, but I wanted a muscle tee. And, as my bad-ass coworker Adam said, "Suns out, guns out." And you know, I think that's a truth we should all live by. 

Here I am being a derp and wearing the muscle-t for a night out on the town. 

I think I look great. But that's just my opinion. 

And here is Dwight wearing the same tee on The Office:

Howl on, Dwight. Howl on. 

I obviously didn't make this shirt BUT I did crop it, and I cropped it well. Some people are reluctant to bring scissors to their clothes in fear of ruining a perfectly OK item. I gotchyou bro. I gotchyou. You see, my ultimate goal in life to to eliminate the fear of bringing scissors to fabric. We all have our purpose in life. This happens to be mine.  

DIY Asos Bleach Heart Tee

Here's a major life question: Why buy when you can DIY? 

I know, I'm deep and shit. And I rhymed it. Like a boss.
(This was put much more eloquently in today's MR post.) 

I made the mistake of surfing the e-commerce world whilst broke and now I want all the clothes. I was drooling (only a little) about this bad-ass Asos tee:

[via]

For a hot second I thought about dropping some 30 dollars for this tee. But then I remembered that H&M sells amazing basic tees for $7.95 and I already have bleach. You know, for cleaning shit. 

So I made it myself!

Good work, me. Pat on the back, me. 

Weekend Crafting: Hair Bows!

Happy Friday crafters! It is a glorious day for a whole variety of reasons. Mostly because of the boozy lunch I had with my coworkers! SHHHHH! Don't tell the man!

This past weekend I spent my Sunday with my besty Keighty. We drank coffee, walked around Brooklyn, made a delicious lunch, crafted hair bows, and drank a bottle of wine while listening to records DJ'd by her boyfriend. It was pretty much the perfect Sunday. 

Anyways, back to Keighty. She is pretty much the koolest kid that I know. Check out her awesome work in progress: the Live Polaroid Project. Sweet right. Those first three pictures, thats me and my roommate Jane with Lola - our bitch-faced cat. 

SO. Keighty. She wears a bow in her hair every day. What's even cooler than that is she makes them herself. On Sunday she showed me how. On Friday I show you how. And on Sunday, you make it yourself. And then on Monday you send me pictures. I have this all worked out. 

Check out this cuteness: