What I loved about An Education

Recently, I caught the Oscar nominated flick, An Education, in my local 2nd run theater and it's now available on DVD and Blue ray. The film is a great, coming of age story about a 16 year old girl in 1960s London who's life dramatically changes after she meets and falls for a much older man. You can check out the trailer here. Definitely check this movie out!

The flick has an outstanding cast, and GREAT CLOTHES!!! I've posted a few snap shots from the film and a few collages with links to show you how you can score similar looks. Most of the looks I chose are under $50!

And Education: school girl style by chickface featuring Hurley tops

Items in this set:
HURLEY Wilson Womens Shirt, $40
Banded Capsleeve Button Down Shirt, $16
Old Navy Womens Perfect V-Neck Sweaters, $15
Jersey School Girl Style Coat, $160
Quilted Bow Flat, $17

The Heist: Fashion inspired by An Education by chickface featuring J Crew dresses

Items in this set:
J.Crew - Lilac shower shift dress (light ginger), $30
Sleeveless Sequined Dress, $34
Leopard Printed Coat, $40
Tie-Waist Buttoned Coat, $36
Collezio watch, $30

A Night in Paris: Styles inspired by An Education by chickface featuring Charlotte Russe dresses

Items in this set:
Flower Print Dress, $48
Sharona Floral Knit Dress, $40
Silk Chiffon Floral Dress, $36
A-Line Floral Dress, $36
Floral Beat Woven Dress, $25

Goodbye: Fashion inspired by An Education by chickface featuring Laundry by Shelli Segal dresses

Items in this set:
Laundry by Shelli Segal - Sleeveless Pleated Party Dress (Warm White)..., $240
Ice Blue Damask 1950's Cocktail Dress w/ Rhinestone Buttons VINTAGEOUS...
Lovely Harry Keiser Golden Damask Cocktail Dress VINTAGEOUS VINTAGE...
Rosette Neckline Knit Cardigan, $40
La Regale 21734, $48

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Monday's With Grandma

Yesterday, I hung out with my grandma.

Grandma wearing the Seraphina's Shawl I crochet on her 90th birthday

I'm pretty tight with my grandma. Soon after I was born, my parents had to return to their full-time jobs, so my grandma took care of me on weekdays until I started grade school. Then she took care of me and my little brothers in the summertime until I was old enough to watch myself. My parents have always lived within 30 minutes of grandma's house, so even after grandma stopped babysitting me, I saw grandma at least once-a-week with my family when we all went out to dinner, and talked with her on the phone nearly once-a-day. And now that I'm back in my hometown, I still tag along with my parents when we take grandma out to dinner once-a-week.

A few months ago I went to the Public Library's book sale and scored a Large Print copy of My War by Andy Rooney (aka. that old guy does short rants at the end of 60 Minutes). It's about his experiences during WWII. Since I was too busy with my schoolwork to start reading the book right away, I loaned it to my grandma to read. It was the first book she'd read in decades and she really liked it.

Having just signed up for my own Public Library card last week and staked out the Large print book area, the boy and decided to take grandma on a spring library book outing this Monday.

Monday was a beautiful spring day. I picked up grandma and we had lunch at the Riverside Cafe (the boy and I had never been there; grandma had) and it was delicious and the atmosphere was eclectic and fun. I had an egg and cheese omelet with hash browns, the boy had a meatloaf sandwich and my grandma had a 1/2 chef salad with turkey and it was HUGE! At each table there's a mini-jukebox and I read some of the titles while we waited for our food. I suggested "Jailhouse Rock" to my grandma and she said, "I used to jitterbug to that!" so I stuck in a quarter and played the tune. We'll definably be going back there again! After lunch we went to the library and grandma picked out Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation in large print to read.

All-in-all, a pretty great Monday afternoon. I've already got plans to do it again next week.

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Betsey Johnson: A love story

I <3 Betsey Johnson jewelry! The only think that I don't love is the price. For some it's not big deal to spend $40 on a nice pair of earrings or $350 on a nice dress, but on my post-graduate budget it's too much.

This week I was able to resuscitate my old eBay account that I haven't used since I was a Sophomore in college. (Long story: I stopped shopping to save money, forgot my eBay password, changed my e-mail provider so I could not retrieve said password, forgot about it, tried again this week and was able to have eBay call my unchanged cell phone number with a pass code to revive it.) When I began browsing, I was pleasantly surprised to find many Betsey Johnson earrings that I'd been drooling over up for auction at about $10.

Here's what I couldn't pass up:

Bee studs

Cat studs

I haven't received them in the mail yet but I CAN'T WAIT! Now, if I had all of the money in the world, these are a few other items I would pick up:

Drop Stripe Ball Earrings

Large Rhinestone sunglasses necklace

LG Polka Dot Heart Earrings

If you want to check out more Betsey items you can find her stuff here or do a search like me on eBay.com. Happy Shopping!

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Cheering for the Other Team

March madness is upon us, and those of you who have been watching the games know that The University of Kansas (K.U.) lost to Northern Iowa last week, crushing KU fans hearts, and messing up a lot of people's brackets that picked KU to be in the final 4.

Those of you who know me know that have never been a sports fan. I may have attended the University of Kansas from 2001-2005 and in 2007, but to this day the only KU sports game I ever attended was a football game when I was an infant. But in the years since I graduated from KU, I have become more aware of KU sports and have started to pay more attention to the games. I even watched KU's b-ball championship games up through their disappointing loss. Watching the games makes me feel more connected to the time when I was a student living near campus and makes me feel more connected to my fellow KU students and alums. It also conjurers up memories to when KU was in the top 2 back in 2003 and my roomies and I joined the mass of cars on Massachusetts Street that were bumper to bumper, with music and dancing in the streets...like Kansas's own Mardi Gras (*note: KU lost that final game to Syracuse*).

Being in touch with KU sports also comes with it's share of rituals like booing the boarder war teams. That means NOT rooting for Kansas State (K-state), The University of Missouri (Missou), The University Nebraska, or any of the Oklahoma teams. And I will admit that I did my share of booing. However, with KU out of the basket ball running, is it wrong to start cheering for the other Kansas team? I mean, at least there is still one Kansas team playing...even if it is K-state.

This question came up on Saturday as my KU favoring family watched K-State play BYU. We'd all noticed that lots of our fellow KU lovers were very bitter about their loss and were very armament about NOT cheering for K-State and we wondered why. And we wondered if most K-State fans have/ would be willing to cheer for KU if the roles were reversed? What do you think?

Anyway, I am watching the K-State vs. Xavier game right now and I am cheering for K-State (the other team).

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Finished: Garbo Skirt

This is the first sewing project that I've completed on my own (complete with an invisible zipper). Not bad for my first try. Although it's not perfect, I think it's wearable. It's a great skirt to keep my legs warm in a cold office.

Project details:

Pattern: Garbo Skirt

Description: It's a 6 paneled flared skirt

Sizing: Fill in your own measurements

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Not exactly...but it is my first pattern completed all by myself

Fabric: Grey Polar Fleece

Were the instructions easy to follow? Oh yes! Easy enough for me to tackle on my own.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked that the pattern was easy to follow, however I wasn't thrilled about my fabric choice. I chose polar fleece to make a bit of office fleece attire like the one seen here. After sewing my 6 panels I realized that the skirt needed some lining or I'd have to wear a slip with it, and when trying to hem the skirt the fabric was so bulky that I broke a needle. Arg!

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I tried on the skirt after sewing the initial 6 panels together and the bottom hit my ankles, so I decided to shorten it. In the process, I may have lost a lot of the flip. So this was an unintentional design change.Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes and yes, however next time I would try using a different, thinner fabric than polar fleece.

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Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day was last week and let me assure you that I remembered to wear green that day ;)

Since the holiday fell on a weekday this year, my town had it's annual St. Patty's Day parade the same Saturday I was presenting my master's project video at Discovery Day, so I missed the city's festivities. However, my boyfriend is a photojournalist and got to cover the city parade.

*funny story alert*

At the local St. Patrick's Day parade, the boyfriend was scanning the crowd looking for festively dressed people to interview about the parade. Across the street, he spotted two tall green/ white "cat in the hat" style hats rising above the crowd and thought to himself "I've got to interview those people". So, he walked across the street, approached the people in funny hats (and giant green clown glasses) and asked if they would like to be interviewed, and was surprised to hear that they knew his name. "Mrs. Beasley?" he responded. They turned out to be my uncle and his girlfriend. THE END

Meanwhile, my video presentation went well. I presented in front of a modest crowd and everyone just had wonderful things to say about it.

For St. Patrick's Day I treated myself to some retail therapy. Check out my Fab Finds:

Gold, Silver, & Bronze braided snake chain necklace: Icing by Claire's

Black and Turquoise Infinity Scarf: $5 @ Hot Topic (clearance)

I also picked up some Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip gloss at Target after hearing other people rave about it for the past 5 years and I must say that I am loving that minty tingle.

In the evening, I enjoyed a green beer and watched Waking Ned Divine with the boy (which may be the beginnings of a St. Patty's day tradition- 2 years in a row).

What did you do for St. Patty's day? Do you have any traditions?

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SuperModelquin Me!

My SuperModelquin (I think she looks quite a bit like me)

If you haven't seen the commercials on TV yet, Old Navy is doing a SuperModelquin Super Search and is offering up $100,000 to the lucky winner. All you need to do is visit the site and start creating your modelquin to enter.

I just made my SuperModelquin (posed in an Old Navy arty cardi, weekend jeans, flats, and a bracelet) and she's made her commercial cameo debut. Now I just need the points to become the next Old Navy SuperModelquin and score $100,000! With that much winnings I could finally pay off all of my student loan debt (and have some left over).

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Staple-free Matchbook Notepad

Today I read Daisy Janie's tutorial post on how to make a staple-free matchbook notepad. How does it stay together? You sew the notepad together, which also makes the pages easy to remove. Brilliant!

I could see these notebooks being used in a lot of ways. They could be used as mini-sketchbooks, flip-books, grocery lists, or an handy way to exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

What would you do with your notepad?

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Jo-ann Pattern Sale

Recently, my local Joann's Fabric store had a pattern sale and I decided to take advantage and get a few more spring patterns.

I got Vogue 1151 seen here

It's very similar to the dress worn by Jenna in the 30 Rock Christmas episode (I love 30 Rock!).

I got Vogue 8640 which reminds me of the Lanvin Ruffle Collar Jacket.

and I got McCall's 5815 after seeing Erica B.'s Nannette Lepore Knockoff.



Now I've just got to get sewing!

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Sewn Necklaces

Lately, I've been reading a lot about statement necklaces. They first started appearing last year, and it seems that this trend is going to stick around through this spring. Having not found my perfect, affordable statement necklace in stores, I did a little online research and decided to make my own. I found this tutorial on how to make a Sewn Necklace on Craftstylish and this is what I made.

I used gold organza, velvet ribbon, hot glue, my sewing machine, studs, and acrylic jewels. After taking this picture I purchased some black square jewels and added them to the necklace on the left so that it had more of an edge to it. What do you think?

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What I'm Listening To: The Temper Trap "Sweet Disposition"

This week I've been listening to The Temper Trap's song "Sweet Disposition." Check them out!

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Oscars 2010

Did you watch the Oscars last Sunday? I did. I like seeing all of the fancy outfits, watching as many Oscar nominee films as possible before Oscar night, and then guessing who the winners are before they are announced. Of this years nominee's, I saw:

• The Hurt Locker
• District 9
• Inglorious Bastards
• Up
• Julie & Julia
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Sherlock Holmes
• Harry Potter.

Before the awards ceremony, I printed off a list of all the categories and nominee's online and made my guesses a whole day in advance. Of the 24 categories, I correctly guessed 15 (leading actor, supporting actor, leading actress, supporting actress, animated feature, art direction, costume design, directing, documentary feature, film editing, makeup, original score, original song,visual effects, and best picture). Yay me! I wonder how other people did.

And here are my picks for best/worst dressed.

Best Dressed:

Cameron Diaz

Demi Moore

Honorable Mention, Sandra Bullock

Worst Dressed:

Charlize Theron and Zoe Saldana

Honorable mention: J-Lo. That dress was just too booty-licious!

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School is Finished

I'm sorry that I've been M.I.A. lately. I promise that I'll make it up to you. Let me explain!

This week, I finally decided to put my nose to the grindstone and finish my pesky masters project paper corrections that I've hung on to since December 2009. The boy and I also finished editing the documentary film that I created and wrote my master's project paper about.

And this Saturday, I've been asked to present my film and talk about making a film at my university's all-day art therapy conference. Click here to see the flyer. Yay me!

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Simple Batik Technique

Today, I read a blog post by Thatartistwoman about how to do a simple batik fabric technique with children that I want to try myself.

Materials:

• Elmer's Galactic Glue or Elmer's Washable Shool Gel Glue (both are blue in color)
• Watered down acrylic paint
• fabric

This technique creates a beautiful batik fabric that is both pocket book and kid friendly without the hot wax.

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Fashion Confessions

Earlier this week, already pretty started her own fashion confessional which inspired me to share a few of my own fashion confessions. Please don't judge me!

• Since my living space charges $1.25 a load to wash and dry my clothes and my folks don't live too far away, I take my dirty clothes to my parents house once a week to do my laundry.

• All of my clothes get washed and dried on Normal (whether the label says so or not) since my folks don't check labels. Many clothes have been shrunk and felted because I didn't do my own laundry.

• I just found out that I am supposed to hand wash my undergarments. News to me!

• I don't iron unless I have a very important engagement (e.g. job interview).

• I air dry my hair even though it looks better and gets less frizzy when I blow dry.

• I've never taken anything to the dry cleaners.

• I have a hard time spending more than $20 on a single article of clothing.

• I don't wear heels. I only own one pair of kitten heels and I can barely stand in them.

• Sometimes I wear the same pair of pants 2-days in a row.

• I have never been to a spa, had a facial, had my nails or toes done, been waxed, plucked or fake baked (and I don't think that I want to).

• I HATE, HATE, HATE shopping for pants. They're either too long, too short, too tight or just plain unflattering. Arg!

• I secretly wish that I had the time and sewing talent to create and alter my clothes into the perfect wardrobe.

• I do not have an LBD (little black dress).

Do you have any fashion quirks that you'd like to share. I promise that I won't judge. :)

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Winter Olympics Review

Stephen Colbert Olympic poster

Cute and Lovable Olympic Mascots

Did you watch the Winter Olympics? I did, and I'm not typically a sports watcher. Now that the winter Olympics are over and I can stop chanting "U.S.A! U.S.A!" for at least another 2 years, I am surprised to say that I will miss having it on t.v. all of the time. Here's a list of the top 10 things I am going to miss from the 2010 Olympic games.

1. The moose hat (followed closely by Sweden's blue and yellow crocheted cap)
2. Seeing Hannah Kearney win the 1st U.S. gold of the games for moguls.

3. Watching Apollo Ohno speed skate in any race.

4. Watching Shani Davis get speed skating gold.

5. Watching Shawn White making the winter games look cool and take gold in half pipe snowboarding.

6. Watching anyone and anything come down that icy mountain skate track thingie (I'm talking about luge, bobsled, & skeleton). That thing looked dangerous!

7. Seeing Kim Yuna ice skate her way to gold for South Korea.

8. Holding back tears while watching Jonnie Rochette ice skate for the bronze for Canada.

9. Seeing Evan Lysacek skates his way to gold for USA.

10. Watching Canada vs. USA for hockey gold in over time. I held my breath throughout the game.

I'm sure I left off some key highlights, but this comprises of what I actually saw on t.v.

And what's the #1 thing I am happy to NOT see again?

The Closing Ceremony

What the heck was that!? Were they making fun of themselves!? For those of you who missed it, they basically pulled out every Canadian stereotype and put it on center stage. They had William Shatner, Catherine O'hara, and Michael J. Fox do some short monologues. Next, Michael Buble came out and sang a song with some sexy mountie ladies. And then they brought out some giant inflatable mounties, hockey players, moose, and beavers with people in matching costumes, and had ladies dressed as maple leaves hanging from the ceiling. It was a confusing mess!

What did you think about the games? Did you have any favorite moments? Will you miss it or are you happy that it's gone? Let me know in the comments below.

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