Looking Back (Bring It, 2014!)

You can always tell when I'm going through some serious stuff when my blog goes silent, which seems to have been a lot in 2013.

It's not because I don't want to share with you - in fact, it hurts that I can't always be as honest as I want to be on this blog. Because I consider everyone that reads this close friends. But I can't write about struggles with anxiety in case future employers find this or depression because my family reads this or some of the reasons causing my anxiety and my depression because friends read this. It hurts, because all I want to do is get it out there and get feedback from you.

2013 had some truly magical moments for me. I worked hard for a position with a company I was a huge fan of. I wrote a book. A whole book. I sewed new dresses, made new friends, strengthened relationships with people I already cared for. Spent a lot of time watching Columbo. I saw my family for the first time in almost two years. I listened to new music. I met Ally and then went to visit her in NYC, and I saw Brenna, who I miss so much. I visited a new town called Lititz (blog coming soon about that) and ate at the Chocolate Cafe. I made entire worlds with Megan and lit them on fire.

2013 also saw the break up of a band that kept me dancing through some seriously dark times, but from that I learned to support myself without relying on so many outside sources.

2013 also saw the store where I worked switching owners. Which took an already stressful situation and threw it into utter chaos. But I learned a lot from that position, and I learned so much from my previous boss who I love like family, and I know that the new owners will be awesome for the store.

2013 left me tired. Too tired to move, too tired to really think. So that book I wrote? I stopped writing. Entirely. In fact, I haven't sewn much in the last few months or so, either, which is odd because I'm the type of person who sews almost every day if only for a few moments.

You know why I like reusing old clothes instead of making things from scratch? Because by remaking them, I'm taking something no one wants and making it mine. Making it into art. Making it better and magical and whole. Taking the bad and making it good. And I've been doing it since I was just a kid.

2013 saw a whole lot of bad, but looking past the ripped seams and holey knees and frayed edges, I can see the good. 2014 will help me make it great.

Stay tuned and have a Happy New Year.

One Short Day

I've said before that when I first moved to Philly I listened to the Wicked soundtrack a lot, and I've always associated the city with the song One Short Day. I was super lucky to have my friend Brenna down to sleep over last night and we went out to enjoy a short day in my Oz. (And it was short - she was leaving at 1pm, so we only had a few jam-packed hours together!)

Walking to South Street, passing pretty buildings...

Breakfast at 4th Street Deli, followed by candy at Sweet tooth

This deli gives you danishes while you wait for breakfast!

The Zipperhead building - snapped this shot on our way to Crash Bang Boom!

Lion outside of Garland of Letters

We posed for outfit photos..

I got some awesome stuff!

Brenna is a very close friend (one of my best friends, actually) and she lives far far away. I don't get to see her very often and I was just so happy to have her down today! We went to Philly Aids Thrift and I bought yet another owl, and she watched me try on tons of jackets. We had good food and froyo and candy. We had lots of coffee (I'm dreaming about that cup in that pictures right now!) and all in all I think we both had a blast. I'm so happy I got to see her! Also, she finally got to meet my Mister, which is super important because I love them both. Yay!

OOTD: Julia Nunes Show!

My friend Tracy and I went to see Julia Nunes as The World Cafe last week! It was super fun day. This is 

I rolled out of bed and was so excited by my bed head that I took pictures. Seriously. This is what I look like exactly 5 minutes after I wake up.

Dress: handmade/Me, Chucks: ROSS, Cardi: Thrifted, Belt: Vintage

I picked out a super adorable outfit that I could both wear to work and wear to the concert (because I was going straight there from work). I wish I'd put on tights, though, because it ended up being really cold in the World Cafe.

The inside of World Cafe makes me so happy. :-) I also liked the drum with the rocket on it, so I took a picture. I think that was the logo of the headlining band, but we left after Julia so we didn't see them.

 

The band that came on before Julia was Rebecca Haviland and Whiskey Heart. They were AMAZING. She had a great voice! 

And then came Julia, who was perfect. She played my favorite of her songs second - it's called To The Damsels, Run. I LOVE IT. Go find it on youtube. NOW.

Julia always treats her fans awesome, and here she is taking a pic with me after the show. She hugs and takes pics with everyone, and she signed my tee shirt.


And below is a picture of that, too.

Tracy is one of the first friends I'd ever met online and then met in person, and she was my first friend in Philadelphia. We've been to Pride together, Punk Rock Flea, Sugar Mom's and twice to the World Cafe. She rocks!

Tracy was nice enough to snap this pic of me with the city behind me. I LOVE MY CITY AT NIGHT!

And then Tracy had to use the bathroom, so I took some bathroom selfies to keep myself amused.

I love concert tee shirts and band tee shirts more than anything, so I was super stoked to get a Julia Nunes shirt! I had to wear it to work the next day. Here is a picture of that!

 

 

Do I look like I'm fifteen? Maybe. But that's okay.

So that is my most recent mini-adventure. I'm off to do some things and hopefully catch up on blog reading this weekend! I love you guys! Have a nice weekend! 

(If you'd like to see what I wore the last time I saw Julia Nunes in concert click here)

Meeting Trees: A Photo Post

Guys, I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was to meet Trees this past weekend! I wish I'd had more time with her, but we jammed a ton of stuff into the four little days she was here. I hope she had an awesome time, I know I did! Hopefully one day I'll be able to visit her in her native land (because it sounds freaking awesome). Here are some pics from our weekend together.

I took her to see THE BELL. It really is smaller in person.

Took her to see some old dude's head.

This guy was important or something.

We took a TON of selfies. ;-)

At the Magic Gardens.

I took Trees to Eastern State Penitentiary. It was awesome!

Al Capone's cell at Eastern State Penn.

Rodin Museum selfies.

You can tell Eastern State Penn was my favorite from all the photos.

Rodin Museum.

ALL THE SELFIES!

I loved everything about this visit, and I'm so glad she made time to stop by Philadelphia. I can't say enough how much I love this city, and I was really thrilled  to show it off a little. Here are some of my favorite parts of our visit:

1. Philadelphia Magic Gardens - I just want to live there.
2. Eastern State Penn - I'd never been there, and it's beautifully bleak and I think my new favorite thing.
3. Tree's reaction on seeing THE BELL (I warned you it was smaller than you thought!).
4. Shopping with Trees.
5. The Art Star Craft Bazaar.
6. The fact that we had some quiet nights in- I get really tired easily and it was really nice to just chill out with my buddy.
7. One of the first things Trees said was it was nice to see my clothes in the flesh. :-) SHE NOTICED! (I was wearing a Lisette.)

It's also so cool to see someone you've known online but have never met. So whose next? ;-)