Best “Dress for Your Body Type” Advice Ever

The Color of Hot Water Bottles

Oxblood (cough…burgundy…cough) is one of the *it* colors this season. A gorgeous color, but EVERY TIME I see it, all I hear is this:

Please, God, tell me that I have not inspired something burgundy.

And on that note, if you’ve not seen Kinky Boots, get thee to a Netflix/Blockbuster (do we still have those?)/library/or Germany (I’ll lend you my copy).

Bic for Her Pens – The Pen Essentially for Women?!

You would think they would look fancier or more comfortable. But that’s not the only problem… Since when are colours only for girls? And when did sexist marketing become permissible again?

BIC ‘for Her’ pens bombarded with sarcastic reviews

Wedding Sparkles

My wedding priorities may be out of order when I have the accessories taken care of but still don’t know what people will be eating, but there you go.

The above will be come two necklaces. One for the wedding, and one for the reception the next day. I do love a schedule that lets me double-up on accessories!

Oh, and one more bit o’ sparkle:

The Rocket Scientist and I won’t see each other until the wedding. Since we’ll probably pick out rings after the ceremony, this is my stand-in. It was my grandmother’s and, while I wish more than anything she was still here, I’m so happy to wear her ring.

Eloquii Sale

I have a review of Eloquii forthcoming (sneak peek: it involves thumbs, and they are up), but today only, there’s a secret 50% off sale with the code “FAB50″ at checkout.

I highly recommend checking the site out for all the size 14+’s out there. Seriously. Just wait until you see me in the dress I bought. Yowza!

leave the yoga pants for the studio, you’ll be just fine…trust me

with a few hours left of 2011, i was debating the two outfits i brought to a friends house to get her thoughts on what would look stellar, fab, and city new years appropriate. as she rummaged through her closet, a black, baby doll, light flower design, very ‘sarah’ dress was lightly hanging on its hanger. the love was immediate, prompting my friend not only to loan it out for the night, but as a donation to my ever growing dress collection. i told her ‘hey, i can wear this on my flight back’. A bit of shock and, not awe, but surprise came from her face. A bit of confusion over why I would forgo the common comforts of yoga pants on a plane for something as ‘dressy’.

This reminded me of a recent article I read where Scarlett Johannson listed people in pjs at the airport as one of her pet peeves, something that prompted me to shout ‘yes!’, in enthusiastic agreement.

I can understand the need to be comfortable while flying, trust me. With 31 flights in 2011 alone, ranging from 1 hour to 14, I can respect the fact that economy seats never recline enough for a solid nap, that the toilets will always have wet floors, and that you will inevitably spill some of your veggie pasta on your lap during turbulence.  I used to stick to my fake birks, cargo pants, and loose top to make such journeys, but with more and more travel I’ve found that I actually want to separate from my prior backpacker ways. I have already given a post on this (see sarah’s guide to dressing like a classy broad while traveling) but then I stumbled on the following video by chance and i felt this is an ‘issue’ i need to revisit.

Miss Jenna Marbles, I can respect the fact you want to be comfortable, but hey now, style is style whether your at sea level or peeing 20000+ feet in the air.

But I put the question out to the faithful viewers, what is your go-to airport wear?Do you agree with Miss Marbles, or of the ‘bringing back style to travel’ persuasion?

Looking forward to your replies! Best and blackouts from India*

ps. On my last flight I did wear said new black/flower baby doll dress, black opaque tights,flat mary janes, and a cozy but still stylish black and white cardigan. I was wiping a few tears away, so I didnt think of taking a photo. Next time though!

Museum Video Bomb!

Check out my awkward and unintentional walk-through at 2:22 in this video about my new museum’s floor (yes, it’s just as thrilling as it sounds).

And here I am, standing on my favorite spot in Colorado

Thursday Links

The Price of Christmas Index by PNC. Find out the price of Christmas calculating the price of the 12 days of Christmas. Interestingly, swans have increased in price this year. For the more nerdy, view a comparison of previous years. Jump on the interactive train and find all 12 gifts! Woo!

Franca’s repost of this article by on Body Love made me think about body love.

Via Danielle of Keep Warm – so well done!

 

Thursday Links

Happy Thanksgiving, all the Americans out there (to the Canadians, you already had your turn. To everyone else…happy Thursday?)

Let’s Thursday Links on, shall we?

Wow, Lululemon is making out to be a really lousy company.

The Thursday Links are no stranger to Dr. Who videos, and here’s another one. This time, the entire cast and crew get down, Proclaimers-style (thanks, Laura!)

Bringing your boobs to the office.

What type of map person are you?

Gifted Magazine’s holiday gift guide – yes! (Chelsie may have already purchased something!)

Congress declares pizza a vegetable!

Tuesday Tunes – Lana Del Rey

Thursday Links

Ulyana Sergeenko’s 2011 look book is AMAZING. Floor length taffeta skirts, head scarves, orange boots and bags, and a giant coat that looks like a Hefty bag of awesome? Yes!

This article about the hate that women are on the receiving end of on the internet has been making the rounds, but if you haven’t seen it already you should read it.

Not only is Kina Grannis’s song “In Your Arms” very sweet, but the video is full of jelly beans.

Posts that make Katie want to guard her girly bits and yell “Back off!” First, a sad but eloquent look at the connection between abstinence only sexual education and the imposed value of virginity. Second, a Mississippi amendment to declare a fertilized egg a “person.” [Millie: Thankfully, the people of Mississippi voted the amendment down, but this isn't the end of the fight.]

Leah Decter’s companion projects ‘(official apology) 913 words: trade value unknown’ and ‘(official denial) trade value in progress’ are pieces exploring the complexity of the colonization of First Nations peoples in Canada.

This is a scale picture representing the depth of the Mariana Trench, the deepest known part of the ocean. Mind boggling!

Patrick Stewart on Sesame Street. “Make it so!”

Also from the ocean, octopi are as fascinating (and brainy) as ever.

 

 

Like Unicorns in a Field {but not really at all….}

Yesterday on my way to work I saw a man jogging while juggling.

Driving a PT Cruiser feels like driving a sofa.

I made a wreath. I want to paint the front door, but what colour? Suggestions will be taken into consideration.

For the wreath form I used that pipe foam insulation stuff you put around pipes, pulled it into the circular form and duct taped it. Then I cut about 7 or 8 pieces of letter sized paper into teardrop shapes (kind of randomly – not all the exact same) and folded them in half to give them some volume, and used glue gun to put affix them, overlapping a bit, onto my foam circle.

Do you ever keep a list of things you’d like in your mind, and keep an eye out at thrift stores thinking one day you might just find it? Or on the side of the road for random discards…? Me too!

I finally found a chalkboard for a dollar, perfect for the kitchen. S. had been wanting one for a while. Now it is hanging in a frame collage in our kitchen. Here is a photo series of it’s transformation.

sweet firecrackers

outside my window, beside my door, and on my roof, there are firecrackers popping. even though they’ve gone on a few days now, i still get startled every time one of these glitter bombs go off. while some are using these flares to celebrate Diwali, i like to think of it as a bigger, more significant occasion (at least to me)…

the 1000th post on IA is a celebration, and ill be the first to admit 99.4% of the 1000 posts are due to having fashionable, creative, and dedicated friends…and yes, i do mean our millie, katie, and chels! and while the blog serves a way to get our quirkiness out in the world, for me, i have to admit i love the blog for a more selfish reason…..

we all live far, i mean, faaarrr from eachother. getting together for a quick cheesecake, or going to see the new colin firth film, just cant be part of our routine. and until i can convince them to get on a plane with a one way ticket, this blog is one of the best things we’ve got. knowing what katie is wearing out to a musical, reading the latest political news that caught millie’s eye, and seeing what new find chels scored at the garage sale, makes me feel connected, still ‘in’ the lives of these lovely ladies.

so here’s a chocolate champagne toast to the blog, to our readers, to the authors, to my friends****

kisses!

Katie Style – Abandoned Outfits, Part 1

In the midst of my current urge to organize all the things, I organized all the photos on my computer (and don’t ask how many I have of The Rocket Scientist sleeping because that would just be creepy and why would I do that? I didn’t do that. Lay off the interrogation, will you?).

What did I find, other than non-existent pictures of a certain someone in Sleepyland? Abandoned outfit photos! I wore ‘em, I photographed ‘em, they never left my camera. Until now:

There are two very good reasons I should not wear suspenders. Go ahead, take a guess.

I like how this dress already sort of makes it look like I’m wearing pearls, but that’s obviously not enough for me.

Only the most skilled photographers can cut off both a hand and a foot.

More to come, as my digital pack rattedness knows no bounds.

Chelsie Weighs in on Librarian Stereotypes

Yes, I’m a librarian. So I will judge these stereotypes. And because I like judging.

via the wikiman

1. Has hair in a bun. There are hardly any librarians wearing their hair in a bun, unless it is a messy bun. But personally, I think it has to be a stylishly done messy bun. Who am I to judge? EVERYONE!

2. Says shh! I admit, I would have to tell rambunctious young-in’s and old-in’s to quiet down, but that’s only because I could hear them cranking their iPod’s way up, or having loud and boring conversations I didn’t feel like listening to. But I never shhh’d in a finger over mouth kind of way.

3. Is meek. What?! In library’s you deal with everyone, from the nice, to the mean, to the indifferent, to the mad and crazy. You need some sort of guts to face these people and the crazy that will ensue. Me, meek – NEVER!

4. Likes cats. I HATE cats. I think they are indifferent and they have claws, claws people! They are also sneaky. I feel like I would try to outsneak them and chaos would ensue. Most librarians I know do not have any crazy cat obsession, though I have met one, but who hasn’t met one of those people, really…

5. Likes order. Who doesn’t?

6. Loves social media. I wouldn’t say I love it, but I am agreeable to it. Are you a fan of your local library on Facebook? I thought so.

7. Wears cardigans. I have two cardigans I generally do not wear. Eh, I don’t agree.

8. Is a leftie. First of all, I’m right handed. Secondly, how do political views count here? I guess agree with the hypothesis that librarian have liberal political views.

9. Likes knitting. What?! I don’t even KNOW how to knit. Also, everyone seems to like knitting these days with the resurgence of arts and crafts, so deem this IRRELEVANT!! P.S. I hate scrapbooking.

10. Has a love of gin. I’m acquiring a taste.

Interview Follow Up

Job interviews. I have a lot of experience with those. Two years ago I’m pretty sure I went to over a dozen within twelve months. Crazy, right? I’ve worked a bunch of contracts in the past three years, but I cannot recall having emailed or mailed a thank you letter after an interview. I was just reading that 1 out of 5 managers, are less likely to hire a candidate that did not write a follow up letter.

More than one in five hiring managers also said they are less likely to hire a candidate who didn’t send a post-interview thank you note. That’s because they say omitting this step shows a lack of follow through and sends a message that the applicant is not really serious about the opportunity.

A hand written note is still the gold standard, but most managers are perfectly happy to get an email from interested applicants. And if there were multiple interviews, each interviewer should receive a personal note.

I think all cases vary, but do you always follow up with a thank you to interviews? Inquiring minds want to know, have I missed out on job opportunities due to my lack of fancy card sending?

Chelsie’s Interior Design Crushes and a Surprise

I recently discovered Lonny Magazine, a bimonthly interior decorating magazine published online. Bonus! You can access all the back issues.

Some readers, and my fellow Interrobangs, will recall my displeasure for certain celebrity chefs. So it may come as a certain surprise that I actually really liked Gwyneth Paltrow’s new cookbook My Father’s Daughter. I found I could relate to a lot of the recipes and ingredients, and while she would push organic meets and veggies, I didn’t find that part too offensive. She also provides alternative versions of recipes if you can’t find those more expensive organically refined products. She does have quite a peculiar over enthusiasm for  anchovies, but that can be forgiven.

Books I’m crushing on:

Thursday Links

The on-going issues of trans-inclusiveness in the Michigan’s Womyn’s Musical Festival.

REALLY? We’re still going to talk about vaginas (vaginae? vaginæ?) this way?

Is anything inside a tortilla delicious?

The Unintentional Rapist? Which leads us to…

An oldie but an important one: Schrodinger’s Rapist.

This singing trout is hysterical. And Katie’s pretty sure this is how she’ll hear that song from now on.

Leslie at Two Whole Cakes‘ (reprint) post about why the world needs fat acceptance is a must read. (Millie is also very amused that there’s a magazine called Geez.)

“In Jesus’ name, boogity, boogity, boogity Amen.” Praying NASCAR style.

The Waves’ two posts on sustainable style are must reads, and jesse.anne.o’s reply post about the footprint of vegan “leathers” is well worth a read too.

to cleav or not to cleav

Theres a lot of things that surprise me in my travels, both differences and similarities the world over. Though, this is not some intellectual piece on religious formalities, or social class, or political diplomacy. No. Its
about cleavage. And now that I have your attention….

I have to say that the rules for modesty are as varied as a Skittles bag. Whats considered appropriate inside one boarder, deplorable in another. From topless beaches in Spain, to shin length dress in Vietnam, to bum embracing jeans in Belize, the rules for appropriateness are not the same where you land. (And yes, I realize that males may also have rules of conduct, but in all honesty as a woman I haven’t picked up so closely on this. Any males care to educate me?)

I’ve been thinking about these concepts lately, trying to balance my clothing options so I’m not melting from heat, but still respectable to the conservative impressions in my new town. Its not to say I’m an avid flasher, in fact, I would consider myself to be quite modest. My legs used to stay hidden under jeans, even in the South African heat, my tummy never exposed in a bikini. But through the years, either through more self acceptance or yoga, I’ve started to reveal more trinkets of skin here and there. I thought I had a good balance, but apparently I still have much to learn.

On my most recent train journey from Kolkata city back to my
rural-ness, the woman beside me began tugging at my top, bringing it up in the
front, pulling it at the back. I was laughing, and some of the other women
around us were motioning to her that it was okay. But her stern eyes darted
between me and the male fruit seller in our ladies only compartment, as if to
remind me ‘theres a man in the room, mind the goods’.

So whats your take on whats appropriate, whats not. When is a lil’cleavge ok, when does it become ‘girls gone wild’ territory? Does this cross your mind when you get dressed, or an after thought when climbing some stairs (we’ve all been there, haven’t we).

Happy commenting!

Singing Songs and Yelling at the Moon

In honor of the Space Shuttle launch, shall we sing songs and yell at the moon? Lovely.

Sarah Harmer – Silverado

Buzz Aldrin and Tina Fey yelling at the Moon

Thursday Links

A simple experiment demonstrating the difference between organic and chemically-treated potatoes.

The first listen to Jill Scott’s new album. Wow.

University of Alberta dean stole his commencement speech. And in the age of Google, too.

Quiet and Small’s friend Michael is incredibly talented: here’s a video of him doing a free hand machine embroidery portrait which has blown Millie’s mind.

The Troy Public Library received 97 letters of congratulations from famous people when the library opened. Katie loves the one from E.B. White.

“Jack and the Beanstalk” narrated by a 2 year old.

A conversation between Ian Flemming and Raymond Chandler.

Here’s a really interesting article on what it’s like to be a sponsored child in Ghana.

“My Momma told me I should never venture into space, but I did, I did, I did.” Excellent song for any sci-fi lover, and good even if you couldn’t care less about Star Trek (cough…Katie…cough).

Millie loves this angry post about the sexified movie poster for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (for those of you at work: cusswords ahoy!)

The Dancing Bus Stop Guy – love him!

The history of cookie embossing. Who knew?

You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Oprah, remixed.

Samuel L. Jackson reading Go the F*ck to Sleep.

PBS recently aired the amazing documentary Two Spirits, on the Navajo concept of multi-gender. Watch it here (for the next week, and if you live in the US. Sorry internationals!). Warning, the film centers around the murder of a two-spirit boy.

Lion tries to “eat” a baby at the zoo. As long as there’s glass it’s cute.

Katie’s happy that she’s a better exhibit designer than all these people. No one’s ever tried to eat her exhibits!

Last Chance for Presents

Hello , lovely lampreys,

Just a reminder, if you haven’t entered the giveaway to win a necklace, silk scarf, and other pretty things, you have until midnight hits Alaska’s Aleutian Islands tonight to enter. Enter here, and good luck!

Presents for Everyone! (Well, Three of You)

I was a very, very bad Santa this year.

It took me FOREVER to craft the traditional handmade-with-love-because-I’m-thoughtful-and-poor gifts for my dearest, darlingest Interrobangs ladies, and then FOREVER for me to actually mail them out (but they’re coming! Pinky swear!). Of course, I still haven’t taken my Christmas tree down yet, so apparently this is just par for my course. Christmas all year ’round!

And along with making presents for my fabulous sister-bloggers, I went and made some presents for you (well, possibly), because I adore you all so.

Let’s show them what they could win, Stan.*

Gift Pack #1

Vintage Cast Iron Heart Necklace with a Pink Opal Briolette on Sterling Silver

So Opal-y!

White, Grey, Purple, and Lime Floral Silk Scarf

Gift Pack #2

Vintage Ethiopian Brass Beads Necklace on Sterling Silver

Vintage Copper and Slate Blue Floral Chain-Link Silk Scarf

Gift Pack #3

Peridot and Czech Glass Morse Code “Yes” Necklace on Sterling Silver

Slate Blue Silk Scarf

Not shown for each gift pack: an oh-so-lovely vintage handkerchief and a brooch of a pretty and possibly silly nature.

Want to win?

I was tempted to demand you all write haikus about why I’m awesome, but I’m not that conceited…yet.

Instead, all you have to do is leave a comment by the end of Sunday, February 27th. And one comment is all you need. I’m avoiding the “for extra entries” game because that just makes more math for Katie, and all the counting cuts into my knee sock drawer organizing time (and if you don’t find that fun, you’re not doing it right).

I’ll randomly draw three winners (and the drawing is open to everyone everywhere), and send your presents both post haste and toot suite! Happy Christmas…erm…whenever.

P.S. Just because I’m not requiring haikus, it doesn’t mean I won’t appreciate the effort if you’re inspired. Brownie points always count, duckies.

*Stan is the Vanna to my Captain Kangaroo. That’s how this gameshow rolls.

-This giveaway is now closed-

Already Pretty on Body Alterations

Over at Already Pretty, Sal’s inviting readers to comment with their thoughts and experiences on body alterations from temporary to surgical. As always, the comments are eloquent, thoughtful and thought-provoking. I encourage everyone to pop on over and take a look.

And if you haven’t read my story about my new face, how I got it, and what I think about it, you can do so here.

Thursday Links

Katie wants to make some homemade oreos this weekend. Ah, Smitten Kitchen, you’re so delicious!

Katie apparently saw this months ago, but Millie just saw it this week, so it’s on the list. It is made of SO MUCH WIN and you should all watch it.

Totally unrelated, but Millie also loves a good instructional video. (Via Good Morning, Midnight)

This post from the Threadbared archive called “My Hair Trauma” (posted this week) is, as always, fabulous.

A girl signs Cee-Lo’s “F@#* You” as the final for her college-level sign class. So cool and you might learn some new signs. They’ll probably be swears, but stop being picky.

Sara’s FANTASTIC Shopping Flowchart. Katie does something similiar, but it always ends with one of the Gap sales clerks asking her if they’re alright because they can hear her muttering to herself through the door.

Check out Sabrina’s sleek black-on-black look.