Pest

I am so happy I went to Budapest. At the time, I felt like exams should take precedent and that I was wasting valuable study time. Now, as I write this, I still feel in awe of that beautiful city. We began the morning at the Szépmûvészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts) in Pest. However, before we got to adventure over to the Varosliget Castle, we whisked ourselves away to the marketplace. Before my trip, the only thing I had heard about Budapest was the quality of the marketplace. As it closed at 3:00 (and we had a late start), I didn’t want to take any chances. It was well worth the talk. It had all the groceries, souvenirs, and traditional food I could have wanted in one place (I tried langos- the nearest fried thing, like a good Southerner). Because we were so close to the bridge, we went ahead and walked over it, visited the fascinating cave church (a quick Hungarian history lesson), and then climbed up to the liberty statue. Once back down the hill, we went over to get a daylight look at Parliament (sadly missing the last tour by minutes). 

Between Friday and Saturday, I spent so long walking around and were so cold that I decided to take a nice long coffee break and watch the sun go down over Parliament. Then, rejuvenated, I decided we should go to see at least one bath while in Budapest. Budapest is famous for its baths since hot springs flow through the rocks under the city. The waters are said to be very medicinal (though they looked quite normal to me. Next time I will probably pony up the money to swim at Szechenyi, but since I didn’t even have my swimsuit, the bath included in the Budapest city card did the trick. From there, I went to back to Varosliget Castle (which offered an ice skating rink beside it for the season) and explored it by night. It reminded me of the beginning music of Beauty and the Beast. On that account, I made sure not to get too close to any windows, as who knew what might lay inside…

Outfit Details: Hat: Brixton | Shirt: Chloe | Blazer: H&M | Skirt: made myself with my sewing machine | Socks: Primark | Shoes: Tommy Hilfiger | Kate Spade

Two quick things:

1. Neon orange stuck out like a sore thumb in Budapest. It worked well in that my friend could find me, but I did not look like a local.

2. For anyone travelling to Budapest in November, regardless of the fact Hungary looks like it is southern of England on a map, you can expect similar weather. In other words, a blazer on its own is not going to cut it. Bring a scarf! gloves! heavy coat!

Channeling Your Inner Lana: DIY Floral Headband

Alrighty, it’s Springggg time!!  AKA time to get hustlin on all things floral. Even if it did snow last night, I’m about to pastel, pizazz, and flower up like these past three months never existed.

On that thought, a midwestern man explained the real meaning of St. Patrick’s Day to me the other day: It’s a time when everyone knows sunshine is around the corner, and you’ve just struggled through this terrible Winter, so everyone comes out and just drinks to forget and celebrate, and really, for no reason at all!

Well, law school got in the way of any rapturous bliss I may have planned Monday, but it can’t stop my overall heraldry, which brings me to my latest project.
The Flower Crown.

Flower crown? you may well ask, I haven’t made one of those since I was four!  Well, the time has come to reinvigorate this childhood whimsy, but with a bigger, bolder jump into adulthood.

Last year, Lana Del Ray sported the flower crown on the cover of her single Video Games:

When I saw it, at first I thought it was another over-the-top affectation from this hipster princess (along with those slightly-terrifying Streisand-esk nails). But it seems this time Lana has secured the “hip” in “hipster.” Flower crowns are still going strong, if not gaining in popularity. If I wasn’t sure, three of my favorite bloggers sported them in the veritable span of a month.

Desiree of Pull Your Socks Up

Lipstick Legend in Red

Imogen of tia-cherie

Sweet and Svelte in Pink

Tamera Beardsley

 With these ladies as inspiration, one might argue that I had no choice in this endeavor. In looking to acquire a crown, a quick google search showed their current going rates: somewhere between 7 and 102 dollars (the more expensive ones of course being made out of real flowers, aka perishable, aka a terrible investment in the first place). Additionally, the cheaper ones have itty bitty teensy flowers more appropriate for fairies and big toes then our resplendent visages.

What I’m trying to say is maybe we need something different? Where could I find colors that I wanted? Did someone say JoAnnes? Michaels? Hobby Lobby? We chose Hobby Lobby.

Inventory:

Rebecca:                                                                                     Leigha:
Bouquet of Base Peach Flowers: $6                                      5 red rose stalks: $10
Blue Flower Back up: $3                                                           Dogwood Back up: $3
Pink Flowers: $3                                                                         Little Blue Flowers: $3
Hemp Woven Headband: $2                                                   Hemp Woven Headband: $2

We got lucky at Hobby Lobby, fake flowers were on sale half price!! Without the glue gun, my supplies were about $15 and Leigha’s were around $20 (for those lazy with addition). Looking back, I would definitely recommend comparing the size of my primary flower to my head before buying.

Supplies. Complete with peanuts, cranberry juice, and a copy of Frozen.

Now I should have probably looked up how to make these before deciding to teach myself. However, Leigha and I used the thread and glue method. In other words, we tore the tops of the flowers away from their wiring and just put the bottom through our woven headband and hot glued the flower to the hemp on the top and on the bottom. 

 

Even though this kind of makes thing stick into your head, I can’t really feel it, so I’m very happy (#noregrets).

However, for a more conventional and tidy tutorial, I would recommend the advice of Hairdresser on Fire, who begins with wire, a wire cutter, and perhaps a better understanding of the outlook. Alternatively, I have mastered the “tropical island on your head” look.

But really, I couldn’t be happier.

Separated at Birth?!?

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I’m sharing this to NotDeadYetStyle‘s Visible Monday because it takes some guts to wear my oversized gem, but as over-the-top and colorful as it is, it couldn’t be more me.

Sunglasses Wear and Care

• Sunglasses

I stalk Ebay like a lion on an antelope. When the odd deal comes along, you better believe I am crouched in the shady brush just out of the periphery ready to pounce. This story is no exception. This is a story about pouncing too fast in the face of Chloe sunglasses (I believe they call it leaping before you look). But it turns out okay, and I’m here to tell you how.

• Wear

I have never spent over $5.00 on sunglasses. I always lose or break my sunglasses so I have been afraid to invest, but after borrowing a pair of my friend’s Ray Bans for a day, I decided that I might do better if I actually valued the sunglasses. Since I pretty love everything that is the French Design house Chloé, I started watching the market, determined not to pay anymore than $20.00 total on glasses (yes, I realize it wasn’t much more of an investment but baby steps :P). Before long I found my opportunity. A pair of glasses with all the fixings (except a missing screw) was listed at 25.00 buy-it-now price.  It also offered the “Best offer” option. This allows potential buyers to submit an offer which the they commit to pay should the seller accept the offer. I whimsically submitted like 16.00 that with shipping, would put me just under $20.00. Before I had time to refresh the page, the seller accepted.

They looked so good…

There was only one hitch upon receiving them. I hadn’t bothered to figure out where the missing screw was, and it was kind of important. Not to mention, the “screw” that was missing looks more like a stylish, non-functioning gold peg.

Pretty visible if you are’t taking a picture from 5 feet away.

• Care

I did the only thing I could do in this situation. I called my Mimi. Together we came up with a list of home solutions. First, I went to Joanne’s fabrics, thinking I could use the top of a stick pin to put in the empty hole and smooth down in the back.

Like looking for hay in a stack of needles.

Turns out, Joanne’s has EVERY type of needle you could ever imagine, as long as it’s silver. From there, Mimi suggested that we go to the jewelry store. They said they didn’t have anything like it, but Mimi got her bracelet fixed for free.

When we got back in the car, she sat thinking for a second before announcing, “You just sit tight,” and we were off… to her ophthalmologist. When we walked in, it was about a quarter to five. We had no appointment, and I knew no one in the building, but Mimi just waltzed up to the counter and asked if they had the stuff to fix “her granddaughter’s favorite glasses.” A tall man with stern lips and ominous eyebrows, signaled us to walk back into the hallway with a casual hand motion. The complicit receptionist, opened the door for us.

While Mimi styled sample frames, I nervously watched the eyeglass man invent a makeshift screw for my glasses. My two favorite questions were: “Where did you get these?” and “how long have you had them.” Rest assured, “on ebay” and “three days” were NOT my responses.

Midway through the interview, Mimi saw her doctor. He stopped and talked to us for 15 minutes (during which Mimi managed to slip in my whole academic biography). I don’t know what did it exactly, but the repairman gave me back the frames for free.

You’d never know the difference, unless of course you knew the difference.

• Share

Living Room Selfie Attempt #27

• Lessons Learned:

— Get your sunglasses fixed at an eyewear place.

— Always bring Mimi.

DIY: Pretty in Pink Edition

A few days ago I was at the thrift store and came across this little beauty:

The lace was impeccable! The cloth was fully lined, of good quality, and no buttons were chipped or missing (it buttons up the back). Though at first glance, it seemed like a styleless rag,  I decided to invest two whole dollars to embark on an experiment of mammoth proportions.

• Eighties-tastic Thrift Store Find: $2.00
• Brand: Watters and Watters
• Problems: Shoulder Pads and Crazy Scalloped Sleeves.

Step 1: Seam Rip.

With a mere seam-ripper and 30 minutes, I was able to remove the sleeves and the shoulder pads. Because the sleeves had several layers of stitching, it took a while, but also left me with a natural fold to hem the sleeves when I was done.

Step 2: Eliminate Damage

I don’t have a sewing machine, so I ended up hand stitching the sides down. I just popped in a movie (Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra with Louis Armstrong in High Society- I’d recommend it if you like old movies and jazz) and just stitched away. It maybe took 40 minutes? Ta-Dah!

Step 3: Call Me Molly Ringwold. I’m goin’ to prom y’all, or at least, back to law school.

Hello Valentino. Ok, maybe thats a stretch. More like this?

Fancy: 8

Function: 7

Funky: 6

Fashion: 8