Showty' had a birthday

In 7th grade, immediately following my Parents' divorce, I stepped into a ghetto-fabulous phase. Well, I guess "fabulous" is a little strong - more like ghetto-awkward phase. I bought the JNCO jeans and paired them with tiny, tight tops topped off with a Beanie. Yaaaa, Buddy- it was quite the sophisticated look for a lost 12-year-old who weighed 2 lbs and had white eyeliner on.

{couple stills of me in 7th grade... horrible!}

As I grew older and more into my style, the "middle-school" aspect of my hip-hop influences started to fade away and over time, I feel that I've successfully merged my personal/professional life with my deep appreciation for Rap music and hip-hop - I just love the vibe of it. Due to this, I'd always felt like I had a few extra doses of Flava' than some of my counterparts.
That is until I met this Breezy.

If you read my Blog on the reg', I'm sure you recognize her as I post about her out of my friends the most.
 
 This is primarily because I do more out of the box things with her than anyone else but also because I know she reads it AND comments… so, the love she shall get.

Anyway, Miranda puts me to shame in the smooth operator category. Whereas I thought I was cool emulating EVE and Remy Ma in style, Miranda emulates no one and can send-off the free-spirited, street-style vibe that R&B artists are known for without attempt or fabrication.

Furthermore, without too much detail (work should be eluded to but never explicitly stated online- that's my lifelong policy), she works in THE Industry and that puts her in the front and center of all the action - she's met and had extended encounters with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliott to name a couple. The girl's a rockstar rapstar, there's a reason her tag at the bottom of this post is "MirMirFoSho" and not just "Miranda".

And so today, I wish my beloved little jiggy-wit-it, bump'n'grindin', straight-flowin beautiful fashionista friend a happy, happy, happy birthday.

Like Fiddy says: Go! Go! we're gonna party like it's your birthday!

Alright love you Red, but Caitlin Out!
Happy Friday my loves!

20 [WEIRD] Things About Me

1. It is RARE that I'm in bed before Midnight.
2. I can't stand the way people say "epic". This website sums up my thoughts PERFECTLY.
3. Tweezers are my buddies. Without them, I might not have friends.
   
4. I took Guitar Freshman year of college with my boyfriend. We would sit in the very back of the Orchestra hall and swoon over each other the entire class.
   
5. I do not know how to play the Guitar.
6. My Brother and Sister are my best friends, they even liked me before I started using Tweezers.
   
7. I like the way dog breath smells.
   
8. I am ritualistic when it comes to air travel- I always do the same 4 steps before a flight. I would tell you what they were but that would be against my rules for a safe flight. Airplanes make me a bit loco.
9. I have weird obsessions with Crimes- I love reading about Hitler, BTK Killer, Manson Family and the Columbine massacre.
   
10. I think about Chicago every day and map plans to get there, daily (and will!).
    
11. I never drank prior to any dance in High School.
    
12. I love Wisconsin and have great memories there. It's an underrated State for sure.
    
13. I won't eat my dinner I made if there's a commercial on. I wait until my show comes back.
    
14. I don't wash my gym clothes that often, once every 2 weeks or so?
    
15. I rarely swim in chlorine anymore because I spend so much money on hair dye. Every time I opt out due to that, I think about how the young Me would slap the present Me in the face.
16. I eat Nutella strictly like Ice Cream.
    
17. I love going on Walks.
    
18. I am severely nice. Really. I like being friends with a huge variety of people.
    
19. I am awkward on the phone.
20. At work I feel old but after work, I don't- I just wanna put on a dress and dance!
    
    Don't leave me hangin' - what's an odd fact about you??

Outfit Post: The everlasting, often-voiced love for American Apparel

My friend Miranda likes to make fun of me a lot about the things I say. She claims that I pretty much always say these four things:

1) "Keep Portland Weird!" [Backstory: I love Portland, a lot- even with all its quirks. However, there's an annoying unofficial slogan attached to the city that suggests that we go out of our way to be found 'odd' or 'weird'. On paper that sounds fine but when you see the type of faux-Hipster, Goddess circle-chanting type indie-snob folk who push this slogan and refuse all mainstream things like Starbucks or showering, it is evident why this isn't exactly my favorite slogan. Whenever I see people doing something bizarre, uber-earthy or nutty, I can't help but say 'Keep Portland Weird' in a mocking tone because really... a man with two cats on leashes on his shoulders while he rides a unicycle isn't necessary... or cool.]

2) "Champagne Problems!" [Backstory: Describing problems that aren't real problems. Things such as complaining because you have too many clothes to choose from, etc. I dont' mean to say this a lot but we tend to complain about futile things]

3) "Portland can be so pretty sometimes". [Backstory: Miranda and I like to walk around and explore new things. In doing so, we often discover different activities or cultures of Portland that we've yet to experience. I always enjoy this and can't help but state that term a few too many times over the span of 5 minutes.]

4) "I really love American Apparel. Everything I get from there, I just really love." [Backstory: This very true statement is uttered because I am obsessed with all of my clothes from there and APPARENTLY, I voice this to her too often.]

But how can I not love American Apparel when I repeatedly fall in love with shirts from there like the one I wore this weekend, purchased in 2009 and still in love 2 years later...

American Apparel Oxford Shirt Dress found here.
Skirt- Urban Outfitters I'm wearing it even on the left sidebar of my Blog
Boots- From my late Grandma's closet, love walking a few miles in her shoes:)
Bracelets- F21 & this weird store at Chicago O'Hare airport.
Sunnies- Antique Store in Portland.
And in the final image above, you get to see a teaser for a later post this week. Julia, I tracked something down for you dear! :)

Enjoy your Monday, as best you can. Coffee, coffee, coffee!

DIY: Making a forgotten table new again.

I don't know if you're privy to what's what in the wood world but there's definitely an ongoing debate: Should you paint old wood if that means it loses some of its authenticity as an original piece??

In the case of my Nana's old, dinged-up, sewing table, I say 'YES'.
I wouldn't say that this antique table would be deemed worthy of a huge payout at Antiques Roadshow or anything, but I do know that its age gave it a certain amount of seniority in the wood world. It had 'character' and 'stories'.

After years of it sitting in an old room of my Mom's house - my Mom offered the table to me when I moved if I wanted it. It was cool but the first thing I asked her was - "would you mind if I painted it??". After a bit of apprehension, she agreed as she knew that unpainted it would continue its dreary life in the shadows of an unvisited room but painted, it would be in fresh air and appreciated.

So off I went on transforming this little sucker. I don't do too many DIY projects because a) they don't turn out well b) they are so not worth all of the time and energy and c) I can easily purchase something else. However, paint is one thing that I can definitely do.

Like any serious Painter, I made sure to follow proper etiquette for the piece:

I washed it down,
I sanded it down very thoroughly (I hate sanding... it's not the best task),
I washed it down again,
I removed all the doors and attachments so I was painting it properly,
I applied a base coat and let that dry then applied 3 coats of black in succession until I got the desired coverage.
I added a new knob
I reattached all the pieces together again.

The project in its entirety took a few days (with all the waiting between paint jobs) but it was definitely worth it. What used to be a has-been is now a beautiful, black occasional table.

The Cost:
(2) mini-cans of black paint @$9.00 a can
(1) knob at $8.00
72 hours of my woman power.

In my opinion, a steal!

Besides, I like having a piece that represents my hard work, my Mom and my Nana all in one... much better to earn the reward.

Autumn is many things but never 'crisp'

On a crisp fall day back in 2004, I sauntered into my Creative Writing upper-level course at my University ready to ride the tidal wave of my imagination to an A+. Writing has always interested me so when I had the opportunity to choose an elective, I signed write up (get it?) with utter excitement to not only hone my writing skills but to work on pieces that were more whimsical than technical. A little less "cite every scholarly source you have in Presidential format or else!" and a little more "remember when you threw-up on your first crush? Yeah... play on that embarrassment and create something spectacular". Okeley-dokely!

On our first day, the Professor assigned us an easy-enough piece: Write a creative story about Fall term. That's it, those were the only parameters. Cliche ideas filled my head: football, school, Sorority... oh what to write about?! The page was my Oyster (as the world certainly wasn't then, I think I always had about 10 bucks in my bank account in College). We all pensively began typing until among the sound of keystrokes and the grind of pen to paper, our instructor's voice emerged:
"One more thing..." He started off. "Please do me a favor and never describe Fall as 'Crisp' in your papers to me. I have read thousands of students' papers and magazine articles... and I have yet to find a person who, without being instructed first, finds a way to describe Fall as anything other than 'crisp'. It is, by far, the most accepted and cliched descriptor used in English".

{classic}
And you know what? He's totally right. From that point on, Fall and Autumn became 'nippy', 'refreshing', 'chilling' and 'cozy' but never, ever, ever... was Fall 'crisp'.

I guess there's a little Hipster in me after all. Wait no- I take that back!!!
[all images in this post via here]

Bye Blonde, Hi Ombré & oh, oh! A 2-second Vlog

Sometimes I want things absolutely gone from my life. Items such as: old boyfriends, questionable cartons of milk in my fridge, junk mail andddd hair color that I grow tire of.

Blonde- I was sooo over you.

So instead of complaining, I called 911 (aka my hairdresser's number) and asked her to take out all that light-haired nonsense and replace it with something darker.

I've gone dark many-a-time before so a swap in color on my strands isn't anything new... however, this time, instead of doing an all over color, we decided to get a little jiggy wit it and try to do an ombré look.

Turned out a little different than what I had thought but I really actually love it and am looking forward to seeing what I can do with it! More so though, I'm just excited to have some brunette in my hair, I was cravvvvin' it badly and I think it was just what the doctor ordered.

And because there's not enough of my face in this post (sheesh...I apologize for all the photo bombs these last two posts!), while I waited for my chicken to cook on Sunday night, I decided to take a mini-VLog for you. It's like 12 seconds long, I say nothing of substance and I'm really awkward talking. However, I think it's nice to remind everyone about once a year that I'm an actual girl named Caitlin and not some fat old man who lives in a hut in Nowheresville, USA.

I really am ME!

{My 12-second, awkward Vlog :) }

And a happy, happy Monday to YOU!

Outfit Post: Purple & Gray Fusion

As I've griped and griped and griped about, our Summer was kinda lame over here in my neck of the woods: lots of cloudy days in July, which is rare and unwelcome. 

In contrast, one of the Aces up Oregon's sleeve is the month of September which is well-known for its beauty and warm temperatures. Predictably, last week Oregon played that card and was hovering around 95-100 degrees.

FANTASTICO! 

So, for the FIRST TIME ALL SUMMER, I wore one of my favorite purple skirts and a grey top to take in the very late, very b*tchy Sun.

Oh, and you also get to peep progress on my apartment but I thankfully stuffed away the WNBA infiltrated lunch cooler which I can't seem to get rid of before The Boy and I took these shots on our way out the door.

Let's talk about the top for a second: I have a few of these, (2) in Grey (with different sleeves) and (1) in black (photographed here for instance). I am pretty much obsessed with it because it's cotton, easy to wear and wash and can be utilized as a dress or a top. People always ask me where they're from... well, here's a secret: They're all Old Navy XXL t-shirts (I'm a genius). I recommend grabbing a few for yourself, I never tire of them and knew the second I had the idea while in the store that I wouldn't regret it.

And the rest of my outfit was formally sponsored by the letter "B":
My Skirt- Buffalo Exchange. Shoes- BCBG. Bag- Betseyville by Betsey Johnson
By the way... if I don't get some brunette in my hair soon, I'm going to cut it off. Just hating the blonde, too much, too much...
And say hi to Reggie (the horse)!

{Hi Reggie!}

Enjoy the hump day!

28 for him.

My Manfriend just turned 28.

I wanted to take the time to do a little shout-out to that special man in my life... when we met it was love at first sight, I knew I had found the man of my dreams and we spent every moment thereafter looking into each others' eyes longingly as we rode off into the Sunset to start our life together.
Jussst Kidding.

That didn't happen at all.

Here's the real story in simple terms:

1. I had a group of college friends who meant the world to me.
2. The Boy started dating someone who was in the Group I was in, so he was introduced in those terms.
3. The Boy then hijacked all my guy friends and made them his own and I became friends with The Boy but wasn't that close to him.
4. We went through college together as really good friends in our large group but not really one-on-one friends.
   
   
   {young bucks in college- platonic buddies circa 2006}
5. Post-college, we both dated other people... yada, yada,yada... we both broke up with other people and found ourselves single at the same time.
6. We started going out with all of our single friends together and enjoyed the downtown evening scene.
7. We kept embarrassingly flirting at the end of most of the nights but refused to act like we liked each other the next day (my maturity is so off the charts sometimes).
8. After enough of that, we decided to head to a few happy-hours alone to test the waters.
9. Waters tested- we actually blended quite well.

The End.

In all seriousness sometimes I don't really reflect on how much time I spend with him. He's so important to me and such a joy in my little life.

Thank you for all you are to me~ and happy, happy, happy birthday to you. XO.

Möchten Sie ein Bier?? 2011 Brew Fest

It all started with an idea in early 2010. "Hey Miranda, do you want to dress up as Bier Girls in July for Brew Fest?".

Miranda paused, surmised for a moment and quickly determined she wasn't ready for such an embarrassing social undertaking.

Her instant rejection didn't mean that I would stop pestering her. Every week or so, I'd email/call/text her and ask her if she wanted to do it. Her usual response was we can't dress up like beer girls, it'll be social suicide! "no, I would feel so dumb…".

{Miranda and Me, July 30th, 2011}

That began in April 2010 and a Brew Fest, came and a Brew Fest went, with no Bier Girls to be had.

It was then that I decided I needed to pump up the volume on my proposals to her for the 2011 year. It was dumb of me to just suggest costumes, where was the incentive on her part!?!? I threw in the fact that we would likely be given free tokens (which allow you to have the brew), would get our picture taken with a lot of people, wouldn't have to worry about our clothes that day, would have amazing pictures together and memories for a long time… she still wasn't sold.

But this year, with a week to go before Brew Fest, her non-committal became my best asset: guilt. She hadn't definitively said "yes" and she hadn't definitively said "no"… and when time is of the essence, the decent person will submit due to sheer pity that they haven't given a proper rejection with enough notice.

So off to the Halloween store we went in the middle of July. The shopping trip in itself fueled as much laughter as the end result did. We stuffed ourselves into dozens of costumes in the "Ale Girl" family until we both determined what every girl is so happy to declare: "We had found "The One!". 

PS I am not a prude at all when it comes to clothes or lifestyles but really, Halloween has just gotten too darn slutty. There's a problem when we can find about 2 costumes we could wear in public and 25 which would be better suited for the Playboy mansion, but I digress...

And so, on July 30th, we ventured into our favorite, favorite, favorite Fest in the world dressed head to toe in our outfits. I think any lingering apprehension Miranda had washed away as we waited in line to enter and were given 12 free tokens for our effort. The rest of the day was about the sheer brilliance of the fest, the costumes and our time together… oh, and the delicious, succulent Beer.

The Oregon Brewers Festival always runs Thursday-Sunday on the last full weekend in July. For 2012 it's July 26-29. It's located on the Waterfront downtown and is phenomenal and renowned across the nation (Oregon is one of the best Beer places in the country). I would highly suggest you pay it a visit- you Seattle folk should definitely tromp down.

Happy, happy, happy Friday
(and thank you again Mir, for giving in. I love you long time!)