Manic Pop

  So the other day I was so mad about my shoes breaking I set out to find more shoes. While at The Ark, browsing around at their shoes, I spotted this dress just hanging there on a rack just waiting for me.  It was $5 so I didn't even try it on and seeing as how it was jersey knit with a tie in the back, I knew it would be fine. The result? A kind of weirdo dress, but I couldn't resist since the sleeves are so amazing! I like the way this old necklace from H&M plays off of the stripes on the sleeves. I don't wear this necklace nearly as much as I should.   Funny thing about these shoes: I had a pair almost identical to these early this summer by Steve Madden and I destroyed them within 3 months of wearing them. I found these at Sears of all places - a last-ditch attempt on my quest for shoes. I seriously didn't expect to find ANYTHING there but I found 2 pairs! There you have it - my crazy, striped-sleeve thrifted dress!  Thri...

So dummy me never got "before" photos of this dress before I made it my own size.  Believe it or not, this dress was about 3-4 sizes too big for me when I first bought it at a thrift store. I was this close to putting it back on the rack when I realized I was dumb to pass it up. So I took it home with me. $2-ish?  I typically think of it as "too patriotic" but with my new favorite cardigan (haha) it tones that feeling down a bit.  Originally this dress had cap sleeves. I totally could have edited them to make them fit on the dress but I actually am a huge fan of sleeveless dresses. That and perhaps I was too lazy to edit the sleeves. All I did really was turn the dress inside out and fit the side seams of the dress to the curve of the mannequin which is sized to me more or less. This dress is a nice, slightly stretchy polyester to it lends itself well to being fitted. Overall, I am so glad I didn't pass up this dress - I love the ...

 Lots of times getting dressed in the morning lately, I keep wanting a really bright cardigan. Nothing super-special, but here it is An orange cardigan!  I never seem to get my shoes in any of the photos. When I originally bought these, I wasn't quite sure how to wear them. (Duh, with ANYTHING!) They're a fun oxford shoe/saddle shoe combo.  The blue-green (but mostly green) hair continues. I re-saturated it the other day and the pigment is much better now. I think maybe I should wait with this dye after bleaching. That seemed to help for me.  Detail of my favorite scarf. Waves or clouds? I like to think it's clouds, but I think it's waves. I have totally destroyed it last time I put it in the washing machine. Whoops.  Yes, I still need to finish that insane dress behind me. Sooooo close!  My goal is to finish and wear it over my week off... which is happening right now.   Heading out! (With my Victrola pin...

Not sure what possessed me, but I decided to dye a huge chunk of my hair one of my favorite colors - blue-green. Perhaps my cat Arthur 's death on Friday night, early Saturday morning had something to to with it - I don't know. Brian and I found him in much pain and zombie-like that night and took him into the emergency center. Hardest night of my life. I absolutely loved that cat and cannot express how much I miss him. The vet was nice enough to make a paw print of him for us since he was a polydactyl (in my opinion the best cats!). Anyway... this dye took 2 processes of bleach. The dye I used from another beauty supply store initially did NOT take at all in my hair. A friend tipped me off to a salon in Chicago called Twisted Scissors  which is one of the very few places to buy Special Effects dyes in the city.  I had used this brand some years ago (like 4?) when I dyed my entire head Atomic Pink . I didn't have to re-dye that color for a MONTH! Best unnatural ...

Fun little mini photoshoot with Max today.  Originally we had planned to seek out a crazy, striped mural downtown but we were losing time for natural lighting. I like this mural we found anyway. Something crazy to go with my bright, cartoon-y, mod dress.  Lens flare is a joke and a nod to Max - haha! I had a super-small colorful water gun in my bag. It was about 84 degrees today. Shoulda filled that up and ran around the neighborhood! Sloan tote bag! I originally found out this bag existed by googling a photo of Flight of the Conchords one day. There is this photo of them running through the airport with it. No idea they were Sloan fans. They have been my favorite band for about a decade now. They're primarily considered the "Canadian Beatles" but their sound is so much more than that. The height of their career was really in the mid-to-late 90s, but as a huge Sloan fan they still have awesome albums after that and shouldn't be written of...

So Tuesday was PERFECT weather-wise! (But not as awesome as Wednesday). Perhaps I was pushing it by walking around in a sleeveless dress a bit, but I had a jacket with me so I was fine.  Me and Brian went to the Bongo Room for brunch, then wandered around downtown so I could pick up a roll of Holga photos I had developed at Central Camera.  Of course, I find colorful settings for photos to be taken of me - I love the colorful boardwalks we found within a (dead) garden near Grant Park. Nice contrast with the stripes of the dress too. These are actually Brian's cell phone camera photos since the battery on my point and shoot was still dead (ugh!) but they still have a nice effect to them. I amped them up a bit in Photoshop.    I love the orange and yellow trees by Lakeshore Drive. I had photos taken here with my friend Jane in Fall 2010. (Funny, that photo Jane took I am also wearing something I made, just li...

It's 81 degrees today in Chicago. I don't know how that makes me feel about how warm it will be this summer as it's only March and we usually see a day like this starting in May, but I guess I'll take it and not complain. This made it slightly difficult to select an outfit since I have so many amazing polyester dresses from the 60s/70s but I decided to play it safe and wear a polyester short sleeve and my favorite orange skirt. I've had this skirt for probably more than 2 years now and it's held up beautifully. I'm meeting my aunt who is in from Connecticut at an Italian place downtown later. Should be nice to see her, especially in my city!  I'm also excited that I get to wear these platform wedges I found at Famous Footwear back in January. They were super on-sale and I always need new shoes as I destroy pairs in about 3 months. Didn't think I would be able to wear them this early on though!  Back of the shirt. I have a mustard-col...

I saw this psychedelic deer dress in the window at Pitaya nearby work the other day and I couldn't resist. I don't really need any more dresses at all but this one was screaming "me". 'Nuff said. "Rainbows are very important to the whole Nicole persona." - Lee   Dress: Pitaya Belt: Forever21 Sweater: Vintage Boots: Call It Spring

I've mostly been busy hackin' up a lung my past 2 days off, but I managed to dress a little cute today in hopes of shaking off this ridiculous cough. (So far, the only thing that has helped is the Echinacea Throat Coat tea - Dayquil is no match for this thing.) Some of you may remember this is the same watercolor print vintage dress that used to be a pantsuit this summer. I found this thing at a vintage sale in Wicker Park - a woman who owns Onomatopoeia Vintage in Hammond, Indiana. I'm not sure how thrilled she was at me taking this and making it into a dress, but I love-love it as a dress. It might be my favorite. Before and after photos:  I simply cut the seams of the inside legs open, fit and pinned it accordingly, and drastically pulled up the hem. It took me less than 20 minutes and it's super-easy to do with any pants you have. Test it out on a pair from a thrift store! Brian also convinced me I needed this bottle of nail polish the other day. I...

I wasn't sure I would ever do this in particular with this blog, but the day has come: Photos of myself wearing slightly oddball things. I figure, why not? This is what I looked like today. I had actually forgotten I have this particular pair of pants in my closet as working my retail job, we have to wear clothes from work and these are from Forever21 from maybe 3-4 years ago. Sometimes, pairing them with a top can be daunting which is probably how they ended up in the back of my closet. Also, I may or may not have gone out in public with the fur collar. I realize it's more of a dressy piece (see how it's used here in a photo my by friend Jane) but I liked the pairing with the lumberjack shirt.                                       Details. Necklace is resale from Buffalo Exchange. ...