Ships A'hoy!!

My sister's graduation was bright and early on Friday. With only three hours of sleep the night before it was a rough morning, but I managed to pull myself together enough to proudly put on a dress I purchased from Etsy and that I've been DYING to wear for months now, but its just been too dang cold in Chi Town!

Now, I have to admit that this dress was very matchy-matchy with my sister's school colors, but I didn't care. A lot of people thought I was wearing the American flag, again I didn't care. I love this dress. I find it to be retro and nautical, with the cute bows on the shoulders and the little anchor buttons. Plus its cotton and stretchy, so it's comfy to boot!


Without further adiue! Drum roll please......here it is!

I hope you love it is much as I do!

السلام!

Tucson!

Last Thursday I flew from chilly Chicago to hot, sweltering Tucson to spend four days with friends and family to celebrate my sister's graduation from the U of A (the heat felt delightful, btw). Since I got in early on Thursday, my sister and I planned to take our mom out for a belated Mother's Day lunch. I was ecstatic to be able to celebrate a Mother's Day with my mom; its been three years since the last time! My mom picked the venue-- Chantilly Tea Room. Who would think a tea room existed in the Southwest? The outside of the restaurant followed the typical dessert decor of 99.9% of all buildings in Tucson...meaning adobe.

But the inside...oh the inside...well, it looked like this:

And this:

We sat outside, which looked like this:

It was so nice to spend some mother-daughter bonding time together. All of us got dressed up for the occasion.

My momma and me!

Here's my whole outfit:

Dress ~ H&M on sale  

Shoes ~ Steven Madden via Macy's on sale

Necklace ~ Send the Trend on sale 

Earrings ~ Maybe UO? Got them so long ago I can't remember

More pictures from Tucson coming soon!

السلام!

Girl and the Goat

Last Monday, two of my best buddies and I went to the Girl and the Goat in the West Loop of Chicago--  Although the food was to die for, I think its big claim to fame is its chief, Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chief's fourth season (and I saw her! eek!). I know I was excited to be there! We had to make the reservation two months in advance-- I know, its that kind of restaurant.

The food was excellent; its served like tapas so we each ordered three dishes to share between us. Everything was exceptionally savory. The only dish I wasn't a huge fan of was the lamb tartar. I don't know, there's just something about raw meat that is not appealing to me...Anywhoo, to add the to great evening was the surprise arrival of Rham Emanual, Chicago's mayor! I don't care what your politics are, its pretty cool to see someone with "celebrity" status walk through the door right next to you...with body guards.

 

Here is what I wore to the dinner (I had to look good for my ladies!)

 After dinner. I should've snapped a quick photo of Rahm!

(Yes, this photo is blurry. I'm working on the timed picture process, so we'll see how I improve!)

Belt ~ Thrifted

Sweater ~ Gap (sale)

Dress~ Forever 21 (gift)

Pants ~ Crosstrader ($16?)

I have to comment about my pants. They are actually stretchy cotton and, oh so comfy!

Shoes ~ Payless ($20)

Hope you have a swell Thursday!

السلام!

A Few Things...

Tragedy struck two weeks ago. My favorite pair of Gap skinny jeans ripped. Right by my crotch...lovely. I didn’t feel it rip, didn’t heard it rip, so it was a great shock when, as I was sitting cross legged on the floor, glanced down and noticed the huge hole! I. was.devastated. My heart sank to the floor, the only sounds I could emit from my mouth were little squeaks of horror and sadness.

Now, I have always believed that if you don’t know how to sew, make friends with someone who does, better yet, make it someone in your family. Fortunately, my mother is an incredible seamstress, a true artist with the needle and thread. Unfortunately, she lives in Tucson, hundreds of mile from my home.

As I was trying to solve my dilemma (I was seriously thinking of bringing my jeans to Tucson-- I’ll be there today!), when my adopted sewing queen came to the rescue! For the past month, my friend Talia’s parents have been in the city to be present for the birth of their second grandchild (no, not Talia’s). When I mentioned to Talia what had happened to my jeans (because I knew she would understand my devastation, as she also has a love affair with her Gap skinny jeans) she suggested her mom fix them. Ta-dah! Genius! Excellent idea! A wave of relief washed over me; my pants were going to be saved, they would be fixed by the time I went to Tucson and I wouldn't have to drop $60 that I don’t have at Gap. Hallelujah!

 Like new! Thanks Momma Schlamowitz!

On to other musings: the state of my jewelry box.

All of my necklaces are hanging neatly on my wall. My earrings on the other hand, well, they are in utter chaos.

I wish I could say this is organized chaos, but its not. When I’m looking for smaller earrings, I have to take out the larger earrings just to find them. Any thoughts on how I could organize my earrings in a civilized manner?

The Diamond Age

Well it’s been a week since I posted. Look at me not winning. (Sorry, just had to get that in there somewhere) Honestly, the icky weather we’ve been having lately took a toll on my motivation and I just didn’t have it in me to dress well last week. Sweatshirts it was for me! So to get back on track I think I’ll start the week with a book review. I recently finished this book and although its not particularly long, it did take me a while to get through it. I think that is because the style and genre were different from what I normally read. But I’ll get to that in a bit, lets start from the beginning.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Someone dear to me once said that reading a Neal Stephenson book is like getting a snapshot of time in the futuristic world he creates. There really is no beginning or end, just the middle. From the first page, the reader is thrown into the technologically overrun future Earth, where countries no longer exist, and people live in phyles (or clans). There seems to be an expectation that the reader should know this world and the way it works, which can cause some confusion at the start. However, once the reader settles in, one finds that Stephenson’s world is not as hard to comprehend as one might have thought.

Although the book weaves through many characters, the main character, Nell, is a strong heroine. Nell grows into a smart, tough young woman by reading a primer she acquired at the age of four. Through the primer, the reader and Nell are taken through a story that teaches Nell how to learn, analyze, and develop survival skills that help her in the real world. As the book follows Nell from age four to sixteen, subsequently far too much happens for me to give an adequate summary. However, I’m going to spoil the ending by telling you that Nell becomes Queen of the Mouse Army. Sounds bad ass, right? Yeah, that’s cuz it is. You should read this book to find out what the hell the Mouse Army is, and how Nell ends up their leader.

Coming full circle, let’s discuss the style and genre of the novel. I mentioned before that Stephenson’s style of writing threw me off at the beginning. Stephenson writes in a way that leaves no mercy for the reader; the reader had better keep up or she is going to get left behind. However, once you get into the rhythm of the story, you won’t want to put the book down. The genre is also out of my usual territory of literature. The novel is science fiction, but not in an outer space type of way. Stephenson focuses on nanotechnology and how its advancement has made all other technology obsolete. Food, clothing, furniture, you name it, is made from a single machine. Stephenson’s imaginative use of nanotechnology is impressive, however it wasn’t what pulled me through the story. I was more interested in Nell and her experiences, than the technology that was included along the way.

If you are looking to read something different, I highly recommend this book.