Dressing like Ms Frizzle

I have secretly always wanted to be more like Ms. Frizzle. She had the coolest dresses, took her students on the best field trips, and didn't doubt her own awesome for a moment. The Magic School Bus books were amongst my absolute favorites as a kid (esp. Inside the Earth and Lost in the Solar System*. Geo and Astro have always been my most beloved subjects...), so it is only reasonable that Ms. Frizzle become a role model, right? Even if she was never intended to be a fashion diva.

So recently when I was scrolling though my options at Spoonflower, the print-your-own-fabric-design shop, I came across some spectacular options that are screaming to be made into Ms. Frizzle outfits. Skirts, dresses, or blouses? I'm not sure yet. I just hope my mediocre self-taught seamstress skills are able to keep up with this plan.

Sun Surface by Animotaxis

Malachite by Ravynka


Peridot by Paragon_studios_one


Rhodochrosite by Missemor


Nebulae by Tingish

Now I just need to find a couple great dinosaur, insect, and robot options and my nerdy desires will be fulfilled!

*How did I never own In the Time of the Dinosaurs? What a shocking lack in my childhood!

Ogling the Microcosm

I haven't yet voted on any options, mostly because I'm too busy ogling the awesome, but I thought I'd share just in case you hadn't seen this yet. Nikon is having a contest for microphotography, and we get to vote. Did you know that cancer cells and algae were stunning? That bug sperm and ovaries belong on my wall?

Nikon Small World

Now I really, really want a fancy zoom lens for my someday camera.

... and the Paper Sculpture Escapade

This is ace. That is all.

Decades of Dresses

Have you seen this yet? I found it delightful - and it turns out to be a commercial for a mall! And I hate malls! But this video is rad. Watch 100 years of fashion dancing though 100 seconds and wish that you had access to that commercial's closet. (I call dibs on the 20s, 30s, and 40s!)

Originally spotted at The Hairpin.

Calculated Costumes

Early next year my dear kiwi and I are moving to New Zealand for a couple years. This involves plans and schemes for various details - things like visas, storage and shipping of belongings, and finding new jobs and a new home. But, being me, I am also setting in motion a plan for one specific aspect of my belongings: my wardrobe.


I have trained as a costumer, in an amateur sense, and since I started doing that as a teenager, the ideas behind planning out a specific character through a series of costumes developed parallel to my sense of personal fashion. Often, when I'm picking out my outfit for the day or trying on new pieces at a shop, I'm asking myself what role I will play. Responsible adult? Quirky teacher? Urban party girl? Whatever the plan for the day, I've got an outfit to make me feel the part.

But moving to a foreign country means having to make some very (hard!) deliberate choices about what comes and what doesn't. Between luggage and shipping, I can only bring so many things. But I also don't know what sort of job I'll have, where we'll be living, and what kinds of new activities I will do in my down time. This means that I need to have a wardrobe that is flexible enough to serve a wide variety of purposes but which is as compact as possible. For me, this sounds like a fantastic challenge/opportunity to plan out an ideal wardrobe and curate my current collection to suit.


This is going to be a bit of an ongoing process for the next few months, as I finalize my written plan and start to sort through what I have, what I need, what I am making, and what is getting tossed. I will do my best to share my process here, from outfit inspiration to drafted plans, to final results. And I will appreciate every bit of advice you have to offer - because it turns out it is much harder to plan for every occasion in life than to plan for a series of scripted scenes. Look for the "Calculated Costumes" label if you want to follow along during this process!

Smell as Sweet

I love the idea of a signature scent - always wearing the same specific scent (one which is at least mostly unique) every day so that when people smell it, they think of you. What a gorgeous thought. But I'm a bit too fickle for that. There are a few perfumes I adore, but there are also lots of others that I enjoy for a time and then move on to a new favorite. I'm currently on the prowl for a new selection of scents, and these are the ones on the top of my list so far.

Garden, by MCMC Fragrances. It is herby, unisex, and oil based. Pretty much perfect. It is also by a darling indie company, which rocks, and supports a charity, which also rocks. I have gotten this twice before and can't wait for my next tube to arrive. I would highly recommend ordering a sample pack (or both) from MCMC - enough to test each scent a couple times and really get a feel for how the scent wears on you. It may seem kind of pricey for what you can get for free at a department store, but remember, this is an indie company, and you are really getting a couple week's worth of perfume out of it. (Or it is possible I just have a crush on this company and will do anything they ask of me...)

Demeter Fragrance Library. I particularly love Grass and Paperback. The former is a nice grassy smell but with slightly floral undertones to keep it from being too kitschy. Nice and fresh. The later is my favorite musty/musky scent. Very unisex, great for winter. I also love to layer it with a lighter floral option. I always order a small selection of scents in the .5 oz splash size. This goes a long way, and gives me a nice selection of smells. Plus, if you order enough you get a free prize! The prize was pretty lame on my last order (Who wants to smell like a cosmo? Gross.) but my selections were rad. This next time I think I may opt for Beeswax, Sawdust, This is Not a Pipe, Tomato, Earthworm (I've tried Dirt and it is kind of amazing), and Firefly. This is also a really fun thing to stock up on for little favors and gifts. With so many pretty, hilarious, and specific scents you can really personalize your message.

Perfume Oil, by Long Winter Farm. I haven't tried this, but recently spied it on another blog (I'm bad and can't remember who! If it was you, tell me and I'll link back to you!) and now can't wait to order. I'm thinking of getting a sample pack of three oils, because, hey, it's a bargain! I'm probably going to ask for violet, sunset, and meadow but we'll see. I may also have to order some of that cream and lip balm because basically that entire store looks amazing. Oil based fragrances, luscious scents, and they even do requests! I'll let you all know how it goes once I place my order.

What perfumes/scents do you love? I would love a recommendation or two!

PS: This post is definitely not sponsored by any of the above companies. Just my own opinions!

New Zealand

As you may or may not have gathered from previous posts, I happen to be dating a very lovely kiwi fella and we recently (Okay, it was in April. Months ago. Which isn't terribly recent in blog-time.) took a little trip down there. It is everything that people always say about it -- gorgeous landscape, nice people, good food. We spent time with my kiwi's family and friends, seeing places he grew up, drinking delicious local wine and beer, and gorging ourselves on some of the best dairy, produce, and meat I can remember eating. (It helps that his mum is a TERRIFIC cook and we spent much of our time staying with them on the incomparable Marlborough Sounds). Here are a very few of my favorite pictures from the trip. Enjoy.













P.S. More photos can be found at my flickr.

Buggin'

I have a fascination of insects. I find them ever so pretty, especially the really grotesque beetles and ultra-magnified images of fly eyes or spider legs. But I like them the most when they can't touch me unless I want them to, i.e. behind glass or dead or in images. So I was pretty pleased by the cups and saucers featured in my Daily Candy email today. Available in several different insects and an arachnid, I'd love to add one or two to my tea cup collection. I'm not entirely sure about spending $40 on a lovely cup, however, so I'll just have to spend my time deciding which cup should be mine. The beetle? The fly? The moth? Alas, I'll probably just ogle the ABC Home cups (and the rest of their home and garden pretties) from afar. But I definitely recommend you check them out.

And if you get a couple cups, have me over for coffee or tea, please.

via Daily Candy

Fall Palettes

One of the things I really dig about living in Pasadena is how close we are to the hills. The foothills start just a few miles up the main road, and trails abound. The Kiwi runs up the steep path while I dawdle up the easy route and we meet at the ruins of an abandoned hotel and train tracks a few miles up.

The hills look different each time I go up them; different desert plants in bloom or seed. I was loving the color combos with all the early fall foliage. I can't decide if I want them to become outfits, jewelery, or wall art but they are definitely going to find new life very soon.


The rust plant had almost an olive hue in person, and when combined with a blushing pink and pops of cream, turquoise, or sage I couldn't get enough.


The silver-green-blue of yuccas, agave, and eucalyptus would be lush layered together in structured, sculptural fabrics, or clean, elegant, simple shapes. Maybe a faint hint of cappuccino, peridot, or butter.


Peridot, rust, and deep olive on a bed of greige. I'm thinking a layered, sculptural pencil skirt and a loose, sheer blouse with some feminine heels.

Who wants to go shopping?

Window Shopping

Oh my my...

Have you seen the Lady Dior campaign yet? You can find it here.


I think my favorite is Lady Blue Shanghai, perhaps in part because I always enjoy being utterly perplexed by David Lynch. But Marion Cotillard makes for a swell dame noir in the Lady Noire film -- she always seems so impossibly vintage, doesn't she? And the Lady Rouge video grew on me, between her fab eye makeup as the lady in red, and her rocking performance with Franz Ferdinand in the chorus.

The funny thing is that I really don't see the appeal of the Dior bags -- but then, I really never go in for designer bags. I'm assuming that a fair portion of the wardrobe, at least for Cotillard, is Dior, and there were definitely some pieces to covet. I'll start with those sunglasses at the Eiffel Tower, followed by her suit in Shanghai. And I really really enjoy the campaign from a purely aesthetic perspective. Dior uses very talented people to create remarkable art, much as, I assume, they do with their product line. But I'll never see the appeal of a purse canvased in a designer logo, and I just don't get quilted patent leather. But I'm one of the few, so I'm sure we'll get to see plenty more of these delicious campaigns in the future, no?

Image found here.

Oh dear...

I know I risk sounding like an overly analytical academic when I say this, but I'm going to do so anyway. This campaign is beautiful -- a sort of naive, glorious, sexy fantasy -- but as soon as all three models came together on the screen my thinking cap turned on and started analyzing all the LGBT (well, mostly LGB, though who knows with models these days...) connotations at work here. I'm pretty sure they just had a really steamy three some in the barn, but that childlike delight they display the whole time keeps things so innocent. Very interesting, but I must confess I was a bit too distracted by the film -- and I'm not even mentioning the rain -- to even notice the clothes. Oops.

Starting from Scratch

One of the fun parts of a new home in a new city with mostly new furniture is all the new decorating schemes I can come up with. I'm not limited to matching all my usual furniture and art, and I get to entirely rearrange the little I kept -- much easier done as you unpack a new place than rearranging a fully set up home. This said, although I've been in our current place for nearly three months, and we've been almost entirely unpacked for about two of those months, I only just hung the first wall art a few days ago.

I've decided on colors for the apartment (mostly blues and greens with some plum and pops of rust, ochre, leaf, and yellow all on a black and white background), and have some things purchased, other things bookmarked or planned, and other things are on the wish list or eventual diy list. But one of the things I'm currently ogling as either a purchase or an attempted diy is collection of giant tissue poms.


At first I was thinking a nice collection over my tv in the living room, but the a.c. is right there and might cause issues. More importantly, my kiwi scowled when I mentioned the idea. Now I'm thinking over the bed, as a contrast to the accent wall (inspired by this in black and white, since I can't paint the apartment) I'm planning as an alternative head board. The trick is finding great tissue paper in all my very specific colors.

The every lovely PomLove has a gorgeous selection of colors, and also has clearly mastered the art of poms. I'm currently tempted by the She and Him mobile, seen above, but also by a collection of perhaps 5 or 7 poms in my preferred shades to suspend at various lengths from the ceiling... (I also want her paper source, so I can start using those gorgeous tissues for wrapping, decoupage, and every other possible paper use I can come up with...) If you too are interested in these lovely creations, check out the giveaway on Post Grad Hair Cut.

Reading is Sexy

And the kiwi's know it! This video for the NZ Book Council is beautifully done. I can't imagine how long all that paper cutting and attention to detail must have taken!

Periodic Table of Fonts

This is a really rad presentation of various typefaces... is your favorite on the list? First spotted on DK Design Studio Blog where you can also find such rad posts as this:

and this corporation climate score card.

Hello, Autumn!

I may be a bit early here, but I'm really excited for the end of summer. This may be against the wishes of the rest of the blog world, but I am ready for cool weather, pretty layered clothes, gray drizzly days, comfort food, and the absolutely gorgeous displays of fall leaves. Growing up in New Mexico, fall lasted approximately one week and leaves generally skipped the bright colors going straight to brown and falling. But here in Eugene, Oregon, autumn lasts for months and is pretty much perfect. The winter rains are still interspersed with golden sunny days, and the foliage is beyond anything I had ever seen in my life. The colors!

Basically, I'm really excited for October already. But though the days are cooling off and the sun is lower in the sky, summer is still clinging to the Northwest. I am fine with this as it gives me more time for my current project, a wardrobe redesign. I am still in the early stages of this project, but will post much more as I go along, but wanted to establish the ground rules for myself and any who are curious.

I have some experience and training as a costume designer and ever since my first official project when I was about 15 I have applied what I know as a stage designer to my daily life and wardrobe. Currently I am attempting to streamline and beef up my wardrobe using the principles of costuming to create a slew of options that can be easily mixed and matched but always create a look that I define as characteristically me. I'm hoping this will eliminate the whole "I've got nothing to wear" problem, and finally force me to get rid of those items that live in the closet purge after purge because I might just wear it soon.

Anyways, all these ramblings are to say that I am in the first stage -- design and inspiration. Accordingly I am immersing myself in the clothes and people that I hope to emmulate. Step one: Rewatch Pushing Daisies, Penelope, Love Actually (specifically Laura Linney's character), Amelie, and so on with an eye to costumes. During viewing (with some fast-forwarding between costume changes), I'll make notes and sketches (and screen grabs) of those looks I really love, and determine basic shapes, silhouettes, and color palettes. I'll be sure to post more from this process as I have more tangible results...


Images originally found here and here

Mad Science

This rad cocktail set would be a perfect fit for my new geeky chic dining room, no?

Natural Geometries

After seriously geeking out last night watching Nova (all about fractals -- you should definitely check it out if you can!), my man shared these pictures from Mars with me this morning... Really gorgeous landscapes. I especially love nature photography that illustrates the intricate geometries, fractal patterns, and seems almost more like abstract art than a traditional landscape. Mars photography is often great for such things, as there are no unnatural structures (or are there...? mwhahaha) and because so much of it is satellite survey, removing the horizon from the picture and also playing with scale.

In my younger days, when I was toying with the idea of becoming a scientist, I used to spend hours on the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) website, scrolling through all the latest Mars imagery... I'd forgotten how striking it is and may have to start doing so again...

Tabula Rasa

I just moved into a spacious townhome with my man and as we slowly unpack boxes and shove around furniture, I'm trying to decide how to decorate. One thing I love about moving is the blank slate it provides -- sure, I have objects and art from previous design schemes, so I could probably just copy those but I have all these lovely blank walls, so why not try something new?? And with all our lofted three storey ceilings I'm going to have to come up with something on a much larger scale than ever before. Of course, it will take me about a month or so to figure out what exactly to do... but for now, here are some bits of inspiration.

Fabric Panels and a diy guide by the creator!

Twinkly drapes from a music club opening... Could be interesting as a wall hanging, as a divide between our staircase and living room, or as drapes tied back between rooms...

Paper star lamps that I would either suspend from the ceiling or hang against a wall in a cluster. Perhaps also against a fabric backdrop?

I may also just hang long strips of pretty fabric from floor to ceiling for some color and texture... Basically, I want color and texture on these white dull giant walls, but need to do it on a budget and following apartment guidelines. As I make my plans, I'll be sure to post more info!

In the meantime, check out this great
Apartment Therapy piece on budget wall decor -- some are a bit funky, but all could be easily tailored to any style or situation...

Nerd is the new black

I am all about the librarian chic. If I were to scrap my closet and start over, every piece would belong to this aesthetic. I know the hipsters tried to appropriate it and that hornrim glasses seem to be oh so trendy these days, but I don't care. For me, librarian chic isn't just about boxy glasses, cardigans, tweed skirts and loafers. Instead, it is a look that pulls from all kinds of vintage, academic sources. It is the muted jewel tones of leather spines, club chairs and oriental rugs, Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby. It is argyle, tweed, plaid, cashmere, silk, lace, brass, glass, maple. It brings the Ivory Tower down to a cozy level where comfort, layers, and texture rule. It is Nikola Tesla, dirigibles, and Indiana Jones. It is all of these things draped on Heidi Klum: smart and fusty and comfy, but simultaneously elegant, refined, and sexy.

As I am daydreaming about fall weather and the return of all my favorite layering pieces, I've put together a little inspiration board that I hope conveys what I see as the quintessence of librarian chic...



Glasses Oxford heels Watch Parts Ring Key and Magnifier Necklace Tweed Suit Computer Sexy writer Cloche Tea Service School Newspaper Outfit Book Spines Library