Leopard Galactica

______Our house has been without wifi for three days now.  Yes, three days.  Three torturous days that will turn into four when I wake up tomorrow... that is, if I wake up.  It's only understandable that such a lack of wifi has had quite noticeable effects on my mental and physical state: my vital organs have been showing signs of weakness, my internal body temperature has been steadily decreasing, and my vision has been blurring ever so slightly.  But I believe that I'll be able to pull through this, mainly 'cause I know I can get wifi at the community college where I'm taking a summer course.  Don't get me wrong--I could live quite some time without this wondrous virtual world that we call the interwebs, but when my ability to update this blog is interrupted... things start to get ugly. Real ugly. Uglier than your great-great-grandma's chin hairs during a lightning storm ugly. Yeah, that ugly.

______Wifi problems aside, this outfit here was quite fun to put together.  It makes me feel like I'm channeling that Disney movie, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, with this high ponytail, these strappy platforms, and all this chunky metallic jewelry.  To me, this outfit sort of gives off a galactic go-go girl kind of vibe!  Or at least what 1999 considered to be super stellar and futuristic (and hey, with how I'm dressed, they definitely guessed right!).  It's so hard to believe that movie came out over ten years ago--I remember watching it in my old room while slurping down my mom's delicious macaroni and cheese.  Time flies whether you like it or not, I suppose, just as days without wifi do.

Dress: TJ Maxx
Wedges: Calvin Klein via Ross Dress for Less
Necklace, earrings: Charming Charlie's
Cuff: Lulu*s
Nail polish: The "It" Color by OPI

A Happy Ending

______So, I never really mentioned this to you guys because I wanted to keep it a surprise and not annoy the heck of you by constantly bringing it up, but... last week, I kind of got married.



______"But Ali, where is your husband?"

______Well folks, he ran away in fear after realizing what a mistake he had just made--you know, marrying a potato-creature hybrid such as myself. 

______...

______Juuuuust kidding!  Yeah, no, I didn't really get married.  Though, I do want to see how many people comment on this saying, "Congratulamations on ur marriage bc I don't read ur supa-dum postes bc ur writing is not funney!!!1"



______So the real deal behind these pictures is that the other week, I was able to have this awesome opportunity to be a model for a vintage limousine service that caters to weddings!  A photographer who took our family's pictures once before (his name is Butch and he is fabuloso) contacted me and I eagerly agreed to do it.  I was able to pose next to a super stunning Rolls-Royce and a lovely Mercedes Benz as a "bride."  I didn't feel like much of a model during the shoot since I haven't done anything like that before, but the guy who owns the limousine service really liked how they turned out for his website, Coats Classic Cars Vintage Limousine Service, so I was just happy to hear that.  Heck, he even put me in the header of his website!  I am truly honored.

______Afterward, the owner was kind enough to take us all to Panera afterwards for lunch... So guess who got to ride to Panera in a Rolls-Royce?  I'm just living the life over here, you guys, and you're all just petty peasants in my kingdom.  

______I kid, I kid.  But really, the photographer's wife and I were sitting in the back of the Rolls-Royce while the owner drove it and we were just squirming over the awesomeness of every little detail inside and snapping tons of pictures and such.  It's not every day you get to ride in a fancy vintage car!  Overall, it was definitely a neat experience.


(photos property of Butch Oglesby at Blue Moon Studios, via bluemoonstudios.net/cars)

Two Tickets to Paradise

______It's funny how in her most recent post, Lyddie mentioned that she was on the prowl for an anchor belt she saw me wearing, because I've totally been on the prowl for something I saw her wearing before, too--a chunky gold chain bracelet.  I'd see it appear in many of her posts, and I'm pretty sure I told her I wanted to break into her house and steal it every time she wore it.  Luckily for Lyddie, my search for said chain bracelet came to an end when I saw one at Charming Charlie, land of fabulous jewelry.  That being said, I never did end up tracking her down and breaking into her house.  Ah, well.  That's something I can put on my to-do list to occupy a lonely weekend.

______Anyway, my dastardly plans aside, what do you guys think of the flatform trend that's going around?

______I wasn't so sure about them, but then I found these for $20.00 at Kohl's the other week and thought they were actually quite cute!  Then yesterday at Ross, I found some simple black ones for the same price.  Flatform sandals are quite comfy to walk around in and I rather like how they give you height without making the arches of your feet ache.  It's silly how quickly you can go from hating something to embracing it... it's like growing your own tomato, but it's shoes.



Top: Charlotte Russe
Shorts: Charlotte Russe
Chain bracelet, airplane earrings: Charming Charlie
Flatform sandals: Kohl's

Words of Wisdom

______I'm a hypocrite for wearing this shirt, mainly because a) I tend to make more work for myself than what's necessary and because b) I don't consider myself much of a traveller.  I'm pretty much your standard homing pigeon, and will refuse to relocate myself unless my entire household tags along.  Mind, I do like to go places to take pictures and explore and such... but only if I know my parents and brother aren't too far away!  Yep, I'mma mega weenie.

______Anyway, this is the new purse that I received for my birthday!  It's rather shapeless looking here since it's only carrying my wallet, phone, and keys, but it normally fits my DSLR camera ever so perfectly.  It's quite floppy and easy to set down on things--it doesn't topple over, it just kind of sinks into itself like a fat cat does into a couch... so in other words, it's perfect.



T-shirt: Modcloth, birthday pressie!
Shorts: Charlotte Russe
Purse: Ralph Lauren, birthday pressie!
Booties: Charlotte Russe
Large gold bangle: Lulu*s
Mood ring: some thrift store (note: this mood ring is a LIAR because it has been telling me all day that I've been feeling passionate, when in reality I have not had any of these so-called "passionate" feels)

The Smoking Horse

"The Smoking Horse," prismacolor pencil on 17"x14" Bristol paper, July 2012

______I feel pretty darn productive this summer, mainly because I actually drew something that I actually finished and actually really like!  I work at my neighborhood's pool, you see, and after I'm done cleaning bathrooms and taking out the trash and such, I really don't have much to do except for making sure that residents follow the pool rules--which they usually do.  Thus, drawing is a good way to pass the time when I'm not telling people that they shouldn't be drinking soda in the pool.  This here drawing has been done for about a week now, but I didn't want to post it so soon because I always end up looking back at things I supposedly have finished and tweaking them until they feel right.  Of course, that's what happened with this drawing, and I tweaked it accordingly during the week; however, after a few days of looking at this drawing now, I feel that I need not touch it anymore.  I am a satisfied wee grasshopper.

______So, here we have this lovely horse sir who is erupting from an abstract volcanic mountain of sorts.  Honestly, I just really wanted to try my hand at drawing a horse and capturing its wild, horse-y nature.  Because untamed horses definitely the share characteristics of smoke--unable to be tamed and always riding the wind, yeah?  I know that the anatomy is a little wacky, but hey, if I wanted an anatomically correct picture of a horse, I'd take a picture.  But that can be boring, and not always so fun.  It's much more fun to screw around with the nature of things via colored pencil-y goodness.  I had a lot of fun with all the lines and muted colors and gradients in this piece; in fact, there really wasn't one part that I grew bored with in this drawing.  It always kept my attention!

The Swan Princess

______The Swan Princess was one of my favorite cartoon princess movies when I was growing up.  There was something about her name, Odette, the way that her lovely dress fell about her, and the fact that she turned into a majestic swan in a moonlit lake that stuck with me.  This dress, for whatever reason, reminds me of that magical childhood movie!  I really like the way these pictures turned out, so I apologize that there are so many of them.  My mom chose a lovely location and these are as many photos as I was able to narrow them down to.  Plus, here's a picture of my brother and I! He's totally shirtless because he was totally pressure-washing the driveway.  Always being a hard worker, that brother of mine.



______Last night, we went out to this outstanding Italian restaurant for my birthday dinner.  We started with a basket full of these warm, chewy, olive oil-y buns, went on to have some tender meatballs smothered in marinara as an appetizer, and finally had our main courses.  I ended up choosing lasagna since it was the only thing I could pronounce, and it was a fine choice--the melty ricotta cheese, soft pasta, and meaty marinara blended together so nicely. I appreciated this carb-heavy meal, I did.

______Later when the Italian food had digested juuuuust enough so there was room for dessert, I grabbed a square of homemade chocolate chip cookie cake, microwaved it slightly, and topped it with vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate fudge syrup.  Hey now, don't judge me--everybody needs a little bit of diabetes now and then.  Needless to say, I was stuffed and felt like quite a blob last night.  This morning's daily bike ride was more invigorating than usual, and I even beat my 10 and 15-mile personal record which was pretty sweet.  I'm actually quite happy to be returning to healthful eating for the rest of the week.



______I never realized how difficult it is to take pictures of food. I had to be so patient, which was quite the difficult task when the ice cream and fudge was dripping down the cookie in such a seductive manner.  Torture, you guys!  The food mocks you.  It's all, "Look at me, look at how warm and delicious I look! Haha, you're such a loser and you can't have any of me until you take a decent picture."

______Food is stupid.  But I showed it who's boss by eating it.  Take that, you rude cookie sundae thing.



Dress: gifted, via Modcloth
Heels: TJ Maxx
Necklace: Charming Charlie's
Cicada earrings: Etsy
Hair: done by my momma!