Showing posts with label stripes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stripes. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Dots and stripes.


  • Button down: Maurices (previously)
  • Cami: Maurices (buy)
  • Skirt: Maurices (previously)
  • Sandals: Lela Rose for Payless

This post is part of Megan's challenge to show off your stripes. Okay, this is going to have to be super quick: I got slammed a little yesterday and today, and have a lot of non-blog things to do (trust me, I would rather be blogging! :) ). And for all my blogging buddies further to the north... our weather is supposed to get unpleasant later in the week, so please don't hate on the bare legs! And of course, the pictures today were taken by my awesome wife.

Monday, March 21, 2011

First outfit of spring.



Megan of Megan Mae Daily is hosting a challenge this week to showcase your stripes. Since the weather around here has suddenly and dramatically become gorgeous and springy, I decided to go for something simple and suitable for just enjoying the weather. And I while I originally planned to get caught up on some blogging this weekend, the weather was too nice to stay inside, and my cabin fever won out, so we went exploring on the back roads in the countryside on Saturday. I may have found some neat places to do some outfit photos in the future, so I'll just save the details for a later post (hopefully one with pictures! :) ). Oh, and of course, my beautiful wife took the pictures for today's post.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Short skirt and a long jacket.


  • Button down: Old Navy
  • Vest: Maurices (previously)
  • Skirt: Old Navy
  • Pantyhose: Just My Size
  • Pumps: Nine West (buy (Cognac color))
  • Jacket: Kohl's

This is another outfit from last week. When I put on this skirt, I realized it was a little shorter than I remembered when I bought it. But I figured it was okay, especially since I was staying indoors. And this is the blog debut for this pair of heels. I mention them because they are one of my favorite pairs of shoes. They're really comfortable for the height, and I love the color. I decided that if I'm going to be crazy enough to wear a short skirt in December I might as well pair it with a great pair of shoes. And I'll be honest... I just put the jacket on so I could use this title.

I know a lot of bloggers talk about how awesome the style blogging community is, but it really is. Its definitely made this holiday season more fun for me in a lot of ways both big and small! And there are amazing style bloggers like Bombshell Beauty who do wonderful things like this. And there are so many other wonderful bloggers out there too(like Megan, Pamela, and Melissa just to name a few. and I really can't link to everyone, the list is too long!) Anyway, thanks everyone! And of course, my fabulous and awesome wife took the pictures!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Hair and makeup.


  • Top: Maurices
  • City Shorts: Maurices
  • Boots: Payless (previously)
  • Pantyhose: Just My Size via Walmart
  • Necklace: Maurices (previously)
  • Bracelet: Torrid (previously)

I felt really great in this outfit, but there are some things I'm not sure about. This button down is a little on the bulky side bordering on too big, but it can be cinched with the ribbon in the middle. I have seriously thought about removing that ribbon because I'm just not sure about it (As you can see, my bow tying skills are also a bit off as well...). If removed the ribbon would also be a pain to thread back through the fabric "loop" that contains it. I always enjoy everyone's feedback on my outfits, so definitely tell me what you think about this one!

In the previous post, Pamela from the awesome blog Call Me Ishmael asked a question: how long does it take wifey to do your hair and make up every time you take pictures and post? The answer is that it really depends. I normally wear my hair in a ponytail, and if I'm changing in the afternoon or evening and just going to wear one outfit and stay in, I'll just brush out my hair, but I do play around sometimes and try to fix my hair myself. I really want to be able to do these things for myself. (I also definitely intend to corner my stylist next time I get my hair cut and beg for lessons!) Likewise with the makeup. I want to learn how to do it myself. But most of the time for pictures I just brush out my hair and don't wear makeup (including the pictures in this post).

If we're going to go out though, I usually ask my wife to do my hair and makeup since she does a much better job than I do. I hope to get to the point where I feel comfortable doing it myself when I go out, but on the other hand, my wife does enjoy playing with makeup, so its not too much of a struggle to get her to help out there.

For makeup it normally takes about 15 minutes total. I start by shaving, and that takes maybe 5 minutes and then I take a break to let my face air dry. I should add that recently I have also experimented with using an epilator on my beard as well, but I still have to shave to get the hairs it misses. Fortunately, this experiment with hair removal went better than my last big adventure, I won't say its the most pleasant thing I've done though, but strangely enough it seems to irritate my face less than shaving (especially past the initial usage). I think I must have fairly sensitive skin. Anyway, with that done, we apply concealer for red spots/beard coverage, then use a loose powder foundation, blush, eye liner, eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss. I could probably get away with less work on facial hair removal if I would use a heavier coverage foundation, but I don't really like any of the ones we've tried, and its been really difficult to match my skin tone on the heavier coverage too.

Hair takes a lot longer. Usually about an hour I think. I have fine, thick, straight hair, so it tends to take some work to get it to hold a curl. The last time my wife curled it in layers and used a spray gel before curling, and then hairsprayed it all when she was done. Its been tricky for my wife to figure out how to style my hair since her hair has a lot more natural curl.

And while this is not exactly what was asked, I do think I should add that the real time sink in getting ready is hair removal. Shaving my legs, chest, face, and armpits, plus using the epilator and tweezing just takes a while. I probably spend 4-6 hours a week on hair removal. So to go out for the evening like this post, I probably spend about 2 hours before getting ready, with my wife helping for about half of that time.

And of course my beautiful wife took the pictures for this post.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Seven little secrets.


Our weekend went a little off the rails, and so pictures didn't quite happen like they were supposed to, among other things. This outfit also turned out better than I thought it would, although I realized in writing up what I wore, that I wore this cardigan with these skinny jeans last time too. I need to fix that next time! I'm not sure the belt ended up quite right either, but the big question I have is about the boots. I ordered these boots last year in the wide calf version so I could hopefully wear them with skirts and with jeans tucked into them. Unfortunately, the calf is REALLY wide, so wide that I don't really like how they look with a skirt at all, and I think they're too big even with jeans tucked into them. The toe also ended up be a little more pointed that I usually prefer as well, but its mostly the calf size that I dislike. As everyone who read the previous post is aware, when it comes to shoes I have a serious addiction, and so I am trying to occasionally post pairs I'm thinking about putting in the thrift pile. So definitely feel free to tell me what you think!

Also, several people have asked if I really do welcome questions. I always enjoy questions and trying to answer them, so please feel free to ask away in the comments (or by email!). I will try to do my best to figure out some way to answer your questions if possible. In that vein, Megan Mae from the wonderful blog Daily Waifu Snapshot tagged me to post Seven Little Secrets. This actually turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. The biggest "secret" I have is that I'm a crossdresser, but I assume everyone reading this post already knew that, so that's no fun to list. On the other hand, I'm trying to remain pseudonymous as well, and so it was a little tricky coming up with interesting things that people who know me in real life wouldn't know as well.

  1. I've never been to a drag show. I figured I would mention this one because this really seems to surprise people. I also don't know any other crossdressers in real life either.
  2. I have a love/hate relationship with TV. I like some TV shows, and do occasionally enjoy watching TV, but if it was up to me, the TV would almost never be on. In addition, when a TV is on, it will almost constantly distract me from anything else in the room, even if I hate what's on. I also have a serious dislike of watching reruns.
  3. Someday, I would like to have the opportunity to go to a formal event in a cocktail dress/formal-wear. I'm pretty open minded about this and what sort of event would work, but I want this to be a legitimate "normal" event for formal wear, so I would definitely not count a Halloween costume party. I would even consider, if I was asked, being a bridesmaid... er man... er... is there even a term for that?
  4. I have visited 39 US states.
  5. I could probably list several style related quirks like this, but I used to have a seriously irrational dislike of open toed shoes. I don't even remember why to be honest. Now I love them of course, and have ... too many pairs. Maybe this quirk should actually be "unhealthy obsession with shoes in general". Although, I will add that attractive shoes in my size tend to not make it to clearance, and can be tricky to find in the first place, so that added a bit of a compulsion to buying pairs without thinking things through. I'm doing better now though!
  6. I usually enjoy anime. I'm not at the obsession level though, but there are some series I follow and movies that I enjoy a lot.
  7. I tend to live my life as an open book. I don't actually have that many secrets, and most people who know me, know the sort of quirky things that end up in a list like this. This isn't really a cop out, because as I was thinking of things I could list, I kept realizing that a lot of people who I wouldn't want to know about this know these things, and while some of stuff I could have listed would be quite interesting, it would also make it pretty easy for people I know in real life to figure out. So I'll go with "slightly neurotic about being honest and open" as the seventh secret.

I know I'm supposed to tag seven other bloggers now, but it seems like a lot of people have already been tagged, and I'm a little pressed for time, so I really want to avoid tagging someone twice.

And of course my wonderful wife took the pictures today.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Playing with color.


  • Top: Torrid
  • Shorts: Torrid
  • Shoes: Torrid
  • Bag: Nine West

Yesterday, I saw another blogger use a blue and purple color combination and I thought it looked really nice, so today I tried this combo out. I'm not sure if it shows, but the shoes are a nice shade of purple, and it did complement the blues of the top nicely. I think I have some better blues and purples in my closet, so I will have to try those out next time.