It's Simple Really

I like my legs. I like my shoes. I like what I do with my legs and my shoes.

Today was blissfully simple.

Soft makeup and straight hair...

...easy outfit...

Cami and Jeans- West Seal

Lace Panel Button Up- Sears
Flats- Charlotte Russe (Shoe Challenge Pair Number 3 :) )

...and Domino's sandwiches for lunch.

I surprise-visited my dad at work today because I had time before school.

:)

He was happy.

That made me happy.

I love driving my car with the windows rolled down.

The breeze feels nice in my hair.

At school there was Jack Johnson playing outside the baseball fields.

That made my mile-long-walk through the parking lot extra nice.

(I love a good life soundtrack)

I realized my campus is a really beautiful place,

but only when the sun shows it to me.

We did alot of walking in the sunshine today...
....my legs, shoes and I.

Shoe Challenge: No. 2

Being a college student mean just about one thing:

You never have any gosh darn time.
I wake up, dress, take pics, school, pick up sis, eat, homework, shower, sleep.
So I apologize greatly for everything lacking in this post.
No witty title. No clever comments. No lame jokes.

This is what I wore today:

Dress-Target

Cardigan- Wet Seal

Belt- Forever 21 (omg same as last post, how un-creative am I??)

tights-Target probably...

Necklace- thrifted

And the shoes? A pair of $5 Walmart flats.
I love them because they're so frickin simple.

It amazes me how hard it is to find a plain black flat nowadays...

Hope you're all having lovely, unstressful, productive days!!

Shoes for the Soul

If it weren't for the Shoe Challenge, my speech to give in communications class and it being Valentine's day, I probably would not have had the motivation to even think about this outfit.

Outfit Details:
Maroon Cami-Wet Seal
Camera Necklace- Claire's
Belt- Forever 21
Shoes- Charlotte Russe
Top& Skirt-Thrifted

I adore these shoes, I think everything about them is perfect. The heel height, I wanna say a lil over 4", is still extremely comfortable, the bow is soooo cute and the toe... gosh that right there is my perfect toe. They also come in grey and purple, and at $25, I'm 95% sure I'll go back and get those too.

I find it extremely funny that today was my first day doing the shoe challenge and my grandma brought me another pair today... she's fantastic, she taught me how to sew when I was younger and is now always thifting for me, usually finding some pretty amazing stuff.

I'm not really sure how I'll wear these yet but they have this incredible squishy inside that makes me wanna go run around in a park or play tennnis or some other random athletic activity I usually shy away from.

I hope you're all having lovely Valentine's Day's!! I'm going to spend my evening curled up on the couch watching an amazing man named Humphrey Bogart play his classic role in Casablanca. There's something about losing a love to someone else really resinates with me...

Plus, I found it interesting to show that the shoes I wore today are the ones I have displayed around Bogie and Bacall's picture from her autobiography cover.


:) Shoes and Bogie. Who could ask for a better Valentine's day?

Who Am I?

I have to do a speech this Monday for my interpersonal communication class, and it has to be about 3 important aspects of myself. I gotta tell ya, it was A LOT harder than I thought It'd be... But this is what I finally came up with:


Hi, My name is Patricia, but you can call me Trish, and I like Red Lipstick, vinyl and shoes!

Haha, When I first started writing this speech I figured that would be the route I would go. The obvious, what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach.
But then I thought about the rarity of an opportunity like this. To tell a group of strangers who you really are. I'm not a what-you-see-if-what-you-get kinda girl. So if you really wanna hear about my 45 pairs of shoes or collection of vintage big band records, check out my blog, because I'm going to go ahead and tell you about the deeper, more personal things that make me, Me.
The first and most important thing about me, is this. *Holds Up Pen* Everyone else wanted to be firemen and ballerinas and Panda whisperers, but being a writer wasn't something I wanted to be, It was something I already was. My mom told me once I didn't have first words, I had first sentences. Writing is something I HAVE to do, everyday. It's therapeutic to put a pen to paper and turn my thoughts into a physical hard copy. I'm not talking about a diary, or a journal, it's like, so much more than that to me. I can go through the things I've written and watch how my handwriting, and ideas and views on life just change an evolve as I get older. It's also really interesting when I'm having a really awful day, and I go back and read through my past, and it always makes me feel better, knowing no matter how many bad days I had, everything always turned out ok, it always got better.
When I was younger I thought I'd be a novelist, like Hawthorne and Vonnegut, but, as I got older I realized unless you're writing about wizards and vampires, the world probably wont even notice. So In high school I started doing something completely different: Journalism.
To this day I have no idea why I decided to take it in high school, I just figured, I want to write, and this is a class that'll let me do that. Turns out, this writing was more than I'd bargained for. I was used to flowery rhetoric, I had been a literature junkie for so long I thought I'd never be able to be a completely unbiased and objective reporter, but, turns out I could, and well. Going out and interviewing people to find answers to my questions was so rewarding, and I loved turning plain old information into something other people would want to read.
I guess my love for it was apparent, because after only one semester I was made editor in chief of the west high saga. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to be in charge of a publication like that. To have your name in a byline over an article that hundreds of people will read. Not just students but, teachers and the staff and principal. It was an opportunity that I will forever be grateful for, and it's led me into the next thing important thing I would like to tell you about myself
I love music and fashion, and because I love being a journalist too, I figure a match made in heaven would be to combine the two and work for the fine people over at Rolling Stone or Vogue magazine. In a perfect world, that's where I'll end up, interviewing people like Robert Plant and Christian Louboutin, but if not, I’ll be happy with the opposite end of the spectrum, working for a small, local newspaper called The Santa Maria Sun.

I've lived in Bakersfield my whole life, but for a short while my dad lived in Santa Maria CA for work, and every break and three day weekend I had for five years, I was there. There's this feeling people say they have, when they meet their soul mate, like their lives are finally complete? That’s how I feel about that town. It's like, my missing piece.
Even the drive there is perfect. I always liked taking the trip over there on the 166 right before it got dark, because it always felt like we were chasing the sun right into the ocean, and I can't explain how amazing it is to know that the next time you see it, you'll be home. That's truly my one goal in life. Get in my car, blast my Metallica and Led Zeppelin, and runaway from this town in the middle of the night and start brand new in the morning, as a journalist in the one place I feel the most complete. A lot of people see their future selves married, with kids, but I've never really wanted that, I've always just wanted this life where I could get up and go, buy a sailboat and sail off the edge of the earth if I wanted.
If I had to choose three things I would want people to know about me, it would be that I'm a writer, and a dreamer, who, like Miss Dorothy Gale, thinks there's no place like home. Bet you couldn't tell all that from my shoes now could ya?

Product Review: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

So I was at my second home the other day (Rite Aid lol,) creepin on the makeup aisle,
(If Rite Aid is my home, the makeup aisle is my bedroom.)
When I happened upon a new little section for these things:

I wasn't going to get them for a few reasons:
*My mom and younger sister are pretty much masters at intricate nail art and could do this kind of stuff for me
*"Peel and Apply," "No dry time," and "lasts up to 10 days." I'm already skeptical.
*The price. $9. For that I could get an OPI at Sephora that lasts years. That's practically a dollar a day for fancy-shmancy nails.

:) But I got it anyway because I'm a sucker for lace and too curious for my own good.

It came with the nail file/buffer, cuticle stick, instructions and 16...
...well, I'm going to call em nail stickies cuz I'm 5 years old.

(yea. 16. I know it's because everyone has different shaped nails or if u mess up and need another and such, but really? For almost $10 there should at least be 20.)

The instructions are simple enough I didn't think I should really even bore you with pictures of the process.

You take the plastic part off, peel the "sticker" and stick it on your clean, dry, and buffed nails. The instructions say your hands should be warm and it makes sense because the few times I did mess up (put it on a little crooked or something) I could just peel it off and fix it, as it didn't fully adhere until I rubbed it a little. (Insert "That's What She Said" Joke Here)

You'll have excess sticker on the end that I found easy just to fold over the edge of the nail and rub off. The light pink side of the file/buffer fixes the edges.

I was really surprised at how much I liked these. At first I felt weird, like I had to be careful not to accidentally peel off these weird nail stickers, but here I am, three days later with them almost exactly as they were on day one. My only pet peeve about them is the fact that if you put the edges too close to skin, it takes a little more effort to take off the excess sticker than it does on the edges. The flat side of cuticle stick fixes that but it is my only other gripe besides the 16 count of stickies. (c'mon... 8 for each hand?? huh??) Haha, I kid.

I probably won't be buying them again for a while, kind of too expensive for random everyday use, but if I ever need to have butterflies or lace or rainbows on my fingernails, I'll definitely buy them again.

Thanks for reading! xoxo- Trish

Shoes and Such

Wait, huh?? An outfit post?? :D Yess.. I'm finally getting into the "fashion" part of this bloggin thing. I'm not going to lie, I've been lazy lately. Jeans and Tees and Jackets. D: bleh!

But today I felt more like myself. Giant cape-like coat. (Um, this thing only cost me $12. I almost peed myself reading the price tag. And the quality is magnificent for the price...)

And I did my hair! Ok, I also cheated kinda... cuz my hair was all left-over wavy from the day before so I did some reverse rolls and pinned it to the side. Didn't put the ribbon in 'til after I got home tho.

:D AND I GOT NEW SHOES!!!

I went to the mall to shop for my mom's birthday yesterday when I saw these cuties at Forever 21. The stripes reminded me of the circus, and so (OF COURSE) the circus-y oxfords came home with me. Duh.

On that shoe related note, let me tell you about my new blog adventure:

I'm going to do a Shoe Challenge! Inspired by Amber of "The Fashion Police" and "Shoeperwoman" fame, this 2011 will be filled with me trying to wear all of my shoes at least once this year, and if I fail to wear a pair and take a picture in them to prove it, they're going to Goodwill.

So far I've worn about 5 or so different pairs, but because I haven't done an official count of the total number of pairs I have, I don't want to start just yet. But stay tuned!

Adventures of Vintage Hippo's Ballet Tights

After the exhausting late night practices outside in the cold weather and the soft tumble in the washer and dryer, the warm of body heat was a nice change. Anxiety and excitement was felt through every fiber. Toes curled in and out in anticipation, the nylon creating delicate friction in the soft canvas, where little holes were fraying from a rough night out on the concrete. Now how in the world did that tiny little lipstick smear get there? Oh! It's finally our turn!



Toes needed to be pointed more, those turns needed to be more centered, glissades looked like chasses, thank goodness the video didn't show my awful pirouette!

But the ending was nice. Kinda like the karate kid trying to do ballet, but nice all the same.




Tension over. Butterflies gone. Leg muscles constricted lazily in pink pastel enjoy the feeling that vacation is finally washing away the muddled worries and only leaving bright and shiny hope for the future.