occupying time

 since school has ended, i've found myself with an excess of free time.  to fill said free time (and to not spend so much money), i have started reading voraciously (hooray) and have decided to pick up crocheting again.

 current project:

Source: brookeanndove.blogspot.com via Shay on Pinterest

courtesy of brooke ann dove

hopefully it goes well.

books i recommend:

       

1) A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

2) Confederates in the Attic - Tony Horwitz

3) Cleopatra in the Attic - Stacy Schiff

4) A Voyage Long and Strange - Tony Horwitz

i am on a non-fiction kick.  this is uncharacteristic for me, however with the end of school, i seem to be much more able to read it!

travel-time and thanksgiving!!

thanksgiving is tomorrow!  it has to be one of my most favorite holidays, mostly because we have literally eaten the same foods my entire life and i know exactly what to expect.  there is much comfort in that.  it is also the holiday in which i get to eat stuffing! and my grandma's stuffing (while possibly heart attack inducing) is the best there is.  if i can swipe the recipe from my mom, i will post it here later.

however, i still need to get home to my parents for thanksgiving.  since leaving massachusetts, travel has gotten a lot more hectic.  usually i try to avoid flying the day before thanksgiving, but flights were so much more expensive, so i am stuck.  hopefully the airport rush will be over by my mid-afternoon flight and then i will miss the insanity that is the after-work rush around 5-6pm.  at least i'm flying from a tiny airport and not one of the bigger ones in dc.  however, that usually means there aren't any seats!

hair

for anyone who knows me personally, you are probably aware that i have a love-hate relationship with my hair (ok, i jest, its basically hate-hate).  as it grows out, i've given up on the whole blow-drying/flat-ironing thing, because who has 1.5 hours a night to do it? not me.  its also probably not in my poor hair's best interests.

as a result, i'm making every attempt to embrace the curliness of my hair.  however, we have some problems.  case in point:

this hott mess

its frizzy.  its dry.  its just downright depressing.  and since i'm trying to grow it out, i don't want to keep cutting it every 5 seconds.  also, no one seems to know what to do with curly hair.  half the time, they don't even know how to style it! so frustrating.  i've therefore been on a regimen of shampoos, starting with the brazilian blowout shampoo and conditioner that i bought when i had my brazilian blowout in may.  shampoo/conditioner? nice.  brazilian blowout? waste.of.my.money.  it hardly worked at all (my hair defies all attempts at making it normal).  then i moved on to john frieda.  i used frizz-ease back in high school and, because my hair is insane, it didn't work.  and because i was trying to eliminate the frizz and poof via moisturizing (because my hair is coarse and dry and everything) i decided to try the root awakening moisture shampoo/conditioner. no dice.  

now i am on to neutrogena's triple moisture line.  now, this is a good shampoo for the money.  it actually has made my hair softer, and with the weekly hair mask and the leave in condition, its been good.  however, it isn't really combating the poof.  and there isn't even humidity to use as an excuse anymore...

soooo.... i am back on the shampoo hunt.  i really want to try mixed chicks.  its pricey and sold in salons or through the website (and at amazon, but not for any cheaper) but it has wonderful reviews.  i feel like i just have to bite the bullet and shell out some more money for shampoo/conditioner that is actually going to work.  but it just kills me to do so.

thoughts? have any of you used it?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

iphones and outfit musings

thank god for my iphone.  its so convenient.  every little aspect of my life is contained right there, basically in the palm of my hand.  even better, the iphone 4 (no, i'm not cool enough to have the phone with siri so i can ask it all sorts of ridiculous questions) has a pretty good little camera on it.  its wonderful, particularly because i perpetually misplace my camera.  i actually have no idea where it currently is!

therefore, most - if not all - of the pictures that i post on this blog will be taken on my phone, most likely with instagram.  i love instagram.  i think it's the most wondrous thing to ever be invented!

case in point: the "baby" lions who are not babies anymore :(

in other news, i have been spending a lot of time thinking about my wardrobe.  i started a new job in september, and while the dress code is "comfy-casual," meaning i can wear just about whatever i want and get away with it, i still want to look cute and somewhat professional.  however, i've discovered that my office is freezing.  freeeeeeezing.  it is awful, and none of my clothes seem to be cutting it unless i wear lots of layers.  making it more difficult, dc hasn't actually gotten the memo that it is supposed to be cold yet.  so its still in the 50s and 60s outside and i want to be wearing normal clothes, but i have to plan for my day in the ice cube.

so, my focus so far has been on sweaters.  big, chunky ones that will hopefully keep me warm.  i love sweaters.  i am particularly enamored with this one from anthropologie: 

i have it in this color and a pea soup-green color.  i love them.  and i got them on super sale, which is always a plus when you're shopping at anthropologie!  i am excited to break out the rest of my chunky sweaters, some of which i bought last year, and i've alerted my mother to the fact that i need them so hopefully santa puts some under the tree this year!

in other news:

here is my outfit for today.  i didn't really dress for the weather in my office because it was 70 degrees outside today and it was just so nice.  please excuse the phone in the picture!

sweater: loft {similar here}; tank: loft ; jeans: dkny {several years old}; shoes: steve madden via dsw; scarf: spun by subtle luxury via piperlime {similar here}