Dressing Up for Dinner

I'm a bit behind on the outfit-posting; this was what I wore on 2/15 for work and a day-after-Valentine's-Day dinner out with the boyfriend. (By going the day after, we were able to use coupons we had for a great deal on a lovely dinner and didn't have to deal with crowds...)


Outfit details: Red blouse, thrifted. Black skirt, INC, thrifted. Boots, vintage via Ebay. Belt, from a thrifted dress. Earrings, handmade. Necklace, gift. Bracelet, gift (from my grandmother's jewelry box). Tights, Ann Taylor Loft.


I'd gotten these boots from Ebay a few months ago but hadn't worn them yet. For some reason, when I'd first tried them on, they were uncomfortable and too tight. I'm not sure what was different here, whether I was wearing thinner tights or if the morning workouts have reshaped my calves already, but they were actually quite comfortable and fun to wear. I've been absolutely loving the cognac-colored boot trend, and wanted to try pulling it off myself.



Hope everyone has some nice weekend plans! I, for one, am planning to catch up on sleep. It's been a long, tiring week putting together this art installation...400 vellum butterflies now assembled and suspended in the site! We just have to hook them up to boards to run the lights in them. It's really satisfying to see a project come together as I'd envisioned it, going from an idea to renderings to a reality.

In addition, we've only got a bit more than a week until we're back in the theater for opera setup/rehearsals/performances...then shows in Boston, then we take the show to Chicago for a couple of weeks! It's going to be a busy, busy next couple of months. So this weekend is about fun and relaxation! (Also, I'm planning to meet up with some other Boston bloggers at Howl at the Moon on Saturday...I've never been to a blogger meetup, so I'm not quite sure what to expect!)

Day 10

This was a rather weekend-like Monday...I went into the lab for a bit in the morning, without too much to do as I still have had no word on the thesis. Then I spent the afternoon working at home on a class project (a technologically-enhanced dress with color-changing sections) with my partner for the project. We did decide to scale back our plans quite a bit, as the project is due Wednesday afternoon and we'd rather not have to sew on 18 separate copies of our circuit...so that's going to be my late evening tonight, as well. But it's a pretty fun and interesting project, so that's all right.

On a semi-not-quite-related note...do any of you have fictional characters (from books, movies, etc.) that you look up to/aspire to be like/would want to be? I was realizing that I can't think of any right now. When I was a kid, there were heroines from fantasy novels who talked to animals and went on hazardous adventures in strange worlds and flew dragons and such things...I wished for those kinds of magical talents. But now, I'm not sure what my equivalent would be. My friend and coworker suggested that's because characters our age tend to have standard jobs, maybe families, fairly straightforward lives. Instead, we, working at the Lab and coming up up with exciting new things, are leading the life of other people's fantasies. Interesting to think about...


Details:
Dress: thrifted and refashioned
Leggings: Hue
Boots: GoJane


New cheap boots, thanks to an Amazon giftcard from my father a couple of months ago. I was needing a pair of mid-length, not too high of a heel, brown, slouchy boots...so these seemed to fit the bill.

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

Boots into booties

So I've been looking at the thrift stores for some cute black booties with fairly little luck. (I want a pair, but it's too trendy of an item for me to be willing to buy them new.) Then I saw this tutorial on Emme's blog about how to take tall black boots and turn them into small booties. With that, I started looking for boots I could refashion as well.


These boots fit the bill! They were at the dollar-a-pound, so they probably only cost me about $2-3. However, they were pretty ragged, so I didn't feel bad about cutting off the leg.


See that cheap boot falling apart and getting torn up? Time to make that part go away!


Like Emme's instructions, I cut off the tall top (fairly easy as the cheap plastic was falling apart anyway). I hot-glued white ribbon around the now-bare edge, then dressed it up with a layer of lace. But the lace alone looked a bit...girl with a glue gun, rather than "I did this on purpose!" So I tried adding on rosettes made from lace and part of vintage earrings.


And the new booties!


Held together entirely by hot glue...the hot glue gun I got on sale earlier this year seems to have been a good idea. So. I have yet to take these booties for a proper outing...and I'm still in the market for a pair of simple booties, I think, as these turned out rather frilly. (or perhaps "Gothic Lolita," as my brother's girlfriend said when she saw them yesterday).