A cold day in hell

Jack B.B.Dakota Jacket
American Eagle Outfitters Lace Top and Hat
Skirt (no label - second hand)
Steve Madden Heels
Sears Necklace

Well, well, well, we meet again snow.  Can't say I'm too pleased.

So, I'm just going to ignore the obvious (like it snowing at the end of May) and apologize for the pictures.   I use to love overcast day for pictures, the lighting was fantastic and I couldn't figure out why I had so much trouble with the light tonight.  Well, duh Katie, snow is reflective and you were taking pictures in the winter!  Genius award, right here.  I kept trying to use the ISO to make the pictures brighter and I completely forgot about my shutter speed.  I've kept it on the same place since it's usually about the same for taking pictures in the snow and I just did not even think about it tonight.  Eventually I will get this picture thing figured out.

All of that aside, I really like this outfit.  I've been drawn toward longer skirts lately which is completely funny seeing as I was like the "short skirt chick" for most of the winter. (And I do like a short skirt but it's fun just to wear a longer skirt and not worry about flashing people, ya know?)

(Fairbanks isn't hell, I'm just displeased to have it snowing all day long and for it to be this cold when we usually have 80 plus degree weather right now.  I want my summer!)

Selling Out

 Ellen Tracy Coat (gift from my mom)
J.Crew Cardigan (thrifted)
Equipment Blouse (second hand via ebay)
Old Navy Jeans
American Eagle Leather Belt
Seychelles Heels
Leather Handbag (no label-thrifted)
Carlo Orsini Silk Scarf (thrifted)

So, did anyone else know that they were actually making a movie version of Ender's Game?  I found out last night, was really freaked out because I hate my favorite books being turned into movies but Orson Scott Card had held out for so long, I thought "well, maybe it will be AWESOME."  Watched the trailer online and......

It is NOT awesome.

I have no words for the level of fangirl/cult-ish fanatic rage that I feel.  For crying out loud, Harrison Ford is Graff!  And Ben Kingsley as..... Mazer Rackham? (I don't even know what to say about that, it is just such a bizarre choice.)  Orson Scott Card, you loser.

I'm just going to go sulk in the corner for the rest of forever.

More along those lines

American Eagle Denim Jacket, Tee Shirt and Necklace
J.Crew skirt (thrifted)
Leather clutch (no label-thrifted)
Franco Leather Sandels
Sears Cuff
Icing ring and Headband

Whoa, I really do wear this jacket a lot.  Um, I guess that means it was a good purchase?  (Actually it was a good one in my book, I got both this and my green embroidered jacket on the 40% off sale and I was able to stack some coupons  so I ended up getting each one for a little under $20.)

I talk a little while back about being more intentional with my purchases and where I buy them from.  I've been trying to research the companies that I normally buy my clothes from too see where they fall on their labor practices and such.   I think I'm going to stop shopping at Old Navy because they don't seem to be big on factory inspections and to me, that's one of the big things.  While I like shopping at local stores and I do try very hard to support our local businesses  it's pretty(extremely) expensive to buy everything from them and while working conditions are questionable by our standards  factory jobs are a pretty big deal. (So not shopping doesn't really help the people, the companies just shut the factories down and go somewhere else.)  At the end of the day, in order to support fair labor practices and safe working conditions, it really is up to each and every company to make sure that their factories are safe and that they spend some money on safety practices.  It's pretty naive to ask companies to take a hit on their profits but you know, when you improve your working places, only good can come from that.

Ugh, that was word vomit.  Let's see if I can say that is a simplier form.

I want to support companies who put some of their money into factory inspections and actually take the time and money to inspect and do repairs.
I will try to shop local and if I don't need anything I DON'T BUY ANYTHING.  I do not "need all of the things!" and I want to not be so compulsive   I've worked really hard on this and I've saved my money to put it towards things I love, like this jacket.  Even though it was originally spendy (at least in my book) I really wanted it and I saved and waited for a sale.
I will try to mostly thrift.  I really, really don't like waste in any aspect and thrifting clothes is a way to keep them out of the landfill.  However, this doesn't not mean I should just throw away my money on ill fitting things.  Same deal as the retail stores, if I don't love it, I don't buy it.

I have been thinking about eco items and I'm not all of the way sold on them.  Organic cotton has some HUGE pitfalls, the biggest being that in order for the cotton to be organic, it can't have any chemicals or pesticides spread on it.  This means sprays for mosquitoes carrying malaria are a no-go around cotton fields and it makes me furious to think that in order to ease my poor ego about being "eco friendly" someone dies.  Some eco things are great though, like trying to cut down on the amount of water needed for creating jeans, we really do not need to waste all of our fresh water on jeans from F21.

So there, my thoughts are still not "together" but it's such a big issue, it's kind of frightening to tackle   I don't want to just throw my hands up and say oh well though, so I'm going to keep working on this and I'll try to type up a post at some point that is a little bit cohesive and easy to read.

Easy to read?  Heh, that's rich...

Watch the Ice Float By

American Eagle Outfitters Denim Jacket
Old Navy Dress
Seychelles Boots
Great Northwest Hat
Leather Handbag (no label-thrifted)
Thrifted Cuff, AE Spike Bangles, Icing Ring and Necklace

After talking about the warm bit of weather we got, the temps dropped down the teens the other morning.  Brrr, that was a cold awakening, it's a little misrable to still be dealing with the cold weather when at this point in the spring, we're enjoying temps in the high 70s to low 80s. Oh well, at least it managed to warm up to 40.  (We're suppose to get snow this week, I'm just not very pleased about that.)  The ice is mostly all gone from the Chena River but the little sloughs are still in the middle of breaking up, it's strange to watch the ice chunks float by and see how much faster the river's gotten in just a few days.

I didn't wear this outfit for very long yesterday, we were doing a bunch of painting so it was old jeans and a tee shirt for me.  It was nice to change out of them, I feel like I've been so grimy the past few days but at the same time, is so nice doing the outside work and stuff again.  It's productive and it's great to step back, see your work and be like "Yeah, I did that."

I'm sure everyone is sick and tired of seeing this jacket but it's really become my light weight jacket that I grab on my way out the door.  (Good grief, I'm turning into high-school me, wearing denim jacket all of the time!  At least I'm not trying to match my denims now.)  I do think I needed to belt this dress, it looks just a little sloppy without one and yikes, note to self - sports bras do not work with everything. Definitely not pretty dresses.

This life is my own

American Eagle Jacket and Tee Shirt (And leather belt, whoops.)
Old Navy Jeans
Seychelles boots
Leather Handbag (no label -thrifted)
Icing Evil Eye Pendent

A quick post because it's freakishly late for me and I'm worn out but I'm also really excited because you know where these photos are from? At the end of this road is our new home.

Whoa, I am just freaking over the moon at the moment   It's been a lot of stress and it's not all been home related but you know, you make the life you want and at the end of the day, I just want my life to be a happy one.  It doesn't have to be the most flamboyant (not that I want to be poor and living in a quaint little flat because dude, I've been poor and hungry and there is NOTHING romantic about that picture.) but I'm okay with what we have.  You don't need everything in the world to be happy and right now life looks like it will be pretty good.  We need to do a ton of work before we move in and it's not completely set in stone but I'm just so happy that it's going to work out.  We'll be out of town and I'm just so relived.  A town girl I am not. (I hate people looking through my windows, it drives me all sorts of crazy.)   And on a really stupid note, it's a pretty killer spot for photos.  It's sad that the thought ran through my mind, but its true.

See, moose! (Mmmm, dinner.)    And there are delightful neighbors who will provided hours of a amusement (from a distance) with their antics.  Much like this gentleman....

You can't see from this poor picture but this dude was DRAGGING the trampoline behind his truck down the road.  Dragging it you guys.  Ah, Alaska peeps, how I love you.

Just not you people who keep looking in our windows and letting your dogs pop everywhere.


And you know what, I am really sorry.  I've been a poor blogging friend, all mopey and emo and not talking to anyone and I am really sorry to be that person.  We've got a bit on our plates at the moment but I'm going to make an effort to be more engaged this week and really, I am so terribly sorry to everyone, I apologize to everyone I've brushed off this past week.