[ Ut Oh - May 22nd, 2012 ]

Hey there guys, I know this is going to be short but I really wanted to at least update you guys on why I haven’t been updating!

Well for starters I promise updates will return to normal either this Friday or next Tuesday!

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve been having some health issues on top of the fact that I’ve got a wicked 8-9 hour Friday field lab that involves digging… for a very long period of that time or sifting (sifting is a lot more taxing then one would imagine!) oh did I mention the 10 page paper of Pathology and its uses in identification of victims of war or genocide? Oh and that 10 page paper on my ethnography topic? Oh and the 3 page sculpture paper? Oh and my final sculpture for the quarter? OH AND THE FACT THAT I AM AWFUL AND FRENCH AND DOING AWFUL AND AM GOING TO HAVE A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN OVER IT. Seriously, I am utterly hopeless with other languages – I’m quite sure I have some sort of mental block on them.

Either way, I’ve got just a ridiculous amount of stuff on my plate right now and its just made it far too hard to be responsible and keep up with updating. But after this weekend I’ll be in the clear besied my French mid-term and then its time for summer! So things will return back to normal and you’ll get to be elated that I’ve started my Tuesday personal updates and Fashion Fridays back up once more!

[ Fashion Ethnography - May 1st, 2012 ]

We started our Ethnography projects last week, or well I suppose we had our write-ups do before them but we actually had to start going out in the field to do our preliminary research which is due on the 4th.

I’m really excited about mine, for someone whose not interested in Anthropology, Fashion, or Marketing you’ll probably start gagging and wondering how the hell I could be interested in such a thing. My project is going to be looking at the Collegiate idea of Fashion. More specifically I’m going to be researching how important image (and I mean on a Fashion level) is the the Collegiate and how important they think it is to their every day lives. Do they think its important to look presentable for their advisor? How do they dress when they go to interviews? How do they dress at school? Do they think its appropriate to wear whatever they want infront of a teacher they may want to write a recommendation for a job or graduate school for them? I want to answer all of these questions and I’ll likely come up with a few more along the way.

We’re in the Preliminary Observations stage right now – that means I get to go and wonder campus and take notes on the type of outfits and style I see. I’m trying not to go into this too biased with too many pre-set categories of ‘dressers’ and ‘Fashionistas’ at DePaul, but I already have a generic idea of how the chips may fall as far as categories go. I want to add a lot of visuals (photos, possibly sketches) but the project doesn’t really call for that, because of the topic of my Ethnographic project I’m hoping the Professor will let me include at least a few pages – at least in my final report. Doing a project on Fashion, after all, is really nothing without the visuals.

The Colligate Life by relevantsurroundings featuring canvas shoes

Joseph skinny leather pants, £424
Current/Elliott low rise jeans, $200
Victoria’s Secret activewear pants, $47
Dolce Vita platform sandals, $179
UGG Australia heavy boots, $150
TOMS canvas shoes, $44

After this portion of the project, we move on to the interview phase. Now normally this wouldn’t freak me out – I mean after how long I worked for CollegeFashionista I’m pretty used to talking to random strangers, but finding someone to sit down and talk with me for the required 30 minutes? That freaks me out a bit, I feel like its where I’m really going to run into problems. Now, that’s not because I don’t think people will be willing but I’m going to be pulling aside students who are rushing between classes and I’m just a little nervous its going to be really hard for me to pull off. If anyone is interested or feels like they know someone who might be who would have the time between classes I’d be glad for the opportunity to speak with them/you! I’m trying to keep this as random as possible by not asking people that I at least know their opinion on how important image is, but I know its going to be hard to get people to interview.

[ Make an Impression - April 28th, 2012 ]

Our first full day of digging and sifting and carrying and lugging had me a little more out of sorts then originally expected! In by that I mean I passed out as soon as I got out of my wonderful 40 minute long shower. So I apologize for this slightly late post!

Want to make an impression during an interview this Spring? You don’t have to stick to your traditional HBIC-Hilary Clinton approved pantsuits or business wear. Thanks to the current trends you can switch it up just enough to make an impression that’ll brighten your crayon among the options, but at the same time keep you appropriate.

Spring Interviews by relevantsurroundings featuring high rise pants

H M sleeveless blouse, £9.95
Summer jacket, $49
Vila high rise pants, £30
Dorothy Perkins patent leather high heels, $49
The Cambridge Satchel Company leather bag, $158
H M chain jewelry, £5.99
Essie turquoise nail polish, $7

For starters, I do suggest you stay more traditional with your shoes, black or nude pumps of some sort (close-toed) are going to be optimal. If you’re going for a Fashion-industry job you should feel free to switch this up (but not too much, you can make too much of a statement even in the Fashion industry – or alternatively come off as if you’re trying too hard, always stick with something that suits you and you’re comfortable in!), but in most industries – even if you can get away with switched-up tonal palette you want to at least keep the silhouette a bit traditional.

Jewelry should follow a similar design, while you can go a little more out-there with one, maybe two, standout pieces try not to overload yourself. I’m a big fan of lots of jewelry, but looking too cluttered can be distracting – you want to make an impression but you don’t want the interviewer to just be thinking about your shinnies when you leave – you want them thinking about you! I do fully endorse one or two standout pieces. For example, some complimenting and bold bangles with one great ring. It keeps it simple but can make you really stand out in a crowd.

Here is where you start to stand out from the pack. Instead of keeping with your traditional 3 B’s (browns, blacks, blahs!), mix it up a little in your tonal palette! Go with a pastel coral or pink pair of trousers – great for every day business-casual or for dressing up for something more formal! Pair your trousers with a cream or off-white button-up (I don’t really recommend stark white, ever, it can really flatten an outfit or look too harsh against other wise soft tones), if you aren’t planning on taking off your blazer or outerwear at any point I recommend making use of one of your nicer button-up tank tops, why? Well, no odd shapes under your blazer then! Nothing is more annoying then a button-up not fitting nicely under your sweater or blazer and making some wonky creases.

When picking a blazer to go along with your Spring-coloured outfit go with ‘ashier’ tones. I don’t want to say ‘cooler’ as that implies blues and greys and that’s not quite what we’re looking for! You’re looking for something that’s going to be a brown with pastelish tones to it. Something that gets away from being warm or neutral but doesn’t quite hit ‘cool’ tones. Confusing, I know, but you’ll know the colour when you see it! Anything too warm toned will clash with the rest of the outfit and anything too neutral risks flattening it out!

Last but not least, keep your nails and make-up simple! Stick with light lipsticks, basic eye make-up, little to no blush, and a nail polish that maybe has a little ‘pop’ but isn’t too bold – I again recommend pastels or neutrals!

The weather is finally suppose to feel more like Spring here in Chicago next week – so maybe I can go back to trying to do my own outfit posts! In the mean time check out HomeMint a new sister site to my lovely JewelMint that we all know I spend way too much time on (and got another free credit for – so another post is in the near future!)

[ To Dig, or Not to Dig - April 24th, 2012 ]

I’m super excited this week – despite an awful cold I’ve had since Friday plus side effects for a new medicine to treat my Fibro Myalgia, plus Pickles (poor thing) is also sick, its not winter what’s going on! – well okay anyway! We start doing field world in the Archaeology Field School this week at DePaul!

Off to Dig by relevantsurroundings featuring an opi nail

Denim top, $55
James Perse long top, $38
J Brand slim leg pants, $245
Frye kitten heel shoes, $215
Frye kitten heel shoes, $215
Burts Bees lip treatment, £3.49
Opi nail, $8.50

Its 5 weeks of digging on possibly historical properties out in Maywood, Illinois trying to help the city really find its history – its supposed to be a long running thing in the department if Dr. Gregory has his way. This is the second semester DePaul has been out in Maywood. I’m just excited because, well, I was that little girl who read Egyptology books and loved studying about old stuff and Mythos even as a kid, I mean I was never set up to be who I was trying to be at the beginning of my collegiate career – and my parents certainly weren’t shocked I made a complete 180 back to my childhood obsessions. Digging up sites and trying to figure out where old houses may have been, where someone dumped their trash, what type of nails and what not they used in their buildings (great for dating things!), who lived there… these are all interesting to me, even if they might be boring to someone else.

Yes this is one big ramble, for that I apologize, its the migraine and sniffling puppers.

Its not the most exciting project, but I’m excited regardless, having field school experience will be great for grad school applications as well as trying to find internships.

I’m afraid this’ll be another boring personal update. I’ve spent all weekend just trying to relax and… in the process watching all four seasons of Parks and Recreations, I’m sincerely glad I finally gave in and just watched the show because even though, yeah, the first season was kinda blah and sucked – sticking it out was totally worth it the third and fourth seasons are pretty universally hilarious.

Now starts the ridiculous time of the year. Catching up a chapter in French, doing my field study for Ethnography, starting field work in Archaeology, my 10 page paper for Forensics (which I still need a topic to research or book to review – eek!), and starting a realism project I’m really stoked for in Sculpture. Its certainly going to keep me busy for the rest of the quarter, thankfully!

[ Cabochon - April 13th, 2012 ]

Now silly me, I wrote this post but Comcast is the worst company in existence and my internet has been so shoddy, slow, and constantly restarting the last few days wordpress just wouldn’t load properly to post it – utterly rude if you ask me (so was the first lady who yelled at me, called me a liar, oh and refused to transfer me when I kept having to repeat myself, I have a lot of respect for people who work tele-comm customer service because of the rude douche entitled people they have to deal with, but if I have to say the same sentence 6 times and I ask to speak with someone else, there is nothing unreasonable about that or cause for you to be snarky when I was polite, kthx).

I immediately fell in love with the Tiger Cabochon ring the second I saw it on the jewelmint homepage when I logged in – knowing I had a free credit and wanted to treat myself to something nice for getting through the first round of papers and tests for this quarter (is it still treating myself if it was 100% free?). I’m always a little skeptical to order rings from websites – because much like shoes or jeans they can fit differently in every single style and brand and there really is no one size fits all, heck even a size 7 heel can fit differently just from one being a stiletto and one being an oxford pump! But thankfully, the ring fits comfortably my middle finger – right where I wanted it (though noticeably a little wobbly on really cold days, but thankfully that’s not often enough for me to care and I’m still definitely glad I didn’t go a size down, the ring would be much too large to not look silly on my ring finger.)

I’ve never been big on the huge ring thing but this one sold me, it wasn’t gaudy, it wasn’t obnoxiously big, it wasn’t silly abouts of this-is-obviously-from-Urban-Outfitters-and-worth-1/3rd-what-I-paid or just clearly out of my price range so maybe it was bitterness, that’s right actually ya know what I think it was bitterness.

My favourite part of this piece is actually how well it goes with all of my turquoise jewlery. On my left hand I wear the same three rings everyday: a little $1.50 ring I got in Wales, a great cheap thrift store find, and my one splurge in Paris – the big turquoise sterling silver ring I wear on my pointer finger (the other two go on my ring finger to cover up my tattoo, which I need to get touched up and its really annoying to get asked all the time if I’m engaged – no I just don’t need a diamond to make me happy, I’ve already got one!) I was honestly worried I was investing (kinda?!) in another piece of jewlery that I wouldn’t be able to wear very often because it didn’t go with my daily essentials! (I’m STILL wearing my Prarie Rose necklace daily, its perfect for my Springtime colours and trends!)

This ring is another one of those fantastic jewelmint pieces that just goes with so much of my wardrobe it makes me squeal on the inside. I’ll admit though, I wasn’t really sold on this whole mint franchise when CollegeFashionista first got involved with it when it was fairly new, I hate things that you have to pay monthly for (fun fact: of all the jewlery I’ve received as of yet, I only payed for that Oscar’s grab bag because its one of those awesome sites where referrals earn you credit, ie – freebies).

That being said, I have to say, I fully back this company – a true rarity for me with anything that requires monthly service (ahem, looking at you Comcast) – if only because its also so simple (unlike on many sites) to go in and ‘skip’ a month, I only wish they let you fully remove a credit card once it was added on to the account, because you can only replace it with another one which I guess makes sense with the skip option, but I don’t currently have access to a credit card so its a little annoying I can’t remove my old one without putting up my debit card when my finances really can’t risk me forgetting to skip a month. I’m honestly not as sold on StyleMint (the Olsen shirts and sunglasses version) because honestly, I could get anything on there at Forever 21 or H&M for half the price and it’d probably last me just as long. I do wanna take a spin around BeautyMint though, I’m always looking for new Beauty products to fall in love with! And there really is no price you can put on having good, clear, healthy looking skin.

Plus, the pretty jewlery certainly doesn’t hurt! And theres so much variety, there truly is a bit of everything for everyone!

This post brought to you in part by the really dreadful lighting in my apartment, and how much I hate how those eco-friendly lightbulbs do not make for good photo taking. Oh also, the lighting in my apartment just sucks – which I will be rectifying as soon as I get a bit of return cha-ching from someone owing me with another glorious trip to Ikea.

[ this is a post - March 20th, 2012 ]

To tell you I will be posting tomorrow not today because taking my Mom to Chemo and stocking her up no goodies and necessities and seeing my best friend is far more important (and relaxing!) then a blog post about how much professors have no compassion, suck in general and how higher education really needs to get a grip on how crippling it can be to have an ‘unseen illness’. Plus if I wait a day… you get a better less bitter post!

In other news, I kinda miss the red ombre and please please please leave comments about what you think of the new layout! Its really important to be to figure out if its going to work for my next big step!

[ Jason Wu for Target - March 15th, 2012 ]

So I was being a bit of a tease when I said it was a preview of this weeks Friday post! I’m sort of in love with these sunglasses and this dress, they’re definitely new staples of my wardrobe! The sunglasses are from Primark and were a lovely Christmas gift from my best friend, Zarah – my favourite gift by far. The weather here in Chicago has been really fashion friendly – warm, but not hot, and breezy, but not gusting. This is a great season for fashion since you can still make use of layers, but you don’t have to plan your whole outfit around keeping warm or wearing outerwear.

I apologize for the wonky awkward photos, jumping back from photobooth in 6 inch heels? And trying to make it look at least semi-attractive? Yeah not exactly the easiest thing I’ve ever done! I really need to invest in a new tripod.

I tried this dress with a few blazers and sweaters and ended up just deciding to simplify it by wearing it with a pair of heels I don’t get to wear often – hey its not easy to walk in 6 inch heels even when you’re a heels girl like me! The blazers I own just didn’t sit right or fall into the right colour shade and it was just far too warm out for my chunkier sweaters. I’m a little torn on the sleeves of the dress – I don’t like nor hate them but they do push me toward wanting to wear something over it to avoid having to think about them (at least they aren’t ugly H&M style capsleeves that awkwardly show my armpits).

I know I’m late on the blogging about the Jason Wu for Target line but I didn’t get my dress in the original sale. I lucked out on this dress, it was completely fate so of course I had to purchase it. It was the only Jason Wu item left besides one size 14 pleated black skirt and another size 12 dress and lo’ and behold it was also 75% off. Why was it 75% off? How did I luck out and get a $39 for $10? Because some silly person bought an online-only dress and returned it to the store not the website! So BAM, instant savings for me! I fell in love with the playful dotty pattern, but the lace piping is really what sold the dress for me. All the little details in this dress are what make it fantastic. Honestly, if it were just a plain blue dress of this shape I probably wouldn’t have even taken a second glance at it. But who could turn down such a perfect amount of subtle daintiness?

I really wish I could wear these shoes more often, there is something just really awesome about being 5’6″ temporarily and feeling like I’m a normal-sized person, but really 6 inch heels just aren’t practical for every day life. Beware: stairs without anti-slip are very dangerous in these shoes, as are curbs, oh yeah and cracks in the side walk. These shoes are more ‘hey I’m going out to a lounge’ or ‘hey I’m going to a fashion show’ or ‘hey I’m going to such and such event’. They’re special occasion shoes – and what is more of a special occasion then turning in two final art portfolios and an anthropology paper?

I should have forseen the fact that I had to walk up and down three flights of stairs… then two flights of stairs… not including the fact that I live on the second floor of my building. Lets just say by the time I got home, my feet were in much need of pampering and were promptly soaked in my sink with lovely salts for 10 minutes as they cried and moaned over the fact that I made a poorly planned (though sexy looking, I mean come on – look at those calves! thank you 8 years of soccer, thank you.) shoe choice.

[ the results are in - March 13th, 2012 ]

I will admit when I got my results I was a little let down, though its not in a regretful way. You can learn a lot from DNA, a hell of a lot, and I was hoping my results might be a tiny bit more conclusive as to giving me some insight about myself that I couldn’t have other wise guessed. Being adopted is a weird thing – especially being adopted from the US and being caucasian. Because honestly? I may not know much about myself but I of course could have surmised a few things, I was European or Russian – based off most of my features and the particular olive tint to my skin we always guessed Russian or Eastern European. My adoptive parents briefly met my Mother and her Grandmother (whom was raising her) and could fairly close to 100% guarantee me I wasn’t from a recently-Americanized family. But this is all still fairly vague information, and its always bothered me to an extent to never be able to pinpoint these things.

Like I mentioned previously, it was always kinda weird to be the one kid in Middle and High school, doing genealogy projects in Biology classes who really had no idea what they were. I mean most of my friends or classmates probably couldn’t list specific cities or region of a country, but they at least knew if they were French or German or Austrian or not – something I never shared.

Well back on topic, unfortunately for my curiosity (and the fact that I’m female is to blame!) I happen to belong to the most common haplogroup that makes up, well, a majority of Europeans! Oh great, I totally couldn’t have already told you guys I was European, right? I mean come on! It was almost comical in a way to refresh the page and see my results, and how generally unhelpful or inconclusive they were for my needs. Does this make it less cool that I had my mtDNA tested? No, not really, just a little bit of a let down in so far as finding something out about myself.

40-60% of Europe shows markers or belongs to haplogroup H and its fairly evenly spread out – something any and all of my googling has agreed upon. On another sucky note for me this doesn’t rule out anything! A pretty big portion of the populated portions of Russian is included in the large frequency area of the haplogroup – as are Germany and Eastern Europe (what most people also guess). On the good end this does pretty much confirm our thoughts about where at least half of my lineage is – Eastern Europe, France, or Russian; on the other end? I didn’t win any bets!

When I started to look into other information and mappings of other H sub-groups that more definitively give a location it does make it look like I do have more of a chance of being French/Eastern European then anything else. If you were to ask me, I’d honestly guess French based off a lot of charts I’ve seen, they seem to pretty commonly be the one lineage that sticks in the close subgroups/main grouping of haplogroup H, though that could be completely wrong and is 100% based of me likely half-misreading charts at 8am while drinking a Bloody Mary.

Friday’s post may or may not be an outfit post or may be something else entirely! As I have a rather annoying 11am flight where I have to get all the way to Midway after dropping my puppers off at 9am, well, I’ll be cutting it close! But at least I’m seemingly back to keeping on schedule!

[ grab bags, take your chance - March 9th, 2012 ]

Welcome to my first weekly Fashion Update! Each Friday a post either reviewing some new item I’ve acquired or be a street style sort of post. We’re starting out this week, because I look like death and its finals and ya know what? Screw getting out of my PJs while I finish my final papers and projects. The day I got put on my medicine I bought myself a little present, something I felt would cheer me up and continue to get me trough the little rough patch. A little something shiny is the best way to start off a new chapter of your life and mine happens to involve three shinies!

As I mentioned last week, I took place in JewelMint’s little grab bag event – Oscars time means lots of fashion flops and fiascos, but it can also be the cause of some very great finds. In my case? Definitely some great additions to my jewlery box! The catch is that one person would win a diamond bracelet and other participants would receive 2 or more items, I lucked out and got three! Though I am a little bitter I didn’t get the diamond bracelet, I’ll definitely get more wearability out of the items I did get!

First we have the (poorly photographed due to my laziness of course) Wonderland Earrings. Now, of the three things I received these were the only ones I hadn’t been eyeing already on the site, and honestly are the only ones that don’t really fit in my ‘style’. This doesn’t mean I don’t like them though! They’re just the sort of thing I’ll end up wearing out to a special event, with a fancy dress or something, not something that would fall into my every day wardrobe.

Now, I’m a sucker for Victorian fashion and anything antique looking so, it goes without saying I love the effect these earrings have. They have a splash of girly, thanks to the bows, but they retain an elegant maturity that makes them, despite this portion, not ‘little girly’ but instead – feminine.

I have to say, at first I was skeptical but after I thought about it, I really am enchanted by these earrings, they’ll be perfect the next time I manage to find myself a fancy event or party to go to! Paired with a chic orange dress and some pumps, these would make any Fashion-savy lady stand out.

The most wearable item of the three that I received has to be the Huston Heritage Bracelet. I’m not a big person for gold, and often the closest I’ll come to it without putting up a serious fight is something antiqued or bronze, but this bracelet had actually been on my wishlist for a bit from the site. I saw it and was instantly attracted to the brilliant colour selection for the striking orange-red they used in it.

I’ve got fairly slender wrists/hands/fingers so often I stray from buying bracelets and rings online when I can’t physically try them on. That being said, you can imagine my ecstatic realization that it fit perfectly! Just the right mixture of loose by not, ya know, falling off my hands. This bracelet only goes about a third of the way up my arm when its lifted, which is also another bonus, meaning I can wear it with long sleeve shirts with a lot less possibility of looking like a tool at some point.

This bracelet has a ridiculous mount of versatility. Want to dress it up? Wear your favourite LBD (little black dress, for this uninformed!) with a standout pair of wedges and have yourself a fantastic night. Looking for something more casual? Try a simple maxi dress and a comfortable pair of sandals.

By far my favourite I received was one I had actually intended on purchasing in the near future – as in whenever I could afford it. I don’t wear earrings enough and I’ve really been wanting to get back into it.

These earrings perfectly complement my wardrobe. Not only can they be edgy, but the can be so many other things. I’ve already worn them three times and I only got my package on Monday! I could go on and on for ages about these earrings. Not only do they have the perfect antiqued look that I just absolutely swoon over – but they have rhinestones that aren’t obnoxious. Yes, ladies and gents, JewelMint has managed to do the impossible and have sparkle in a piece of jewlery that doesn’t look obnoxious nor does it look cheap or childish! This is a first for me. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a company that wasn’t quite high-end. I really have to give them a huge cudos for pulling it off! You’re sure to see my next few street style posts of my upcoming outfits (holla, going to be 70 next week so it will definitely be an outfit post!) litered with the five pieces of jewlery I already own from them!

These earrings can probably be worn with anything, something edgy, something girl, but my favourite way to wear these earrings is definitely going to be something that I’ll call ‘boho chic’, relaxed, comfortable, but makes that ‘wow’ statement.

[ as per the usual - March 7th, 2012 ]

Its the end of the quarter so of course my life has become even more ridiculous then normal. Thankfully this is another quarter of mostly final papers, not final tests. I have one test next week but I have a slew of written stuff I need to churn out this weekend. A 3-5 page paper, a colour analysis with corresponding 3 page paper, tweaks on my portfolio for Professional Practices, then of course my final exam for Intro to Biological Anthropology. Thankfully I already took my oral exam and handed in my final paper for my Christian Ethics course, so 1/5 down! This of course means I may look cute in the clothes department but my skin is all sorts of broken out and I’m in a continuous state of looking absolutely exhausted. I can’t stress enough how glad I am to see this quarter coming to an end and the next beginning, its like starting new for me really. I feel good again, I’m still tired a lot but that I can manage (even if it means severe caffeine intake). Not being in pain any more except for spotty moments of it, being able to walk up stairs properly, my legs not aching to the gentlest brush, its kinda beyond amazing and I can’t say it enough – it makes me glow with happiness. Next quarter will be a new start, the weather will be warmer – I can get back to walking and taking public transit to class. I won’t have to worry about being so sluggish and taking 2 hours to really be ready to go in the morning any more. I can just focus on school instead of the extenuating circumstances in my life.

It will sincerely be a relief.

I did get my results for the DNA tests back and I’ll be pre-writing next weeks post sometime this weekend after my inaugural style post, assuming I can kick this mini cold and don’t look so much like death from finals! That way starting next week I can truly get back on schedule! If I’m not quite up to posting an outfit post yet on Friday you can look forward to another JewelMint post because I splurged (when I most certainly shouldn’t have but whatever, can’t change my silly decision now!) and the results were fantastic! I definitely adore their little Oscar grab bag and I certainly made out pretty well! I ‘d actually been eyeing two of the pieces I got, and the third – while not my type typically – is still wearable for special occasions or the odd night out!

Actually, its quite likely that’s the post you will be getting – but I ought to stop spoiling the fun of what my next two posts will be!

I apologize that this is another short, uneventful post but after finals I’ll be ready and roaring to go again!