Vintage Androgynous ~ Go Classic Chic!

   Today's styling was rather offbeat and special for me, cause it was a first: Combining two intriguing trends, Androgyny and Vintage, creating a classic look.

   Androgynous Fashion Trend has been around for decades and is taking centre stage in today's fashion too. 

Definition of Androgynous : A woman, who likes to dress in way that is an equal blend of feminine and masculine and giving an impression of ambiguous sexual identity "androgynous looks" .

 An early pioneer of androgynous fashion, Katherine Hepburn appeared in Hollywood movies in the early 1900's wearing male inspired buttoned down shirts and trousers.

  The gender borders are increasingly being blurred and fashion walls are repeatedly being been broken down. Androgyny became one of the most increasingly common looks on the catwalk and arguably the most versatile. It’s modern-day feminism! Women who wear their boyfriend’s jacket, their husband’s shirt and seek out masculine tailoring is becoming an ever-popular style demanded of the high street and designer stores .The modern-day women believe and trust in the fact that not only is androgyny cool, but it is also very sexy. The look just screams “powerful”. The androgyny brigade is taking over the fashion world quicker than you can say “boyfriend jeans”. Although it can be fun and quirky, androgyny is ultimately an outlet for women who prove that they can be strong and powerful but also elegant and sexy.

 

Getting the look: The way to pull off this look is quite simple. Androgyny is all about finding a balance between masculine and feminine. It’s about turning heads and raising questions.
To create that gender battling look, straight out of an old French movie, I combined a pair of black high waist pants with a loosely fitted blue silk shirt, suspenders, a black bow scarf neckpiece, black gloves and a hat. The gloves add a vintage touch and I played it up and wore crystal embellished heels to give a feminine twist to an otherwise masculine outfit. A hat can be a fitting addition to any androgynous look -a trilby or Charlie Chaplin bowler hat are perfect. The hat was a DIY, where I added a black rose with black feathers to it, again adding to the vintage appeal.

  

 

 

 

 

 

HOOK MY LOOK

~ Black High Waist Pants - UNITED COLOURS OF BENETTON

~ Blue Silk Shirt with flared sleeves - ATMOSPHERE (thrifted)

~ Black Suspenders - ZARA

~ Black Scarf - VINTAGE (my grand mom's)

~ Black Gloves - local store

~ Black Hat with black roses and feathers  - Thrifted DIY

 

I Remember The First Time (14)

"My physique is best described as "I can't believe it's not butter"..."
-@SortaBad- (via twitter)

"Fans don't run the show..." -Matthew Weiner- (message from the creator of 'Mad Men' to critics of season six of the AMC hit - via Yahoo!)

"The Omaha airport and the middle of a field look awfully similar.  This should be exciting...
-Kourtney Chalmers-

"Hey Cordarrelle, this is Christian Ponder...  I'll be the guy throwing the ball at your feet. Welcome aboard..." -@FauxJohnMadden- (via twitter)




I remember the first time that I was a day late making this post, and then decided to blatently rip off and straight plagarize a friend's facebook status to lead things off...  "So for the first time in 4 years, and with just over 2 weeks left of school, my fear of accidentally getting on the wrong bus has finally come true..."  -Natalie-  For those of you asking why I didn't just put that up top with the rest of the quotes, it's my blog, so shut up...  :P


I remember the first time that I was going to tell you a story on Tuesday, but it would have been anticlimatic mixed in with my brain freeze story...  It has been well documented here in several riveting stories that customers must transfer their drinks from glass to plastic cups before proceeding to our rooptop bar.  This is a conversation between customers from last week:

Customer 1:  "Chug it!"
Customer 2:  (whiny voice)  "It's cold..."
Customer 1:  "DEAL WITH IT!"


I remember the first time that I was accused of bluffing...  It has been well documented here in several riveting stories how I keep track of how many customers are up at our rooftop bar for capacity purposes.  Recently a customer evidently told one of our bartenders, "You know Coach?  He has no counter, only poker chips..."  Well, it's actually BOTH, and a special shoutout goes out to my friend Ryan, who recently returned to San Marcos, America from the desert with 9 FRESH poker chips for me (3 each from MGM, the Rio, and Excalibur)...  :)  If you don't know me, you really would not believe how much the clay wears away from my CONSTANT manipulation of these things...

I remember the first time that I was proud to be from Texas...  Last night things got off to a slow start at work.  Then I noticed that less than five minutes after the completion of the first round of the NFL Draft is the time that I started to see a significant increase in the number of customers in our establishment.  God bless football...  :)  This was totally understandable when you think about it - both the Texans and the Cowboys had late first round picks.  On that note, every Cowboys' facebook status that I saw bemoaned the trading down of their first pick, and every status hated that Dallas drafted a center...  :)

I remember the first time that I brought up 'capacity' in a post, just because I know that you enjoy reading about 'capacity'...  So last night, within a minute of reaching capacity at our rooftop bar, about thirty customers come cruising down the stairs.  I swear that I heard one of them mention something about rain, and later in the night, after we closed, it was "spitting" outside...  Anyway, when a couple of our regular customers came down the stairs a few minutes later (customers that I recognize but don't know by name), I asked them, "is it raining hard?"  One of the young ladies turned and broke into a dance move, complete with hand and arm gestures (mimicking rain) as she repeated, "is it raining hard?"  Then she said, "it's..., 'RAINING HARD..., but it's..., NOT raining...  It's dry..."  As I just nodded and smiled as the girls turned and walked away, she says to her friend, "he may be too old to understand that..."  BA HA HA HA  :)  And this comes to you from the blogger who brought you "poppin" (a word, which, by the way, I was told to never use again)...  "I'm gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket..." -Macklemore-  ;)
Now that song is either going to be stuck in your head, or you're saying, "what the???"

Have an outstanding weekend and I'll see you again on Monday!

I Will Remember Tomorrow

Good afternoon everyone.  I am just writing this little note to let you know that your regularly scheduled programming has been moved to tomorrow.  I have had a very busy day today after taking a short nap when I came home from work last night, and I have to catch a few more hours of sleep before I go back to work tonight.  At some point I will catch you up on what I was doing today (wow, the suspense - yes, I know)...  :)  If you are looking for something interesting to grab your attention, Round 1 of the NFL Draft will air tonight from 7:00 to 10:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.  That will probably be more interesting than my blog...  Also, if you walk outside right now and watch that grass grow..., THAT will probably be more interesting than my blog...  ;)  I hope that you have a great day and I WILL see you again tomorrow!
  

Puppie Buffe

I took one of my recent Dr. Sketchy drawings of local burlesque performer Puppie Buffe and printed it out in bluelines, just to give myself a little inking practice. I've been revisiting Dave Stevens' art quite a bit lately, and I thought I'd try and work some of the observations I've made about his inimitable style into my own work. Might as well try to turn water into wine!

Anyway, I plan to further embarrass myself by coloring this...stay tuned!

Floral Fairy ~ 'Je Ne Sais Quoi' Go Magical !

    Finally, summer is truly here. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and the air is warm. Perfection. So today let's indulge in some 'Floral Fairy tale Fashion'. Floral prints are a summer fashion staple, so let me show you how to play up this trend  by giving your dressing a romantic fairy-tale spin—that’s the fresh appeal.
    Here is my feminine, floral, whimsical, fairy like with a hint of  vintage take on summer fashion:

      I wore a vibrant Floral top with a white Tutu dotted skirt, a white hat and lots of  vintage inspired pearl jewellery.

    This white Tutu skirt is cutely dotted and I absolutely adore the volume of it; I feel it brings a real fairy-like, fantastical feel to the look, completely individualising it from others. It adds a  real 'Je Ne Sais Quoi' to the look. The tutu skirt, once worn solely as a costume in ballet performances, is fast becoming one of the biggest fashion trends of this decade. Made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker in the hit US sitcom Sex and the City, many young girls and women all over the world are enjoying sporting the item as an everyday chic clothing item. Today Tutus are not just for ballet anymore! And for good reason, tutus are so much fun to wear and are just beautiful.

    That white hat has a pretty navy blue polka dotted scarf, that I added myself to lend a feminine appeal to the outfit. 

     I have accessorised the look with lots of  vintage inspired pearl jewellery, in the form of necklaces, bracelets and a matching vintage ring.We all know that the seventies are back, and why not capture some of that vintage magic yet keeping that sense of you. Bring the look up to date and maintain your own individual stamp on the style.

  Today's post pictures have been shot by my talented  photographer friend Pooja S, do check her work out here .

  

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

HOOK MY LOOK 

~ Floral Top - FOREVER NEW

~ White Tutu Skirt - Vintage (London)

~ White Hat with DIY Polka dotted scarf - ZARA

~ Pearl necklace, pearl bracelet with crystal bow, hand pearls - FOREVER NEW

~ Vintage inspired pale peach ring - Vintage Shop

~ White Peep Toe with Ankle Strap Heels - BERSHKA

 

 

  Keeping the summer fresh appeal in mind, I accessorised the look with pearl necklaces, pearl bracelets and a pretty vintage inspired light peach ring and finished the look with my pretty ankle strap white peep toes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

Could You? (14)

"When I write "spiritual" on my online dating profiles, it means I like to watch 'Ghostbusters'..." -@TylerComeOn- (via twitter)

"Some of the (stuff) you women do with your hair is absurd.  Looks like a damn eagle spread its wings then got run over by a truck..." -@iAmJuddy- (via twitter)

"I know there's no such thing as stupidity poisoning because you'd be dead by now..."
-@BeenToHellPal- (via twitter)



Could you tell us something that you're afraid you might actually say to one of your customers who irritates you?  If you know me, you know that I'm a pretty nice person, and that I actually use this blog to do a lot of my venting.  However, that last quote above..., that's the one that's going to have me biting my tongue at work soon...  Speaking of that, I have no shortage of material for you to read today or Thursday...  :P

Could you share a quote with your friend?  I have a friend named Angelica who I mentioned in this blog because of the way that she wears her hair, and although that second quote above does not describe her hair, I tagged her to this entry in facebook because I KNOW that she will laugh as soon as she reads it.  :)  You always have to remember two things people:  1)  I only pick on people that I like; and 2)  I like to make people laugh, and I LOVE people who can make me laugh...  ;)

Could you please mention Melanie and Alyssa, since it seems like DAYS since they've seen their names in print here?...  I went for a walk earlier (I started at about 1:00 a.m.) because I almost have to get out and walk when I do most of my serious thinking.  I ended up at work after about half an hour, and only after having some BATS swoop down at me (yes, I did jump and hustle out of the way) as I approached the Square (walking at 1:30 a.m. - go figure)...  I used the restroom, and then I went to the bar and said hey to all of my friends (all of whom were working diligently I might add)...  :)  I explained that I had been WALKING, and then Alyssa asked if I'd like a ride home...  Do you remember that recent post where the two ladies approached me at work, and I was told that I looked "so broken and beat up?"  YEAH..., I thought of this INSTANTLY when Alyssa about me about the ride - I was WALKING...  :P  Naturally I accepted the ride, because I wouldn't want to be rude, AHEM... (and I WAS practically attacked by bats), but c'mon...  :)  Oh, by the way..., 8 more days until these girls finish their internship, and 19 until they graduate... WHAT WILL I write about then?...  ;)

Could you tell us another story about walking Coach?  A group of customers was making their way to the Veranda this past weekend, when the reluctant one stopped, not wanting to make the journey (through THE MAZE I suppose)...  :P  The group leader exclaimed, "you can see all of San Marcos from here!"  The reluctant one answered that encouraging plea with, "I'VE SEEN SAN MARCOS!!..."  :)  And yes, they DID go up to the Veranda...

Could you tell us about a possible conspiracy?  During this past weekend (speaking of the maze), I had a customer (to my face) tell me that the hallway at work is "like a maze..."  I started thinking that someone is reading the blog and was put up to saying that DIRECTLY TO ME...  I think that I will know for sure that something strange is afoot the night that FIFTY people make that comment to me...  Can you imagine me squirming if that does happen?  UGGHHH...

Could you please make just one more maze reference Coach?  I'm not making this up..., over the weekend, someone said to their friend, "I wonder if people get lost in here..."  They HAVE TO BE saying these things just to bother me, right?

Could you tell us about one of the funniest things that you've ever seen at work?  At closing time one night this weekend, most of the customers had already left the building.  As I reached Harper's, I saw a group of five people, which included a guy who was leaning with his back to the wall, holding his head like someone had recently..., PUNCHED HIM or something, but without the moaning or the blood...  As I watched, trying to figure out what was going on, a SECOND PERSON in the group then grabbed their head SUDDENLY...  I looked at the drink that they were hurriedly trying to finish before leaving the bar, and then I realized what was going on...  The group had a frozen drink from upstairs, and as each person in the group took their turn at trying to kill it..., WELL..., EACH PERSON IN THE GROUP was subjecting their head to a BRAIN FREEZE...  I now watched a THIRD PERSON in the group clutching their own head, and it was all that I could do to not start laughing...

Could you tell us about the cat that lived off of McDonald's food for over a year, and how it relates to your life?  I saw this story on Yahoo! last week, and it reminded me of a story from my past involving myself and a good friend of mine.  An abandoned cat in New Zealand basically lived in a McDonald's parking lot, successfully begging for food from customers, until an SPCA worker "rescued" (I mean, how bad could it be, right?) the cat...  :)  When I left coaching here in San Marcos a hundred years ago, my friend Kelley really helped me through a lot of personal bitterness, simply by being my friend...  :)  Well, Kelley is a HUGE animal lover, and she also worked a few hours each week at the swimming pool that I was managing.  The pool had some stray cats that would stop by from time to time, and being the kind person that I am, I decided to feed them some of the food that I had on hand (and I'm talking healthy food, like Cheetos and corn chips)...  WELL, being a hundred years ago, I don't remember the EXACT words in this conversation, but basically, the gist of it was Kelley asking, "WHAT are you feeding them?!"  Needless to say, the rest of the summer these strays ate cat food...  :)

Could you end this with one more reminder that you're a hundred years old Coach?  During my second year of teaching and coaching, my good friends and colleagues had a baby girl.  Last night when I was on facebook, I received a message asking me for my address..., for a... (wait for it..., wait for it...) GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENT!  Ellen is graduating a year early (overachieving showoff), but STILL...  Congratulations Ellen!  ;)

I hope that you have a great day, and I'll see you again on Thursday!





  















    

The Girls Who Almost Broke My Heart

"My mom just asked me, "Where is Twitter?  How can I get in?"..."
-@may_noir- (via twitter)

"90% of Americans think statistics are made up..." -@Mytwoscentz- (via twitter)

"You will never go anywhere in life feeling sorry for yourself..."
-@KelvinBeachumJr- (via twitter)

"Dinner tonight consisted of vodka and chocolate frosting, so take a seat Rachael Ray.  There's a new sheriff in town..." -@Heather2Go- (via twitter)

"You don't know true competition until you're one of the last two people in musical chairs..."
-@MumbaichaTapori- (via twitter)



Good afternoon everyone.  I'm watching 'Avatar' (which has quickly become one of my favorite movies - I have to watch it anytime that it comes on) as I type this, which is my main excuse as to why this entry is coming to you a little bit later than usual (and later than I promised Stephanie and Sarah last night)...  Who are Stephanie and Sarah you ask?  Very good, I want you to be inquisitive...  ;)  Stephanie and Sarah almost broke my heart last night...  Last night was my Friday for the work week, and after arriving at work and getting the downstairs situated, I went upstairs and starting getting things straight there.  I was informed by my friend and coworker Raymond that pizza was on its way from Valentino's (which is on one of the other sides of 'The Square' for those of you who are not familiar with downtown San Marcos, America)...  The pizza had been ordered a half-hour ago (allegedly) by Stephanie and Sarah, so as I finished organizing things on my end, I said that I would be happy to wait for a slice - Valentino's has really good pizza, and this one was to be a supreme with jalapenos added (and NO anchovies)...  :)  So it's about 5..., 10..., FIFTEEN minutes later, I'm done with my chores upstairs, there is no pizza in sight, and now I should be getting back downstairs to my duties there.  Well, wouldn't you know it..., after I walk almost all the way downstairs, I spy a pizza delivery guy...  Isn't that just the way that it ALWAYS works out???  :)  Maybe I should have titled this, "Valentino's almost breaks my heart" - it really wasn't Stephanie's or Sarah's fault...  Thank you once again for the first slice..., AND the last slice from that pizza - it was very good ladies!  :)

At this point let's talk about basketball and my afternoon yesterday since my fantasy baseball teams have taken their much-anticipated dive over the past week... (AHEM)...  I set my alarm so that I would wake up at halftime of the Spurs/Lakers series opener yesterday.  Yes, it does make more sense to watch the whole game, but I usually sleep during the day before work, and my sleep schedule was COMPLETELY HAYWIRE this week.  Anyway, when I wake up, my Spurs are up twelve (their eventual margin of victory), and I see on facebook that one of my former athletes is at Bikini Hill.  Although I can't ever remember the last time that I've seen Destiny, I opted to watch the second half of the basketball game before I walked over to river.  This was a mistake (because we OBVIOUSLY KNEW that the Spurs were going to win) because when I made it to Bikini Hill after the conclusion of San Antonio's victory, she had already left.  I did want to at least give Destiny a shoutout here though, which takes us to my "rough" walk home from the river...

As I passed by Bobcat Nation, I saw my friend George's truck, and I wanted to get his opinion on the upcoming Rockets/Thunder series.  George is a Rockets fan, and he predicted that they will take the series in six games.  Whether or not that actually happens, I should let you know here that when I visited Las Vegas back in December, George was one of the people who contributed to my gambling pool for the trip.  After I notified everyone that I guaranteed to bring at least 50% of their money back toward the end of my trip, George texted me (but too late, as it turned out).  George notified me that he wanted me to put the rest of his money on the Ravens to win the Super Bowl (and keep in mind, this was on the Sunday night that Week 16 of the NFL season had come to an end).  Unfortunately, the sportsbooks were already closed when I received his text, and they weren't going to be open before I caught my return flight to Texas in the morning (I do like to give credit where credit is due though)...  I'm just saying, if the Rockets do take it in six...  :)  Anyway, four of my other friends were lined up at Bobcat Nation's bar when I arrived, with Scott, Floyd, Ashton, and Adam (from left to right on your computer monitor) enjoying the afternoon.  This brings up to the rough part of my walk, where Ashton FORCED ME to take a bite of cheesecake before returning home...  Where else can you take a fifteen-minute stroll to your home from a spot like Bikini Hill, and have a..., CHEESECAKE PITSTOP halfway home?  Again, God bless San Marcos, America...  ;)



Okay, enough stalling.  This gets us to our weekly fantasy baseball update.  Let me give you the standings, and then I'll say a few words...


League 1 (25 entry fee - 1st place 125, 2nd place 25)

1)  Neshanic                                               74.00
2)  DraftDodgers                                      70.00
3)  Rocky Roto                                         64.50
8)  The View From Bikini Hill            48.50


League 2 (50 entry fee (40 w/discount) - 1st place 300, 2nd place 50)

1)  Breaking Bats                                      75.50
2)  The Bikini Hill Bobcats                  63.50
3)  Loons XXIV                                         59.50

League 3 (50 entry fee (40 w/discount) - 1st place 300, 2nd place 50)

1)  Nappy Heads                                      73.00
2)  Fishing For Trout                             66.00
3)  Pearls Of Pine Tar                           58.00
9)  The Bikini Hill Nine                        47.00



As you can see, I'm still doing very well in one league, and NOT SO HOT in the others...  Here's my expert analysis (I KNOW you are interested in this).  On offense, my run scorers haven't been crossing home plate, and my base stealers haven't been stealing bases...  As for my pitchers..., ha ha...  If they're not breaking their collarbones, I have seemingly had one ace each week giving up a HORRENDOUSLY bad inning to kill my ERA.  My strikeouts have picked up recently, but I'm not chalking up enough wins.  I'm honestly not too worried about my pitching with the staffs that I have, but I did some MAJOR overhauling to my offenses this week, dropping some players that I would normally keep longer to try to plug in some more steals and runs. It's April and there's a long way to go, but congrats to the guys at the top of these three leagues on maintaining their rankings..., SO FAR...  ;)

Today's entry has run longer than I thought, but be sure to come back tomorrow, because I have PLENTY of stories from this past weekend at work.  It was all I could do one night to keep up in my little memo pad...  :)  Have an outstanding day and I'll see you again tomorrow!