katie's orchid of thanks for saving matt's life in the costa rican jungle
another view. very georgia o'keefe. a little creepy but gorgeous. jason bought me an orchid once. in the leakiest apartment in maine and out of the grasp of a curious kitty, it lasted a week before it rotted, froze, and subsequently died.
antlion larvae dig holes at the maximum angle of repose... which i actually learned about in geotechnical engineering. they wait for unsuspecting ants to wander by, fall in, and be devoured. supposedly during the full moon cycle. i took these pictures on new years eve day [blue moon no less].
discuss amongst yourselves.
as it turns out i am much like a crow/raven/seagull [gahh]. i like shiny colorful things. so here are some miscellaneous shots around the house
futon/bed pillows. jewel tones add a feeling of homey-ness to a stark white living room
...yep those are shower products. i believe unintentionally arranged in some semblance of order
my infamous wall. whilst on the phone one night i noticed from the right angle it appears more like an art piece than a target jewelry display. 
lastly, my newly organized non-luggage closet and now boot storage. clockwise from bottom left: - brown plastic booties from endless
- purple sweater suede stinky boots from italy
- furry suede boots from endless
- ll bean boots from the outlet
- steel toed sneakers for my summer job
- hiking boots from god knows where and used mainly out of the country
- brown stretch pleather boots from dsw
- black stretch studded boots from dsw
- grey suede over knee boots from target
- black suede boots from clarks clearance [$20!]
- brown velour boots from glassons
- grey suede booties from target
- black booties from steve madden
- blue booties from zara
- brown pointy booties from macys [most painful purchase ever but i cant give them away]
- black pirate heeled boots from target
dont tell me i have too many pairs of boots. i wear them all except the pointy hurty ones, the steel toes, and the hikers. and i have had all but the zara booties, the stinky italians, the furry suede, and the steve maddens for over 2 years. those 4 were all bought within the last 6 months. they just look much nicer there all lined up, rather than thrown in the inaccessible closet in my room. which now has about 10 nested suitcases stuffed to the gills and then packed in like sardines. fish metaphors abound. what im really searching for to round out the collection are some green "engineer" boots. i bought and returned these engineer boots from target. i highly recommend them if you have a calf less than 16.5". like say... a 15" leg would have been perfect. as is, the boots were ridiculously comfortable, $50 for real leather, and they completely cut off all circulation to my foot while bisecting my leg about 1/4" under the muscle. or for over 4x the price you could have the exact same problem with the frye harness boots. thanks, but no thanks. i will continue to buy my boots for less than $45 a pair and i will cherish them all. and when i dont, i will give them to goodwill instead of lamenting over how i bought a single pair of shoes [that nearly equals my monthly rent] and wore them 5 times ever.
after a 55 degree sunday, 30mph wind/rain 50 degree monday, tuesday and wednesday were sunny and 40. not bad. considering its january in long island and...friday it will be 20 again. but i dressed accordingly. mostly appropriately. 
- scarf: h&m
- shirt: banana republic
- watch: tocs from ideeli
- skirt: ny & co
- shoes: kenneth cole sparkly flipflops
- not pictured: half slip and mid calf leggings for unstaticyness and warmth
- dress: uniqlo
- scarf: grammie
- necklace: unknown
- leggings: h&m [$3 clearance!]
- shoes: steve madden from dsw
last fall i purchased a sweater from victoria's secret. back then i believe it was called the "cotton cashmere wrap". now it has been upgraded to the "soft and sexy wrap". whatever. needless to say, i really have only worn it once as the thrown-over-the-shoulder-look was a hassle and everyone at work asked if i was wearing a snuggie.
yes.
a cashmere snuggie that was over $40.
OF COURSE FRIKKIN NOT.
but i digress. as of now, VS has 6 ways to wear the wrap. dkny has a similar cashmere/silk "cozy" that you can purchase for the low low price of $195! regardless of how absurd that is, they do have a little video tute explaining how to wear and style a cozy/wrap/long cardigan/sweater/thneed. im sure there are 10 other different sites that sell this garment with countless ways of wearing it, but i didnt find them. the end.
already? hell yea. i got an email from burpee about container plants and it got me thinking about this summer. planting is only ... 5 months away!
i want one of each
and maybe 2 of these. but then again id rather *successfully* grow some more heirloom tomatoes. those were damn good. and maybe some rainbow sweet peppers. and zucchini. and shelling peas. and maybe some carrots. and.. ok im done. tune in for another elaborate and completely disregarded garden plan!
completely unrealistic for a college house. and my budget. and life with a curious cat. BUT AWESOME
growing up i always thought slips were for wearing under see-thru dresses/skirts and nothing more. and by growing up i really mean until last november. then i read sal's blog and discovered i wasnt the only person in the known universe with skirt-crotch-bunching issues. she states it most eloquently: "But seriously, how else are you gonna keep from looking like you're smuggling a squirrel nest between your thighs?"
- dress: dkny
- scarf: h&m
- leggings: uniqlo
- boots: target
i thought the boots and the leggings matched better. turns out the light in my room isnt so great. and the picture is a bit blurry... but theres a cat on my shoulder and i thought that was fitting.
- from: piperlime
- brand: tretorn
- description: short green rubber boots
- price: $42 from $60
thus begins a new series of posts: things i would dearly like to purchase but cannot due to the very necessary goal of saving money. 
- from: ideeli
- brand: mac & jac
- description: blue and black lined wool coat
- price: $39 from $99
unlike most engineers, i love shopping, and am pretty much obsessed with sales. sample sales are generally a good deal if you care to weed through all the variety. however, they do have expensive shipping, occasionally overinflated "original price", and generally the same sales at different times. then again, i love looking at all things purveyed by the interwebs whether clothes, jewelry, bedding, household furnishings, cooking utensils, travel accessories, or makeup. as an engineer i also like charts. charts make things pretty and understandable. or at least that is their intended purpose. click to enlarge:
my personal ranking of these sites is as follows:1. ideeli: very good deals and a wide variety of sales with size explanations as needed. the blog is both fun and informative and covers all things fashion related. the "ideeli red" sales give some amazing deals, up to 90% off, but sell out in a matter of hours. overall, ideeli was the first sample site i joined and is still my favorite.2. rue la la: this is my newest membership and my latest purchase was a set of heys spinner luggage. long sought by asians in airports, spinner luggage is the most convenient to travel with, plus the heys line is hard sided. and i bought zebra. its distinctive without being hideously gaudy [a la leopard] and really, its black and white. where could you go wrong? the homepage itself is a bit busy but the limited number of sales helps keep it easier to navigate. as both a marketing technique and a gauge of popular items, rue la la tells the number of remaining items after 10 or so. this says "this item is frikkin awesome and is selling out while youre looking at this page" or something thereabout. also, the "lookbook" of upcoming events is very chic.3. gilt: all i ever do is look at gilt, gilt fuse, gilt man, and jetsetter. look and admire, and wish i was paid twice my salary. while most of the gilt line is more highbrow than i ever aspire to, the website is well organized and classy. but just cos something is pretty and 85% off...doesnt mean $359 is a good deal. ITS STILL EXPENSIVE. however, the blog is less about their current products and more about relevant fashion events, history, and people.4. the fairest: once in awhile there is a brand on here that i actually recognize. my only purchases have been from stila and butter of london, and they were both more than 75% off. definitely worth it.5. billion dollar babes: i really like how the site limits itself to 3 sales a day. and usually they are all similar. [the days the sales are for moms and children ...i ignore them] plus who doesnt like the name?6./7. beyond the rack & hautelook: these sites are essentially the same. layout is a tad different, but generally i see the same sales on both, several days apart or even overlapping. the prices are reasonable sale-wise, and the inventory is decent.8. zabachic: site is currently down for maintenance and for some reason the site always came up as "untrusted connection". i havent ordered anything from here and may not ever.
before the last crash of my laptop [3rd time being the charm...as everything was entirely uploaded from the OS up] i had downloaded a version of picasa just to organize and hopefully figure out how to upload pictures easier. with little in the way of successful results. since then, picasa [made by google] has released 3.0. a new feature is called "name tags" and is similar to the tagging feature of facebook. except it is a type of facial recognition and can actually find your face within your pictures. obviously it needs some help, and after tagging myself in about 100 pictures...
picasa has now labeled 1,604 pictures on my computer as me. granted some are duplicates, but generally it accounts for tan, weight gain, aging, bad lighting, horrible faces, and different emotions. also unlike many people, it can distinguish between asians. my big problem now is remembering people's names. some people are tagged as "stoner matt", "hot andy", "kristie the ra". basically if the person is not a friend on facebook i have no way of remembering who the hell they are and frankly, i like my names better. where else would you find "that guy from mma"?
maybe the next step for picasa would be 3d rendering of my entire head. that would be frikkin amazing. and scary. and technologically AWESOME. ..and frightening
NOT JEGGINGS FOR CHRISTS SAKE.
- "art teacher dress": h&m
- jeans: pacsun
- boots: rampage [from endless.com]
- long sleeve shirt: calvin klein
- tunic: "the slut store" aka body central
- jeans: american eagle
- shoes: kenneth cole [from dsw]
i wore another pair of skinny pants this week-shiny black tailored pants with a suit. it looked quite professional i might add. but no picture. too bad.
