the day after

Yesterday was probably one of the worst birthdays I've had in recent years. And I'm not trying to sound all 'feel bad for me' but it was just a not so good day. I worked all day, which is zero fun in itself. Last year my birthday was on a Sunday, so there was no work. And the year before that, I didn't have a job... So working on your birthday is kind of depressing. Everyone should have the day off on their birthday! Then after work I went to pick my car up from inspection. I was expecting the bill to be somewhere between $100 and $200 but it turned out to be almost $500!! Something with wheels and alignment or whatever. Mechanic bastards. The only good thing was I got to see my family, we all went over my uncles for a little birthday celebration. My nana made strawberry cake cause it's my favorite. My aunts and uncles still give me 20's so that's pretty sweet. But I was pretty tired and in a semi bad mood from the car thing so I left around 9 and went to bed.

Don't get me wrong, it was not an awful day by any stretch of the imagination, but for as long as I can remember I've always had like super fun birthdays. I remember growing up we used to transform our backyard into a carnival. My dad would make all sorts of games and each of my aunts and uncles and neighbors would run them. The entire neighborhood of kids would come. We had spin art and ring toss and face painting and relay races and sand art. (If you were a six year old, you would be totally jealous right now) One year my uncle even bought a pony! Seriously! My parents were so creative. I mean I'm sure the parties still cost a bunch of money but they were way more fun then any sort of Chuck E Cheese/Leaps and Bounds deal. (Both popular children birthday party locations when I was a kid, if you are unfamiliar.) As I got older I still had pretty awesome parties, mostly sleepovers. I had a surprise 13th or 14th birthday party, and surprise parties are always pretty fun. It's so nice to think that everyone at the party had known about it and had been thinking about you and the party and you had no idea! My 19th birthday was celebrated at my mountain house with a bunch of people from college and home, and beer. I was living at Lehigh during the summer of my 20th birthday so we had a pretty big house party, which the cops so lovingly broke up. My 21st birthday was a shitshow. I took a bunch of friends down the shore for the night I turned 21, which conveniently happened on a Friday. That Saturday I had a combination family/friends rager at my house that was also pretty awesome (think of my parents and aunts teamed up with my friends for beer pong, my uncles playing flip cup). People still talk about that party. Even last year I managed to get a pretty big group together at my house to celebrate my 22nd. This year I was just not that into it. Plus, nobody likes you when you're 23. :(

So I guess my less then fantastic birthday was my own fault, but at least I have a lot of good birthday memories! Plus, maaaybe there will be some celebrations down the shore this Friday.

Peace and facepaint,

TheFashionHead

birthday birthday

In my fashion fantasy world, I would get home from work (well, lets be honest, I wouldn't be at work at all) to find all of these pretty things:

Christian Lacroix Abstract Floral Silk Dress

Alexander McQueen Paisley Smock Dress

Chloe Equestrian Flat Boots

Matthew Williamson Star Embroidered Dress

Christian Louboutin Rodita Zip Platforms

Tibi Off-the-Shoulder Silk Dress

Missoni Tonal Stone Bracelet

DKNY Contrast Color DressD&G Leather Biker Jacket

Vivenne Westwood Red Label Diamante Skull EarringsChloe Collar Detail Pumps

(all pictures from net-a-porter.com)

Well, now that you have some general ideas, I'll let you go and shop. Only about 8 more hours left until my official birthday is over, but I'll generously accept late gifts.

Peace and birthday love,

TheFashionHead

guess what today is?

I'll give you a hint...

1. birthday cake candles, 2. Birthday Cake and 28 Candles,

3. birthday cake 001, 4. Birthday Cake - Candles

More birthday updates later today - I just wanted to give everyone enough time to buy me a present before the day is over..

Peace and birthday fun,

TheFashionHead

an aggressive savings plan

It has been over a year since I started working at my full time high paying electrical engineering job. While my closets are full and happy, my savings account is not. I have paid off my student loans and put some into my savings account, but the majority has gone to clothes, the shore house, booze and generous presents for my family and friends (I'm such a giver). My 401k is maxed out, so I have that going for me. I was going through the numbers and it is kind of ridiculous how much money I could have easily saved at this point but didn't.
I still live at home, which I really don't mind at all cause my parents are pretty awesome and its a great savings opportunity that I haven't taken full advantage of yet. However, I would like to eventually move out and ideally I would like to buy a place instead of rent one. Renting annoys me and often the rent price is pretty similar to a morgage price and after renting, you end up with nothing. So my plan is to live at home, probably until next year around this time, and save up a ton of money so I can buy myself an adorable little place. I know it's going to be hard to change my shopping mindset (from buying pretty much whatever I want to actually thinking about what I'm buying and trying to not spend as much). The fact that I have built up a pretty fantastic wardrobe over the past year will hopefully make it a little easier. I definitely have enough pretty dresses to last the rest of the summer. And this is going to be the first winter where I am actually looking forward to wearing all my winter clothes (sweater and jeans and boots and scarfs and LAYERS yay!) from last year. I hope it won't be as hard as I think it's going to be. I don't want to be on a 'budget' really, like I don't want to allocate a certain amount of money each month for certain things, but I am just going to focus on putting more cash into my savings. I'm working on changing my direct deposit to put a certain amount of each paycheck directly into my savings. Out of site, out of mind. Can't buy whatever you want when all of your cash is in your savings account rather then your checking, right?

So what this means really is I'll probably have less 'look what I bought' posts and more creative reworking of old clothes, thrift store visits and DIY posts. Oh, and maybe even more furniture and home accessories posts.

Peace and aggressive savings plans,

TheFashionHead

tie dye and flowers

So I know these pictures aren't the best, but this is the best I can do by myself with no photographer (my sister is in a bad mood) or tripod. The first pictures are just what I wore to work today, minus the work boots. I was just bored in my kitchen and I love tie dye so much I decided to play around with the camera.

How could you wear this shirt and be in a bad mood? Impossible!

Feet!

Tie dye close up.

And now you can understand why I can't take daily wardrobe shots - jeans and t shirts (even tie dye ones) ain't that interesting...

Shirt - no idea, I think it's my sisters (maybe that's why she's mad...),

Jeans - Sevens, feet - my own

The next shots are a recreated weekend outfit from last Saturday night down the shore. This is the F21 dress I was talking about but couldn't find a picture of online. The random belt I picked up went surprisingly well with the dress, although it did make it SIGNIFICANTLY shorter. And boy do I love these shoes. Hotness. Of course down the shore I wore it with flip flops so I wouldn't have to worry about silly things like walking or standing upright.

Dress + Belt close up

This is my attempt to get the shoes in the picture...

Dress closeup

And the shoes!

Cool neckline, no?

Another shoe shot.

Dress - Forever21,

Belt - Cynthia Rowley but I got it at Marshall's holler,

Awesome shoes - Steve Madden

Just watched Project Runway. It's kinda strange that I actually called it that Jerry would be the first one out. It was based on nothing other then his picture haha. Maybe I'm psychic... And I also predicted that I would like Kelli, which I do. Her dress was AMAZING. The top was a little strange but it was coffee filters and she used the metal part of a spiral notebook for clasps for the back of her dress! So creative. Oh and let me just clarify, Blane looked ALOT cuter/manlier/less gay in his Bravotv picture then he did on the show, which is why I thought he was possibly cute and straight, but that's obviously not the case because he didn't stop saying 'girlicious' the entire show.

It's way too late for me to still be awake sooo goodnight!

Peace and pictures (finally),

TheFashionHead

project runway eve

Tomorrow is the premier of Project Runway. Obv I am looking forward to watching. Although it's kind of sad because this was one show that I used to watch at college with my roommates on our giant comfy couches... It won't be the same watching it at home with the parents. Our couches aren't as big either.

Based completely on their pictures on bravotv.com, here are the people I think I will like:

Blane - 23, Washington. He looks like a laid back surfer. He wears semi tight jeans and a purple hoodie. He has longish blond hair. Pretty cute. (Perhaps he is straight? One can dream...) His fashion 'must' is neon anything!

Kelli - 27, Ohio. She's wearing jeans with bleach stains and holes all over them and a black shirt. She has one whole arm tatted up. Her fashion 'must' is a party dress (omg, me too!). She has her own boutique already. She seems cute.

Wesley - 23, Massachusetts. Oh Wesley. He's wearing really really tight grey pants which are also kinda short. Black shoes and a tight tucked in black button down. Is that a faux hawk? Maybe. His fashion 'must' is big old sunglasses and he describes his style as 'clean, classic and sophisticated.'

Keith - 26, Utah. He's wearing dark jeans, flip flops and a black t-shirt. His fashion 'must' are great fitting jeans, which seems strange cause his own jeans look a bit big (but maybe I've been brainwashed by all these skin tight jeans on guys...).

Some other predictions:

First to be out - Jerry (he will also cry).

Jerrell also looks like a crier.

Emily looks mean. Maybe that's why Jerry is crying...

Judging from her outfit on bravotv.com, I will most likely not like anything that Stella makes. Too many grommets...

The fact that Daniel's fashion 'must' is a novelty blazer makes me not want to like him. A Christian wannabe..?

Done.

The cast photos are kind of underwhelming but I'm sure they will all be better in person. Plus, I'm just pumped for Heidi, Tim, Nina and Michael!!

What are your predictions??

Peace and auf wiedersehen,

TheFashionHead

technical difficulties

In an attempt to further improve this already amazing awesome blog, last night I bought the domain www.thefashionhead.com. I am hoping to learn more about domains and hosts and all that kind of stuff. As of this moment, I still have not figured out how to get my .blogspot blog to appear under my fantastic new domain name, so I'm still using the old name. This whole Internet deal is confusing, no? If anyone has any helpful hints on using this new domain name, please let me know!

This weekend was awesome and fun, as usual. I skipped out of work a little early and picked up Courtney in Philly. We hit some traffic on the way down but it wasn't too bad. We arrived around 6, packed a cooler, and headed to the beach where some of the girls already were hanging out. It's lovely and peaceful being on the beach in the evening. We had it completely to ourselves. I cooked up the chicken nugs for dinner and they were a big giant hit. I wore my new black F21 dress with my new red belt and it looked better then I thought it would, so that was a pleasant surprise. After a significant pregame, we danced the night away at the bar and hit up Wawa on the way home where I purchased a wrap and baked chips (a very healthy end of the night meal, if I may say so myself). Saturday was BEAUTIFUL. We literally spent the entire day on the beach with the exception of eating meals and refilling the cooler. I took a shower in our outside shower and it was lovely and refreshing. Showering indoors is highly overrated. On Saturday night I wore my new gold F21 dress, which also looked better then I remembered (maybe the Forever21 dressing room is to blame...). Another night filled with drinking and dancing but unfortunately not healthy meals (mmm... pizza...). We got some beach time in on Sunday before we had to leave. I finished the book I was reading, Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. Next weekend I'm going to start another Chuck P. book, Choke. AND I did not feel sick or hungover at all. All in all, a pretty fantastic weekend!

Tonight's plans include going to the gym and making my sister take some pictures of me in reenacted weekend outfits.

Peace and my expanding blog empire,

TheFashionHead

tgif

Here are some things I am thankful for on this lovely Friday:

• Last night I went to dinner with my bff's from high school and it was fun and awesome. We all live so close to each other and sometimes I take the for granted. It's pretty rare for friends to all move home after college, but we all did. And I'm thankful they're all here. We went to Cosi and sat outside and ate delicious sandwiches and then we made smores. The weather was perfect for outdoor dining.
• Its actually Friday (duh)!! This week felt really long and I'm glad its over. I'm leaving for the beach in about 2 hours!
• My boss has been on vacation all week and I have taken some ...liberties with my hours. Which is why I may just leave at 3:30 today even though I took a lunch. But the lunch doesn't really count when you don't actually get food, right? I got a quick eyebrow wax and was disappointed by the dress selection at Marshall's but I did pick up a red belt to wear with one of my F21 dresses this weekend...(will there be picture updates of this lovely belted dress, you ask? no, probably not.. Lame...)
• The upcoming fun and relaxing weekend at the shore with clean clothes (I finally got around to doing laundry, score).
• One of those wish-y things flew into my car yesterday and I made a wish, obviously, so I'm pretty excited for that to come true.
• Car karma - I let 2 cars in at a particularly annoying merge point on my way to work - which means I should have no traffic troubles on the way down to the shore. Gotta love car karma... (I know that little black car that cut me off yesterday is sitting in bumper to bumper somewhere right now...)
• Aaaand the radio station is playing a block of Grateful Dead RIGHT NOW. Can't get any better then that!

Hope everyone takes the time to be thankful for the little (and big) things in their lives!

Have a fantastic lovely awesome amazing weekend, everyone!

Peace and thankfulness,

TheFashionHead

a little flickr inspiration

1. Peace, Maaaan..., 2. If you want to be a Rock Star - Ask Me How, 3. Liberty Ross, UK In Style March 2008, 4. -primavera-, 5. bohemian, 6. hippie parents, 7. http://flickr.com/photos/lapeet/2437151212/, 8. Mary-Kate Olsen

just average

Last night I went on a cheap dress mission. In order to avoid temptation (Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Urban, Free People.. I could go on) I drove right past King of Prussia mall like a good little budget shopper. Instead I headed to my much smaller local mall. Now I remember why I NEVER go to the local mall. It blows. For reals. I went to Charlotte Russe and didn't even find on thing to try on. Where are all the dresses? I headed over to Forever21, determined to at least try things on. I gathered about 8 dresses and took them back. For the most part, they were all ok but it also reminded me why I stopped shopping at F21. The sizes pretty much don't mean anything. I have a dress in a size S from a few years ago, what a joke, but last night some of the L's wouldn't zip which is a tad discouraging cause I'm pretttty sure I'm not an XL... Enough of the sizing complaints. Here are 2 of the 3 dresses I picked up.

Like I said, they're pretty but nothing special. With the 3rd dress and a ring, I ended up spending about $80. I think I would rather have one dress I really like then 3 so-so ones. But I was in a time crunch, I really needed something to wear out this weekend so these will have to do.

While I was riding the elevator in Macy's, some crazy sales lady starts a conversation with me. If you've never seen me in public, I think I come off as fairly unapproachable, which is not an accident. I'm not a huge fan of talking to random people I know, let alone complete strangers. She asked me if I was in school (gotta love that question at 22). When I told her I had a job she asked me where I work. I told her a steel mill, hoping that would shut her up. She then proceeds to offer me a job at Macy's. I said No thanks, my job is full time. Oh, we have full time positions here, she says, would you ever consider leaving your job for a job here? Listen lady, I'm not quitting my engineering job to work at Macy's. She followed me and kept talking about seasonal positions and the great employee discount until I left Macy's...Well, at least if this whole crazy electrical engineering thing doesn't work out, I have a fall back job at Macy's.

Peace and don't talk to me in public*,

TheFashionHead

*unless you're an adoring fan of my blog, then talk away!