An Ode to Reality Dating Shows

So, no secret here, but I freaking LOVE reality television. I honestly don't know why, but it seems like every show I watch a few episodes of I get hooked on. This, of course, includes the last season of The Bachelor. Jason ended up being kind of a tool (come on, you know you think so, too!), but who didn't absolutely love Jillian? I wanted her to be the one Jason chose, but I was super excited when she was announced as the new Bachelorette! Of course I was glued to this season, and wasn't this moment just awesome last night?

Photo from NY Daily News

Oh Ed, even with your short shorts, you still were obviously the perfect one for Jillian. But Ed's fashion choices aside, one of the best things about this season was Jillian's fashion choices! I loved her sense of style, and every outfit she wore had me going "God, that's gorgeous, I'd love to wear that!" Obviously, we're completely different body types (I think Jillian is 5'1", and I'm a hurking 6'2"), but I still love her clothing and how she tastefully showed off her (rocking) body throughout the season.

This is one of my favorite photos of her, showing how something as simple as a white button down and cuffed jeans can look so cute and fun. If I were dressing myself in a similar outfit, here's what I'd do:

Jillian Harris by organizethis featuring American Ea

gle Outfitters

Click on the photo for product information. I'm restraining myself right now, I swear! Since I live on the West Coast, I'm still waiting to see Jillian and Ed bask in their love on the After the Final Rose reunion special, but seriously. Could those two be any cuter?

In the mean time, I'm watching Fox's new reality dating show (that's basically a rip-off of The Bachelor) about "larger" people finding love. I think the thing that is really bothering me right now is that the majority of these "average" women are super tall! There are so many 5'9"-6'2" women in the group - and we all know that isn't average! And honestly, the name - while cheeky and easy to remember - seems borderline insulting to me.

Did you all watch "More to Love"? What did you think about the producers' definition of "average", and the way the the show handles weight/body issues?

A very long weekend recap

Hello lovelies! How I love love love 4-day weekends! I'm currently sitting in the Portland (Oregon) airport awaiting my plane back to Eastern Washington - how smart is it that Portland has their entire airport connected via free wifi? - and am very happy that I decided early on in the weekend to abstain from internet usage. There was just too much to do!

What's that, you ask? You want a recap of my weekend? Sure!

It all started with Friday. Oooooh Friday. We had all of our official wedding appointments scheduled for Friday, so we headed to the caterers first. Since our meeting wasn't until 1, we stopped at McMenamin's Barley Mill Pub for some cajun tots... YUM! Matt gets these every time we're in Portland. Then it was off to Vibrant Table for an hour-long meeting -- got so much stuff done, the most exciting of which was deciding on colors! I'll write more about that in Wedding Wednesday in a few days. After that Matt, Matt's mom and I headed downtown, where we met up with Nurse Paul. The boys headed off to a record store while Matt's mom and I hit up the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale! I was so excited to not only be in a big city for it this year, but to be in a big city without sales tax! Check out what i got:

Enzo Angiolini Zambiah boots - hot!

After Nordies and a quick stop at the Portland Visitors Center and a look at the sand castles on display and being built at Sand in the City, we met back up with Matt and Nurse Paul for some cupcake sampling at Cupcake Jones. And then it was off to the main attraction on Friday: DEATH CAB. Death Cab for Cutie was playing at McMenamin's Edgefield property, which was a pretty awesome concert venue. We snagged some free food at the end that the concert vendors hadn't been able to sell, and then it was home for the night.

And that was just Friday!

Saturday started out a little more tamely, with a leisurely breakfast at Vita Cafe with Nurse Paul and another college friend and her boyfriend. Their corn pancakes? DELICIOUS. Then, because every time I go to Portland I have to go to Powell's, we went to Powells. I bought two books (a biography about Leni Riefenstahl, and Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel) and a reusable shopping bag to show my Portland love in Spokane. After that, it was off to the International Beer Festival in the Pearl District. We sampled tons of beers - and a few other things, too - but my favorite was a Mango Weizen by Trade Route Brewery. Then, immediately following quick Taco Bell and Burgerville stops, we headed back to Edgefield to listen to the soundcheck and wait for Decembrists concert #1! While chilling on the porch, Nurse Paul, Matt, and I split a bottle of wine, some marionberry ice-cream, and tried to avoid being in the wedding photos of a couple that were getting married at the property. The Decembrists were playing 2 shows in Portland, along with Blind Pilot and Andrew Bird - they were fantastic! After the concert, we waiting out the parking lines by getting some food in Edgefield's Black Rabbit Restaurant - I had a Portabello mushroom sandwich that was delicious. Then it was home to bed!

Sunday was another wedding planning day! Matt's parents, Matt and I went to the Hands on Cafe at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. I had some delicious buckwheat pancakes topped with peaches, blueberries, and cream. Then Matt's mom and I took of for some mother-in-law/daughter-in-law bonding. We headed to Home Depot to get some paint swatches that match our new wedding colors, and then took off to The Wedding Cottage to check out things like favors, invitations, unity candles, and other accessories. Our final stop was at Saint Cupcake, where we picked up pricing info and a 10-cupcake sampler pack. Following a brief taste test with Matt's parents, Matt and I took off to get Nurse Paul for our final concert of the weekend - Decembrists concert #2 at Edgefield. Decembrists concert #2 wasn't as good as Decembrists concert #1, but both were awesome and I'd love to see them again sometime soon. Because we decided we hadn't had enough fun yet, we went to see the new Harry Potter movie after the concert. Overall, I'd say the new movie is "meh" but thought it was still pretty entertaining. It didn't stand out over the rest of the series for me like it has for others.

So now I'm sitting in the Portland airport, waiting for my flight! We made a quick stop at Ikea to get Matt some record storage units (always the organizer, eh?), and then we headed over here. It was a fun weekend, but I'm looking forward to going home (and reading the 250+ items in my google reader!).

Hope you all had great weekends!

Decluttering Your Closet through Smart Clothing Purchases

Does anyone constantly struggle with the state of their closet like I do? It feels like a never-ending battle to both keep things organized and actually find stuff that I want to wear. In the past 12 months I've removed many more things from my closet - including virtually all clothing items purchased in the 1990s - than I've added. And honestly? I think the sheer number of things I used to have was keeping me from making good clothing choices. I think that closets are another one of those things where "more" doesn't necessarily equal "easier". Even though Cher had an awesome closet, she still had a hell of a time deciding what to wear every day!

Who didn't want Cher Horowitz's closet in the 1990s?

What I've learned about my closet and my clothing in the last year is this: the way to keep your closet under control is to closely monitor what goes into your closet - if you don't buy it, you don't have to worry about it! I've cut down on the things I buy by ensuring that the majority of new items adhere to one major rule: multi-seasonality!

Perfect example: I need a cardigan for summer; I also need a cardigan for winter. Why not choose a cardigan in a color close to neutral, and a style that can be worn alone (summer) or layered (winter)? The short-sleeved cardigan from Anthropologie above can be paired with shorts and a tank-top for a light summer look, or layered under a turtleneck for a warmer winter look. One piece, multiple ways. Now instead of needing 2 pieces, I've found a cute way to get by with just one.

I love love love patterned and embellished skirts, which are a little trickier to get so that they are wearable in both summer and winter. However, I've found that patterns using browns and lighter grays (as opposed to black and darker grays) as their neutral are more versatile for varying seasons. The example above is a brown and yellow skirt: for summer, play up the yellow and throw in a complementary color of accessories (I chose blue). For winter, play up the neutral tone, and work in the pattern's colors in the accessories. Again, I've found this works well with patterns that have lighter neutral tones, as opposed to the heavy black and dark gray that tends to scream "WINTER!" no matter what.

So when you're shopping, buy pieces that can be used in both summer and winter - you'll save space in your closet and keep more money in your pocket! Happy shopping!

Long Tall Sally

Matt's mom sent us a bunch of wedding information from a vendor fair she went to in Portland, and we got the package yesterday. Amid the brochures of cup-cake makers, florists, and photographers (one of which charges $15,000, good lord!), was a catalogue that didn't quite fit with the rest... entitled Long Tall Sally.

I don't think I've ever written about this on this blog before, but I am tall. I'm a little shy of 6 feet and 2 inches, in fact. Clothes have been a struggle all my life, because let's face it - there aren't many women over 6 feet out there yet. There's not a single store in Spokane that I can actually walk into a buy a pair of pants at. Anyway, I thought it was really thoughtful of Matt's mom to send me this catalogue, because I've never heard of the company before, and I'm always looking for places that sell clothes that will fit me!

One of the things I've been most excited for this summer is the maxi dress trend - and I've been dying to get one! Unfortunately, they are all too short, and not in the way that I could still potentially pull off. But now, I have some options!

I can totally see myself wandering around downtown in a pair of gladiators and the Nirvana Maxi Dress in Khaki during the middle of summer!

A night on the town or an outdoor summer wedding? The Woodstock Dress has got it covered!

Rolling out of bed for a lazy Sunday brunch would look so much more elegant in the Karma Maxi Dress!

Tall women out there, check out Long Tall Sally. They also have a great selection of light, long summer skirts, jeans, trousers, and other basics. I'm definitely going to be buying a few items in the near future!

Project 7: The Closet

This weekend was super eventful, which I'll post about later, but for now -- the closet! I've wanted a functional closet that was actually decently organized for awhile now, but with the lack of a dresser, it was really hard. So, with the completion (and now use) of the best dresser ever, I was able to make my closet organized, clean, and functional. Hooray!

Before:


After:


I basically took the huge thing of plastic drawers out, leaving one on the floor for my workout clothes (which I consolidated to one drawer in a previous poat), and then added a plastic sweater rack that holds my pants and yup, you guessed it, sweaters! I'm lucky that our apartment already had that really convenient shelf for my shoes. So now, my closet doors shut, everything has it's place, and we're all good! Hooray!

Project 6: The New Dresser!

So, I bought this sweet dresser from Costplus (when it was on sale, of course!) to coordinate with the nightstands. Even though I messed it up a little bit (the top is on backwards... oops!) it still looks MUCH MUCH better than the plastic drawers and tubs that Matt and I had each been using since college!



Isn't it pretty?



Just to prove that it's actually being used! Matt has the top two drawers and I have the bottom one. The drawers are HUGE, so I managed to fit everything from my old set of three plastic drawers into my one drawer on the bottom!

Project 5: The Workout Drawer

My task for this evening was figuring out what the heck was going on with my workout clothes drawer. Seriously, there are things in there from middle-school (which was over 10 years ago, ps). Well, anyway, you can't organize something if you don't know the extent of the problem, right? Well, above is the scariness that ensued when I lined it all up on my bedroom floor! That's right, you're looking at 7 pairs of basketball shorts. A like, 6 pairs of running shorts, 5 pairs of spandex, 2 running skirts, and 14 t-shirts. Yeah.

Haven't decided what I'm keeping yet and what needs to go... but I think I'm going to purge everything that's been in that drawer since high-school (which is less than half of it, so not that bad). I mean, all I really need is one workout outfit per day, right? :D

Donation Time!

I'm a big believer in donating things to those in need. This goes especially for thrift stores that tend to employ people that would otherwise be out of a job, and use parts of their proceeds to support programs for the needy and impoverished. Collecting items from around the house to donate also serves as a wake-up call to myself by putting me in my place about my own materialism, and reminding me that I need to use my hard-earned money for better things than a fashionable pair of boots (from 6 years ago), etc.

So last night, I took the two bags pictured above to Value Village. They contained... about 1/3 of my wardrobe - just about everything in my closet that was purchased in or before 2004. I brought Matt with me, and he also donated 2 bags of stuff that he's had in the trunk of his car since we moved 4 months ago.

And then, as our reward for our good deed, we got delicious take-out Thai food and went o home to watch the Olympics and thunderstorm for the rest of the night. Hooray!