crafty

I love to craft. Well, I love the idea of crafting. Most of the time I can't afford to buy the supplies to do said crafting, or I do buy the supplies, start a project, but never quite finish it. Here are some projects I've saved from Pinterest that I plan to do. Someday.

industrial record cabinet

nail & string wrapped letters

*Got this picture from Pinterest, but it had no original link. Sorry :/ 

fabric decoupage dresser

 

easy to make custom artwork

If any of you decide to take on these projects, please let me know how they turn out! Because more likely than not, I'll still be just thinking about starting them.

it's my party & i'll cry if i want to

Well, today's the day I've been dreading for awhile......my birthday. I don't want to mention how old I am, so I'll just share with you a few pictures from my younger days. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

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Show & Tell: What's in Your Bag? edition

Am I the only weird one that is curious as to what others carry in their purses/bags? Actually, I know I'm not, because there's a whole Tumblr dedicated to showing people what's in your bag. I kind of feel like a weird voyeur, but it's interesting to me. Even when I was too young to need to carry a purse, I would pack one around anyways. It held things like a notebook, some markers or crayons, costume jewelry, cotton candy Lip Smackers...you know, grown up things. It made me feel important. I still carry little notebooks in my purse, even though I rarely use them. You know, just in case I feel the urge to draw a masterpiece, or write a song, or something.
Now I've got you hooked, right? Now you want to know what's in my bag? Well you're in luck, because I happen to have a picture of the super amazing, interesting things I carry around on a daily basis! Happy voyeuring!

Purse: Target. Sunglasses: Ray Ban. Pens, pencils, markers, & erasers: various places. Field Notes: Domestica. Knit headphone & iPod cases: my talented hands! Mini Kleenex pack: Wal-Mart. Travel sized beauty products: Wal-Mart & Target. Wallet: Target, forever ago. Little bag: came with a backpack from Pac Sun.

If you'd like to take a picture of the contents of your bags to show me, please do! Email them to me or post them in the comments. I swear I won't do anything weird with them. It's not that kind of thing.

old lady hobbies

One hobby I've recently taken up (and by recently, I mean Christmas '10, for about a month, and then not again until this past holiday season). I'm not amazing at it, but I can do the basic stitches. One problem I have, though, is that I get impatient. Since I started knitting, I've completed 2 scarves, a pouch for my iPod, and a pouch for my headphones. I also have 3 other scarves and a headband that are incomplete. I start one, get bored with it, start another scarf, run out of yarn, start another project, get bored with it, etc.etc. Here are those half-finished projects:

This is my #1 project right now. It's a stockinette stitch & it will be a lovely cowl if I ever finish it.

This will be a headband like this one.

Easy garter stitch scarf. Ran out of yarn, went to the store to buy more but they were out too. So I bought the red yarn and started a new project (the cowl).

Garter stitch scarf I started for my mom around Christmas. It was supposed to be something she could wear to my siblings' basketball games, but by the time I finish, it will probably be baseball season :/ 

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of the finished products someday soon!

my room is messy

See that? My room is disgusting. To my credit, though, that picture was taken a few weeks ago, and I have since removed the bags of trash and Christmas tree. I've been meaning to clean the rest of my room for about a month now, but you know...motivation and all that....(see the post below). SO, I thought I would post some of my favorite interior design pictures to help inspire me to clean my room! And maybe redecorate it.

amazing desk space

clipboard inspiration wall

grey walls. if you couldn't tell, i'm kind of obsessed with that color right now.

Built-in shelves

can't get no motivation

That basically explains my day to day life, lately. With no job and 1 class twice a week, I rarely leave my apartment. Partly because I have no money to do anything since I have no job, but also partly because I have no motivation (could also explain the lack of job). Somewhere along the way I lost my mojo, and now all I do is wear sweatpants. Don't get me wrong, sweatpants are my jam, but I miss occasionally wearing real clothes and looking cute. I think my lack of motivation might stem from my lack of confidence, and my lack of confidence stems from my quarter-life crisis. I'm in a rut.

I already said (maybe just to myself) that I'm not going to use this blog as a journal or diary, so I'm not going to delve too deeply into my problem here. I just need to get my groove back, as Stella would say! I need help. I need inspiration. I need to change my clothes.

let them eat cake

Food! I love food! You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I really enjoy some tasty treats. I was spoiled by my mom and my grandma, who are/were amazing cooks. They both tried to pass down their skills to me, but I was always more interested in the eating process. When I'm hungry, I don't want to wait an hour for something to be prepared and cooked, I want it right then and there. I'm not without basic cooking skills, but I wish I would've taken advantage of their tutelage!

Loving [greasy, fatty, bad for you] food also makes me kind of a masochist, because I have an embarrassing, annoying, terrible problem called IBS. For example, I love pizza, but anytime I eat it, I prepare myself for crippling stomach cramps. I won't go into the specifics of IBS...if you're really interested you can Google it. I haven't been able to eat normally or actually enjoy the food I eat since I was 18. Just typing that sentence brings a tear to my eye, because like I said...I love food. Traveling is hell, eating out is tricky, and I'm probably a little malnourished, to be quite honest.

But still, I torture myself by watching the Food Network and looking at pictures of food on Pinterest. Here are a few things that make my mouth water (and my stomach twist):

baked creamy chicken taquitos

buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich

roasted garlic chicken pesto pizza

crock pot hawaiian bbq chicken

Had enough? Me too. But not really.

Also, I just realized (days after I originally made this post) that all the recipes I chose are made with chicken. Unintentional, although I do enjoy chicken. 


*click on the pictures to go to their original sources

Show & Tell: VDay edition

I received the best presents ever, from the best guy ever. Thanks for knowing that I'd rather have a case of Mt. Dew than a box of chocolates! :)

I hope you all had good a good Valentine's Day/Galentine's Day! Now you can all look forward to the next big holiday.....my birthday! Except I'm kind of going through a quarter-life crisis, so please don't mention anything about my actual age.

Valentine's Day

And to reference yesterday's post: 

Cards from  Fuck Yeah, Parks & Rec

Galentine's Day

At one point in my life I loved Valentine's Day. I expected to get something nice from my boyfriend, as movies & tv had led me to believe should happen. That was before I spent 3 years alone. I suppose I wasn't really alone though, because I had my best friend/roommate to be alone with. We spent 3 Valentine's Days (or as Leslie Knope calls it, Galentine's Days) together. This day consisted of going somewhere to get food, going to whatever sappy movie was out at the time (one year it was He's Just Not That Into You), and then taking a trip to Welch Avenue to drink our loneliness away. One time we even puked side by side (in separate stalls, of course) in a bar bathroom. Very romantic. Then my Gal moved away, and I was left wondering what I was going to do once Valentine's Day rolled around. As luck would have it, I found someone to share the day with. We went bowling and then went home to drink some wine and watch a movie. It was really nice.

What's the point of this post? Well, nothing, really. Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, which I kind of forgot about. I didn't buy or plan anything fun for my fella, and I kind of feel bad about it. But I also don't expect anything from him (unlike Valentine's Days in the past). If my Gal still lived here, I'd definitely continue our tradition of going to a movie, regardless of my relationship status. Don't get me wrong, I love my boyfriend very much! But we don't need a holiday to tell us to do something special for one another, because I feel special every time I'm with him (sappy and gross, I know). I guess he may not feel the same though.....so I should probably buy him some flowers or something just in case...

Oh wait! I know what the point of this post is! It's that you don't need a man to have a good Valentine's Day, but if you do happen to have one, that's nice too :)

Me & my Galentine

My & my Valentine

Photogenics 101

I just want to take a minute to talk about the art of being photogenic. This is an art that I have personally never mastered. I consider myself an okay looking person, I've even been told once or twice that I should be a model (which I usually attribute to my thin frame and high cheek bones....I'm definitely not tall or quirky looking or exotic or girl next door pretty). But in photos, I'm a wreck. Sometimes I can pull off a nice smile, but most of the time I'm making a weird face, or my eyes are half-closed, or my posture is that of a hunchback, or my smile is too big, showcasing my ginormous gums. What makes me mad is, some people have the ability to look incredibly cute in a picture, even if they're making a face that on normal people would look hideous. I hate those people! Well, I don't hate them, but I'm so so jealous of them. I want to be one of those people who look adorable in candid photos. I want to be one of those girls that their photography friends ask to be in their photo shoots because they're so amazing at looking good. And then I want to use one of those photos as my Facebook profile photo so everyone can "like" it and comment on how great I look. Is that too much to ask?! Here are some examples of my awkwardness:

Tyra would definitely NOT choose me to be America's Next Top Model, that's for sure. Pretty friends, please teach me how to look good in pictures.

Elie Saab

Awards season is one of my favorite seasons, mostly for all the beautiful dresses that are on parade. While I plan on doing an entire 2012 Awards Season Red Carpet Roundup! after the Oscars, right now I'd like to spotlight one of my favorite designers, Elie Saab. I've been swooning over his gowns ever since Mila Kunis wore that lavender beauty at the Oscars last year.

See what I mean? Amazing. AMAZING. I love his silhouettes and fabrications, which are always feminine with intricate detailing. Here are some couture dresses from his Fall/Winter 2011-12 collection

Needless to say, I can't wait until the Oscars.

What is the Central Standard?

I've been sitting here staring at this empty blog for 2 days, trying to figure out what exactly I should blog about. Myself? Fashion? Plot theories on my favorite tv shows? Gifs? Funny cat pictures? It will probably end up being an amalgamation of all those things. My ultimate goal was/is to create a street style blog that focuses on the Midwest, more specifically Des Moines/Ames/Iowa City, and possibly Omaha. I decided, though, that it's probably best to wait until the weather gets a little warmer. When it comes to Midwest winters, most people dress for function, not fashion. But of course, when I get an idea in my head, I have to act on it now. So for the time being, The Central Standard will serve as a blog about  that amalgamation of things I was talking about earlier. I also bought a domain name to make the blog look more official....so I guess that means I have to commit to blogging about something, right? Actually, I bought 2 domain names....the first one was SoCentralStandard.com. A day later I was driving home from class thinking about it, when "the central standard" popped into my head. THE. Duh, Jessica. "The Central Standard" sounds so much hipper than "So Central Standard". I mean, all the cool bands have "The" at the beginning of their names, so it must be hip. What does it mean? Well, I wanted the name to be Midwest-based, since it's initial purpose was to be a fashion blog about the Midwest. I tried several names (that were all taken), and finally landed on the CST, which of course, is our lovely time zone! And it's kind of a play on words....what is the standard [for fashion/whatever] in the Midwest, aka the Central time zone? Get it? I hope you get it :/

So here it is, my first post! And to stay true to my earlier statement, here is a cute cat gif to send you off!