Blue with Accents of Silver

You might be able to tell by the dark floor and the much darker blue wall that I am not at my place. I am at my parents' house for the week.

I am supposedly wearing the best nail polish (according to my mom who read it in Consumer Report). It should not chip. Except, it chipped almost right away. However, I still wanted to show you the ring I borrowed from my mom
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What I am wearing: Shirt: from my mom's closet (I did not pack enough t-shirts for my trip home...here, here, and here are similar); Shorts: Goodwill (this is my absolute favorite pair and I wear them a little too often; here and here are similar); Shoes: Target (I got them on clearance for less than $20, but Target's website has them listed for over $25 currently, so here, here, here, and the cheapest one here are similar pairs); Jewelry: Flower Ring: Edinburgh (similar here, here, and here), Blue Droplet Ring: a drawer in my parents' bathroom (similar here, here, and here), Necklace: from my sorority (I got the diamond drop after initiation and the faux pearl is for getting a 4.0).

Have an awesome rest of your week! I cannot wait to eventually tell you all about the adventures I have been having in Texas this week!

Rachel Cathleen

How to Do Things: Making a Skirt Out of a Scarf

Being thrifty, I like to wear clothing articles in different ways and in as many unique outfits as possible, so I can get the most bang for my buck. Because of this, I was intrigued when I saw this pin, which you may have seen before:

Image via pinterest

Now, when I first saw it, I honestly doubted that it would work. I mean, come on, can the skirt even stay up?! And then the pintester tried it. As you can see here, the draped skirt did not really work for her. Suddenly, I was even more doubtful in the credibility of this pin.

Then in late May, another blog I read, "a pair & a spare" tried a very similar version of this skirt and she looked adorable in it. Here is her tutorial featured on another website and here is her wearing it on her blog. Oh, so you tie it and it stays! Ok, that seems reasonable. Immediately, I decided to try it. And now two months later, I am actually trying it. Sometimes life gets busy. And, sometimes it takes a storm to ruin your errands run and give you enough free time to try making a skirt out of a scarf and take photos for your blog.

1. Hold the scarf like a towel and you are about to dry yourself off. (If you were going to wear this out, you probably would not want to wear shorts under it, I just did not want the world to see my undergarments.)

1.5. You should not be exactly in the middle. Turns out, it works better if one side of the scarf reaches to the side of your hip and does not make it around to your bum. The other side of the scarf needs enough fabric to reach around as far as possible.

2. Wrap one side around. Preferably, there will not be so much extra fabric. Ideally, the edge of the scarf will hit between your front and your bum.

3. Take the other side of the scarf, bring it around the front and twist it a half turn (so the side that was facing towards your body before will now face out).

4. Cross the front around to the back and tuck it in. Or tie it. Mine was not long enough to tie.

5. If you cannot tie the scarf into a skirt, make sure you tuck all of the scarf edge into the back of the skirt. Or it will look like this, and it looks pretty silly. 

This is what the final product looks like. It does not look great and is fairly loose. Ironing would probably help. You may not be able to tell here (or you maybe you can), but where the skirt hits on my body also makes my stomach look larger than normal (that could just be me; I typically wear high-waisted bottoms so I am not used to how I look with a skirt on my hips). I decided to try again, making it as tight as possible and starting at my natural waist instead of my hips.

This is what it looks like when I redid it. (I'm sorry that this picture is so blurry.)

I decided to test the skirt's ability to not fall down. This is what it looks like after sitting and standing up again. As you can see, my shorts are noticeable at the bottom, which means the skirt rode up. 

I pulled the skirt back down and then tried walking up and then downstairs again. My shorts are sticking out a little. (And, apparently, my hands are permanently attached to my hips.)

All in all, yes, the scarf skirt stayed on my body, but I had to pull it down. I do not think that I am brave enough to try wearing it in public without shorts (or at all). Possibly, ironing would help prevent the skirt from riding up. Or maybe a different fabric? Maybe if it were wider or longer? If you have tried the draped scarf skirt (or you decide to give it a try now, or in several months like I did), how did it work for you? Let me know!

Have a great rest of your week, it is halfway over!

Rachel Cathleen

Some Pictures from Instagram

I found this adorable table and chairs at a yard sale. It was much less expensive than similar yard furniture at stores, so it was an obvious purchase for my little (formally) empty patio.

I may not update this blog constantly, but I am getting better about posting on Instagram.

Shirt: Thrifted (similar); Shorts: H&M (old; similar and similar); Purse: Goodwill (you might recognize this purse. You first saw it here (ok, just the strap, barely, and in only one picture), you got to see it here, I talked about my awkward encounter with the purse here, and I used it in Austin, so you can see it here and here; similar); Necklace: from my sorority; Shoes: Target (old; this season's version).

Dress: Kohl's (previously seen here; even though I did not buy the dress too long ago, it does not appear to be available anymore so here and here are similar dresses); Belt: Friend's Roommate (similar here and here); Boots: DSW (Really, I have worn these many times and I am surprised that they have not shown up too many times on the blog. However, they do show up here and here. And, if you want them, you can actually buy them here).

Shirt: Grey Dog Boutique (similarish...If you removed the sleeves or something. Mine is kind of unique. Those are hats on the print. Yep. Purple hats with leopard print sashes. Also, there are little imprinted bows); Skirt: Gap (old; similar and way prettier).

After taking the GRE, I really wanted a break, so Daniel and I went to Eureka Springs. I found this souvenir shop and was really excited because it appears to be the American cousin of...

...this pizza shop! You know, they are probably the best. Maybe. Who knows? Around this time last year, I was studying abroad and my friends and saw this restaurant (which, for some strange reason, I remembered being in Edinburgh). Seeing the store in Eureka Springs was a good reminder of all of the fond memories I have from that trip.

Boots: DSW (see above for links); Dress: Grey Dog Boutique (similar here and here); Vest: Alloy (old; similar here and here); Belt: vintage from my mom (similar).

Boots: DSW (I told you I have worn them a lot lately); Shirt: The Pink Zebra (It was the last one on final clearance sale; but here is one that looks like it is a similar color, or this one); Necklace: The Pink Zebra (there were quite a few in the store, but none online. So here and here are similar-ish ones); Skirt: H&M (old; similar).

How to Do Things: Take a Break from Homework, Studying for the GRE, Chores, or Whatever Else That is Making You Busy

Have you ever read a problem, did not not understand it, read it 100 more times, still not get it, ask someone to explain it to you, and then immediately figure it out and feel stupid for not understanding it sooner? Yeah, that's this problem.

I did not make a post yesterday, which I apologize for. I studied for the GRE and read articles for my thesis all day, so I did not have time to take pictures for a post. The back-up plan was to take pictures today and then make a post. Instead, I spent 9 hours in the lab. My ideas for this post became so desperate, I briefly considered taking pictures of me microwaving my lunch and making that a "How to Do Things" (that may happen another week...).

But, I did have to take a break during my busy 9 hours, so I listened to music from Lewis Watson's new album (and then several other songs, my lunch break was longer than like 5 minutes). If you need a study (or work) break, here is what you do:

Step 1. Click the links below.
Step 2. Listen to each song.
Step 3. Relax.
Step 4. Get back to work!

If you cannot tell, I really enjoy Lewis Watson's music. He appears to be really popular in the UK, but I want him to be popular here in the U.S. (I am not a hipster: I want everyone to like the same musicians I do so they will keep producing new music...).

I hope I taught you a simple way to take a break and that you have a great week!

Rachel Cathleen

RTX Adventures: Day 3

As promised, here are the pictures from our final day at RTX 2014.

We decided that it was not worth waking up early to maybe get a seat at the Achievement Hunter panel, so we got Taco Bell breakfast, instead. If you ever want desert for breakfast, I would recommend these little sugary things.

The boys loved this pirate game because it reminded them of a game they played as kids.

You probably thought to yourself, "There is no way she has any more waiting in line pictures!" Alas, you are wrong. Here we are waiting to play Titanfall. I lost both games I played, which is fine, they were the first two times that I have ever played. During the first game, I did not know many of the controls (the boys just told me how to shoot, but not how to aim or get low or anything). For the second game, I did a little better, but one of the creators was on the other team, so my team did not have much of a chance.

If you have ever wanted to play a fun game with just two buttons, this is the game for you!

This. Game. Is. So. Fun. When it comes out, I am going to make everyone with the proper game system buy it so I can play! 

Here is me and my little brother using the faces from the Pacman Immersion Video.

Here we are on a warthog from Halo. Thank you to the lovely Guardian (volunteer for RTX) who helped me get in and out while wearing a skirt.

Here we are on the Rooster Teeth podcast set.

A lovely random fan gave me this. They tapped me on the shoulder and handed it to me, to which I responded in utter confusion, "Oh, I did not drop this." They told me to have it, and still confused, I accepted it and thanked them. But I still felt like I did not thank them properly because I was so awkward about it...

...Fortunately, I later found the lovely fan again! I thanked them again and asked if they would pose for a picture with me. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I got. But, thank you again fellow Achievement Hunter Let's Play Minecraft fan!

If you cannot tell, we had a lot of fun on our adventure! And, no, we did not only wait in line, that happened to just be the most convenient time to take pictures. I hope that you had a lovely week, and hopefully I will have a new How to Do Things tomorrow!

Rachel Cathleen 

RTX Adventures: Day 2

I finally finished my homework for this week and I am having a little break for dinner, so this seemed like the perfect time to share more pictures with you from RTX before I go back to studying for the GRE! (July 20th will be such a beautiful day because I will be at least temporarily done with stressing about this test.)

Here is across the street from where we parked on the second day. It was still a bit of a walk from the convention center, but parking was not too expensive and it was free on Sunday (Day 3).

I don't remember taking this picture, probably because I was so tired (between homework until 1 am, waking up at 5:30 am, homework until 12:00 am, waking up at 7 am, I was exhausted). We woke up early to make it in time to line up for a panel that we wanted to see. Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea and showed up an extra hour before we showed up an hour early.  

I told you in my last post that we took a lot of selfies... I did not lie.

The had surprisingly nice food at the convention center. Their ridiculously high prices was not that surprising. 

I believe we are watching Achievement Hunter play Prop Hunt (I highly recommend you watch their Prop Hunt Part 1 Video; however, they do use curse words).

Here is an example of one of the booth's at RTX. There were so many creative people who have done so many awesome things (you know, like making impressive LEGO sculptures).

My brother and I took a photo together for my mom. Christmas card worthy? I hope so.

This is now one of my favorite pictures ever. We did a "thinker pose" photo because it is my older brother's "signature pose" and he had to work so he could not come this year.

We went to see the bats come out in Austin.

Patience was the theme of this trip. That bats came out about a half hour later than normal. So we...took selfies... I believe there are more pictures of my face from this weekend than my entire life (Maybe not; my dad is a photographer so there are quite a few pictures of me from when I was younger).

See how bright that sky is? I just noticed it is not even blue in my pictures, it is like WHITE. Maybe that's why the bats did not come out until later? 

This is an elk statue. Why? Austin.

This is the Texas State Capital. It was not snowing in July. My windshield was just really dirty from the long drive.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Rachel Cathleen