Life via Instragram Update

Goodness, gracious. Sometimes life gets so busy that it is difficult to keep up with the blog to fill you in on everything. I am trying to keep everyone up to date through Instagram, which more or less happens. So here is an update on my last couple of weeks as July went into August!

Here is a recent "How to Do Things." If you have not read it yet, you can check it out here.

For the last week in July, I went home to house-sit for my parents while they went to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in San Francisco. It was my opportunity to do everything I wanted to do this summer (and volunteer at VBS with some really awesome kids), but never had time for with summer classes and my thesis.

This is my family's cat (also pictured above). He may seem cute, but he is a mean fat fur ball. If you ever were to meet him, he would be sweet as can be towards you, that way you lower your guard, and then he will attack. I wish I were joking.

Here is an outfit I wore the day I went to spend the weekend with my grandma, who has not been feeling up to her vivacious norm lately. The shirt is actually my older brother's. It was a gift to him from my dad many years ago. I ended up borrowing it because I was terrible at packing for this trip. In fact, I borrowed clothes from everyone in my family's closets. I brought all of my blouses home for my mom to approve for my internship at a hospital this fall. With all of those shirts, I figured I would have plenty of clothes to wear. Except, I did not consider how stupid hot it is in Texas. In July. Really, what was I thinking? Blouses and oppressive heat do not mix well.

My boyfriend's independent video game company put out a new android game the last week of July. If you have an android device, you can get the app for free here (or, if ads are the bane of your existence, you can buy it for $.99).

I finished my class about addictions and how they affect families the last week in July. Here is a picture of my textbooks the evening before my final.

You might recognize this picture from this recent outfit post.

This is one of my new favorite outfits. It is just so cute and I feel like a girly princess while wearing it.

The shirt is from Target and my skirt is from Forever 21 that I bought years ago (you have seen it here, here, and all the way back in February here).

The pearl floral headband from Asos (Unfortunately, it another purchase from years ago; however, this one is similar, and I saw this headband and loved it immediately. Even if the latter is nothing like mine, I still wanted to share. I swear I am focused most of the time, but then I start working on the blog post as a break from class and my brain runs 90 miles an hour in 100 different directions any time I see something pretty. And now we have been in this mid-sentence parenthetical aside for so long, we probably have both forgotten where this sentence was going... C'est la vie.) is becoming a staple for me, because when I wear it I feel like Daisy from "The Great Gatsby" and like I am about to go to a wild party in the 1920s (or, you know, my Medieval French class).

My loafers are new for my internship from Marshall's (or Ross? There are two very close together in my home town, so I cannot recall which one my mom and I went to) and I wanted to break them in. I cannot imagine how awful it would be to get blisters my first day on the job. I loved my last pair of loafers to death (I will be honest, they appeared so many times on this blog, I am too lazy to look for all of the times they appeared). And though I cannot find my new pair exactly online, these loafers are silver.

So here are some antique fans that I bought recently from Whiskey & Honey (who just announced a giveaway a few hours ago). The picture of my family's cat under the table won me free shipping for them (just one of the many reasons Instagram is so great). I love these fans already and am thinking about framing them to hang on my bedroom wall to showcase them. If you have any other suggestions, I would love to read them!

Again, that Asos headband appears. The "POW!" tank top is from River Island last year, I purchased it while studying abroad (if you are in to crop tops, this one is similar in its comic book style. And here is a website that is apparently dedicated to printing shirts like this). The tank top underneath is from Old Navy (which, while super easy to find in the store because I bought it on tax-free weekend when the tank tops were on sale, it was surprisingly difficult to find online. Why? Because the website calls them tamis... it is almost like the person who named it that was not sure if it was a tank top or camisole so they named it after both). The shorts are from Goodwill (they are the same pair that you saw earlier this week right here). The flats are thrifted from Goodwill as well (here is the cheapest similar pair that I could find online).

And, last but not least, here is a picture from this week's outfit post. If you want to find out more about this outfit, I respectfully turn you to the link rather than typing it all out here.

I had a busy week, yet all in all a successful one. Between getting more participants scheduled for my thesis, becoming CPR certified, and only missing one point on my midterm, I have barely had the chance to catch my breath, but I would not have it any other way. How was your week?

Rachel Cathleen

How to Do Things: Wrap a DVF Wrap Dress

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of "How to Do Things"!

Recently, I was thrift shopping and I was about to give up hope on finding anything truly special. Suddenly, I saw what appeared to be a vintage wrap dress. I pulled it out of the racks and checked the label... it was a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress! For only $25! In my size! I could not believe my eyes! (I hope the exclamation points are giving you a hint of how excited I was and still am about this.) I never imagined that I would find a designer dress that I could afford, so I quickly bought it and brought it home. Unfortunately, there was one problem... I had no idea how to wrap it properly, especially once I saw a slit on the side that was clearly meant to be there (it was sewn in, not a rip). A quick search on Google brought me to this website. I found the tutorial to be helpful, but I wished that it had pictures, so I decided to take some of my own for you!

1. Put your arms through the armholes. (This is probably fairly obvious...) 

2. Find the slit that I mentioned earlier. (Here I am pointing to mine.)

3. Take the tie/sash thing on the opposite of the slit and...

4. ...put it behind your back (but still inside the dress). (Also, I am sorry about my clothes that I wore under the dress to show you how to wrap the dress. I did not even know this tank top had a hole until looking at the pictures later.)

5. Now, take that sash from inside the dress through the slit so it is now outside of the dress. You want to pull it tight enough that the dress is beginning to cling to your body, but not too tight.

6. This is a good time to grab the other tie/sash thing (the one that you did not bring through the slit).

7. Wrap that tie that you just grabbed around your body (outside of the dress; because it is a wrap dress). Both of your ties will be pointing the same direction because both of the ties wrapped in the same direction (mine both went to my left).

 

8. Now, you are going to cross both of the ties so they are facing different directions so one can go around the front and the other will wrap around your back. This is what it looks like in the back...

9. ...And this is what it looks like in the front.

10. You are now going to bring both of your ties to the side opposite of the slit. As previously mentioned one tie goes around your front and one goes around your back. Now you can tie the ties/sashes!

11. This final step is optional: If you notice, quite a bit of my tank top is still showing, because the dress is cut to be sexy/revealing. So, after I removed my clothing under the dress, I safety pinned the top so I could feel a little more comfortable and confident.

TA-DA!

If you have any questions or need any clarifications, please let me know! Also, if you have any awesome thrift finds, I would love it if you shared with me via Instagram!

I hope that you have a great weekend,

Rachel Cathleen

Floral Tank and Green Velveteen Shirt

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Today, I started my Old French class to finish off my Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor. I decided posting on the blog was a good way to take a quick break from studying some vocabulary. 

You might have noticed that this post has more pictures than normal, I decided you all deserve it since last week's post had so few photos. To get nearly 10 reasonable pictures, I had to take like 40... but, I like to believe that I am getting better at modeling, nonetheless. It would probably help if I had someone else to take the photos rather than me resetting the camera between every shot. But, what can you do? 

Have a fantastic week!

Rachel Cathleen

I am wearing: Green Button Up: Goodwill (You may recognize it from this post, this one, and this one; similar here and here); Tank Top: Top Shop (old- I thrifted it while studying abroad last year; this, this, this, and this are fairly similar); Shorts: Goodwill (You saw them last week and I recommended this pair and this pair as similar); Shoes: DSW (Are you tired of these, yet? You can buy this exact pair still).