Patched/Color Contrast Denim Jeans (and my new favorite pair of jeans)

A few months ago, a woman came into my work work wearing these jeans: 

and fell hard for them. (yes, it’s sad, I know). Not since my high school days when I was still able to talk my dad into buying me “cool kid” Diesel jeans (complete with a ridiculous price tag) have I wanted a pair of jeans so badly. Sadly, the jeans, made by Gap were sold out online and in all the stores in my area. Even Ebay didn’t have them.

Disheartened, but not willing to give up,  I thought, “No problem, I will make me those jeans! How hard can it be?” (and because it always turns out well when I ask myself that!)  I am nothing, if not, naive, idealistic and stubborn. But, as it turns out, it was pretty hard.   After several hours consisting of trips to Goodwill and Michaels, cutting, sowing and ironing on the patches, my masterpiece was complete (and looking nothing like the above picture)….

I  couldn’t even get the jeans on past my knees. Yeah…they were waaaay to small. As usual, I got caught up in my excitement and  didn’t think to TRY THE JEANS ON to make sure they fit beforehand. Needless to say, after that, I gave up on the idea for a while. Figuring it just wasn’t meant to be.

Until the other day while scrolling through Nordstrom online, when I came across these:

Paige Denim ‘Cara’ Paneled Ultra Skinny Jeans ( $135.00.) Although, sold out now on Nordstroms.com, they are available for sale at Anthropolgie.com as well as Saks 5th Ave

BUT, as much as I love buying clothes, I haven’t spent more than $40.00 – $50.00, on any one clothing item for myself in over 10 years and the $135.00 was way out of my price range. I just can’t afford to do it. But, I had some money saved up and in a moment of haste and overcome with “denim lust” (I think the most accurate word for how I felt towards these jeans is “coveted”), I closed my eyes and bought them. I felt sick to my stomach for days after buying them, and ]When they came in the mail, I didn’t open the package for a few days because I was embarrassed of my overspending.

When I finally did try them on, I was absolutely hooked. I fell in love with them. I think I had forgotten what it was like to have a high quality pair of jeans that fit well and feel good. I am not as in shape as I used to be, and my self-confidence is usually always lacking. But the fit, the look, the feel, everything about these jeans felt worth every penny. The cheap jeans I usually always buy, they do the job, but they stretch out easily, or sag in weird parts, or tear, or break quickly. Even the ones that last always look a little “off.” Not these jeans. They fit so well,in all the right places and were so comfortable that I was walking around feeling like a million bucks.

I love everything about these jeans- in the end, the contrasting colors of the jeans that I fell in love with in the first place, were just an added plus.

It’s been years since I have bought myself a clothing item of this price (besides boots or a bag). I was officially out of the game when it came to name brand denim and I had never heard of Paige Denim before but I am definitely sold on this brand and these jeans. And I know this sounds like one big advertisement, but I don’t get a penny to promote any brand on my blog. So, If you have the money to spare, I highly suggest buying yourself a pair of quality jeans- because they will last you for forever, will go with everything, feel great, and look damn good!

I have put together a board of some of my favorite patched/color blocked jeans this season:

Top left: Gap 1969 Patch & Repair Boyfriend Jeans ($84.95), top middle: Current/Elliot Patchwork Fling Jeans ($238.00), top right: Morgan Slim Fit Contrasting Knee Patch Jeans from House of Fraser ($90.00). Bottom left: Paige Denim Skinny “Olga” ankle Colorblock Jeans ($199.00), bottom middle: Joes’ Two-Toned Jeans ($199.00) and bottom right: Urban Renewal Two-Toned Jeans ($59.00)

 

Notes on a (blue hair) Scandal.

See what I did there…With the title? Yeah, I need to get out more. Before I start in to my epic blue hair adventures, I just want to thank all of my friends, family and anyone else out there who read my last blog post: “Blessed are The Cracked…” I struggled with posting it for a long time, as it went deeper than I usually go.

But when I posted a link to the article on my Facebook page (in an outright act of shameless self-promotion, and deleted it twice before I left it there) I was so blown away by everyones kind words and encouragement. I was walking around glowing for the entire day and it was such a boost in confidence that Im surprised I didn’t sprout peacock feathers out my bum! So thanks again.

Anyways, onto my latest mishap.

so this happened…

blue hair, don’t care (but kind of do!)

I have been toying with the idea of dying my hair some crazy color for awhile now…and as a lot of my more hair-brained (pun intended) ideas begin, I was up reeeaaally late on pinterest where I created a board just for my crazy hair color inspirations and pinning away.

Now, I will be the first to tell  you, that I get quickly excited about ideas and don’t always think my them through. I just get caught up in the moment and fail to think clearly.

I convinced myself that I was mentally prepared to dye my hair because I went so far as to create a profile on Taaz.com (a website where you can try out different hair styles and make up using pictures of yourself). My idea of “thinking this through” was to  upload a picture and try out some different hair styles. I promptly found and tried the only blue hair color style available, (on the gorgeous katy Perry). This is the picture they had:

Katy Perry’s blue hair

Gorgeous right? Yeah. Aaaaaaand well, here is how mine turned out….just in case you haven’t laughed today…

hahahahaha

Me and Katy are practically twins! But really, the website was actually really great and these “virtual makeover” websites have come a long way in the years since they first came out and I did it in high school, a good 15 years ago (and I am glad those photos can never be unearthed). Taaz.com, allowed you to contour the hair style to fit better onto your head (as my head is huge and round like a basketball). but I wasn’t done yet! so my next step was to download a free iPhone app called Make With Beauty that allowed me to take a picture of myself and change the color of my hair already. I couldn’t figure out how manipulate the hair color effectively in the app and my hair always ended up looking like it would glow in the dark. but the idea was to see what  I would look like with a lighter shade of blue:

Looks like I dipped my head in some radioactive goo…A little to neon/glow in the dark for me- but still closer to what I wanted.

so by now I was getting pretty pumped up about the idea…Maybe a little too excited because following morning, I woke up and went straight to Ulta, where I hastily picked up a bottle of Jerome Russell’s Punky Colour in turquoise for only $9.99.

And here is when things get sketchy…

in my haste/over-excitement… I didn’t read the directions or the label completely and carefully and what I thought was NON permanent was actually SEMI- Permanent (the back says 5-40 washes).Which is a problem because I needed my hair to be back to a natural blonde hair color by the following week for work.

The directions said to leave it in your hair for 20-40 minutes and since I wanted a lighter color of blue (that would wash out quickly) I left it in for only 15 minutes. Little did I know that my hair was the PERFECT type (damaged, bleached, blonde, dry) to absorb and hang on to allll of the turquoise color.

After I washed out the hair dye, I took a look in the mirror and spent the next few hours washing my hair over and over in a blue blur of anxiety attacks and hyper-ventilating. I called out for help from friends on Facebook and Instagram, and read several articles for home hair color lifter remedies (I wasn’t close t0 being able to leave the house). With friends help and a great article on Wikihow (which I highly suggest looking at if you find yourself in the same position as I did) I tried all sorts of home remedies: soaking my hair in crushed vitamin C tablets, adding dish soap to my shampoo, adding laundry detergent to my shampoo, , adding baking soda to dandruff shampoo and again washing. These helped to lighten the color somewhat  but left me with a new and even scarier problem: severe hair breakage!

It was during my cry for help from my friends on social media that my old college roommate introduced me to the amazing Alison and her blog The Alison Show. She had also dyed her hair a similar color, although she went the preferable route: to a hair stylist. She was so kind and reached out to me and said that she too freaked out when she first saw her hair in the mirror but that it washed out so quickly that she wished it had stayed longer.

After 48 hours of locking myself in my house and washing my hair over 10 times, I had resigned myself to my immediate future as a blue-headed smurf.

Within a few days I ended up really liking my mermaid hair and wishing I could keep it longer,

So here are some of my tips for if you want to dye your hair blue, green, pink or any other fabulous combination:

1) always READ THE LABEL carefully!

2) Before doing a semi-permanant or permanent color try something that will wash out in 2 to 3 washes such as:

Garnier Color Styler: Intense Wash Out Color (only $6.99)

Garnier Color Style Temporary Blue Hair Dye

or a chalk such as:

Temporary Hair Color Chalk

3) Try out different styles using a smart phone app or Taaz.com

4) Be emotionally prepared!

5) Consider the damage level that any hair dye does to your hair

 

have fun and dye away. If you have any pictures or stories about your wild hair dye adventures, feel free to email me at ourwildpreciouslives@gmail.com with pictures and your story and I will share it!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! Be safe and have fun!

Strappy Heels and Jeans

 

Sorry for the overload of personal style blog posts lately, but I am having so much fun!

With Autumn fast approaching, my mind has started to switch gears and I’ve started getting excited already about fall/winter styles. I think Autumn is my favorite “Style” season. I love layering scarfs, tights, boots, jackets..I feel like there is so much you can do and not have to worry about sweaty armpit stains like in the summertime.  I have loved the idea of pointy toe heels with jeans since I found a picture on Pinterest of someone in boyfriend style jeans and bright  blue suede ankle pumps from JCrew.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t justify spending the money on the “Real deal” heels from JCrew but I found some similar to what I wanted on Ebay. I paired them with light grey washed jeans from forever 21 and I’ve been looking for excuses to wear the combo ever since!

Besides the brightly colored suede pumps with jeans, I also love the look of ankle strap pointed toe heels with jeans…like these (some of my favorites I compiled):

ankle strap, d’orsay heels

Top left: Siren Heels from Anthropologie.com, $143.20, top right: Kristin Cavallari Chinese Laundry Caye pumps available at Nordstroms.com, $149.90, middle: Xenia pointy toe heels also available at Nordstroms.com, $79.95, bottom left: Joe’s Laney Pumps available at Revolve Clothing, $145.00, and bottom right: Jeffrey Campbell Solitaire Heel, available exclusively from Free People, $148.00.

As usual, all my favorites are above my budget, but I did find some similar that I love from DV by Dolce Vita, for $89.95. They are a little higher than I am used to, but well worth the struggle and pain!

 

I paired them with Super Stretch Legging Jeans from Gap.com and a white cutout floral 3/4 length top I got from Sheinside.com.

I also tried the heels with bright orange capri skinny leg trousers from J.Crew and my favorite new slouchy, extra large, comfy sweater from Target

 

 

Thanks again for stopping by, if you have any questions, comments, ideas, suggestions, ect…feel free to Email me at: forourcity@gmail.com

 

I hope everyone enjoys their final, beautiful days of summer.

art journals.

tried my hand at some abstract journaling.

Ever since I had the ability to write (non-sensical scribbles of a four year old count) I have kept a “diary.” I don’t know where the compulsion to keep a list of the daily mundane activities as a child: “Today I had rice crispies for breakfast…” The older i got, the more they developed into a living memory box of my life at that moment in time; and perhaps it started as my first paltry attempt at creating a sense of order from my distracted thoughts and messy brain. I have over 30 completed journals, which is roughly one per year.  The style and format of my journals adapts to the seasons of my life. During college and Graduate school, my journal functioned as my day planner and the keeper of my sanity. During periods in my life where I have been happy, I notice that I do more art and very little journaling. During tough times however, my journals are filled with sad song lyrics, to-do lists and life questions.

Do you like to look back at your journals? If so, do you do it often? Is creating a written record of your life to reflect back on a reason for your journaling? I am very interested to know. I can honestly say that, that is not the case with me, as writing for reflection at a later period of time would require to much forethought and planning for me. My journal has become one of my few necessities which I carry with me at all times in my bag. It is given the impossible responsibility of keeping me sane (emotionally balanced and organized enough to survive) ..so when I complete one journal, I see it as a memento of the craziness which is my life- maybe one day, when I am normal, I will want to look back at my journals to feel sorry for my crazy self.

Here are a few of my own art journal pages:

my art journal page

my colorful cacti

one of my favorite quotes

Frida and Virginia from my journal.

Anyways, I love nothing more than seeing pages from other peoples’ journals. I feel like I am getting a naked glimpse at their soul. I am always so amazed and inspired by the creative, beautiful things that people put down onto pages. One of my favorite artists,  Geninne Zlatkis, has the most beautiful and awe inspiring journal pages. I love all of her work and I also LOVE how she adapts her art journal entries into a day planner. Genius!!

Geninne’s Journal Page

from her flickr account (October Days) 

more of Geninne’s beauty

Here is the link to her flickr account for you to check her out more!: https://www.flickr.com/photos/geninne/sets/72157594514015991/

Another one of my favorites is Guilherme Dietrich. I fell in love with the bright, bold colors and vivid pieces. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after I saw these. Unfortunately, his flickr account is no longer active and the website I found him on, isn’t either. But here are some of his beautiful pages to feast your eyes at (pangs me to know I will never create something this beautiful)

What inspires you? Why do you journal? I would love to see!

presto, pesto!

Yes! My first ever recipe! Yay for me! If you know me,  you probably know that I am not the greatest cook. It isn’t that I don’t like cooking, I just get overwhelmed at the organization process that comes along with cooking and the clean up afterwards. Also, it gets expensive buying ingredients when you are only cooking for one…but someone once told me the only way to get better is to keep trying (and clean as you go). I was inspired by the picture on the cover of a recent Bon Appetit magazine of a delicious and fresh looking pesto pasta:

oOoOoooooh…my mouth was watering just glancing at the cover. I figured pesto pasta could be a good one for me to try because pasta reheats well, I’m a pasta girl and it’s relatively healthy (hence the green color!). What I really liked was that Bon Appetit’s pesto recipe used cilantro (which I LOVE) instead of basil or spinach (which is a little on the bland side for my taste buds) and almonds instead of pine nuts. So, needless to say, I was sold. I ended up tweaking the recipe quite a bit and served it to a group of 15 friends who loved it. One of my pesto pasta tasters, Shana Draugelis, who runs the AMAZING and inspiring blog Ain’t No Mom Jeans, suggested I put the recipe on my blog as a place to share it with friends. So here it is…if you try it let me know what you think, if you changed it or tweaked it or send me pics @ sunlightistheirfashionblog@hotmail.com!

Serves 6 

Ingredients: 

-1 lb spaghetti or linguini noodles

-1 lb chicken (chopped into cubes)

-2 cups chopped fresh cilantro

-2 cups chopped fresh flat leaved parsley leaves

-3/4 cup chopped fresh chives

– 3/4 cup unsalted, roasted almonds

– 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

-1/2 cup finely grated parmesan 

– 1 lemon

– kosher salt

– freshly ground pepper 

– 2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (if you like a bit of extra spice!) 

– 4 or 5 large garlic cloves (or less if you don’t care for as much garlic) 

– optional and for the daring…sriracha hot sauce goes amazingly on top of the finished product. 

Directions: (This is the way I have gone about doing it that works best for me and is the fastest)

1. Heat a large pot of water until boiling and in a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 or 2 chopped garlic cloves on med to high heat. 

2. Once the skillet is heated, add the chopped chicken cubes. While the chicken is cooking, squeeze 1/2 of the lemon over the chicken and add salt and pepper. (I also added 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper). 

3.  The water should be boiling by now, so add the pasta and boil on med heat for appx. 6-8 minutes. Once cooked, drain the pasta and set to the side. 

4. In a food processor or blender (food processor works much better at blending!) add the cilantro, parsley, chives, almonds, olive oil, 3-4 garlic cloves, the juice from the other half of the lemon and salt and pepper and blend until the pesto consistency somewhat smooth and paste-like. 

5. In a large bowl serving bowl mix the cooked pasta, the chicken and the pesto together. Top with fresh parmesan cheese and a little sriracha for a kick! 

You will most likely have left over pesto sauce which freezes well and goes great on top of toast,with sliced avacado and fried egg (another idea I stole from Shana!) or throw some on a chicken or turkey sandwich. 

Pesto for days and days! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think if you tried it and any suggestions for improvement! Hope everyone is having a splendid summer!