Because I then had to ride the train back home after waiting for a half an hour for him to show, I was able to run into an old friend’s older sister who is only in town for the day.

Because I left class early I got to see a co-workers brand-new baby niece, complete with baby flip-flops and chubby arms.

Because today is Wednesday I got to spend the afternoon with my Mom and go to Goodwill and find a new outfit (that I LOVE) and have a milkshake and basically find the coolest thing $1.99 can buy you:

So put in persepective… today was an amazing day.

Only I’m not gonna. Y’all have your own life, and I have mine, and I’ve used the last four days very effectively, taking a pseudo internet-vaction. I spent some much-needed time in the real world, cleaning and organizing and taking things apart.

What exactly did I do?

Well, I bought a new mirror:

Criss-cross applesauce… Camera in your hands.

I waited 6 weeks for this mirror to go on clearance, and nabbed it for $10 + my 10% discount. Yeah, you’re totally jealous. I plan on painting it white, or red, or blue, depending on what takes my fancy when I go and buy paint.

The problem with these is that they reflect light DIRECTLY INTO YOUR EYES.

I also got these awesome mirrored nesting tables! On clearance, each for $10. I don’t have the largest one in the set yet, I’ll get it on Friday, as it wasn’t yet on sale. This is the first super-awesome deal I’ve scored at my store, and I am ridiculously proud of myself. Also, they look quite grand with my gold deer on them, no?

I cleaned out my closet… Because I discovered this:

Oh, sleeveless shirts!

This, my friends, was my favourite shirt in the 6th grade. Being a 22 year old of much better fashion sense (Rainbows are still awesome, but I don’t need everything I own to have rainbows on them anymore…) I decided it was time to bite the bullet and say goodbye to many, many articles of clothing that I haven’t worn for a number of years.

Goodbye~

I find getting rid of clothing you haven’t worn in a few months (…or a few years!) to be very cathartic. I’m pretty good at saying goodbye to clothes though. If I haven’t worn it since my last cleanup, it’s out, and no ifs, ands or buts. Giving clothing to goodwill makes me feel a little better about it too! Someone could totally rock this, since I’m not. Especially considering I’m trying to only thrift clothing through the end of summer, freeing up some space in my closet feels pretty nice.

No more…!

The problem with cleaning out your closet is you find all sorts of interesting things. And by ‘interesting’, I mean maddenly irritating since within pulling my first few shirts off of their hangers I had a giant wire mess on my floor. I was tempted to leave it there, along with a little card affixed to my carpet,
“2009 Wire Project:
“Completely Irritating”
by Brittney’s closet“,
but my Mother just doesn’t have the appreciation for art that I do, so I dutifully cleaned them up. Luckily these are going to be put to good use… back at the dry cleaner’s, where they came from!

This is my updated and cleaned-off bookcase. Here’s an earlier photograph (from an earlier room reorganizaiton/clean) I put my crappy television and PS2 away for now, since I’m at a point in life where video games don’t hold as much appeal as they used to… but maybe now that I’ll have friends in town for the summer I’ll bring it back out! I’m just glad to free up some space in my room for more important things.

Like purses.

Today I want to talk to you about something very specific.

And that is the subject of ugly fashion.

Now, don’t get your panties in a twist! Everyone has a very different sense of ugly fashion. Most of the time, I love ugly fashion. Then there are times I hate ugly fashion. Whenever my sister and I go shopping, we have an ever running “Ugly shirt contest” where we try to find the ugliest thing in the store. Brown beading, purple cheetah print, giant jewels in unfortunate places, you name it, we’ve found it. Most of the time we’ll find something and generally then have to try it on, just because it’s so ugly.

I found this gem while shopping with a few friends. It jumped out at me from the rack and I had to try it’s little fugly self on.

What it is: a sleeveless hoodie sweater-dress. That’s gray. And not even a good colour of gray, but an almost brown-gray. Here, see for yourself:

Okay, so the colour isn’t that bad, but remember that my skin is nearly translucent pale on the best of days.
Please tell me how this would be flattering on anyone? The little drawstring hints at a waist, but the poochy pocket right at the stomach (or, pooch, as we like to call it) kind of counteracts that, doesn’t it? Who designs this thinking it’ll be a hot thing that girls will love?

Not gonna lie, though, I was sold on the fur hood. I felt like an ICE PRINCESS! The friends I was shopping with just shuddered and told me to put The Thing away. Really now, what kind of friends are these?

So I’m not going to lie, that when I went to the local Goodwill with the ever-amazing Winona, I nearly peed my pants in excitement when I learned that we share a mutual love of ugly fashion.

During this trip, we found several awesome things, a few 80’s dresses, a rocking black sequined jacket for Nona, a military jacket for me, some shoes, a shirt that was clearly MADE for seducing old men with fancy mustaches, and some jackets.

Jackets that looked like couches.

Of COURSE we had to try them on. And see how well our camoflauge worked.

It’s like a Magic Eye! Wherreee am I?

The Elusive Daddy Likey

In conclusion: Fashion is awesome when it’s ugly and you have someone else to appreciate it with. It’s the best way to shop, in my opinion. What about you? Any awesome ugly finds lately? I’d love to start an “ugly fashion” blog/photo collection… Let’s do it!

How awesome are these shoes? Just take a gander at the heels:

Gorgeous, no? I find them to be both terribly ugly and terribly fabulous, which happen to be my top two requirements for any outrageous purchase!

Luckily for me, at this Goodwill had a huge selection of never-owned last-season’s Target brand shoes, and I got these nice Mossimos for a mere $8.99! I still can’t really wear them anywhere, but I’m working on it.

And I would also like to mention that I love these shoes so much they don’t go in my closet with my other shoes. These shoes sit proudly on a chair in the center of my bedroom! (A sad fact that hilariously drives my mother nuts, and proves that I should probably make real-life friends.)

ETA: This is also the first pair of heels I have ever owned that allows me the sensation of being taller than my 5′11″ older sister!

(psycho music plays)

I went back to Goodwill!

$40 later, and I’m completely satisfied with my purchase. (Along with a gold belt, a long plaid jacket, and a pair of intensely fugly skyscraper heels that I am going to marry!)

I’m thinking that it’ll be best (someday) on a low coffee table, filled with books in the middle of my future living room. What do you think of it’s potential?