Halloween Cat: our newest fluffy edition to the family

Ember

A little over a month ago (Thursday August 7th, to be precise), we found a fluffy ball of fur hiding under my car along with her twin sister and Yellow Cat. We had just got home from target with random groceries, including Snickerdoodle mix, and were stepping outside for more bags when we noticed the cats.  Yellow cat and the twin immediately ran out from under the car, but Emmy stayed behind.  The other cats peeked their heads around the fence one last time as if to encourage her to follow them, but she seemed glued to the tired she was hiding behind.  We went back into the house for a ribbon and some kitten food, which allowed us to coax her from her hiding spot.  She loooooooves ribbons.  I nicknamed her Snickerdoodle for the time being.

After playing with her for most of the evening, we left some food and water for her and then went back inside.  But my heart was tugging.  I hated leaving the poor baby out there.  I posted on facebook to see if any of my friends would like to adopt her and I got a bite.  That was all the excuse I needed to bring her in the house.  I woke up the boyfriend and told him to fill up the extra litter box while I lured her with some food and ribbons.  She was inside in two seconds, and that was pretty much it.  My friend called me the next day and said her husband wouldn't let her have the kitten (allergies), so I pretty much considered Ember to be ours.  We kept her in the mudroom until she got a clean bill of health from the vet, but we did open the door for hours at a time to let the cats get used to each other.  They took to each other quickly.  It was less than a week and our new concern was keeping them away from each other until Emmy was tested.

Now we have two happy cats.  Estel loves having a friend to play with, and they're teaching each other things.  Emmy taught Estel how to make toys slide across the kitchen floor.  And Estel taught Emmy to fear plastic bags... OK, so you can't win 'em all.

Emmy loves to play so much that she exhausts both me and Estel.  She won't sit on my lap yet, but she'll happily lay on the floor and let me pet her until my hand is about to fall off.  Near as we can figure, she's about a year old now.  She grew a little after we first found her so I'd place her as a Virgo or Libra.  My mom thinks she looks like a little owl. :3

OotD: Bleach

Just a pic spam post today.  Not much really happened.  Ran a few errands, went to dinner with the parents, and got coffee with friends.  Le boyfriend did buy two pairs of replacement sunglasses today.  Hopefully these last longer than his last pair!

 If you have some time, give me some love on my Lookbook.  ;)

OotD: Roadside Apothecary

I <3 my new messenger bag

I've been pretty excited about this outfit.  I bought it when the weather was still cold and have been dying for a warm enough day to break it out.  ('Warm enough' meaning that I could pair it with my brown platform sandals and bare legs.)  Unfortunately, the weather remains oppressively cold... so I improvised!  I took advantage of the high 40s yesterday and comprised by wearing my Black Milk warm grey leggings and my favorite army green jacket from dELiA*s.  Damn did it feel good to wear something besides a bulky sweater!

Part of the inspiration for this outfit is that I've been messing around with jewelry-making again thanks to a cosplay project I'm undertaking with my friends.  One of my first test pieces was this delightful ring:

I've decided that whatever materials I have leftover from our Sailor Scout costumes will go towards making cosplay and other jewelry for my poor, neglected Etsy shop.  I recommend you bookmark Roadside Apothecary because I should have some pieces up there pretty soon, along with perhaps some occult related things. 

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day, which seems kind of novel after such a brutal, depressing winter.  Le boyfriend and I went to Olive Garden as we had a gift card and I have been having a major craving for tiramisu.  I don't think I've eaten that fast in a while.  I pretty much devoured my meal.  It was glorious.

le boyfriend looking pensive and handsome

Afterward, we went to the craft store for some more supplies, but for some goddamn reason they closed at 4pm that day only.  What the hell?  March 15th is not a real holiday, people.  Ugh.  Well, it looks like I'll be making another trip out this week.

Pic spam below:

These shorts were unintentionally the best purchase I made this month.  I didn't even bother trying them on in the store... I just grabbed my size and threw them on the checkout counter with my fingers crossed.  But... it turns out they have a reversible pattern!!!  One side is paint splotches with a skulls and roses waistband, and the other is skulls and roses with a denim waistband!   I loooooooooove them!

meow :3

Coffee and Music

I'm awake.  Goddamnit.  I got maybe 5 hours of sleep last night and I don't know why.  Or maybe I should blame le boyfriend for not being all cuddly and warm in the bed since he lacks to blame my absence when he wakes up early.  Meh.

Fastforward a couple hours later after the internet distracts me...

Still feeling tired and half awake.  I've been avoiding coffee so far because I'm not too keen on it when I'm sick.  Although I did kind of binge on it last night at Waffle House.  But who can resist WaHo coffee?

It was nice having the gang together again, even if I did feel crummy and couldn't breathe.  There was a lot to catch up on in each others' lives.  A lot of crazy stuff that I unfortunately can't speak about here, but there were good things too.  And of course, enjoying everyone's company was the best part.

perf

Megan is awesome because she let me vent to her even though she needed to vent too.  Mutual venting is a good thing.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

And a bajillion hours later...

I feel like I'm lifting the veil on the writing process today.  Rarely do I post something around the time I actually began writing it.  I get distracted, lose interest, get hungry, or get writer's block.  But I am quite determined to finish this post in the day I started it at the very least.  The beginning would seem disingenuous if I didn't.

I definitely wanted to talk about some music today.  I'm really excited about 3 bands right now.  So for those of you that like darker music, whether shoegazey or industrial or dancey, this is for you!

Alex's (of Thou Shalt Not) newest endeavor, Seeming, is coming out with an album in less than 2 weeks!  As usual, Alex pairs epic vocals with dramatic yet infinitely danceable music while utilizing elements of industrial or classical sound to complement the ambiance on various tracks, all while maintaining thoughtful, intelligent lyrics.  It's beautiful in its variety and timelessness.



You should pre-order this album right now!!!  [link]

I already have my copy on order of course.  ;)  And speaking of new music, I just downloaded everything I could by Black City Lights.  Their song "Offering" was recently featured on Welcome to Nightvale's weather segment.  Normally, I could give or take most of the music they feature.  It's pleasant, but not really my normal taste.  But this just came out of left field and smacked me like a freight train.

Gorgeous shoegazey dark wave with touches of electronica, witch house, and dream pop.  I want to melt into the melancholy.  It's beautiful and perfect and immersive.



Listening to Black City Lights got le boyfriend thinking about another band we had discovered earlier this winter - Winter Severity Index.

A little less shoegazy and a bit more postpunk/gothy influence, Winter Severity Index hails from Italy which makes me love them all the more.  They've captured the sound of the late 80s/early 90s without feeling anachronistic.  They're more of a natural progression from the darkwave/postpunk bands of that era... well, at least the way I would have had things progress if I was in charge of the state of music during the 90s.  They only have an EP on their bandcamp right now but it is AMAZING.  I can't wait for more!






Bonus:  I friggin' love this song

Wicked Road Trip

My mother did something amazing and wonderful and fantastic for us.  She bought us tickets to Wicked!!!

We went up to Cleveland with her and her bestie.  Now, I've seen my share of Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, but this was Tyler's first big production and it did not disappoint!  We loved every minute of it.  The script, the costumes, the singing - all phenomenal!

Winter is brrr

It's so rare that I'm a passenger

He thought he could escape my camera.  Foolish mortal

Now that I've seen the play, I really want to read the books.  I loved the world they built.  It's actually more interesting to me than the real Wizard of Oz.  Of course, I've also been extra hyped up to see this after reading Namesake, which takes its own twist of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.  I highly recommend it.

OotD: Carry Me, Ohio

Carry Me, Ohio

I think this is a really good outfit to start with since it represents something significant in my life.  This was taken outside of my boyfriend's old apartments, before he moved 6 hours away just to be with me.  I loved going down to visit and exploring the city.  There was also something special about having such limited time together.  It made us have to really focus on each other, even more so than other new couples.  But I wouldn't trade it for where we're at now.  Nothing beats having him here with me every day and being able to share experiences with him rather than just telling him about them over the phone.  To me, this picture represents our journey from two silly kids on the computer to something deeper.  A reminder to cherish the past, but also 'look at how far we've come.'

In this picture I'm wearing a cowl neck sweater from Forever 21 with ripped leggings and a fake leather jacket (also Forever 21) to give it an edge and make it more "me."  The grey boots are from JCPenney's and are probably my most complimented footwear next to my spikey boots.  Sadly, wearing them to work is really taking a toll on them.  I'm not sure how much longer they'll last.  The earrings, though a bit hard to see, are little clear hearts with strips of colorful foil paper inside.  They make me think of art class.

October in pictures

Halloween this year was both super fun and kind of disappointing.  I feel like we just didn't get to do as much as last year... and the boyfriend's new work schedule made it impossible to take him to any Saturday night events, which left me pretty bummed.  Oh, and did I mention getting sick just in time for the holiday?  Yeah, there was that too.

birthday girl

What little we did do was really fun though.  And I think my last minute costume turned out pretty spectacular (thanks to the super awesome birthday present from le boyfriend).

http://lookbook.nu/ritualcoffee

Neovictorian Vampire Hunter and King Mob

kill all the vampires!

We also attended the wedding of one of my best friends from high school.  It's about damn time!  (I'm really happy for her! :3)

le boyfriend and I

3V forever. (that's the bride in the middle)

Probably one of my favorite events of the month was our trip to Conneaut's Ghost Lake, which is a series of haunted houses set up in the old theme park.  Last year had been really disappointing because the hotel (supposedly legit haunted) and the lake shore were all blocked off.  I think there had been a fire or something.  This year everything was back up and running (aside from one attraction) so it was once again spectacular.  I'm pretty sure our group was more obnoxious fun than any of the plethora of teenagers huddled in line with us.  And that was even before we stopped at the hotel bar halfway through.  Look, it was frickin' cold out!  And the bar was very warm...

It was seriously cold though.  Probably the coldest night so far this autumn.  I kept molesting le boyfriend for warmth.  Dave ended up buying a $5 women's winter set for himself and we kept trying to stick the hat on things because it was so ridiculous looking.  Jason had specifically worn one of his devilish Black Craft Cult shirts and insisted on exposing it whenever there was black light... while simultaneously dancing.  And then we saw the most epic collection of posters at the dart game in the midway.  It is best described by this song:

The guy at the booth was really cool though.  I took home the wolf poster.

Black and Teal

Behold!  Our new coffee pot!

Le boyfriend and I were out shopping the other day because we had a coupon.  And it's a peccad* to let it go to waste so we totally needed to spend it on something.  After he failed to find a new shirt, and then the shoes he liked weren't in his size, I was about ready to give up.  Then he saw the coffeemakers across the aisle.

We've been talking on and off about getting a full sized one because our little 6 cup machine just isn't cutting it when we have friends over.  I keep putting it off because all the machines these days are crazy complicated compared to the $10 one I had in college and I keep forgetting to research Amazon reviews.  But when I saw that they had a coffeemaker in the exact shade of teal that I'm using as an accent color in the kitchen, I was pretty much sold.  Even more so when I saw between the coupon and the sale that we'd be getting it for half off.  So even without a single review for this model, we went ahead and purchased it.

For the most part, it was an excellent purchase.  It's not as complicated as I feared, it's frikkin adorable, and it makes a good cup of coffee.  However, there is one glaring negative.  OK, so you know how a lot of coffeemakers lose a bit of water to evaporation or whatnot so you always have to go a little above the fill line in order to get the full 12 cups?  Well this one is no different except... it has the fucking vent holes in the back of the water reservoir just above the 12 cup mark.  So you can't overfill it!!!  It's super damned annoying.  And I totally ended up with water pouring off my kitchen counter... which is how I discovered this in the first place.  *sigh*  Oh well, at least it looks cute.

* Phonetically spelling Italian dialects is ridiculously tough.  FYI, the proper Italian is "peccato".

Gregor Samsa

[on the topic of bugs in the apartment]

Le boyfriend: You're going to wake up tomorrow morning...

Me: No.  Stop it!  I have nightmares about this kind of shit.

Le boyfriend: ... and you're going to wake up next to a giant bug.

Me: Kafka, you are not.

Le boyfriend: What?

Me: Kafka?  The Metamorphosis?

Le boyfriend: Never heard of it.

Me: Did your school teach you nothing?!

Le boyfriend: No!  We've gone over this.  My school taught me nothing.

Le boyfriend: It was just a place to babysit your kids while the parents did drugs.