then and now {frocktober, day 26}

Cat Dress: LOFT (old)
Remixed here, here, and here

Gosh, I love this cat dress. It's definitely one of my go-to dresses for work. I've worn it a lot, though I've only featured it on the blog a few times. It's incredibly comfortable and can be worn as-is. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is. I have to confess, I have far too many dresses that don't function that easily. Strapless, spaghetti-strap, open-backed. Those are fun to remix and layer, but I only have a few fantastic dresses that need no tampering with - they're perfect and outfit ready on their own. This is one of them.

I posted a great before/after photo on my Instagram of me wearing this dress earlier in my pregnancy (18 weeks) and then wearing it again yesterday, at 30 (almost 31) weeks. I think I'll retire this dress now until post-pregnancy. Those cats are looking pretty stretched. ;)

Instagram: 18 weeks // 30 weeks

going broke for cat mugs

I actually cannot even try to refer to myself as "frugal" with a straight face. I am not frugal. I never have been. It has been both my burden and my pleasure to spend all of my money when and if I ever get any. Dave Ramsey would judge me. He probably knows, somehow, within his magical stern eyebrows that Caitlin Schanaker is not good at this stuff.

When it comes to spending, I think I may be straight-up delusional. I have this very naive, happy-go-lucky perspective that money will always find a way. Because as we all know, where there's a will, there's a way, and my will for shopping is fierce. It's not practical shopping, either. It's frivolous and spontaneous. It's the best kind. Because everything is a special occasion and there are always reasons to go all out. Life is all about those excuses. Weekend getaways and ordering way too much food but still getting dessert and buying the extravagantly expensive and useless trinkets at Anthropologie. I have fallen into the trap that I think many young adults fall into: trying to live the way your parents live, despite the fact that it took decades for them to get there. It's why we're all drowning in debt. It's incredibly sad, and also really fun until you have to start paying your loans back. Right out of the gate, I try to usher myself into adulthood by paying extra for guacamole and splurging at World Market and shopping online and impulse-buying rain boots when I live in Arizona and no one can afford this nonsense.

My husband and I joke often that when we don't think twice about paying the extra for guacamole, we'll know we have arrived.

All of this is being written because I have hit a wall today. It's a wall made of cat mugs. A friend sent me a link to the most beautiful cat mugs I have ever seen, and even though we have a house that is taking all of our time and money and a baby coming out of me this year, I want the mugs. All of them. I want to pay the $60 (plus shipping) for a set of cat mugs.

This is my Friday confession. I sat there staring at these beautiful mugs, cursing Anthropologie, trying to justify a way to buy them. I could just buy one; they're $14 each. I could search online for a coupon. But then I would be missing out on the other colors, and look how nicely they look all together? How lovely would they look, purring on my coffee bar? I could bully people into buying me a housewarming gift, a baby gift (babies like mugs, right?), a super early birthday gift...I could set up a gofundme! That's what that site is for now, right? Providing a way for friends and strangers to buy you silly things you can't afford? America.

Closing out of that shopping window was hard. Not in a real-life way, but in a wow, I think I'm going insane kind of way. Obviously this post is silly and this "problem" isn't a problem at all, but the fact remains that I feel stressed and restless over cat mugs. Over not being able to travel anymore. Over all of the things we still have to buy and fix up on the house. Over feeling like we'll never be in that settled, give-me-all-the-guac place in our lives. I have to try to be frugal, to be smart, to be less selfish and less spoiled and more responsible and more everything.

As much as I like to pretend that I'm not that girl going broke for cat mugs, I totally am. I am her and she is me. I just have to calm her down a little bit.

vogue is a cat lady

To land on your feet, fashion-wise, lose the heel.

It's fitting that although my blog name is inspired by Vogue magazine, the first time I'm featuring anything Vogue-related is when they decide to use cats as models.

The cat and the flat is a playful (and oh so fluffy!) Spring editorial featuring this season's name brand flats and their much cuter counterparts, da cats. The spread consists of 31 photos, one for every day of March. I feel a certain pride and contentment that Vogue is a cat lady.

I think my favorite part of the editorial are the details below each photo - such as the names of the cats, like Princess Monster Truck, Carmelo Anthony, Capone, and the little kitten named Pignoli. They also use all ordinary felines, many of them up for adoption! I'm sure these Vogue mittens have been snatched up already. Princess Monster Truck is already a celebrity, though, and spoiled rotten I'm sure. She's the grizzly one with the adorable underbite that makes her look like a cuddly troll.

Now shhhh and look at the kittens.

april wishlist

love & other disasters | cuss yeah necklace | meow t-shirt 

hufflepuff quidditch t-shirt | harry potter book set | green purse

book cover matchboxes | apple of my eye sweater | meow sweet meow

I've been having some major wishlist itches this week. I've long admired these adorable matchboxes that feature various book covers on them, and recently I've been hoping this sweater from Ruche goes on sale - I love the orange "you are the apple of my eye" with the matching stripes on the sleeves.

If you've never seen Love And Other Disasters, it's seriously a very underrated Brittany Murphy movie. I always loved her and I'm eager to add this one to my collection. It's quirky and funny and sweet. The "Cuss Yeah" necklace is especially endearing for any Fantastic Mr. Fox fan, which I certainly am.

Probably the biggest and most earnest wishlist item is the special edition Harry Potter series book set. This set came out in 2013, and while it's currently unavailable, I'm dying to have it. The art is just beautiful. Take a look at the set on Amazon, which includes photos of every book. They're completely magical. Sigh.

What's on your wishlist lately?

the cat dress {frocktober, day 27}

Cat Dress (remixed 1, 2, 3): LOFT, Skirt: gifted, Cardigan: J. Crew 

Just a simple Frocktober post on this lovely Tuesday.

I love this little cat dress more and more every time I wear it. This is the first time I've ever tucked it into a skirt, but since it's a shift dress it works really nicely.

My color tip for outfits like this is to utilize complementary colors. Normally I might wear a neutral cardigan with a fun patterned dress, but because I already paired the dress with a white skirt I went with the teal. Red and green are complimentary colors, so that makes pink and teal besties too, right? I think so.

wanderlust wednesday

Libreria Acqua Alta di Frizzo Luigi. Bookstore in Venice, Italy. March, 2014.

If you've ever heard of Venice, the mysteriously enchanting canal town, you already know that it's full of secrets. It's magical, really. It's small and packed with tourists and the food is absurdly expensive, and yet one wrong turn can find you completely alone. Just you and the colored, weathered brick, creeping with vines and memories. Getting lost is the best thing you could possible do in Venice.

Nowadays, though, in the days of TripAdvisor and Yelp, little secret treasures aren't so secret anymore. Tidbits and traveling tips and the enormous "word of mouth" that is the internet can either make or break businesses. It certainly changes them. But sometimes that charm stays intact, as is the case of Libreria Acqua Alta. The most absurdly delightful bookstore/cat palace in the world.
The owner loves cats and basically claims all of Venice's strays as his own. They are purring and skulking around the store, some of them napping or simply watching.
The store sits right alongside the canal, mere inches from the water's edge. It floods every year, which is why the owner was inclined to store all of his books and merchandise in boats and tubs. My favorite, of course, was the giant gondola in the center of the store.
Don't even try to find any type of organization to the place. The books are just mountains of paper, forests of ink. Who knows what is where, save for maybe the cat residents. Again, just get lost. That's the best thing to do in Venice.

It was my cup of tea, for sure. Hanging tinsel and secret rooms and a strange back hallway that leads to an enormous staircase made entirely of books, wet and torn and all stuck together for the soul purpose of allowing visitors to feel like they're on top of the world. Climb up those steps to get a birds eye view of the store's canal side. Or as it's written, the store's "Fire Exit". Beautiful and empty of tourists, so peaceful.
The store also sells prints (many of them cat-themed) and bookmarks and other knick-knacks. We brought a few home with us. I also bought the book Pinocchio in Italian to bolster my resolve to learn the language someday.
Ah, Venezia.


(see all wanderlust wednesday posts)

milkmaid braids

outfit: gifted // the shopaholic, earrings: chelsea girl designs on etsy,
sunglasses (remixed): ruche

Happy Friday, friendlies!

I'm incredibly excited for this weekend. My husband and I have planned an extravagant camping trip. I haven't been camping since I was a kid! Turns out most people hate camping (cue shocked exhales and shouts), which I find a crying shame. We had hoped to go gallivanting through the woods and around the lake with a fun group of people, but it has dwindled down to just us and my little brother. I'm actually fine with that, though. We bought a hippie canvas hammock and I plan on logging many hours in it with a good book in hand. 

On Tuesday I caught a glimpse of a milkmaid braid tutorial over at The Clothes Horse, so I decided to add that to this week's to-do list (also on my to-do list: find friends who like camping). 

I've always wanted to be more creative with my hair. In fact, for my birthday in October I was thinking about doing a "26 before 27" list (a list of 26 things I want to do over the next year, before I turn 27), and one of the things on that list is to learn how to french braid my own hair. 

I have yet to master the perfect ponytail, too. I'm lacking in the hair skill department. Maybe I should just take a class. Do they have hair handling classes?

Anyway. I washed my hair on Wednesday morning, and while it was still wet, I simply divided my hair into pigtails and pulled them across the top of my head. It was so much easier than I thought it would be! I was really excited. Such a quick and easy hairstyle for the week. I got a lot of compliments at work.

The only down side?

I was also asked to yodel, and called Bertha. One lady at work gasped because she thought I had chopped all my hair off. 

So, the jury's still out on this one. 

I personally love this style. Which is probably all that really matters. One of my favorite bloggers, Mara of M Loves M, wears her hair like this a lot, and every time I see styles like it I get all misty-eyed and jealous, and find myself wishing I could accomplish cute up-dos like that. Well, I have tried and conquered, so I'll keep trying my hand at new hairstyles!

Meanwhile, I'll be shamelessly milkmaiding it. 

archives: a cat lady musing

circa 1990

This past week I posted this rather fantastic photo, one of my favorites from my baby years. I've always loved animals, and this picture is definitely proof of that. I gravitate to where the creatures are. 

(Unless they're sea creatures, because no). 

I thought I'd go ahead and reach back and re-post an edited version of an old cat lady post, dedicated to my love for the furry beasts. This week's archive. Enjoy!

I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one.

They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, 

outside of the girl you love, of course.

- Mark Twain

I have a feeling that Mark Twain and I would have gotten along quite fine. Bosom friend status.

There's something about the cat-less population that I find quite sad. The cat-hater is typically a person that is missing something lovely, something like a cuddly spirit, a purity of heart, an affectionate nature. A soul.

The world needs its harshness, of course, but I find it hard to imagine dealing with it without a furry friend to guide the comfort levels of your home. 

A home without a cat -- and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat --

may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?

- Mark Twain

I am sensitive, affectionate, romantic, loyal, devoted, warmhearted, friendly. And I am a cat lover.

Or am I those things as a result of loving cats?

World-changing questions.

I find myself changed by their sweetness, calmed by their presence, soothed by their tired, sleepy grins.

Happy to care for them, happy to be with them. 

I had a friend recently say that if and when we are able to care for them the way we do, vet bills and messes and all, we are good stewards. It made me smile and I think in most cases that's true.

What an odd little gift they are, such strange little creatures, like having my very own pokemon.

I can never fully put my trust in someone who hates cats. (I am also inconsolably sad for those who are deathly allergic). The cat-loving world is like the best of secret societies, really -- you hide your adoration, knowing in your heart that 1.) others will never truly understand 2.) you have something precious that they cannot have 3.) you're not alone in the world.

 When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade,

without further introduction.

- Mark Twain

You pass by cat-related merchandise and point and laugh, or show your friends, secretly knowing if they weren't there you'd probably make it all the way to the cash register with it before realizing you could never wear it in public anyway, because people would shun you.

You are unnaturally thrilled that cat sweaters and graphic Ts have become a somewhat quirky exception in the fashion world, allowing you to partake in cat-attire. (Cattire?). 

How much is too much? The cat lady will never know.

I do know that my life has been measured by the constant embellishment of animal interaction. Sweet little souls within beings that make me laugh and cry. 

Every home I've ever lived in has had cats. They have been my accessories of life and activity and playfulness. 

It's how I was raised, how I love to live, and how I live to love.

The wide-eyed way in which I take in the world, and come home to the purrs of a day well spent.

Mark loved cats...and pool, or pocket billiards. 

Whenever he played pool, he'd tuck a pet kitten into a corner pocket. The antics of the cat as it pawed at passing balls amused and relaxed Mark Twain...sent him back in high spirits to write the stories that endeared him to all.

Americans today have the same shrewd understanding that one relaxed moment 

helps you work and fight harder.

- Royal Crown Cola ad, 1940s 

(original post)