take a class {frocktober, days 22-24}

I can't believe we're already heading in to the last week of October/Frocktober. This challenge has been pretty fun and comfortable for me to accomplish, since wearing dresses tend to be the easiest and most flattering choice for me anyway. I've tried to still push my creative boundaries and come up with outfits that are interesting. A very special shout out to maternity leggings, which have made my life so very swell. Even so, I'm really looking forward to donning my maternity denim and some of the cute tops I've been waiting to wear. 

For day 22, I wore this black confetti-print dress with a stretchy high-low skirt belted on top of it. On day 23 I wore probably my most-worn dress ever. I think I say that a lot. I definitely have my favorites. I got it for $5 years ago on Zulily, and I couldn't help trying to sneak it over my baby bump. It was a tight fit, but it worked. I found the crochet cardigan at Forever 21 last month for our maternity photoshoot. Day 24 was classic Saturday comfort - stretchy bodycon dress, leggings, oversized sweater. 

Remixes:
Outfit 1: Dress / Cardigan
Outfit 2: Dress 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 / Cardigan
Outfit 3: Sweater 1, 2

We had our all-day birthing class on Saturday, which was incredibly enlightening. I could make a lot of jokes about it but I'm actually really, really glad we went. If you're on the fence about whether to take a class or not, I'd really encourage you to. It was a great overview of what to expect, and I think it gave my husband some really great information on what his role will be and what kinds of things I'll be going through, step by step. I think our approach before was kind of like, we'll figure it out - let's just not think about it until we have to. But being informed is definitely the way to go. It dispels fear and helps equip you with the tools you need to have that mind over matter perspective. It was a great day spent together learning and looking forward to the arrival of our baby boy! It's coming up so soon.

the whole world

Necklace (shop!): Sheinside
Sweater: LOFT, Skirt: Ruche

Do you remember that rather fabulous teaser trailer for The Boxtrolls that gave an inside peek at the making of stop-motion animation? 

That's the first thing I thought of when I got this globe necklace from Sheinside, (And also, that it's adorable and only $6!). 

I remember seeing that trailer for the first time and being absolutely fascinated and awestruck by the intricacies of such an endeavor. Even after seeing (and loving) the strange, charming, dark, stunning, steampunk, oddball movie in all its glory I couldn't wrap my mind around the hundreds of hands and hours it must have taken to create such a masterpiece. 

I grew up watching claymation Christmas movies and adoring hand-drawn animated movies and videogames. There is something really overwhelming about envisioning the actual artists behind those stories. Especially because of the advancements that have been made in filmmaking and animation, and the overall modern preference for digital artistry. I'm not saying that CGI isn't art, but I am saying I would rather have seen a hand-drawn Frozen. 

I know it's not realistic to demand hand-drawn everything, because the creation of digital animation is rather wondrous. There's no denying it. It saves a lot of times and produces much more detailed results, I'm sure. And it still requires artists. And in reality it would probably take 20 years to develop a hand-drawn movie at the artistic level of these concept images. 

Even so, I think people have come to the erroneous conclusion that people don't like 2D movies anymore simply because they aren't made as often. Princess and The Frog, Disney's last hand-drawn animation, didn't do as well as Tangled, so that must mean people are just done with hand-drawn things. Horrible flawed logic. No, no. 

I think there are a few reasons why Tangled performed better at the box office, and I'm very sure the reasons are things like Zachary Levi. And better music, and a valiant horse named Maximus. 

There are still plenty of artists out there who are loyal to the olden days though, and who long to revive, restore and relive them. People like Tim Schafer who crusade to keep classic adventure games alive.

They create these marvelous stories for us to be a part of, and they quite literally have the whole world in their hands. 

So, there's hope, and that's all I need. 

the end {frocktober, day 31!}

Happy (belated) Halloweeny, friends!

I had so much fun yesterday dressing up at the office as...can you already guess it?...The Book Thief!

I was maybe a little too pleased with my last-minute literary pun costume, but everyone at work loved it. It was also great because I didn't have to buy anything! (It's true, I had this leather mask lying around from my 1998 trip to the Renaissance Festival, coincidentally the same year that Zorro came out in theatres...). The comfy striped sweater (remixed here) was perfect for the criminal look. I love creative costumes that are assembled from things you already own!

We didn't have plans to dress up for any evening Halloween festivities this year, so I just enjoyed the costume throughout the day! We went to a little harvest festival at my parents church and then came home to watch a movie and drink butterbeer floats (because Halloween and Harry Potter go great together). Not much to complain about there!

I hope you all had a really fun and safe Halloween. I look forward to one day having little trick-or-treaters at our door, and decorating our house and handing out candy. Growing up we never had any trick-or-treaters because we lived so far out of town, so it will be a big change if we move into a neighborhood next year and have to worry about buying bags and bags of candy to give out to all of the little zombies, witches and ghouls!

As always, I am sad to see Frocktober go. I obviously won't be boycotting dresses because they're still my favorite thing to wear, but the daily challenge is at an end. Time for cold weather (pretty please, Arizona!), skinny jeans, tights, boots, sweets, sparkly sweaters.
Enjoy your week of candy and sugar highs!

Happy November!

render me handless {frocktober, day 22}

Dress (remixed 1, 2, 3, 4): Ruche, Sweater/Shoes: gifted

Yesterday I posted an Instagram of this outfit while I was finishing my coffee in the break room, and the caption on the photo said,

"I know they don't make a whole lotta functional sense, 

but I adore sweaters that render me handless."

I said it just to be witty and silly, since my hands were completely hidden in the sparkly folds of this cozy sweater. And it's true - I love me some sweaters. I have been wearing sweaters throughout this entire month, even though it has barely dipped below 90 degrees. I call them my "stubborn sweaters". I want it to be Fall, and so it will be, even if it's just in my mind. I would rather sweat a little on the walk to my car than dress in shorts and tank tops in the middle of October. It's too depressing!

But as the day went on I started thinking a little bit deeper about the idea of rendering myself handless. I won't invite you completely into my train of thought because I'm not sure you ever wanna really get inside my head. 

Like one of my favorite moments in an episode of Friends, where Phoebe is trying to remember an important restaurant, supposedly with "rainbow" in the title. After a while of Chandler guessing, she finally yells out, "L'Espace!" So he says, "Rainbow L'Espace!" And she shakes her head. "No, just L'Espace." He thinks for a second. "I'd love to know how you got from rainbow to L'Espace." And her eyes widen. "No you wouldn't. You don't wanna get in here."

Anyway. Down the rabbit hole again! Back to the issue at hand. 

What would it be like without hands? There are obviously humans in the world that have been actually rendered handless, either from birth or by some tragic accident, and they have to adjust accordingly. Everything about their daily functionality and physical movement and interaction changes. It's incredibly difficult to imagine. 

There is also the scripture verse in Matthew that says if your right hand offends you, or causes you to stumble, cut it off. I don't personally take that verse literally, because I think we'd all be limbless or dead if that were the case. But the idea still sits here, simmering in my mind. 

Rendering myself handless. It would revolutionize the way I live. I would be unable to reach for things. Unable to reach, greedily, for things I could not afford. Unable to grab another in anger. Unable to eat without thought or restraint. Unable to text and drive, or spend time clicking away on my phone instead of being present with loved ones. I would have to ask, see, discern. I would have to choose carefully and live creatively.

It's an interesting thought.

So, Lord, guide my hands - or render me handless.