Chainmail chic

I have totally gotten into chainmail jewelry.  It started when I mentioned Etsy on Twitter and someone named MoodySanguine started following me.  I checked out their Twitter and saw, "Crafting, designing, witchy best friends!" and a website.  I liked the sound of that, so I clicked it and found some of the prettiest jewelry ever!  Pretty enough to be girly, but chainmail enough to be kinda geek.  I followed them back on Twitter and bought my first pair of earrings from them:

We chatted on Twitter a bit (Denise is usually the one online, Melina is the other).  We slowly formed a friendship, all the way from Massachusetts to Canada.  They then introduced me to Tryphyna, also in Canada, and many geeky girly happy chats ensued.  I continued to provide an inordinate amount of business to them as I got obsessed with their creations.  ;)

Cool Off From the Heat Earrings

Rhonda Is a Fancy Pants Earrings 

 

Simple Is Sometimes Just as Bloody

Yes, I seriously own all of those, plus more, and two bracelets.  They also sell purses, but I have too many!  I change my jewelry often enough to justify those!

After chatting them up for a while, I got another Etsy follower, 88Links.  I checked out her shop and found more chainmail goodness.  I asked her for a custom pair of earrings, and bought another pair she had for sale.  Here are my newest pretties:

Rainbow Chain Earrings 

 

Fae Crystal Earrings 

 

Wearing those blue ones today!  I'm now a huge fan of Etsy altogether, bought some home decor things and going to be buying all sorts of wedding things on there.  I love that they have a separate category for geekery alone.  I highly recommend people check it out for all sorts of fun stuff.  Plus buying handmade makes me feel good.  =)

 

Fashion rambles

Sorry for the hiatus, working on a twink post but I need pics that are at home.  So I will fill this space with fashion rambling!

I wish I were cool as a kid, like this chick.  She's 13, totally quirky and unique, and verbally awesome.  I wrote some lame poetry at her age.  I think I'd be happier today if I had found myself so fully at a younger age.  I'm still trying to figure out who I am, what I like, what I want to look like.

I'm just transitioning out of another t-shirt phase, which resulted in 40+ tees from Woot, Threadless, and Jinx.  They're cool shirts, but I gotta knock it off.  I wear a men's XL (women's 2X is too tight) and the baggy look just isn't flattering (neither is too tight, of course).  I work in a casual office, but I feel really under-dressed compared to some women.  I wear the tees with flowy hippy skirts, but I saw these pics of me and realized it's just kinda lame looking:

 

I mean, part of what makes me so unhappy with my look is my weight, of course, but I feel like going overboard trying to mask my body might not be the solution.  I went on OldNavy.com yesterday and bought some nicer shirts and slacks.  I love skirts but I wear them less in the fall/winter.  I have been trying to not wear tees to work and realized I have practically nothing in the way of shirts, despite my massive wardrobe.  Once sweater weather is here, I'm set, but till then I wanted some nice tops.

Here's what I ended up with:

Plus a floral halter they didn't have a pic of any more (I'll wear a shrug over it), a black sweater dress, two pairs of slacks (gray and brown) and a pair of dark jeans.  Ten things for $80, woot!  ;)

I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff that doesn't fit me any more, even though I'd been hanging onto it "just in case" I lost weight.  I have a pair of size 14 "goal jeans," but I need stuff to wear now, to make me feel good about how I look even if I haven't lost the weight yet.  I'm engaged now; I want to look like an adult.

I even started wearing a little makeup.  Gasp!  Just some eye liner, eye shadow, and mascara, plus tinted face moisturizer and tinted lip gloss.  Nothing much.  I feel a little better when I enhance my best feature (my eyes), so it's worth the extra five minutes in the morning.

This is all very girly for me, for as much as I love clothes, I am definitely a tomboy at heart.  I like to be comfortable and to be able to get ready quickly in the morning.  I do NOT wear heels, unless it's a wedding or something.  I hang out with guys and ride on Simon's motorcycle and play lots of video games.  Clothes and makeup are not the most important things in my life.  But, just for once, I want to feel pretty.  I want to feel like a woman.
 
Okay, that was cheesy, sorry.  =P  I'm done.