Calaveras

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." ~Thomas Campbell

"He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, 

more potent, nay, more present than the living man." ~Antoine de Sainte-Exupery

I love how green my hair and eyes look in this one. I brightened it in Windows Live Photo Gallery (it's the only program I use for my pictures--unless there's serious editing, like changing the background or something), but didn't alter the color.

"For death is no more but a turning of us over from time to eternity." ~William Penn

"The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity." ~Seneca

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow 

and I am in them, and that is eternity." ~Edvard Munch

"The rain makes such a lovely sound

to those who're six feet underground."
~Tom Waits

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
~Albus Dumbledore, J.K. Rowling

I bought these two paintings (and one other, not shown) from a friend's roommate's girlfriend, Veronika. I walked into the friend's house for the first time a few weeks ago and the walls were COVERED in paintings. "Who does all these?" I asked. I was fortunate enough to meet her the next time I was there, and she was willing to sell me a few of her paintings. There are a few more of hers I'd like to purchase, but we'll see what the future holds. :)

Boyfriend (and photographer of the set above) wearing his default expression.

Boyfriend wearing his creeper expression. Also, default.

Boyfriend wearing the douchebaggiest expression known to mankind--the REAL default.

Boyfriend continuing to make faces at the camera all myspace-photo-style 

while I rest my head, genuinely happy, on his shoulder.

<3 ALL TEH LUVZ

Lovely Wednesday

Kansas City

I got to Kansas City on a Frid'y

By Sattidy I larned a thing or two

'Coz up to then I didn't have an idy

Of whut the modren world was comin' to!

I counted twenty gas buggies goin' by theirsel's

Almost ev'ry time I tuk a walk.

'Nen I put my ear to a Bell Telephone 

And a strange womern started in to talk!

Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

They went and built a skyscraper seven stories high,

About as high as a buildin' orta grow.

Ev'rythin's like a dream in Kansas City,

It's better than a magic lantern show!

Y' c'n turn the radiator on 

Whenever you want some heat.

With ev'ry kind o' comfort 

Ev'ry house is all complete.

You c'n walk to privies in the rain 

And never wet your feet!

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

Yes sir!

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go! 

They got a big theayter they call a burleeque.

Fer fifty cents you c'n see a dandy show.

Gals?

One of the gals was fat and pink and pretty,

As round above as she was round below.

I could swear that she was padded 

From her shoulder to her heel,

But later in the second act 

When she began to peel

She proved that ev'rythin' she had was absolutely real!

She went about as fur as she could go. 

Yes sir!

She went about as fur as she could go!

• Vintage hat, skirt, and vest

• Thrifted one-shoulder tank top shirt

• Gold-tone bangles, gold-tone rings, and bronze-tone rings (in other words, all the jewelry on my hands) from H&M (Netherlands)

• I can't tell if I'm wearing earrings, and these pictures were taken a while ago. If I am, they're bronze-tone hoops and I bought them at the Baylor Bookstore

• The necklace was a gift from my ex-boyfriend*

• Lipstick "A Different Grape" by Clinique

• Shoes... from Target?

Gosh, I used to always know where all my clothes came from. I have no idea where these shoes came from.

*I have talked to my ex-boyfriend (if you look through previous posts, he's featured in IBCing You and one about Catalina, and maybe some others, just so you know) about this necklace. There's a very sweet story behind how it came into his possession and why he gave it to me, and I still consider the story and the memory relevant. I offered to return it to him, but he has said that he would rather I keep it and that he gave it to me to wear. These pictures were taken a while ago and I haven't worn it in a few weeks, but there are still days when I feel naked without it. We'll see where this goes. I really don't know.

It's a bit of a long story and frankly probably no one cares what went down between the two of us, but because I'd rather be open and honest rather than look like I'm trying to hide something, and because I'd like to credit the photographer of the pictures above, I'll tell you all just a little bit. Essentially, ex-boyfriend and I were in an open relationship, I fell in love with someone else, and that wasn't okay with ex-boyfriend. We'd agreed upon a physically open relationship, but not polyamory. Over our breakup and my relationship thus far with my current boyfriend (the photographer for today's post), I learned a lot about myself. Here's a short bullet list:

• I am pansexual. I identified as straight but slightly confused for a long time, and I do have a historical preference for men, but I've found that I am absolutely capable of love in that way for people of all sexual identities. 

• I am polyamorous. It is part of me, and part of why ex-boyfriend and I had trouble understanding each other's expressions of love--we have different definitions of love. He doesn't believe it's possible for one person to be in love with more than one person at the same time; I know it's possible because I've done it and I'm doing it.

• I need to be careful not to turn off emotionally to the people who actually care and want to know about my life. Turning off is a good thing to be able to do so that I can concentrate on work and everyday life, but I need to be aware of when I do it around close friends--it's not always a good thing and has almost lost me a very close friend on two occasions.

• Love is blind--or blinding. I am pretty easily guilt-tripped, and I need to be aware of that.

I'm going to go, not least because I've had Oklahoma's "Kansas City" playing on my Spotify for the last however-many minutes... literally over half-an-hour according to Spotify, and I'm tired of it. For some reason I felt like I needed to play it while I wrote this, so I need to finish this before I turn it off. Anyhow.

Thanks for reading, guys, or for looking at the pictures, or for whatever it is you guys do here. <3 Y'all are great.

<3 Lovely Wednesday

'40s Pinup for the Fourth

This is something like my fourth attempt at this hairstyle. They've gotten steadily worse, but I have hope. To be fair, these pictures were taken at the end of the evening and it had had plenty of time to disintegrate into less than a perfect roll. 

I love my vintage pocket mirror in the above picture. I'm pretty sure it's sterling, and it's SO convenient. I found it in my mom's things years ago and she had neither an idea where it came from nor a desire to keep it, so... voila!

This is my first attempt at doing even pin-up-ESQUE pictures. I've always wanted to get into pin-up, and the Fourth of July seemed like a good excuse. Which reminds me,

Happy Fourth of July!

As much as I love what America was meant to be, though, I find it hard to enjoy the fact that I am not an English citizen. But, you know, whatever. I can get over it.

Dress bought from the Vintage-mobile on one of its visits to Waco, TX (It actually came to Baylor and parked at Common Grounds, the greatest Coffee-house ever!).

The tights are silk vintage repros worn with a DKNY garter belt.

The shoes are Aris Allen.

I made the silly hairbow.

Lipstick is NYC, I think. No clue what the color is called, but it cost me $0.93 at WalMart, so it's my go-to red right now. Ideally at some point I'll be able to afford another tube of Besame Red, but ninety-three cents is a little more my jam right now.

All the best to you!

<3LW

Last Remaining Seats

All dolled up and ready to go see Robin Hood as part of the Last Remaining Seats!

This is my first try at '40s Pinup Faux Bangs... I just did what I vaguely remembered from watching a bunch of youtube tutorials on this sort of thing. It was a pretty simple process, but to get it perfect it's going to take me a few more attempts. 

I made the dress and the hairbow, you can see the whole dress here, as I made the three dresses in that video specifically for that parade. 

After exactly 5 months my hair is amazingly STILL GREEN, although not the lovely emerald green that it was back at the end of January. I think I'm going to do it green again, and then do blue and begin my cycle throughout the rainbow. 

I'm working on a couple of projects that you'll likely get to see the results of  very soon, especially since one of them has to be ready for this Saturday. 

I'll talk to you later, my Lovelies!

<3LW

Wiser

I look back at words I wrote when I was wiser,

and now they offer some small comfort to this miser

who is me, the one, the same, who was the writer

who wrote words of comfort to me, who was wiser.

"I'm not young enough to know everything,"

experiences cheat us out of pure analogy.

The fairy tales don't fit with what remains of our beliefs,

and so we find ourselves in search of a new true mythology.

• vintage sunglasses
• thrifted boots
• thigh highs... I want to say by Leg Avenue? But I bought them on ebay.
• dress from Ross or Marshalls or TJ Maxx or something.
• Lipstick is Revlon something or other I think.
• Goddamn. I give you NO USEFUL INFORMATION. 

Also, the above captions are song lyrics I wrote on the plane from Dallas to Los Angeles last weekend.

ALL the love,

<3LW

Rockabilly Pinup

Hello Lovelies.

This is possibly the one time in the last month in Europe that I actually put effort and fun into what I wore, but I never wore it out farther than the end of the hall--the day was rainy and I had work to do. :[

Still. I loved the pictures, so here you go:

Ear cuff from Forever21

Strawberry stud from Claires

Green mascara (eyebrows) by Barry M.

All shadows are Barry M. (colors?)

Black felt-tip liner is Barry M.

Bronze liquid liner is ???

Clinique black mascara

Lime Crime primer

Lime Crime My Beautiful Rocket lipstick with white sparkle gloss from Walmart

Pink "blush" is Barry M. hot pink dazzle dust

Banana Republic leather jacket (thrifted almost NEW from Salvation Army for $35 SCORE!!)

Isaac Mizrahi for Target bikini top

Yours as always,
Lovely Wednesday <3