Wardrobe Wears - Kizzzmet Dress

Hi all! I am glad this week is speeding by. I am excited to have Friday off for the 4th. I will be headed up to a family friends lake house. I am excited for some sun, smore's, and swimmin! Any fun plans for my fellow American bloggers? Anywho... today I am bringing back my weekly wardrobe posts and I thought I would kick it off with my (current) favorite dress.

A few weeks back I headed up to Dekalb for a change of scenery and because they have a handful of cute vintage shops that I wanted to check out. Normally when I go thrifting I have a list of items in mind so I don't go overboard - that day I was on the hunt for a bee brooch. The first few shops had beautiful items, even a few bee brooches, but all were a bit overpriced if you ask me. I was starting to feel discouraged that the trip was a waste of time and energy. After two veggie tacos, however, I was feeling reenergized and ready to try one more store. Walking up to the window - there it was. Alright, no, it was not a fluttering bee brooch - but even better! A dress covered in bees!!



Now I typically avoid yellow like the plague, but I had to try this dress on. I swear, this dress was made for me. It fit like a glove. Typically dresses are too large on top and too small on bottom, but this dress had everything going on...aaaaand the bees! I fell in love right then and there. Also, having recently gone blonde I don't hate the color yellow so much on me - triple score.

I think you get the drift when it comes to how much I adore this dress. It is perfect for summer and I have received so many compliments the few times i've worn it. What more can you ask for?

Have any of you found something extra special thrifting lately? I'd love to hear about it.

Have a beautiful day everyone!

Toy Army Tuesday - Mahlimae

Hi guys! Toy Army Tuesday is back in full swing, and I have so many incredible artists and pieces to share. Today I am excited to share with you the very talented artist Nicole, from Southern Tasmania, Australia - aka Mahlimae.


(Echo 10, Mahlimae, from my personal collection)

Nicole of Mahlimae produces beautiful echo hatchlings. Her "work is pulled together by a common theme of possibility, a longing for connection and a intentionally simplistic form which aims to intrigue. [She finds herself] hopelessly drawn to the mystery of ancient Folklore, to the beauty in the darkness at the heart of a forest, to the energy which radiates from worn, tattered fabrics...[and she believes] there is much to be said for the subtleties in expression and much to be learned by allowing yourself to step outside the reality of the everyday." - For more about her and her work please visit her website here - Mahlimae.com.


(Echo 10, Mahlimae, from my personal collection)

How precious is this little piece? I initially stumbled upon Nicole's work via instagram and instantly fell in love with the sweet and simple expressions in her work. Nicole produces a small number of her echoes each year, so I was very fortunate (and woke up at 4 in the morning) to get one. I love her work because each piece seems to carry a world of secrets that they want share with you. She is definitely one of my most prized possessions :]

Life Lately - Turning Over a New Leaf

Hello my lovelies! It sure has been silent on the blog since my birthday. I am currently working to fix this issue. I have had a lot going on in my life - a lot of ups and downs - and I finally feel like I am settling in to a groove. It only took over a year on my part. I have missed you all, but sometimes life just gets in the way and the world keeps spinning on.



I have spent the past month or so reflecting on what exactly I want to do with my life. I am turning a new leaf and finally making my goals and dreams a reality. I have let things slide and put stuff on the back burner for far too long. I am dedicating the last half of the year solely to me. That may sound selfish, but I have put others before myself for far too long and lost myself somewhere along the way. I need to find myself and am excited to share this new journey with you all. I started this blog when I graduated college in hopes of documenting what would come next, while that is still the goal - I am focusing on what makes me happy and not relying on others for that happiness. Sorry if I am rambling. I don't like to get too much in to my personal life, but I am excited to be at a crossroads of sorts. I am starting over, and that is a good place to be.

From here on out you can expect me to be present in the blogging community. I am excited to document this next chapter in my life because so much seems up in the air at the moment. One other exciting thing to announce - my vintage shop will finally open come August 1st - it has been way too long in the making.

I hope you all have been doing well, and I can't wait to catch up on what I have been missing.

See you soon!

- Allison

Officially 25

Hello everyone! Today I am officially 25 years of age as of 2:07pm EST. A quarter of a century.
Jeez louise. The time flew by...

Candy Sparrow - Mab Graves

I had planned on sitting down and writing something deep and meaningful today, but it's my birthday and I will do what I want to. I plan to reflect this weekend over some cake and report back to you all on Monday, haha. I promise, I am getting back in to the swing of things. This weekend I am headed home to spend my birthday with family and I couldn't be happier. All I want to do is relax and get my mini garden up and running.

Crazy side note - I took Abe to the vet two days ago for a check up and it turns out "he" is really a she! It's a girl!! Totally blew my mind. The poor little darling has thought of herself as a lil man the past four years. Regardless of the sex - I love my lil nugget just as much. I am not going to lie though - it is going to take some time to become comfortable referring to her as a she.

Anywho... I am all over the place, I know. I am so thankful to have had the amazing adventure of a life I have had thus far and I can not wait to see what the future brings.

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

Toy Army Tuesday - Rotofugi Haul

Hi all! Toy Army Tuesday is coming to you on a Thursday this week since I am a smidge bit behind, whoops. Oh well. You need to shake things up now and then, right? Today I am going to keep my post fairly short and to the point. For those of you who are not up to date with my blog - in February I attended the Traveling Circus at Rotofugi. The Circus Posterus collective/my favorite group of artists had their work up for display. Being the crazy person that I am, I waited out at 5 in the morning in the below freezing Chicago temps to be the first person in line to get a ticket to buy a piece from the show. Thankfully waking up that early was complete overkill so my room mate and I were the first two people in line - meaning that I got first dibs at whatever two pieces I wanted - yeah, I was and am still excited about it. Oh - and my room mate is the best person ever.

Anywho... I knew that I wanted to add a piece by Amanda Spayd and Chris Ryniak since I didn't own anything by them at that point and their one of a kind pieces are highly sought after and nearly impossible to track down unless you attend an opening. Below are the two pieces I picked up. In the next couple of weeks I look forward to sharing more information about each artist with you. In the mean time - take a look at my adorable creatures.


(On the left - "Fiddlesticks" by Amanda Louise Spayd. On the right - Ice Root Gourwart by Chris Ryniak.)

("Fiddlesticks" by Amanda Louise Spayd)

(Ice Root Gourwart by Chris Ryniak)

(On the left - "Fiddlesticks" by Amanda Louise Spayd. On the right - Ice Root Gourwart by Chris Ryniak.)

The Dust Bunny by Amanda Spayd was the item the Traveling Circus's fliers and posters, and was also the first piece she created for the show. As soon as I saw her post a preview of it online I knew I wanted to take the little guy home if at all possible. Her work is cute, creepy, and mysterious all wrapped up in to one. This guy looks startled - as if you caught him sneaking in to the cookie jar late at night. Aaaand get a load of his very real looking teeth. The Gourdwart by Chris Ryniak just blew me away. His adorable frankenstein-esque features and blue coloring had me instantly falling for piece. I am so glad that I was able to bring both pieces home with me, and I was even more excited to meet these talented artists who I have been following for quite some time now. It really was a special night and I am so glad I have these guys to remind me of it all daily :]

*end nerdy rant about toys.

Have a beautiful day everyone!!

Oh, hey!

Hi guys! I know, I have been m.i.a., what else is new? I have been a busy bee trying to get my brothers website up and running - among other things. Friday is my birthday. I am turning the big - 25. Quarter of a century. Not entirely sure how I feel about it. I am still young, but I feel like this is the age where you need to get you *ahem "stuff" together. I have been desperately trying to work on just that these past few months leading up to this week. I have a lot of things I would like to improve on for myself this upcoming year, and for that I am excited. On that list is getting back to blogging - big surprise. I just need to carve out a time to do it and stick with it. I have never been one for keeping up with routines but I am going to try my best to break this bad habit.

I have a fun little number to share with you all today. I had been eyeing this circus print dress from The Velvet Bird for some time and finally picked it up at the end of last summer. I am glad I did because it was the last one of my size in stock and it looks as though the shop is currently closed.



Outfit Details: Dress - The Velvet Bird, Cardigan & Shoes - ModCloth.

While it is a summery dress I had fun dressing it up for the cold Chicago weather the other day (I wore tights and switched in to boots after these photos). I look forward to wearing it out and about this upcoming summer. Summer get here soon!

How have you all been?

Wardrobe Wednesday - Booth Fifty-Nine

Hi everyone! Hope your week has been cruising along. I am looking forward to the weekend as usual. This weekend I am attending the flower show at Navy Pier and am pretty excited about it. I look forward to sharing some photos from that with you all on Monday. In the mean time - today I have something very special to share with you. My very good friend Angela has just opened up an etsy shop - Booth Fifty-Nine - which is full of vintage goodies and I am here today to give you a little sneak peak of what her store has to offer.

Booth Fifty-Nine first started out as a booth in an antique mall in Peoria, Illinois - hence the name. The booth quickly expanded and has now found it's way to internet. Angela's shop is full of a wide range of beautiful vintage apparel and knick-knacks. A week ago she was sweet enough to send me some items from her shop to try on and I honestly fell in love with it all.



For this first look I will be honest - this is not a dress that I would have typically bought out on my own, having said that I am even more glad Angela sent this piece my way! As soon as I tried it on everything just seemed to work. I was afraid with my body shape that it may look too boxy, but the neat pattern helped lengthen my body, aaaand can we please talk about the adorable collar? This is a dress I definitely look forward to wearing a lot more down the road.



As soon as I saw this blue and white striped dress I immediately thought of Margot Tenenbaum. I debated recreating her look but I don't think I am edgy enough - I also don't own a fur coat - but anywho... the yellow cable knit sweater went perfectly with the dress and shoes so this outfit was pretty easy to piece together. It is a classic preppy look perfect for work or a Sunday afternoon. The color palate also works perfectly for this upcoming spring!

All of the items came in great condition and looked practically new. I highly recommend you all check out Booth Fifty-Nine. I am currently eyeing the Periwinkle Vintage Belted Tanktop myself. Also, Booth Fifty-Nine has an Instagram account you can follow HERE to see even more vintage goodies that could be headed your way very soon.

Outfit Details: Dress and Sneakers c/o Booth Fifty-Nine, Brown Heels - DSW, & Purse - thrifted.

I hope you all have a beautiful day!

Disclaimer - The items in todays post were gifted to me, but all the thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own. I would only ever share items with all of you that I stand behind, and I stand behind this store. That is all.

Toy Army Tuesday - Sawdust Bear

Hi all! How goes it? It hit 50 yesterday!!! It was so nice to walk home from work and enjoy the sunset for a change. I am just going to overlook the fact that it is supposed to snow again on Wednesday, because I honestly can't take it any more. Anywho... for those of you who tuned in last week I shared bits and pieces from the Traveling Circus show opening at Rotofugi (if you missed it feel free to check it out!). The show had a group of my favorite artists from the Circus Posterus Collective, so over the next few weeks I will break down the pieces and give you a little more information about the artists themselves. This week I thought I would share with you Shing Yin Khor's work from Sawdust Bear.


(Shing Yin Khor, "Blue Sweater Scaleybug" & "Orange Sweater Scaleybug" - mixed media)

For those of you unfamiliar with Shing Yin Khor's work - you're in luck today. Sawdust Bear "sculpts awkward, charming, and awkwardly charming creatures trapped in a world of bumbling science and human fallibility. [Her] themes are inspired by historical hoaxes, old museums, cabinets of curiosities and pre-Linnean taxonomy; [Her] palettes are inspired by the more obnoxiously colourful parts of nature, especially invertebrates." In addition to sculpting Shing also publishes pretty sweet little comics, "[she] write[s] the historical fiction comic Marie and Jeanne, write[s] and illustrate[s] the shoegazey near-future sci-fi Center for Otherworld Science, and the awkward monster comic Marlowe the Monster, all of which can be downloaded for free". - For more information about her and her work please check out her website - Sawdust Bear.com.


(Shing Yin Khor, "Underwater Gravebeast Plaque" & "Curiosity Cabinet #1- Clown Jellies" - mixed media) (Shing Yin Khor, "Orange Sweater Scaleybug" - mixed media)

I love Shing's out of this world creatures who resemble bits and pieces of creatures we know, but with a whimsical twist. Their facial expressions are always priceless. They awkwardly stare at you as if they were caught in the act of something. I mean take a look at the Orange Sweater Scaleybug above for instance - how adorable is that face with his tongue flopped out like that? I was laughing out loud when I saw this piece in person. I wish so badly that I could have afforded to take him home.

(Shing Yin Khor, "Drab Fairybug" - Watercolor, Ink, and Acrylic - For sale Here - photo from Leanna Lin's Wonderland) (Shing Yin Khor, "Dragonwinged Fairybug 2" - Watercolor, Ink, and Acrylic - photo from Leanna Lin's Wonderland)

In addition to overly sweet sculptures and neat comics Shing produces beautiful hand drawn studies of her creatures. The pieces above are from her latest show the Supahcute Science Fair at Leanna Lin's Wonderland. You should definitely check it out because there are still some affordable pieces available.

Last week I was lucky enough to score a monthly subscription to her work on Patreon, which means that each month I will receive a care package from her with pieces of her work - from prints, to pins, postcards, and maybe even a mini resin piece! I could not be more excited. I can't wait to see what she produces this year and I hope to eventually add a fattybug or scaleybug to my collection someday soon. I will be sure to share with you all what I receive from the subscription somewhere down the road.

I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do.

Take care everyone!

SawdustBear.com | Supahcute Science Fair | Shing's Patreon

Seeing Red

Hi all, happy Monday! The weekend sure flew by, huh? Losing an hour yesterday threw me off a bit, but it is so nice to have more sunshine - so ready for spring. My weekend was pretty low key. I went out with a group of friends Saturday night which was a fun change of pace. I feel like I have been cooped up way too much this winter. It was nice catching up with everyone. Other than that I don't have too much to report.

I am still in a bit of limbo when it comes to my blogging. I am trying to get back in to the swing of things while planning out new things to cover. Once things warm up a bit I would love to do a ongoing series about neat places to visit in Chicago. There are so many interesting shops, parks, etc. in my neighborhood alone that I would love to share with you guys, so I am hoping to make that happen soon.



As for today I just have some random snapshots. I go through strange phases. Over the summer I was obsessing over crazy prints and now I find myself drawn to the color red. I am not sure what it is or why I get on the kicks that I do but right now it is all about red. My life is currently valentine themed, and I am a-ok with it.

The color red is the color of energy, passion and action. I suppose my wardrobe reflects my current state of mind. I sure could use a little more of the above going in to this new year.

What are you currently drawn to?

Have a lovely day everyone!

Wizard of Awesome

Hi guys! I definitely hi-jacked todays post title from the dress I am wearing in this post - just a heads up - too darn cute to pass up. Speaking of Awesome - last week I won a $100 gift card from ModCloth for taking one of their surveys - how lucky am I!?! I am saving the funds for a rainy day :] Aside from that, how is everyone's week going? I am frankly exhausted and it is only Wednesday. I am really looking forward to the weekend, however, because a few of my close friends are coming up to the city Saturday night and I don't see them enough which needs to change - ASAP. I am hoping once spring weather hits travel will be easier.

Anywhoooo... today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite dresses that has me desperate for spring. Isn't the poppy pattern pretty neat? Feeling sleepy? I can't help but think of that scene from the Wizard of Oz every time I put this dress on, sorta weird...not going to lie. Maybe avoid wearing this dress while operating heavy machinery...haha, alright, I am just rambling here since it is nearly past my bed time.



Outfit Details: Dress - Bernie Dexter via ModCloth - Wizard of Awesome Dress, Boots & belt - ModCloth.

Please excuse the hair straightner on the floor in these photos - whoops, blogging fail. It is just too darn cold out to snap outfit photos so I have brought the show indoors. I still haven't worked out all the kinks. Does anyone have tips on combating overhead lighting? I haven't mastered my flash yet...

Until next time my lovelies! Have a beautiful day :]

Toy Army Tuesday - Traveling Circus

Hi everyone! Today I have something very exciting to share with you all - the Traveling Circus (show opening) by Circus Posterus at Rotofugi.

WARNING: This is about to get geeky.


For those of you who don't regularly tune in to my blog the Circus Posterus Collective is a group of (my favorite) artists. Their home base/gallery - the Stranger Factory is located out in Albuquerque, New Mexico, making it very difficult for me to attend any of their shows. Over the past few years I have tried attending a handful of their shows and workshops but unfortunately my plans have always fallen through. Thankfully, my dreams came true when CP decided to have a show at Rotofugi - my local designer toy shop and gallery.


(Wall of work by Amanda Louise Spayd.)

I was beyond excited when I got word that CP was headed to town! It was my first time attending one of their shows, and even more exciting was that a handful of the artists were going to attend the opening - of course I had to be there. I have been a member of "The Sideshow" which is their fan forum/chat boards just shy of one year and I have been using it to keep on top of news in the CP world as well as meeting fellow fans. The CP forum is a bit like family, I swear, next thing I knew I was being invited over to a fellow boardies home to have dinner with some other boardies as well as with the artists!! I went back and forth that entire week debating if I should go or not, thankfully, I mustered up enough courage and headed over there. Everyone was so nice and down to earth, it was so surreal. I still can't believe it happened.


(Work by Kathie Olivas & Brandt Peters)
(Work by Stephan Webb.)
(Work by Valency.)
(Work by Ferg, Travis Louie, and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Jen Musatto and Travis Louie.)

The morning of the opening - Saturday, February 15th - my room mate and I camped out in front of the store at 5am in the lovely -6 degree Chicagoland weather and waited for the store to open at 11am so that we could be the first two people to receive tickets to purchase art from the show. Haha. It was a bit overkill, but I wasn't sure what to expect. The next person to show up in line didn't arrive until 8am. I thought my room mate was going to kill me. By the time the doors opened only 8 people were standing in line - I honestly regret nothing.


(Work by Chris Ryniak.)
(Work by Shing Yin Khor - Sawdust Bear.)
(Work by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Joe Scarano.)
(Work by Time Lee.)
(Work by Stan Manoukian.)
(Work by Katie Carillo.)

I am continually blown away by the work these artists produce. It was nice to inspect each piece in person for a change as opposed to looking at them from fellow boardies photos in the forum. I have to make it out to one of their shows in New Mexico some time soon.


(Work by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Amanda Louise Spayd.)
(Work by Shing Yin Khor - Sawdust Bear.)
(Work by Valency.)

I fear this post is becoming borderline overwhelming so I will stop for today. In upcoming posts I will break down the pieces by artist and give you more information about them. For more information about each piece please visit Rotofugi's Gallery - I will re-update this post later with the title of each piece, honestly, I am just up way past my bed time at the moment. As for today - I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what the opening was like. These last few photos with the artists are my personal faves.


Kathie Olivas and I.

Amanda Louise Spayd, Fiddlesticks (my Dust Bunny!!), and I.

Chris Ryniak, Brandt Peters, and I while being photo bombed by Amanda :]

For those interested: the show runs from February 15th through this Sunday, March 9th. Oh, and click on any of the images above to see more shots from the show!

Until next time! Have a great day everyone.