Outfit no. 50

Skirt and shirt: F21, belt and coat: wholesale-dress.net, shoes: New Look, glasses: Ray-Ban

I don't normally include my coat in outfit photos, but I've started wearing this one I got ages ago (you may recall it from my first and only haul video), because Lyall peed all over my usual Urban Outfitters coat. I'm worried about washing it, as it could easily get fucked up in the washing machine. I may just Febreze it?? Gahh help I don't even know. In the meantime I shall wear this far less warm coat! And since I haven't featured it in an outfit post yet, here it is. It's definitely photogenic, but so, so not warm. Sadface.

I've been feeling pretty good about life lately. Well, more than I had been. Which is nice. I was feeling a bit bleak for a while, and it wasn't fun. I've just been trying to think more positively, and stop dwelling on all the negative thoughts and worries and whatever ennui dwells in my brain at any given time. I tend to retreat into the darkness of my own mind a lot of the time, so I've just been trying to replace random outbursts of sadness, anger, frustration, and pessimism with more positive thoughts. Every night now, as I fall asleep, I think about everything I'm grateful for, and everything I want to accomplish in the near future. I don't think of it as, "Oh I wish I could accomplish this," but instead, "It's gonna seriously rule when I accomplish this." And sometimes even, "I have already accomplished this and I will revel in the joy of it," even though I haven't actually. There's a cheesy as all hell video/book/thing called The Secret that Greg and I watched on Netflix in a fit of boredom, and according to it, that's what you're meant to do if you want a sports car to appear in your driveway. Pretend you already own the car. Your positive thoughts will make it happen!! They send wavelengths into the air or something and then the things you want just start showing up unexpectedly!

Aside from all of the stupid hokeyness of it, though, is a core message that I think is really important, which is positive thinking. Whether or not a Mercedes shows up in my living room, life is a lot better if I'm not constantly stewing in negative thoughts. Which, admittedly, I often do. So I thought, what can it hurt? Why shouldn't I try thinking about things differently, more optimistically? It's not like being a sad sack was doing anything for me.

So here I am a few days later, feeling a billion times better about life than I was only last week. And I've had two requests for material from agents this week, which is so exciting, and basically I'm realizing how completely useless it is to focus on all the bad things in life. I mean I'm not even close to being super cheerful and peppy, not by even a little bit. But instead of letting myself get angry over tiny things like getting cut off in traffic, or my dog peeing on me, I just let it roll off me and move on. I feel kind of liberated, to be honest.

And that's enough silly inspirational word-vomit for one post! I hope you all have a lovely Wednesday afternoon.

Book Review: Etiquette & Espionage

I said I'd post book reviews here at some point, so I'm doing it! I'm doing it. I finished Etiquette & Espionage recently, and since I'm a huge fan of Gail Carriger, I thought it would be fitting to start with this one. Yay YA steampunk!

The premise of E&E (as I shall now call it) is pretty simple. Sophronia, a girl living in a steampunk Victorian England (do I need to explain what steampunk is? No? Okay), is sent off to what she thinks will be finishing school, but is actually a school for young ladies to learn how to partake in espionage. Among other things... including finishing people. (Meanwhile young boys get sent to a school where they learn how to be evil masterminds.) It seems kind of silly, and admittedly -- it is. But it's so clearly meant to be silly that it's amazing. And since this is an alternate version of English history, it also includes vampires and werewolves! If you've read the Parasol Protectorate series you'll realize that it's set in the same world, years earlier. Which is super fun because there are characters you might recognize from that series.

The plot isn't too complex, and the stakes aren't very high, but Gail Carriger's writing is so full of character that I had a hard time putting it down. Gail has a very Victorian, sort of Jane Austen-y vibe going with her prose, and it's very funny. Some of my favorite moments are in the details. In this world people have mechanicals instead of maids and butlers, and occasionally the mechanicals wear clothing, so often a mechanical would splutter indignantly and emit a jet of air, and its cravat would flutter up into its metal face. Details like that are one of my favorite things to write, so I love finding them in books; they make me so happy!

I don't really know how to review books, it turns out. I don't want to give anything away in terms of the plot, but there's the typical school setting tropes, where the outcast girls band together and become friends, etc. There's also a hint of romance (more in later books?), a werewolf who ties his top hat to his head so even when he changes to wolf form he's still wearing it, sky pirates (officially called "flywaymen"), and various secret societies and steampunk tomfoolery. It's a very quick read, and so much fun all the way through. I'd highly recommend E&E, as well as Gail Carriger's other work, because her writing is so funny and quirky and engaging.

And, if any of you have already read this or other books by Gail Carriger, do you have any recommendations for similar books?

Edited to add: If you want to read a bit more about my love of Gail Carriger, check out my post about the Steampunk Soiree that took place at Foyle's last spring in London! And much thanks to Little, Brown for the complimentary copy of Soulless, which began the love affair.

Outfit no. 49

Skirt and sweatshirt: F21, hat: H&M, shoes: Payless, glasses: Ray-Ban

Nothing particularly exciting about this outfit, aside from -- of course -- the Star Wars sweatshirt. I had planned to wear my velvet skirt with it today, but for some reason it just was not working in my favor, so I had no choice but to fall back on a tried and true friend: the navy circle skirt from Forever21. I'm addicted to it. I won't lie. I'm sorry.

Cool thing about this sweatshirt, though! Months ago I tried it on at Forever21 and really wanted it, but I had very little money at the time so I passed it up. The next time I went shopping I looked for it, but couldn't find it in the store or online. However, when I checked out the sale section over the weekend, there it was for only $9.99! Hurray! So I bought it. Obviously. And now I can show off my geekhood with a mass-produced, fast fashion item from a super popular chain clothing store! I don't know how many layers of irony are involved but I'm sure it's many.

Also I gotta mention -- these tights are the Super Cosy ones from Primark. Fleece-lined. That's right. So, so awesome for especially cold days. Thanks endlessly to Shaun for bringing them back to me from Old Blighty!

Reading List

Since I said I'd start making some posts about the books I've been reading, I thought it would be good to start with my reading list. I always seem to have an endless list of books that I want to read, but lately I've started buying books again, so right now the books I own take precedence. (I also have a huge pile of books living with Lucy back in Wales, most of which I got from Little, Brown when I did an internship there, but I haven't been able to afford shipping them back to the States yet.) So the books pictured aren't the whole reading list, but my goal is to finish these first before moving on to other things!

1. Etiquette & Espionage - Gail Carriger. I've actually finished this one already, but I wanted to include it because I'll be doing a review of it soon, hopefully! Gail Carriger is my favorite author at the moment, and this is the first book in her new YA series. I highly recommend anything written by her; she's amazing!

2. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare. I'm about halfway through this one, but I can't seem to get into it for some unholy reason! I don't understand why, as I LOVED the Mortal Instruments series, but I guess that's how it goes. I'm putting it down for a while and will come back to it later when I'm in a different frame of mind.

3. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien. My dad read this to me when I was a kid, but I honestly haven't read it since then, at least not that I can recall. I've downloaded an audiobook version of it, so I may not actually read the book, but after seeing the movie I really want to renew my Tolkien love.

4. Mr. Darcy's Dream - Elizabeth Aston. I picked this up at The Book Exchange in Missoula, thanks to a family friend, who used her ridiculous amount of store credit to buy a bunch of us books for Christmas. Thanks Diana! I've been wanting to read more Regency romances lately, as my book is inspired by the genre in a lot of ways, and this one sounded super cute.

5. Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. This one's been on my radar for a while ever since I saw the movie trailer, but I didn't have much desire to read it until my bestie Rose expressed interest. So, since I love reading books with her, I decided to buy the first one and see if I liked it! I'm only about 100 pages in so far, but I'm really enjoying the writing. It's very atmospheric, and clearly the authors are good at writing, which is more than I can say for a lot of popular books these days. It's also a really fat book for YA! Hopefully I'll be reviewing this soon, once I've finished.

6. Valkyrie Rising - Ingrid Paulson. I'm not sure why I bought this, to be honest. I think the author might be represented by one of the agents I queried, and that's where I found out about it? Either way it sounded interesting and different, as it's set in Norway and it's about Valkyries, but I'm about one third of the way through and it's just not grabbing me. I'll certainly finish it, but so far it's kind of forgettable.

7. Shades of Milk and Honey - Mary Robinette Kowal. This is one I've been meaning to read for years. It's a Regency romance with magic, as far as I can tell, which is right up my street. I think I'll really like this one, or I hope I will, so it might be the next one I read after Beautiful Creatures.

8. Sharps - K.J. Parker. To be honest I have no idea what this one is about, beyond fencing and fantasy. I was in Barnes & Noble a while ago and the blurb on the back cover really grabbed me, and since I like books about swordplay (Swordspoint, anyone??), it found its way into my online shopping cart a few days later!

9. A Confusion of Princes - Garth Nix. It's no secret that I love Garth Nix. One of my favorite books of all time is Sabriel, so when I saw this I knew I had to buy it. It has a really crazy premise, and I have no doubt that it's gonna be awesome, so I'll let you know once I've read it if it lived up to my expectations!

If any of you have read these, or want to read them along with me and discuss, please do! I love discussing books. And if you have any recommendations for books you think I might like, comment away! I'm always looking for more books to add to my list of books-I-may-never-actually-read. x

Outfit no. 48

Skirt: F21, Sweater and necklace: H&M, shirt: wholesale-dress.net, shoes: Payless, glasses: Ray-Ban

Feeling pretty good today! I had a low moment after eating half a donut at work (IT WAS FREE! I CAN'T RESIST FREE BAKED GOODS!), but then came home and had delicious, filling, and super low-calorie soup for lunch. So that made up for my slip-up earlier. Or so I keep telling myself. But yay! Friday. I'm gonna start in on my huge stack of books to read, beginning with Beautiful Creatures. And then I shall go see the movie when I'm done, hurray! YA paranormal romances are seriously the best books.

Other than that I don't really have any plans for the weekend. Which is kind of nice, but I hope something social happens, or I at least drag myself out to go shopping tomorrow. I often want to stay home and do nothing, but I have to force myself to go out otherwise I get melancholy. Yes I'm basically the saddest, most ennui-ridden human alive and it is annoying.

I'm in love with my outfit today. I wasn't sure it would work at all, but I kind of think it rules? Maybe it's just me. But I can never find ways to style this really old H&M sweater, or this blouse, and bam I put them together and it was magic. Also if I could I would wear this skirt every single day. It's comfortable, flattering, and the perfect length. I keep hoping Forever21 will stock more in different colors, but they don't! Tragic. Anyone know where to find skater/circle skirts on the cheap? This one's great because it's made of a thicker jersey fabric, so it doesn't cling to my hips like some of my other skirts (which I never wear). The Holy Grail of skirts and I only have one.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! I may do a book post over the weekend if I get bored. I've been meaning to and I just haven't yet. So watch out! I guess. If you want.

Bath Nostalgia

I didn't take outfit photos today but I felt like blogging, and I needed something to make me feel happy. So I thought I'd share some photos from the day I went to Bath with Shaun last year. It was a bit of a last-minute trip, as I was planning to leave England in September and I wanted to see Bath before I left. I'd heard it was beautiful, and I love Jane Austen, so we booked seats on a coach and off we went!

My favorite thing about Bath was the architecture. It really felt like we were in another time. We also had so much fun in the Fashion Museum, which was located in the old Assembly Rooms (where Jane Austen attended balls!), and then went for tea at the Jane Austen Centre. We did a bit of shopping, people watching, and generally relaxed in the touristy atmosphere. We didn't go to the Roman Baths, as tickets were £12 a pop and the line was a mile long, but I think I would have enjoyed the Fashion Museum more anyway!

But I'll stop talking now and let you see the pictures. I loved Bath and I hope I'll be back there again one day.

Outfit no. 47

Dress: H&M, shirt: Primark, boots: Aldo, necklace: gift from a friend, glasses: Ray-Ban

After going through my outfit photos, I realized that I had a concerned/angry furrowed brow in every single one of them. Except the ones where I'm looking down or my hair is in the way. Because you can't see it. 

I'm just having one of those an-agent-rejected-my-manuscript-because-the-protagonist-wasn't-likable-and-I-think-I-should-give-up-on-life kind of days. If you read that whole hyphenated mess then I tip my hat to you.

Gonna work on a new project tonight and stop dwelling on poor Cecily. She may be my baby, but it doesn't mean anybody else will like her (besides Lucy, who is possibly even worse than Cecily, and I say that with the greatest possible amount of love and admiration). 

Outfit no. 46

Skirt: F21, shirt and hat: H&M, cardi: hand-me-down from Mom, shoes: Payless, glasses: Ray-Ban

I was about to say happy Monday, but then I realized it's Tuesday. SCORE! Four-day weeks are awesome... until the next week rolls around and you have to work for five days in a row. Boo. 

They got this new coffee machine at work, a Keurig, but it's not a big exciting one; it just makes one cup of coffee at a time. And now since the little coffee things you use for each cup are limited, we can only have one Keurig cup of coffee per day and then we have to use the old coffee machine if we want more. Which forces me to ask... why? Not only are we wasting a ton of plastic by using those dumb K-Cups for each cup of coffee made, but it takes forever for the dumb single cup to "brew," and we can only have one per day so it's like... you may as well continue to drink exclusively from the old coffee machine. The Keurig doesn't even taste any different. I should just start bringing in my French press, seriously. I feel like I'm supposed to be grateful that we have a super fancy coffee machine at work now, but it's the most inefficient and dumb thing I think I've ever seen? Why would anyone spend that much money on a coffee machine if a $20 one from Target is just as good?

So yeah it turns out that's the most exciting thing that happened to me today.

My dad got my mom this cardi years ago for Christmas, but apparently it's a bit too tight for her, so when I was in Montana for the holidays she gave it to me. And I love it! It kinda looks like a holiday sweater, but it's not, so I shall wear it year 'round. It's woolly and warm and it kinda has a vintage vibe to it, which I love! Thanks, Mom!

Also a rando at the gas station said I had a nice outfit, which must mean that the cardigan is working.

Now that I've found my old Weight Watchers booklet and am two days into the swing of it again, I feel so much better about life. I think it has something to do with feeling more in control. Unsurprisingly, the number one thing on my mind lately has been my novel. I check my "business" email constantly, hoping for word from agents, and it's always always on my mind. In a really annoying, black cloud over my head kind of way. And it's so frustrating because I have no control over it. All I can do is send out a query, and hope that the agent likes the premise enough to request material. Just sitting and waiting is driving me mad. But with WW, I feel like there's an aspect of my life that I can be really fastidious and organized about. I write down everything I eat, and I have to plan ahead what I'll eat for that day. It sounds stressful, and sometimes it can be frustrating, but it's made me feel like I have something to work for, something to control. And it helps.

I'm also relieved because I've finally signed Lyall and myself up for training at PetSmart! We start on February 27th. Hopefully this will help him become more socialized, and he'll stop barking and snapping at other dogs when we're out on walks. He's a good dog, but he has a few behavior issues that really need some work.

I'm thinking of doing a post about the books I've read lately, am reading, and am planning to read. Would anyone be interested in this? It would be just me rambling about books, and perhaps recommending and/or reviewing some. I might make it a regular thing, as I'm trying to read more now and I have a big stack of unread books thanks to my dad getting me a B&N giftcard recently. Thoughts? If nobody comments on this I'm doing it anyway. Just a warning. Books!

Outfit no. 45

Skirt: F21, t-shirt: Skreened, jacket: River Island, shoes: Payless, glasses: Ray-Ban

I am super duper ridiculously excited about this shirt! Like, so super excited that I spent $22 on it and I normally won't spend more than like $7 on a t-shirt. I was poking about on the various nerdy t-shirt sites like Qwertee, Teefury, and Redbubble, and the second I saw this one I knew I would spend whatever ridiculous amount of money they were asking for it. Stargate SG-1 will always live in a special place in my heart. Originally my first tattoo was going to be a Stargate on my inner right arm, but a year or so later I went with the TARDIS on my left arm instead. There's still a spot waiting for a Stargate, though, and one day... one day I will get that tattoo. Until then I'll simply wear t-shirts with team SG-1's names on them. DEFINITELY gonna wear this one to Denver Comic Con when I go!

In my last post I mentioned that I wanted to lose 6 pounds. Today I got an email from someone being all like "DON'T LOSE WEIGHT YOU ARE PERFECT!" First it annoyed me, but then it got me to thinking. Women are bombarded with way too many conflicting messages when it comes to our bodies and our weight, and it's fucking dumb. We're told by magazines and the like that we need to be thin in order to be happy; we need to lose weight and diet and exercise, so we can be not fat. But then we're also told, by our friends and by those same magazines and the internet and all other media, that it's not healthy to diet all the time and we need to learn to love our bodies as they are. Body confidence! Women of all shapes and sizes! Real women! Get skinny! Learn how Beyonce lost the baby weight! ...It's like, what the hell are we supposed to believe? Am I supposed to learn to love the body that's pissing me off, or am I supposed to lose weight to be skinnier and more acceptable to society?

The thing is, women (and men, and everyone else) shouldn't have to feel like we need to apologize for our bodies and the choices we make about our bodies. Because, let's be honest here, sometimes we don't love our bodies. Sometimes we hate our bodies. And that's OKAY. It's fucking okay, okay? It's not a mortal sin to look at your tummy or your thighs in the mirror and go, "I hate this and I want to make it go away." It's also completely okay to say, "I think this is all right and I'm leaving it the way it is!" Both are fine. I am tired of feeling as though I have to make explanations for why I'm doing something to my body, as though it belongs to anyone else but me.

Look. Girls like to tell each other, "Noooo you don't need to lose weight you are already so tiny!" But we should probably stop saying it. Firstly, because it's not up to me or you what our friends decide to do with their bodies, their diets, anything. And it's ridiculous to assume that just because we think our friends look cute as they are, that they shouldn't do something they want to do to make themselves feel more attractive, confident, whatever. And I guarantee we aren't all saying this out of the kindness of our hearts, either. Every single time I say this to someone, what I mean to say is, "Ugh no don't lose weight, you'll make me feel even fatter! You'll make me feel like I need to lose weight too! You'll get skinny and I'll stay lazy and fat, don't do it!" And I know that most of the time, that's exactly what other girls mean when they say it to their friends too. So don't say it. It's rude.

I mean, a few years ago I weighed over 30 lbs more than I do right now. It was the actual worst. I hated everything about my body. I wanted to carve the fat off my bones with a kitchen knife. So I joined Weight Watchers. And lost over 30 lbs. Now a lot of people will want me to say, "BUT I STILL FELT INSECURE AND UGLY ANYWAY" but I didn't. I felt cute again. I felt confident again. I felt fucking. Awesome. Not because I started eating healthy and exercising, though I'm sure it helped a bit. Nope. Because I lost weight. Because I was skinnier. Because I felt attractive, and I'd accomplished something to get there, and I could fit into size XS again.

Honestly, I feel better when I'm at a weight I'm comfortable with. I feel cuter, more confident, happier. I feel ugly and gross and angry when I've gained weight. And it's within my rights to lose that weight. Nobody should tell me not to do it, because it has nothing to do with them! Just like it has nothing to do with anybody when it comes to a woman's (or man's or anyone else's) body. I do what I want, when I want, how I want, when it comes to my body.

So, I'm sorry if I look too skinny or whatever to be losing 6 lbs, but I don't really care what you think. I just want to be happy and do what I want. As should you.

Wow that became a rant and I didn't mean it to be. Oh well, I'm never one to shy away from a rant, especially when it comes to like... ~feminism~ and ~body image~. I will now go take a shower because my hair is so greasy it's like I poured a whole thing of olive oil on my scalp.

Outfit no. 44

Shorts: F21, cardi: H&M, shirt: wholesale-dress.net, shoes: New Look, glasses: Ray-Ban

I'm making some sort of haughty, smug face in this photo and thus I couldn't resist posting it. It's pretty accurate in terms of ~photos that represent Meg~ if that were a thing.

It's a happy accident that I happened to wear red today! A glorious happy accident! :|

No but seriously I like Valentine's Day in that it gives me an excuse to eat lots of things and kiss Greg a lot. Not that I don't already do these things. Which is why -- segue! -- I'm going to start doing Weight Watchers again tomorrow in the hope of losing 6 pounds. I've somehow managed to gain a few pounds over the past few months and it's annoying me, and therefore I figure, hey, why not just eat less instead of staring at the mirror, poking and squeezing my belly and glaring at myself hatefully! Tonight I will buy things at the grocery store, possibly in the weird "dieting" section of Smith's which really weirds me out but hey if they have WW cookies in there nothing will hold me back!

I'm feeling a lot better than I was in my last post. It helps to have a stupid plan about my stupid weight, and also I started reading Etiquette & Espionage, Gail Carriger's new book, which has brightened up my life considerably. Gail Carriger is one of my favorite writers ever, and I wish I could be her. No seriously I wish I'd written her books. They're what I wish my book had become. So... yeah go read her books okay guys! I've talked about them here before but I'll do it again. Read Soulless and go from there. That's an order, Lieutenant.

Tonight I am declaring that Greg and I eat the most fatty, greasy, cheesy, and disgusting cheeseburgers that we can possibly find, and also a huge pile of fries, because after today I will be ingesting solely "fat free" and "low calorie" nonsense, plus like... baby carrots. Gross. But tonight... tonight! Tonight, I shall eat so much I never want to eat again. And it will be glorious.

Outfit no. 43

Skirt and sweater: F21, shirt: Primark, shoes: thrifted, glasses: Ray-Ban

I've been really, really... well, off for the past several days. I don't know how else to put it. I could say I'm depressed, but people take that to mean different things, and I'm not quite sure that's what it is. I know what depression feels like, and this feels almost more like, just, straight-up sadness. Which is stupid, and there's no way to explain it, and there's no reason to be sad, but I've just been feeling utterly low. 

I drug myself outside to take outfit photos today, just so I'd have something to post here, and only managed to take a few before getting fed up and coming inside. Plus one of the neighbors stood in the parking lot and stared up at me for a while trying to figure out what I was doing up on the third floor balcony, which was nice. I told her to fuck off in a normal voice so I doubt it carried all the way down to her, but she left soon thereafter. Do people not realize they're being rude when they're being rude?

Apparently I'm also easy to anger right now. I'd chalk it up to PMS but it's not anywhere near that time of the month. I hate feeling like this because I don't know what to do about it, and it makes me feel like the entire world is nothing but a reason to feel empty inside. I cried while watching TNG last night, during the stupidest moment where Picard's nephew is sitting outside under a tree, watching the stars. And I've been listening to this stupid book at work, The Fault in Our Stars, which a million people recommended and love, and I hate it. I mean... it's good. It's well-written and engaging and I like the characters. But no way in hell would I ever have read it if I knew what it was about, and now I feel like I've wasted 5 hours of my life, with one to come, since I haven't finished yet. I mean seriously why do people like reading about depressing real-life shit. I may be an escapist, but 100% of the time without fail I'd rather read about people dying in a fantasy battle of unicorns and vampires than read about teenagers dying of cancer. Fuuuuck. It's the most depressing thing ever and I'm really mad that I've somehow been tricked into listening to it. Never again. Nothing but fantasy or sci fi for the rest of my life forever and ever amen.

So I'm sad and I'm reading a sad book and that's about it. When did my blog become a personal journal? Oh well.

Journey to Publication! Part 3: Despair

Okay so I'm not exactly despairing, but I'm not full of hope and optimism like I was only a week or so ago. Things have settled down a bit, and after sending out a new batch of queries over a week ago, I've received two very brief form rejections and nothing else. I've gone through the list of agents I really wanted to query initially, and am now unsure where to go or what to do next. And above all I just feel... emo about it all.

When do I not feel emo though? Sigh. I guess I'm just annoyed because I went from 3 agents requesting material in a short period of time to a series of bland rejections. Obviously this is super normal, and I've only queried about 12 agents so far. But I'm in a stupid headspace where I'm convinced (again; welcome to emotional rollercoaster!) that my book is horrible and even if I was a literary agent I'd never represent it because it could never sell.

In moments of clarity and non-emo-ness, I don't think this at all. I think my book is a bit odd, perhaps, in terms of genre, but it could easily be shoe-horned into Steampunk or Fantasy or even Magical Realism if need be. And I believe it can sell, and sell well. But only when I'm in a good mood. I'm in a horrible mood now, have been for a while, and I feel like a hack.

The only thing I can do is continue to query agents and hope I'll eventually find the one who loves my book. I have a feeling it's gonna take a lot of queries and a lot of patience, but that's okay. I just have to do it. I have to pretend to be confident and excited when I feel full of irrational despair. I have to keep at it.

Statistically, if I query enough agents, someone is bound to love my novel... right? That's how the world works, right? Right?

Outfit no. 42

Skirt: F21, jumper and shoes: H&M, shirt and earrings: Primark, glasses: Ray-Ban.

In a bit of a bad mood right now as I came home to find that Lyall had been chewing on my River Island boots. Argh, seriously!! I mean it really is my fault for forgetting to put them away this morning, but I don't understand. He's also started pooping inside again, usually right after I take him on a walk. It's like... dude, I just brought you out and let you sniff around other dogs' urine and feces, yet you didn't remember you had to poo until you came back inside? WHY. :(

At least he's adorable and easily forgiven. If he was a human child this would be another matter entirely.

I've been thinking about the sequel to my novel a lot lately. In vague, sort of dreamlike ways, but still. I think I need another writing project to make me feel awesome about life, and a sequel seems like the thing to do. No idea how I came up with a plot for the first one, though, so I guess I'll just have to hope inspiration hits! ...sob.

Anyway, I don't know what I think of this outfit, as I threw it together this morning without much thought. I was going to wear my Aldo brogues with it but I can't seem to find them! Woe. Last I had them was in Vegas and I've no idea where they've got to. Obviously I can't really be bothered to look very hard, so I just wore a different pair of shoes.

Really hating my hair at the moment. I think my next haircut is going to lean more towards Amelie, but I'm not sure, and thus it will probably just be the same one I've had since last May. God all I talk about is my dog and my hair, I AM THE WORST.

I think Greg and I are going to see that Hansel & Gretel movie tonight. If I'm lucky. It's a date night, which means poor Greg is being drug out on the town for dinner and a movie. I'm excited though! Yay crappy action movie starring two hotties!

Speaking of hotties I paused The Vampire Diaries at a pretty good spot yesterday. Like, I still think Ian Somerhalder looks like a Neanderthal/elf lovechild (and not in a good way), but he's growing on me. Slowly. Slowly but surely. He's now the sole reason I continue to watch this show, but you know what that's okay. Hot men are usually the main reason I do anything, let's not pretend.