the procrastinator's gift guide

It's that crazy time of year; Christmas is this weekend! In my house, the Christmas-feeling has been pretty slow to come about...the outside lights and decorations have been up for a while, but we just bought our tree on Friday and put it up on Sunday. To be fair, we weren't procrastinating: my sister was away at college, and we couldn't pick out a tree without her! But now that she's home, Christmas prep had to get done fast or risk not getting done at all. On the theme of procrastination, working in retail has opened my eyes to how much some people put off their Christmas shopping (and see the opposite, the people who are done by December first!) Plus, if you hadn't noticed, I have a tendency towards a bit of procrastination myself...so why not wait until a few days before Christmas to write a gift guide?

So here you are, the Procrastinator's Gift Guide: what to get when you don't have much time to get it.


Love this blinged out wreath made by Projects for Your Nest...probably too late to make one, huh?

1. Baked goods

The season of giving is also the season of eating! Homemade treats are relatively inexpensive (depending on what you choose) and can generally be completed in an afternoon. As a bonus, you might have enough left over to have some holiday treats for yourself! I just made these peanut butter balls, which were a little labor intensive with all the rolling but super tasty...I made a second batch for a holiday party and added a pretzel stick in each one. It added a touch of salt to counteract the sweetness, made them easy and fun to eat, and upped the adorability quotient by at least 40%! Last year, these peppermint bark cookies were a big hit at our cookie exchange party. Baking something is a delicious and heartfelt way to show you care at the last minute.

2. Books

Give the gift of literature! A good book is a gift that's useful, entertaining, and can be the source of many conversations between the giver and recipient. Granted, this option does require you to know your intended recipient's taste in books fairly well, but there's nothing like giving a book you loved to someone that you know will love it too.

3. Hot drinks

You'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone who doesn't enjoy any hot drink during the wintertime. So whether it's coffee, tea, cocoa, or cider, grab a few packets, arrange in a cute mug, and instant gift! Delicious is almost always a good way to go when you're in a crush for time.

4. Gift cards

Yes, gift cards get a bad rap, but there's a reason they're a classic choice for the harried (and possibly confused) gift-giver. A gift card says "I know where you like to shop, but I'm sure you know what you need more than me." Personally, I have both enjoyed and been disappointed by gift cards, and they're a last resort in my own shopping adventures. But I know that if I honestly have no idea (or no time) to get someone the perfect gift, at least I can rest safe in the knowledge that they'll be able to treat themselves to something they've really been hoping for. (This is assuming that you give them a gift card to somewhere they actually shop, which is crucial.) Get a cute tin or holder for it to jazz the card up a bit!

None of the gift ideas seems quite enough? Mix and match! A new book and a gift card to Starbucks, or some fancy hot cocoa and cookies to enjoy it with: the possibilities are nigh endless. Even though you have mere days until Christmas, you still have time! Take heart procrastinators, because in the end, it's the thought that counts...unless you're getting me a gift card for Yankee Candle or something, because that's just not cool.

my five: wardrobe essentials

Top Fives/Pick Fives/Five Parties are some of my favorite pieces of blogging (and if no one calls them "Five Parties," well, they should). It's a list, which makes it awesome to begin with, and the restriction of five makes it all so high-stakes, don't you think? I'm always on the edge of my seat to see who/what won't make the cut this time! Okay, that's a lie, but I really like the number five anyway. It's a nice round number, not so short that you could never narrow your list down to that and not so long that you're struggling to think of things to fill it. Five is, in many ways, the perfect number. (My personal lucky number is 7, but I find it sort of unwieldy in blog terms for some unknowable reason. Possibly the inside of my head is just unwieldy in general. Interesting fact: "unwieldy" is one of my favorite words.)

And since this is a fashion/style blog, I know that I won't last too long without an essentials post. I'm pretty sure a fashion blog without an essentials post curls up into a tiny cyberball and then self-destructs in a puff of silicon and data. I wouldn't want that.

One: Cardigans

You may not have noticed, but I love cardigans. I think they're the perfect addition to pretty much any outfit. You can use one to dress up a t-shirt or dress down a dress, cover up some skin without getting too hot (depending on the cardigan. I'm particularly partial to ones with half-sleeves for this reason). A good cardigan is a versatile and indispensible piece of your wardrobe.

Two: LBD

The "little black dress" is something of a huge honking cliche now, but in my opinion, it's a cliche for a reason. It's very difficult to go wrong with a black cocktail dress. There's some class and sophistication there, but it can be just as easily brought to a more casual level with flats and chunky jewelry (and, dare I say, a cardigan?). For my purposes, the LBD is more of an archetype than a single entity: everyone should own a nice cocktail dress. Whether or not it's black is up to you; I would, of course, recommend having more than one! But it's pretty hard to look super out of place/inappropriate in black, unless you're at the White Party, so it's a good choice to wear when you aren't totally sure of the formality/style of wherever you're going.

Three: Blue jeans

This is really a no-brainer in this day and age, but seriously: jeans. Not jeggings or some other horrific miscarriage of hosiery, jeans. I personally prefer a dark-wash straight or wide leg, but any jeans work. Remember that the darker the wash, the more "formal" they get, which serves my purposes because I go to more plays than rodeos. Ridiculous embroidery is usually a no, though I will admit to having a soft spot for pocket embellishment. The problem with that is that, in drawing a lot of attention to your backside, it...draws a lot of attention to your backside. So no butt-spangles for the faint of heart.

Four: Pencil/A-line Skirts

Okay, this is kind of cheating, but it's my blog and I don't care. The pencil skirt is perfect for looking a little more professional, a little sleeker. I would recommend one in a dark neutral, because I love black, but traditional-made-sassy patterns like houndstooth would also be awesome. Conversely, a flouncy a-line is a must for any summer day, pretty-but-comfy event, or really any time you might feel like twirling. As a bottom-heavy hourglass, a-lines are my favorites because they go straight out from the hips, very flattering.

Five: Shoes

My final essential is lots and lots of shoes. Honestly, the shoes you "need" depend a lot on your wardrobe, your style, and your preferred comfort level. My own personal "must-haves" are black ballet flats, black boots (knee-high or ankle), neutral heels, a pair of sneakers, and then as many other pairs in as many colors, styles, and patterns as I can get my hands on. A pair of shoes can make an outfit pop or flop, and while the shoes I listed (black, black, neutral) can go with pretty much anything, finding the Perfect Shoe for an outfit is such a wonderful experience. Shoes are also a great way to show your personality, especially when paired with a fairly basic outfit; I have a pair of blue plaid pumps that make my life. I seldom have the opportunity to wear them, but when I do...I feel like a superhero.

What are your wardrobe essentials?

secret shame: milkmaid chic?

I have a secret. A passion for an article of clothing with no real world wearability, no useful features, historically steeped in silliness. You may be shocked (or you may not, since I've mentioned them twice in the past two blog entries), but I love dirndls. I remember watching the ladies in their beautiful dirndls passing by at Germanfest when I was a little girl (and when I went this past Friday), longing for their beauty. Every year I insisted that for next year, I would have a dirndl of my own, but I've never had one. I've never even tried one on (I'm afraid of those collapsible box-and-sheet dressing rooms they have on the festival grounds.). The trouble with them is, in fact, everything that makes them fabulous. A dirndl is an undeniable fashion statement. (This post may be a bit image light because most of the ones I'm finding are of actual people having fun in their dirndls [curses!], which are sort of creepy, costumes that are no doubt entitled "Sexy Barmaid," which are not really relevant, and Sims wearing dirndls, which is...sort of unexpected.)

Things I Love About Dirndls (A Brief List)

Bodice I considered writing about my love affair with corsets, but these days even the PTA seems to be all aboard the corset express (I'll share when I have a really great pile of pictures for you). I do love them, but I also enjoy bodices of many kinds! The dirndl bodice is festooned with laces, buttons, gorgeous embroidery--sometimes all three!



Color This applies pretty well to the photo above as well. Traditional German folk dress comes in a number of lovely colors, but dirndls for fashion and joy come in a veritable rainbow of colors! I lived fairly exclusively in black during high school (not in a cool Goth way, in a "black t-shirt and jeans + seasonal black hoodie" sort of style-challenged way) and still wear a lot of it--it's a go-to and a safety net for me, definitely, so really gorgeous colors are still alluring yet forbidden, like a rare bird or really expensive chocolate.

Accessorizing My last post was sort of an ode to my love of and utter failure to accessorize. As much as I love dirndls, I love all the pretty things that go with them: those pretty poofy blouses, socks (!), oftentimes little black kitten heels. I feel like it would be hard not to look cute in a dirndl--you can't just throw it on over a sports bra and some old Vans. The dirndl gives you so many options (should your blouse be more poofy, foofy, or lacy?) that some good old German style is unavoidable.

Statement Like I said before, a dirndl is pretty much unwearable in the "real world"...and that's why I love them. A lot of the styles that I love are over the top, perfectly crafted, and way more at home in photoshoots than in class or on the street. (Examples: Steampunk, pin-up/vintage, cyberpunk, Renfair, any number of gorgeous cosplays I see) I like dressing up. I wish I had the guts (and, in many cases, the gams) to pull off any of those looks in my every day life. It probably won't happen any time soon, if ever; I'll just have to wait until Germanfest next year.

Semi-related, but I'm listening to it and it's close enough it gets included: I highly recommend this Elvis-heavy duwop cover of "Hey There Delilah" by German band, The Baseballs.