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Happy Halloweiner!

Well this halloween weekend was a lot of fun even though it wasn't filled with much ghoulish activities. Friday I went to a Halloween party but the night before had no clue what to wear. Luckily I with the help of a roommate I was able to throw this costume together, Alice in Wonderland!


concept art for Disney's Alice in Wonderland by Mary Blair

Of course being bored I decided to curl my hair, unfortunately the curls fell out after a couple hours, why do my hairs not like curling?! I hemmed this dress that I got before moving, I think the length is much better. And I also ended up looking 12. I'm such a baby.

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The party was pretty fun, lot's of great costumes! There was sexy male Princess Leia who was very good at dancing, Weekend at Bernie's complete with dragging Bernie around and getting him to dance to the treasure, Scooby-Doo, sexy green eggs and ham, Enzo/Matrix from Reboot, and lots and lots of pirates!

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The rest of the weekend was filled with puppy walking, private concert going, and playing Settlers of Catan with the boys... More on that later.

Huggles,
Lauren

{ dress - vintage }{ blouse - urban outfitters }{ apron - roommate's }{ necklace - target }{ flats - target }
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What I Did: Sunset on a Beach

I've noticed it's a funny thing, the less I work the less I blog.

It's been great living here in the east bay, but it has also been a bit depressing. I miss the ease that I had back home. I knew where to hang out, who with, and what to do. Here it's all so big here, I'm meeting people (like awesome Grace!!!), and yet am not confident in going out much alone. But I have moved and lived in new places before and this is much how my learning/comfort cycle is, the first few months I'm a bit of a hermit, and slowly I break out of my shell, turning from a turtle to a lizard... yeah that analogy doesn't work, but is funny to think about!.

I have met a ton of great people and many of my friends here and roomies think I'm doing great, I've met so many people! But that's who I am, I super social and love being involved, I mean I was hanging out with a former classmate and he was telling one of my new friends that I was "Captain Art School", I was involved with everything and knew everyone who went to our small art college. I miss that. So in my job hunting here I have really strived to look for a more community environment. But you can't always find it. I do though have a great job currently as the "Girl Friday" (personal assistant) to a holistic doctor here in town, and she is great to work with. I've learned so much and am busy doing everything from office management, to yard work, to event photography and booking. I like it, I've always been a jack of all trades and am proud of that. So yeah, I haven't blogged much (my dad misses my posts), and I miss a lot of things, and am quite mopey, but I've come so far this year. I do miss the comforts and excitement that I had last year at this time, but looking back my life was soooo different. I was settled, I was engaged, I was safe... Now I don't have anything holding me back which is really scary, but I'm excited to live a new life! Not many people can say they've lived multiple lives, but I have and I loved every one of them.

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So onto sunset on the beach. Last week was pretty hectic, I had drawings to do, work, getting myself used to being on the go, and two earthquakes shook the bay area last thursday. Yup I'm a real Californian now, I got all shook up! So Friday night the boys and I went to The View lounge ontop of the Marriott in SF for Jim's bday. It was beautiful, but sadly no photos turned out. And after wine at Jim's place, me and the other boys went back to Oakland and ended the night with many specials (red stripe and a shot o' whiskey)... well let me be clear, they ended the night with specials, I just sat back, sipped some beer and watched them make fools of themselves while they got in a tickle/poke/beer/popcorn fight.... yeah.

So saturday came around and the weather was gorgeous so after nursing a hangover Mike and I drove to the city, got stuck on the bay bridge, bought some burritos, had Tripp crawl all over us, and headed towards Ocean Beach to watch the sunset and meetup with a former classmate of mine Ray (who is moving here too!). I have only watched the sunset on the ocean a couple times, last time was in Malibu last summer... but the vibe this time was so chill. Everyone just hanging out with campfires and doggies. It was so nice. and sandy.

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Oh and another note, early this thursday morning I was woken up by another earthquake, but it was cool I yelled at it to stop cause I was sleeping, and I told that quake who's boss. Don't be shakin me while I sleep!

Huggles,
Lauren
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What I Wore: Date Night

One main reason I moved out to Oakland was because of this girl... Miss Marlee. She's been my friend since 7th grade and is one of the purdiest, smartest girls I know. So smart she makes my brain melt. Anyway we went on a movie date night (a month ago, sorry I'm slow.) beginning with indian food and ending with the movie "My Idiot Brother". That movie was amazing.... It made me cringe and laugh because he is such an idiot. haha

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Huggles,
Lauren

{ cardigan - Marlee's }{ shirt - thrifted }{ shorts - american apparel }{ tights - kohls I think }{ shoes - uo }
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What I Wore: Out Dancing

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One of my first weekends here in the bay area consisted of meeting up with the boys for a night of Ethiopian food, jazz music, and then dancing in the Tenderloin. Of course we all four completely over dressed and tried our hardest to make complete fools of ourselves dancing. And we did. Mike's friend from highschool was in town and she managed to capture such epic action shots of the four of us. I have to say that Jim and Adam stole the dance floor that night. I also got to meet the tattoo artist, Henry Lewis, but I just said hi to him in passing, haha! I'm so excited for more fun times with these guys!






I was so excited to wear this dress out! I got it before I moved in Michigan and was on sale cause it had some stains... with just a little water the stains were gone... granted there are some grease stains but they are hardly visible! I feel like this is my first adult dress. So many of my vintage are cutesy 50's dresses but this I feel is more elegant. And what made the night even more perfect is that the bar was playing Motown for us to dance to. Perfect dress for it! I think eventually I will make this a backless dress... It's from Hudson's and was altered on the Shops on Woodward, I love old tags!

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Huggles,
Lauren

{ outfit details }
{ chiffon dress - vintage, via Lost & Found }{ jacket - Modcloth }{ platforms - Guess }
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What I Wore & Did: Fleet Week

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Well this past week in San Francisco was Fleet Week! Which is when lot's of navy and airmen are roaming the streets... and of course there's planes doing aerobatics and big ships. My buddy Jim called me up on Saturday and invited me down to the city to watch with him and the boys.

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Of course we were talking most of the time, and after the air show was finished we elbowed our way to In & Out to get some munchies for oursevles. The weather was gorgeous and we all made ourselves comfy by Ghirardelli square... if only I had bought some chocolate. While we ate a falcon decided he was hungry too and swooped into the bushes near us grabbing himself a mouse morsel to eat and perching on the lamp post. It was a great park and day to be eating outside!

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Soon we all sprang from our roost and made our way to a rooftop in chinatown. How we got there you can guess.... by walking. We sat and watched the sun set and yelled at the moon for being early. "Go back to the night! You don't belong here!!" We all parted ways, half staying in SF and half barting it back to Oakland.

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But that's not all! On Sunday I met back up with ole' Jim to go look at the ships. Of course our early start actually became a late start and the lines for the ships had grown very long. So we made ourselves content at looking at the battleships from a safe distance. We walked up and down the piers and tried to sneak a peek at where the Exploratorium is moving (Jim works there and is excited for the move to pier 15). So we ate and took the obvious pictures of us in front of boats, and tickling tug boats naturally. Then we hugged and I crossed the bay to come home to a snuggle puppy.


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I'm really excited to have worn one of the dresses I bought at the flea market. It was so warm, some of the day I didn't need my cardigan! Thought I noticed waist seam is coming undone but that is a easy fix! I felt very colorful with the teal dots on the dress, my teal scarf, and my teal tights! So bright and fitting for fleet week! And I think this might be the first closeup of my Dooney & Bourke purse! I was going to sell it but some puppy decided to chew on the strap! But it's perfect for me and I also have a matching mini dooney purse too, I love Ohio thrift shops!

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Anyway. Planes, ships, dress. My weekend.

Huggles,
Lauren

{ outfit details }
{ dress - vintage, alameda flea }{ scarf - pitaya }{ cardigan & tights - UO }{ shoes - target }{ purse - dooney & bourke, thrifted }
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What I Got: Alameda Flea & Estate Sale

Last Friday my friend Zoe and I drove to the hills in Berkeley for a large estate sale! It was really fun because Zoe is a comrade when it comes to loving vintage and having such cute knick knacks in her home. So naturally we had loads of fun. I held onto my wallet so I wouldn't spend too much, since I'm on a freelancers budget now. But I was able to score a cute german pin, a Michigan shaker, a black and white polka dot skirt, and a teal 50/60's mad men-esque wiggle dress with pockets.




On Saturday the girls and I hung out in SF and eventually made it to Japantown for sushi and ice cream!!

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Then Sunday was the epic, Alameda Flea Market. I have never been and sadly everyone was busy, so little ole me made her way through the stacks of treasures to find two of her own. Two 50's dresses. One, which is sadly too small for me in the ribcage, is a beautiful blue and green water print, with shoulders that tie together. And it fits Marlee beautifully! The other is a sheer white dress with gray and teal polka dots, and the cutest collar. I found them at some guys booth in wads underneath a bunch of other crap. The sheer dress was terribly stained with dust and dirt and so I was able to talk the guy down. After washing both of them well they are all shiny and new! Now I just have to find buttons for the sheer dress!

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Huggles,
Lauren
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What I Drew: Pet Portraits!

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As I mentioned in my last post I've been doing commissions. Well here are a few I've done! I've always loved drawing animals so I'm putting that to good use by doing custom Pet Portraits! Each one the person emailed me a pic of their furry friend and told me their favorite flower. I'm having so much fun doing these!! And it's really helping with my lettering since I want to start doing more posters and cards in the future! I'm offering them at $50 each for an original 8x10 watercolor of your pet, of course to you bloggers I'll offer discounts if you would like to promote my new art endeavor!!

If you'd like to discuss this further please email me at { sparrowandurchin@gmail.com } and if you'd like to order on you can email or convo me on Etsy!

Huggles,
Lauren
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What I Wore: Job Interview

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This past month the hard part of landing a full time job has started! I've had some wonderful interviews and made some promising strides, but right now I'm still living on savings and freelance/commissions (which I will share with you on Monday!) This outfit I wore to a design job interview, so it was a bit quirky, and the I'm really excited for! But I don't want to share too many details... you know, jinxing it! Anyway the interviewer gave me wonderful compliments on my outfit and said I'd fit right in. Good sign yeah?! Here's to hoping!!!

Still trying to figure out how I'm going to take pictures, we have a great balcony off of one of my roommates rooms, and a big back yard that I've been decluttering and cutting back the weeds. So who knows! I definitely haven't been dressing up much because I spend my days looking for jobs and doing freelance, and frankly haven't felt good enough about myself to dress up. I'm a bit of a lonely hermit right now and quite sheepish. I'm sure that'll all turn around once I get a job and get out more!

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Huggles,
Lauren

{ outfit details }
{ vest - Anthropologie }{ dress, as a blouse - UO }{ skirt - Anthropologie }{ necklace - UO }{ bracelet - F21 }{ platforms - Guess }{ purse - vintage, grandma's }
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Out West: Day 8

By the last day Lee and I were pooped out. So most of the day was just driving so we could get to my new home! After leaving the KOA we drove through the scenic route of the redwoods national and state parks, and sadly they don't have a sign to dance in front of :( We stopped a few times to marvel at the trees but again sadly we were tired and didn't have time to go on any hikes.

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The drive down the coast in the morning was incredible to see the fog roll in from the Pacific... and at certain areas it was almost white out conditions with the visibility! But again we felt as though we were in the Lord of the Rings books!

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We did get to meet Paul Bunyan and we all had a great conversation about how he made the great lakes! Seriously, the statue moved and talked... yep. It was AMAZING! And they had the best gift shop full of ridiculousness!

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Ah the redwoods were so incredible! It was hard to really just take in what you were looking at. And throughout the entire drive there were redwoods you couldn't get away from them towering above you! Even the clover was giant!

We got to Oakland in the early evening and after some rest we went out to the bar, I had fun but was quite a zombie.

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On Saturday Lee and I were lazy around the house but drove into the city to walk with the dog around Golden Gate Park for a bit then drive around, touched the Pacific ocean (Lee's first time!) and quickly saw the Sutro Baths. We were too tired to do much of anything else but enjoyed my first family dinner with my 4 new roommates! Then we met up at the bar with my good college buddy Jim and new friend Mike, but the night was an early one cause Jim had to Bart it back into the city. It's so annoying that the last bart train is at 12:30a... AH! Drinking in the city is always cut short!

Lee left Sunday morning back to Detroit and left a sad Lauren and sad Tripp... But we have great photos and memories! Bickering and dancing! Wide eyed and scared! Ooooos and Ahhhhs! to remember this epic trip together.

Anyway so there you have it. Next you will see clothes... what? Yep I still am taking pictures of what I wear.

Huggles,
Lauren