Fashion Friday

Let's dedicate today to accessories. ...the kind you never take off. I got a new tat! I've been thinking about it for a long time, and when I got my new job, I started drawing it out. A conveniently timed Groupon to the tattoo place where my guy works (Jesse at Adorn) was just the push I needed! I went in with my sketch about a month ago and made my appointment. Jesse has done my foot and lower back and I absolutely love working with him. It was his idea to do the wrap around on my waist and I love that so much that I happily trusted him to turn my little sketch into perfection. When I got there last night, we changed and tweaked it a little and in that process I was able to alter the fish face to be an Arowana... It's not a perfect Aro, but the fish Jesse picked was awesome and it just took a few changes to make me see it as my beloved Zu. This was a bonus. I had tried to draw him into my version and I couldn't get it to work right, so I was happy to settle for a fish Jesse picked and put it out of my mind. So yesterday when it was so close and all I had to do was make a couple changes, I was ecstatic. It's not how I would have drawn it at all, but I love how it turned out. It also means I have two of my fishes on my back, which might make me a little weird. But without getting all spiritual on your asses, I'll just say that I think it's cool. I will definitely add some more pics once it heals. It peeks over my shoulder too, which is pretty badass.

How hot am I going to be on the bike in my tube top this summer?

Wordless Wednesday

Reading.

I grew up doing lots of it. Loved it. But, as an adult I did it less and in the last couple years I've done very little of it (aside from the Stephanie Plum books Evie let me borrow when I was traveling for work. Wait, what? in my google search for a link, I saw they are making a movie! It could be a good movie, but Heigl is lame.) Anyway, through a Facebook post, I volunteered myself to read something two of my co-workers loved. I did not love it. (but would be happy to talk about it with anyone who did...) Because I borrowed it from someone, I wanted to make sure to read it and get it back quickly (Sorry Evester, I know I've had your books since like, 1977, but this is a different type of friend. You know, one who I've never hung out with naked in the slot machine room and one where the word "poop" never comes up. The kind where you feel like you don't want to have something of theirs for very long.)

BUT (and I have a point) I kind of liked forcing myself to read a book. I'm not going to jump into a bookclub or anything (sorry Jill). but I'm going to try to start reading again. My goal is to always have a book that I'm working on. If someone says "what are you reading?" I'll have an answer. It also means that I'm going to request that all you reader friends email books that you really like (unless you loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, in which case warn me before you send your titles)

To inspire myself, I'm going to grab the best book that's ever been written, ever: Imajica by Clive Barker. I know that I will never be hesitant to read it, even though I've done so about 20 times. It will change my life while I travel the pages, as every Clive Barker book does, and I will look forward to the escape into his world and losing myself in his words. I have to give complete credit of this discovery to John, who introduced me to the book and it's author. We had known each other for a very short time when he brought me his book to borrow. He walked in with this thick, worn hardcover and said "I think you'll like this." We barely knew each other. I was in love in the first chapter (with the book, and with John. But that's another story :)) It's a long book and I found myself rationing pages at the end, trying to prolong the experience as long as I could. As soon as I finished, I started down the author path and immediately jumped from Clive book to Clive book until I'd hit all that I'd found.

I never did give John his book back :)

Fashion Friday

I love me some animal print! and I love to make it not match. Sometimes I pair an animal print with polks dots, and I love it with red or hot pink. On this day, I chose a leopard belt, shoes, and scarf, and with a black shirt (or red one!) it would have been super snazzy. Sharp, my grandma would've said. But I have been wanting to wear this tiger shirt for a while. It's an old one of my mom's (go figure) and is super soft and comfy. It also has a cool strappy back. Someday I think I'll do a post for an office to evening conversion and this shirt would be a cool piece of that: wear it correctly in the office, maybe with a blazer, and then turn it around, ditch the blazer and put on some awesome earrings for a night out! Since it doesn't have a full back, and it's not quite time to bust out summer wear in the office, I wore a sheer, short sleeved top over it. But by the time I got home and to the grocery store and then back home again, it had long since found it's way to my bag so it is not pictured :)

Man Song

I try to make sure we have a wide variety of song types in Tease and Tone. This one is by a band John likes and since he meets me after dance every night, this was one I knew he'd appreciate while he waited. A good variety helps ensure that my girlies don't get bored and get to try different styles and it's always fun to be different characters in our heads as we picture whatever outfit we'd rock it we were performing. Erin said that she's bust this dance out while playing pool and drinking beers wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. What would your rock and roll outfit be?

Wordless Wednesday

Hey, nice... wait, what?

Now I am all about DIY fashion and being creative and turning one thing into another but I have to draw the line here..... just, no.

Summer starts here.

We had what we consider the official start to our summer. In the next few months our weekends will be packed with adventure. We start with mushroom hunting, which will evolve into and potentially overlap with some fishing with John's family, will will evolve into and definitely overlap with motorcycle trips throughout the summer. We went down to Prineville this weekend to do the first mushroom hunt and while we got totally skunked on the mushroom front, we had an awesome road trip on Saturday morning and landed in our super secret spots in the woods....
We walked around to our previously discovered "good spots" and tromped through the forest enjoying the smells and beauty that surrounded us.

The weather was so nice and we worked up a bit of a sweat as we tried so hard to find that first little mushroom of the season so that we could walkie-talkie to the other one"FIRST!" but alas, no shrooms....
but bliss, nonetheless :)

Fashion Friday!

"You look a little rock and roll today"
"You look like a sailor today"
"You're kind of 70's today"
"You look sporty today"
"OMG, I love your shoes"

I love days like this. I don't even know what I was going for except that I love these shoes and couldn't wait one more day to wear them. I have to admit, I bought them with the intention of rocking them with jean shorts, my red bikini top, and red sunglasses this summer. (oh, and i WILL!) I love them with the capri tights as well. The scarf has made a few appearances on the blog in the past and remains my favorite scarf and is a mom hand-me-down. other players: bracelet: $1, Value Village. purse: Cathy (my favorite purse brand) The skirt is another old skort (ha ha, skort) that I bought for almost nothing and altered over 10 years ago. The thing I love about this skort is that it looks like a cute wrap skirt in the front and the back view is shorts! It's like the skirt version of a mullet: Business in the front, party in the back!

John was going to the gym as I was finishing my shots, and he wanted to be a part of Fashion Friday too. Here he models his standard muscle shirt, to show off strong arms and tattoo (on opposite arm), work-out shorts, and the ever-sporty bike over the shoulder.

5 whole things?!?!?!

I have been feeling down in the dumps about the 'ol bod recently. I know that I'm getting older and I know that I'm in amazing shape and I know that I look good. but I wish I looked a little better. I wish I was a little thinner. Just a little. However, to deny myself a cookie when I want a cookie, or ice cream when I want ice cream, or beers on the weekend would be taking away a certain level of joy that I would regret if I died tomorrow. I'm totally healthy, I eat very well and take good care of myself. I don't always give myself enough rest days from working out, but other than that, I'm good. My build doesn't leave me much room to carry weight without looking like an underwear advertisement. And by that, I don't mean Victoria's Secret, I mean the apple from the Fruit of the Loom. My arms and shoulders are thick. Strong, yes, but easily huge if I put on any pounds. So anyway, the point of this post is not that. I feel like lots of us spend a lot of time doing that to ourselves (guys and girls. but girls, we are brutal on ourselves) My favorite fashion blogger posted something yesterday that linked to a challenge that called us all out to list five things that we love about our body. So for my own reminding, I'm doing it.

my legs
my hips
my butt
my back
my hair (does that count?)

and if I stand just right, it all looks pretty good :)

Even if you don't blog it, if you are reading this, you should list your five favorite things about your body too.

Something that you didn't know about my office...

is that Spiderman has an office down the hall...

Wordless Wednesday

Rock Star!

I got a thank you card from a manager at work today that said I was a rock star. happy face :)

awesomely enough he's talking about my work performance and not about this performance.

Sunshine!

The sun came out this weekend! and it was warm and wonderful! We did our best to take full advantage of it. We woke up Saturday morning and had a great run to Mt. Tabor and then down to the coffee shop to decide what the rest of the day would bring. The verdict: motorcycle. We went home and I laid in the backyard while John shined up the bike and then we hit the road. We stopped for lunch and then went to Sauvie Island. Something you should know: When it's nice out, we immediately hop on the bike, but if you go out on the highway and go over 40 mph, you get cold pretty fast. So while some of our early season rides seem wimpy, it's because in order to actually enjoy the warm weather, we keep the speed down so we end up staying pretty close to home. and when we stopped, it was super warm and we hung out in it for a while...

bugs and birds were everywhere!
ah.... spring. please stay.

Fashion Friday

OK, I wore jeans most of the week. I am lucky enough to work in an office where that is acceptable and the weather this week was cold and wet. There is nothing fashion forward, or even fashion sideways, about this. Pretty typical Shannon style. jeans, black shirt, boots, belt, ready, set, go! I love Amy's necklace and I especially love it with this belt buckle.
I also never wear these jeans anywhere but work. I'm not typically a fan of this much of a light wash and the style is more bell bottom than boot cut. but I love the pockets and since I don't wear them for every day life, I don't feel super casual when wearing them for work.

back in the olden days...

I just read Jill's post about getting a busy signal when calling her folks (I am used to that too). Her reminiscence reminded me of those high school days of dialing and re-dialing and talking on the phone while twirling the cord around my leg. (remember when phones had cords?) Also, did you guys have party lines? Some of my friends had those. It's like an unintentional conference call where you don't necessarily invite all of the attendees. Something else? I came from a very rural area and our phone number? 5811. four digits. it's like built in speed dial.

art.

Years ago, JJ and I were hanging out at a bar (go figure) and found ourselves smitten by one of the pieces hanging on the wall and we asked about it. If you are a reader who isn't from an area where they do this, often bars and coffee shops have local artists hang their pieces for a month or so and they can sell it. If you buy one of the pieces, they mark it as sold and you get to pick it up after the timeframe of the display is over. We learned all about this as that day we purchased our very first piece of "bar art." That piece hangs in our bathroom and is still something we both love. Since then, we've purchased pieces here and there and we found ourselves drawn (pun intended) to a local artist, Brenda Dunn. She does these adorable pinups and we first purchased a girl in a martini glass, then a black sketched headshot of a gorgeous gal with beautiful hair (and boobies!). We also have a few of her magnets on our fridge (thanks Trish!) A couple months ago, hanging out at the observatory, we got our third piece and we just got to bring it home last weekend. She is "the girl from Seville"
Awesomely enough, the waitress told use the the artist was sitting at the end of the bar when we left, so we got to stop and meet her. I'm glad we were dressed cute for the introduction, because I secretly want her to do one of me :)

Wordless Wednesday

to love, honor, and be the butt of your jokes, til death do us part.

On Saturday, we picked up JJ's wedding ring, which was in the shop being re-sized after nearly being lost in the Hawaiian seas. Since we were downtown, we stopped by the Brasserie for a beer and burger and then decided to venture back to our neck of the woods since on Sunday, JJ was going to be performing a wedding. However, we got off the bus a few blocks early and stopped by our friendly local strip club for a whiskey before heading home. About 7 drinks later, we stumbled back to our house... We have to claim that since the bride and groom weren't having a bachelor party, it was our duty to do it for them. The next morning we were laying in bed and looking at John's ring and I remarked how shiny it was. he said " Shinier and slightly smaller, now if I could just do the same with my wife." Oh no you didn't! Needless to say, the joke has become a staple in our conversations for the past few days :)

We went out for breakfast and then came home to get ready for the wedding, stopped by our new favorite neighborhood restaurant for a snack and a beer and then headed over to a tent in SW where John done got 'em hitched! We shamelessly admit to going right back to the restaurant and having dinner and two more beers before heading home :)
Shinier and slightly smaller. hmmph, good luck :)