Shabby Apple Ain't Too Shabby & A Little Goodbye

Summer school is officially finished. Can I get a HoooRAY?! I spent the last 12 hours of my life pretending to be an alien and trying to understand the sex of Americans. When I wrote my paper I tried my best to have a British accent because then I could imagine my paper being some kind of documentary for the Discovery or History Channel.

I'm packing once again and getting ready for a month long adventure into the Eastern wonders of the world. However, my last post before I leave I must do a quick shout out to the lovely new clothing company that is Shabby Apple. As a supporter of indie fashion and new up and coming businesses I was quite intrigued by Shabby Apple's mission - "Shabby Apple is proud to offer you fantastic dresses that allow you to look fabulous, without having to compromise anything."

Shabby Apple sent over the Duck Beach dress for me and I must say it is absolutely adorable. I love the wrapped look and the fitted waistline. I love a good 50's silhouette because it is flattering on nearly all types of body types. I dressed up in this dress immediately I finished my paper and the theme was a jet setter. I can totally imagine myself hopping on a plain in this comfy and classic dress. Doesn't it just scream American Explorer? I actually remember doing a post almost a year ago with a photoshoot of the same jet setting theme when I was off for Europe. Oh the lovely memories.

I remember when i was younger I was quite self conscious of how much skin I was showing. I wouldn't wear spaghetti straps without putting a cardigan over it first. Shabby Apple is great because it caters to those people who want something feminine and sexy without revealing too much. They offer clothing for women, teens and even children as well as some wonderful accessories to match. I could find dresses for nearly every occassion. They have some beautiful simple black dresses as well as more colorful pieces.

What I loved even more about Shabby Apple was their sizing. Shabby Apple celebrates all shapes and sizes of women. In fashion is easy to forget that women are not models, we are not all stick thin and as tall as a baby giraffe. Sure I love interpreting the latest runway styles to flatter my own body but what I also love is when clothing is made to flatter the figure. It makes life simple and easy and that is what Shabby Apple does, creates simple and flattering dresses that real women would want to wear. Plus having a dress that states a size Small label makes me feel really happy. Even though sizing is arbitrary, it still makes me smile. A section on their website - the "Flatter to Figure" hand picks out dresses that made to enhance and flatter the body.

Off to packing now. Toodles poodles. I'll see if I can update from China but I'm not quite sure what my internet situation will be. Cross fingers.

Shameless in the Night.

I am the blogger with no shame. ROAR.

I was going to just leave this post as is with these pictures but I feel that I should explain for the sake of my reputation.

A few hours ago I was talking to CB and randomly decided to dress up. Dress up I did. After weeks if not months of normalcy I think I finally exploded and churned up this tackalicious ensemble. I grabbed my sister and off we went to do an impromptu photoshoot at midnight - the most magical time of the day! Don't believe me? Just take a look as those first to pictures for proof. Magic I say. Zoolander would be proud.

By the end of our 30 minute shoot a grumpy daddy came out the hallway and all I did was ROFL. Literally. I was looking like this:

I was so happy with our shoot that I ran off to show CB and had another good hour of laughing. I will forever keep this in my LOL folder and title it Shameless in the Night, because you folks better believe that I got no shame.

As a fashion blogger, there are standards to uphold. There is an image that is kept. We like to be taken seriously and have people fawn over our impeccable style. We pose our cute, innocent, demure poses. We turn to the camera, and look over our shoulders with the expression Oh, a camera is there? and a seemingly perfect candid shot is created. We like to be stylish and edgy. Throw our head around a bit for our perfect hair to be captured by the click of a camera. Pose in awkward angular poses that mirrors the great fashion magazines. We contrast our photos to make it even more RAWR and edgy. We do it all with great pride and confidence.

But tonight I decided to change it up a bit - just a bit. Makeup free, ready for bed, an oily faced hot mess with a Miss Piggy-esque face and I love it. I ain't ashamed to let my ugly out.

Fashion should be fun and exciting. I wish the whole world one day would just dress up. For one day. I want to see tutus and feathered boas and sparkle. And it would be the happiest day in the world, without fighting, without violence, without pain. We would all come out in our most delish outfits. We would look at one another. Hug one another. And then start laughing at one another, because seriously I couldn't stop laughing when I wore this. It would most definitely be the happiest day ever.

Okay, granted I look like a costume store landed ontop of me during tornado season but you know what, I love this and California doens't have tornados so it's not possible. I have been stuck with t-shirts and shorts and flip flops too long this summer and finally my inspiration is back. I can't wait till fall rolls around. School better be ready because there is no viewer discretion is advised next time around.

P.S. Who would have know that Art Geek and Fashion Freak really emphasizes the freak in me.

P.P.S I ain't dissing fashion bloggers. I love them with all my heart.

• Cheap Monday Stud-alicious black pants: $5 urban outfitters
• Ruffle top: $1 jet rag
• SEQUINED JACKET.. aka God's gift to mankind: $4 thank you mart
• Oxford heels: $6 F21
• Feathered clip: 1 pound primark.

Obsessed.

I'm really obsessed with Bjork's Swan Dress at the moment/still.

My fingers itching to make one.

Bid peeps bid!

One day left. Make you and me happy. Lalaliu.Love

It's a Goodbye Guys.

I've found my true calling in life as a plumber.

Today I discovered new talents I never knew I had such as how to unclog a toilet and what to do in a moment of crisis when your bathroom becomes a lake for poop fish to swim (sorry for the graphic imagery).

Goodbye fashion.





Just kidding. But you didn't actually believe me right? Or did you...

Cuz I'm Cleaning Out my Closet... with a little update of Lala's world.

Greetings chicos and chicas. So yes, I am cleaning out my closet and I have a ton of things I need to get rid of. Actually, I would totally keep some of these things just because they make me smile like a clown but alas I am low on the moolah and if I plan to get through my upcoming China trip eating things other than rice, I need to sell sell sell!! A recent realization that I have credit card bills has also forced me to re-examine the things I buy. Sigh.

So here is where you come in! Buy buy buy!!! There are some gem items here, my favorites are the sequined pieces. That hot pink full body sequin dress is totally my dream outfit for my Vegas trip but sadly with the reasoning powers that be my sister and friends she says that it is impractical in my everyday life so I should sell. Sigh. If only I were a showgirl. I could wear that dress and maybe star in that movie too! Nomi watch out! I may be pushing you down a flight of stairs the next time.

If anyone got that reference. Congrats. You have now been accepted into the hall of coolness. I have a thing for tacky movies. And tacky things. But we already knew that.

So yes, please do bid. And if you find a repulsion to these outfits, maybe just imagine that I'm not wearing them. I would rather be the reason for your disgust than the actual clothing itself. I'm really desperate to sell as you can see.

I think have over 25 things up for bid and almost all start at 9.99. And with the economy these days people aren't bidding. So as sad as it may be for me but as good as it may be for you, you could probably win these babies for only $9.99.

Click here to start shopping!

Now if you're still reading this, I'm assuming that you were not completely annoyed by my shameless self promotion. Thank you for your attention span. I appreciate it greatly. So now on to the tales of my life in lalaland- where adventures are so magical that you just might pee in your pants.

Life is full of thinking these days - thinking with a mixture of bumming around. It feels like my last summer summer as in the last summer before I have to get an actual job and work the hours like an "adult." The word brings shivers to my spine. I've been hanging out with friends and just enjoying life. Although I'm a bit afraid that I'm not really doing "anything" I will not take for granted the simple acts of just having fun.

My latest fun adventure was a trip to the beach. In my world, my adventures always seem to be a little bit screwed up. Nothing is ever normal when you travel with me and my homies. Hehe. Homies. I'm so ghetto fab now it's almost scary. So yes, the beach it was last Friday. I drove. By myself! Props to me. But that was the easy part. Now I had to parallel park. And I just couldn't do it despite the generous amount of room I had. I had my friend help direct me but even then I was still unable to get to the side. Hall of parallel parking shame for sure. The street wasn't some quiet side street, it was a pretty busy street. People passing through the PCH drive through that street so I felt the pressure. About ten minutes in my friend pointed to some guys looking at us and I got even more embarrassed. What makes me most embarrassed is when people see me embarrassed. With my I-will-not-be-defeated attitude I attempted again. Fail. Round 8.

All of the sudden in my side mirror I see the guy coming over.

He goes. "Here. Let me do it." Actually he didn't say anything but his face just said it all. Fail. Round 9.

And with a twist of his wrists, he steers my car in. Perfectly.

I thanked him graciously and thanked him that he did not steal my car or kidnap busababe for she was in the car with him.

So we made it to the beach. But before the real beaching began we encountered other problems like witnessing a pedophile run away, having seagulls eat our tortilla chips, and realizing I left my blinkers on the whole time.

The water was worth it though. So win. Round 1.

My latest adventure has got me thinking about the things I love most. One of them is spending time with the coolest friends ever. Sometimes I like to reflect on these little things and it just makes me smile inside. Discovering Susan Boyle as my new hero (I know, a bit late jumping on the bandwagon. Hey what can I say, I can't catch up to such a fast moving vehicle) also makes me smile on the inside.

Other developments in lalaland have been trying to relaunch lalaliu.com which is taking a lot longer than expected. Grand opening 2009? Psh. Try 2010. I'm working hard to create inventory but little things like beach trips or Susan Boyle come up out of the blue and distract me from these other goals. Blogging has also been on the downlow too. But once again I just want to thank all those people who still read. You are the Susan Boyle to the Lala's happiness.

That did not make any sense.

Whatever.

I need to sleep because lately I've turned into an owl. So away to dream land I go. Dream land also makes me smile on the inside.

Take care kids.

Oh yah. And bid/buy.

Inspiration.

"The happiest people are usually the most unrealistic ones." - Soc. 1 Professor who likes to walk around without shoes when lecturing.

My inspirations of the moment. They ignite my imagination and make me happy.

Celebrations of July 4th in my "Plant" outfit.

You can call me Ivy. Poison Ivy.

• Green dress: $2 thrift store, one of this summer's alterations. I have an alteration shop, come in and get altered.
• Brown belt that made my green dress look somewhat like a peter pan costume: non lo so.
• Flower Headband: LalaLiu Designs. (yah. that's me. branding is my new business.)
  

So happy belated fourth of July! I had a BBQ with my glitterati and it was the bomb-diggity (yah, let's bring that word back). I had this crazy dream for many years to host a BBQ. It would involve grass, blue skies, grilled meat, and fun people. I had saved it on my list of things to do in our google doc. Google doc. hehe. And finally it came true!

I was hostess of the evening which meant burning my hands while cutting chicken and making a somewhat spicier version of normal salsa. Yesterday was super fun and made me forget all about how I accidently winded up with a cell phone being washed in a washing machine for forty minutes.

Not only did I BBQ, but I got to play dress up with my favorite sequined pieces that I recently acquired. I totally have a thing for tacky things. What can I say? I'm attracted to the tackalicious.

Case in Point. Me and my crew working out the glitter. Oh that glitter. Oh that flash.

I declared my coat the technicolor dreamcoat if Joseph in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat was set in the 80's and was a party loving whore.

Afterwords we played with FIREWORKS.

Under my own umbrella. Wait. Wait. I feel a song coming from this.

Now for some consumerism. In the morning I went to pick up BusaBabe. We had wanted to go to Walmart to make a tutu for her tutu loving dreams. However when we got there we found that the Walmart we had gone to had no fabric section. Fail.

However, being the A-team that we are we wandered into a gigantic Forever 21 Outlet. Yes. a Forever 21 Outlet. I don't know if it was really an outlet, but the whole second floor was full of past season merchandise at heavily discounted prices. Many items were only $3.99 and they had everything for every season. I would have wandered towards the sweater section but it was just too hot to be in the mood for that.

The place used to be a two story Mervyns so the set up was excellent. Instead of being cramped into racks of clothes because mall loving teenie boppers are everywhere, there was actually space! Lot's of it! And it made the shopping excursion even better. The first floor is full of the current season's merchandise.

Despite of having failed at buying tickets for the American Apparel Factory Sale, I would say finding this gem beats that anytime! We spent a while there and both came out with a hot pink bag full of goodies! $35 got me really really happy. Three pairs of shoes for $5.99 (one of which we call my pimp shoes and the other our stripper shoes). A navy knit cotton tank for $3.99 and a interesting pleated Twelve by Twelve dress for $9.99. I need to come back again.

For all you OC dwellers if you wanna take a trip to the Forever 21 just head to Anaheim.

Summer is going by pretty fast but I have so much more things I want and need to do. Perhaps I should start on my homework.

Oh! Be sure to check out LalaLiu.Love for new auction items. One item is already up because I got frustrated with the ebay error messages that I tried it again until it actually worked. I have yet to figure out which charity to choose this year but in the mean time bid! And support my trip to China and LalaLiu.com.

I suck at marketing myself. Peace out fools.