Channeling My Inner Whore Turned Beauty at the Rose Bowl Flea Market

Some girls dream of dressing like a princess in the gowns that seem to be poofed to perfection as if it were all just one giant balloon. (Balloons are so in this summer. Like in Up! That movie seriously caters to my every desires - old people and fat things.) Others dream of dressing like Celebs that can afford a $10,000 + Birkin bag. I finally figured out how much those babies cost thanks to the Asiana airline's supply of "World's Most Expensive" episodes. But I, the wanderer of the weird, have always admired my darling, the Pretty Woman, aka Julia Roberts as a whore. It's not so much her clothing as it is her transformation. It's like the underdog movie where prostitutes are just not to par with normal classy folk up in Beverly Hills. I like myself a good blond bobbed wig and tight snake-skin printed, spandex microminis as much as the next girl But that also doesn't mean I can't like a sassy hat for the derby.

Oh wait, you aren't into the snake-print spandex microminis? Oops, my bad. I get it. It's about the leopard print this season not the snake skin. What have I been smoking.

In the movie she wears this nice long brown polka dotted dress with this cute little straw hat and on top of that she wears a pair of white gloves like a sunday with a cherry on top. Ever since then, I've had a soft spot for dressing like a sophisticated, uber rich snob, older lady. You know the ones who wear those ridiculous hats with like some out of date white suit and skirt combo and their overly botoxed face? In my twisted way of thinking, I love the look because it reminds me of the derby and derby reminds me of grass and grass reminds me of blue skies and blue skies make me happy. I'm a real simple minded fellow. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

My of all things ridiculous lead me to a huge jackpot in my latest thrift-venture. A hat jackpot I might add because I ended up walking away with 5 hats that afternoon. I tell myself it's worth it because I'm starting a hat museum..someday. So I found this awesomely awesome pink and lavender floppy hat with a giant sculpture-like-thing with feathers stuck on top of it. It reminded me of my Pretty Woman and Barbie and I just loved it. Sure, it's not quite the style of the moment, not quite in-season, not that "edgy" but I was never one to give a flying duck about those sorts of things. (shoot. I'm totally going to fail in the fashion industry)

Like all my purchases, I usually have difficulties coming up with places to wear them because to me I like a little show and tell. I like to go out and be seen in my wackiness because if I look like a clown and act like a clown, then the people around me will benefit from the happiness the clown brings. I don't really understand much of what I just said, but then again... I never do.

Thankfully, last Sunday was the perfect occasion to wear my hat. I called up my pimp mama-

"Yo. Pimp mama, what up?"

"Not much. Not much. Hows you doin?"

"Alrite. Look G. I got some bomb news that the Rose Bowl Flea Market is this Sunday. Ya down fo it homie?"

"AH Shooot. Fo sho yo! Fo Sho!"

"Look we gotta go all out and dress up for this. You down?!"

"I'm always down! what you talkin about!"

(conversation has been slightly modified)

So pimp mama and I drove up to Pasadena last Sunday to what we agree to be the best shopping experience ever because if you're a junk junkie like us, this place is filled with endless, endless stalls of junk. But one man's junk is another man's treasure.

We wore our snazzy attire. With the power of my hat and her hat we summoned the Gods of shopping and they were on our sides. Don't we look so cute?!

An outfit details list? Must you?! Yes. I must. Sorry folks.

• Snazziness on my head: $4 thrift
• Ruffly shirt: $10 mall
• Yellow shorts: $2 thrift
• Belt: $1
  
• Shoes: $25
• Those giant smiles on our faces?!: priceless

The Rose Bowl Flea Market comes every second Sunday of the month. The only down side to it is the $8 entrance fee (costs more if you go in earlier), but if you have nothing better to do, then just looking at all the cool things alone is worth it! It's like a museum and shopping all wrapped in one.

We arrived around 9 in the morning and left around 1:30 and we didn't even get through half of the market. We mostly stayed around the second-hand, antiques area because once you start there, you seriously can't go back. People there are super friendly and seriously they sell like everything there. If you are looking for a particular thing, I'm pretty sure you can find it somewhere.

Prices were actually not too bad. I was afraid that things were going to be expensive since the sellers know the value of their goods. If you look hard you can find some super cheap deals and some awesome finds! I personally was swooning with all the hats they have there. Most were on the pricier side but they were so fun to try on and look at. Pimp mama found two awesome fur hats her dream come true!

There is a whole area in the back that is filled with vintage clothing and lots and lots of boots. I got sidetracked by the American Vintage clothing stall because everything was five dollars. Oh am I a sucker for cheap things.

I ended up getting that dress in my hands up there (turning it into a skirt. It's awesome!) and this lavender dress that was like a confused dress because it didn't know if it wanted to be a good girl or a slut.

The thing about this place is that there are soooo many cool things that everything just sort of blends in. There were so many cool boots we saw but since there were so many we just sort of passed by them all and only looked at the ones that really stood out.

These were mens shoes and they were awesome but it was sadly $70 and too expensive for me.

So ladies and gents, what have we learned today?

That hats are cool and that you should definitely check out the Rose Bowl Flea Market if you ever get a chance.

Sorry my blog post just sort of declined in it's snazziness. So much to do. So little time.

Ciao all.

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.

The Long Awaited Jet Rag Post.

You've all been a patient bunch, but finally you may relax your furious constant checking because the long awaited JET RAG POST is finally here. Can a get a whoot whoot?!

No? I'll give myself one. WHOOT WHOOT! That was awesome.

I have many reasons for why it took me so long or aka another excuse at why I'm such a lame blogger. So I did have my Sunday rendevous fitting room adventure. I changed the clothes like a model on speed and posed my butt off. It was midnight and I was running around my room, sweating like crazy but at the same time my oodles of treasures kept my spirits up. I didn't realize that I had set my camera on a really high quality setting, but I did and for a few days I was running low on disk space and that means photoshop freezing up and the computer not being the friend that it promised to be. Third excuse was that I had to combine images in photoshop and that takes quite a while. I could go on with a list of excuses, but you're probably not here looking for excuses. You want the pictures, as my KC drug dealer says to me, you want the goods right?

Okay you got the goods. Note, I'm working on revamping the blog and that means larger pictures! Can I get another whoot whoot?

No? Fine fine, I'll get to it now.

/////////////// THE BEFORE: a big pile of dirty smelly clothes//////////

I spent $24 in total, but I counted and ended up with 26 items. If you do the math, that's two free items. Free?! I like free. Like a lot.

/////// ALL THE AFTERS: not a big pile anymore but still sorta smelly and dirty///////

::::: Ruffle White top::::

This top was a mighty tricky top. When I tried it on Sunday night, I swore it didnt fit. As in I couldn't get it past my mammary glands. Not one to be easily defeated I wore the top as a poofy collar over a white t-shirt. Then just yesterday, I tried the top on and low and behold, they fit. I'm so glad I did try it on again and didn't do the unthinkable of giving it to my petite sister. Those are my Charlie Brown boxers. Yes they are comfortable.

:::: Polk dot clown jumpsuit ::::

This has to be one of my favorite pieces I found because seriously, where can I find something like this? No where else. Exactly. Actually, you might see something similar at Party City during the Halloween season but is it as cool as this mighty fine piece? The answer should be no. I'll admit, it's a bit ridiculous, but ridiculous is what I'm all about. If I wore it out like it is, I'll bet I'll get a lot of people telling me the circus left a few weeks ago. That's cool, I've always wanted to be a circus performed and since I'm no good at aerobics and aerial stunts, I've always figured I'd end up being the clown. First row is as is and belted. Second row is with a black blazer. I finally realized the magic of having a black blazer, it seriously changes the mood of every outfit. And third row is worn strapless with sleeves tied in the back.

:::: Black Jumpsuit ::::

I had a lot of fun with this one as well. It just looks like a piece of black in the pictures, but there are some nice pleating details near the bodice and the neck piece is totally awesome in a 80's modern way. I can leave it down or be all ganster and pop the collar. First and second row is worn as is with collar up and down. Third row I rolled the pants for some shorts and added that handy blazer. This one deviates from my rainbow wacked out style, but I like it. Oh noes, does that mean I'm headed towards maturity?

:::: Little people embroidered button up top ::::

The first thing I saw and grabbed. It has these cute little people down the middle! I'm all for cute little people. Should have taken a detailed shot. Drats. It should match well with my hairclip that also has little people on it.

:::: Wool top with sequins/beads ::::

I got this top because somehow it reminded me of the Christopher Kane Fall collection with those gigantic round sequins. The sequins aren't as gigantic but they are round. Okay okay, it's a big leap but whatever. I added the ruffle top over my gold BCBG skirt (that was also a $1 at the buffalo exchange sale) for some strange reason.

:::: Mexican satin embroidered top ::::

It's colorful and flowy and did I mention it has rainbow flowers? Worn with a belt so I don't look like a 20 year old going preggers.

:::: Another Mexican top ::::

Once again the embroidered flowers drawed me in. Worn again with a belt.

:::: Boho top ::::

I don't know why I bought it. I was sure I was over my peasant top phase back in the 9th grade but maybe I'm reminiscing about my once youthful stage in life? I hope this piece doesn't end up collecting dust in the lonely corners of my closet. The first row is the top and the second row is a coat I got thrifting last Friday. It's amazingly awesome!! It reminds me of a mix between a hippy groupie and something a little less extravagant that David Bowie would of worn as the evil goblin in Labyrinth. I bought it at this store next to the thrift store. It's this dollar store but they had all these clothes for 99 cents. I believe it is the place where thrift store clothes go to die. Luckily I rescued this coat.

:::: Nautical dress ::::

A mix between uniform and sailor. Theres some major discoloration on the top but I think a nice paint and paint brush could fix it up in no time.

:::: Red Ralph Lauren "skinny polo" ::::

The only non-vintage-esque piece I got. I used to be all into the polo shirt again in the 9th grade but I never had a Ralph Lauren one. Now I can teleport back and fit in with the cool rich kids! Or not. I like how on the label it says "skinny polo". It makes for a great self esteem booster. Boots were also thrifted last Friday for $5.

:::: Pink Cocktail Dress :::

I think I have too many dresses. First row worn as is and second row I added this men's vest that I also got at Jet Rag. I should have tried it on because I didn't it was that big. But I guess it adds to that nonchalant mood that I am desperately trying to pull off but fail oh so miserably at.

:::: Country Bumpkin square dancing dress ::::

I look like a maid ready to go squeeze out some milk from my cows. This one might go under some reconstructive surgery but I haven't decided yet. Row one is normal. Row two I added this faux fur vest that I think is for kids because obviously it looks like a non-vest when I wear it. But I kind of like the look. It screams cavewoman going to the countryside. I feel a trend coming on.

:::: Blue Mod dress with buttons ::::

Electric blue with buttons? I'm sold.

:::: Country Squaredancing sailor dress ::::

One of my favorite finds because it is super cute. And fits like a banana peel over a banana. I like to twirl in it and watch the colors spin into pink. I look like a little girl wearing it but as long as pedophiles don't follow me, it's all good.

:::: 80's floral dress ::::

I saw potential in this one like I do many pieces. It has already undergone reconstructive surgery and I must say it is recovering well. I shall post a picture soon of all my latest sewing adventures and there sure are a lot of sewing adventures.

:::: 80's lace dress ::::

When i bought this I was sure it was a super fug dress with the over the top lace and those sleeves with sequins! But when I tried it on, somehow it turned a little magical because I sort of like it as is. The sleeves are less 80's power woman and more like big flowers protecting my shoulders from the sun's UV rays. I felt like a little flapper in it, hence the red bow. Second row I added the black blazer again. Magic I say!

:::: Nerdy dress :::

A little big but the colors are just saying happy. The skirt part has a really cute lime floral pattern.

:::: Floor length floral dress ::::

I saw potential in this one as well. It has finished it's surgery and I must say looks deliciously awesome. When I bought it, it was in such great condition that I had to have it even though another part of me was telling me to gently put it back for it's whole lot of mess. Thankfully, I listened to my other side because my recon looks pretty cool.

:::: Pink floor length lace dress ::::

I always grab things that have lace or sequins for some reason. Those items are just so easy to spot that I can't resist. This one has also finished it's surgery.

:::: Silk beaded dress ::::

It's a bit formal and over the top but it was new with tags and silk! So I scooped this baby up. The bustier part makes me feel like a burlesque dancer but the bottom makes me feel like I'm going to some fab 80's party or the high school prom.

:::: Jeans ::::

Okay their high waisted. Their pleated. Their tapered. Stacey and Clinton (what not to wear) would totally have a fit over this one, but I kind of like it. It's super soft and worn in and it's great for going to a buffet.

:::: Strange hat ::::

It's quite an interesting hat or headpiece but I love it. It might look like I have a paper bag on top of my head but I swear it's not!

:::: Givenchy men's Speedo piece::::

First I would like to say, that no, I do not have a fetish for men's underwear/ swimsuits and no, I will not be wearing it anytime soon. I think I became a label whore when I bought it. But still, maybe my future husband will look smashing in that teeny tiny piece. KC was shocked by my find and asked me why?? I told her it's okay, whatever had touched it must have dried up by now. She said I should make a purse out of it to match my underwear wallet. Maybe not. There is only one piece that I could not wear because it was too small. A hot pink 80's silk dress with beads!

/////////////////////ME BY THE END OF THE NIGHT or BEGINNING OF THE MORNING //////////////////////
Super tired.

So I went a little crazy.

Busababe and I might go again next Sunday.

I'm revamping the layout and look of my blog so bare with me as things shift and change. And thanks to all those who have responded to my personal ad. I didn't know it would be that effective. I didn't know that my strange tendencies would have a match.