Dress #20

Today (5/18), Joe and I went to the Ren Faire.  The Ren Faire is always a good time.  Everyone dresses up in costumes and talks in a medieval accent.  People wear costumes of all varieties, from knights to wizards, faeries, steam punks, princesses, gypsies, etc.  Specialty stores, food and arcade games line the walkway all along the fairgrounds.  It can get expensive to go.  It's about $25-$30 to enter (you can get discount tickets at Walgreens), $10 to park, $7 per item of food and about $5 per arcade game.  The arcade games include archery, knife throwing, axe throwing, javelin throwing, rock climbing, fencing, dunk the fool, turtle racing, darts, ect.  There are tons of shows going on at all times which include, comedy shows, belly dancing, irish and scottish dancing, acrobatics, juggling and a knight's joust.  They also have demonstrations like glass blowing and sword fighting.  They have parades throughout the day where you can see the queen and her procession.  Most of the items for sale are very pricey like costumes, leather corsets and masks, handmade crowns, flasks and jewelry, leather-bound journals, weapons, etc.  Nice to look at but not really stuff I would buy.  Though I really want to get steam punk outfit even though I'd have no real occasion to wear it.  They serve beer and Joe and I usually enjoy the fair food while there.  I like the meat pies and Joe likes the pulled pork sandwich and fresh cut loaded potato chips.  I've had a turkey leg there before but it was a little bland and too much meat for me to finish.  You really just walk around and enjoy all the shows and costumes.  It's a really fun experience and definitely worth checking out.

The first time I ever went to the Ren Faire was in 2012. I wanted to dress up but all the costumes online looked cheap and tacky.  My friend suggested that I buy some fabric and a pattern and she would make me a dress.  We went to Jo-Ann Fabric together.  She showed me the pattern book for me to pick out a dress pattern.  I picked McCall's Costumes, Misses' Victorian Costume-6-7-10-12 pattern.  Item #13212774.  It's actually two pieces, a top and skirt but put together they look like a dress.  The pattern included a bustle in the back but we opted not make it.  Then I toured the store looking for fabric.  I found a green fabric with black print on it on the clearance rack which I thought would work perfect for the front panel.  Then I got a cheaper fabric in purple for the main dress.  I selected a gold trim and gold thread.  The pattern, fabric and trim all ended up costing around $80 dollars.  And then a couple weeks later I had a Ren Faire dress.  I've actually worn this dress four times now.  I go to the Ren Faire once a year (three times now) and I wore it for my friend's 2012 Halloween party.  I thought it was cool that I could tell everyone at her party that she had made my costume herself.

The dress is getting pretty worn now.  The first time I wore it, I ripped one of the sleeves doing archery and I had torn some of the trim on the collar.  My friend patched it up for me no problem though.  I'm going to wear this costume to the Ren Faire every year until it really just falls apart but I'm actually not sure how many more uses I can get out of it.  Though every time I go I get a ton of compliments on my dress.

Dress #19

My second formal outfit for our engagement shoot was a white high low dress that I got online.  My favorite pictures on Judy and Gavin Photography's portfolio were of the women who wore white dresses in Downtown LA.  I feel like the white dress on the city background looks really beautiful.  The silhouettes stand out and it looks really nice and formal, so we ended our shoot in more formal white attire.  I asked Judy if we could shoot some pictures with Joe's car so after the cityscape we did some car shots.  For the car, she shot us in a more stylized way which was fun and different.

I absolutely love my white high low dress.  I first saw it at Macy's on the sale rack back in December.  It was on sale for $50 because it's discontinued, but it was a size 13 which was way too big.  I fell in love with it and wanted to get it as an engagement dress to wear for our engagement pictures so I did an internet search to find an online store that sold it.  I found it on wingedmonkey.net.  Unfortunately it was not on sale online.  It cost $169 and they only had a size 7 left in stock.  I knew it was risky since a size 7 is small but I really wanted it, so I ordered it anyway.  I figured I could just return it if it didn't fit but it actually ended up fitting perfectly.  It's a Hailey Logan high low ivory chiffon dress by Adrianna Papell.  It has a lot of layers and the material is high quality so it isn't see through.  The inner layer is a tight short lace dress with gold sequins sewn all over it.  The outer two layers are a flowing chiffon material that's high in the front and low in the back, connected at the belt.  The spaghetti straps can be worn or tucked in to make it strapless.  It's actually a Junior's dress but I don't care.  I think it looks good.  The high low style is my favorite.  I wore it with my Samantha white satin Touch Ups by Benjamin Walk Corp.  They have a low heel, about 3 inches and the straps have rhinestones across them.  I got it off of amazon.com for $50 over six years ago to wear to a wedding but this was actually my first time wearing them.

*Photos by Judy and Gavin Photography.

Dress #18

Yesterday (5/12), Joe and I had our professional engagement pictures taken in Downtown LA by Judy and Gavin Photography.  I found Judy and Gavin through an online google search.  I absolutely love their photography style.  They had gorgeous engagement photos on their portfolio that they took in Downtown LA and Santa Monica.  I really wanted some professional and artistic engagement pictures of Joe and I.  Most people don't really think much about engagement pictures and don't do them in order to save money, but I think it's totally worth it.  Joe and I have wanted to hang up some pictures in our home for a long time and almost all of the pictures we have together are selfies where we put our heads close together and hold out the camera.  We do have some fun pictures that way but I wanted some nice formal ones too.  The style is amazing!  Judy and Gavin were super nice, professional and easy to work with.  Joe and I had a lot of fun shooting with them and our pictures turned out great.

We started off at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in casual attire before sunset.  Then at night we went around and took some formal ones.  The session included 2 outfits but I asked Judy if it was okay to do one extra since we wanted to do one casual and two formal.  I had no idea that Downtown LA had so many fountains and photo opportunities but Judy really knew how to get the best shots.

I wore my purple evening dress.  It has a layer of sheer fabric on top and a purple and silver sequined trim across the front.  There are actually two pieces of sheer fabric that tie around the neck to make it a halter but I didn't really like the look of the halter.  I tucked it in to make it a strapless instead.  Tucking the sheer halter straps in added a nice sheer ruching to the top.  I got it at Ross for $15 a year ago.  I always intended to wear it as an engagement dress for pictures or maybe an engagement party and this was my first time wearing it.  It's made by Enfocus Studio.  Size 8.  100% polyester.  Made in Indonesia.  I actually think it's a size too big on me since I had to keep pulling it up but it still looked good.  With the thin material it's made from I wouldn't want it to be too tight.  Joe and I are the same height so I wore a very short heeled shoe with it.  I got the shoes at DSW six years ago for $29.90.  They're called Alexa by M. Patrick.  The heels are about 3 inches.  I have a black pair and a white pair and for the longest time they were the only dress shoes that I owned.

*Photos by Judy and Gavin Photography.

Dress #17

Sunday (5/4) my friend and I went to the LA Arboretum.  Joe and I are having our wedding ceremony on the Rose Garden lawn.  The price for renting the lawn is very cheap but if you want to rent chairs or put speakers down it becomes a whole lot more expensive since you have to purchase insurance policies and pay additional fees.  We decided that we would just have someone hold a speaker and play a song off our iPhone but I wanted to do a speaker test to see if it would work.  My friend had an iPhone portable speaker so we just played it.  She stood near the archway and I stood at the sideline where the procession would start.  I could hear it just fine so I think it'll work out.  We're not having chairs since it's such a small ceremony with only 30 guests.  Joe was going to come too but he had to work.

The test didn't take very long so afterward we did a quick tour of the garden.  I showed her the herb garden, waterfall, lake and bamboo forest.  We sat at a bench near the lake to take a rest.  There were two geese there that kept staring us down and getting closer and closer.  One of them started pecking right under our feet which actually seemed threatening and a little scary so we moved.  We saw a couple of peacocks near the wedding lawn on the other side of the garden and one of them fully spread its feathers.

I wore my sky blue skirt with lace trim.  I got it at Walgreens for $10 back in 2005 when I first moved out here.  I used to wear it to work all the time but I haven't worn it in years and it's actually very loose fitting now so I'm definitely going to donate it.  It's very pretty, comfortable and I do really like it but I honestly just never wear it.  It's made of 50% polyester and 50% cotton.  Size M.  Made in USA.  I always pair it with a white top.  The one I wore is a cami with a ruffled edge and ruching in the very center from H&M.  Size M.  Made in Turkey.  I honestly think the top is a little big on me and if it isn't sitting just right it reveals a little too much cleavage but I can pair it with pretty much anything.

Dress #16

Last night (5/3), I went out bar hopping in Santa Monica with my friends.  We had gone to Santa Monica a few times.  The last time we went we did was an Ugly Christmas Sweater Pub Crawl.  It was a lot of fun.  Obviously it was back in December and we wore K-Mart Christmas Sweaters.  The whole  evening was packed for me.  My company's Christmas Party was that night.  I left the Christmas Party a little early because my pole studio was having it's Holiday Performance Showcase.  I did a beginner routine on my Lyra for it.  After that I went to the Christmas Sweater Bar Crawl.  It was fun evening packed with Holiday festivities.  We ended the night at Barney's Beanery.

Last night we only hit two bars.  We started at Rick's Tavern and ended at The Basement.  Rick's Tavern had some pretty good drinks.  I ordered something called an AWOL that was like a strawberry daiquiri with raspberry liquor.  It tasted like a strawberry shortcake and was so delicious.  At first they brought me the wrong drink.  Something called a Breaking Bad that was a martini that tasted like it had sweet and sour and cucumber juice in it.  Kind of odd but okay.  The waitress said I could keep that drink for free since they made the wrong one and she's bring me the one I actually ordered too but it took a long time and a lot of asking to actually get my drink.  The waitress was not very on top of our table and brought the wrong order more than once and took a really long time to bring us the stuff we actually ordered.  After that we went to The Basement but by then it was almost midnight.  I had stopped drinking by that point since I was going to be driving home after so I just hung out for a while before leaving.

I wore my purple T-shirt dress with the black square design.  It's the second dress that I got in Thailand in 2012 along with the grey one.  I've worn it before when I was in Cabo with my same two friends who were at the bar crawl.  They took me to Cabo in August last year for my birthday.  We stayed in an all inclusive resort on the beach with a pool and swim up bar.  At night we got dressed up and went downtown barhopping at several bars and checking out various strip clubs.  My two friends are also both pole dancers and I had heard pole dancing was big in Mexico so we wanted to check out some places to see what kind of tricks they knew.  Sadly it was very disappointing as all they did was bump and grind on the pole.  No real tricks.  Also, it seems that nobody gives strippers tips in Mexico.  I guess they make their money through lap dances.  The second night we were there we found a dance club that had a pole in it on a stage.  We wore shorts that night since you can't really pole dance in a dress unless you want to show off your underwear.  The pole was pretty high, the highest I've seen.  Almost like competition height.  It was in the back of the club which was nearly empty so we had the whole area to ourselves kind of like our own private party.  We spent the night doing tricks on the pole (not too much drinking).  Some girls came by who were interested in our tricks so we showed them some beginner moves.  It was the best birthday I've had to date!

As mentioned this was the second dress I purchased in Thailand.  It's a T-shirt dress made of soft comfortable and thick fabric.  There's no real information on it except that it's made by MIX in Thailand.  I wore it with my velvet thigh high boots which I figured would look good since the dress is so short and it would help keep my legs warm.  The dress however is better to wear with flats as it's so short that wearing heels with it add extra height and I was constantly trying to make sure it didn't ride up and show off my underwear.  I had purchased the thigh highs for a boudoir photo shoot for $30 off amiclubwear.com.  I wasn't sure if I'd ever have practical use to wear them out but figured I'd give it a try with this dress.  They are platform heels so it was kind of hard to walk in them and I actually did trip when the heel got caught in a sewer lid as I was walking down the street.  They also become very painful after only a little while of wearing them.  For the most part they stay up on their own if I'm just standing around but have a tendency to slide down while I'm walking.  It also didn't take very long for my feet to start hurting.  However, several guys I passed while walking to meet up with my friends complimented me on them, asked me if I wanted to join them and openly hit on me.  So I guess the outfit looked really good.