my day as a pin-up girl. photography

Sometimes I feel as if I was born in the wrong era. I absolutely love the style from back in the 1940's. From the hair to the makeup to the clothes. That's why I decided to make my boudoir photo shoot a pin-up girl theme instead.

I picked up a cute little 1940's "army" uniform that was just revealing enough. On a trip to Vegas earlier that year I'd stopped at the Bettie Page store and picked up an amazing pair of vintage looking TUK shoes. To top it all off I purchased a pair of thigh high stockings with a single black line up the back similar to the stockings from that era.

After getting my lashes, makeup and hair done I was ready for my closeup. Melissa Raimondi of Candy and Cream Boudoir was the lovely lady who took my pictures. I was nervous that I wouldn't know what to do or how to pose but she made me feel completely comfortable and relaxed. She gave really good direction of how to sit or stand that would look best for the camera.

This was her one of her first times doing a pin-up style photo shoot so we both enjoyed thinking up new poses and props that could make this shoot really unique. She told me that since these photos were done there's been a boom of people wanting pin-up themed shoots too. After seeing her work there's no question to why!

We also took a couple pictures in a different outfit. I had on a pair of bright red shoes with black thigh high fishnet stockings. I was wearing black underwear with a cute little black and red shrug.

I've been thinking about getting this kind of shoot done again. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had and I would highly recommend it for anyone. Melissa has so many different options for the type of shoot you can do. You can check out her Facebook page for some more amazing pictures that she's done.

I ended up buying three of these pictures on a wood backing and I hung them on the wall in the living room so I could remember every day how amazing I felt that day.

mini photo shoot. blue tutu with black and white heels

After Jade and I got back from our shopping extravaganza last week, though we were exhausted, we decided to have a little impromptu photo shoot. She was trying on her new black and white heels and I thought they looked so cute together with the tutu. I went to take a picture and, though she looks amazing, I didn't like that the background was so busy.

I got her to move near the door so that there wouldn't be so much jumble and it would put the focus on her.

Jade asked me what she should do and I told her to just move around and try different things like fluffing her tutu or showing off her shirt.

 I suggested crouching down and looking ethereal. I think that she did a fantastic job capturing just that.

Cleo ended up wanting to hog some of the attention. You can see the bond that they have with each other by the way Cleo looks at her and wants to give her nose kisses.

Once I started taking pictures we were joking around about how Jade is going to become a foot model now.

I got a good laugh out of her by commenting on how I was going cut off her head cause I'm such a noob.

I am by no means anywhere close to being a professional photographer but for the minimal lighting and space I had I think I did a pretty decent job. It also helps that my model is so pretty and easy to work with.

roommate adventures. shopping and many new skirts

Jade usually has the weekend off so I'd see her around often. Within the last month or so she's been having to work Saturdays as well. I noticed that this cut back on our roommate time in a big way. I previously took for granted seeing her all the time but I've noticed how lonely the apartment gets without her.

More sad news. Last week Jade found out that we'll be getting even less time together. This past weekend was her last Sunday off which meant we had to make a day of it. We did our hair and makeup, got all dressed up, and hit the town to have some shopping fun.

We started by hitting up the Value Village near Whyte Ave because Jade mentioned that it has the best selection. She is the Value Village expert since, each time she goes, she comes home with the best finds!

Since there were a couple other places we wanted to go, we decided that we needed to concentrate mainly on skirts, shirts, and purses. I needed Jade's expertise with these time constraints. She had such a fluid motion in which she looked through the racks. I made the decision to leave it up to her expertise on what to choose. I am the Value Village newbie after all.

Since she knows my style pretty well and we have similar tastes, she cruised through the rows; throwing things for both me and herself into the cart. I used this time to look at the housewares section and found quite a few pieces that I really liked.

Jade taught me the art of her Value Village success with two very important rules:

1. Everything you may be interested in goes in the cart. Even the items you're iffy about. Sometimes the things that you're unsure of end up looking the best on you.
2. You're only allowed buying the things that you love.

Once the cart was full we had to sort through everything and make the final cuts on what was staying and what was getting the boot. That on it's own took a while because of how full our cart was! (I may have gone overboard in the housewares section. Luckily rule #2 took care of most of those items.)

Next it was time to try on all the clothes Jade picked out for me. I felt that a couple selfies were in order while in the change room. I mean I did dress for the occasion and they had a giant mirror perfect for full length pictures.  (On a side note, I'm really wanting to get a tripod so that I can take pictures of my many cute outfits and share them with you!)

I tried on so many adorable clothes (and later bought most them) that I think I'll need a whole post dedicated just for them! Stay tuned for that later this week!

Jade found the cutest slitted fake leather skirt for herself! I can't wait to see her wear it out.

She also got these amazing black and white heels with a little flower on the side. It's moments like these that my small little feet make me sad. There were no size 5 shoes for me to try on because, the few that they had, were not something anyone should be caught wearing in public.

While wandering around I happened to find a mini Hello Kitty figurine. We both knew it was fate that we found it together. It went perfectly with Jade's super awesome Hello Kitty sunglasses. But why are the bows of different sides?! Which Hello Kitty is the real Hello Kitty?!

I ended up leaving the store with two super cute shirts, two adorable purses, six skirts, and a bunch of housewares/decor items. I would deem this Value Village shopping adventure a success!

Our next stop was Sanctuary on Whyte Ave for some purple hair dye for Jade. This store used to be one of my go-to places a few years ago. If I could afford buying the clothes from here I would own more than half the store. I love the vibe you get when you walk in and you can find so many unique items that nowhere else carries. It took  all my willpower not to look through the shop too much while I waited because I knew that I'd end up wanting to buy so many things.

By then we were starting to run low on time before Jade had to be at a mandatory work meeting (on her only day off this week). We usually like having a couple hours to kill when we're going to Ikea because there are always fun things to look at and decorating ideas to come up with. I ended up getting a set of sheer drapes that I was looking for. I forgot to measure the width of my window so I wasn't able to get the hardware to mount it. I guess I'll have to make yet another trip to the deep south for some more Ikea fun.

Since Ikea is on the opposite end of the city from our place we needed to make sure we had enough time to get to Petsmart before Jade's meeting started. It's almost an hour drive to get back but we made it in time. I figured whilst I was dropping her off there, I should go in and buy some more cat food. It's a good thing I always go with Jade because she helps me fend off my temptation to buy more kitty toys. There is already a surplus at our place which is why I must resist! By the time I got home I was exhausted. I couldn't wait to crawl under a blanket with a cup of tea and watch some mindless TV.

All and all it was a great weekend adventure.

roommate adventures. extremely cute attire required

Jade and I had an amazing Sunday together and got some much needed roommate time. But before I recount those events I need to tell you about our outfit composition for the day. Most of the time when me and Jade spend quality time together it's watching TV, cooking, cleaning, or running errands. Don't get me wrong, doing all those things with Jade makes them so much more enjoyable. But going out shopping is serious business, which means extremely cute attire is required.

What did I wear? Well with the weather warming up I knew that I wanted to wear a skirt but I didn't think it was warm enough for bare legs. I decided that I wanted to wear a pair of grayish shimmery stocking with cute little red hearts. I've been meaning to wear these for a while but I keep forgetting I own them!

The skirt I picked is dark blue and made of some sort of spandex material. I originally bought it when I was a server because it is extremely comfortable and has easy washing instructions. At the time I didn't care for the skirt but after a few wears I grew to love it. Since my stockings have tiny little red hearts, I wanted to tie the whole outfit together with a bright red shirt.

And then there's my boots. I will take any chance I can get to wear them because I love the way they look and they're decently comfortable (I'm still breaking them in). I bought these not too long ago from the Doc Martens store in West Edmonton Mall. I was debating between getting the same style that Jade has, which go to halfway up the calf, or these. My main reasoning for getting these is because they have zippers instead of having to lace them up each time I want to put them on.

Lastly is my hair and makeup. I decided to wear a red lipstick by MAC Cosmetics called Russian Red because I love that it's more of a blue-red than an orange-red. I find the slight blue undertone brings out the blue in my eyes. I didn't want to have overpowering eyes with the red lips so I stuck with a pale pink eyeshadow and black pencil liner. I pulled the whole look together with a loose side-ish ponytail topped off with a cute red flower.

Now what did Jade wear? She has such a fun sense of style and her clothes definitely reflect her uniqueness. The focus of her ensemble was her bright blue fluffy tutu which she wore over top of a pair of black leggings.

She matched this with one of her favorite t-shirts from a friend's shop in England. She had to order it to her parents house in Stalybridge and they shipped it overseas to her. It's My Little Pony in a top hat!

For her makeup, Jade had on a darker shadow and black liquid liner. I'm always jealous with how nicely her eye makeup turns out. No matter how hard I try I can never get the multilayer look she does so well.

Since her hair is dyed different colors, it looks really neat when she braids the front. I find that the different colors contrast really well together. She pinned her hair up on the other side with a cute little butterfly clip that has blue jewels that match the tutu.

To put  her whole outfit together she wore (one of my favorite things she owns) a pair of Hello Kitty sunglasses.

When you wear them it looks like you have whiskers and a bow in your hair, making you look like a life-sized Hello Kitty! Now we're all ready for our shopping date!