Wednesday, December 31, 2008

A year in pictures

I did this on my craft blog last year and thought it would be fun to do again.
No editing on these photos since I was lazy, but oh well.

{January}


{February}


{March}


{April}


{May}


{June}


{July}


{August}


{September}


{October}


{November}


{December}


And my outfit for New Year's Eve:

(please excuse that I have not put on my makeup yet)

{shirt from goodwill (part of yesterday's haul), belt from my mother's closet, urban outfitters
pants and tank top, target tights and shoes, hat from last year's New Year's party}


Once again, hope everyone had a good 2008, and that 2009 proves to be a happy and healthy year!

Regards,
Freddie

p.s. if you're bored, watch this, preferably before midnight ;)

The value of repeats

So much for doing the Switzerland outfit post yesterday, huh? I got pretty busy actually... and didn't even end up taking yesterday's outfit photos which disappoints me because I had pretty new boots (well, new to me) to show off. But it's an outfit that will surely be repeated up at school in the near future.

Yesterday, I woke up early (yay jetlag, though I think I am pretty much back on schedule now) and went to get student rush tickets for my best friend and I to see Gypsy, after which I went to Barnes & Noble, Goodwill and Housing Works. I snagged a few real gems, including a super shiny shirt to wear tonight. Some of the things are in need of a little editing (shortening and shoulder pad removal) but I am so excited to show them off when they are done. Housing Works was also having an end of the year 50% off sale, so I got a bag and a dress there for $2.50 each - fantastic! (Thift/Second-hand shops in NYC are not always all that cheap.) I also stopped briefly into Steve Madden and Orva Shoes to tortue myself a little, because I really want a pair of hunter rain boots (though what color, I know not) and, thanks to The Sylish Wanderer, a pair of clydde flats. My mom said I could choose one as a belated Christmashannukwanzukah gift as the only thing I really got were theater tickets, but I just don't know which to choose! ;)



Anyway, after that, I got my bangs trimmed, had lunch and then went home to rest/nap a bit before going with Mike to Ollie's (the good one, not the noodle shop chain) for dinner and then to Gypsy... which was, by the way, so so fantastic. I love the show and Patti Lupone never ceases to blow me away, she is a true, old fashioned Broadway Diva and does not fail to deliver wonderful performances. This may have been my favorite show that I've seen in a long time... it was long too, we didn't get out until 11 and then of course waited at the stage door to get Ms. fabulous diva LuPone's autograph on our playbills and such... but really, you could not feel the length at all, it was so wonderful. We also saw Jessica Rush, who was understudying Laura Benanti's role as Louise (Ms. Gypsy Rose Lee) and while I was momentarily disapointed to be missing Ms. Benanti's Tony award winning performance, Ms. Rush really impressed me as well.

Alright, alright, enough of that. I promise I will have less Broadway related blabbing to do when I'm back up at school... life is much less exciting there ;P

So, on to my Switzerland outfits, yes. As I mentioned, I was rather ill on Christmas day, but after spending the whole day in bed, I pulled myself together for the Christmas dinner we had to go to. It was pretty cool actually- we were in the bottom of a building, under a bar in an old fashioned bowling alley!


{vintage red cardgian, urban outfitters dress, white tights - ?, hotel room key}

I know this outfit is an almost direct repeat of a recent one, but this dress deserved a more official spin. Also, I was lucky enough to lose a button of my cardigan as soon as I put it on, haha, but now that I am home with sewing supplies it has been reattached ;)

You may also be wondering what exactly I mean by hotel room key. Well, I mean just that...



This key went to my closet in the hotel room (though it turns out it didn't even work) and I thought it was too fantastic not to wear. I really wanted to steal it, but in order to restrain myself and save my parent's friends a potentially absurd fine for a missing key, I decided wearing it on Christmas would have to do. I had to giggle when I got compliments on it at the party... I just said thank you and smiled to myself thinking about it's origin.

I also brought my tape measure print clutch, which is my usual going out bag up at school, and wore earrings which my dad had surprise gifted me with that day. We weren't expecting presents, but he brought the earrings for me and a necklace for my mom all the way to Switzerland from a shop on Lexington avenue. It was really sweet :)



So, I felt quite a bit better after a few glasses of prosecco at the party, haha, and even found out one of the Swiss-German girls around my age who was at the party is the cousin of a friend of mine from school. What are the chances??

Anyway, the next day I was feeling quite a bit better, though woke up with an eye infection, (which was probably just a stye and is now cleared up thanks to some antibiotic), oy vey. After sleeping in and then going to another snowboarding lesson, we had another long dinner and I went out with my parents and our hostess to "The Casa," the local discotheque which was in a big house. It was quite a thing to see, though not really much fun for me to go out to with my parents. I had a few drinks but we didn't stay long.


{vintage red cardigan, vintage pinstripe vest, h&m turtleneck, bitten locket, AG jeans, frye boots}

I really need to find a better way to get my shoes in these photos....

Speaking of shoes- Patti LuPone had the most fantastic shoes in Gypsy! She had a new pair with every costume- some t-strap, some buckled, some pumps, and all fabulous colors- yellow and orange, green... oh they were epic. I wish I could find pictures to share.

You can see her shoes in this picture, but they are far from the best pair:


Well anyway, I suppose that's all I have for now. A real mouthful anyway... haha. Time to start cleaning up a little for my New Year's party tonight, I'll let you know how that goes ;)

Happy New Year to you all!

Regards,
Freddie

Monday, December 29, 2008

Swiss Miss

So, I have returned from Switzerland, and have quite a few things to post and so thought I would start now in my effort to stay awake until at least 10pm (4am Swiss time) in battling jet lag. So I apologize in advance for any incoherence, seeing as I have now been awake (with the exception of a short nap on the plane) for 20 hours... geez I didn't realize it was quite that long. haha.

Anyway, I wanted to start with something I forgot to mention last time, which is the exciting news that a new H&M is opening about a 10 minute walk from my house. However, as I was walking down the street (with my dad on the way to the seagull actually) and noticed the sign up in the store windows of the new building, a large chunk of snow fell off a building and hit me square on the head, knocking me over! Not fun. But worth sharing due to it's sheer ridiculousness. And luckily it didn't mess up my flower. haha.

So then... Switzerland. It was really quite a trip. I learned to snowboard! (Sort of) and went down a 2 1/2 mile, incredibly steep tobogganing (or "sledging") trail. My cheeks are a bit windburned. And I am very sore. But it was quite fun. We also met some nice people and I generally managed to tolerate my dad's friends (we were their guests) who can, lets say, often be quite overbearing. But their kids are quite nice and were good company.

I had this adorable little room in the hotel, and while I was supposed to swap and share a room with the aforementioned overbearing couple's 14 year old daughter (which would have been fine, really), I was really quite ill on Christmas day (had a fever and all that) and so ended up keeping my own cozy hole.

This is pretty much the entire room. I stood in the doorway of the bathroom (which must have been about half the size of the room) to take the picture. My mom told me she had been afraid my freshman dorm room was going to be about this size before I moved in a year and a half ago. haha, thank goodness it was larger than this--fine for a week, but to live in for a year? I don't think so.

Speaking of the bathroom (a few lines back), it had a rather nice tub to soak in, but the shower head anchored to the wall at about eye level (and I'm not a tall person) so I had to hold it up to wash my hair, resulting in a few minor bathroom floods. Thank goodness I was home and didn't have to shower like that again tonight, especially with my arms so sore from holding on for dear life during sledging (which was yesterday's activity). Don't believe I had a reason to? Here's a picture my dad took of a tiny portion of the track from the gondola (which he rode down while the rest of us took the sleds down the mountain... it took him about 15 minutes to get down and us about 20!) ... many many feet/meters/however you would like to measure above:

The photo really doesn't do it justice, and this part doesn't look all that steep, but most of it was. It was quite fun though (once I figured out how to steer--some of the track was literally along the edge of the mountain in a cliff-like/steep drop sort of way) and in my opinion, worth the minor life risk ;)

Alright alright, back on track--the room. I do believe my favorite parts of this cozy little corner were the curtains and the trash can (as well as a certain key I will show you tomorrow).


Oh, and of course I can't forget this darling little (ok, actually it was quite huge) tree right outside my window which lit up at night. I was on the fourth floor to give a little more perspective.

I could also hear the sounds of jingling bells as horses dragging sleighs "drove" by when I was in the room during the day, which was rather delightful.

Now, I was going to move on to outfits, though I only have two days worth of pictures on those as I spent a lot of time in leggings, a ski parka, and snow pants, but this post is already long and picture heavy (not to mention I am about to keel over with exhaustion--I don't think I can stay awake even another five minutes) so I will leave you with a few more Switzerland pictures (I, with the assistance of my father as he participated in fewer potentially camera breaking activities, took so many, it was impossible to choose) and save the outfits for tomorrow.



Regards,
Freddie

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I'm the seagull. No, that's not it. I'm an actress. That's it.

Today I went to see the Seagull with my father. It was the closing performance and it was wonderful. I mean, it was still Chekhov... but it was still wonderful. I'm mostly kidding, but it really didn't drag much and I loved the moments of self-referential humor. The actors were amazing, especially the ladies (Kristin Scott Thomas, Zoe Kazan, and Carey Mulligan) though I must say Peter Sarsgaard (of Garden State, etc) dragged it down for me a bit, but I think it was not just his acting but by virtue of the character as well. But anyway, anyway, this is not a theatre review site (though if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm pretty big into theatre- it's my major after all) and I have my old high school crew coming over within minutes for a good old fashioned sleepover, complete with sushi eating, baking and incredibly mature movies. haha. So let me cut to the chase.


{pinstriped jeans - ?, navy target tee, vintage sequined cardigan, navy keds,
black flower pinned on white ribbon as headband}






This last picture shows off the flower in my hair and the pretty awesome sequins and collar on the cardigan the best. Something about going to the theatre lately has made me want to wear mildly extravagant things on my head. hmm...

Anyway, I must run and this may be my last post for a week or so as I am off to Switzerland tomorrow evening! But we shall see... and hopefully I have some funny snowboarding pictures and other things to share when I return.

Regards,
Freddie

Saturday, December 20, 2008

All dressed up and nowhere to go

This morning when my mom saw me after I got dressed she said "where are you going?" I asked why and she said, "because you're dressed up" and I said - "I am?" haha. Truth is that I did not go anywhere today, which is nice sometimes on vacation. I spent the better part of the day watching Christmas movies and Private Practice while knitting half of a thrummed mitten. It's turning out SUPER puffy though, so we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I wore my new dress from urban today, and as no one saw me besides my parents it is likely an outfit I will recycle fairly soon. Although I almost ran out of daylight before I got to take my photos (my mom was hanging around my half of the apartment and I didn't really feel like explaining why I was taking self portraits, haha) I did remember to incorporate the tree branch, which I kind of love. Though I should probably throw it away now before it drys out and sheds on everything... alas, très triste.


{dress from urban outfitters, tights- ?, h&m cloche hat}





It's a little hard to tell from the pictures but the dress has some pretty awesomely large pockets as well.

Regards,
Freddie

Friday, December 19, 2008

When the weather outside is frightful

I suppose one of the problems with starting a fashion blog is that my wardrobe isn't always that exciting. Today, for example, wasn't a far cry from a t-shirt and jeans, especially as the red cardigan was promptly removed since my apartment is rather warm and I did not leave the house today with the outside world looking something like this:



Almost Ithaca worthy... though I'm sure it was much worse up there- many of my friends who had their last finals today or yesterday and were trying to go home had their trips postponed. I got snowed in last year before winter break, so lucky I made it home before the mess this time.

Anyway, I did don this little vintage crocheted collar for the first time which I found on ebay when in search of peter pan collars to wear with sweaters. While I know I could probably learn to make something like it, I'm an awful crocheter--much more of a knitter.


{american apparel tee, vintage red cardi, AG jeans, vintage crocheted collar,
bitten locket, red lace as headband and merrell snow boots}




The snow boots of course were also quick to come off when I made the executive decision to stay in. They aren't my favorite things ever but most certainly do the job keeping my feet warm and dry, which in Ithaca, is always a top priority... though I have recently found myself notorious for making poor shoe choices, so after break I know these will be a staple.

So anyway, two of my besties came over today and we baked cookies and then had latkes in an early Hannukah celebration, which is an old tradition of ours. The cookies were chocolate hazelnut and oh so good, I highly recommend them - there are now only two left from what we made earlier! (Though I did have a third friend over later who helped us out a bit with the eating). We also almost burned the house down as one of the Hannukah candles dripped and somehow the place mat underneath the menorah caught on fire! But luckily the smoke detectors, which were almost well behaved during the latke making (they have a bad habit of going off all of the time) caught that little blunder and we put it out before anything but the place mat was seriously damaged.

One of my friends, while teasing me about the collar a little bit, did offer to make me others and started rattling off yarn colors, we'll see if that actually happens but it would be pretty fab. Well, I suppose that's all for now--I really need to unpack so I actually have outfits to wear, hah! Though I will just have to pack up (mostly sweaters, leggings, parka, and snow boots) again in a couple of days for our upcoming trip to Switzerland.

Regards,
Freddie


Feathers in my hair

So, today was my first full day back at home in the city I went to the holidays markets in Union Square and Grand Central. I was excited to see that the temperature was a balmy 38º, balmy at least in comparison to what the temperature probably is up in Ithaca (where I go to school) right now. Last night when I was out with my best friend I stole a free (ok, so then it wasn't quite stealing...) Christmas Tree branch from a stand which I thought I might use in my first outfit shoots today, and of course, I forgot. hah. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow.

Anyway, I do wish I had a better backdrop for these shots, but my room at home is not terribly exciting, and my lack of a tripod means I can only take pictures in places where there are ledges and such for me to put the camera on. I think I may have a nice picture-taking spot in my room up at school (if I'm able to keep up with the blog then - I hope so - my outfits are not always that exciting and my time is often rather incredibly limited) but we shall see.


{vintage bowler hat, h&m dress}
{locket, generally worn daily- my mom's when she was a kid}
{flik flack kid's watch (with dinosaurs) - also generally daily fare}


{N typewriter key ring - my last (almost) daily item}


{tights and boots, folded over - unknown}


{h&m coat, street fair scarf, vintage leather gloves}

When I got back from the markets (as well as a stop at urban outfitters where I grabbed a cute brown dress from the sale section) I got a call from my best friend saying he had tickets to go see Jersey Boys with his parents, but they could no longer go (though nothing serious to worry about). I traded my bowler for the lovely feathered headband I bought today at the Union Square Market (I'm a little obsessed with this thing... but a bit worried about how delicate it is) and off we went!


{dark taken after the theatre (which was great by the way!) shot}

Regards,
Freddie

A New Blog

Well, I have decided to start a new blog, a fashion blog, like 500 million others out there. Now for those of you who have found your way over here from the Natchbox, I know you may be thinking - a second blog? You hardly have the time to update your first one! Yes, this is true, but one of the primary problems with the Natchbox is not that I don't have time to blog (though this is often true) but I don't have time to craft, and therefore have nothing to blog about.

Fashion, however, is something I have always loved (I need to dig up some old photos and do a post on my fashion history at some point, it's highly entertaining), though this love seems to have recently escalated. I'm not really sure why or how, but I think it started when I gained a few pounds this year--it's college, it happens--and as a result, many of my pairs of jeans, previous wardrobe staples became a bit too tight for comfort. So, I started being a bit more creative with my wardrobe, and realized how much fun it was to dress up, put thought into my outfits, and find new ways to wear old things. I then found myself with some free time, an unusual circumstance, as I was running the sound board for a show at The Schwartz Center, and had a lot of downtime in the booth. So, I began browsing ebay, something I used to do in highschool and had fallen out of for a while. Then, something caused me to stumbled upon my first fashion blog, and then I found another, and another... I added Tavi and Style Bubble, as well as the obvious Sartorialist and others to my bloglines feed and quickly became addicted. Ironically enough many of the girls that really inspired me to start a blog myself are hardly of high school age, but I think that's one of the great and fun things about the fashion blog world.

Somewhere around finals week, I had such an urge to start writing with so many blog posts forming in my mind but of course I had to wait until after studying was no longer top priority (such a priority that I was also dressing like a slob) and got home for winter break. While a lot of my wardrobe is still up in Ithaca, I'm enjoying being back in my hometown of New York and not having to wear a giant puff coat over everything (Ithaca is at least 10º colder than New York City at all times).

So anyway, here I am, sorry for such a wordy introduction post. While I do most often go by the names Nathalie, Nat, or Natch, I decided to call this blog Freddie in the interest of simplicity. Also, a sometimes unknown fact about me is that one of my two middle names is Frederick, and I'm rather fond of it's slight oddball nature--I think it's a pretty good expression of who I am. Anyway, enough, enough, do excuse the blog while the layout is still in the creation phase, but I think I will end here and post again for my outfit of today (or yesterday I suppose).

Regards,
Freddie