heard you want to beat me up

Seriously, this week will be beautiful regardless of the rain.The fact that I can officially whip out my collection of stupid summer floral print dresses is so exciting!

Dressed stupidly to run mothers day errands, bought out the basil at the Windy City to make what is promised to be some badass pesto for my adoptive mother.

dress, perfect vest and double wrap stud belt - thrifted, navy blue tights that have been through shit - walmart (I think, I've had these for 3 years)

Crimson and Clover

So I've been on a month hiatus, not just for this blog but life in general. I got really sick and achey about three weeks before finals and since then I've been in cracked out college kid mode. This past week I've turned out mad research papers and now I am officially on summer break. I slowly have to ween myself off a diet of one meal a day, half a pack of cigarettes and about 4 cups of coffee. Being on summer break means a resurgence of thrift missions and the struggle to get a job. Wish me luck!

I wore this outfit on Tuesday. I had just completed my last research paper and I was about to leave the house for the first time in 72 hours to see the Jim Nutt exhibit for the second time. If you haven't gone to the MCA yet to check it out, I highly recommend you do. Jim Nutt is a wacky motherfucker and a Chicago native, his paintings are absolutely intense. I would also recommend smoking a blunt before you go, it's kind of like that......Anyways, it was chilly as fuck on Tuesday, so cold I had to break out my winter jacket. The top I was wearing is actually this awesome crushed velvet baby doll dress that I wore wayyy too many times this past winter. It has neat little shoulder pads to keep your shit in line.

I found the skirt at a thrift store on the southside and I'm kind of obsessed with the pattern. I love floral print which is ironic because I'm not really into flowers at all, but this skirt reminds me of dried roses which remind me of my dad and subsequently my father bought me the skirt (side note: if you don't already know, I'm kind of obsessed with my dad). The belt I got at this amazing thrift store, whose where abouts I am sworn to secrecy, and it's arguably one of the coolest belts I've found. This belt is basically the most horror-punk belt ever. Studded crocodile print embossed leather on top of chain mail, this shit ooozes Danzig-slut.

Since I've ressurected from the dead I've been finding a bunch of really awesome stuff so it's safe to say I have a lot more to post.

Take ecstasy with me

Copped this bag on thursday, it was kind of one of those classic love at first site stories. I'm the kind of person that buys most of their summer clothes and accessories during spring because I'm too excited for summer and thrift stores generally begin to restock a lot more warm weather clothes during this time. Summer is a great time for dumb back packs because that's usually when my janky stray cat self is on the prowl. Since I spend hours to days on the streets I like to be well prepared without having to think about what I have. Although this is the smallest of my summer back packs, it's definitely the cutest and funniest.



The best part about this bag is that it can fit all of my summer essentials perfectly. I'm not going to lie, I often find my self judging the quality of my summer bags based on what size liquor container it can conceal. This bag not only fits a pint comfortably but also my envelope wallet, cigs, stash box, gum,mirror and lipstick. There is more than enough room for a small make up bag and maybe a little bit of chaser.

I mean, I know when you look at this bag you think raver. I'm pretty sure this summer I'm going to end up looking like a kindergarden prostitute on acid so fuck it, PLUR!

Call Me Coogi Shawty

I know that the cold weather is finally leaving (although the forecast for this weekend seems dreadful), but I'm completely obsessed with Coogi sweater-dresses. I found one recently in a vintage shop on Milwaukee and although I didn't buy it, it hasn't left my mind. Maybe all the time I spent cruising blunts in my best friend's hoopty listening to Gucci and Wiz out of LeRoy's lone speaker has finally gotten to my wardrobe. Coogi print is like the estranged love child of the polygamous relationship between Kood van den Akker (Cosby sweater innovator), Missoni and Pucci. Seriously after some insane acid fueled orgy and by some Weetzie Bat miracle Coogi was born of these fashion houses. Ever since I laid my eyes on that Coogi dress, I've been dreaming of high-heeled timberlands and getting my ass done.




Maybe subconsciously I just want to be a fabulous black girl. I mean, I've come to terms with the fact that I wish I was a chicana. I think I just have to deal with the fact that I just want to be any bad bitch.

sick heart, sweat body part

Today is my grandparents' 60th anniversary party. It still amazes me that they've been married for 60 years and haven't gotten sick of each other. Marriage was supposed to be a bond for life but in our current society it's perceived in a different light. I'm very happy that my grandparents have been together for ages and still seem to love each other.

My grandparents were married on St. Patrick's day. All of their children have Irish-Catholic names even though they are asian. I like my grandparents a lot because they don't ask a lot of questions. I'm really awkward with my family and I feel like a lot of times they are super intrusive so I like that my grandparents act as if they don't care what I'm doing with my life. As long as I'm in school, being nice to my dad and not breaking the expensive laptop they bought me, it's allll good.

Sometimes the hardest part of my day is getting dressed, especially when I'm in sleep mode. I ended up throwing together this outfit which I thought was appropriate for a family get together. The dress is actually this american apparel skirt that I borrowed from my friend like 6 months ago. I've never worn it before because it's too long. Being short is a burden sometimes but today I realized that I could wear it as a dress! I also very rarely wear white because I'm too dirty for white clothes but today seems like a good day to look pure. I really love how this skirt drapes and it's slightly shorter in the front so I have to wear a skirt or I'll be pulling a Britney.

I don't really know how to describe this top. It's kind of like a long shear jacket thing. I'm not even sure, but I didn't feel like belting this skirt so I just tied this jacket thing in front to nip my waist. I like this top a lot because it's shear,sequined and navy blue. I don't wear very much navy blue and since it's almost spring I've been trying to wear a lot more color. I've only worn this top once before so I'm glad I found another way to style it.

indentured ocelot on a leash

The weather this week has been amazing. I can't even explain the relief I feel now that I no longer have to wear my winter coat or my docs. I love both, but damn, a bitch just wants to wear a jean jacket and some normal shoes.

I wore this yesterday. I recently bought this leopard print skirt from the thrift store and I was really hesitant about it. I don't really like skirts too much because I am just really really lazy and I hate trying to figure out what to wear on top and bottom. My day to day uniform usually just involves all black or leggings and a shirt. I felt a little snazzy because it was 60 yesterday so I decided to fuck the bullshit. Also, if I buy an article of clothing, I have to at least wear it once. Since I no longer had to wear my winter coat, I felt that it was an appropriate time to whip out this cute lil skirt. The shirt that I'm wearing I bought a while ago. It was a men's long sleeve button down, but the sleeves looked ridiculous so I cut them off. This shirt has once been described as saying "HEY! I like A Tribe Called Quest" and I'm completely content with that. I don't wear this shirt often mostly because it's not black and it looks silly with cardigans. I know that a lot of people consider it a faux-pas to mix prints but I don't care. I wear so much leopard print that I pretty much consider it the 8th hue in the visible spectrum. It goes something like ROY G BIVL.

leopard print skirt - thrifted, shirt - thrfited, gap denim jacket - thrfited, tights - target

what is it that everyone has and some pirates and thieves try to take?

Can not, will not get over these tights. I think maybe the ass being ripped out is just endearing to me. I'm not evens sure why, but these are my favorite pair of tights and I refuse to throw them away. I have a really hard time parting with articles of clothing and I feel like these tights have a lot of sentimental value. They've been through some shit but they insist on persevering. It's awkward to wear these without a pair of tights underneath but I feel like these babies have a lot of character. Most of my tights have runs and rips but none of this caliber. Originally there was a thin thong-like line that separated both cheeks, but due to excessive wear this winter I'm left with the hosiery version off assless chaps. I'm not really sure how these rips even occurred but damn. If you're ever in public with me and see me fiddling with my tights, rest assured that it's probably because my whole ass is hanging out of them.

see that cat

I'm not one to get very stressed out. I've been dealing with midterms and last minute assignments before spring break. I had a 7 page paper due on wednesday that I'm supposed to be turning in tomorrow that I haven't even started yet. No biggie, I got this, right?

This is what I wore yesterday. In short, black button down, booty shorts, tights, and thigh highs. I LOVE this shirt. I always seem to buy black because honestly putting together an outfit is 50x easier if everything you have is in the same color pallet. After a period of buying black basics I realized I had to mix it up a bit. This shirt is shear but has a really cool pattern similar to buffalo plaid that involves using different opacities of polyester. I loathe polyester so I generally only wear this shirt in winter.

I wore this with high-wasted booty shorts, which basically means I wore a pair of underwear over my tights. It was chilly yesterday so thigh-high socks were kind of necessary and I also really love them because I don't feel like wearing leggings or multiple pairs of tights every day.

To top everything off I wore this with these new red suede shoes that I got at the thrift store last weekend. I'm all about form following function and I generally only wear sneakers or boots. As a stray cat, I never know where I'm going to end up so I need to be mostly prepared for all situations.

button down - thrifted, miscellaneous shorts, tights - target, thigh-highs - american apparel, shoes -thrifted.

Stay fresh cause I'm accustomed to gold

One of a cat's greatest attributes are their claws. A stray cat is nothing without a strong pair of talons. Really, what I'm trying to say is that I've become completely obsessed with my nails. I made a new year resolution to keep my nails in check, and honestly it's the only resolution I've ever kept for this long.

this is how my nails look right now:

(lovin this asian pose, weirdly cute and really great for showing off nails)

So my nails are leopard print with a little bit of zebra and glitter, totz cute. What I love about these nails is that it looks like I spent at least $40 on a full set with designs but I only paid $8 at walgreens. Press on nails aren't extremely long lasting (I had to re-glue 4 of my nails after a rigorous day of thrifting) but they are cute for the amount of money you spend. Getting used to fake nails is hard for me though because I bite my nails and I have to keep them pretty short to ensure that I don't get ingrown fingernails while playing guitar. I currently can't play guitar at all because my nails are too long but that's the price you pay for cuteness. Also it's gross the amount of dirt that accumulates under them but bus cards are great for cleaning them. Another really great thing about glue-on nails is that removal is a lot easier than removing professionally done nails. I'm not sure how long I will keep these nails on but I'm really excited to by more press ons in the future!

nails by Kiss

hippie hippie hoorah

One major aspect to stray cat life is being exponentially lazier than the next bitch but keeping it cute at the same time. Today I am feeling very lazy. It's currently 31 degrees outside and although I only have one class I don't want to freeze my ass off on the way to or from school.

I got this sweater from a thriftstore near my house on the southside. I am legitimately obsessed with this sweater. Honestly, if you know me, you've probably seen me wear this sweater some time during the winter. I wear this sweater once a week, it's really warm and easy to wear. I also love the pattern and the continuity of the pattern from the front to back is really nice. The pattern lines up almost perfectly all the way around and symmetry is always refreshing. Sometimes if I decide to wear this on the weekend I'll just wear tights with it because I feel like it's long enough to just be a sweater dress (this fact is definitely debatable). Today I'm wearing it with American Apparel nylon-tricot leggings which are probably the best leggings on the market.

Another thing I like a lot about this sweater is that although it intentially oversized, my shoulders aren't all wonky. Often when you buy oversized sweaters the shoulder seam goes past the shoulder and to the middle of your upper arm. This sweater has the most perfect shoulder pads to add a little structure. When I first bought this sweater it had a baby turtle neck which I cut off because it looked, for lack of better words, stupid. I am left with a kind of frayed yet endearing neck line.

Since I have to leave my house in 15 minutes, I don't feel like taking 5 of those minutes to do my makeup and hair so I'm just wearing a little bit of lipstick and rocking a messy pomp/bun combo. Damn it feels good to be a kitty.

slick little girl

This is what I wore yesterday. Black on Black on Black with a little bit of denim. The vest is made from a denim jacket that I've had for about three years now and I like it a lot because the collar is leopard print. Over the years I've gotten sick of it and this past summer I got a better denim jacket so since I have a hard time parting with my clothes I turned into a vest. It was an ugly coat and now it's an ugly vest, cool.

The shirt that I'm wearing as a dress I got from the american apparel street sale in evanston two years ago. It's a tissue tee, but really, it's so shear that it's hard to wear during the day time. This shirt is so long that it doesn't make sense to wear pants, honestly anyway you try to style it this shirt looks slutty. I like to push the boundaries of slutty and dykey, so this is the perfect match!
I paired the vest with a fur collared cardigan because I have to watch how much leopard print I wear on a day to day basis. My winter coat has a leopard print lapel so I have to be sure not overdose or else I might turn into the great Panthera Pardus.

denim jacket converted to a vest - thrifted, american apparel shear t-shirt/dress, fur collar cardigan -thrifted, black skirt - h&m, tights from target, american apparel thigh highs

Stray Cat Strut

I'm a self described stray cat. Stray cat life is not easy, and certainly unglamorous, but life on the streets doesn't mean you can't be cute. This blog is kind of going to be a documentation of my life as complete street trash and tips and tricks to make street living easy. I just kind of wanted to make a blog where I can post my day to day outfits, thrift finds and inspiration and other things I think of. Basically all the stuff I want to talk about that I don't feel like posting on tumblr.

Stray Cat Strut - The Stray Cats