Astrid Hofferson from How to Train Your Dragon

The only way I can describe this is “Princess Astrid.” Really.

I love How to Train Your Dragon, so for Not So Scary in 2015 I decided to make a costume inspired by her. Her full outfit was going to be impractical, especially for Florida (faux fur! Leather! weaponry!) so I designed a one piece dress reminiscent of Astrid using my trusty Simplicity 1873 as a base.

The bodice is made of a red brocade that I bought online. Sadly it is far too shiny in person and I wasn’t happy with it at all. I also wasn’t happy with the faux lacing- the neckline sits too high and the waistline sits too low, making me seem lumpy and uneven. The sleeves were fairly simple though; I used cream cotton from my stash and stitched on brown ribbon to look like the lacing of her arm guards.

The skirt was a brown cotton that I originally purchased for my Vanellope Von Schweetz cosplay (although I found a much better fabric later). I used a wide burlap ribbon to cover the waist and stitched stripes of narrow burlap ribbon onto the skirt to look like the fur and leather panels. I tracked down skull buttons on Ali Express that literally arrived at the last possible second.

The headband was a length of brown twill belting with elastic stitched to the center, and I wore navy Walmart leggings and my Rocketdog boots. Super classy, eh?

Here’s where I really messed up, though. Because…I’m a procrastinator. A really dreadful procrastinator. I waited until the day of Not So Scary to get started on my project. And I slept in too. And also I was working on my friend’s Belle costume, which I hadn’t completed either. I am literally THE WORST. I cried. Often. And I wasn’t happy with the final products of either cosplay. But oh well. We still made it to Be Our Guest on time (so Bri got to eat at the castle while dressed as Belle) and we still had a great time at the party. Will I wear my Astrid dress again? Not without significant changes. But at least we had a good time!

Sick Day

10/3/12

This outfit is a million times cuter in person, I swear.

Anyways, this is a warm, comfy outfit- perfect for a day like today. Some kind of 24 hour bug hit me in full force like a mack truck just as my class was starting. By the time rehearsal was over, I was exhausted and hot and shaky. I somehow managed the 45 minute drive home and stumbled into bed. Luckily, I went to bed and woke up feeling better. Still not 100%, but better.

At least I had a cute and comfy outfit to wear! I love pairing navy and yellow together, and the boots are so much fun.

Dress: Pink Rose via Ross
Cardigan: Forever 21
Jeggings: Target
Belt: Faded Glory
Boots: Rocketdog via eBay

Nail Polish: OPI At First Sight
Perfume of the Day: Vera Wang Glam Princess

The 8th Von Trapp

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I am a SUCKER for anything with a sailor collar. I don’t even know why. I think it has something to do with my childhood obsession with my American Girl Samantha doll and my yearning for the my-size copy of her summer middy dress. But in any case, I love this dress.

Originally I came across this dress in the Memorial Day clearance sale. It was at least 50% off and I got super excited, but all they had left was a size small. I’m rather big of boob, so I always buy a size large in Forever 21 to accommodate the bazoombas and then take in the waist from there. So there was no way a small was going to fit. I mean, seriously. Snowball’s chance in hell. So I let it go.

Imagine my delight when it turned up in my size on eBay! I sniped that baby at the last minute and have treasured it ever since. It’s a wee bit on the short side, but I don’t even care. It’s so cute and so comfy.

I wore this for Narnia rehearsal- we’ve been trying to run act two and it is a HOT MESS. Well, actually, it’s not that bad, but my kiddos won’t focus and they get super silly, and it’s not as tight and clean as act one is. We’ll get there, though. They’re sweet kids and they work really hard when they set their mind to it, so hopefully it’ll all turn out.

Dress: Forever 21 via eBay
Leggings: Faded Glory
Boots: Rocketdog via eBay

Nail Polish: OPI Katy Perry Teenage Dream
Perfume of the Day: Bath and Body Works Dreamy Vanilla Woods

Little Mermaid Hair!

10/15/12

So you can’t see a lot of details of my outfit because the sun is stupid and I am a terrible photographer, but who cares because Ariel hair!

My sister’s best friend is in beauty school, so she came over to cut and color our hair. I hadn’t dyed my hair since August (and it had turned out the wrong color anyway) and it hadn’t been cut since April, so it definitely needed a little love! I am so thrilled with the color, and my students kept exclaiming over how pretty it looks.

I love this dress, but it’s one of the perils of buying thrifted clothing online- it was listed as a large when it’s a small! So I have to leave it unbuttoned. But hey, still, cute, right? Right? Oh well.

Also my knee socks were a dollar at the end-of-winter sales at Claire’s, and they’re sparkly. AWESOME.

It was a great outfit for a long, long day. My friend Meg was in town from Pennsylvania, so we went out for breakfast before I took her to the airport. And then it was my first day back at school after fall break, so my kids did NOT want to do anything and I didn’t really push it. They have a paper due tomorrow for me, and only one of them turned it in! Silly children. And then I had three-hour Narnia rehearsal, where I still had four main actors missing. And then I had Emanate. So long day, but really good!

Dress: Modcloth Little Chief Honeybee dress, thrifted
Top: Ann Taylor Loft, thrifted
Leggings: Forever 21
Socks: Claire’s
Boots: Rocketdog

Nail Polish: OPI Sweet Heart
Perfume of the Day: Bath and Body Works Dreamy Vanilla Woods

The Compliments Outfit

9/17/12

I don’t know if I was just around super nice people today or what, but I got a ton of compliments on this outfit! I was pretty excited. It’s not a typical outfit for me- I usually don’t do dresses with narrow skirts- but it was comfy and I felt cute and it was the perfect thing to cheer up a dreary rainy day- even if my belt and boots were different shades of brown. Oh, well. YOLO and whatnot.

I love the combination of navy and gold, and these mustard-y tights went really well with the dress, I thought. Although every time I wear them, my sister mistakes it for my actual skin color. She insists it’s because of the Great Legwarmer Tan of ’09.

I wore this for a long day of subbing for fifth grade, rummaging around my sad little library, teaching voice and diction in theatre arts (we did tongue twisters!), aftercare, and a Monday night church service. But I felt cute the whole time- even though my hair exploded in wild rain-curls and I had to pin it up for Emanate. It was still kind of cute!

Dress: Forever 21 via eBay
Belt: Forever 21
Tights: Hue via eBay
Boots: Rocketdog via eBay

Nail Polish: Sinful Colors All About Me layered over OPI Glee Sue vs. Schue
Perfume of the Day: Harajuku Lovers Love

Boots, Glorious Boots!

9/14/12
I have been searching for knee-high brown boots for forever! Like…two or three years! And now I have them!! Hurray!! I just had so much trouble finding boots that would fit over my massive cheerleader calves. These just baaaarely fit, so no thick tights for these, I think, but I love them so much.

This outfit is probably just a little too much on the autumnish side, but I don’t care! YOLO! And…so on and so forth. I’ve been going nuts on Pinterest with pumpkin-related things…although I realized I’ve never actually had a pumpkin spice latte. What’s up with that?

I wore this for the last day of nonverbal improv week, and rehearsal with my kiddos. This was my first day working with the kids playing the bad guys, and it was so much fun. They’re just awesome.

I also tried the waterfall braid in my hair again. The first time was an epic fail, but I think this one went better. Although I can’t get a good look at the back of my head, so I don’t know if it actually worked.

But yeah. This was a pretty comfy outfit, even though it kind of makes me look like I stuffed cantaloupes down my dress.

Dress: Forever 21 via eBay
Belt: stolen…I mean borrowed from my sister
Jeggings: Target
Boots: Rocketdog via eBay

Nail Polish: OPI Glee Sue vs. Schue
Perfume of the Day: Harajuku Lovers Lil Angel