Animal (Fashion) House

It’s Friday, folks! Why not do something a little different today? Glad you suggested it. Last week I spent a fabulous day at ZooBoo at the Indianapolis Zoo. I’m a big fan of our zoo already, but ZooBoo is an especially fun time to go because the zoo is all decorated! If you’re in the area, I really recommend going, especially if you love Halloween and/or have young kids.

Anyway, when I was there, I saw lots of little kids dressed up as animals. We’ve all worn at animal costume at least once in our lives, right? For Halloween or a school play or dance recital? I know I have. But I also got to thinking how funny it is that a lot of regular clothes we wear as adults have some pretty obvious animal influence. And why shouldn’t they? Animals always look fabulous.

I put together a few examples inspired by some of the animals I saw at the Indy Zoo. This is mostly just for fun, but I’ve included links to the clothes in case you’re interested in where to buy. And don’t worry…as far as I know, none of the animals pictured were actually used to make the clothes! 🙂

Kenneth Cole Faux Leather Jacket

Dolce Vita Ombre Lace Dress

Cheetah Print Jacket

DVF Zebra Ruched Dress

Dooney & Bourke Giraffe Tote

Moschino Cheap & Chic Tuxedo Dress

Sam Edelman Faux Fur Coat

Hmmm, see any resemblance?

Hope you all have a great weekend. If you’re in the central Indiana area, why not check out some of these lovely creatures? ZooBoo runs this weekend and next from 2-7pm. Click here for more info. Here are a few more photos I took at ZooBoo:

Disclosure: The Indianapolis Zoo provided me with free tickets and a parking pass to attend ZooBoo in return for social media and blog coverage of the event. I got this opportunity thanks in part to my membership of Indy Social Media Moms. But all opinions are my own – I love the zoo!

I Take Pictures of Stuff

Did you know that you can follow your favorite blogger on Instagram?! You can!

And while you’re at it, you can also follow me.

If you’ve been reading Sarah’s Real Life for awhile, you might remember I used to do a post every week or two called “My Week in Over-Processed Photos” where I shared my Instagrams. Then I took a reader poll and found out that while a lot of people liked that series, the majority of readers could take it or leave it. So I stopped.

For those who miss seeing my quirky snapshots (or who never saw them in the first place), consider this your official invitation to follow me on Instagram (@sarahsreallife)! And I don’t mean to brag, but I’m a damn good Instagrammer. I’m not one of those people who will post a blurry, dark, drunk picture of me and five friends. Mostly because I don’t have five friends, but also because I’m a super classy iPhonographer.

Here are some examples of my work for your review:

Follow @sarahsreallife on Instagram

Blooper Reel

After my 2012 year-end “outtakes” post was a big hit, I decided I should do them more often in 2013. Well, I’m officially on spring break and I’m ready to let loose and show you a few snippets of silliness from some recent outfit photo shoots.

These are just a few of many ridiculous photos I have stored up to share with you in the future. I’m talking ridiculous hair, ridiculous faces, and ridiculous poses. Sometimes all at once. I’m multi-talented.

I’m really good at rolling my eyes dramatically:

But I’m not so good at figuring out a long purse strap:

No worries. I’ll just kick up my heels. Literally:

I’ve started posting bloopers on my Facebook Page to get some input on funny captions for future outtakes posts. So if you’ll “like” my page, you will (1) make me feel loved, and (2) get to make fun of me to my face. It’s win-win.

Have a good weekend!

Barristers’ Ball

Saturday night was Barristers’ Ball, a.k.a. Law School Prom. It’s just like high school, but with all honor roll students and more drunk people (In theory, there should be NO drunk people at a high school prom, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the case). I’m happy to say I was not one of the drunk people this weekend, although I did enjoy a couple of Blue Barristers, the signature drink of the night. They were tasty and made me really good at dancing to Ke$ha.

In true prom fashion, I got a new sparkly dress and gave myself some curly tendrils. Also in true prom fashion, I spent plenty of time looking at everyone else’s dresses and judging them. I must say, overall I was quite impressed! There were several other sparkly numbers, lots of fun colors, and statement shoes. Honestly, it was a better showing than what I saw on some recent red carpets. Well done, IU McKinney School of Law. We are a classy bunch of future attorneys.

Here are some more photos from the event:

I had a pretty cute date, don’t you think?

Dress (on sale) // similar Shoes (on sale) // similar Clutch // Bracelet // Earrings (on sale) // similar Brooch // Nails

Outfit photos taken in front of the Indiana Statehouse.

Event photos taken at the Indiana Roof Ballroom.

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Inner Child

Can you spot the repeat item today? It’s the tights. Yeah, I know. Kind of a cop-out. But there wasn’t anything else I felt like repeating, and it’s my remix, so I can do whatever I want. Deal with it.

Speaking of the Take One, Pass it On remix challenge, I accidentally left out one blogger who joined the challenge last week. I’m giving Jaime of South on Broadway a special shout-out now in the hopes that she won’t make a voodoo doll out of me. So go visit her (very cute) blog and see what she’s been remixing!

OK, back to me. If you remember the old tagline that used to be under my old header, it said this blog was supposed to feature “real things I wear and do.” Recently I’ve been heavy on the wearing and light on the doing. That’s because I’ve spent most of the past couple months going to school and work, so there’s not much special to share there.

BUT! Over the weekend, I took this cute little outfit to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis for a special adults-only night. The Children’s Museum is so cool, but unfortunately it tends to be full of children most of the time. Buzzkill, right? Well, thanks to Adult Swim, I got to drink adult beverages while simultaneously acting like someone who’s not allowed to have adult beverages. Here are a few pictures from the event:

Shameless self-promotion

There I am on the Twitter feed, posting my Vine video! (P.S. If you’re part of the Vine crowd, follow me! My username is SarahsRealLife.)

Me and Kristin on the carousel, margaritas in hand // Hula hooping (I’m pretty awesome at it) // A shot of the lobby full of giddy grownups

Thanks to the Sapphire Theatre Company and the Children’s Museum for a great party!

Sweater (on sale!) // Skirt // Shoes (on sale!) // similar Necklace // Sunglasses

Sarah and the Chocolate Factory

See’s Candies recently opened a new location in Indianapolis at the Fashion Mall, and they hosted a private party for Indy bloggers last Thursday. I know this is normally a clothes-centric blog, but if there’s anything I love as much as clothes, it’s chocolate. You better believe I jumped on  that invite! And I’m so glad I did because Kristin and I had a great time.

Besides all the free candy, the coolest part of the night was when we got to race to see who could pack a box of 12 chocolates the fastest. It was honestly really hard! The famous episode of “I Love Lucy” was actually filmed at a See’s factory, and I think we all now have a new appreciation for her struggle with the assembly line.

<< top knot + hairnet = lookin’ good >>

<< just like Lucy, but I didn’t shove any in my mouth until after >>

<< my finished box – not pretty, but still delicious >>

<< my trusty photographer and chocolate-packing team member >>

Well, those were the highlights! I’ll leave you with a couple more photos of my outfit, including one with a mall janitor in the background…it was just too good not to share.

Jacket: I.N.C. via Macy’s (similar here and here, both on sale)

Sweater: J. Crew Factory

Jeans: Express

Clutch: via TJ Maxx (similar)

Bracelet: Stephan & Co.

P.S. This post was not sponsored by See’s. They just gave me so freaking much free candy, I figured I could at least credit them and show some thanks for the party! Also thanks to Indianapolis Bloggers for organizing invitations.

Me and My Crew

I didn’t mean for this outfit to be so J. Crew heavy, but it happens sometimes and I’m not mad about it.

I wore this for another museum date, this time to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. I’ve been living in Indianapolis for more than 3 years, and I still hadn’t been there until this weekend. I found out recently that students at my university get in for free, so I really had no excuse not to go.

Plus, you might have already guessed this because of my dark complexion and affinity for spear fishing, but I am 1/16 Native American. I love any excuse to learn more about “my people”! The exhibits were really interesting, although I was a tad disappointed that there weren’t many artifacts from the Cherokee (which is the tribe that my great-great-grandmother was a member of).

Still, the museum was really great and I’ll definitely go back. In the photo below, you’ll see a few snapshots of my favorite things at the Eiteljorg, including some interactive basket weaving. Clearly it comes naturally to me because of my heritage.

Sweater: J. Crew Factory (on sale!)

Scarf: Target, old (similar)

Skirt: Webster for Target, old (similar)

Tights: Simply Vera, old (similar)

Shoes: J. Crew

Bracelets: J. Crew, Stephan & Co.

Coat: Tulle, old (similar)

2012 Outtakes

What better way to finish 2012 than to make fun of myself? I’ve deleted a lot of my blooper photos, but some were just too good not to save for a special occasion. Lucky for you, that day is today. Enjoy! (click on the photos to see the original post of boring photos if you like)

Sometimes I don’t know what to do with my hands…

Sometimes I pet pretend dogs…

Sometimes I can’t keep my balance on a moving vehicle…

Sometimes Kristin is silly, too…

Sometimes we pretend to be in The Lion King…

Sometimes I think I’m a Rockette…

Sometimes I do other interesting dance moves…

Sometimes I can’t keep my shit together…

Sometimes I make scary faces…

Sometimes I…am I squatting?…I don’t even know…

Thanks for tuning in this year, everyone! See you in 2013!

Do They Know It’s Christmas Time at All

On Saturday, Kristin and I went to see a special exhibition of Islamic art at the IMA. After all, what’s more Christmasy than learning about a culture that doesn’t celebrate Christmas?

The exhibition is really great (props to Brigham Young University Museum of Art, the organizing institution), so if you’re in the Indianapolis area, I highly recommend it. It’s open through January 13.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, so you’ll have to go to the museum yourself, or you can see a few highlights on BYU’s website (although thumbnail pictures don’t do this stuff justice!)

The prior day’s snow made for some good outfit photos…I felt like a little snow bunny in my cozy sweater!

I’ll be honest: I knew basically nothing about Islam before – and obviously one afternoon is not going to teach me everything there is to know about a centuries-old religion and culture – but I feel at least a little more familiar after this exhibition.

First of all, Arabic calligraphy is beautiful, and there are so many different styles. Some pieces looked so bold and avant-garde that I thought they were modern, but they were actually from the 18th century. Mind blown.

I also learned that while pictorial representations aren’t allowed in objects for religious/worshipping purposes, they are allowed for everyday, secular objects.

Islamic art also has a strong emphasis on pattern and rhythm. There are lots of repeating patterns, which parallel religious chants. The chants are considered “the heartbeat of Islam.” There was even one room of the exhibition that had a huge painting with a circular pattern and a chant was playing over the speakers. I seriously felt like I was going to be sucked into the middle of the painting. Mind blown. Again.

Oh, and there was jewelry! Big surprise here: I was drawn to the things you could wear. There was one really cool gold cuff that had three-dimensional doves all over it, and the inside had an Arabic inscription that said something like “joy and happiness to its owner.” Unfortunately, there were no cheap replicas of that bracelet in the gift shop, but there was this necklace, which Kristin and I bought together so we can share it:

Hopefully you can see in the picture that on top of the veins of the leaf, there’s some Arabic calligraphy. The translation is roughly: The best people are the ones that help other people.

So in case you’re one of those people that just associates Islam with terrorism, here’s the real deal…In the end, it comes down to the same philosophy as every other religion: Don’t be an asshole. There might be some difference of opinion on the details, but in the end…just don’t be an asshole. So for the love of Allah, let’s stop fighting about our differences and celebrate the ways we’re all the same.

I wish you all a happy and peaceful December 25th, whether or not you know it’s Christmas.

Love, Sarah

Turtleneck: Target, old

Dress: H&M, old but I’ve seen similar in stores recently

Sweater: Victoria’s Secret, old (similar here)

Boots: Aldo, old (similar here and here)

Necklace: J. Crew, old (similar here)

Field Trip

Yesterday, I went on a field trip with my intellectual property law class to an apple orchard. That’s right, law school is even more fun than you already thought it was. There are field trips! A small but fun group of us hung out with animals at the petting zoo, learned about honey bees, and sampled lots of apple deliciousness. We also got very excited talking about trademarks and cease and desist letters. What can I say…law students know how to have a good time.

And now for some gratuitous animal photos:

Up close and personal with a donkey

We called all the miniature horses Lil Sebastian (if you watch “Parks and Rec,” you know what I’m talking about)

Of course I was excited to see this kitten, as if I can’t see a cat at home every day. But this one was so adorable, making friends with the other animals! 

Meanwhile, this big guy’s hanging out all like, “If you want to see a real horse, I’ll be over here.”

We took a “hayride” but there was no hay, so I guess it was just a tractor ride. Whatever, hayride sounds better. Anyway, we got a tour of the orchards as the sun was setting. ‘Twas lovely.

We sampled lots of hard ciders and ate apple dumplings with cinnamon ice cream (no picture of the dessert because I ate it…yum).

McClure’s Orchard is on Highway 31 just north of Peru, Indiana (about an hour and a half drive from Indianapolis). For more info, see their website.

I hope everyone had a great weekend – anyone else go somewhere cool? Eat or drink anything special? Send any cease and desist letters?