Blogger of the Moment! The fourth edition...

Alright! The next installment of Blogger of theMoment features Indiana Adams of Adored Austin. She is a wonderful soul beaming with joy. She always has something great to say and is a total goofball. Head on over to her blog and check it out! But don't go just yet, she's done a little interview, read up folks!

1. What movie or movie character best characterizes you?

Miss Piggy. She's funny, she's tough, she makes bold fashion choices, and she has an unshakable devotion to her man... er, frog.

2. You are an actress and writer, what is your favorite part about both activities?

For acting, I mostly do children's theatre and commercial work. Being an actor is the best job, ever. I get PAID to play make-believe!As for my writing, I primarily do screenplays. I like it because it makes me feel like a magician. I'm turning blank pages into funny little things that people can act out. Voilá! Nothing into something!

3. What inspires your style?

Nostalgia is my favorite emotion, and I find myself drawn to objects and fashion inspired by my fantastic childhood. This

means I may buy a skirt with tulle underneath because it reminds me of ballet class, or I may buy a cameo brooch because it reminds me of my grandma. This, unfortunately, may also mean I buy some ridiculous 80's throw backs, too. Recently, nostalgia made me buy hammer pants and a Hypercolor shirt.

4. Of all the places you've lived, what is your favorite and why?

No one can top this: I lived at Disney World for eight months. When my best friend and I decided to take a year off from college, we were like, "What now?". I wanted to run away and join the circus, but I'm terribly afraid of clowns and monkeys. We did the next best thing, though: we moved to Orlando, Florida and did the Disney College Program. Every semester and summer, Disney hires 6000 college kids and puts them to work doing the menial tasks in the park. I didn't care that I was essentially working at a Disney McDonald's. I was living at Disney World! It was magical! Or maybe I got brainwashed... who knows! Nonetheless, I look back on it as one of the most fun times of my college years.

5. Why did you start a Adored Austin?

I had a funny personal blog (about acting) that was doing well, but then my agent kindly let me know that I should maybe cut it out since it was possible for a potential client to not hire me for fear that I'd blog about my my on-set work in a negative way. Around that same time I was reading like 20 personal style blogs because I love clothes and I love blogging. One day I was like, "Gosh, some of these are sooooooo serious. Fashion isn't always so serious! It's whimsical and funny and sometimes ridiculous. I need a place where I can be all of those things!" I killed the other blog, bought a domain name, and Adored Austin rose from the ashes!

6. What things make you happy on a daily basis?

Hubs, whom I've been married to for five years is the other half of this comedy dream team. He makes me extremely happy. I also have a little monster disguised as a dog named Jimi Hendrix. He's such a clown and is always getting into trouble. Even though he eats my underpants, he usually makes me happy, too. Other things that make me happy include: the smell of Hubs' shampoo in the morning, hearing the cardinals sing to each other at my bird feeder, reading comments on my blog, picking fresh food from our garden, naps, finding a marvelous treasure at a thrift store, and having a cup of hot herbal tea just before bed.

7. What do you have to say to people who claim that interest in fashion and decor is shallow?

I'd have to tell them that a lot of times, they're right!

Sometimes people are only interested in fashion and decor because they want to use expensive or luxury items as a status symbol. In those cases, fashion and decor interests are extremely shallow. However, most fashion bloggers and most reasonable people recognize that what we wear and how we decorate our surroundings affects our moods and even the moods of those around us. If we acknowledge that it holds that sort of influence, we can honor it and it becomes an expression of our own personalities. Gosh!

8. What's your favorite part of blogging? Have you made any friends through blogging?

My favorite part of blogging is the community that is

inherent within it. I use Adored Austin to speak and listen to other people. Let's face it: if I were just doing this for myself, I'd just keep a written journal and keep my Flickr page private. I do feel that I've made some blogging buddies. If you've been reading someone's site for a while and they update often, you'll get to know them pretty quickly. If you brave up and start commenting and emailing, before you know it, your mutual admiration has become an online friendship! But of course I love online friendships. I mean, c'mon! You're talking to a girl who met her husband online!

9. Have you ever met up with any bloggers in person?

I met up with Raquel from WittyBitch.wordpress.com for a thrifting date when she came to Austin, but other than her, no one else... YET. Because of that, I am now using this space to officially extend an invitation to any style blogger to come visit Austin. I would love to meet you! We can eat breakfast tacos and shop South Congress like it's on fire! I have a guest room. You can stay in it, so long as you don't feed my dog underpants.

10. Do you prefer designer or vintage/thrifted items?

I prefer well made, thrifted items. For this very reason estate sales have become a weakness of mine.

11. Was there any blogger in particular who inspired you to start a style blog? What blogs are some of your favorite daily reads?

Before I had my own blog, I was hitting up some of the superstars: Sea of Shoes, Style Rookie, Kansas Couture, and What I Wore, namely. I have to

give a special thanks to Jessica over at WhatIWore for linking me when I was brand new and Krystal over at This Time Tomorrow for commenting on my page and giving me encouragement my first week in. Now that I've been a part of this community for a little while, my favorite daily hits also include: Delightfully Tacky, Idee Geniale, Jen Loves Kev, and Wild as a Mink. But just a little sidenote here: I do visit every page in my sidebar almost every single day. I like the ones who have big, crisp pictures and update often the best!

12. Any other tidbits you'd like to share?

It's important to me that people know that I don't take myself too seriously. I write exactly how I talk to my best friend, and I'm not trying to do serious journalism over there. I feel so blessed to be a part of this awesome group of women who does these things and/ or reads these things, and I have some exciting developments coming up for Adored Austin for 2010.And also, going back to question one, I know that Miss Piggy isn't actually a person, so if you have to make me choose someone else that is actually human, I will choose Punky Brewster. Starting in season two, though, because for all of season one she only wears jeans and the same t-shirt every day. Boring!

I'm waiting for my man

I was looking at the new promotional photos of the stars of The Hills on MTV's website tonight, and I was really struck by the fakeness of the photos. I mean, it was very strange after a while, the photos looked more photoshop than photograph. Granted, most of these people are all plastic surgeried up to begin with. I just think that all of that is so disappointing. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to be the best you possible, I'm not opposed to being fit and trying to look nice. I just think when you get to the point where you are trying to change things about yourself that make you unique, it's such a shame.

shirt/hot topic : skirt/F21 : pants/hot topic : shoes/payless

I think that's what I like about the global style community. Everyone is so different and unique. For the most part people aren't trying to be anybody but themselves. Everyone seems so interested in discovering themselves and are sharing that experience with the rest of us through blogs and sites like Lookbook, Chictopia, and Weardrobe.

I love Velvet Underground. Imagine my glee when I found this shirt at Hot Topic. Here is one of my favorite songs from them. They are all so good though.

Velvet Underground takes me back to last December and January. Most people say that scent is the sense that most recalls memories but for me it's music. I know, music isn't a sense. Still, music can be rough for me. I have such strong emotional memories attached to certain music, that at times I can't listen to my favorite bands because it hurts far too much. Honestly, I can't listen to Velvet Underground right now because the memories hurt too much, but I still love them so.

Dungeons and Dragons?

Wow, sorry I've been posting so much this weekend! My work has been closed for remodeling and all the fashion show fun was going on, so my online presence has been... well... I'm just going to go ahead and tell myself to get a life. All I can say is, at least I'm not one of those Dungeons and Dragons people. I do exist in the real world, I promise! Today I felt like kind of a loser because I woke up at 1:20 in the afternoon. Granted, I did get up at 7:30 to drive my little bro somewhere, but I went back to sleep afterward. I could NOT fall asleep last night. I'm blaming it on the caffeine in the Excedrin I took for my headache last night. It's always nice to have drugs be one's scapegoat, right. I'll just start doing smack and then I'll blame all of my loser qualities on it! Of course, I'll probably have an exponentially increased amount of loser qualities if I do start Heroin. Okay, scratch that idea.

Moving on!

Here is my outfit from last night, with better lighting.

blazer/little bro's : tank top/F21 : pants/hot topic : shoes/ZigiSoho : necklace/handmade

I never thought I would say these words, but I really like the silhouette that shoulder pads give. I have abnormally small shoulders and it really throws my proportions off. Plus, bra straps are always falling off my shoulders and I can't wear anything with spaghetti straps because they won't stay on for the life of me. When I was younger I hated all things from the 80's, but in the past few years, I've really started to love 80's music and styles. I mean, I was born in the 80's, I'd better like that era at least a little, right? I love the outrageousness of Glam Rock (though that was a little more 70's), which led into the Hair Metal of the 80's. I think I really like it when people aren't afraid to really go out of the box, like with Glam and Hair Metal. Perhaps this is why I have such an affinity for Lady Gaga. She is kind of Neo-Glam epitomized. Well, I have wandered away from my original point of liking shoulder pads. Oh well!

The Show!

Okay! Now for the rundown of the show!
I really love Lulu E. Bebe, it's one of the few bright spots in Anchorage "fashion." Fashion for people up here is usually punctuated by snazzy snowboarding jackets, bunny boots and anything polar fleece. Northface jackets seem to be a common favorite. Pretty much in a nutshell: warmth and comfort. I have nothing against warmth or comfort, in fact I'm a huge proponent of both. I got a lot of flack when I wrote an article in my school newspaper last year deriding people for looking like slobs. They all claimed that to be stylish you had to wear short skirts and look slutty. I found this to be a very strange assertion, especially if you look at fall/winter collections from many designers. But I digress. Here are some of my favorite looks from the show:

It was an interesting experience for me. I had never really "understood" fashion shows fully until now. I mean, obviously they make sense for a designer to show their creations, but seeing looks fully styled and on a moving human being really makes the clothes real to you. I can't imagine what seeing a Bryant Park show would be like. Seeing photos of fashion shows is totally different from actually being there and seeing the clothes on the models.

It was nice to see so many pairs of tights and leggings. Lulu always has a pretty fun, youthful vibe about it. It was interesting learning from Lulu herself that the age group that comes into the store is often older, middle aged women. Her target audience is late teens to twenties, which makes sense to me from her clothes. Something must strike a chord with older buyers though. I guess I can see it. I bet my mom would like a lot of Lulu's stuff. But so do I!

I have a feeling that young people in Anchorage and surrounding areas have a tendency to shop at malls more than boutiques, which is why they don't venture into Lulu E. Bebe as often. You can find most of them shopping at places like A&F, American Eagle, Hot Topic and Forever 21. Not that you can't find good pieces at those places. I personally won't go into A&F and American Eagle because their clothes kind of disgust me (what with all the stupid sexual innuendos they print on their clothes. Classy, guys). I often find great items at Hot Topic and Forever 21 though, PacSun too. But anyway, that is all to say that, while great pieces can be found at large chain stores, places like Lulu E. Bebe can really bring a uniqueness to a wardrobe. I remember in high school it was so annoying buying a shirt I thought was cool at one of those chain stores and then seeing it the next day at school on like three different pieces. It still annoys me to shop at chain stores because I know that thousands of other people have the items I buy.

I have digressed again. I will stop rambling on now.

Fashion, turn to the left

Well, I just got back from my fashion show. It was certainly fun. As a VIP, I got to sit in the front row and got a goodie bag! I was going to get style shots of attendees but by the end I had used up all the space on my camera's card, and, well, the style wasn't that impressive. There were one or two girls who looked great, but, folks, I saw CROCS there. Crocs!! I almost just got up and left. That might have been only second to the sweatshirt and track pants one other girl was wearing. Granted, it was a fundraiser for a high school, but still. It was cute to see how people interpreted fashion-show-style. 90% of the girls were wearing short semi-formal dresses. It was kind of a reacquaintance with Alaskan "style." I was the only girl there who had real bangs, not the side sweep bangs. Alaska is always about 2 years behind any trend. Only just now are skinny jeans "in."

blazer/brother's : tank/F21 : pants/hot topic : shoes/zigisoho : necklace/handmade
These are pretty bad photos. It was dark when I got home and didn't have time to take photos before I left. I think I'll recreate this outfit tomorrow morning and take some shots outside with better lighting. Heck, I might just wear it all day tomorrow! I only got to wear it for 3 hours today, so it didn't really get a full 'wearing.' Sans shoes though. No way are my feet trained to wear those height of heel for an entire day.


Here is my goodie bag!
I think I may be addicted to fashion shows now. Unfortunately, I can't foresee another one coming around these parts for quite some time. I was just lucky I happened to be in town right when this one was happening. Hopefully the next place I move has more fashion shows. I'll post more on the show later...