Wore: Moment of bravery

As I've mentioned previously, I'm trying to get comfortable with wearing prints.  It's not easy for me but I'm trying.  Sometimes they say the best way to get over something is to throw yourself right into the heart of it.  So why not a full body print?

Dress: Torrid
Shrug: I don't remember, I've had it forever

I actually wore this and took pics a few weeks ago so I am still in my pained, sleep-deprived state here but hopefully the pic is too small for anyone else to notice. LOL

I actually really like this dress, probably because I was swathed in skulls all day.  Almost a dream come true!  It's a bit sheer, though, so I had to wear a tank top and shorts under it.  One thing I don't like about is the fact that it has spaghetti straps which are not flattering on girls built like me.

Edit: As I look over this post, I realize this dress is doing my body no favors.  LOL  Is it just me or do I look a lot heavier in this dress than I do in a lot of my other clothing?

But, in a rare moment of bravery, I decided to take a pic that shows my upper arms.  (*gasp*) (*shock*)

I am *VERY* self-conscious of my upper arms because of how they are largely disproportionate to my lower arms.  I mean, I *do* love my grandma wings on my biceps that I may or may not flap in the mirror after each shower but I don't necessarily like showing them off.

Since I was being brave with my arms, I decided this would a good opportunity to show the tattoos I have there as well.

I even reversed the mirror image so they'd be the right way in the pics. :)

This was done by 2 different artists.  The heart and skull in the middle was done by my ex-brother-in-law and was the 40th tattoo he'd ever done.  I had asked him for a skull and heart and he came up with the idea of a tattered patchwork heart because he'd heard about some of the bad things I'd gone through in my life but I still came out a warm, loving person.  Unfortunately, the ink he had was not that great so it faded poorly.  When I got the art supplies tattooed around the heart, the artist (Flaco from All Or Nothing) fixed the color but colored right over some of the shading, etc. without redoing it.  I need to get that touched up at some point.

I helped design this tattoo with an artist at Anchor's End Tattoo in Duluth, MN.  I can't remember his name which makes me sad because I remember the names of all my other artists. :(

I designed the SisteR which is my initial and my sister's initial intertwined.  The colors are our birthstone colors: purple/amethyst for February and green/emerald for May.  The artist came up with the art deco style scroll work then together we decided it also needed the colored dots.  My sister has this same one on her ankle.

Necklace: Wish

I wish I was brave/confident/comfortable enough to walk around in public in tank tops.  I do around the apartment all the time.  I even wear shorts and short dresses with no leggings at home as well.

What are your self-conscious areas and how do you deal with them?

Unrelated selfie from a different day - just because I was feeling cute. :)
Dress: Torrid

Wore: Bats in the Shadows

You've probably noticed this already but if you haven't, I'll point it out: I don't really like to wear prints.  I love prints on other people but I feel so completely out of my element when I wear them myself so the few print items I have are usually delegated to lounge clothes for home only.

I'm trying very hard to get over that.

This is one of my baby steps into the world of graphic prints in public:

Leggings: Hot Topic online
Shoes: Hot Chocolate Designs

This was also my test to see if the plus size leggings on HotTopic.com would actually fit me.  And they do!  Yay!

I know a lot of people aren't fans of Hot Topic and I completely get it.  I rarely step foot inside the store unless I have to go to the mall for some other reason (though I try to avoid that as much as I can).   Online, though, it's a good source for skully clothes in my size. :)

I've worn these a few times now with various dresses and they are starting to grow on me.

Dress: New Look

I also get compliments from strangers whenever I wear them so that helps!  I love getting compliments from Andy, friends, coworkers,etc. but when someone I don't know feels the need to to say something, it just makes my day even more.  

I think I will have to start paying attention to other prints now.  :)

I tried to get a pic of my necklace but no matter what I did, it was cast in a shadow.

Necklace: Wish

I adore Peter Pan collars and this necklace has that feel.  When I got it, there was just a single ring between the 2 halves so the black gemstone would flip up and down when I moved.  That was a bit annoying so I added 2 more rings and put the gem on the center.  Problem solved!  I also had to add a 3" extender to accommodate my larger neck. That's usually a given for me, though, no matter what weight I am.

Selfies always make my nose look bigger.  LOL

How do you feel about prints?  Love 'em?  Hate 'em?

Wore: Operatic Bats

The whole bad lighting thing at work is getting to me. It's making me a little batty every time I try to take a picture of what I am wearing but I honestly have no idea how to get around it.  My apartment is seriously tiny and all I have is my phone camera.  I think, though, that if any other super plus size goth-y types come across this blog, they'll at least get an idea that we all can dress dark and still fit within corporate guidelines.

I snapped this silly moment when trying to figure out how to avoid the shadows on my face that I usually get. :)

Top: Torrid
Skirt: Jessica London
Operatic Stylings: Me

I don't usually post links to the things I wear because 1) most of the time they are old enough that they are no longer active on the website and 2) they'll probably disappear from the website so anyone going through older posts will end up with bad links.  I really do try to avoid the latter.

Since I was feeling a little batty today, I decided I needed to wear one of my batty bat pendants.  It also glows in the dark, which I never get to see at work but I like knowing that it'll glow if the lights go out or if I stick my head down shirt... which I may or may not have done just to see my necklace glow. :P

Glow In The Dark Bat pendant: Wish

My hand got cut off... in the top pic so you can't see my favorite bracelet.  I had lost the original about a month ago which me kind of sad because I wore it almost every day.  So I ordered a new one... and a back up to be on the safe side.  The snap pn the back is fairly secure but it must have gotten caught on something while we were running errands.

I only paid $2 total for it and I'm glad I got a back up because right now I don't see it listed on the site any more!

Bracelet: Wish
Ring: Amazon

That ring is actually my engagement ring. :)  I really wanted a red stone in a silver setting so we both looked online and kept narrowing it down and we found the exact one that we both loved.  On our wedding day, I am going to move it over to my right hand and wear just the band on my left.  It has a hart or white stag on either side of it which appealed to both of us.

From Amazon

There is a lot of legend and folk lore surrounding the white stag.  There are a lot of sites if you do the Google Fu on it but here's one of my favorites.

Wore: You can see my bones!

It's not unusual for my friends to say "I saw <insert something skull related here> and thought of you!"  I do love skulls.  A lot!  So much so that I was mentioned on Skull-A-Day way back in the before time!  I no longer maintain the website mentioned in the blurb but I still own it, just in case. :)

I am not just a skull lover, though.  I also love other bony parts (giggity?) and all things anatomical (giggity giggity goo?).  As an example, anatomical hearts and rib cages are a more recent obsession for me.  Off the top of my head, I can think of 5 heart necklaces, 3 rib cage necklaces, and 2 rib cage shirts that I own.

This is one that I wore recently:

Necklace: Wish

It bothers the nerd in me that the heart is on the outside of the rib cage but I get over it pretty easily. :)

On the day I took this picture, I wore it with the other 1 of my 2 basic looks: short black dress with black leggings.  And when I say short, I mean short for me.  Even with leggings, I still don't go much above the knee.  :)  I do not like having my legs exposed at all because of how misshapen and discolored they are.  When I discovered how comfortable leggings are, it pretty much changed my fashion sense because LBDs were now a possibility!

(*holds up one hand and places other hand over heart*)  I, Sarrah Settarra, promise to never wear leggings as pants.  Amen.

Dress: Torrid
Leggings: Torrid
Shoes: Hot Chocolate Designs

The lighting in the restroom at work casts a weird shadow over my face but it's the only place I can stand to get a full body shot.  I feel like I should be telling ghost stories to kids at camp!

These shoes are my mostest absolute favoritest!  I got them over on Amazon and they are a bit spendy indeed but they were worth it for my cloven hooves.  I was born missing a phalange in each foot so they curve weird, making my feet wide but with narrow heels.  That makes it really difficult for me to buy shoes but these are soft and curve with my feet.  I just had to add heel grips to the back and they were perfect!

Hot Chocolate Designs on Amazon

When I got these in the mail, I couldn't wait to try them on but I was trying very hard to not get my hopes up.  When I was able to buckle them and walk without them hurting, I cried.  I've not been able to wear cute shoes for most of my adult life.  It's so weird to get complimented on my shoes now, too.  That's never happened to me before because my shoes were... well... utilitarian up until now.

I do already have another pair from this shop that you'll see soon and will be ordering a pair for with my wedding dress.  If I could afford it, I wold order way more pairs than I really need. :)