Tiki Maxi Dress

So I've never been much of a fan of maxi dresses.  The reason being is that in my mind, a maxi dress makes me look more height challenged than my 5'2" awesomeness.  Whether that is true or not, I don't care anymore.  I've seen many tutorials on Pinterest and for some reason this one resonated with me and it felt right to make one.  Maybe it was the title (Easist DIY Maxi Dress Ever).  Maybe it's because she's a fellow Asian.  Maybe it's because of her choice of fabric and how beautifully her dress came out.  Whatever it was, her tutorial was the one I chose to follow.  It really wasn't hard at all.  Considering that the style is very similar to the pillow case style dresses and shirts that I'd been making.  I've had this summery Tiki fabric in my stash for a long time and toyed with the idea of a swing dress or a wiggle dress.

In the end, the maxi dress won out.  I had to add side slits up to my knees in order to be able to walk unconstricted.  Admittedly, when I finished the dress and I tried it on, all I could see was a mumu.  Once I added on the wide belt, it was completely transformed.  This dress will definitely be making the birthday road trip with me to Arizona at the end of this month.

Pillow Case Dresses

Here are the custom pillow case dresses I made last week. My favorites are the Orange Creamsicle and Blueberries and Cream dresses.  Can you tell I was hungry when I named them?  

 

4th of July Backyard Fireworks

I'm pretty lucky that anytime there is a firework show, I can step out onto my porch or watch from my kitchen windows.  This year for the the 4th, I opted to stay in for the night and set up camera to catch the display.  I live a few miles from downtown L.A and last night, there were at least 3 or 4 displays going in my area--from the South, the West and the East.  Facing south with my camera set up was the best option although it was the farthest view.  Here are the pics from last night's show after they were cleaned up with Photoshop.

What was really exciting was, before the sky got completely dark, I looked over towards the western sky and noticed Venus making an appearance.
 

Closeup of Venus sans telescope