greetings, december

This past weekend was a mostly rainy one, and I spent it catching up on errands and meeting up with an old, old friend. To explain the images - a fiery bloom I spotted on Saturday through a dreary misting of rain; paint spots on a palette - remnants of art sessions I've been having with my sister all last month; a handful of maps I got at the flea market, and a magnificent sunset that hung above the hills west of our house after several hours of rain on Sunday afternoon.

through hazy eyes

Some phone snaps taken over the past two months:

1. The Eastern Columbia Building downtown on Broadway - this looks so gorgeous lit up at night and is easily the best example of Art Deco architecture in downtown Los Angeles.
2. I passed by this booth of vintage industrial furniture without regarding it too closely, then did a double take upon noticing this marker-scrawled folding chair. Andy and H (and maybe an abstract fish?), wow :3.
3. A handful of translucent, waxy mystery seeds that I WOULD know the name of had I harvested them myself. But they were in the hands of an art professor that I had met a mere 15 minutes before. (edit: they're amaryllis seeds!)
4. Semi-crepuscular rays in Highland Park, mid-October. When the sky looks this way, it elevates even the most tedious drive...
5. A deliciously soft, sweet and chewy hachiya persimmon, courtesy of our family mechanic! I so wish I had more of these to munch on throughout the winter months, they are like candy.
6. Mushrooms fit for a hobbit! (except for the fact these are of the toxic lawn kind).

a change of pace

I'd call these... abstracted outfit shots, a little like in this old post. Can you spot each item? I realize how useless these are as they severely lack the context of a person wearing the clothes, but as always this is just me musing aloud to myself.

1. Thrifted Bally loafers, AA seed stitch socks (mustard!), BDG cigarette jeans, hand-me over pullover from sister, Gap hoodie layered under Gap anorak.
2. Topshop jeans, flea market studded belt (which you cannot see here), thrifted black & white striped pullover.
3. 8 eye Dr. Martens, Cheap Monday jeans, Uniqlo sweater, YSL necktie as pseudo scarf because I was cold and don't know how to tie a tie. All thrifted except for the Docs.

As a creative type I'm as moody as they come and so often last year when I felt like nothing but lazy my outfits would consist of black jeans, Vans and a pullover. My personal style was nonexistent because I was too busy juggling school, work, visits with my boyfriend, and adjusting to living with a new roommate, and though I always thought about dressing better I never put my heart into it. Now I'm not claiming that I'm doing any better - I still feel as clueless as ever but I've definitely been experimenting since the year began and I gained this weird new thirst to express myself through what I wear. More often than not I don't look exactly the way I want to but what's important is that I'm having fun and staying comfortable.

keeping cool

I wore these hand-woven, pantaloons-shorts all day yesterday as I worked on my quilt yesterday and romped around in the yard in the evening. The Queen Anne's lace is flourishing in the front yard and I spent some time admiring it even though the heat was unforgiving as the afternoon melted into evening. I went back inside to sew, but then found distraction again in the vintage Ball Mason half-pint jar I found at the Salvation Army earlier that day. At $0.89 I could not resist. Today I worked from 5-12 and then went swimming with my sister! With a pool you can conquer the summertime heat.

the sun's last breath

These photos don't do yesterday's sunset much justice. I need to figure out how to safely get up on my roof to get better shots of the sky. I can get lost in clouds like these; when I was little I imagined they were the brains of intelligent, magical beings going up into the cosmos to get recycled and born into new super-smart magical beings again. Weird kid, but I now realize that I formed half of my imagination from zoning out in nature.

things I like III

1. Seven additions to my existing glass insulator collection (6 of which I got for a dollar each), which I now deem complete.
2. Woven anythings, particularly in leather.
3. Ken Burn's 'The Civil War.' Informative, interesting, and a well-done series!

mix/match

I've been 'shopping the closet' if you will - having acquired a good amount of thrifted goods and hand-me-overs recently I'm trying to see what would go with the other things I have. I had fun mixing patterns together as well as textures and shooting these as color/pattern blocks rather than as real outfits. At this point I don't think I'd wear any of these outside the house which is why I'm experimenting in the safety of my room.

fear not, I approach donning shark socks!

Now I have TWO pairs of shark socks! The first one is cooler, I will show them another time. I think these are supposed to be for boys like 12-14 years old but who cares they fit me! And when I wear them my day instantly becomes a notch above fantastic.

Things like this ensure that even as a 21, almost 22 year-old lady, I am still deeply in touch with my inner child. It's good and bad. Observing people forcing maturity upon themselves in awkward ways, either with a cheesy fake persona or ill-fitting clothing is so disheartening. But I think I overcompensate in my retaliation by being too childish. As long as I am aware of it though I don't think it can be that self-destructive.

found amusements

1. If you haven't tried the yogurt stars from Trader Joe's, I urge you to do so! They are so delicious. They taste like yogurt Cheerios but they are star cookies covered in yogurt 'frosting' in vanilla, strawberry and raspberry... mmm!
2. I found this cute little guy in the toy section at Target! The most adorable porcupine, and on sale, but I did not bring him home with me - exercising frugality/self-control. But look at that face! That big nose! And if you look carefully he has the slightest blush on his cheeks. A small part of me withered up as I left him behind (melodrama heh).
3. An army of Scottie dog statues; arm me with a can of white spray paint and I will have me an army of Westie statues!
4. Tea for me, tea for ma, tea for T.
5. An epic mural of a pegasus taking flight off a wall - at first I snapped this because it amused me but now I am just impressed and glad that someone took the time to beautify an ugly generic building in a godforsaken alley with a passionate painting that the artist probably thought nobody would look at.

night owl

Stayed up late Wednesday night to prepare for my 4am shift today! It was kind of nice doing a semi all-nighter again, though granted I wasn't doing schoolwork... that makes a huge difference.

uh oh

everybody's fucked!

$20 to-do's

This person is either an athlete or a dude-bro, or both. I liked it so much that I haven't spent it yet. Just kidding, I just didn't have the need to spent this sucker. I am in need of new socks though - I threw out 4 pairs in the last month that had gone threadbare at the heel :(. Note to self: get new socks this month.

creepy

I hate going to the bathroom when I'm at work, because it is soooo creepy. It's about 6' wide and maybe 10' deep. Claustrophobia-inducing. Scary because it is long and narrow, with old fixtures intact, a sickly yellow and black color scheme, a high ceiling, and no windows. The entire building is creepy except for the office I work in, which is clean, open and exceptionally well-lit. Apparently the building was built in 1929 which explains the dated feel of it - don't get me wrong I love old buildings, but being in certain parts of this one makes brings to mind vivid & eerie scenes from The Shining and Barton Fink. What is it about turn-of-the century buildings that make them so creepy? The history, the shoddy lighting, and the smell of the years. I secretly like being slightly creeped out by my surroundings though, it makes my day more interesting.

ring, ring

A few of the rings that I wear the most - all from flea markets except for the rose ring in the second photo which I picked up at a night market in Cambodia over the summer. The dinosaur one was a little loose on all my fingers, but that's okay because I got it to give to a dino-obsessed friend of mine and it fit her perfectly! I put these photos on my wordpress blog but I wanted to share them here, too. I try not to get too attached to them because I tend to lose these little suckers, even after taking such good care not to - then right when I'm feeling all confident and complacent about not having lost any, one will disappear! Such is life though, no? But in the end it's just 'stuff' and it's not as big a deal as losing a connection with, say, a person. And so on.