fuck you, january jones

i have such a crush on jason sudeikis. i bet he even has a beer belly under all those plaid shirts & sweaters he wears. GodDAMN.

favorite album list: Eagles of Death Metal "Peace Love Death Metal"

This time last year, I was settling into my new apartment in Savannah and getting used to the city/being so far away from home. Not to mention, I had no car and lived on the outskirts of the 'historic district'/downtown area. It wasn't a walk in the park, it was hot all the time, and my bike was always getting stolen. Luckily, I was in walking distance from two SCAD buildings where my classes were, plus I could hop on the school bus to take it from place to place. It wound up working well, but traveling by bus, foot and bike naturally made my ipod my best friend.

Starting a new school year, I loaded my ipod up with bands that I've always wanted to give a listen but never did. One of those bands was Eagles of Death Metal. The name kind of gave me the feeling that they were going to be a scary, noisy & loud mess with members wearing Insane Clown Posse make up, all black tee shirts and chains around their bodies or something. Clearly, I was putting emphasis on the "Death Metal" idea, and clearly, I assumed wrong.

They exude this energetic, soulful southern rock feel which was perfect for getting acquainted with my new southern surroundings. I was ADDICTED to this album my first quarter at SCAD. From the first track to the last, it's just a masterpiece in my opinion. I'd listen to it while sitting on the bus, waiting for the bus, wandering around under the spanish moss, working on my drawing projects & my 2D projects, getting charcoal all over my floor and hands & nursing exact-o knife battle wounds. It was the soundtrack to my first fall in Savannah and my last fall as a twenty year old.

Every song makes me want to air-drum on my knees. You know what I mean. It turns you into "that person" that pretends they're a drummer or that they even know how to follow a beat, by simply banging on their knees or on any surface and maniacally tapping their feet. Eagles of Death Metal will do this to you. It will make you become that person. It's the perfect road trip music even though I've never taken a road trip listening to it. I just imagine it would be the best sounds to hear while driving with the windows down and friends in your passenger/back seats. It's also perfect beer drinking music. Maybe it's just perfect music..for...living. Just listen. To ALL of it. You won't be sorry. I promise.

favorite album list: Pixies - "Doolittle"

Here I am again, blogging about another favorite album. I'm in limbo right now waiting to head home tomorrow morning, whilst sitting around cloudy Savannah with basically nothing left to do. I've had it with my boyfriend for a little while (and by boyfriend, I mean Savannah. Not an actual person) and need a break. This little vacation is much needed. I'll be heading to NJ for almost two weeks, with a three day get-away to Burlington, VT in between. So since I have some spare time on my hands, I am here again bringing you another post about a favorite album.

The Pixies are just one of those bands that I can listen to constantly and always receive the same feelings over and over again when I hear them. They act like a time machine for me, bringing me back to different times in my life over the past five years. I started listening to the Pixies when I was a junior in high school which was one of the greatest years of my life. I'm not sure why, and I'm sure it wasn't as perfect as I remember it, but it's one of those years that remain golden in my head. Untouched and safe. After the age of 11, I have very few full years in my life that I can put in that category. I think that goes for everyone though since when you turn eleven or twelve, that's when shit starts to get real. You're not a little kid anymore with hearts and sparkles dancing around in your head 24/7. There is a switch that turns on, and that switch is called "Hello Person, Welcome to the Real World".

So, that's when the Pixies entered my life, along with most of the other bands I consider my favorites. It was a big music year for me, I suppose. It's when I discovered alternative bands from the late 80's, early 90's. I had always listened to bands like Brand New, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, Le Tigre and Cursive mixed in with older stuff like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley & Janis Joplin. I never gave the 90's a chance, so that summer is when my music taste started to really develop. This is when I started loving, what I like to call it, "Cool Uncle Music".

Everyone has or knows that Cool Uncle. He was awesome in the late 80's and early 90's. He never married because "he doesn't believe in monogamy" (but is far too neurotic to get a wife, anyway). He remains cool even into his 40's and 50's. Still kind of pretentious, has a hip foreign girlfriend who plays guitar and follows a vegan diet. He likes to talk about seeing Sonic Youth's early shows and swears he asked Kim Gordon out one time in Providence in 1987 or something. He smokes the same cigarettes & drinks the same beer as he did when he was 22. Most importantly though, he tells all his awkward nieces and nephews about bands like Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr., Superchunk and of course the Pixies. You know him, or you've heard of him. He's the Cool Uncle. If I have style icons, I could definitely have a music icon and my music icon is the Cool Uncle figure. He's more of an idea or a dream than an actual physical person. But you know he exists somewhere. Or everywhere.

While I never had that type of uncle, I always knew he was out there somewhere. People I knew had those uncles, and I learned from their taste. So that summer I was introduced to bands like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., The Replacements, Superdrag, Radiohead, Nada Surf & the Pixies. I distinctly remember listening to the album Doolittle all the time and falling in love with each and every song. It was different than everything that I was listening to previously.

That summer was the first summer all my friends & i had our licenses so there was a lot of driving around and getting drunk in parking lots behind our school. I have a specific memory (i don't know why i'm stating it like it happened 20 years ago, it was only like 5 or 6 years ago) being in the parking lot behind my school with my friend in her car screaming the lyrics to "Monkey Gone to Heaven" while drinking Fuze fruit juice with vodka. I was totally inexperienced when it came to drinking and that was the first night I ever got wasted sick. It was embarrassing to say the least. I remember everything from that night though strangely, even the Free People dress I was wearing and every single person that was there with me. But like many nights, it was started by singing (more like screaming) and listening to the Pixies.

I'll always listen to Doolittle and it will remind me of those nights. It was before everything changed. Senior year was awful. I acted out, everyone acted out, we all fell apart. I fell apart. I lost something that I had constant in my life for most of high school and I was totally depressed. Blah, blah who cares, blah, blah. Everyone has that angsty & sad year from their youth and that was mine. I didn't know what to do with myself for many reasons. Looking back, I don't find that abnormal. That's just something that happens to everyone and sometimes you act out in a not perfect manner when you're too young to know the right thing to do. I finally know what to do with myself, but that too will change. Everything does. It's okay, though.

This summer I rediscovered the Pixies. They were always playing on shuffle on my itunes or on different mix CDs through the years but I never paid the same attention to them as when I was first falling in love with them until now. It's like a re-launched love affair. I'm hearing different things in their songs and appreciating them with more mature ears. I'm no longer screaming their lyrics while irresponsibly drinking in Red Bank, NJ but I'm enjoying them with a totally clear & nostalgic brain.

favorite album list: Nada Surf "High/Low"

questions like "whats your favorite color?" or "who is your favorite artist?", "who is your favorite designer?", "whats your favorite band?" "whats your favorite movie?" give me anxiety when I think about it. Favorites freak me out. I ask these questions all the time, we all do, but answering them is one big "Eeeeek!" in my brain for me. It's Sophie's Choice. What do I pick? I left something out! Wait, come back! I forgot I have two favorites! I changed my mind! Ah!

But recently I've decided that I need to have a couple favorites stored up in my brain for when the time strikes and I'll have to quickly answer one of these dreaded questions. I mean, it says a lot about you to someone that you've just met. At least that's how I view it when I ask these things to new people. Did you just say that your favorite band is Dave Matthews Band? Oh, you said you like "all genres" of music? Your favorite movie is Mr. Deeds? YIKES. See these basic questions are a big safety precaution. Do you really want to keep talking to someone that think Dane Cook is an entertainment genius? Of course not. Good thing you asked the "favorite comedian" question, huh!

Alright, so let's get to the point here. I came to the conclusion that I'll never have a favorite band. I'll always have like, 5 (or 6, maybe 7) favorites. I'll never have a favorite album. I'll have like, 5 (or maybe 6, maybe ..7? 8?) but definitely one of those favorites has to be Nada Surf's 1996 album "High/Low".

Though it's probably not number one or two on my list, it's good enough to call an all time favorite. I really enjoy listening to it from start to finish. That's rare. There is always that track or two, or three that you skip and curse the day it was even born. "Get this shit off!", as you skip to every other track but that one. I don't think I curse the day any of the tracks on High/Low were born. Get into it. Skip the bullshit they recorded recently, all over romantic comedies & The O.C (not exactly hating on The O.C though. Secretly obsessed with that show and the soundtracks)

I figure I will do a little feature on my favorite albums every now and then on here. Not that you care, but maybe you do. I just want to share. Sharing is nice. I think I'm a nice girl. Let's do this.

ps: speaking of music, i write a weekly post on Cool Material, suggesting two new albums & writing a short review. Every Wednesday it's usually up so check it out. I've been doing it for a couple of weeks now, check out past write ups: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

anthropologie displays

so, here are some photos from the atlanta trip to anthropologie. now that i look back on the photos i took, i wish i took more. but you'll get the idea. the coolest part of this whole trip was reading the main concepts that anthropologie sent us weeks before through email, in detail, describing how the displays would be set up. we concentrated on two displays called "Mabel's Lane" and "Diener".

this was the display in the front of the store, part of the "Mabel's Lane" concept. It was supposed to resemble an old artist's space that is both a kitchen and a porch, inspired specifically by artist J Morgan Puett. Very rustic, outdoorsy, natural and whimsical. We were encouraged to bring old paintbrushes, crusty/used paint supplies so I brought a bunch that I had left over from the past year.

I really loved how this turned out and loved the items that were featured in the display. Obviously kitchen themed, with adorable aprons, cookbooks, latte bowls, Nathalie Lete's collection (i love everything she designed so much!) It was basically supposed to make you feel like you were in an artist's kitchen that was also a porch? Make sense? Hopefully. Either way, it turned out really beautiful and airy, and seriously look into J Morgan Puett's work because i'm in love with it and you will be too.

next up was the Diener concept. Not to be confused with "diner", this display was supposed to feature, once again, kitchen items but in a setting that was reminiscent of a diner/cafe but using paper items to decorate. See all those stacked dishes? Well, they're just paper plates hot glued onto each other (i have hot glue gun burns to prove this). The walls are covered in paper checks. We were encouraged to fill out fake orders onto them to make it look like they were real diner checks. I loved that! It was so fun and I think it turned out perfect.

I did not help on these displays but I thought they were so great anyway so I took pictures of them. We also helped hang pretty pink umbrellas on the high ceilings (we just untangled the yarn and strung them and let the real employees get up on the huge ladders. not me. hale no. get me away from any ladder.) over the cash registers. the whole store is huge and complete decor porn, so if you're in the atlanta area, go over there and check it out.

wallpaper

i want numerous rooms covered in each of these wallpapers. right now. it's not possible, i know! but maybe one day. they are just beautiful, and i especially love the way these photos were styled.

courtesy of Hygge & West

frumpy & pretty

i really feel drawn to things/people that are both frumpy and beautiful. i think that sums up a lot about my taste. nothing too flashy, a little frumpy, kind of ugly but somehow still pretty. kind of old, maybe a little new but mostly old. clean and basic.

one of the reigning queens of frumpy beautiful is charlotte gainsbourg. french women in general really rule at this idea. simple, natural, basic, and imperfect but yet they look so put together. you don't see any of them dressing like Holly Madison with hot pink knee socks, short shorts and a polka dot bikini top covering their silicone boobs, hand in hand with their Ed Hardy shirt wearing boyfriend. it's just not happening.

i'd rather be somewhat homely in flats, jeans, a cardigan and an old thrifted cross body bag than a bright eye shadow wearing stiletto glitter girl.....obviously.

take a moment to appreciate these gorgeous, simple, black and white photos of good ol' charlotte.

this song reminds me of this time last year, when i was getting ready to move to savannah. i listened to it all the time my first couple weeks here. havent listened to it since. it's a happy song.

i'm home tonight after a great second day at anthropologie. said my goodbyes to atlanta, now im spending a quiet night home looking forward to sleep. tomorrow the weekend begins. lots of finals work and hopefully some fun thrown in too. i'm in a bratty, blah mood right now. maybe it's the lack of sleep. maybe it's the end of the quarter curse. yes, at the end of every quarter this year something disappointing happens. that's larry david cynical of me, i know but i can't help it. these disappointments are usually small and something always comes in to cheer up the mood anyway. but it literally happens every time. i'm in touch with the universe, man. i know these things. i predict my own future dude.

but seriously, whatever whiney thoughts may be running around in my brain, it doesn't matter because this week was pretty great i feel reassured in a lot of thoughts that i already felt i had for my future. so that rules. a lot. i'll post pictures from the store/what we worked on the past two days. i loved working in that atmosphere. so much. we'll see where that goes. but as jill zarin from real housewives of nyc says "you plan and god laughs" (LOOOOOOOOOL sorry i had to)

i cant

fell in love with these shoes today. and after spending eight hours there today, I of course fell in love with everything else anthropologie related. to put it bluntly, today meant a lot of 'bitch work', but 'bitch work' really meant handling beautiful items, in a beautiful atmosphere, seeing how all of the displays come about (and helping out with them also), and how every tiny detail matters from how the door knobs are laid out all the way to the concepts behind each little nook and cranny in the store. everything is extremely thought out, but that's merchandising. things don't land in one spot, at the consumer's reach, for no reason at all. it's all very planned. i like that.

those sale racks are looking really really good too. i might have to ignore them tomorrow but lawd knows i wont.

this little 'get-away' to atlanta was really something i needed. i feel like a dad on a business trip a bit in this hotel room but it's cozy, and atlanta is different than any other city i've been in. not sure if i like it but i kind of get a kick out of it. not sure why. i just feel like everything is shiny, clean and just built yesterday. lots of flashy fancy things but then lots of not flashy fancy things. i don't see much history, or comfort. but that's okay i guess.

one more day tomorrow, up at 6am, done by 4pm, on the road hopefully not sitting in traffic for 9 million years. :(

shoes are from here, duh.

love her.

i love my school

everyone check out shopSCAD's new blog! shopSCAD may or may not be a reason why I fell in love with this college. Obviously there are endless reasons why SCAD is a great school, but having this perfect little school boutique that you can get lost in is definitely cool. and by lost, i mean mentally lost, which is the best kind. it's quite tiny but filled with endless amounts of beauty! it's dangerous that it's now located in walking distance from my house because i will accidentally spend half my weekly savings on SCAD's homemade hand lotion, lip balms and candles. I love to wander in and just stare at everything, which leads to my day feeling instantly brighter.

check it out online here & here; and when you're in savannah, go in! it's located on one of the most beautiful squares in the whole city (my personal favorite) & also across the street from my favorite building in savannah (where gryphon tearoom is located)

ikat

if you're like me and tons of other humans right now, you're into ikat prints. i love them. trendy or not, they still rule. just so natural and calming with a somewhat chaotic look if that makes sense.

ps: im off to atlanta on tuesday til thursday for a very very exciting workshop. will explain when i get back! dying.

fall/winter 2010 A.P.C

the colors, textures and overall styling= beautiful

photo credit

let's get one thing straight: no real human could ever look good in this outfit but selma blair makes it look great. i love that she's just getting seltzer & flowers wearing that. perfect. i love her. i miss flannel & boots. fuck you august.

orla kiely fall/winter 2010

right

imagine this being your closet? right. that's what i thought.

a slight rant, more of a concern..

this past year, my brain has been focused on fashion more than it ever has been. when i'm in school mode, i'm thinking about fashion and business at all times. Even if the class is 2d design or applied creative thinking...i'm thinking of my major and how these classes will benefit me in the long run. When I get home from school/wherever, I spend a lot of time reading my blog roll containing hundreds of fashion and design blogs to give me my daily fix. It's my 'therapy' for the day. It's where I can let my mind wander and get fed creatively.

It's something that I love, and it's something that flows into other aspects of the world that I've learned to recognize. Without loving fashion, I would have never understood my new found love for interior design/decorating, and other interests such as graphic design, packaging design, etc. It all flows into each other once you keep your eyes open and recognize the fact that you're a visual person. It's all relative. The more I learn that, the more I get nervous that I'm putting myself in a box with simply studying a fashion related major.

With that said, I know that what you study in school doesn't necessarily mean you have to get a job in that field. Luckily, fashion is in the same realm as anything else I'd ever want to have a career in so I think it'll be fine. But, spending so much time on one thing naturally leads you to realizing the bad. The fashion industry is so messed up in so many ways and as I approach figuring out where I want to go career wise, i'm mentally weeding out what I want to be around and what I don't want to be around.

The more I read about the issue with "plus sizes" (um, anything above a size 6 is considered plus size in the fashion industry. Which is clearly absurd) in the industry, the more it makes me question my involvement in it. The more I question it, the more I have to remind myself that there are so many different ways of working in fashion. I want to sell, market, promote, buy, etc. everything that has to do with fashion but I want no part in selling this crazy idea that a size zero supermodel is what women should want to be, or should HAVE to be. It's ridiculous. Selling an idea is all about marketing, it's the main concept. Selling a false idea that gives women yet another reason to feel misplaced and judged? Fuck that.

It's a constant fear in the back of my head that I'll somehow get a job in the industry, working for one of these shitbags (ahem, they're usually men.) that tell women that they're disgusting because they're over a size 6. I want to do everything in my power to steer clear from that because HOW is that RIGHT? It's not. The whole world basically knows it, except the majority of the industry that i want to someday work for. That scares me. I'm over a size 6, and you know what, i'm okay with it. Of course everyone hates themselves at times, but I'm a pretty confident girl. I want to work for a company that does everything in their power to help women feel confident and beautiful and not rejected and ostracized because they can't fit into a dress made for a 9 year old boy.

I feel that the fashion world is becoming more realistic but not by much. Their idea of realistic is hiring 'plus size supermodels' that are NORMAL sized. So that's promoting that these women are fat, when they're not. It's really horrible. Watch this to see what I mean.

My point is, those in the fashion industry need to really come together to realize that fooling the consumer into buying an outfit is the way of the game. That's the idea. But, fooling the consumer into hating themselves or doubting themselves is just wrong. The men in the fashion world? It goes without saying but they will never know what it's like to be a woman, or to wear women's clothing. So let's stop letting them have all the control (thats NEVER going to happen). It just sucks because fashion should be based on clothing an individual while helping them identify their own personal style. Why are we letting men's standards also control the one thing that women should have to themselves? With that said, there are men in the industry & men designers who are fantastic at emphasizing women's bodies. Oscar De La Renta, Zac Posen, Phillip Lim, Valentino, etc. The list goes on and on.

It's a huge debate and there are good points on both sides. Models should be thin because clothing looks best on someone tiny. There should be tiny models because there are tiny women and that's okay. There should be medium, average models because there are obviously medium sized women. There should be larger models for the larger sized women. Personally, showing a size 20+ model all the time would be pushing it because that's not healthy. Healthy women should be shown. That means not too thin and not too fat. There is a happy medium, don't you think? No one is one size. However, it's tough to design clothing for millions of different sized women. It's easier to design for a rail thin woman. It's probably easier to make more money if you make the effort to design for a wider (no pun intended) audience, more women will purchase your designs because they can fit into them. Women over size six have money too, ya know. They want to spend just as much as a size 0 does. Design for them. Simple as that.

So who knows what the right answer is. It just makes me think about where I want to head when I get a job, and what I want to promote. After reading an article and seeing a couple YouTube videos about Crystal Renn (a fav of mine. but so is Lara Stone & Freja Beha! All shapes & sizes) and other "plus sized" women in the media right now, it just made me sick. I hope this isn't even an issue anymore but it will be. There are plenty of companies out there that are realistic with not only their sizing but their pricing and who they are targeting. I suppose it's just the debate within high fashion. Bleh.

Discuss amongst yaselvez.

my new home! (part two)

okay, so this afternoon while waiting for the internet cable guy (who didn't even show up) I decided to snap some pictures of everything that I didn't take pictures of last time around my new house. my new chair is complete, and everything is in it's place so hey, take a look! pretend you don't see the wires that may or may not be lurking in various corners. i need to figure out how to hide those.

Now, this chair was found by my brother at I believe a garage sale? Or somewhere? I'm not so sure. but it was in really bad shape, with the cushion basically deteriorated and the springs popping out. It's extremely old and the wood detail and overall appearance of the chair screamed potential. So, i chose a fabric and had it reupholstered.

Originally I wanted to get a really geometric and modern printed fabric to cover it. I wanted a contrast between the extremely old look of the chair with a newer, younger print. But of course, i changed my mind and resorted back to what I love best. I decided that my back up plan (or should i say "always plan") would be to have the chair look as if it would be present in Marie Antoinette's bedroom. This chair is going to be with me forever whether it likes it or not.