Outfit Post

Anthropologie Dress, Capezio tights, Minnetonka boots

Sorry for the awkward pose and lion’s mane.  I just loved the details around the neck and I wanted to get them in.  So I had this whole post planned on how to make pumpkin spice cupcakes with creamcheese icing and cinnamon sticks to stir coffee, but of course, I lost camera cord, so I can’t grace you with its cuteness.

So I took today off to finish up my early decision application, which is due tomorrow (I am the biggest procrastinator.  Ever.  Don’t argue with me) and it’s really clever.  As usual, I’m still uber busy with school and homework, and now that regionals are in only two weeks (I’m still indifferent about that), I have been so stressed out.  I’ve been like Super-Bitch the past two weeks, lycra body suit and all.  Whenever I find my camera cord, I’ll post you the pictures and the recipe, but for now, it’s just going to be boring posts where I ramble and don’t have anything interesting to say, kind of like right now.

Top 5 Favorite Songs right now:

1. Before the Worst – The Script [I have loved them much longer than any American has, okay?  I go to Ireland like twice a year, so just back off<333]

2. If – Etienne Daho & Charlotte Gainsbourg [Because I want to be her]

3. Sex on Fire – Kings of Leon

4. Salute your Solution – The Raconteurs

5. Own your Own Home – Rogue Wave

Yes, we did.

I don’t care who you voted for or what you believe in, but seriously THANK YOU.  Thank you for particpating in your civic duties and taking action for what YOU believe in.  Thank you for believing in someone, something, that has potential to restore this country’s greatness.

My Post Election Playlist:

1. Walk On – U2

2. The Sound of Settling – Death Cab for Cutie

3. Redemption Song – Bob Marley & The Chieftains

4. When the President Talks to God – Bright Eyes

5. Thin Blue Flame – Josh Ritter

6. The Promised Land – Bruce Springsteen

7. The One – Old 97’s

8. Hey Ya! – Outkast

9. Yahweh – U2

10. Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan [Honestly, how could I not resist ]

aslkdjf!!! Happy.

My Top Five

Poems;

The Want Bone by Robert Pinsky; the most beautiful collection of words I have ever read.  Because I live so close to the shore, I can’t help but think back to June to the Josh Ritter concert in Boston.  Mr. Pinsky was invited to read this poem to “Edge of the World”, and before I knew it, I was trying to hide my watery eyes and swollen cheeks.  What I felt cannot be explicated into words.  Read it aloud to yourself.  Then find a close friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/family member and read it to them, explaining why you care about them so much.  I can guarantee that both of you have a hard time from restraining your emotions.  For fans of: Sunday brunch, the sea, passionate relationships with people/things/ideas/life.

Summer Morning by Charles Simnic; why I love waking up in the morning (sometimes).  When I lay in my bed before my alarm goes off, I try to think of why this day will be better than yesterday.  I remember the low-lights of the day before and I replay the situations in my head.  Ask more questions in class, I remind myself, just impress people with your different opinions.  This is probably not healthy, to dwell on the past and not remember the future (oh thank you Stephen Hawking for that one).  But some mornings, when I let my sheets slid off my legs and I stretch my back, releasing my spinal cord and letting my neck swing in any direction, opening my chest to the window, I come back to this.  I remember the quiet elegance of thin summer sheets, the excitement of the unplanned day ahead of me.  When you dread mornings and getting out of bed, read this.  Feel alive, for me.  For fans of: iced tea, Norah Jones, anthologies of all sorts.

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats; Reading this restores my faith in true people.  It reminds me that I should not (and do not) need to have a lot of material items to make my companion happy, but if I could, I would give them the most beautiful piece that the heavens would offer.  Naturally, I would be fearful that this person would mar this thing that has been created for them, but I think as humans we have to let breakdown that wall for someone.  We need to trust in something, or someone, beautiful.  When we love, I mean truly love, we give everything, heart, soul, mind, body, you name it, it’s laid out in our hands for him or her to see.  This oneness, vulnerability even, is more intricate than Yeats’s tapestry but it’s as simple as the poem’s form and structure.  For fans of: Ludovico Einaudi, postcards, simplicity.

Lost by David Wagoner; “Here is now.  Embrace it.  Learn to love this earth.  Live to become knowledgable of earth’s intricacies.  Let nature find you, embrace you, hug you, smother you with her delicacy but rigidness.  You will not learn to love yourself if you don’t learn to appreciate what’s around you.”  Those are the notes I have at the bottom of the page.  I had a kinda/sorta revelation when I read this.  I wanted to experience everything, touch everything, feel everything.  It’s okay to be lost, the narrator tells me, because it’s in that moment that you have to give everything to become yourself.   No one else will view this world like you or me, and it’s up to us to share our interpretations.  I’m not saying that these interpretations will ultimately define something, because I don’t think we can, but it will help us to grow and to allow our ideas to flourish.  As my man Ted Leo sings, “If you believe in something beautiful, then get up and be it”.  For fans of: trail mix, Walden, patchuli.

The Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein; Not all poetry has to be about life or some captured moment that you want to bottle up in some tiny glass thing and keep in your pocket.  No.  It can be funny, it can make you want to LOLerskate in a ROFLcopter.  At 6 years old, Shel was my the guy.  I remember this being a poem I had my dad read to me again and again because I thought the word “swallered” was hysterical.  He would always say it with the strangest inflection that would make me laugh and giggle for a long while.  Now that I read it again, it isn’t all that funny, but it’s the first poem that I was able to share with someone and continue to reference.  I guess I realized that I shouldn’t take myself too seriously or ever get a pet boa constrictor. For fans of: exotic animals, Steve Irwin, little poems that you won’t find in a Hallmark card

Inspiration?

I keep a folder of photos that I love.  Here are some favesies:

I’ll put up a “real” post sometime this weekend, promise.

Six Quirks

Miss you, Summer!

1. I am most awake at around 11 PM.  There is no rhyme or reason to this, but I’ve always been more of a night owl.

2. I can’t eat popcorn. It always tastes like I’m eating plastic with little bits of rocks or tough rubber hidden in between the little puffs and crevices.  EW EW EW.  Jeez, I’ll stop.

3. I !@#$ing love Martha Stewart.  I want to make cornicopias of newspaper, branches, ribbon, and cinnamon scented candles and get away with it, damn it.  She’s the only woman I’ve seen who makes domestic life look fun and enjoyable (other than Paula Deen, but that’s another story).  Seriously, she was hot stuff back in the day.

4. I write.  A lot.  And not just blogging on this or writing for my school newspaper.  I was published once, too, but now I don’t let anyone read something that personal.
5. I wish I had a southern accent.  Around the house I’ll speak in this booming, unsuspecting twang and it drives my parents nuts.  I think I’ll move down south for a little bit, develop the tongue for it, and then move back.  However, this doesn’t seem too feasible.

6. I secretly think I’m going to be famous one day.  I don’t know why – dance, art, writing, hot bod – but I think something big is in store for me.  I can just feel it.

Oh and I tag YOU

My Very First Outfit Post

Gap Sweater, Banana Republic Blouse, Cheap Monday Jeans

I look wide?  Anyway, when I usually have no idea what to wear, I wear something very similar to this.  I took the ACTs today, so comfort was the number one factor when I got dressed this morning.  After, I went to a bookstore to pick up a new book for Italian (yet another langauge I’m beginning to teach myself).  I was so tired and unenthusiastic about school, I totally put off all of my work.  Grrrr, I need another long weekend.

Fail

I don’t like me right now.  I am very good at:

A. Losing friends

B. Losing friends

C. Losing respect

D. Relapsing

Sometimes when I see the bare arms of trees in the evening
I think of men who have died without love,
Of desolation and space between branch and branch,
I think of immovable whiteness and lean coldness and fear
And the terrible longing between people stretched apart as these
branches
And the cold space between.
I think of the vastness and courage between this step and that step
Of the yearning and fear of the meeting, of the terrible desire
held apart.
I think of the ocean of longing that moves between land and land
And between people, the space and ocean.
The bare arms of the trees are immovable, without the play of
leaves, without the sound of wind;
I think of the unseen love and the unknown thoughts that exist
between tree and tree
As I pass these things in the evening, as I walk.

- John Tagliabue, “The Bare Arms of Trees”, Good Poems

Lo siento!

I am sorry.  I am so unbelievably sorry.  I mean I am known to start something and never finish it, but this, THIS will not become another project of mine that will just end up on my bedroom floor that I won’t find until months later because my second favorite dress was on top of it but I didn’t realize because it’s not summer.

I have also been busy drowning in college applications, hours of homework, dance classes, volunteering, clubs, saving the world, you know, the reg.  Come March, I am donezo with all of this stuff.  Actually, probably until AP exams because I couldn’t imagine the thought of slacking off before then (because I’m such a great kid ;]).

As most of you have noticed, this economy is just going FANTABULOUS and I predicate breadlines within several years, but for now you’re just going to suck it up, save what you can, and realize that this is one of the worst times to live.  Yeah, so it’s early in the “game”, but it’s heartbreaking to listen to the radio and know that someday I may not have this comfortable home and blessed lifestyle.  When I heard that the Dow dropped 700 points, I realized that I am one of the luckiest girls in the world and that I have to give back somehow, someway, so expect something about that soon.  So to save money I have:

A. Put my AmEx card through the shredder

B. Putting cash into the bank and hoarding change like an old lady

C. Not bought clothes.  It’s difficult.  It’s actually stressful not to buy clothes because I’m so paranoid that someone will just come up to me and be like,”Oh but you wore that swing jacket 3 weeks and 4 days ago.  That’s dirty.” (I’m not that shallow, just self-conscious).  But I have become very DIY savvy within the past couple of weeks or so.

D. Been going to the library.  Don’t buy books!  This probably seems obvious but it helps PLUS you’re not buying wasted paper.  And even better, you can CARPOOL to the library.  Is that too ABC Family?

E. Packed my lunches.  An apple, a small sandwich, and my reusable water bottle = much healthier than the french fries and cookies offered in the cafeteria.

I promise that I’ll post when I have time, but I am very busy with school/work/volunteer/dance/applications/breathing.  Maybe some little posts and then one big one?  I don’t know.

Yes, yes I know.  Once a week.  This will be exceptionally short as I have brigades of homework to conquer and a maybe/sorta broken hand (I’ll explain that one later.  Anyway, I got my haircut and I can’t wait to show it off.

I look silly.  Whatever.

Bonjour, Hola, Hallo

Sweet Baby J.  I haven’t used my laptop in a week, but whatevz.  This is my post for the week.

I study languages in school (French and Spanish) and in my free time, I study German.  The importance and value of knowing multiple languages allows one to communicate freely with others and enhances her resumé.  I plan on double majoring in both languages in college, although I still have no career ideas.  Now, if you don’t speak either of these languages, then you’ll love this post.

French:

French is nasal-y and gorgeous and so pretty and coquette-ish.  However, when I went to France this past year, I felt like I could only wear black and expensive shoes for people to understand me, but I fell in love with the culture, the architecture, and the mindset.  Here are some basic phrases:

Bonjour [bohn-ZHOOR] – Hello

Quoi de neuf? [kwa duh neuf] – What’s up?

Je m’appelle… [juh MAHp-elle..] – My name is…

Je suis le fromage [juh SWEE luh FROH-mahge] – I am the cheese.

Spanish:

Spanish men = beautiful.  The language = even more attractive.  I have been taking Spanish much longer than French, so it’s more natural for me.  I went to Spain about 3 years ago and that trip basically turned my attention to focus on it and to delve into the romantic languages.  The rolling Rs and the tildes and verb tenses have consumed me.  If you don’t speak Spanish (or know it), then maybe you’ll find this helpful:

Hola [o-LA] – Hello

¿Qué pasa? [kay pahs-AH] – What’s happening?

Mi nombre es… OR Me llamo es… [me noam-BRAY es... OR may yam-OH es...] – My name is… OR I am called…

¿Quieres bailar conmigo? [KEY-eres bahy-LAHR con-ME-go?] – Do you want to dance with me?

Since I can only read German, I have no idea how to write it phonetically and I would not want to give you the incorrect pronunciation.  I’m sorry that this is short and not as interesting as some of the other posts.  I promise next week’s post will be better and maybe I’ll do an outfit post?

A bientôt!  Hasta luego!  Bis bald!