i'm baaaaaack. worlds away from mountains and wildlife, i'm spending today unpacking and prepping for my first day at refinery29 tomorrow. stay tuned.
20090526
"the silence out here is deafening."
howdy! i'm doing the whole carrie bradshaw at aidan's country house thing this week, except instead of upstate new york, i'm up in the rockies visiting my boyfriend and his family. i'm proud to report, however, that i'm handling the change of scenery like a champ, rather than throwing a hissy fit and running back to the city with my tail between my legs. i kept my cool at the sight of buffalo, black squirrels, chipmunks, deer, and a fox - all spotted within walking distance of cameron's house, mind you - though i admit i freaked out a little bit when he rolled down my window while a herd of elk milled about a mere stone's throw away from our car.
get this - i even went on a real hike through the mountains today, masked my pitiful wheezing and fear of steep heights too. all in all, it was pretty amazing, i'm a sucker for a great landscape, and colorado definitely delivers in that arena. here i am in a more functional than fashionable outfit, struggling to catch my breath and breaking in a hopelessly underused pair of timberlands that i'd forgotten i had. hopefully, tomorrow will bring some more.. urban activity. we're supposed to check out an art museum in denver that's exhibiting hippie art from the sixties - my kind of stuff.
p.s.: after the last of my finals, a marathon session of packing, moving out, going home, unpacking, packing again, and an early morning flight to denver, i finally have time to relax and let the reality of summer sink in! it's finally here, and i have so many things that i want to do - books to read, projects to attempt, blog posts to write, an internship i cannot wait to start. that said, i'm now declaring sporadic hiatuses on pandora's closet (like the week-long lull between this post and last) a thing of the past. here's to endless possibilities and my best summer yet.
edit: almost forgot about this - my playlist is kind of low on country music, which is big out here, so i tried to make do with what i had.
new york state of mind::billy joel ; going up the country::canned heat ; beyond here lies nothin'::bob dylan ; the weight::the supremes + the temptations ; me and bobby mcgee::janis joplin ; quiet houses::fleet foxes ; ragged wood::fleet foxes ; road block::big brother and the holding company ; man of constant sorrow::bob dylan ; on the road again::bob dylan
"then you ask why i don't live here.. honey, how come you don't move?"
20090518
nu shooz
i've always harbored a bit of good-natured jealousy towards those people who achieve great success at a young age. for someone like myself, who's considered maybe twenty different careers in the past three years alone, it's fascinating to imagine being completely confident about what i want to do with my life before puberty even hits.
gerrit starczewski, a twenty-two year old photographer based in a "small town between cologne and amsterdam," is one of these rare cases. the sight of socially diverse and disparate soccer fans rejoicing over the home team's win inspired starczewski to seek out "the cohesion and the equality of the people" - and he was just six years old the time. the next time he attended a game, he brought along his father's trusty minolta x-300 to capture the magic of the moment. the young entrepreneur soon began to write fiction to accompany his growing collection of images, and created a self-produced zine, which he sold out of his trench coat on the playground.
now that the photography wunderkind is legal, he's been working the concert circuit, compiling his latest series, entitled "dancing shoes". in search of "the perfect shoe of pop music," starczewski has captured the shoes of artists ranging from pharrell williams ("see these ice cubes? see these ice creams?") to the scissor sisters ("you'd think that i could muster up a little soft-shoe gentle sway").
i love how the shoes all seem to perfectly encapsulate the personality of each artist, truly illuminating a detail that most concertgoers overlook. even as fashion-oriented as i am, my poor eyesight, venue seat location, and/or level of excitement at shows inevitably keeps me from paying attention to the headliner's foot fashion. starczewski's eagle-eye vantage point is the perfect simultaneous fix for the fashion and music lover in me.
i bet you can guess the theme of today's playlist, yeah? if you can pick up the less obvious references to shoes in these songs, we should probably be best friends.
walking in memphis::marc cohn ; let's dance::david bowie ; footloose::kenny loggins ; it's still rock and roll to me::billy joel ; the show [featuring slick rick]::doug e. fresh ; bennie and the jets::elton john ; scenes from an italian restaurant::billy joel ; boots of spanish leather::bob dylan ; american pie::don mclean ; fuck me pumps::amy winehouse
20090514
drop out! drop out! be-in! be-in!
my mind may be miles away, but i'm still trapped in an ivory tower for one more week. yesterday i turned in twenty-five pages on fashion and masculinity in american psycho and today i took an exam on travel and transformation in the seventeenth century, so i only have two exams left and then i'll be a free bird.
still, i find myself having to punctuate my incessant studying with small delights to keep sane, whether it's flipping through interview or stretching out my legs with a walk to american apparel. on saturday, after my exam in trust, vision and doubt in ethics, politics and law - if that sounds like a lot, it's because it is - i plan to celebrate by going on a shopping date with my good friend, daniel, who i haven't seen all semester due to both of our hectic schedules. our plan was to do strictly vintage, but i think we may have to make a pit stop at madewell on newbury.
they're having an in-store open casting call for models saturday afternoon, and i suggest you all bring your a-game - you could be chosen to be featured on the my madewell section of their website, along with the likes of nylon fashion features editor rajni lucienne jacques. as if this weren't enough incentive to show up, you can also meet madewell's model caster and head stylist, and anyone who gets photographed will get twenty percent off their entire purchase that day - i am so there. you should be, too.
if the name madewell isn't ringing any bells, let me be the first to tell you - this store is a life-changer. i checked out the boston store (at 329 newbury street) a few months ago, and fell hard for their airy decor, incredibly sweet and helpful sales staff, and beautiful pieces. i'm not exaggerating when i say want everything in their current collection, not least of all the ex-boyfriend jean and worn & torn midi short - perfection. i've also decided that the paisley tank dress must come with me to essex junction this summer to see bob dylan.
anyway, now that i'm sufficiently pumped for saturday, i'm gonna try and continue studying for truth, vision, and the other thing.. wish me luck?
and now an all-nighter themed playlist, for the insomniacs and/or student visitors:
all night long :: mary jane girls ; tonight, not again :: jason mraz ; :: i'm good, i'm gone :: lykke li ; who needs sleep? :: barenaked ladies ; one more cup of coffee (valley below) :: bob dylan f. emmylou harris ; 3 a.m. : matchbox 20 ; all by myself :: celine dion ; zombie :: the cranberries ; here comes the sun :: the beatles ; good morning starshine :: oliver
20090511
from the kentucky coal mines to the california sun
there's nothing worse than browsing a sale, either online or in-store, and realizing, "wow! they took [insert significant amount of money] off the original price!.. anddd i still can't afford it." i suppose i'm getting what i deserve for lusting after items with ridiculous price points, but still, it's nice to snag something on sale guilt-free every now and then.
last week i accompanied sara into the square to celebrate finishing her paper (even though i hadn't started mine), and she suggested stopping in to urban outfitters while we waited for adventureland to start. i told her it was a dangerous idea, as i really couldn't be spending money, and at urban i'm very likely to do just the opposite, but she couldn't be convinced.
i dove into the bargain basement, fearing too much temptation on the upper floors, and immediately spied these beauties. a rugged mix of coarse canvas and buttery leather, set atop a four inch heel - the type of thing i'd wear to road trip across the states with shredded cutoffs and a well-worn tee, but will happily repurpose to pound the concrete of the urban desert this summer. and when marked down from one hundred fifty dollars to twenty, the price is so, so right.
oh, and speaking of summer, the songs below remind me of summer, and are therefore on very heavy rotation:
your love::the outfield ; bette davis eyes::kim carnes ; you get what you give::new radicals ; alright::supergrass ; 1901::phoenix ; more than a feeling::boston ; (don't fear) the reaper::blue oyster cult ; the sunshine state wins!::jeremy elijah ; i want you::bob dylan ; try a little tenderness :: otis redding
[image credit: urbanoutfitters]
20090509
she's nobody's child, the law can't touch her at all
for the past three days, i've been plagued by an indescribable glee that absolutely refuses to let me settle down long enough to do anything substantial. as if this summer wasn't shaping up to be fantastic enough already, i recently scored tickets to see bob dylan.
bob dylan! - i'm completely obsessed with the man.. seeing him live is one of my life to-do list's top priorities. he'll be playing with willie nelson and john mellencamp, as well. fucking fantastic. i actually don't know what to do with myself until july seventeenth.. wow. i'll try my best to keep all subsequent posts from devolving into incoherent and frantic excited rambling, but i'm not making any promises.
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