i believe in love, don't you believe in love?

i finally broke my unspoken moratorium on jewelry purchases! and it's all thanks to the help of a brooklyn-based genius named erica weiner. i've heard her name here and there in the past, but like most passing information, i filed it away in what i thought was a sealtight file of things to look further into, when in reality i simply forgot. anyway, i found her website via a link to her krakatoa necklace and my jaw dropped. for a vintage junkie like myself, the site couldn't have been more perfect-like a page ripped out of a turn of the century naturalist's journal. and then the necklace itself, so whimsical and a perfect representation of everything conveyed by the text.. i was hooked.

i immediately checked out every single piece and realized that i want just about everything, but with only a few pieces topping out at over a hundred dollars, i noted with glee that, once i resume having a salary, of course, i can actually get my hands on these divine pieces. amaaazing. and then i got so darn excited, i lost my cool and bought a set of two belt bracelets for twenty bucks. next up? the "freewheelin' necklace." i swear, my heart literally leapt when i laid eyes on that title, and the descriptive text didn't disappoint, either: "named for our favorite jew from hibbing, minnesota." i am so sold. after that, i'm thinking i'm gonna go for the porcupine quill earrings, and then those cheeky name bracelets..

friends, i believe my dry spell is over.

p.s.: this is my last jewelry-related post for a while, promise. you all have probably noticed my unfortunate habit of becoming fixated on one thing or another, and lately it's been baubles on the brain, but with my last year of college looming on the horizon, i'm definitely on the brink of moving on to bigger and better things. stay tuned.

[image credit: erica weiner]

she can crawl out of frame while she's hanging on the wall

the bad news is that i still haven't recovered my jewelry.

the semi-good, semi-frustrating news is that try as i might, i'm being incredibly nitpicky when it comes to finding the kicker of my new collection. i've found myself amidst more than a few well-curated display cases of both contemporary and vintage pieces in the past couple of weeks, but after a thorough perusal, i walk out empty-handed every time.

me exercising restraint—go figure. i guess i'm on that ill-fated quest for perfection, but by george, i think i've come close.

enter 823key project, a unique initiative that weaves something as simple as necklace purchase with something as grand as patronizing the arts, as the proceeds from each sale fund one of several artist grants. i'm well acquainted with purchase for a cause, but these are the kind of pieces that i would absolutely pounce on if i had the luck to discover them tucked away in the back corner of a vintage store.. one of a kind keys sourced from 1830 to 1940, nearly a century of nostalgia, and hung from a brass chain.

the art lover and vintage junkie in me rejoice.

[image credit: 823key project]

sky of blue and sea of green

i hardly think i need to inform you guys that bob dylan was phenomenal. i don't think i've ever expressed quite accurately just how much his music means to me, but suffice to say, when the lights came on and the rain cleared just long enough to catch a clear glimpse of that crisp suit, i broke down into a sobbing, joyous mess, bluberring and deliriously laughing my way through "leopard skin pill-box hat." i got it together long enough to laugh, sing, and dance my way through a nearly two-hour long, ultra high-energy set, despite a renewed rain (i had a raincoat with me, but i was too gleefully occupied to remember to put it on). when he finally turned to the crowd and addressed us with a buoyant, gravelly "heh-lo, friends!" i was positive that i was the happiest i'd ever been.. and then he returned for an encore, sat down at the organ, and began "like a rolling stone," followed by "all along the watchtower." cue second round of happy tears, and with that, the best night my life so far, ladies and gentlemen.*

with all of that adoration of awe, of course i committed blogger cardinal sin and neglected to take pictures, but i made up for it the next day while we explored burlington.

"you don't understand. rox is trying to be molly ringwald right now." -sara, in response to meg's inquiries as to why i was on a desperate search for a hat.

maybe it was the abundance of young folk roaming the streets, or maybe the sweet burgundy stationwagon we were rolling around town in, but i kept getting this vibe that i'd stepped back into time and into a college town circa 1994. the more i thought about it, the more i convinced myself that my friends and i fit the part of an old-school collegiate motley crew, what with meg in her embroidered brown dress and birkenstocks, and sara and her long hair, preppy oversized rugby and cutoffs. the only way i could have looked more appropriate for my own mental scenario was if my shirt happened to be a crop top, but i sealed the deal with the best six bucks i've ever spent, snagging this prairie-ready hat at a sweet little secondhand shop called dirt chic. i've been doubting my ability to pull off hats like this for a while with my short hair, but i'm totally loving the look. after all, if molly can do it, so can i.. 

other highlights: snagging a 1967 copy of big brother & the holding company's "cheap thrills," my killer road trip playlist, pigging out all weekend long on copious amounts of ice cream, trucker stops, and real railroad car diners, browsing the sweetest record shop/vintage store ever, scoring bits of vintage swag for my circa 1966-themed bedroom this year, "take my breath away" coming on the second we hit a spread of misty mountaintops, laying claim to tons of unattractive men just for kicks, total culture shock at essex junction with thousands of elderly hicks, blowing sara away with my mastery of one country song, following a rainbow on the ride home, and something akin to a religious experience.

*i don't mean to leave out willie nelson and john mellencamp, who were also beyond amazing.

[image credit: the lovely meaghan lyons]

the time has come

i'm currently on a bus to boston. i'm spending the night at sara's, and then we're road tripping to vermont in the am. we're planning on stopping at ben & jerry's on the way to eat ice cream 'til we're sick. when we hit vermont, we're going to see BOB FREAKIN' DYLAN play (which fulfills one of my life dreams, by the way) with willie nelson and john mellencamp, no less. then, if we can manage to recover from the glory of that experience, we're going to explore the burlington nightlife.. word on the street is there's a 90's party out there with my name on it. we're staying at meaghan's tomorrow night, and doing some more small town browsing on saturday. then we're gonna hit the road again, looking for any and all roadside attractions we can find. then we're hitting the movies saturday night, before i head home on sunday.

or that's the plan, anyway.

EPIC EPIC EPIC. see you on the other side.

oh, my name it ain't nothin', my age it means less

happy birthday to me! 

and while i'm at it, happy birthday to the hilariously motley crew that was lucky enough to be born on this day: jack white, donald rumsfeld, shaft (a.k.a. richard roundtree), the kid who plays the guy friend on hannah montana, oj simpson, john tesh, fred savage (my personal favorite; kevin arnold is my boyfriend), courtney love and kelly mcgillis (tied for second place), tom hanks, that chick with the lisp from 3lw/the cheetah girls, franz boas, brian dennehy, dean koontz, jimmy smits, oliver sacks, and my former co-worker, all-around cool kid, and 1988 birthday twin, justin.

oh, and just in case you're wondering if i've somehow managed to soak up all of these july 9 babies' awesomeness simply by virtue of being born on the same day, the answer is yes.. yes, i have.

aside from waiting on some love sent by my boy express from tokyo, it's business as usual for me today, since i habitually make a point of downplaying my birthday each year, though i couldn't tell you why. as far as the big 2-1 goes, i don't drink, so that whole buying booze legally shtick just doesn't get me going. i'm mostly glad that i can finally go where i want on weekends without having to worry about an unexpected hassle at the door.

so let's all raise a glass (of vitamin water) to entering the realm of twentysomethings, yeah?

[image credit: the independent]

bow down to her on sunday, salute her when her birthday comes

the high point of this past weekend (aside from wandering through soho with nancy in hot pursuit of all things aesthetically pleasing - there were a lot) was staying up past five am to get in some long overdue quality time with my boyfriend. he's currently interning in tokyo, and a whopping thirteen hours ahead of my time. the time difference couldn't be worse - when i wake up weekday mornings, he's heading home for dinner and when i get home, he's heading out to work. we coordinated a simultaneous itunes viewing of woody allen's manhattan to recreate our movie nights while talking about the future.. can't wait to do it again.

this week, i'm expecting the usual: interning, commuting, and the daily grind, along with a couple of less ordinary events.. namely, a five-day forecast with no rain (possibly), and my twenty-first birthday. the countdown begins now.

[image credit: vintage posters]

my fellow americans

best to you and yours and enjoy the holiday! here's hoping the day doesn't end up looking like this. on the other hand, i'm a firm believer that everything, even rainy picnics, looked better in 1961.

p.s. sporadic posting is lame. thanks for all the comments, and i'm getting my act together, i promise.

[image credit: joe's adblog]