0730: Awesome Sauce

Body Chain sent by Alicia at Instant Vintage
Just a quickie post about my new body chain that I'm obsessed with. OBSESSED. Now I'm thinking of outfits to wear just so I can wear this too... I did a street style post as well if you want to check it out. BTW, TGIF.

0728: Heavy Cargo

American Eagle Cargo Pants Jeggings, H&M Denim Shirt, Jeffrey Campbell Wedges
Quick Things:
- I've worn my denim shirt four days in a row. Gross.
- Cargo Pant Jeggings should probably not even exist, let alone from American Eagle, but they do and they're fucking awesome.
- Switched from BlackBerry to Android. My Bold kept freezing on me and the constant connectivity was driving me insane. They're not kidding about crackberry. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and not be so crazy about knowing what's going on when it's going on.
- LOOK HOW EFFING COLD IT IS IN SF RIGHT NOW. =(

Looking back, I have this regret that too often when I loved, I did not say so.

- David Grayson

0726: Attempting to Wear Basics

H&M shirt as a dress, Vera Wang wedges from Nordstrom, Coach purse from my sister, RayBan sunglasses from Nordstrom
Talk about Big! My hair is taking well to the Lush Big Shampoo - smells so good and thanks to having so many pictures of myself...haha...I can tell it's getting a lot more volume. I'm going to try to wait at least a month before giving it a verdict, but so far I'm really pleased. =) The best part, probably, is that it's so effective yet at the same time completely vegan. Don't get me wrong. I eat meat and wear fur but understand, for health reasons, why being a vegetarian or vegan is beneficial. And I'm definitely making as many efforts as I can to eat food and use products that are as natural as possible.

This photo is after three uses with the shampoo + blow drying with Rusk Thick Body and Texture Amplifier - the best styling spray for volume. I spray it on my roots and then blow dry my hair upside down with a diffuser.

Seriously guys, my goal is to get my hair HUGE.

The only thing missing is the perfect scrunching/curl enhancing product. I've tried pretty much EVERY SINGLE scrunching product available and the best one is Aveda Sap Moss - which to my heartbreak is discontinued ='( Literally, they discontinued the best product they have. Perfect and soft waves all day and I've yet to find a suitable replacement.

Send me your recommendations if you have any!

Playlist: Rock 'N' Roll Baby

Styx - Renegade


Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle


AC/DC - Back in Black


Journey - Separate Ways


Alice in Chains - Rooster


Scorpions - No One Like You


Aerosmith - Dream On

Styx - Renegade
Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
AC/DC - Back in Black
Journey - Separate Ways
Alice in Chains - Rooster
Scorpions - No One Like You
Aerosmith - Dream On
My taste in music is always changing. Every phase is obsessive. I've listened to all of these songs (and more like them) constantly over the last two weeks. And for about a month before that I could not stop listening to Dirty South Hip Hop (T.I., Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Yung Joc, Young Jeezy, etc.) And before that I think it was Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple.

I wish I had my guitar here with me in California because I would totally try to learn these songs. I have an electric guitar but I never really bothered to play it (99% of the time I play acoustic) and now I totally wish I had it here. That would probably make me the worst neighbor... But I miss playing.

0723: Turtle Time

H&M denim shirt, Blank white jeans from Intermix, thrifted Turtle belt! haha
I think this belt was made for children but I'm pretty sure I couldn't not get it either. It's a freakin' turtle for goodness' sake.

Does my hair look "Big?" Haha. This is after three uses and I'm starting to believe that shampoo can really work magic. Bought more hair dye to make my hair lighter... we'll see how this goes.

Style Inspiration: Alice Dellal

Photos via Modelinia, Vogue Brazil March 2010, No Magazine, rdujour
I don't know why, but Alice Dellal is seriously perfect to me... In a dirty, trantastic, trailer trash way. But all of those things are perfect too.

Diversion: Sarah

This is a local issue, plain and simple. The people of New York, the ones actually attacked on 9/11 and who had to live through the aftermath, are the only ones who are effected by this and don't seem to have a problem with it, so no one else should. It is no one else's business. Sarah Palin and the "heartland" do not have permanent veto power over what gets built in Lower Manhattan. If they want a say over what happens there, my advice would be to move to New York. They might even learn something about the values of living in a multi-ethnic, multicultural community

- "MK" Enough Already, Talking Points Memo Editors Blog, July 20, 2010.

0721: Machine Machine

Gap cardigan, Forever 21 vest, Urban Outfitters dress, random black shorts, H&M socks, Jeffrey Campbell wedges
I guess the question is, why is there a bulldozer (is that what this machine is?) in the middle of downtown? And why am I posed next to it? Who knows. Who cares.

I've used the Lush BIG Shampoo twice already (along with the other things I bought) and so far, I've noticed that my hair smells really good and feels a lot softer. I want to lighten it more but it's still so fried from the last go around that I feel like I should leave it alone for now...I still refuse to get it professionally done. I'm convinced I can do this myself. I detect disaster on the horizon.

Life is interesting. I think as I get older, I'm learning more about what is important.

Did you guys watch If You Really Knew Me? last night? I was familiar with this program after seeing it on Oprah some time ago. The show is one of my new favorites. I cried in the first ten minutes. Though the concept of letting people "know" you for a few hours in a private space is rather cheesy and replete with naïveté, every participant seemed to have come away with a better sense of the value of other human beings.

I sometimes think they should have "If You Really Knew Me" for adults...

0720: Va-Va-Voom

MAC Russian Red Lipstick from Nordstrom, Lush Big Shampoo, Lush R&B Conditioner, Lush Cynthia Sylvia Stout Shampoo
My hair has been in horrible condition lately. I don't know if this is a result of the weather here (wind + cold = ugh), a change in my diet (no more family nearby to bring me food) or because I've been experimenting with shampoo, conditioner and styling products in an effort to find the perfect combination. Either way, it feels limp, thin and dry. I've been combing the internet for recommendations on the best ingredients to use if you want thick hair and I came across reviews for Lush Big Shampoo.

I've used Lush shampoos before and all I remember of them is that they made my hair shinier than I've ever seen it. I don't know if this has to do with the all-natural ingredients thing but I figured I would go back and try their volumizing shampoo. It's supposed to be an exfoliator for your scalp which I've been reading elsewhere is good to get the blood moving and make it much healthier up there. Who knows. But worth a try I figure. The girl mentioned that I can mix it with any of the shampoos I'm already using - which is good because I have about two almost full bottles still in my shower... Blah. She also recommended the Cynthia Sylvia Stout shampoo which is made from organic beer (what?). I've read beer is good for your hair or at least I thought I remembered reading it so I wasn't very hard to convince. And finally, I got their R&B Hair Moisturizer.

I'll keep you posted on the results and hopefully I can actually make my way through all of it before wanting to try something else... I hate waste. I hope my hair can finally go back to it's giant, soft, moisturized self.

Also, I finally found the perfect red lipstick!! I love it and will be wearing it for awhile =)

0719: Closeted

A glimpse into my closet, a work in progress.
I've always had issues with making places feel like home. When I left "home" at 19, everywhere else I lived felt so temporary. I never bothered to decorate or organize because no where felt like it would ever last forever. I can't believe I left home in December 2006 and have lived in five cities since then - Tallahassee, Chicago, New York, Orlando and now San Francisco. I don't know that anything has felt or will feel quite like home. I always thought that once I got a job, once I started my own life, once I was working on my own projects that suddenly something would click and I would feel settled. I think I was mistaking success with a feeling of familiarity. I'm realizing now that, as cliche as the saying is, home is truly where the heart is. My heart lives with my family, my best friends, my tumultuous romance. I think I will always feel like an aimless wanderer on a futile search for comfort until my body can be where my heart lives.

0717: Mmm, Mmm, Margiela

Faux fur vest from LF Boutique in Soho
MM6 Maison Martin Margiela dress from Aritzia
Vera Wang wedges
Chic Swapped socks from The Little Dust Princess
Introducing, the first results of my foray into at home hair dye. You can kind of tell, right?

I never thought I would own anything Margiela, but when I saw this dress at Aritzia on sale I couldn't say no. I could NOT say no. There are only so many times when you come across designer steals and you just can't take a chance by walking away. Well some people might have more self-control than me but as far as I am concerned, you CANNOT walk away.

I'm not at all brand-centric as far as my style is concerned. I like to mix and match high-end pieces with low-end pieces, but one thing about me is that I either buy REALLY high-end or REALLY low-end. Meaning, I will splurge for Margiela and spend hours thrifting for $1 skirts, but I really dislike shopping at places like Ross or Marshall's. It has to be one extreme or the other.

I've been working hard over the past couple of years to really edit my closet down to pieces that I will keep forever. Those are the only things that are really worth the money - whether it's a dollar or a hundred.

Diversion: Fuck Yes Jimmy Carter

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

- US President Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States. Losing my religion for equality. July 15, 2010.

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I've made a concerted effort not to get too political or religious or personal on here mostly because everything I write is open to interpretation by strangers. Among them are sure to exist people that feel emboldened by the anonymity conveniently provided by the internet, that think by tossing cuss words and terrible grammar at me I'll somehow be swayed to change my mind and "come to Jesus," as it were. But, in spite of my hesitation to post items that give away my political leanings, I had to share this opinion piece written by President Jimmy Carter for The Age about the role of Religion on the inequality of women.

President Carter makes a good point, that he "no longer needs to worry about winning votes or avoiding controversy," which allows him to fight for causes in which he truly believes. For as much as I love being American and as grateful as I am for the freedoms I enjoy as a citizen, but more notably as a woman in this country, I have my criticisms of the government which I won't put into detail mostly because I don't feel like it, it's hard to write down and because it's really nunyabiznazz. Also because the CIA will probably somehow find my blog by doing a cross reference between "criticisms" and "government" and I'll be put on some watch list for the rest of my life. I am not trying to be sent to Guantanamo. I love America. U-S-A! All that shit.

I will say that President Carter's observation that he can now - for lack of a better phrase - do whatever the hell he pleases and that he does so in a sincere effort to bring about positive change makes him fucking awesome.

I know, from personal experience spending 20 years in the Bible Belt of America that separating oneself from a religious body comes with a heavy risk of criticism, especially if you are a political leader. Often, not being religious "enough" - or, Christian, enough - warrants the same criticism. President Carter's boldness might very well be the beginning of his political suicide, but I admire him for bravely separating himself from not only a religious body, but from a political platform as well.

Well done, Mr. President.

0716: Love is Insanity

Well, love is insanity. The ancient Greeks knew that. It is the taking over of a rational and lucid mind by delusion and self-destruction. You lose yourself, you have no power over yourself, you can't even think straight.

- Marilyn French

0714: Self Destruct

Top from Intermix
Thrifted skirt
Dolce Vita shoes
I tried to lighten my hair today with drugstore hair dye... I don't really have to tell you how perfectly it worked out mostly because it didn't work out perfectly at all. My hair just lightened by literally one shade even though I bought BLONDE. Hmph. I cut my own hair because I have cried after ever haircut since I was 13, so I figured if I can cut it, I can dye it too. Sigh. At least it's not a terrible mess. Otherwise, I wouldn't leave my house.

0714: New Blogs I'm Into

1. Scissor Sisters
2. The Dreamy Little Picture Show

0712: Not Unlike Myself

Kate Spade shoes
American Apparel California Select top
Thrifted pants from the kids' section
I don't want this to turn into some diatribe about how picking out what to wear has become uncharacteristically difficult lately - but for the record it has been quite frustrating. I want to wear faded jeans and vintage rock'n'roll tees (which by the way are insanely expensive). I miss my combat boots. I want to cut off the sleeves of t-shirts and walk around with tangled hair. I got rid of a lot of "grungey" things because I wanted to dress more feminine, ahem, like a girl. But now I just want to go back to my don't-give-a-damn wardrobe and tangled hair. My swaying tastes are getting expensive.

Diversion: You Don't Learn to Teach in Five Weeks

Why do I dislike Teach For America? Because it has nothing to do with permanent investment in our schools, or thoughtful reform of education. Because it is one of many organizations that seem to exist more or less to give privileged young people the "life experience" that will qualify them to go on to their next advanced degree. Because it relies for its prestige on the idea that people who are middle or upper class naturally have something special and intangible to offer to the poor. Because it activates our not so thinly-veiled social contempt for people who chose the hard work of teaching public school as a career, often doing it for decades in places where they are forced to buy books and classroom supplies out of their own salaries.

- "Is Teaching for America a Program for the Poor or the Rich?", Tenured Radical, July 12, 2010

0711: L'enfer, C'est Les Autres

photos from Stockholm Streetstyle

0710: Blogs I'm Rediscovering

I have a love/hate relationship with blogs. I love them intensely when I first discover them, then kind of get bored and stop reading after awhile. Here are two that I'm rediscovering and rekindling my love for.

1. Park & Cube
I love that her outfits are simple and that the color palettes are always well executed. The layout of her blog makes it very pleasant to read as well.

2. Sea of Shoes
Everyone reads Jane's blog and I had kind of avoided it for the longest, one reason being that I have an uncontrollable phobia of feet. But the fact of the matter is that there's no blogger out there that combines huge statement pieces and mixes bold patterns as well as she does. It's just a fact!

Share your faves with me, always looking to read something new.

0708: That Doesn't Make You a Model

Aritzia top
Thrifted skirt and belt
Kate Spade shoes
Gap Cardigan
I have this stupid Youtube song in my head. Before you go on with your day, you NEED to watch this stupid video. Shit is catchy.