ugly vs. comfy

I'm writing this Thursday, after a fun (and terrifying) hiking experience.  I'm about to go watch fireworks...and I'm going to wear ugly, white espradilles because they're really comfortable.  Yeah...  In the meantime, I'm going to share some things I've enjoyed this week.

My friend made these amazingly delicious overly-cookied chocolate confections as thanks for getting to stay with me while she visits.  It's been great! :D

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The Periodic Table of Elements being used for its proper purpose: sneaking in swearwords.  This translates to: "(F) fluorine (U) uranium (C) carbon (K) potassium (Bi) bismuth (Tc) technetium (He) helium (S) sulfur (Ge) germanium (Tm) thulium (O) oxygen (Ne) neon (Y) yttrium."

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What have you loved this week?

it's been a good week

I'll warn you for next week that though I spent a significant amount of this week's evenings socializing, I was really lazy and tired and so there won't be many outfits.  Can't say that I personally mind it, though, I've really enjoyed this week, as well as the things I've found.

So I've never really developed an addiction to a TV series of any sort before, but the people I've been hanging out with have gotten me into Battlestar Galactica.  Can I just say that I absolutely love all the ladies in this?  They're all fantastic (although the blonde chick in the sexy dresses confuses me...but that's kind of what her plot purpose seems to be too, so far?)  I think Lieutenant Starbuck is definitely my favorite though.  Have any of you ever watched this series?

So this video might be making me have conflicted emotions about whether I want to spend any excess money I make this summer that doesn't go for food/savings on shoes, books, or well, these.  I'd protest my adulthood, but it's obvious that I kind of lack in that department.

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I love this graphic, potentially a little too much.  It's so great, seriously.

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So I might have recently done this with some of my drawers...  It's totally feeding the urge for new shoes.  ("Yes Mom I know what I'm doing this is called ORGANIZATION I'm not just a shoe addict!")

apparently taken off fb?

Guys, I love Totoro.  I don't think I could bear to eat these, but they're so CUTE that I want them...

What were your favorite things this week?

I Swear I Have a Life

This has been quite the week.  Lots of work.  Some actual socialization happened on Wednesday, and I recently spoke to my parents for the first time in quite a while.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to go to a museum with some friends this weekend, as well as (hopefully) play more ridiculous board/card games with people, and maybe get some sort of DIY thing I've been procrastinating for months out of the way...maybe.  Oh, and I've finally listened to Gangam Style enough that I can properly pronounce a little over half of the words.  Be proud of me.  Anyways, some of the things I've loved this week...

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This article really interested me, because it's something I've tried to do in my life, and something that I've seen a lot of people, well, avoid doing, which puzzled me when I was younger (and admittedly still puzzles me now, even though I'm much more shy than I was as a small child (yay for becoming more awkward?)).  I've never enjoyed the way our culture seems to think that one person's happiness somehow damages another person's happiness.  It doesn't seem remotely logical to me, yet it traps us in these loops where we never feel good enough because "so-and-so's doing better than me".  What does 'better' even mean!?!? Bigger house, more organized place, bigger boobs, kids doing better in school, not divorced, making more money or just WHAT?  Are you sure that whatever they're doing "better" than you is actually any better in any way, shape, or form?  We can never really live another person's life and understand them, because we're equipped with only our own life experiences and the way that shapes our understanding of everything we will ever learn.  As far as I understand it, there is no magical "better", because if we can't care about ourselves and love ourselves regardless of what other people are doing when we're single (which is NOT a bad thing, even though a lot of people seem to think it is) and poor and our lives don't feel together, then we're not going to be able to care about ourselves and love ourselves if we magically have the most perfect spouse in the world and are the richest people in the world and everything runs perfectly.  You are yourself, and you can change your habits and you can change your personality with work and change your appearance and change your mindset, but you don't have control over anyone else and how the world interacts with you over how it interacts with them.  All you can do is inspect yourself (without thinking that you should be Beyoncé or that the word 'perfect' actually has any reasonable meaning) and decide to either change yourself or accept yourself and do as much as you possibly can.  We're all bodies going to die and fall apart, little electrical signals make us move and do every thing we see as beautiful - we're made from the same components, and everything about the way our society functions is completely arbitrary.  If you befriend a talented person and someone's idiot enough to think that somehow makes you lesser, what does it matter?  In 100 years, they'll be dead and you will have been happy while you were alive to feel it. I hope this rant makes more sense to y'all than it does to me when I'm reading over it again...

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I've finally begun to develop an interest in pretty bedding (apparently I'm old enough to think it's a good thing, but not old enough to care to the extent of actually buying all the stuff to actually make my bed look pretty...)  Still, I'm in love with this new Lauren Conrad bedding stuff.  It's all so pretty, and I particularly enjoy this pattern/color scheme. Pretty and colorful...it's nice.

from tumblr

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I've been trying to figure out something that'll make my walls a little classier (considering that 3/4s of the art I've got up is, well, fanart of characters from a webcomic, you might understand why - I enjoy it, but it'd be cool to make it look fancier).  This cute idea just involves washi tape and looks like no effort.  Now all I have to do is decide if I want to use my washi tape for it, or continue hoarding it and crooning about how pretty it is...

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This is...basically how I live my life.  Yeah.  It seems to work pretty well, though, so I think I'll keep at it!

What were your favorite things this week?

sometimes I keysmash

I'll get to things I've loved from this past week in a moment, but first I must ask - do you ever have moments where you remember something that's happened to you previously and you realize how much you've changed since that occasion?  I'm not sure why, but my brain's been bringing up so many old (and even recent) memories that have just been making me think about how different I am from my childhood, my mid-teens, a year ago, even just a few months ago, and it's kind of surreal and strange to realize that even though you don't necessarily realize it, every day that you wake up, you're a different person.  It's so weird, but it's kind of cool, honestly.

Mini-ramble over, now, onto things that make sense outside of my brain...well, okay the first is sort of linked to the ramble a little bit!

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Admittedly, the first two lines are the most important.  My mind likes to wander, and when I'm loneliest, it likes to wander to my (so far only) relationship and all the things that could have made it actually last.  Being a hopeless romantic is both a good and bad thing - good, because you trust and hope that something amazing will come around, and absolutely awful because you hope so much that each person you fall for will be It and The Only.  At least I know that I need failed or wrong relationships to actually understand what I want - granted, I only understood that completely when I realized yesterday that if my first meeting with my ex had occurred today, I wouldn't have dated her even without knowing her as well as I do now, and yet I wouldn't have recognized a whole host of traits that are actually kind of toxic to be around.  I wonder what the boy I'm currently interested in might teach me...and I know I'll just have to live the adventure to find out.

This video is from 1926, and I do recommend clicking through to vimeo to see the story behind it.  It's such a lovely video, and the music is quite nice!

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Sharmadean Reid sounds like a pretty interesting person from this Refinery29 story, and she's definitely got a cool house!

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People spend a lot of time obsessing over models, celebrities, designers' labels...well, I won't say we should start obsessing over designers (obsessing over anything is kinda unhealthy, yes, I'll even concede that my shoe obsession is kinda unhealthy...) I do, however, think people should, with some designers at least, spend a bit more time listening to them on not-wholly-fashion subjects. This interview with Miuccia Prada is absolutely fascinating.  My favorite part of it is this: "The investigation of ugliness is, to me, more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty. And why? Because ugly is human. It touches the bad and the dirty side of people."

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This is basically what I have to do a lot of in order to convince myself to do most things...

What are your favorite things from the past week?

my knees keep finding tables

Just take that title at face value, folks. Considering that I managed to whack my knee on the table about five times immediately before I began to write this, it's basically the only thing I can think about...

This has been an exhausting week, but definitely an interesting one. For anyone who doesn't know, I began my first job this week (and by first, I mean first "regular AND paid", because there's been irregular babysitting and regular running of sites for free). I'm working with the custodial staff at my university, and it's been an absolute education already, both on people (it's illustrated some of the things my Accounting teacher talked about, actually, like how rules should be carefully considered because of their unintended consequences) and on actual cleaning. Also, it's really made my desire to smack all the idiots that dismiss custodian types of people as "morons" who "don't know anything" rather more fervid, but y'know... I work with some incredibly intelligent and interesting people, and anyone that thinks poor English grammar or doing a physically demanding job somehow makes a person less intelligent should seriously reconsider their lives.

...soapbox over, though, this post is actually to talk about things I've loved from this past week (besides Taco Thursday, our second-to-last lunch of Training Week). Despite exhaustion, I've managed to be online enough to discover quite a few things I absolutely love, so!

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Obviously, I love shoes. These kind of hit everything I love - the larger heel, the rounded toe, ANKLE STRAPS, they remind me of the saddle shoes I was cruelly denied as a small child. (Okay, it wasn't cruel, but it's so upsetting to be told you can't have something you love just because your mom hated wearing them as a kid...) Basically, I want these a lot. (Sidenote, I will someday actually buy myself saddle shoes and take great pleasure in wearing them around my mother. Someday I will also sound less crazy because I won't still be upset at not getting a pair of shoes I wanted like eleven years ago... Sadly, today is not someday...)

Considering that most humans struggle with trying to be liked by other people, I think this is a good reminder for everyone. I know I was linked to the article I found this quote in by a blogger I follow, though I've forgotten who, unfortunately. (Ivana of Macarons and Pearls, maybe? I've noticed that she tends to be responsible for a lot of things I wind up pinning...)

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I debated on leaving this to you guys to figure out, but I'll be honest, probably 50% of the reason I love this picture as much as I do is that I have a bit of a celebrity crush on Miley Cyrus... The other 50% would be that dress. But yeah. It looks like Elle made an interesting shoot.

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This=the way I would like to look when I wear pigtails, rather than slightly insane young adult.

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...I have very strong emotions about chickens. I don't honestly know why. They're one of the most ridiculous things I could possibly be obsessed with...and yet, here I sit, age nineteen, looking at this picture and thinking "I could totally take over the world if I had an army of giant mutant chickens on jet-powered skateboards." I don't know what I'd do once I'd conquered the world, I just want the giant mutant chickens. ...yeah, moving on.

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I'll be honest, I don't care that much about Duchess Kate. She seems like a cool person, but I'm just not that interested in seeing every single outfit she's ever worn since she and William were married or started dating or her maternity style. I think the obsession with her is beyond ridiculous (but then again, I'm obsessed with chickens, so am I really allowed to talk?) Probably the main times I get excited to see things pertaining to Kate are things like this - designers designing hypothetical outfits for her. (I was more interested in the concept art some designers made despite not being hired for her wedding dress than I was interested in the dress, so...) Karl Lagerfeld's is probably my favorite, because of that dramatic neckline.

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Four words: I want this dress.

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Another fun fact about me for the day: I've always wanted to wear ridiculously heavy, ornate earrings. My childhood aspiration, before I decided I couldn't be interested in fashion because of stupid stuff, was to have massive hoop earrings down to my shoulders. Alas, my ears don't like to be pierced, so I'm stuck with clip-ons. These. Are clip-ons. Too expensive, and yet, I keep looking at them and wanting them.

What were your favorite things this week? Any interesting obsessions that beat chickens?

I Guess I'm a Sophomore

Well...the year's over, I know some of my grades, almost everyone I live with has moved out and gone home, and the rest will follow shortly, and... Yeah. I'm in a rather melancholic sort of mood, and I might have spent significant portions of the past two days crying at how long it's going to be before I see my friends again. (I also have a somewhat irrational fear that there'll be a repeat of what happened at the end of last semester, which I am desperately hoping will be proven as irrational, since, you know, I'd like to not melt down after each time I hug a friend goodbye. At least I have a ticket to go to one of the museums that requires a ticket, and there's a festival in University Circle today, so I'll have a bit of a distraction. And I'm going to either Target or the mall area at some point this weekend to get some storage containers. At this point, I think getting off the floor as much as possible is going to be the only way I stay a functional human being. There's far too much temptation to just sit on the couch and cry or just stare at the wall, which is even worse than playing Skyrim for eight hours on end because I don't even want to do it. Bluh.

I'll quit rambling now - not that I'm much in the mood for it - and show you things that have made this week sort of better.

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I don't think you can understand my reaction to these shoes. It was over-the-top dramatic. I gasped really loudly and started fanning myself. It was actually probably hilarious, but no one witnessed it.

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Earring magnets = perfect way for me to deal with my intense lust for earrings.

So...after finals, my planned reward was a pair of sandals. And then these shorts happened. $75 is now the most I've ever spent on a piece of clothing. And I actually don't regret it. Kate Spade Saturday is kind of my new favorite thing. And also may eventually kill me because it's all so expensive but I want it all so much. (Also, the package came with this adorable bright yellow card that said "Make Every Day a Saturday", or something like that, which my roomie happily relieved me of, because she LOVES  yellow). Good purchase? Hell yes. Just don't be like me and order it and realize three days later that you also have to feed yourself until your first paycheck. Thank goodness I have parents who find it funny when I do stupid shit... I'm adjusting to this adult thing, I guess.

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I'm the custodian of my friends' xbox, tv, and computer over the summer (along with a dozen other things), and it's all going to be in a single room. I'm going to have to become a boss at organization. Step one is cords, because god only knows how awful a room is when it's already small and then has cords everywhere. I'd imagine it would be worst when coming home from work and not wanting to deal with shit... So cord control is step one.

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Can someone just turn me into Emma Watson or something? Please?

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This is such a cute idea, and I'm motivated to try it primarily by the idea of being able to make my own cards and stuff for people's birthdays and still have them be sorta unique and interesting and distinct from one another. (Also monetarily motivated...) I already tend to make my own cards (or I did, until I stumbled upon the five things of stationary I had leftover from middle school and decided to put all those dolphins to use...) and so having some sort of vague idea of what I want to do with them is always a boon.

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Hello English language, how ya doin'? Stuff like this is why I giggle when someone says that learning Arabic must be so hard for me. I speak English, which doesn't follow any of its rules in the slightest. While I don't know if the numbers on this are true, I don't doubt that it's a close ratio, because please, English.

What are your favorites for the week?

one more week!

I honestly just have one more week till finals and freshman year are done with. I'm really happy about the idea of finals being done with, and really upset that freshman year will be over, because pretty much all my friends will be leaving. At least some of my friends are staying over the summer like me! But it's definitely going to be weird. I hope it'll be fun, though...

Some of my favorites for the week (other than finishing my Accounting final...) (Also wow, I've totally given up on transitions, what would my English teachers say? Probably something about finals killing brain cells, I dunno...)

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This belt is absolutely adorable.

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I think I've got one project I need to do this summer, now. It's so cute!

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Can I become Zoe Saldana? Because seriously, she's so amazing and gorgeous and talented and I would very much enjoy being her. (Alternatively, can I have this dress and actually look as good in it as she does? Please?)

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Refinery29 is basically one of my favorite spaces online, because they post an absolutely lovely mix of silly things, awesome things, 'need-to-know' things, news, and really useful things, like this. It's a guide to how to start running as a kind of serious thing, and I hope it'll help me as I try out one of my summer goals - "find a type of exercise that I like and can do regularly". I know that I hate running, like, with a fiery burning passion, but I hope that maybe I can figure out a way to like it, because you can do it anywhere and any time, which, y'know, is a good thing.

What are your favorites this week?

almost there

Next Monday marks the end of classes. I'm kind of sad, kind of relieved. My freshman year of college is almost done, and it's been such a roller coaster of just...everything. I never knew how much I could miss a person, before this year, nor did I anticipate that people could manage to become even more confusing as I got to know them better. I also completely underestimated how easy joints are to injure just doing normal things - here's looking at multiple sprained ankles and my second knee injury of the semester (how do I keep doing this???). Hopefully this means I'll get better at taking care of my body this summer - it's a more low-key environment, I hope? One of the things I want to do this weekend, in between papers and helping my friend update the site we run, is to draw up a list of what I want to do this summer. A list of summer resolutions, I guess, to build off what I've been doing on my New Years' Resolutions. There's always room to grow, change, and transform, and I think my favorite thing in the world would be to able to say that I'm a better person each day than I was the day before.

Speaking of favorites, here are a few of my favorite things from the past week. (Look at that smooth transition... I actually can't tell if it's smooth or not, honestly, I'm writing this at 2AM and occasionally having to deal with tears because I injured my knee just an hour ago so it hurts a lot right now, so I may come back to look at this at like, 3PM to wonder how I thought this ramble was a good idea... We'll see!)

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These come in a roommate-approved color, for the record. My roommate really loves yellow, and so the only fashiony-ish things I show her are yellow. The actual thing I love about these is that they're really cute little sneakers, which I'm really craving right now, for some reason.

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This is pretty much what I had to tell myself constantly when I made the decision to not live with my friends. It was really difficult, but even now, I feel wonderful about having done it. It's definitely something for me to try to always remember - if I'm not wholeheartedly giving myself to something, I shouldn't be doing it.

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Florence Welsh's house. Need I say more? It's amazing.

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This picture of Lily Aldridge is 100% the reason I'm contemplating finding pleather shorts. The article/interview with her is really cool, too, so you should read it!

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Taylor Swift's outfit here is absolutely gorgeous. It's a pretty cool performance outfit, shiny and hopefully comfortable. I definitely love the shoes and shorts!


ps: I did look at this again this afternoon...and I'm okay with that ramble, I think, even though it's super ramble-y.