Laughter and simple times.

Last night, my father and I were cleaning up the kitchen, or rather I had just burnt the outside of a piece of ciabatta and was cutting off the crust while he was putting a plastic bag in the trashcan. Anyway, I was holding the burnt crust pieces in my hand, waiting for him to finish lining the trash bin, and when he finished I tossed the bread pieces... at the exact same moment that he pushed the bin forward for me to discard the crusts.

It doesn't really sound that funny, perhaps, but we spent a good two minutes laughing about it, about the spontaneity and simple comedy of the moment, and it was the hardest I had heard my dad laugh since I can even remember. It felt really good to laugh like that with him, at something so simple. Afterwards though, I got a little sad at the fact, because it's a little depressing how life has been so depressing for him lately [at least as far as I know] that I haven't heard him laugh, I mean really laugh, in so many years.

But also, it was kind of a sweet moment, because for just those few minutes, life seemed pure once again, and we were taken back to a time from my childhood, when life was simpler and moments like this seemed to happen all the time. It's moments like these that show me just how much we take our childhoods for granted, now that laughter seems to have become so rare.

The Skins effect.

It's quite strange really: during the rolling credits at the end of every episode of Skins, I get the most bittersweet feeling. Mostly sweet because I love Skins so much and it's my favourite show, but in a way it's also bitter, not only for that very same reason [I'll explain later] but also because each episode reminds me just how much I long to be living in the UK right now... and not only that, but I wish I could have grown up there, and experienced the culture of the UK from birth. I envy the English a lot, for reasons I can't really explain. I have no idea why I'm drawn to that culture so much, I just am. Every time I talk to my parents about my wishes, they always scoff at me, saying "How can you be so sure you'd be happy there? How could you possibly be in love with a country you've never visited?" This response always frustrates me, because I obviously can't give them a tangible, legitimate response, and so they can never take me seriously. But I know that the first chance I get, I'm relocating.

And as for the other part of my bitterness... I'm sure most of us have experienced that anyway. When you love a series [or film or book, even] just so much, you wish you were in it... not necessarily to be one of the characters, although that sometimes comes up too, but more of a participant in the action, culture, plot.... basically just to LIVE the sort of life that our favourite characters live. I've felt it with Harry Potter too [as I know millions have :)] and Gossip Girl, and Friends, and even... Twilight. [Yes I admit, I used to be a fangirl, before the book was soooooo popular... not that that wasn't the most pretentious sounding thing ever but it is true! It's mainly the rabid tween fangirl crowd that really turned me off to the series... not to mention the numerous faults that have been pointed out... I'm really not going to get into this now.]

Back to Skins, I'm really enjoying Series 4 so far. Not only are the music and fashion ace, but I think everyone is really growing into their character, and the plots are just digging into each character, showing all the complex facets, flaws, and virtues of every person. I admit that while the First Generation were my favourite of all time [not just because they were first], I will be sad to see these kids leave... and I really have gotten quite attached to them. Sigh... again with the bittersweet feelings.

Cheers.

[PS: If you've got absolutely no idea what I'm on about... check this out: http://www.e4.com/video/bsT92GRq7Lu6v6G5QKRjl1/play.e4]

Comme j'ai prometee.

An outfit post?
Today I spent most of my day sleeping, eating, organising songs downloaded from music blogs, and watching films with my grandmother. Then la classe de francais. A very interesting life, I am aware.

[and here you can see how i tried to look like a model :D]

[haha the top of my head is cut off -___-]

• teal boyfriend v-neck from target
• dark grey knit vest from forever 21
  
• dark rinse jeggings from macys
• black blazer from target
• owl necklace from diva [gift from my friend]
• maroon polygon bead necklace from pimkie [a french chain store]
  
• my favourite black&gold nikes :D
  

Cinematographic distractions.

Basically, my entire weekend just turned into a continuation of Friday's movie marathon. I left my house only to go running twice and shopping once. Pretty pathetic, but look what I watched!

• Little Nemo
• The Princess and the Goblin
• Paris, Je T'aime
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
  
• Love and Other Disasters
• About A Boy
• Virgin Territory
• Bride and Prejudice
• Hors de prix [Priceless]
• Part of The Talented Mr. Ripley... I didn't much care for it so I had to stop =/

Trying to decide what to watch next... probably something with subtitles since those don't show up on my tv.

Anyway, seeing as how I barely left the house, as such I didn't have any outfits worth posting up pictures of [or even taking pictures of, for that matter], but I promise there will be one tomorrow.

Cheers!

...And I felt Paris fall in love with me.

Today was a movie day! I watched two cartoons that used to scare me when I was little, and what is possibly the most beautiful film I've ever seen: Paris, Je T'aime. It was a pretty productive day, and tomorrow I'm going running!

I should be in bed.

Really though, I'm amazed that I'm still not tired of Romanian dance/house/club/whatever music. Like, I honestly still could listen to it all day without getting sick of it. Sure, some other random song may pop into my head, but I'm still not going to be bored with Akcent. Haha.

I have my fingers crossed that I'll get some job or another soon. Abercrombie is my foremost option with Aldo being a possible backup... and if my friend does get to transfer to the mall here [she's an assistant manager] then she pretty much guaranteed me a job. Yay!

First try.

It's sort of half-assed, but voilà, a true outfit post. I tried to use the things I bought from Cotton On for the most part.

[eh, i need to smile more. also, mother was right, this cardigan does make me look fat -__-]

[not a silly pose at all :P]

• grey cardigan that makes me look fat from Cotton On
• long black tank from Forever 21
• plaid scarf from Cotton On [on sale for $2, ha!]
• American Rag jeggings from Macys
• white plimsolls from Cotton On

I really want to paint my room. I've outgrown this green screen-ish colour, and now it just seems childish. I want a sort of dusty peach colour, something maybe similar to the colour of this blog.

Apology to the blog

So I was barely home at all yesterday, since I had classes in the am and pm, as well as an interview to work at abercrombie with my friend Alex. My outfit in the morning was nice I suppose, but I forgot to get pictures of it, and what I changed into for the interview was basically abercrombie style: a plaid shirt, jeans, and flip flops.

Didn't have time to heart anything since I was only home for an hour in the afternoon, in which I slept, and I went to bed half an hour after I came home from my evening class, which ended at 9:30!

* I did buy some stuff from Cotton On, an Australian clothing chain which just opened in the Glendale mall. All I bought were white plimsolls, a plaid scarf, and a thin grey sweater/cardigan type thing. I decided no real clothes from there until I look like Alex... the type of person who makes New Year's resolutions to GAIN weight -____-
Some people are just too lucky.



...one of the days I WILL do a proper fashion/outfit post. The ones I have on here are only too embarassing.

Likes of the day #1

• Harry Potter: cast, movies, books, illustrations, quotes
  
• Twilight disses
• Twilight disses by way of Harry Potter
• Ed Westwick
• Annie Leibovitz: the Disney series, the fairytale series for Vogue, etc.
• Similar to Annie Leibovitz, a Vanity Fair photography special with actors/actresses posing as scenes from Alfred Hitchcock films
  
• Food: desserts, breakfasts, nutella, crepes, tea etc.
• England, as usual: Brighton, Bristol, London, Sussex, Essex, the countryside, etc.
• Prague
• Stockholm
  
• Kanye West
• Lady Gaga

via weheartit.com

Snow day.

A few weeks ago [23 January] my father took me to see some snow. Being very excited and mindful of the snow and the cold, I got a bit too excited and overpacked. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't nearly as cold as I'd thought/hoped it would be, and I kept removing layers from my first outfit. After we drove a few miles further to a second location [the first having been right along the road], I did decide to use some of the extra clothes I'd packed, and it ended up looking like a whole new outfit.




The trick to both outfits was lots of layers, many of which gradually came off as the day warmed up.

• dark grey thermal cami from urban outfitters
• basic black tank from target
• heather blue brushed sweater from target
• camel coloured knit vest my mother got in england
• basic black leggings from forever 21
• some thick knit leggings my mother bought for me, which i love
• red, thick-knit, above-the-knee socks from target
• an additional pair of ankle socks from target
• favourite legwarmers from target [grey]
• trusty fake uggs from my mama
• dark grey knit gloves from for love 21
  

• dark grey thermal cami
• black thermal longsleeve shirt from forever 21
• camel vest
• two pairs of leggings
• red knit socks plus ankle socks
• legwarmers
• fake uggs
• red fingerless gloves from for love 21
  

One Saturday in Portland

These pictures are SERIOUSLY old and from my trip to Portland [during which I fell in love with Oregon] but this is one of my favourite outfits EVER, so I had to include it.

The irony of it was that the day these pictures were taken [24 October 2009] was my father's birthday, and he, who LOVES Oregon and actually lived there for a year or two, couldn't come on the trip with us because of work.

[the saturday market, in front of a flower stall, shortly before buying...]

[...a dahlia! you see how clever i am? ;)]

[after that we trotted back to sandra's home, which is the cutest thing ever, so we had to have photos of it.]

[again, the "dahlia & a dahlia" joke.]

[then, we went back out to explore the mountain national parks. i don't remember the name of any of the places we went. i'm not particularly fond of this picture (because my mother was standing right in the sun so i had to squint), but it does show my outfit in its entirety.]

• basic white tank top from forever 21
• red buffalo plaid shirt from target
• american rag black leather motorcycle jacket from macy's
• scarf from forever 21
  
• favourite skinny jeans from forever 21
• thick grey cable-knit legwarmers from target
• black not-suede boots from target
  

Rummaging through camera archives for outfits...

1 November 2009

[decent photography, thanks to my lovely father who used to be a photographer]

• basic black v-neck from forever 21
  
• colorblock dress [which i actually no longer have] worn under the shirt [white bodice, grey waistband, and blue skirt] from forever 21
  
• gold sandals from urban outfitters
• dark grey beret from forever 21
• peacock earrings from forever 21
• wooden saint bracelet from santee alley
• wooden bead bracelet from haight-ashbury

21 November 2009

[the crappy self-photography on this is SO embarassing]

• black blazer from target
• long tribal patterned tank top from urban outfitters
• favourite skinny jeans from forever 21 [which now have a huge hole in one knee :(]
• slouchy black not-suede boots from target

29 November 2009

[again, crappy self-photography... don't judge, i've improved.]

• black and white lace-print 3/4-sleeve cardigan from target
• dusty rose coloured cami from forever 21
• black tulip skirt [worn high-waist] with pockets from target
• gold horse necklace from for love 21
  

Rooftop photography.

A few weeks ago [22 january, to be exact] during the rainy weeks I loved so much, I ventured up onto my roof to take a few photographs. Here are my results.

This, I took in the direction of Glendale or Downtown, where the sky was still dark, and perhaps still raining in those areas.





This one was in the direction of the Santa Monica mountains, downtown Burbank, and Studio City. The steam that usually comes out of the water and power station was looking especially dressed up, so I thought I'd honour it with a photo.





Possibly my favourite shot of the day/evening; here you can see some clouds coming over the Verdugo Hills, all but swallowing them up in the process. It looks as if the hills are some steaming pot, and the clouds are the water vapours rising up from the pot's contents.





And, because I was under the impression that my "lounging around the house" clothes were cute, I also had to include a photo or two of myself, which I achieved using the self-timer function and some AC units conveniently located on the roof, which also allowed me to use the stunning sky as a backdrop.

In case you were wondering about my outfit [you probably weren't]:

• thick knit white sweater from American Eagle Outfitters [very warm but also very itchy, and as you can see here the pockets make me look fat -__-]
  
• Coldplay t-shirt from the concert I went to
• grey lounge pants [VERY comfortable, by the way] from Gilly Hicks
• trusty faux Ugg boots, bought for me by my mother.

I also thought my hairstyle was pretty cute [on a day when I pretty much did not leave the house... go figure], and that was simply my own naturally wavy hair, half of which I gathered up in the back and tied into a little bun, very loosely.





And here is one last shot of the lovely sky, in the direction of the valley, and the sunset. You can see the wetness on the street.





Just then the sky suddenly got very dark, so I had to hurry back inside... but not before I got this last shot of the very edge of the hills.

Blog Attempt #384

Yes, I realise I've tried [and failed at] numerous attempts to keep diaries, journals, and blogs, starting each one with the hopes that the idea will finally stick, and the desire to update daily will not wane.

Of course, so far, these hopes have not yet been fulfilled.

At any rate, I'm hoping this blog will be different... I'm hoping it will be a chronicle not so much of my daily life, but of my adventures on the internet.

Most of my time these days are spent on two sites: lookbook.nu and weheartit.com.
As such, I hope to record the various things I've hearted on weheartit, and also, not only outfits that I liked on lookbook... but maybe also some outfits of my own, as I very sadly do not have a lookbook of my own, as worthy as I personally feel I am of one. [I may be a bit biased. We'll see.]