I Heart This Site

This site is pretty neato. Check it out, I found some sweet photos:
http://weheartit.com/

Childlike Joy.

This is a poem from Alice in Wonderland, it embodies the spirit of childlike wonder and joy. I wish everyone still had this sense of beauty and adventure ... I'm sure we all do if we dig down deep. :)

Child of the pure unclouded brow
    And dreaming eyes of wonder! 
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
   Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.


I have not seen thy sunny face,
   Nor heard thy silver laughter;
No thought of me shall find a place
   In thy young life's hereafter--
Enough that now thou wilt not fail
To listen to my fairy-tale.


A tale begun in other days,
   When summer suns were glowing--
A simple chime, that served to time
   The rhythm of our rowing--
Whose echoes live in memory yet,
Though envious years would say "forget."


Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread,
   With bitter tidings laden,
Shall summon to unwelcome bed
   A melancholy maiden!
We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near.


Without, the frost, the blinding snow,
   The storm-wind's moody madness--
Within, the firelight's ruddy glow
  And childhood's nest of gladness.
The magic words shall hold thee fast:
Thou shalt not heed the raving blast.


And though the shadow of a sigh 
  May tremble through the story,
For "happy summer days" gone by,
  And vanish'd summer glory--
It shall not touch with breath of bale
The pleasance of our fairy tale.

by Lewis Carroll

Sunburns and Sand.

Apparently LA just got the memo that is was August and decided to turn the heater on. The last week or two has actually felt like summer. It was so hot that my ice cream cone was melting faster than I could eat it... hence the distraught expression and the river of melted goop running down my arm.

Here are some sweet pics that my room mate Colette took whilst beaching it up last week. Since we are both fair skinned gingers we decided we should rock the SPF 50. (Cause that's what cool kids do.)

looking for an open spot... away from mud flinging kids, couples in "nothing" fights and old/fat/hairy dudes in speedos

over there!

spot found. commence sun burn now...

 I promise, I am wearing bottoms....

Library Finds

I went scavenging through the musky shelves of a branch of the Los Angeles public library looking for some good tunes for a road trip. This is what I found... 90's music. Wonderful, out of date, livin la vida loca era 90's music. Here is my playlist of favorites from back in the day. Also these music videos are hilariously akward.

Exercise You Pudge!

My body hurts but feels great at the same time. I have been getting back into shape... very gradually getting back into shape. I figured I ease my way into it with some yoga. Well my friends turned me on to Yoga Co. in Santa Monica... and it was not exactly easy. The modern style studio which is tucked away on the Santa Monica promenade, sits there waiting to kick your butt and get you limber.

We've tried a few of the different classes they have to offer from relaxing yoga where they give you head rubs and lavender smelling oils to intense-sweat dripping off of nose-noodley legged power yoga classes where the guy next to you is doing ab curling hand stands from down-dog position without even breathing hard to show off how much more in shape he is than your flabby self. (inhale)

There are classes running all day of different sorts with different teachers and styles. Take a look at the schedule and pick which one suits you or try them all. The great thing about this studio is that it is donation only... you pay what you can afford. Which, being a poor slightly unemployed young person, I appreciate.

So do like I have done and go get your exercise!

http://www.yogaco.com/

I want this chair!!
We saw these at the Urban Outfitters in Hollywood after the Sol Giant show. I don't know where and how I would install this in my house. But boy do I want it!

Good Eats on Random Streets

While wondering around lost this afternoon with my roommate Colette, we discovered the coolest little place in Silver Lake. Even in the chaos of driving downtown, the chaos of Tribal Cafe dominated and beaconed us in. (And Colette really had to pee, so it worked out great!) The front of this hole in the wall cafe is covered in tribal (well duh) carved posts, overgrown jungle-like vegetation, and signs shouting out all the goodness they offer for your belly's needs.

I almost spontaneously combusted from having too many good choices... so I went with the grilled chicken pesto panini, with red peppers, basil leaves grilled onto the bread, mozzarella, and that purple cabbage stuff. Also they had some delish boba tea, I recommend the black tea boba. It tastes like a Thai Ice Tea but blended. I was hoping for the Taro, but sadly they were out :( .... there's always next time.

Colette chose an interesting and tasty soup made of a mushroom soy milk base, with kale, mexican zucchini, papitas (like pumpkin seeds), and sliced almonds. It sounds REAL weird, but it was mm mm mm good. (Sorry Campbell's...they win with 3 "mm's") Her beverage of choice... a coconut and apple smoothy with ginger. Again, odd combo, but tasty combo.

Also a cool thing about this spot is that there is "Echo Park hipster type" dj's spinning all the latest tracks that you are so lame for not already knowing about. They also do music shows and I believe art shows there. There is a good possibility that the art is of the hippie/hipster persuasion.

Check out the cafe, then mozey over next door to the "2 Bad! Vintage! Store" for some cool shopping. Bad! Vintage! Site. We left pregnant with what I'd say was a 5 month old food baby our belly's. Happy and satisfied, we will return to Tribal Cafe again soon.

1651 W Temple StLos Angeles, CA 90026
Tribal Cafe's Website.

Photographed by:

Life has been crazy lately. Moving, traveling, a job change, hosting out of town visitors, and exploring Culver City has been quite time consuming this past month. But, in amongst the chaos there is the nagging desire and need for decorating. I can not bare to live somewhere that doesn't please my eyes aesthetically. My new apartment walls are naked! They are even the color of naked. (How scandalous!)

I have been foraging the internet, the blogs, and the photog's sites for some great art to clothe my walls with. I even went to the Getty... but I'm pretty sure the stuff there was out of my price range.

OH MY GOSH! One of the surfboards on my balcony just fell over and hit the window... I thought for a second someone had jumped off the building onto our balcony! Uuugh, its too early for this crap.

Anyways, so I have been coming across a lot of really great photographers and artist during my search. Here are some of my favorite shots, and I recommend checking out more of their work. I also recommend securing large objects to something when they are on a frequently windy balcony.


yelena yemchuk.

inez van lamsweerde & vinoodh matadin

solve sundsbo.

Fashion Show, Fashion Show, FASHION SHOW AT LUNCH!

Last Friday we attended the CAL State Long Beach student fashion show. Miss Emilie was one of the hostess' and planners of the event. There were some pretty crazy outfits, (thigh stur-ups?) and also some pretty sweet stuff. Way to go fashion school! We also met the ladies from the super rad fashion blog GoFugYourself. I highly recommend giving it a gander. These chicks are sharp, witty, and say all the things you want to but shouldn't. Jessica and Heather, I salute you.

Apparently I was suppose to be sitting on stage on the judges couches...but opted for a seat where I could slouch and it wouldn't be seen by hundreds of people. After some much needed beers, me and my pal Natasha, a designer from Chip and Pepper, sat in the VIP and had our own judging going... fabric choices were our main qualm for the evening. So important people!

So apparently Pepper is a superstar so he needs to have his sunglasses on all the time. ha ha
Um Chip are you flippin the bird?

Emilie Finch is the next American Idol!!! or just the host of the fashion show... your votes decide America.

A good time was had by all... except for my super cute bright flashy blue suede peep toe pumps that Pepper dropped a big glob of food on at the after event dinner...may they rest in peace.

Paper People Pool Party (say that 5 times fast)

Last Saturday was the Paper Magazine Beatiful People Issue Party. You would be right in guessing that it took a good portion of my afternoon to figure out what to wear. I settled on a pair of Rockstar Biker Jeans, Express studded Blazer and some sky high Micheal Kors oxford boots. I was originally planning on have a good old fashion night in since I have been battling a cold for the past week....but I'm never one to turn down a good party. So I strapped on my tallest shoes and headed over to the Sunset strip with my pal John. (These fierce heels proved to be a bad idea by the end of night since they ended up getting a lot of miles on them.)

me, John, Algo, and friend

The party was at the Standard in Hollywood which was pretty cool, except for the glass display case with people in it...zoo style. What was up with that?

There were many a pretty faces to be seen, and even prettier clothes. Yes, that is a fanny pack you see in the pic above....you can bring it back Algo! We tried to get the dancing going but there were no bites. So we shmuzed and chatted and drank the best margaritas I have ever had.

The night ended with this guy "accidentally" getting pushed into the pool in his red and white heart boxers and running around with them half way down his tush. um,...beautiful.

Where's Waldo!! Can you find us? My feet suffered through the night but fun was had regardless. I also made off with an innertube...which will be going to the beach with me shortly. Anyone know how to surf with a plastic innertube?

New music for you to nibble on

I have been hunting for some new music lately, seeing as I have exhausted my own collection. I will find artists that I really like, listen to them non stop, then shortly after burn out on them. It's like eating too many sour skittles....at first they are great...then your mouth starts to hurt.

So here are a few of my recent favorites...that hopefully I will not get sick of too quickly.

Marina and the Diamonds.
-at first I wasn't sure if I liked her voice or the unfantastic lyrics...but then you get sucked in by the catchy pop sound and her crazy arty style. It's like Bjork where it's an all together performance work rather than just music. Her video for "I'm Not A Robot" is pretty dang cool. Body Paint!! YES! Download a free tune of hers by clicking HERE .
http://www.myspace.com/marinaandthediamonds


Zeus.
-favorite's from the album are definitely "Marching Through Your Head", Kindergarden,....and "I Know", and "How Does It Fell"...and oh crap I like them all!
http://www.myspace.com/themusicofzeus

The Middle East.
This song is lovely, but makes me sad. But I still love it. The vidoe is like an erie kids book. They don't have a bunch of songs out cause they are still newer but I like what they have so far. Let's just hope they don't start doing Christina Aguilera style pop songs... hey it could happen.
http://www.myspace.com/visitthemiddleeast


Miike Snow.
http://www.myspace.com/miikesnow
It's hard to sit still in your desk while listening to the song Animal. Just fyi.


Telepopmusik.
Mmmm j'aime le telepopmusik. C'est tre bien! This band is French and good. They kind of sound like a combo of Beach House, Lykki Li, and Scarlett Johansson. Oh and the song "Smile" is real good.
http://www.myspace.com/telepopmusiktm

What is this world coming too?

Walked out to my car this morning and found a homicide crime scene. ....I feel like a sidewalk chalk outline would have added to the overall horror, but unfortunately I wasn't packing.

Who in their right mind would do this to a ChocoTaco?!

Writing stuff.

So I was just stumbled back to my myspace account for some odd reason thought I would go dumpster diving to see what was still on there. I dug up these old poems I wrote in college...long ago in 2006. Some of them got put in this arts book called SLAM the college puts out. Hooray! Published!

Number Two on Strike

Scratch, Write, Erase

Crumple another page

Im getting kind of tired

of this lousy writer

They use and abuse

From top to bottom

As they chase

The perfect words to

say what they say

While they use me

till Im weathered away

Till I can not take back

The words that they scratch

Till I can not erase

Till they can not write

Those emotions and feelings

that are on their mind

Its always my fault

when they can not find

the write things to say

Like right now

I refuse.

I don't want to rhyme

I don't want to keep time

Damn, there I go again

Doing what they want

Now Im so dull and blunt

Cause I followed their lead

Oh will they ever see

While youre trying to make sense I'll

be just another pencil

to you.

TOM CAT

You saunter in

with your confident strut

Your smooth and subtle stealth

A tom cat.

Your eyes gleam mischief and pride

Doing exactly what you want

when you want

Giving attention when you feel

Your back itching

Wanting me to scratch

When and where you want.

You leave quietly

with your tail sticking in the air

As if to wave me goodbye

To tell me I was lucky

I had you around and

Look out for the next time

You'll want me to satisfy

Your Itch.

Put Your Stunner Shades On

I just got some goodies delivered to my office today at work! I highly recommend shopping online, then having them ship it to your work address... it brightens up the work day to get something in the mail. It feels like your birthday! Anyways, I found these glasses for like $5 a pop (add a 10% off code! Discount Code:UOUOUO....and save a 50 cents on each....holler) Check them out!

Pair numero uno:
Saw Miss Sevigny in these a while ago and had to have them. Hooray for nerd fashion!

Second pair:
Fits like a glove! If gloves were worn on the face. Who knows...maybe someday (Take note of that Lady GaGa ) The greenish teal color goes great with ginger hair and is super stylish. I like that they are big without being too big. I have also been liking a lot of boyish style clothes lately and these have that kind of flavor.

And last but also least...Number 3, Nuuuuumber 3:
Hhhmm, so I'm pretty sure these are not suppose to look like this, unless my ears are lop sided. Also in the picture they make them look like a totally different colored lens. Not cool Urban...you are in the dog house! At least until you have another ridiculous sale on cute things.

Raised on Robbery. *

I was driving home the other day, stuck in the mess of I-5 at 5:30 and I plugged my ipod in to listen to some jams. I shuffle through and landed on a Bob Dylan song, and couldn't help but feel cool and superior cause I was listening to a golden oldie. It seems like that is the thing to do these days; latching on to past generations creative ideas. We are all about the remakes, whether it is movies, music, or fashion trends. It's like the more old culture you are into the better.

Now I am not trashing old music. I love it. I own it. I listen to it. I'm just a little curious why our generation is lacking in inventive energy to come up with a new sound. The 50's was the birth of rock, the 60's had their psychedelic hippie grooves, the 70's blessed the earth with the creation of disco, the 80's was the era of synthesized sounds and glam rock, the 90's had grunge and hip hop.....and the 2000's um, pop boybands? It seems that we have gotten lost in the last few years. Is it because we don't have an easily identifiable decade? (Um, the "O 10's", the "10zeeze", the "Tens?") We just don't know what to do with ourselves and keep recycling old material. Where is the new sound?

...And please don't say Lady Gaga is the best we can do.


*Title taken from an old Joni Mitchell song.... Aubrey Mayne: guilty of exactly what she was just ranting about.