Such happy, sunshiny interiors. I'd love to attend this event and get myself on that dancefloor.
Subtle and romantic. Looking at this photo makes me smile.
London
Young Love
Old Romance
"Biologists make it seem so simple. The same heart whoever you are, hamster or human and no references in the whole book to the effects and consequences of falling in love."
-Caddy Casson in Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
Just a couple of photos I love (what happens when you mix wanderlust with a romantic) and a quote from one of my favorite books. Caddy Casson was the original owner of my nickname.
The To-do List: Today will be spent shopping for gifts. Three days till Christmas and I have bought nothing at all, too caught up in schoolwork.
Today I'm trawling the mall in search of a birthday present for my good friend Spencer (her first name is Maria but I call her Spencer/Spence). I've known Spence for over a decade and have been going to her birthday parties for almost as long. We've moved from all-girl elementary school parties that ended in the early evening to more grown up mixed celebrations where we actually closed the place down (we moved to the place across the street and carried on with the celebration).
Spencer is a wonderful gift giver and has the distinction of being the only person who tells me what she wants for her birthday. I do the same with her. She's recently gotten more into fashion and dressing up. This year she told me quote "I want to test your fashion skills and see if you can pick out a shirt/blouse for me." In the words of Barney Stintson, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!! Hence I'm going on a mall trawl. Wish me luck!
Also on the to-do list
gifts for family, friends
I'm hoping to find a great pair of heels
Fingers crossed I find a dress too. I have 4 parties to go to in the next 4 days. They're annual parties so outfit planning must be done with care to insure I don't repeat outfits from last year at the same event.
Maybe a haircut, my locks need some love
But first THE GIFTS!
Happy Thoughts
Wrapping presents
Eating ice cream and talking with my grandmother who loves ice cream too. She told me in her youth she and her sister once ordered a tub each and the waiter looked at them in shock.
Dancing around to fun music.
McD's for dinner last night with my younger brother and his friend Mica (who's also our Aunt)! Yes, my Aunt is younger than me. I can relate to Joe (Tom Hanks) from You've got Mail! Hee, Hee! Incidentally I love that movie.
The Holiday Season: the decorations, the music, people exchanging greetings, the buzz. LOVE!!!!
Christmas break draws nearer. That top photo just seems so festive to me.
Visiting and playing with some really cute sick kids. The children's ward was all decked out for Christmas, so that was nice since some might be there on Christmas day.
Helping my high school senior younger sister and her friend get ready for a party.
She and I laughing about the fun times of high school parties when she came home at the end of the night.
Staying up even later and helping prepare a meal for and talk with my older brother about random stuff.
The video my friend T and I have been working on since last week got a great reaction when we screened it during TV/film production class today. Our professor said she got goosebumps. Awesome since we stayed up till 3:30 this morning editing it.
The class being interrupted by my prof's male friend who came in with a rose, a present and a violinist who played the most GORGEOUS tango. It was from the film Scent of a Woman and it was beautiful. I thought it was going to be a proposal, but it was his way of apologizing to her for missing her birthday two weeks ago. AWW!!! Things like this do happen.
The music of THE BEATLES!!! I love The Beatles and The Beach Boys.
The constant flow of food gifts that arrives during Christmas. T and I stayed awake fueled by cupcakes, cookies and Lindt Chocolate! YUM!!!
The two families who let me go ahead of them at the grocery store since I was only buying a chocolate bar.
Reading the December issue of Good Housekeeping and getting ideas for Christmas wrapping. I love wrapping gifts. :)
My 3 new for me (but old issues) of Elle Decor. I love looking at beautiful spaces. My interest in interior design predates my interest in fashion by years. It's my mother's passion so I grew up around it.
Just some images I like, saved and wanted to share.
Around two years back at this time of year I got tagged on my other blog to list something that made me happy everyday. I titled the lists gratitudes after Miss Ginny Branch Stelling who's blog was and continues to be an inspiration. I decided to revive it on this blog because it's fun.
Gratitudes:
Laughing in the car on the way home from school.
Helping my friend pick out a good pair of pants for his 21st birthday.
Drinking strawberry iced tea.
Eating Russian tea cookies
Running into an old friend from childhood. When we were kids we were at the Eww boys/girls stage and didn't have many conversations that didn't include one of us being annoyed by the other. Now he and I now attend the same university and talk like civilized adults which is nice.
Here are the tags instructions if you want to join in. Tell me if you do so I can read your lists. I love reading lists like these.
Rules: 1. Post about something that made you happy today even if it's just a small thing. 2. Do this everyday for 8 days without fail. 3. Tag 8 of your friends to do the same (because 8 is the magic number XD)
Pink Highlights, perfect for summer and days by the beach.
A dainty cascade of hair at the front and a chic pony at the back.
I really like the way Blair's (Leighton Meester) hair looks in this episode (Season 2 It's a Wonderful Lie).
I think this new fascination with hairstyling is overdue after being, a girl who hated combing her hair (still get lazy about this), wore the same headband for seven years (kindergarten till 6th grade) and only knew how to put her hair up into half or whole ponytails (I'm now into braids).
Hope you guys like the blog's holiday decorations. I'm in the midst of typing my thesis but am already thinking about dressing up for Christmas parties. I'm feeling the buzz of the season and LOVE IT!!!
Character is who you are (in the shower) when no one is looking.
I can relate to this.
(In fact I realize after publishing this post that I'd already featured this photo. Here.)
Also
I've been asking my friends would rather be able to eat anything you want, when you want (it will appear right in front of you) and NEVER gain weight or have the ability to have anyone you want fall in love with you?
So far the girls have all chosen food, the guys are a mixed bag. What say you? I'm really curious to find out what people think on this matter.
My interest in braided hairstyles hasn't died. Here's a cute illustrated instructional guide for creating a fishtail or herringbone braid, similar to the style above.
Two summers ago I took sewing lessons from a very nice lady in my area, who ran a clothing business making dance costumes and beachwear from her home. I thought I'd share some of the pieces I've sewn.
Left to Right: A grey jersey sweater dress I made when a similar store bought one I owned got too small. (I bought that dress after being inspired by Madison Palffy of the now defunct blog Urban Audrey/Tangle of Thorns. When I first started getting into fashion blogging in early 2008, Madison's blog and outfit posts were some of my favorites.) When drawing the pattern for this dress I focused on the hips and consequently the top area is loose. But I love it, it has this great batwing sweater look to it, when worn loose on top and tighter at the bottom. I wear this dress the most of the three. I wear it with black tights or without, to school and to parties and even to work when I was interning. It's very versatile and I get lots of compliments plus people are always shocked to find out I sewed it myself.
A red polka-dot sundress I last wore during the summer. I also wore it for a Minnie Mouse costume last year. Sewing the skirt was easy. The bodice was a bit more tricky since we added lining on the inside and had to be sure to sew it correctly to get the correct shaped for the bodice so that it was flattering. You can't see it from the picture but the front of the bodice is three panels each with their own inner lining. A blue skirt which may have been inspired by the skating skirt of American Apparel and a black balloon skirt I own that has a thick top garter band.Sewing that band was the trickiest part of this job and took me awhile. I think I messed it up three or more times.
"Music shapes your personality. When you're young, music is a huge building block. Part of you identity is finding something you really love and can hold on to. It's not only that it's a soundtrack, it's an exposition of who you are."
-Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora Radio
(WSJ Magazine, March 2010)
One of the things I love about iTunes is that you can create your own playlists. My newest one is composed entirely of instrumental songs. I love a good piano or violin instrumental by contemporary artists like Yiruma or the 5 Browns mixed in with classical composers and the scores of movies. John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Dario Marianelli, James Horner, Craig Armstrong, Bruno Coulais I've got the scores they've done for various films on my playlist.
But HANDS DOWN the score that just makes my heart ache and my eyes tear is Ennio Morricone's theme for Cinema Paradiso. It just sets something off within me, particularly the flute.
Below are two versions of the score. The first is a shorter version which I love. I sometimes find the beginning of the song a bit slow and it cuts that part out going straight to the flute. The second is longer and is I think the whole song. The orchestra performs it as Morricone conducts. Performed in entirety the song seems to really breathe. There's also a version where Dulce Pontes sings.
I love this scene from the movie The Holiday Miles (Jack Black) and Iris (Kate Winslet) discuss movie scores in a video shop.
The film The Mission with a score Miles describes as "genius" and coming "from a totally different place" is another one of Ennio Morricone's works.
"What makes music so powerful is that it can connect you to parts of your personality, parts of your history. We're looking for things that make our life less ordinary."
The instant I saw this picture on the Sartorialist I loved it. For me it represents a great blend between what's casual and luxe. The floral print shirt she's sporting is something I see women of all ages wear as casual clothing but the outfit is amped up to another level by her choice of pants, belt and bag, which give the outfit more texture and depth. The richness of the colors of her accessories and the materials their made from add sophistication. Her cropped hair contrasts wonderfully with her headband and the floral print of the shirt. All in all it's a great mix.
P.S. I love that she's wearing her watch on her right hand. I do the same!
P.P.S. Hello November! Hope you're all having a great week!