Best 2011 Show Yet

Sweater: Ryu, Tank: Thrift, Skirt: ???, Tights: American Apparel, Boots: Thrift, Bag: gift

Last night I saw Yo La Tengo at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill.  The above pictures are what I wore to the concert.  (Well--I changed into a pair of Toms for the show in a bid at ultimate concert feet comfort, a bid which ultimately failed.  But this is mostly what I wore.)  The bag is new--it's Mexican, and it was a gift from my quasi in-laws.  It's my new favorite thing, I love the colors, I love the tassels and how lightweight it is.


I find it absolutely amazing that after 20 years of near-constant touring and so many albums, Yo La Tengo can put on a show that's more vibrant, more energetic, more filled with crazy distorted noise and sheer rocking-ness than 95% of the bands out there.  Currently, they're touring with a game show wheel with different options for how they can organize their set, such as "Songs that start with S," "Songs from the Sounds of Science," etc.  They bring an audience member up on stage to spin the wheel, and organize their first set around that selection.  I loved the unpredictability, and the band members seemed excited about it too.  We got "Songs that start with S," which resulted in them playing quite a few songs that they never ever play live.


And that was just the first set.  They played three sets with breaks in between, resulting in over two and a half hours of music--just from Yo La Tengo, not counting the opener.  My feet were killing me by the end of the night, but it was so worth it.  Definitely the best show of 2011 so far, but 12 months from now it could still easily take the top slot for the whole year. 


They played the song below, and it was lovely and special.

Involuntary stress twitches in my eyebrows

I meant to blog more this past week, but aahhhh school, aahhhh work, aahhh school and work and work and school.  I only had four days of class this week, not even the whole five, and not as many shifts as I've had in the past, but it has still left me whimpering.  It's hard not to be convinced that I won't have any time (or energy... let's be real, the problem is not the lack of free time, the problem is that in my free time I have no brain power left for anything but mindlessly clicking through Tumblr) to devote to my own projects until May.  I really wish I could spend all day in a large bathtub, doing nothing more demanding than watching my fingers turn into raisins, but it's not to be.

Anyway, I haven't gotten my act together to take many photos this week, so you get inspiration pictures instead.  I've seen so many people say that bright lips are a big makeup trend for the spring, and they usually mean orange or fuschia colors.  But personally, I'm psyched to maybe rock some blue lips in the coming months.

Images via DI$COUNT, Obsessee (via Johnny's Bird), and various tumblrs.

Ever since Coachella revealed their (fuckin' killer) lineup, summer festivals have been on my mind a lot.  I don't know that I'll be able to swing a plane ticket to California on top of my other plans in the coming months, but I am eagerly awaiting the Bonnaroo lineup, since that could be much more doable for me.  If I do make it to a music festival this year, I think I will try to wear blue lipstick every day.  Festivals are a great time to experiment with styles you wouldn't otherwise wear (because everyone around you is super sweaty and either drunk or on drugs), but I never want to be weighed down with fancy clothes and accessories, so makeup experimentation it is.  

Optimistic attempts at thrift and resourcefulness: Take 1

This last week has felt endlessly gray, cold, and icy.  Getting back to the daily scholastic grind is worse than usual when the weather is just determined to suck.  But today there was sunlight!  And the temperature was above 40!  I'm really, really hoping that the mild weather continues through the long weekend, preferably through the week as well.

To take advantage of the glorious, precious light from the sky, my boyfriend and I took some photos outside.  This is actually the outfit I wore yesterday, as I worked today and my job doesn't allow for such frippery. All photos by Louis:

Blazer: Vintage, Top: JMR, Skirt: Lane Bryant, Shoes: Liliana via ModCloth.  Accessories are all thrift or gifts, the belt is a piece of scrap fabric, scarf is cheap-o from some gift shop on Franklin St., and the socks were no doubt stolen form my dad's sock drawer.

Louis and I have this amazing opportunity to visit China in August, and if I want to make that happen I have to seriously pinch my pennies.  This means being very strict with myself in terms of how much money I spend on clothes.  This is something that's been hard for me in the past, but part of the reason I'm starting this blog right now is that I want this to be an opportunity for me to fish around in my closet, and experiment with all the things I own that I never wear.  I want it to be an opportunity for me to be more creative with my fashion sense--not me forcing a sense of austerity and sacrifice upon myself.  

Whenever I start feeling like I have nothing to wear, my first impulse is to go out and buy new clothes.  I think this is what a lot of us feel, but lately it's occurred to me that this is such a stop-gap measure for dealing with style ruts.  How many times have I gone out and spent money on buying some pretty new journals when I'm having writer's block, or new art materials when I'm dissatisfied with what I'm drawing?  Fashion is no different.  Whenever I impulse buy new clothes, what inevitably happens is I excitedly construct outfits around my shiny new things for a few days, and then when the novelty wears off I return to feeling like my style has become un-creative and dull.  In the end, having my dream wardrobe wouldn't automatically improve my sense of style or design; if you have the right feel for it, you can express yourself well through fashion no matter what clothes are at your disposal. 

So, this blog: I'm hoping that it will encourage me to put together new compositions out of what I already own, and thus save save save in the hopes of getting to Shanghai over the summer.  This is not to say that I'll never show off newly-acquired shiny things, but hopefully I'll be able to keep that to a minimum.  Maybe proclaiming all this to the internet will help keep me accountable.  

Pre-Fall Collections

Proenza Schouler makes me want to cover my whole body in prints and more prints.  Also: turquoise and yellow is my new favorite color combination.  Also: Pink.

Balenciaga was hit or miss for me.  However, this purple coat and the crazy dress below it basically encapsulate my entire personality.

If I were Batwoman, I would dress in the Lanvin looks below.  The wolf would help me fight crime. 

The clothes in Chanel's Paris-Byzance collection were not my bag.  The hair and makeup, on the other hand, were fantastic.  How bad-ass would it be to wear your eyeliner to class and work like this?  I keep daydreaming about it.

Pictures are all from Style.com, Café Makeup and The Fashion Spot.

Winter Weather Warning

I woke up in really high spirits today.  It was one of those days where you feel so god damn efficient and productive that you think you're super-powered.  My good feelings were enough to get me through the first day back in class, which is always exhausting.  Interacting with people after three weeks of cats for company is intense at best, overwhelming at worst.  I was bracing myself for overwhelming, but today I actually felt all happy and eager to be on campus with all the other students again.

It snowed today.  Thus, my outfit was dictated by the only boots I can wear while rushing to and fro on campus while keeping my toes mostly dry.  

     

Top: Black Chandelier, Pants: ASOS Curve, Boots: Thrift

Version 2.0, all bundled up:

Jacket: Model Citizen, Scarf: Anthropologie

Hi...?

Today I'm hanging out in the comfiest dress I own and long underwear, watching football with my boyfriend, mentally prepping myself for the start of a new semester tomorrow. (By mentally prepping, I pretty much just mean vegging out.)  I'm still feeling slightly resentful towards our cat for scratching my face when he stepped on my head last night.  It's sunny outside and it doesn't look too cold; I've decided that I love North Carolina winters.  Later today I might write some stuff.  

I already have a few places to hang out and word vomit on the internet, but I wanted another one.  I want to use this blog to ease myself into feeling less self-conscious about my writing, my personal style, my photos, basically my creative pursuits in general.  Who knows what that will look like, but here I am. 

The title of this blog comes from "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace" by the Mountain Goats.