video roundup

I don't particularly consider myself to be one of those people who watch a lot of youtube videos, but there have been a handful in the last couple of weeks that I've really enjoyed, for various reasons:

1) The reason I think it's legit to want a pet polar bear, despite their *supposed* human-eating tendencies (ignore the German newscaster and wait it out for the shots of Knut):

2) I stumbled across the new Miike Snow video for their song "Burial". I had more or less ignored Miike Snow all summer until this point, mostly because I thought that the double "i" was obnoxious. However, the visuals in the first half of the video are really nice. (The whole thing is almost compromised by the ridiculousness of having their rabbit with antlers thing in it at the end, but it's still alright)

3) Ali sent me this video which is super adorable, and the song is quite catchy, too! I especially love the bike dancing at the end :)

4) And, lastly, if you haven't seen the "JK Wedding Dance" video - it's amazing. It single-handedly is responsible for getting a Chris Brown song stuck in my head for 4 straight days.

Mad Men Yourself!

I just Mad Men'd myself! I'm pretty pleased. Turns out, I'd look the same in the 50's as I do now! heh. What a great promo - geniuses over there at AMC.

girl crush

My love of Zooey Deschanel was confirmed last week when Ana and I went to see (500) Days of Summer. I knew it would be all indie cutesy, but it was executed much better than I had anticipated. Then again, a movie based on a relationship whose foundation lies on a mutual love of The Smiths is pretty much right up my alley.

Anyway, she's adorable, especially in this photo of her and M. Ward. They are styled to perfection.

** Recap of my trip to D.C. coming later this week...I have to have photos *developed* because I forgot my digital camera on my kitchen table!

summer makeover

The blog just got a makeover! Much more summery now :)

I'm preparing for a great rest of the week:

• *free* Ted Leo and the Pharmacists concert tomorrow
• DC to visit Nikki on Friday
• Back here to go to the Brooklyn Flea under the bridge on Sunday!

aaaand, Eve's on her way over now with Purple Rain, so we can adequately prepare ourselves for the Purple Rain screening and sing-along in Prospect Park at the beginning of August. It will be epic, I'm sure.

summer mood

This is how I see summer:

I've been wanting to print out all these pictures I've been collecting from various places online, and last night I (finally!) found my printer cables. Together, they show the facets of summer that I love the most: carefree nostalgia, youth, friendship and an innocent sort of seduction.

Last night I met up with some TXA/FSAD friends to have dinner at Patsy's, followed by dessert at Chikalicious:
I had a s'mores cupcake (a graham crackery flavored cupcake filled with chocolate and topped with toasted fluff icing) and wore my black romper for the first time all summer - surprising considering that rompers are allllll over the place this summer and I used to wear this one all the time!

new projects

While clearly varied in topics, if anything this is not a fashion blog--even though I work in fashion, and it's my blog--nor has it even touched upon this topic, really. However, I've been getting back into sewing lately, after about a year's hiatus (post-graduation), and I'm quite fond of all the things I've worked on. A lot of it has just been altering some vintage dresses, and hemming things to a short-person-appropriate length.

One of my favorite projects so far is this top, which I made to wear on the 4th of July (I made the skirt as well, and it has become a staple of my summer wardrobe):

here's a close-up:

I was originally inspired by this photo I saw on Sartorialist:

Post-4th of July, I noticed a similar vibe popping up all over the Internet (or maybe it's just all the extra time I've spent online...), namely:

as well as: http://www.refinery29.com/trend_watch/cut_copy.php

I guess I accidentally have fallen into a trend? Oh well. It was a pretty easy top to make, and it was great for the 4th!

Chicago vs. NY, round 2

I've been back from my trip to Chicago for a few days now, and am settling back into my routine (if you can call it that right now...). Today, though, was a definite "win" day for NYC!

Eve, Ana and I went to the Animal Care and Control of NY up on 110th St to check out their bunnies up for adoption. The cutest one by far was one that Eve had noticed online earlier this week, named Ken. Here he is:

He is just SO cute in person. About 3.5 pounds, and very adorable. He enjoys being pet on the head, and is only mildly destructive towards cardboard. Right now he has a small eye infection, which is being checked out at the vet tomorrow. I'm hoping that he recovers soon so that I'll be able to adopt him!

After our bunny field trip, we crossed town along 110th over to Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too, a delicious outpost of soul food. I am pretty much obsessed with soul food -- oddly so considering I'm from Chicago -- and this restaurant did not disappoint! I had their bbq chicken with mac and cheese and cornbread stuffing. Plus, my lemonade was served in a jar! Picture perfect.

As of now the score stands: Chicago 1, NY 1

summer music

Ah, summer. The season of unrepentantly cheerful pop music. My summer playlists are always guided by a few season-defined habits:

• laying outside and taking a break from the world. Picture yourself in a park or on the beach. Press play.
• a penchant for late-night dance parties (summer is that season where I always end up staying out later than I intended to...I blame the warm weather and long daylight hours)
• a general feeling of happiness - maybe it's the Seasonal Affective Disorder talking, but summer is just always the happiest season
• ...and while this doesn't really apply to my current NY lifestyle, I still associate summer mixes with driving mixes

Take a peak at what's frequenting my iPod this summer:

Summer 2009

Chicago vs. NY, round 1

I'm back in NY after spending 5 days at home in Chicago. My schedule was jam packed and I was all over the city/suburbs; to give you a better idea: my car is from 1999, I've been driving since 2002, it only had 20,000 miles on it when I came home, but I drove 400 miles around the city this past week. That would have been like...a month of driving for me in high school!

I saw high school friends and Cornell people, mostly. But I must say one of the highlights of my weekend was going to a dance party at The Hideout with Ali and Eric, where we stalked this guy:

Moustache + suspenders = <3

Also, on Sunday, Eric and I went to both Meatloaf Bakery and Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park. For all the skeptics who think that meatloaf in the shape of a cupcake is gross, you're wrong. It totally changed Eric's mind. And then we went and had real cupcakes at Molly's, sat on some swings at the counter and played Connect Four (I lost...horribly).

I wish I had more time to see more people! But, isn't that the way it always goes? This trip was definitely the best argument towards living in Chicago I've had in a while. But then again, visits are never the same as living somewhere for real...

Hey citrus, hey liquor I love it when you touch each other

Dear America: happy (belated) birthday! love, me.

It seems that the month of rain (aka June 2009) has passed and summer is finally here! And just in time for the 4th, one of my favorite holidays, full of summertime goodness and delicious food. We had a pretty spectacularly picturesque BBQ to celebrate the 4th of July yesterday. Complete with burgers and hotdogs, potato salad and baked beans, beer and spiked lemonade, and an outrageous spread of desserts. The weather in NY was just perfect, and Morningside Park was really cute [minus when some guys set off these fireworks that were incredibly loud and lasted 10 minutes...and Alex tried to ask them if they could be stopped, and got threatened to get punched in the face]. The shot above is what we saw from the roof of Luiz's building - it was pretty great. We could see all 5 launching points for the fireworks over the Hudson.

Dear Summer: I hope you keep being as lovely as this nice, sunny weekend! love, me.