Summer Uniform

I've never been truly broke before. But here I am and making the most of it. Summer is kind of coming to a close and here's what I wore every, single, goddamn day and how I did it for cheap. No outfit here is more than $60. Except my new Bec & Bridge Bianca Adventurer fedora! I did not wear it all summer (it came in the mail a few days ago) and it definitely doesn't meet the budget requirements (it was a gift).





















The book that keeps making appearances is Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin. Because these nerdy sisters love the Song of Fire and Ice series. Got hooked when I saw HBO's adaptation of the books, Game of Thrones. Stop what you're doing right now and go watch it. If you like fantasy and titty, you'll agree.

Now for some behind the scene shots!











All photos by me.

The Wicked

I feel like you bloggers don't get enough art in your life.

You're welcome.

This is one of my new favorite artists, Tiffany Bozic. Hey, it's pretty much subtle-psychedelic biology nerd shit. So humor me.













That one with the goldfish and the rose thorns fills me with anxiety. But I guess that's the point of art, right? To elicit an emotion?

Lisa and I recently visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, San Diego. There's art and then there's craftmanship. That may very well be the most precise, best drawn blue square I've ever seen, but it's not art. It's craftmanship. Yes, it's pretty to look at, yes, I would put it in my house. Which means it should be at Pier One Imports, not an art museum. Le sigh.

Yeah, like this

Is it just me or is everything so much the same right now? It's like unity in directionlessness.

And every once in a while, someone hits the nail on the head. This is from Russian Vogue, brought to my attention by blogger Le Fashion and it is everything good and right about what I want out of this fall/winter.

Continue.





















The colorful fur, the mismatched everything, the hats, the hair, the textures. Wait til you see what I've been squirreling away all summer from thrift and vintage stores...

The Bianca Adventurer

A long, long time ago I saw a sneak peak at the "Violet Haze" s/s 2011 collection by Bec & Bridge.



I don't really follow runway fashion anymore, but it came up on tumblr and my heart was taken by the Bianca Adventurer fedora, a collab between Akubra hats (the Stetson of Australia) and Bec & Bridge.



My father, being a purveyor of fine hats, got it for me for my birthday. Appropriate, no? A hat from Dad from the Violet Haze collection? Hm. Yes.





All above images from the Bec & Bridge blog.





And mine came in the mail yesterday!

Go get yours. Fall is coming. Be prepared.

Two Weeks in (Photographic) Review

For the last two weeks, my sister has been visiting me in San Diego from Austin, Texas. I decided to make my camera useful and take lots of pictures during her stay. Because no one likes seeing other people's vacation photos (if you wanna see that, you can check my facebook and trudge through them), I've reduced it to a photo diary capturing the vibe of the last fortnight.

And this is how it's felt.





























Fin

Popular Imagination

Popular Imagination, the blog of one of my high school best friends. Crazy talented girl. Got to do a shoot together when I was back in Texas in July. Warm summer nights. I miss those. She shot and styled this series, and here's my favorite shots.

You know what I don't miss?? MOSQUITOES. Stay in Texas, fuckers. If I ever find you in San Diego, I'll ... do terrible things to your mosquito family.















All photographs by Chelsea Delzell. Her blog, Popular Imagination, and the interview she did for The By and By.

Symbols and Longevity

This table speaks volumes. I ran across this study done at the University of California San Diego last week. They don't know how and they don't know why, but people with "positive connotation" initials live longer-- much longer-- on average than people with "negative connotation" initials. And they've got all the proof to back it up, here.

So for the love of Pete, don't give your kid shitty initials.

And while we are on the topic of symbols and longevity... In medieval art, the stag beetle represented mortality. And I happened to be at The Getty museum in Los Angeles on Saturday and happened across my favorite Albrecht Durer (German, 1471–1528) painting of the stag beetle-- the same one that inspired my most recent tattoo.



And the stag beetle necklace found in a strange shop of natural curiosities on a back street in Munich... I spotted it and my dear sister got it for me for my birthday back in 2008.



It's a recurring theme.

And finally, since it's not a decent post without a cat picture, here's Cookie, the light of my life.