photos by Francis

straw boater – ebay
Neneee Indian Summer Dress – self made
clogs – Miu Miu
gold jeweled bangle – thrifted vintage
leather watch – gift from mom
beaded bracelet – Gallop USA
friendship bracelets – thrifted deadstock

This fabric was a lucky find at the local craft store. While laying out the patterns to cut it into a dress, I noticed along the selvages it read: Inspirations by Terrie Mangat for Free Spirit. Curious about the artwork, I decided to do a little digging.

The first site that shows up in Google search results is Terrie Mangat’s personal website. Of course I was expecting to find a little insight to the artist, but what caught me completely off guard was the veritable goldmine of sparkling textiles displayed in her gallery. I’m skimming through previous collections and thinking, how neat would it be to make button-up shirt covered in funky fish?

Or a fun full skirt bursting with jelly beans sounds delicious!

images via terriestudio.com

The fabric I’m wearing is called Chandigarh, which I learned (thank you, Google!) is a place in Northwestern India. The images based on one of its many attractions called Rock Garden where chambers and statues are comprised entirely of salvaged materials like broken glass, china ware, and clay. Making something beautiful from waste—that is always something I can get behind, natch.

images via feelandreview.com

Francis has been going on about Cinnabon ever since I let him try one last week. While we’re having our morning coffee he says, “This would be so good with Cinnabon.” After dinner he puts his fork down and says, “You know what I’m craving for dessert right now? Cinnabon.” On the couch I am applying warm vanilla sugar lotion to my feet while watching the latest episode of Mad Men. He leans in with a big dorky grin, closes his eyes, catches a whiff and says, “Mmmmmm, smells like Cinnabon.” When it got to the point where he was whispering Cinnabon while brushing past me on the bathroom toilet, I knew for sure it was time to get this boy some Cinnabon.

“You can thank Reena for that,” I said. She always insists I try these amazing specialty foods that I wouldn’t be brave enough to try by myself (really, 880 calories for a pastry? crap). Stuff like Deli Manjoo and Beard Papa’s and in the case of our last date, Cinnabon. I love Reena.

Did I tell you about my ongoing theory that the better your are at driving, the better you are at handling life experiences? I am accident prone. You know the terrible Korean driver you poke fun of because ONLY SHE could hit a parked car? *ahem* That would be me. But Reena—I am constantly stepping on the imaginary break pedal from the passenger seat of her car. The lunatic of a driver. Even behind the wheel, she has the practical joking down. She’s the character who will tell you to roll up all your windows just so she can pass the deadliest gas and wait for a reaction. She does not warn you about it and refrains from laughing until just the right moment because it makes the stink all the more unbearable. EVIL.

There’s plenty of crude jokes and more use of the word ‘fierce’ than I can handle, but one thing’s for sure—it’s never boring when Reena’s around. We are different in more ways than we are the same, but I think that might be why we get on so well. She is the frosting to my Cinnabon.

Back from limbo. Ah, it’s such a relief to be done with wholesale orders after 3 weeks of solitary confinement! Okay, maybe I wasn’t completely alone. Evan Dando was still chillin’ in my squeezebox to keep me company.

Gosh, has it really been a month since my last post? I guess this makes me a bad blogger. Sorry sorry x_X Here’s the only conclusion I can come to—it’s either got to be sewing or blogging, but I can’t do both without one or the other suffering. Idk how Jenny Gordy does it! Sewing is the easiest thing in the world to do, but there’s no way around it being incredibly time consuming. Well, at least not without sacrificing workmanship. Which is something I’d rather not do. And you know how the internet vortex goes—one hour online leads to two hours leads to three leads to there goes my entire day. So ultimately I’ve chosen to make stuff first and then come to the surface for a breath of fresh air every once in a while. Hi, how are you?

Today is the first day in a long time I wake up without anything pressing to complete. I’d like to take a trip to Tokyo Mart and pick up a copy of ViVi. Maybe we could make a picnic of cheap beer and deluxe combo sushi. You know, the kind with packaged soy sauce and weird plastic grass separators. They always load it with too much rice and not nearly enough filling and then comes the carb crash 30 minutes later. But I guess you get what you pay for buying sushi at a grocery store, right? Tonight, it’s dinner with the bff and then Dinner for Schmucks. I’d really just like to get out of the the house if only for a short while before starting on a new collection again. I am feeling a little out of it and need something to pull me back in.

Robert Pirsig talks about this feeling a lot in Zen and the Art of Mortorcycle Maintenance—how traveling is better than arriving. He says he always falls into a period of depression after reaching a goal and has to reorient himself toward a new one. Even if he was a little cuckoo, still, it’s comforting to know I am not alone in feeling that way—at a loss for what to do next.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do last night though. And that was enjoy a meal that didn’t come in a bar or shake. For our ulam, I baked unagi and served it over a bed of brown rice. Then I used this recipe (which was incredible) and this (which was meh) for our side dishes. It was nice all in all.

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover [VIDEO]:

16 ways to annoy people:

1. Specify that your drive-thru order is “to go.”

2. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.

3. Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will “swipe your grub.”

4. Name your dog “Dog.”

5. Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions “to keep them tuned up.”

6. Reply to everything someone says with “that’s what you think.”

7. Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your “astronaut training.”

8. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.

9. Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.

10. Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you’ll be saying more any moment.

11. Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you “like it that way.”

12. Sing along at the opera.

13. Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 99 copies.

14. In the memo field of all your checks, write “for sensual massage.”

15. Practice making fax and modem noises.

16. Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.

via dbooth

3 ways to wear a skirt:

Look 1: by the hour… glass
I took Dave Matthews seriously when he said, “hike up your skirt a little more.” You can pull long skirts up to your chest and sport them as a dress instead. Try belting it to add a little more shape.

Sally Scott skirt (gift from Marlena [thankies, Marlena! I love it xD])
vintage glasses and brooch
LeTigre cardigan sweater
hot pink belt (swapped with Lydia)
nylon socks from ebay
Melissa shoes

Look 2: trapeze swinger
Same skirt-worn-as-a-dress trick, except in a trapeze silhouette—it’s most forgiving on days when you’re feeling bloated. Also, did somebody say all you can eat buffet? Bring it on.

vintage denim vest
Mickey Mouse watch (gift from my mom)
Slow and Steady wins the Race oxfords
thrifted Polo brown leather belt
straw boater hat from ebay

Look 3: skirting the issue
Of course, sometimes a skirt is best worn as such. I like the idea of balancing out the demure length and fancy style of this one by pairing it with a casual cropped sweatshirt.

American Apparel heather grey cropped hoodie
friendship bracelets
self-made necklace and studded bangle
Pierre Hardy for Gap shoes

I know what you’re thinking and the answer is no. I’m not referring to the hyped vampire series. Sadly it’s not the hankering Elliott Smith song either.

twi·light (twī’līt’)
n.
1.
a. The diffused light from the sky during the early evening or early morning when the sun is below the horizon and its light is refracted by the earth’s atmosphere.
b. The time of the day when the sun is just below the horizon, especially the period between sunset and dark.
2. Dim or diffused illumination.
3. A period or condition of decline following growth, glory, or success: in the twilight of his life.
4. A state of ambiguity or obscurity.

floral wreath – salvaged from my niece’s communion veil
Sleepyhead romper – self-made
silver moonstone ring – gift from Loraine
nude flats – Capezio

It might have been too predictable to wear a star romper on the fourth of July. That night we found a good spot near the bay to ensure clear view of the fireworks. Isn’t that what happens after you’ve made the switch from adolescence to early adulthood? Things that were fun when you were a kid become exciting again. Like playing Scattegories around a coffee table or boonie stomping adventures. Or do I kid myself into thinking this, obviously still suffering from the Peter Pan syndrome?

Every time a really impressive fat one shot up and exploded in mid-air, the kids behind us yelled, “Whoa, Whoooooaaa, I like that one!” My eyes were following the little one, overshadowed by its preceding spectacles, barely making it somewhere below center show, just before scattering haphazardly like a dozen inebriated Tinkerbells.

photos by Francis