Monday, December 20, 2010

Tis the season to be in the kitchen.

 My first attempt at pie; banana cream.
 Beyond the messiness Brittany whips up some tasty peanut butter and marshmallow fudge.
And lastly, all of our hard work are put into these cookie creations.

Don't count the calories, don't stress, and make a mess.
Happy baking everyone.
P.S. I miss my grandma. One word to describe her skills in the kitchen. Magic.

Goodnight :]

Live a Vida Lita.

I know I work at Steve Madden and my shoe collection has rapidly increased but Jeffery Campbell is slowly stealing my heart. I have yet to purchase, but am long to admire.
 Lovin' the Lita.



 End with some Foxy time.
Need. (Want) Xmas present to myself? We will see.  :]

Polkadrops and Raindots.

 December 19th: Los Angeles. Day 3 of constant rain. Love it




After bawling my eyes out and venting on the phone I take a shower. When I can't stop it's better to release my tears and introduce them to the free flowing waterfall from my shower head. I'm doing this to myself. Unfortunately emotional breakdowns sometimes aren't sensitive to the time or place of convenience.
After work, I enjoyed the soft pitter patter I felt on my peacoat versus the loud pitter puttering that hits my window. Weather can serve up many different fashion opportunities; I love when the themometer drops and forces me to bundle up or the summer forces me to uncover. Trends come and go but weather is a big infulence, although some ignore it. I know California doesn't quite agree, but I enjoy dressing for the seasons.

Rain is real, it is earth, and isn't as bad as everyone thinks. My tears are real and are human.
Goodnight.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Take Flight Spotlight: Black Swan



Doing what you love until you die is put into perspective. An image is perfected. Beauty is misunderstood. Boundaries are crossed and individuality is limited. Her sexuality is questioned. She stands alone. She steals other's past in order to make her own and her dream is perfection. When lets loose it becomes critical.
She transforms.
She dances.
She flies.
>>>>>>>>>Go see it. The intensity is worth it, even if  it costs 16 bucks :]

Saturday, December 18, 2010

GQurious: Gosling



My boyfriend will be here in 2.5 days. It is December and our last visit was a few days in August. To distract from my countdown I spent the day with friends dancing in between the raindrops that decorated downtown LA today. My last errand brought me to the Ralph's for a few things and while stuck in the holiday shopping mode purchasing January's edition of GQ, crossed my mind; Ryan Gosling had a bit to do with it as well.

The idea made sense in my head. Walt, my guy, loves skateboarding and I love fashion. Our passions seem to differentiate but I'm determined to do my research and join the two. Walk in eachother worlds. So I figured along with the bundle of gifts I've picked out, I could gift GQ, a little men's guide to fashion education. One of the first things we learned about each other in fact was our simple love for learning. Anyways, upon my reading I discovered a bit about my faves in the acting world, some tips for Walt, and how our passions and interests are displayed in a various amounts of outlets.

Life is a dream. On the topic of his favorite place, Disneyland, "I loved the idea that Walt Disney had this dream of a place and then made it a reality." An actor's ability to pull himself from the crazy "Hollywood" stereotypes, choose a certain respected quality in his roles, and visit Disneyland with his sunglasses and iPod plugged in just to ride over and over again says a lot about his character. Sometimes you have to take action, take a ride, and dream.

Gosling's black and white shadows graze his GQ moment and the timeless quality stands out among the rest. I have formed a new respect for men's fashion and men's interests.

dream up your passion.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Grammie's Christmas Party

My roomie Brittany has never missed one of her Grammie's annual Christmas party and this year came close... Grammie scheduled her party after a busy week of partyhopping, decorating, preparing for the big night, and maintaining her holiday spirit. Brittany and I left LA around 2 and got there just in time for the party; surprised good ole Grammie.I couldn't help but feel nostalgic for my own family this time of year and miss my friendship with my Grams more than ever tonight. I was happy for Britt and Grammie hearing her repeatedly brag that her "granddaughter going to fashion school in LA surprised me!!" and smiling from ear to ear (and enjoyed a bit of wine..) Enjoy this holiday collection of pics.
12/12/10
 Yes, entertainment.
 Yes, we made it. :]
 Yes, Bagpipes.
 Yes, red dress. I mean no.
 Yes, Grammie and Jim holiday hosts.
 Yes, Grammie:]
 Yes, Flapper.
Well that's all folks.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Non preoccuparti per le cose che non puoi cambiare!

Thanksgiving plans made
Surgery success, instant relief
No worries, but hope
[5-7-5]

Everything will be ok, just trust. 
"Don't worry about the things you can't change," Papa.

Thank you Walt, and thank you Grams and Papa for the lessons and proving true love is real.
At my lack of inspiration for my daily blogging their story always comes to mind.
Good night.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

PUSH.

Push push push. No matter if your shift is cut push yourself to make the same goal or higher. Everyday I want to make 1000 or more.I will not make excuses for myself, slow traffic or bad weather don't excuse my performance.every customer is an opportunity to clientale, impress upon good service, and win big. Sometimes people are picky and always want a discount and others just have issues making decisions as little as shoes.

Black friday is 3 days away...am I ready? Yes. If I'm not I'm sure going to push. I care about my custies and for the holidays forgive me for the madness...

Sales: around 900$
units: 5 (boots) !!!! Haha
upt: 1.0 ( sucks way below company standard)
aus: 180$
selling time: 3 hrs
it's a good start for the beginning of the week but...
I can do better:)

Take that Steve!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Rejoice! Los Autumn.



Los Angeles. 53 degrees, partly cloudly, and the sun making efforts to peak through while the wind performs big for the first time this season. Southern California teases you with its mini heat waves during whatever month it is but is showing some sign of sanity just in time for December to nearly hit. I loved the colors of these trees surrounding the Melrose side streets and the perfect shade of leaf that grazed Chloe ( cute dog pictured above) at the end of our adventure. The slight shivers we had felt throughout the day were paid off in fall colors and good company.

After a great saturday late night with friends we felt it perfect to spend a sunday off with the likes of 1$ sales, hipsters, and fun vintage finds. We got to Jet Rag a bit late but I still spent a good 9$ on a few great finds including a floorlength sheer black overcoat for my roomie, a few long sleeves with brown accents, a silky marroon dotted number, a classic pencil skirt with some not so classic colors, and a failed button up that little did I know until it was to late that it had been eaten alive by moths. On to the Melrose Trading Post I left happy with a mustard yellow cardigan, snowflake sweater dress, and a Hemmingway book I'm gifting this holiday.

I was sure beat on the way home, but I enjoyed myself. Find Treasures!

X,Y,Z

Baby Boomers, then Gen x who develops an interest in using technology to adhere to their lifestyle, and then comes Gen Y the technology gerneration that uses it for every aspect of their lives, and now the emerging gerneration, Z. They may not be older than 13 yet but they are growing and they will be like no other generation before. One of the  main differences will be found in the fact that compared to other gerenations they will have no knowledge of a time before without technoloogy, "how did people live without a blackberry and laptop in the dark ages?"

I'm not saying all this to sound old, at only 19, but to express a sort of sadness for the gen Z's that are approaching this world. We can only hope that their parents will give the same values and teach them the things we  know without technology. Yes, technology has improved the world in so many way but how much as it made us seem just a bit lazy? There is a gadget for every simple thing we need to do in our lives, new products for  marketers, and new reasons for companies to charge for something we "need" to have. The gen z's will grow up assuming everything is done by a robot.

On one hand I'm nervous and sad for this upcoming generation but on the other hand as a fashion major I see how businesses and this world has no choice to catch up to these technological times and I'm exited to see what the gen z gernerationers will do with it.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Doodle Days



Thursday class from 12:00 until 9:00 pm. exhaustion. Class 1 I listen to presentations, for some reason we are still doing our midterm presentations and I feel like I presented ages ago, did time stop? Class 2, teach is obsessed with the sound of her own voice, im interested but am more interested in what I created above.. Class 3: Contemporary Business Strategies, at 6:00, is the only class that seems to hold my attention. I presented today and I actually feel like I learn valuable things about what is going on, I enjoy it. 

So this is what happens when my mind takes a rest from my 9 hour school day and picks up a pen. Doodle #1 reads do you dream? if not try it? FASHION. The world is yours, dream big, make fashion. What is "passion for fashion"??? you like to shop, follow trends, gossip like Blair and Serena, [PASSION] is real and id defining your own, standing on your own, risk-taking, learning... That is exactly the miconceptions I feel many outsiders view the typical FIDM goer, that we all claim we have this passion for the industry and love to shop with our parents' money, let me just say, I refuse to be indentified under that stereotype. I am here to create my own, stand out, learn, and use this as a tool to take on my further adventures. The "FIDM girl" is out there and there are many but I am with the others.

Doodle #2 was inspired by my lunchtime people-watching. Countless cigarettes are smoked on campus, it may be a FIDM thing, or it may just be an LA thing, or the "cool thing" but you can definatley differentiate who is addicted and who isn't. I'm not saying I have never inhaled myself, but it is apparent when you are just wasting your breath. Do you prefer to be seen with a cig in your hand and your profile view blowing smoke and fingers reaking of whatever scent you prefer whether it be marb, camel, or the "natural" spirits. I'm not completley against, and yes sometimes I enjoy, but I do disagree of the fake appearance. 


Then my doodle draws on to macroni telphone bowls, hopeful napping, and the ever positioned question of love. Us girls always doodle our own hearts and ruin our hopeful neatness of our notes. 
All in all, doodle for you, doodle to escape boredom, doodle to put your silly thoughts into silly pen place marks, and doodle on everything you can, leave your mark. 




Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Dutchboy Pants Await

Great talk with Grams tonight.
My jammies that were handed down from papa, she reaffirmed, are in a special spot waiting for me.
Her bed is sooo comfy, the ecstatic elecrticity firing through on cold nights, wrinkle free, Egyptian cotton, and more  to brag about.
I apologize for not having more to say tonight other than that
I miss home.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Keep the Peace, the Power of Silence

When defining discipline it sometime means doing what we don't want to do in order to do the things we want to do. Discipline is mainly dependant on our amount of self control. I find with any amount of irritation provoked upon me I find it is best to physically remove myself from  the situation in order to prevent unpleasant words. Sometimes, in reference to my title, in order to keep the peace we have to make use of the power of silence. Within silence I find I can observe better, learn better, work better, whatever. Sometimes noise is necessary but other times the "awkward silence" is welcomed. Everything we do in life; that we have to do to get through the day, our career, or deal with because of any sort of circumstance, will provide some sort of annoyance at some point. But we have to. Some things we just have to.

Although cheesy, I find this to be true, we have to live within every situation with our best possible attitudes because otherwise our self proclaimed discipline may be the result of our own misery.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Mother Monarch

On the way to work. Waiting. Anxious. 
Flustered, trying to accept the fact that my day has been given up to my work, and sweating in the November heat only California provides.
I'm sure everyone else at the bus stop assumed I was crazy when I caught a look at a pair of twin butterflies swirling around the area, and I could do all I do to not grab my camera fast enough. I was doing the dance.They were so beautiful, the orange so vibrant, but man was hard to catch them still.I became so consumed for those five minutes trying to capture the colors they carried on their backs. 
It's the little things.


Thursday, November 11, 2010

Peaceful Places: Los Angeles #87


Peaceful Places is a Los Angeles guide book containing 100+ "peaceful places" in LA; surprising to those visiting and the atmosphere overthrows that concept. As a resident I understand the suffocation, but for a city dweller I'm constantly searching for the right amount of crazy. For me it may not be this city but I have confidence in the likes of others. In the meantime, stationed here for school it is places like Small World Books, located on the Venice Boardwalk, that helps find my own peace.

It is funny that I discovered this book inside one of the places featured amongst the pages. Small World Books really is a peaceful place. Many can spend hours in a bookstore reading summaries, browsing covers, and learning, but SWB is different because you step in and instantly you release the "freaky nature" of the boardwalk. You have to go through a restaruant's outdoor seating to reach their entrance and then once you are in you greet the shop's pet cat and all of your favorite books. The noise is eliminated and at least for me, my longing for books is instant, so many that spark my interest at once. One of my favorite things is the personalized book recommendations made by the SWB staff marked in various books around the store.

Small World Books has something for everyone, and although small, it truly is a whole other world.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Northwest Determined

Name: Hillary Christen
Original Roots: Bend, Oregon
Currently Stationed: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Student at FIDM (fashion design), hostess on weekends in Hollywood
Hobbies: Yoga, painting,driving with the top down, playing with Vincent her cat
Relation to me: Roomate and Northwest native



I just caught her before she left for school today in my favorite vintage booties ( found in Portland) of hers as well as a new dress I haven't seen on her yet. The dramatic shoulders, shine, zippers, colorblocking, and vibrant pink hair can only be pulled off for her. I wasn't quite awake but despite my sleepy eyes I couldn't ignore her example of perfected style. A rarity, Hillary seen in another color than black (not counting her hair, which used to be black) but I appreciate her risks to do things others don't. For all Los Angelans, catch up with her FIDM, and just stare, she loves it.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Fall Obsessed

 Mustard Yellow




Burgandy Red



Olive Green




Burnt Orange



I loveee these colors and want to wear them year round, I feel warm when I wear them,I feel good, I feel like the outdoors, I want to live in them forever,I am obsessed.