summer slurpees

I just finished up with a 2 1/2 week housesitting gig last week. For a lot of the time I was just bored and sick, but towards the end I was really enjoying being able to walk to work and hanging out in town. The walk to work was very pleasant, although as the weather got warmer I got a little overheated sometimes. It was interesting to be so much IN a town, and I spent a lot of time observing people and thinking about summer.

Growing up out of town, really kind of in the woods, I never had a neighborhood to hang out in or a lot of other kids to play with. To see my friends, we had to get a parent to drive us to the other kid's house, so there was no spontaneous dropping by. And as I got older, I couldn't walk to the store for treats, or to the mall or movie theater. I couldn't even bike anywhere, not to town or even a friend's house. Everything was far away. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE where I live, where I grew up, and I think I am incredibly lucky to have had all this amazing nature surrounding me. But staying in Redmond reminded me of all those things I missed. I saw kids walking around town as I walked home after work, buying Slurpees at 7-11, waiting for the bus, riding bikes and skateboards. They had places to go, they were meeting up with friends, some of them were probably getting in trouble. They were always in groups, and the ones I noticed the most were all pretty young. Too young to drive, so they walked, in the still hot but beginning to cool off, still light but starting to get dark evening.

Maybe this is just because I love summer nights so much, but I started imagining what they were going to do. Not that there's a lot you can do when you're 14, but I missed that whole free summer thing. My summers were more about reading books by myself in my backyard than wandering around unsupervised. Obviously a lot of them were just out walking around because there was nothing else to do. The same impulse that makes malls crowded with kids who aren't buying anything. A lot of them were going to the skate park, which I walked past every night. They were buying soda and candy and maybe some popsicles. I'm sure there were some girls who picked out the perfectly casual cool outfit to meet up with that one really cute boy. On Fridays, I know that some of them had to have been heading to the Firehouse, the teen center that all your favorite high school bands play at (I frequented that place a lot in high school, but it always involved begging one of our parents for a ride). They might have been going to a movie, but more likely just going to sit in the park in a big group. Some of them were certainly going to get in trouble, whether they had an older brother who promised to buy them beer, or they were going to smoke pot in the wooded corner of the park or behind some unused building. They were doing the kinds of things kids are supposed to do when they get out of school for the summer. The air was warm, they didn't need that jacket their moms told them to take, and they were free.

shirt - weekdays (copenhagen), skirt - thrifted, tights - target, boots - thrifted

So while I was in Redmond, I guess I tried to recapture that sort of summer. This particular day, I got slurpees with my friend and went for a walk before work, then randomly ran into this girl I knew after work, who invited me to hang out by the river with her friends and eat candy. Then we went to an open mic night where curly haired gingers played bad Bright Eyes covers and I ended up getting a drink with some random. It involved a lot of wandering around town. I also got called a hipster multiple times, which honestly puzzled me because I didn't think this outfit was that hip. And each time, the person obviously thought that would offend me but it really just made me laugh. I mean, the more you deny being a hipster, the more of a hipster you are.

alone is okay

If you haven't already watched this incredible video, you really should now. It is beautiful. We all should be happy on our own, before we even think about trying to be happy with another person.

photobooth

went to the fair the other day and took pictures in the photobooth. full post tomorrow when I'm not tired and I'm home for more than 15 minutes before going out again.

alien me

I just found this sketch of myself I did about a year and a half ago. I really enjoy sketching with colored pencils like this. Something about using color in a non-realistic way frees me up. Using cooler tones for shadows and warmer for highlights works best because the warmer tones really pop against the cool. As always, I'm rather frustrated with the quality of the scan. I tried to adjust contrast and such after I scanned it, but my scanner simply cannot handle subtle variations in tone. So it looks overworked in some areas (and it very well may have been, but it's not nearly as apparent in real life) and underworked in others and that frustrates me. The sketch was not done from life, but from a picture I took of myself in the breakroom when I used to work at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Also, I am pissed because I was supposed to go into Seattle today for an Exclusive Deftones Live in Hawaii Party and it was cancelled. Because my stupid friend who was hosting it decided he wanted to do mushrooms today, instead of playing Deftones related drinking games at 2 in the afternoon. And he didn't even tell me it was cancelled, I only found out because I texted my friend to see if she needed a ride and she told me. Lameness.

in which i have nothing new to say

Well, I've been a wretched blogger (every time I write that word, I want to spell it "retched"). I'm housesitting right now and I've just been lazy and boring. It's also all of a sudden rather cool and I'm actually missing the earlier, rather unbearable heat. I don't want summer to be over yet. I haven't been taking pictures because I'm mainly been pretty boring in jeans and a tshirt/have worn things I've posted recently so why bother posting them again. I did find a couple pictures which I didn't post recently though, so I've got something to talk about.


bikini - victoria's secret, giant beach ball - birthday present from last year

Went swimming with a bunch of friends up at Lake Margaret last week and played with this giant inflatable beach ball. It is huge. It's so big, the wind catches and it skims along the surface of the water just out of reach. It can be rather frustrating, but it's very entertaining.


shirt - urban outfitters, pants - urban outfitters, shoes - random gladiators, sunglasses - crossroads

Wore this outfit when I went shopping with Justina on Monday. We were looking for stuff to wear to the Depeche Mode concert on the 10th. So so excited. We found the perfect outfit for her, and some stuff that worked for me, and it's going to be excellent. We're dressing like Depeche Mode fans from the 80s (/90s a little). Watch Depeche Mode 101 (the part about the fans) and you'll see our inspiration.



These deer keep coming and eating all the apples on the ground and some off the tree. It's really frustrating my mom because she wants to use those apples for cider. Our dog doesn't do a thing and the deer aren't scared of her anymore. I kinda think they're cute, expecially when the fawns with their white spots come by.

scribblings from late last night

every kiss is different. unique. some kisses are quick, over before you realize they're happening. others are long and lingering and you savor every second. some kisses can be boring--you're thinking about how you need to feed your cat or do some laundry, and oh yeah, you need to write that 1000 word history paper. some kisses are passionate, some kisses are tender. some come from love, some come from lust, and some come from both. some kisses you see coming, anticipating them all night and others take you by surprise. some are lazy and sleepy and soft while others are hard and insistant. some kisses are wanted. some kisses are not. some kisses could make you cry with how beautiful they are and some you'd rather forget about all together. sometimes you like the person you kiss and sometimes you don't. some kisses never happen, but they are kisses all the same. some kisses are romantic. some kisses are sexy. some kisses are sleazy. some kisses are innocent. some kisses are an ending and some beginning. sometimes you want to kiss the other person more thean they want to kiss you and sometimes they want you more than you want them. some kisses shake you up (in a good or bad way) and some kisses calm you right down. sometimes kisses lead to more. som e kisses say a thousand words and some are mute and meaningless. some kisses are an ending and some a beginning. kisses can be familiar, comfortable, exciting, new, dramatic, familial, friendly, perfect, flawed. each kiss is different. some are good. some are bad. I don't regret a single one.

I'm back just to say...

...I'll be gone all weekend at SASQUATCH.

I've been terrible lately, and I'm not quite sure what my excuse is. I have some pictures from the last few weeks, which I will post when I get back. I was going to try to get them up before leaving, but it looks like that's not going to happen. It is five o'clock in the morning now, and I have yet to sleep. I've been busy packing and getting ready for the weekend. I also finally picked up my last quarter work from my photography class, so expect a post for those soon. And I'm sure to have lots of awesome pictures from Sasquatch, so the blog should be an exciting place as soon as I get back. (If you don't know, Sasquatch is a music festival that takes place at a really amazing venue, the Gorge, which is all the way on the other side of the mountains. Beautiful location and awesome bands, I'll tell you all about it when I get back.)

totally not fahion related, or even fashion adjacent

Does that make sense? I like to say adjacent with subject that might be sort of related, but I don't know if people get it. It's like the subject is close to another topic, but not actually there. I don't know, it doesn't really make sense, but I say it anyways.

I do not have an outfit post for today, but I'm feeling rather wound up and felt like writing a little bit. My friends all just headed home from a fun and full day. My day started when I woke up an hour later than I planned, and had to run to meet my old japanese teacher and a bunch of other students for lunch. I went with Justina and Amanda. (I mention them a lot on this blog, as they are my best buds, but they are sometimes just called J and A. This is not an attempt at anonymity, rather we often call each other by our first initial, as do many of our friends. Together, we are JAR.) After three hours of chatting and eating pho (yeah, didn't go to a japanese restaurant, strangely enough), we went to Amanda's, baked cookies, and waited to hear from some of our other friends about hanging/band practice. Hung out, no band practice, went out to eat again (this time thai) and then ended up back at my place watching videos. Eventually we got sort of inspired and started making this silly little video ourselves. It's ridiculous, all about a boy who basically plays the game "hot lava" (remember? you can't touch the floor because it's lava so you have to jump from furniture to furniture) all the time. I wish I had a pictures from when we were filming, as my friends (it was all dudes except me and J, since Amanda went home before we started this project) are quite attractive boys. Actually, Tommy, the hot lava guy, has been posted on cuteboysmakenervous.com

You know, actually I have a few pictures from lunch today. While I'm not wearing anything especially exciting, I might as well post them.


That is most of the people at the lunch, JAR are all making peace signs, and my japanese teacher is giving herself bunny ears.


sweatshirt - american apparel, tshirt - urban outfitters, scarf - vintage


And there is (left to right): Amanda, Sensei, Justina, and me. Aren't my friends and teacher cute? Amanda does preppy style really well, Sensei is just kawaii (cute), Justina does a really good mix of super cute and kind of badass, and then there's me. I don't know how I'd describe my style. I guess I don't really know what I want it to be and that's why I have this blog.

I also have a picture from yesterday, before I met up with my dad. I headed into Seattle to see him, and we went to this cafe/bar where a bunch of guys from the Last Exit (it was a coffee shop my dad used to frequent when I was young, it does not exist any longer) meet up every Friday. They're really funny guys, weird old men who play cards and make dirty jokes all afternoon. Sadly, my favorite guy, the man who runs the UFO hotline (he also just ran for state congress) was not there. On the plus side, the bartender was attractive, despite a twirly mustache. I am pro facial hair on boys, but beards are always preferable. This is one of the first mustaches (they're getting so much more popular, I fear for the beards) I've actually liked. Anyways....

sweatshirt - american apparel, shirt - old navy, scarf - urban outfitters, jeans - pacsun, belt - thrifted



So I lied. I did talk about clothes.

just thought i'd mention....

not only have i not been posting on my own blog while i was freaking out over finals (dude, it's been awhile since i've taken school seriously, so give me a break if i freaked out a little more than necessary) but i haven't been checking up on my regular blogs to read. i just did so, and it was a joy. something about seeing all these wonderful creative people is so inspiring and a good blog post can really make my day. i'm not going to mention each of them by name, but my regular reads are all pretty much over on the side there. there's about a million new things i'm thinking and excited about now, so a general thanks to everyone that inspires me. thank you.

the flood

Ok, so I know I've been pretty bad about posting lately. And I know I told you I had something crazy to write about. So I will, but it seems way less intense now. 'Cause you know, it was awhile ago.

We had some INSANE flooding a few weeks ago. Biggest flood since 1990, at the least. Eh, pictures show it best. My mom took some of these since I was shooting for my photography class.





































Yeah. That was a LOT of pictures. It was pretty crazy and pretty awesome. I went snowshoeing today, I'll post some pictures from that later.