Love's a bitch, Duck.

Sometime last April or May I got together with a local boy named David Mendolina and shot some photos around town. (Do you like how I call him a "local boy"? It makes my life sound so quaint, like something out of Mark Twain.) We started out tromping around my neighbourhood under umbrellas, stalking into people's driveways and balancing on street curbs. After a quick pizza run, we headed downtown Minneapolis.







There was some sort of marathon going on in the Nicollet Mall area, which we stood and watched in confusion for a while before I hopped into the planters and began curtsying around. One of the runners huffed at me, "I like your outfit!" as he stumbled on by, then nearly passed out in exhaustion and from lack of breath. Poor kid!





Since this, the colours have changed a lot. The trees are starting to turn orange and crimson. This weekend I'll be heading up north to take a break from school and do some hiking. I'm sure the colours will be stunning and I'm sure I'll take loads of photos to share!

my father, the original hipster.

I wore this outfit this weekend when I went a few hours up north for my Great Uncle Basil's 85th Birthday! It's such a blessing everytime I get to see him and his wife, Astrid. They live in the most beautiful little stone house tucked away in a tiny town of 400-some people. Their backyard has a pond & beaver dam and they own several acres of sprawling Minnesota forest. The weather was a bit chilly, so I dressed for autumn! I drew some inspiration from my father circa late '70s, early '80s. I was going through some photos the other day and the autumnal flannel was really getting to me. Add to that, my father is a bell bottoms aficionado.

Ah, the puffy vest on top of flannel. Typical Minnesota classic!



"Nice ride, pops!"

Some pretty cool polaroid for all your hipsters...I know you eat that shit up.



My father is addicted to these fleece headbands so that he won't disrupt the volumious state of his hair.


My dad: the original hipster. Complete with the flannel, worn out jeans, oversized glasses, ironic facial hair, and film camera!



I'm still trying to decide whether or not to keep these jeans. I just bought them the other day, since I recently gave away all my jeans since I couldn't get a single pair over my butt. My father (we should just refer to him as The Bell Bottoms Master, as he did wear them to his wedding) is convinced that they're slightly too long for me. Perhaps some hemming will be in order, as I do like the rise and wash quite a lot, and they were only $20. Bells remind me of Jamie Lee Curtis in the original Halloween, 1987.


Somehow this is the only full-body shot I could find of her, but you get the picture. I'm such a dork for this movie, it's easily one of my favourites & I love the fashion in it! When I was around 8 or 9 my sister told me that Jamie Lee Curtis was born both man & woman. As a young, impressionable girl, I believed her and to this day, can not get that out of my head!


I'm horribly behind on all my homework at the moment. On Sunday I did most of my Tuesday-class homework, only to realise (around 11:30pm) that the next day was Monday & I should've been doing homework for those classes! Then yesterday I came down with the most horrible migraine to the point that I was so nauseous that I went to bed immediately upon getting home from classes & ended up sleeping for 13 hours. So you can imagine, no homework was done last night! Let's see how tonight comes along....!

Die She Must, the Autumn Winds Blow Chilly & Cold

I've been completely worn out from school (and it's only the 2nd week!) so I decided to keep everything pretty simplistic today. Plus, it suddenly turned very chilly overnight and layers were needed. I probably should've worn a coat. It's supposed to freeze tonight! I get so excited when autumn starts blowing in.

I channelled a bit of '90s grunge into the look, with the Doc Martens and this deliciously comfortable Ralph Lauren sweater which I scooped up from the little boy's section. If you've visited the blog on & off for the past few years, you'll have noticed that I used to wear Docs almost everyday and then virtually stopped. I found these guys in the back of my closet recently (I think I bought them for a few bucks at a second hand shop in Stillwater, MN) and they fit like a glove! I'm going on a weekend of hiking in October and these guys will definitely be accompanying me.


In addition to the top and the boots, I wore these really really old cut off shorts. I found the jeans at Goodwill a couple of years ago. These guys used to fit to perfection, but this summer I went to put them on and they split up the sides. You can probably tell in this photo, actually. I guess they weren't really made to fit the legs of a real woman! To be 100% honest with you guys, I've gained a bit of weight over the past few months, especially in the hips and thighs. In fact, I gained 10 pounds while in Europe, due to all the walking we did (with 20 pound backpacks!). And even furthermore, I'm completely okay with it! So okay with it, that I'm telling you all right now in a plea for girls (and boys) to accept themselves for who they are.


Just the other day I was standing outside waiting for my sewing class to start. For whatever reason, they were giving out free pizza downstairs and a boy came up carrying two pieces. He proceeded to eat the toppings off, throw the crust & breading out, and then complain about how he "probably just gained 10 pounds" by eating the toppings alone. A chorus of girls chimed in in agreement. I was both completely disgusted and deeply saddened by the exchange. It's important to eat healthy and to move & get exercise. I wanted to chime in with my own opinion, happily saying, "Yeah I actually gained 10 pounds in one month while I backpacked in Europe! I feel great!" But I feel like most kids don't want to be preached to, especially by their new classmates. But yet, I post it here as a simple story of encouragement - be healthy and love your body for being healthy, and not for being small enough to fit into a 00.





Anyways, now that I'm down off my soap box, we can get back to other, more mundane stuff. I'm going shopping on Friday for my back to school stuff! I thought I could skip it, but found out not...a few weeks ago I decided to do a thorough closet cleaning. This also involved trying all old clothes on. I couldn't get my jeans over my hips, save for 2 pairs. So now I have some jean shopping to get done, in addition to a couple new tops and a pair of boots for winter. We'll see what I can dig up! In addition to the closet cleaning, I've collected some stuff (boots and some vintage wear, mostly) that I plan to sell online and I'll put that up as soon as I get it all together!


I don't wear many accessories, mostly because I don't think too. But I did slip these rings on before running out to French class. They were a gift to me from a friend. I believe they're authentic Native turquoise jewelry, but I didn't ever think to ask, silly me!


Anyways, keep your eyes out for some more autumn outfits from me, as well as those postings on eBay!

I Love Presents: Straight Hair Edition

It's a well known fact that the best thing after a hard day at work is to come home and find a package on your doorstep. Especially when the package contains silk flowers and pretty little gifts with which to pamper yourself with! And so I was in such a good mood when I found this Flat Iron from Misikko awaiting me after another day of endless 9 to 5's.


As should be known if anyone visits this blog with regularity, I have fairly curly hair. The photo above is good reference if you don't visit often. Or maybe it's just because I like taking photos of myself. Either one. Also, note the dark under-eye circles - first week back at university is always a tough adjustment!


They sent me their Best Flat Iron in a 1.5" width. It has both ceramic & tourmaline plates (which are in a pretty blue colour!) so that your hair gets super shiny & silky, and heats up to 450 degrees. My hair is pretty coarse and some of my curls don't flatten so easily, so this is a major bonus!


They also sent me this Shine Shield style protector from HANA Salon. It's formulated with jojoba oil, which is one of my favourite beauty ingredients. I often condition my hair and take my makeup off with jojoba, so I'm perfectly happy to find that this protector contains it. It goes on to leave a healthy sheen and made my curls look bouncy. It soaks in and made my hair all silky. Even after straightening, after the next washing my curls were bouncier and fuller. Ah, jojoba oil & your masterful healing powers.


And after the straightening! I seperated my hair into 3 parts (it's thick!) and it only took maybe 15 minutes or so to straighten. I'm in the process of growing my hair out and haven't gotten it cut since May. I'm a bit behind on that, so my hair isn't in the best condition. I like the look though, and I look forward to my hair getting longer so I can see it then. Also, the iron has a 360-degree cord, so you can do flips and create wide-barrel curls with it! I look forward to trying that out. As one last before & after shot, I did a bit of a misery-to-glamour strike for ya'll: