Oh hey there.

Life is good. Really good. But recently I've become greedy and good has ceased to be good enough. I'm finding myself to be antsy, stressed out, jealous, and over-eager among other things. my problems are the good kind. The ones that stem from (too) many people wanting to see me, (too) many good things happening simultaneously, and (too) many great ideas bouncing around my brain. I've got great expectations of every experience suddenly and when the world isn't constantly laying out the red carpet for me, I'm disappointed - hurt, even at times. I suppose I need to get over myself. That's the real problem, my ego has inflated times a zillion and I need to get grounded before it's Hindenberg all over again. Perhaps the best thing to do would just be to stop worrying about it at all, to be content, and to expend my energy on more valuable pursuits.

I also need to drink more water and buy chapstick.

Happy almost December to all!

Apologies

To any and all readers, I know I haven't been posting much. I was away for a month and now I really don't know what direction to take the blog in. I can't muster up blogworthy levels of enthusiasm for anything fashion-related right now. Perhaps it's the weather; but I'm more inclined to believe that it's mostly a result of the last month of my life being spent doing nothing but painting, drawing and spending time with friends. I think I'm going through a less fashion-oriented phase. I just don't care about it as much as I do other things at the moment. So maybe I'll post more music, or - when I get the chance to actually make some - more of my own art. (I'll probably post some of my stuff from the summer at some point. Because I'm rather narcissistic and a bit proud of a portion of it.)

Until I can pull myself together and focus long enough to post something substantial here, check out my Tumblr. It's more of a stream of consciousness than this, but that's about all I can handle right now.

- Aria

I would call myself many things before I'd call myself a fan of Agyness Deyn. However this spread from V magazine's fall issue is making me reconsider my stance on the matter. That and her really cool buzzcut that I'm insanely jealous of.

And my favorite shot:

Shadows

Hablo demasiado,

Hablo demasiado y todas oyen.

Cuando estoy solo, todas oyen.

Oyen en sus corazones y sus mentes

En las partes más oscuros

Donde sólo las sombras van.

La luz no piensa a venir a este lugar.

Este lugar es donde sólo las sombras van.

Las sombras, que corren en las esquinas

que se ríen en la noche.

Hablo cuando las sombras --

Hablo donde las sombras --

Y todos oyen.

Las sombras, la gente que no está allí,

Y tú.

__

I'm reluctant to translate this, so I won't. (Except sombra translates to shadow in English) I found it when cleaning out my room and I liked it so here it is. I can translate it if anyone is dying to know what it says, but otherwise what you see is what you get. Obviously I'm no Neruda, but I try. OH, and please ignore any mistakes with accents on certain letters; I'm terrible with that.

So it begins...

SUMMER. Here's a playlist to start things off on the right foot:

Ready to Start - Arcade Fire

Take a Vacation! - The Young Veins

Summer Cum - Avi Buffalo

Dream City - Free Energy

Sink/Let It Sway - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Beach Boy - Buffalo Moon

Post Acid - Wavves

Unfortunately, doing these playlist posts is depleting my mix CD music arsenal. Oh well.

let them eat cake

*beware - if you care, this post contains nudity*

Acne Paper via Fashion Gone Rouge

Street Style #2

Because I wait around forever to do these, most of the street style pictures here are not fitting for the current weather in Southern California - or in most places for that matter. Regardless, here is a sampling of some of the looks I've been admiring recently.

(From left to right) 1. from Hanneli. I am so ashamed of myself - and I'm being brave by admitting it. I've fallen for the clogs trend. I told myself it wouldn't happen, but something changed for me along the way. I've been conditioned. And now I am lusting after the pictured Opening Ceremony clog-boots as well as everything from Swedish Hasbeens. Ugh.

2. Unfortunately, I found this photo so long ago that I don't recall where it was from. I'm guessing the Sartorialist? Anyway, he is perfect.

3. This is from Elle.com; Sort of a summery transition outfit. I like how she wore the American Apparel jacket; haven't seen many good outfits with that yet.

4. From FashionBitsandBobs; She works for American Apparel! So interesting to me; her style is so eccentric.

5. From the Sartorialist. She's only 5'1"! Doesn't she look taller? Anyway, her look is great.

6. From FashionbitsandBobs

7. From AltaMira. this is probably the only look here that would work in L.A. right now. It's getting super hot. I like this simple white tee + floral + boots look.

8. From Hanneli. Had to post this because of the sweater. Wantttttt.

9. From FashionBitsandBobs

So that's that. I haven't posted in a while so I felt it was fitting to do a little something with my free time. I've been struggling with the idea of doing outfit posts because seeing as there are very few people reading this, posting pictures of what I wear feels pretty narcissistic. I realize that the entire idea of having a blog could be said to be narcissistic as well, but the outfit posts.....I feel like it's on a different level. So I'll still do them, but only if its something so super great that I just have to share. Maybe I'll start posting what I wear to work! As I buy more stuff from AA, my work outfits are slowly but surely improving. I just bought these lovelies in sky blue for instance.

Well, I think I'll go lie down and watch some more Lost or something before i drift off into dreamland.

- A

Hedi Slimane Fashion Diary. Vogue Homme Japan.

So much androgyny. So much love.

!!!

It's so great how things work out sometimes. After school today, my mom decided to stop by Salvation Army on our way home to see about donating some old furniture. So while she talked to the staff there, I wandered around, perusing the racks. And I found a fantastic camel coat! Observe:

It's not as long as I would have liked it to be. But it was only $8, so I'm really not going to complain. Plus, the short length makes it easier to wear to school. More casual and such. I'm really just ecstatic to finally have something camel other than my AA beret. I'll be wearing this coat constantly this fall!

As seen here, I like it best with the sleeves rolled up. It has a very nice golden silk (I think.) lining.

Disco Pants and t-shirt, AA//scarf and booties, flea market

Last thing - I bought this ring a few weeks ago at Forever 21 and I'm completely in love with it. I've worn it every day since. I wish Forever 21 would be more consistent in their awesomeness.

That's all there is to say, really. Homework time!

Last week, to celebrate my acceptance to Innerspark and my brother's 4.0 gpa, I went to Le Grande Orange with the fam. The food was both was delicious and aesthetically pleasing. So I couldn't resist shooting some food porn:

They had Coke from Mexico; I guess the Coke there is kind of a big deal or something because they use pure cane sugar. Anyway, it was much tastier than your average coke.

Steak tacos! They gave you all these cute, tiny tortillas to make them with. Yum. God, I really hate that I enjoy meat as much as I do...

And for desert, my absolute favorite. red velvet cake. WITH Ice cream. Not much else to say there.

Anyway. Short post. Not very interesting. Eh.

May Mix

Haven't posted in quite a while. I haven't been too extremely busy, just too lazy to sit down and put something together. Work is good. I've made money and spent it quickly. I finally got my cherry red Doc Martens. And I got into this summer visual arts program that I've been stressing about. I'm counting down the days till school ends. Everyone else seems to be getting out much earlier than my school. It really fucking sucks. Blerg.

Anyway, here is my May Music Mini Mix, a.k.a APUSH Procrastination Playlist.

Love You Madly - Cake (A kind-of-oldie but goodie)

Foolin' - Devendra Banhart (omnomnom devendra cut his hair. eeeee)

Thank You - Jay-Z

Of the Mountains - Dan Deacon

Juicy-R - Notorious B.I.G vs. The XX (Wait What mashup)

Soft as Chalk - Joanna Newsom

This weekend was not particularly interesting. I spent it at a friend's house while my parents were out of town. Spent most of the time either shopping - spent about half of my first paycheck - , mourning Coachella, or trying to work on our zine. I wore this Saturday. Pretty much all hand-me-downs or thrifted, aside from the leggings which are from work. The watch in the last picture is genuine lizard skin; I got it when i went Goodwill-ing with Robyn during spring break. It doesn't work, but I love how it looks.

No, your eyes do not deceive you; this is another video post. But it's so good! I couldn't not post about this.

I just really like the carefree attitude of this whole video. It's quite nice in contrast to the seriousness of a lot of fashion.

Speaking of seriousness, I just watched The September Issue for the first time today. Enjoyed it lots. Anna Wintour...While her influence on fashion is undeniable and I do respect what she's done with Vogue, she seems like such a difficult person to be around. I was hoping that the comparisons between her and Meryl Streep's character in the Devil Wears Prada were huge exaggerations, but it seems that she really is like that. I also realized, in watching the documentary, that all of the parts of Vogue that I've ever liked - which is few. I'm usually not impressed by it. - are probably products of Grace Coddington's genius. I kind of wish everything in Vogue was styled by her.

I've been posting a lot of videos recently. Purely a coincidence. Anyway, another Godard movie I need to see. I might swing by Videotheque after school tomorrow to try to find it for the weekend.

i don't consider myself someone who likes dance music. There was a time when I was very into Justice and Crystal Castles, but these days I seldom hear a dance song that I really like. most of them are too techno-inspired for my taste. (I hate techno music and culture with a growing passion)

But today I heard this song and saw this video that I really enjoyed.

Divisive - We Have Band

April Mix

It's about time for another music post. I was trying to do this right as spring break began, but my computer broke. So now this is a post of songs that will comfort me as I begrudgingly return to school. A few of these are songs that have been playing at work, so they are officially lodged in my head for who knows how long. But they're good songs! So it's alright.

Spirit Lake - Cocorosie

Colette - Bembele Henri & Orchestre Tinapa

Ghost Train - Summer Camp

Tie Me Up With Jackets - Fight Like Apes

Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig - Jens Lekman (my favorite Jens Lekman song right now)

The High Road - Broken Bells

Round and Round - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti (work song....)

Jackie Wants a Black Eye - Dr. Dog (I always forget how great Dr. Dog is. This is a song that helps me remember.)

I Learned the Hard Way - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

Breakneck Speed - Tokyo Police Club (new sound for these guys. Definite step forward for them though.)

Collector - Here We Go Magic (work....)

Not Gunna Encore (Ha! Yes Mash Up) - Jay-Z vs. Black Kids

I do love a good music video.

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

California English

It was really beautiful out today. Your perfect California weather. Not too hot, a nice breeze blowing here and there. I had to go to a luncheon with my family, and I actually liked what I wore, so I thought I'd do an outfit post. My mom found these old BCBG pants of hers last night and said I could have them. They were weirdly flared at the bottom , but I rolled them up and they became the perfect high-waisted trousers. And they're made of this brushed suede type of fabric. I'm kind of in love.

pants, BCBG // tank, AA // cardigan, Urban Outfitters // circle scarf, H&M // shoes, Steve Madden

After the luncheon, I went to work - my official second day - I bought the new lace t-shirt in white. I think I'm going to be obsessed with that for a while in addition to these pants. I want one in every single color.

I'm really exhausted. Who knew work could be so tiring. Tomorrow, we're doing another zine photoshoot (finally). Hope it goes well and we can finally get this thing put together!

I've got to get some rest. Just thought I'd do an outfit post since it's been a while since the last one.

As suggested by a new reader of mine, I just got a bloglovin' account. It is very convenient for blogfollowing. So in the name of self-promotion:

Follow my blog with bloglovin

The Seaside

Saw this spread on models.com this evening. I believe it's from this month's GQ Style. GQ always has something to offer; usually I'm embarrassed to look at it for too long in the store let alone to buy it, it being meant for men. But it's always really interesting and well done. I think I'll have to get over that complex. But as I was saying, I love this shoot. It's not your usual beach editorial and it's featuring Cole Mohr, Jethro Cave, and Luke Worrall. The only thing that could make it better would be if they threw Ash Stymest into the mix. But you can't have it all, can you?