Category Archives: MyStyle

March 26, 2013 · 2:31 am

Utility Vest

I picked up this utility vest (military vest, cargo vest, whatever you want to call it) in New York when we were there 2 weeks ago for my bday. Every time I’m there I stop into this store called Necessary Clothing that’s like, theoretically supposed to be a trashy store for broke cholas. Which…….actually is pretty much exactly what I am so I guess that makes sense. Legit it’s like a poor man’s Forever 21, and I L-O-V-E it. Like Kate Moss and beautiful sophisticated actresses and celebs and blogger-elites shop at H&M and Top Shop, and girls who have big booties and take payday cash loans from those places called “WE-FIX-MONEY.COM” and “WE BUY YOUR AUTO-LOAN” AND “YOUR JOB’S YOUR CREDIT” shop at Necessary Clothing. And it’s probably my favorite store. I always find cute cropped turtlenecks, and legitimately awesome pieces that look like awesome quality and were $17.00. It’s the best.

No words to describe how much of a staple this piece already has become in my wardrobe. Over tight mini-dresses, jeans-with-holes-in-the-knees and casual tee shirts, skirt-and-cropped-tee combos…it’s the chillest, sexiest, pseudo-masculine cherry-on-top. You just feel cooler when you’re wearing a long, olive-green cargo vest.

I painted my nails this almost-matching army-green color that I got for free in a goodie bag from a blogger party I attended at South Moon Under in the fall. I’d never worn it until this outfit but something about donning the vest sparked me to do it. The color looked so great with my new skull ring.

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Filed under MyStyle

March 24, 2013 · 3:18 am

Birthday Swag (And Rusko Winner!)

Alex got me the most amazing present I’ve ever gotten for my 27th birthday this year. He had this ring made for me. This ALIEN SKULL ring. By a jewelry designer he found at Chelsea Market when we were in NY for 36 hours for my birthday (hi-jacking a business trip he was on). He popped over to the market on his lunch break from his work conference (while I was at Soul Cycle) and the skull charm caught his eye. But he knew I wouldn’t like it the way it was. It was originally on a bracelet. And so he asked her if she could make a ring instead. She said yes and so he had her design in to sit in this funky little gold-wire nest. It looks so primitive.

It’s so me that it hurts. Nothing has ever been more me. It’s actually quite delicate on the finger– it’s perfectly sized… like it’s not too big that it could only be for special occasions (it is the PERFECT daily-wear ring. I wear it every single day. To work at my federal job). It’s just dainty and sophisticated and elegant enough that I can literally wear it to work, but it’s weird/funky/unique enough that people constantly notice it. It is SO. BEAUTIFUL. AND INSANE! IT’S NOT JUST A NORMAL-LOOKING SKULL! With those eyes that just SLIGHTLY turn up like an alien, and the weird toothy grin?! I am obsessed with it! I have never loved something so much. I cradle it to sleep at night like a baby.

He also got me that super ornate vintage gold cuff. It’s beautiful. But we both agree the skull ring is the winner!

I love it so much. It’s such a show stopper! But the perfect size. I wish you could see it in person.

And speaking of BIRTHDAY PRESENTS, It’s now time to announce the winner of the Rusko giveaway I did with 930 club, in honor of my birthday! The winner is….

JAMIE! MINNESOTA PRINCESS! Yayyyy my dear you get TWO FREE TIX to see Rusko Live at 9:30!!! I am so happy it’s you! (From the sheer enthusiasm of your tweet and comment). Double entry that’s what’s up. Woo hoo! I am going to give your email to the 9:30 Club coordinating it and she’ll tell you how to get the tickets.

Happy birthday to me, and happy giveaway to you.

Apartment Therapy House Tour Outtakes

Can’t tell you why but the sinewy legs of the gold crab against the NYT Magazine with Emma Watson on the cover is my all time favorite shot of the bunch. I’m simply in love with it. (The 5 different versions of it. I love them all, I am like addicted to the image).

I am so glad we have these photos of our first apartment together! Thank you to the lovely Nicole Crowder.

To see the full tour on the Apartment Therapy website, click here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/alex-alinas-well-traveled-eclectic-home-183862

It’s one of the most “pinned” stories ever! It has over 6K+ pins, and if you looked through months and months of past stories (which we’ve done, obvi), the typical amount is between like 30 and 67 pins, with some being around 300 or 400 pins; one or two at about 900; and only one we’ve ever seen at 5k+. When the photographer came over, she told us the one with 5k+ was one of the top most pinned ever, so with 6k+ we think we hit it outta the park woop woop!

If you have any questions about sourcing or anything, hit me up in the comments!

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Filed under Home Decor, Interior Design, MyStyle

November 4, 2012 · 11:52 pm

How I ended up blogging for DL 1961, aka a tale on how being an internet stalker can lead to great opportunities! Or potentially will them to happen. Like that book “the secret.”

So this is a tale about how being addicted to the internet can lead to great things. I am a complete internet freak, really because IT’S THE EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD to click. How easy is it to click? You just fucking click, and one thing leads to another and another and another. It’s dangerous and problematic. It can also be AWESOME but it’s also a complete joke where I find myself some times. Like COMPLETE joke. Sometimes, I’ll find myself up late at night scrolling through Kendall Jenner’s twit-pics. And then I see a cute picture with some cute boots in it and, and one of Kendall’s friends is tagged in the picture so I click on her twitter profile and her profile links to that girl’s blog, and her blog links to like…her friend’s sisters blog, and then I’m 30 minutes deep into a 14 year old’s blog who lives in West Hollywood and is 4 humans removed from the Kardashians and I’m reading about her family’s trip to the Virgin Islands and I’m like, WHAT THE FUCK ALINA, WHAT THE FUCK.

Just the other day, I was on Apartment Therapy. And I saw a SUPER AWESOME house tour from Venice, CA of this gorgeous bohemian woman with this naturally curly hair and tan skin and great body, who used to live in NY and work for Diane Von Furstenberg, and she has these two gorgeous twins, and the coolest house, and her quotes in the piece were awesome, and the story mentioned she had a blog, so I’m googling her name, and tracking down her blog, and before I know it I’m reading about how her girl twin is stubborn but she tries to find the patience to accept her strong-willed-ness, and I’m reading the recipes she uses to make like.. flax hemp granola for breakfast, and reading how her kids exert their personalities in the food choices they request and how sometimes they request watermelon for dinner and she just has to let them experiment and sometimes you just have to ‘say yes’ to watermelon for dinner, and then I’m googling her name to find more pictures of her, and then I’m on her Pinterest page seeing what kinds of things she pins, and then I’m scrolling through her public facebook photos, checking out her hot husband and how adorably in love they seem, casually perusing the album of their couple’s trip to Thailand and Bill’s 40th birthday party (a “rockstar” costume bash), and then I’m checking out her pregnancy photos, right-click saving “cute pregnancy style” to my desktop, and then I’m outside of my body slapping myself and splashing cold water on my face screaming GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF after blacking out for an hour. Whateverrrrr don’t act like you don’t do it. You probably don’t. That’s why I’m insane.

Needless to say, this story begins with my perusing of a blog, and having a very keen eye for the way pants are cut and fit. It’s a science, an art, and NOT ALL PANTS are created equal. The blog in question was Blonde Salad (a VERY famous blog of a stunning Italian girl named Chiara who has a lotttaaa money and goes to every fashion show ever and travels around from Paris to New York to Milan and has Miu Miu this and Chloe and Proenza that and has…REALLY. GOOD. STYLE. REALLY FUCKING GOOD STYLE). I stumbled upon a post of hers (this one), and was stopped DEAD in my tracks by how much I loved the pants she was wearing.

They were cut PERFECTLY.

They hit *EXACTLY* where I always want my pants to hit. The perfect slightlyslightlyslightly cropped fit, with the TINIEST little ohhhhh-so-subtle flare (thanks to two slits- one on each side of your ankle). They were SO FLATTERING. They looked AMAZING with her Miu Miu heels. I couldn’t handle it.

I literally studied the photos for like ten minutes straight and said to myself/the universe/internet: WHAT. FUCKING. PANTS ARE THOSE. I NEED THEM NOW. WHAT ARE THEY. THEY ARE THE MICHELANGELO OF PANT. Casual, sexy, just the perfect cut and fit. And I could TELL from the photos alone.

She credited them as being DL 1961. The first thing I did, obviously, is google “DL 1961.” The first link I clicked took me to Shop Bop, where I doubled over with excitement that EVERY PAIR of pants DL 1961 ever made looked like my dream pair of pants. I wanted the ones Chiara was wearing, and they had them in every color. I was desperate to purchase, but without ever having tried them on my body, I didn’t want to risk it because I have a really hard time purchasing something online that I’ve never tried on, unless it’s like…a sweatshirt.. I decided I would wait to try them on in person but had no idea where I could even find a pair in person.

So, I forgot about them.

Completely and utterly forgot I’d ever researched them, just plain old forgot about them.

Five months later, I am in New York visiting my friend Kristin. For over seven months prior, I had been on the hunt to find THE pair of black skinny jeans. I’d had one pair for 4 years, they were that brand “Blank” denim that is super inexpensive, like $40 a pair, and they were paper thin and didn’t fit anymore. I’d thrown them in the trash (literally, like, put them into a trash can because they were so worn out), and was living black-skinny-jean-less. Black skinny jeans are a wardrobe STAPLE, particularly if you’re me. Because pants are my style. A dress or mini skirt is a special occassion, because 99.9 percent of the time, I’m in jeans. Black, blue, pink, polka dotted, I just love pants. It’s funny because I used to be obsessed with shorts, but even this summer, I realized I was wearing pants in lieu of shorts more, even when it was really really hot out. I used to only wear shorts exclusively for like 3 years (I’ve written blog posts about it), and this spring/summer I had a shift and found myself almost always reaching for jeans whenever it was time to do anything or go anywhere. There is no time I feel more sexy or comfortable than when I’m in….jeans, especially WHEN THEY FIT PERFECTLY. The right pair of jeans- forget it. So I’d been searching for THAT black pair. I went into the Barney’s Co-Op here in DC, I went into Saks, I went in Macy’s, and Bloomingdales, and Cusp. Nothing. Nothing worked. Nothing fit perfect. Nothing was cutting it.

So New York department stores have like FOUR BILLION TRILLION GAZILLION more brands and options than DC. I mean the New York Macy’s and Bloomies are gargantuan. So on this trip up to New York to see my friend Kristin I realized, “I get into New York 3 hours earlier than Kristin gets off work, I will go into Bloomingdales and FIND the pair of black skinnies I need since they’ll have 239403280483092 options.”

So I roll in to the Bloomies on Broadway, straight off the bus, literally with my roller suitcase and heavy shoulder bag, stroll up to the denim floor, find a nice young male sales associate and am like, ‘listen, I am trying to find the perfect pair of black skinnies, I’ve already pulled like 5 pairs, can you help me find a few more options based on what you think are the best?’ So he literally starts pulling, like off the walls, from the cieling, just pulling black skinnies out of crevices, and I roll to the dressing room with like 17 pairs. I didn’t look at or check what brands they were, I wasn’t on the hunt for “the perfect pair of Seven skinny jeans” or “the perfect pair of J Brand skinnies”, I didn’t give a FUCK about brand, I was open to trying ANYTHING, because I just wanted one that fit me the way I had in mind!!! WHEN YOU KNOW YOU KNOW, and up until that point, every thing I’d ever tried on HAD NOT CUT IT. Keep in mind, at this point I forgot DL 1961 existed. Flat out blacked out my little moment with Chiara because it had been in February and this was June/July.

So I start trying all of the black skinny options on, and THEY’RE ALL TROLLS. COMPLETE LOSERS. COMPLETE WANNABE’S. They’re cut SO poorly, they’re fugly, they make my hips look wide, the cut my waist at the wrong place, they HUG my calves and look horrible, they’re too tight, they don’t “cut” at the right place at my ankles, NO NO NO NO NO.

Then, around about the 6th pair I try on, I am elated because nothing has EVER fit better in my entire life. They are SEXY and casual, and they are COMFORATBLE AS FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are like kind of stretchy (which I find out later is because they ingeniously use lycra-esque material to make them fit in a perfectly comfy/stretchy way but they are REAL denim pants, they aren’t leggings or anything close, but they have this stretchy-esque material that is dreamy beyond words), so I am in this dressing room, and I am FREAKING OUT, I’m jumping up and down, I’m obsessively checking out every angle, I feel like I’m being punked, IS THIS REAL, ARE THESE PANTS REAL? THEY ARE THE MOST AMAZING THING I’VE EVER TRIED ON, THEY ARE PERFECT. I COULDN’T HAVE CONCEIVED OF A MORE PERFECT DESIGN IF I HAD BEEN BLESSED WITH THE BEST DENIM-MAKING SKILLS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. And I’m like wait, WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE PANTS?!?! I strip them off, check the tag, AND

LO AND BEHOLD

THEY ARE DL 1961.

{A picture I snapped at that VERY moment, in the Bloomingdales-on-Broadway dressing room, in my dream black skinnies, straight off the bus, with my suitcase and everything. If a black skinnies looks cute with my converse, I am sold. Obvi you can barely see the pants in this photo but whatever.}

At that point, I’m extremely impressed with DL 1961, but egotistically, I’M MORE IMPRESSED WITH MYSELF THAT I’D BEEN SO RIGHT JUST FROM SEEING THOSE PHOTOS ON CHIARA’S BLOG. I saw her in those sky blue pants and I could just TELL–FROM *PHOTOS*–that there was something GENUINELY special about this line of pant. Like, I’d fucking known it. And I’d reached the eventual conclusion/proof BLINDLY. It was a blind taste taste. I had no idea what brand I was putting on that day in Bloomingdales. I just was RUNNING through pairs of pants, trying one on after the other, tossing them to the side, piles of discards, NEXT, NEXT, NEXT. And then I tried on this magical pair and was STUNNED at their perfection, only to find it was DL 1961, the brand I’d ID-ed as being my dream pant 5 months earlier from a blog.

So I buy the pants.

And I wear them the whole weekend with Kristin.

To see Woody Allens’ “To Rome with Love” at the Angelika—- {post I wrote from that night/weekend here}

And then I get home and wear them on a date to see “Moonrise Kingdom” with my boyfriend—post I wrote about that outfit here

And then I wear them on a date to eat at Bistro Du Coin in DC—post I wrote about that night/outfit here:

And then I wear them AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN. Over and over.

For 4 months.

And then one day in late September.

I get an email, in my inbox, saying that “DL 1961 is looking for bloggers.”

I ABOUT jumped out of my seat, literally, because I was so excited, because………………..how often do you get introduced to a brand because the way their pants CUT on an Italian fashion blogger you’ve never met looked so perfect that you researched the brand she was wearing, then forgot about them, then were shopping for black skinny jeans at Bloomingdales in New York trying on 17 pairs after trying to find the right black skinny jean for MONTHS with zero luck, and the pair you fall head over heels obsessively in love with and wear non stop day in and day out for the next seven months is the brand that you’d taken note of months earlier and then that brand emails you saying they need bloggers and you are a blogger.

Yeah.

Like, people get pitched things all the time, and 100 percent of the time it’s an embarrassing no. I’ve almost never considered a single pitch email that’s ever come into my inbox, because it’s never like….YOUR FAVORITE BRAND WHOSE ITEMS YOU ADORE SO MUCH YOU’VE ACTUALLY SLEPT IN THEM EVEN THOUGH YOU HAD THE OPTION NOT TO. Because that doesn’t happen. It’s like….loving Stuart Weitzman shoes SO MUCH and having this weird fateful story about discovering the brand, and then several months later you get an email from Stuart Weitzman’s PR team saying they are looking for bloggers and are you interested. That doesn’t happen. But it did, for me and DL. I bet other bloggers in DC got the same DL 1961 email, but the point is that they did not have this back story, of discovering the brand the way I did and falling madly in love. Maybe their favorite brand is Paige denim and it would be crazy for them to get an email from Paige denim because of x y or z. But for me, that love-match was with DL and it was meant to be. I was probably WEARING the black skinny jeans when I got the email. I never take them off.

So I write back IMMEDIATELY, attached like 5 photos me in the pants and am like “Ahh yes I WORSHIP DL 1961 here I am in my Angel Skinnies I wear them non stop blah blah” and I get the email back and and we seal the deal and I freak out with excitement about what I’m going to do for my first post, and nothing has ever been more perfect than what they were asking for– any posts about life, travel, food, art, culture, cities, what have you. I was like, are you kidding me? Dream job. See ya. I WOULD SPEND MY EARNINGS ON YOUR PANTS IF YOU’D NEVER EMAILED ME, EVER. I ALREADY WORSHIP YOUR PANTS, THEREFORE THE FACT THAT THIS JOB ENTAILS ME WEARING YOUR PANTS AROUND TOWN, AND TAKING PHOTOS, AND WRITING BLOG POSTS TO ACCOMPANY THEM IS A JOKE BECAUSE

I ALREADY DO THAT.

I ALREADY BLOG ABOUT ME IN YOUR PANTS BECAUSE THAT IS MY REAL LIFE. Except I don’t pay myself for doing it. And DL 1961 does. #compensation #winning #CharlieSheen’s'trolls’and’winning’willnevergetoldtome,ever

Unreal.

So then they ship me my first pair and I’m all over the moon excited. I wrote this post in them. First post and some photos:

And then 2 weeks later, I’m going to be in New York to see Denis. And so I email my DL gurl Demetra and am like, “hey I’d love to stop by the showroom and meet the team in person” so then I go up to New York for 24 hours, stop by the DL show room, snag 2 more pairs of pants for my next 2 blog posts (I CANT I CANT I CANT I’M IN HEAVEN), and that’s basically it.

Second post here, some photos for which below:

Third post here, photos below:

I. love. these. pants. And I loved this day. I am going to write a separate blog post all about it.

It’s where we found our bea-u-tiful cow skull!

My baby and our cow:

DL 1961 Jeans, I ADORE YOU!!!!!

I just shot and turned in my 4th blogpost soooo I’ll post about it when it’s up. It’s about skateboarders : )

My all time favorite black skinnies are the ANGEL style. (There are different styles, Angel and Emma are my favorite except I can’t really say that because EVERY STYLE EVER is my favorite).

http://www.dl1961.com/search.aspx?searchterm=angel

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Filed under Fashion, Good Shit You Should Know About, MyStyle

August 26, 2012 · 11:19 pm

The Weekend

So the second half of my last two weeks, after our vacation in the Northeast, was insane in terms of work. Alex went on a business trip to San Fransisco and I worked 7 am to 7 pm days Monday through Friday. My wake-up call was 5:30 am, I’d get ready, stop for an iced chai, and be at work before 7:00 had struck. Then LEAVE at 7, get home at 8, have dinner at like 830, chill for a little bit, and continue working till about midnight/1:30. It was unrealllllllllll but I also love it because I love my job so I get a weird buzzed thrill off it. I genuinely dont’ mind/secretly enjoy being too busy to take 4 minutes to walk to the cafeteria because I literally can’t. NONSTOP phonecalls, emails, meetings, pre-meeting prep, and Excel document creation/analysis/editing, etc. Then the weekend really truly feels like the weekend and you get to enjoy yourself and step back from all of it, and then get back to it. Friday night at 9pm my boyfriend returned from San Fran, and he’d told me we were going to check out some of the wineries in Virginia on Saturday (something we’ve wanted to do for awhile).

But, I was SO tired/dead from like 4 hours of sleep a night the whole week, I didn’t know if I was going to be alive enough to leave the house ever. I was a zombie Friday night and we just caught up on our week and cuddled and he told me to look forward to Saturday but that I could sleep in while he did some things. I was like, oh PERFECT, cause I’m fucking exhausted and all I want to do is do nothing ALL DAY. Including going to a winery. I want to lay in bed until 8 pm and then get dressed up, eat dinner, and go right back to bed. But I said all of that in my head.

Well at 11, Alex came back and I heard him shuffling out in the dining/living room and I had already woken up but was reading in bed– had 4 pages left of the 3rd book of The 50 Shades of Grey triology. I’m so traumatized, angry, fuming and a million other horrible things by the books and how stupid/idiotic/offensive/disturbing/RETARDED they are, and how bad the writing is and how annoying the main character and “Mr. 50 Shades” are, and how all I want is to punch the author in the face because I don’t understand how someone could write 1000 pages of the worst trash in the history of America/the world and create what I think must surely be THE most DISLIKABLE character in the entire canon of world literature from the beginning of time.

The character doesn’t have ONE redeeming quality. You can’t relate, you can’t be sympathetic, the only thing you can want to do is literally burn the book. I wish Anastasia were real so that I could cause bodily harm to her, but not in a way she would enjoy. She is such a TOOL for Christian and gets all scared of him every single page (oh shit, is my fifty mad at me? oh no. holy fuck. what do I do? I can’t breathe air without him, what if he leaves me?), but then like, begs him to touch her 5 seconds later and you’re like “have you ever interacted with a man before?” “do you have any common sense or any strength to play hard to get and not be HIS BITCH?” And Christian…is just NOT COOL. If he were real, you’d be like “this guy is a fucking freak.” Like freak central. He’s a loser. All he ever does is “flash her wicked grins.” He just walks around town, flashing wicked grins.

And the stupid phrases from the book like “Mr. Twitching Palm” and “My megalomanic, my fifty, my kinky fuckery” and “Elena Bitch Troll Robinson” and Charlie Tango and her subconscious who is always looking out “from her spectacles over her dog-eared copy of Jane Eyre or The Complete Works of Charles Dickens.” I mean my body was basically physically SQUIRMING with every word I read because it was so painful to read that I reacted physically. I was in hell. Governments who want to torture enemies should force them to read 50 Shades of Grey because there is no worse punishment.

And any erotic author who refers to vaginas as “my sex”– as in: “he carefully moved his fingers over my sex,” and “he knelt between my legs and blew on my sex” — needs to just get it the fuck together. E.L. James…..I don’t even…I don’t even know. I GET IT, okay, SHE MADE LOTS OF MONEY, blah blah, but I will not give her the credit of saying, “she is smart because she knew what to write to make millions.” Yes, she is a gagillionaire now, great, and she wrote about bondage and S&M and stuff to make money– but she did not intentionally write HORRENDOUSLY to make money– she actually thinks she’s a good writer! That’s the hardest part for me. Her characters and the things they would say and think– Anastasia and Christian and Jack Hyde and Kate and Mia and all the other fucking trolls of the book– E.L. James thinks they’re cool. She talked to young people to do research for the book and thinks she did a great job capturing what young people (in their 20′s-ish) think and say these days. She goes to bed at night and is proud of her writing.

She wrote about dirty sex to make money from prude housewives in Minnesota that could only imagine this stuff in their wildest dreams, but she thinks she’s CLEVER, and that’s the worst part. Her little repeated references (like the subconscious and inner goddess), and the STUPID knicknames she would always give minor characters, like, “Mrs. Hot Pants 2012″ and “the crack whore” and “cocktailgate”, and she refers to her unborn fetus as “little blip” and how she always references her “Manolos” and “Audi R8″….like EL James genuinely THINKS she’s “with it.” She thinks she knows the cool things 22 years old want, like “Manolos.” omfg. And that she created this dreamy 22 year old that’s not just a whore, but “smart.” She’s this in-demand book editor and references Tess of the Dubervilles and talks like Joey used to talk on Dawson’s Creek– a.k.a. out of a Thesarus, but is a bitch for a billion dollar CEO and gets to ride around the world in private jets and live what EL James thinks is everyone’s fantasy– being absurdly rich with a brooding dark man who ties you up in bed.

Except, to explain WHY he is mysterious/likes to be dominant in bed–because apparently no one can just like that and they need to have a sad past that explains it–Christian is screwed up because of his “crack whore mom” who beat him and abandoned him so he likes to beat women in sex in return, so of course Anastasia is going to be the first and only woman to make him see that he doesn’t need to take out his mom issues on women– because she is sooo smart and sexy and innocent that she’ll be the princess to win Christian out from his dark ways and make him realize he can still spank her in bed without being violent about it blah blah blah blah blah.

The entire thing is such a joke. She has an assistant and is like the head editor of the company 1 month out of college and then marries Christian 3 months after meeting him and they have two kids by the time she is 24. The amount of references to Manolos and Audi R8′s *ALONE* made me want to kill myself, let alone the writing DURING their sex– oh christ–her inner monologue in italics “holy fuck. what? he wants to touch me there? does he find that hot? holy shit. why is this arousing? oh my god. why do I find the sight of his erection hot? Oh I dont fucking know Anastasia, cause it’s a hard dick. GET THE FUCK OVER IT.
“oh my god. he wants to pull my hair. Why? Will that make the sex better for him? Do I feel comfortable with this? But he’s just so hot…so…and in control…my Fifty Shades.”

“He wants to shave me….there. Will it make him happier if I am hairless down there? Should I try it? It seems intimate….and so hot. Fuck. Why am I aroused by this?”

OH MY FUCKING GOD. GROAN GROAN GROAN GROAN GROAN. Every sentence I read was a GROAN. YAWN. CRINGE. My entire reading of the books was just me GROANING at how unfathomably ANNOYING this character is. Oh god, and the ‘witty’ banter that is supposed to show that they’re flirting but also smart and well spoken: “fair point well made Mrs. Grey,” “As to you, Mr. Grey.” THEY CALL EACH OTHER MR. AND MRS. GREY 6,000 TIMES A DAY THE SECOND THEY GET MARRIED in an attempt to be coy. “My nipples are hard Mr. Grey.” “Fair point well made Mrs. Grey.” KILLMEKILLMKILLMEKILLMEKILLME

And the sex is retarded/romance-novel-y!!! It’s like, “I said his name out loud as he bucked into me, freeing my breast from its bra cup and finding his own sweet release inside me crying my name out as he collapsed around my soft flesh.” The amount of times the word “buck” and “release” were used……she should be executed. Everyone’s just always bucking and releasing into each other.

And Christian’s always “warbling and croaking” and eliciting a “low groan” from deep within his throat. Reading through these books has been the worst hell I’ve ever been in. AND NO, I COULDN’T STOP OKAY, THAT’S WHY I HATE MYSELF SO MUCH. It’s like probably some form of OCD, where once I start something I CAN’T stop. No matter how bad it is. If I read 3 pages of a book and the plot is teased into my head, no matter how atrocious it is, I have to read. I can’t start something and not finish it. I’m just screwed. It’s like “well….fuck my life, here we go….can’t stop now.” What’s funny is the ONLY book in my entire life I’ve ever started and NOT finished was Eat Pray Love. It beat my pathology. My brain was like “I know that we have to close doors once we open them, but there’s really nothing we can do for you here because this book is just….fuck it, we can’t.”

So I was able to stop reading it and not have it bug me that I’d started a book and not finished it. 50 Shades was as bad if not A MILLION TIMES worse than Eat Pray Love, actually far far far far worse, but…. because they’re like the biggest phenomenon of all time and I am pop-culture obsessed, I had to know the WHOLE story before the infamous movies comes out. Once I read one of them I couldn’t not read the other two even though every time I opened the book I’d announce to myself/everyone around me “I hate myself right now, I want you to know that I HATE MYSELF right now, so you don’t need to do it for me, because, I LOATHE MYSELF for doing this.” It was a nightmare and the last title of the book is Fifty Shades Freed and I’M THE FUCKING FREED one. I can just live my life now, free of having to see the words “Anastasia I’m going to take you over my knee” in print every 3 pages. Also she calls her stepdad Daddy. So there’s that. I just can’t.

But I I’m free. As I read the last few words on the page- FUCKING FREE–Alex came in with a tray from all the places he’d gone while I was sleeping/freeing myself from the tyranny of E L James. He’d gone to Smucker Farms for their very last peaches of the season (best I’ve ever had), their fresh bread and butter (other bread/butter is just budget compared to this), my favorite– an iced coffee from Peregrine, and fresh flowers from Flowers on 14th.

It was so refreshing but the best part………..was when he came in with 1.) A TV for our bedroom (that he’d won at work for writing the best report), and he told me that our plan was to lay in bed all day watching Downton Abbey!!

We’ve never had a TV in our bedroom. It’s always been in the living room. And so if we’re sick or tired we have to go lay on the couch which is stiffer and doesn’t accommodate…your legs. A couch just isn’t a bed. We got rid of our cable, so we just use the TVs as bigger computer screens– with an HDMI cable, you hook it up to the TV, and watch Netflix. I WAS SO HAPPY WE WEREN’T LEAVING THE HOUSE AND WALKING THROUGH WINERIES! He knew it was all I’d want to do and tricked me. Breakfast in bed, AND A TV IN THE BEDROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And 2.) he also brought me a surprise box from Blue Mercury, with my favorite Trish McEvoy candles and this Laura Mercier honey-bath bubble stuff because I take a bath EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT— EVERY NIGHT– I do not go to sleep without a bath, it is part of my nightly, 7-nights-a-week routine. But I never use anything fancy I just sit there and relax and decompress before sleeping.

So he said he talked to the salesperson and that this stuff literally puts people to sleep haha, he was like ….”the smell of what’s in it, if you basically breathe it you fall asleep.” And look at the little honey comb to drip it into the bath!!!!! Stop I can’t. So Alex’s plan was for me to eat breakfast in bed, watch Downton all day in bed (we are both obsessed with it), then he’d made a dinner reservation for us to eat fresh seafood at Black Salt market, and then come home and take a nice long bath with my new stuff, and fall the fuck asleep. And it’s exactly what we did. It was my perfect day.

We were HERE all day, facing the TV:

And got up only to snack on YELLOW WATERMELON that he’d gotten at Smucker Farms (don’t have words) and more peaches in their cute lil brown bag.

And then I put on this outfit:

Those Iro leather shorts (from Style Etoile- the only place to find Iro in DC) were the best purchase ever and every time Fall comes around I’m so insanely excited to wear them with everything because that’s what you do with leather shorts- wear them with EVERYTHING. I’m SUPER in to emerald green and snakeskin/animal prints this Fall, a post I’ll be writing later.

And then Alex and I headed out for our mussels, since, as I’ve mentioned, all I ever want to eat are mussels.

It reminded me of this black-and-green outfit I wore last Fall.

With versatile staples like a green suede mini skirt, black tuxedo vest, black leather shorts, and green blouse, you can remix the pieces on end. I’ll be wearing some version of these black and green pieces forever.

I like the chunky black and silver “X” earrings I wore with the outfit on Saturday night, that I got in New Orleans for 3 bucks at a store called Funky Monkey, and the silver chain purse I’ve had four 4 years that I got from Zara on sale for 20 dollars.

In my version of this outfit last fall, all the accents were gold– the gold cut-out cuff and gold/green pendant necklace.

We went to bed right after dinner. Sunday morning I had a peach and then went to Pilates class, then came back and Alex had made avocado + arugula+ egg breakfast on the bread from Smucker Farms, using Smucker Farms happy eggs. With yellow watermelon!

So yummy. hahahahhaha he just made me edit this because he thinks it makes him sound like a pussy hahahahaha “here’s your arugula eggs and neon watermelon my darling!” The thing is just that…. he makes the food for both of us. He doesn’t like, wait ’till the door opens and rush up to me with our pumpkin-goat-cheese ravioli and a candle every night. He just handles the food in our 2-person family. He is a guy who knows how to slice a peach and make delicious pork. It’s funny because even I, based on our culture I guess?, feel like people think it’s effeminate for a guy to cook but then you look at other cultures, like Italians and the Spanish, where a guy who knows how to throw salads together and stand in the kitchen barefoot making meals is SEXY and masculine and hot. In my family growing up, my dad was always our cook. He knew how to make everything, and he DID make everything, and he’d arrange strawberries on our pancakes and make us these crazy egg omelets on the weekends and spend 10 hours on Saturdays making his famous “meat-and-potatoes” stew, where he’d go out and get all the ingredients and then slice the potatoes and carrots and stew this amazing red-wine sauce, and put mozzarella and olives into these beautiful floral-looking anti-pasto arrangements. He took pride in his arrangement of things. And it’s rare for a head chef in a restaurant to be a woman. Almost every restaurant I’ve ever gone to, the head chef is a man. But yet when it comes down to relationships, I feel like people think a guy is less of a man if he’s whipping up poached eggs in the kitchen because though men cook in restaurants, women cook in families. Interesting dynamic there. But I think the guy who cooks is hottttt. Sprinkle a little oregano on that shit, grill a perfect steak, throw some arugula on your perfectly over-medium eggs? Fuck yeah, that’s my kind of guy. Who would think that’s unmanly? I don’t know but people do.

I’m trying to go to Pilates more and eat healthier. I’ve always loved Pilates. That and ballet will get you some bomb legs/abs, and I love ballet so much but the problem is I get soooo bored even though it’s the best workout EVER. I still never enjoy exerting myself, obviously I’d rather be blogging on my ass or watching Downton Abbey than straining my neck to pump my arms for the hundreds, buttt it goes faster/is less slow than ballet so it’s easier for me to stick to it. I’m not really like an INTENSE CARDIO PUMP IT UP type of girl..those classes are way too hard/high-impact for me and I have fibromyalgia so my muscles do weird things and I always feel really sick after I work out in a class where they make you like, run around and do suicides and sprints and jumping jacks. It’s just not for me. Pilates is something that feels so amazing on my body, and works my arms/legs/butt/abs but without like…hurting me. It just feels gentle and restoring, not like cardio kickboxing with Billy Blane. It’s also one of the only things I’ve ever done where within 2 weeks I’ve noticed results– I took a few when I was in college, which was the first time I ever tried it, and noticed ab definition after 2 classes. I’ve also read that Pilates is like……magical. Like people who do it don’t get sick as often. Something about how there was some bad flu in 1920 and the guy who invented Pilates had all his people in training and they all didn’t get it hahaha something like that. Whatever I believe it.

HAHAH yeah I just looked it up, see:

Joseph Pilates grew up in Germany between the two world wars. A sickly, skinny child and very self-conscious about it, he became intrigued with the Greek ideal of balance in body and mind — that a beautiful body is flexible as well as strong. He taught himself physiology and anatomy. And eventually he became an acrobat. Touring with the circus when World War I broke out, he was interned in England as an enemy alien and Pilates kept everyone on his cellblock breathing and moving their limbs. The health conditions in the internment camps were not great, but Pilates insisted that everyone in his cell block participate in daily exercise routines to help maintain both their physical and mental well-being. For the bedridden, he created his first piece of equipment, the “bednasium,” converting an iron hospital bed into something resembling a four-poster bed with a spring and a foot loop attached to the frame, turning them into equipment that provided resistance exercise (those Pilates reformer machines we see today). Patients not only slept in them; they exercised in them. Legend has it that during the great flu epidemic of 1918, not a single one of the soldiers under his care died and lived well beyond the war.

I am so all about Pilates. I trust a German man motivated by his own sickliness.

That’s all for this weekend. May you never, ever, open a 50 Shades of Grey book. God speed.

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Filed under MyStyle, Uncategorized, Weekend Updates

August 10, 2012 · 10:07 pm

Put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right

Have you heard that Paolo Nutini song? I love it. It makes me so happy. I love Paolo Nutini. I’m so confused by how little real fame he got. Jenny was/is like my favorite song ever and his album was SO GOOD and so beautiful. “These Streets” makes me cry every time and and Last Request is also so sweet and melancholy. It’s so weird nobody knows him and he got zero radio play except for maybe 2 weeks of Jenny Don’t be Hasty.

(haha sexy Aquaphor next to the shoes huh. Wtf was I thinking taking this photograph with that in it).
ANNNNNNNNNYWAYS his new shoes song makes me smile and perfectly captures how I feel about these bad boys.

I debated buying them for 2 months because I’ve been trying to not spend, and the true test of when you need something (not ‘need’ like food/water/shelter, obviously..), is when weeks..and weeks go by, and you literally CANNOT stop thinking about the item. After 2 full months of thinking about them I was finally like, ok you need the fucking shoes. And, I found them on “6pm.com” for 80 bucks versus the $140 they were sold at everywhere else! I really like 6PM.com, they always have what I’ve been debating buying for months and it’s always cheaper than everything else. I’d first discovered them on the adorable blogger Grace Atwood behind Stripes and Sequins. I saw this outfit and was like I. NEED. THOSE. SHOES.

I loooooooooooooooooooove metallic-strip shoes, they’re just cool and sexy. (This makes my third pair of shoes that have a silver metallic strip), the first behing these D’orsay ones that I wore here:

And these that I wore in this post.

Oh and these: that I wore here:

Damn I love me a shoe that has a silver metallic strip.

The second I got the Sam Edelman’s, I was so excited by how versatile they are.

The chunky light-leather heel and straps make them casual enough to literally wear to a work meeting (like Grace did above, with cute jeans a blazer etc.), or to a casual dinner with jeans, or with a sexy mini skirt and actually….OUT. I tried them on with different outfits because I want to wear them with everything. Behold– two pseudo casual options, and two SEXAY options. Every day I feel something different. Sometimes I want to slouch out with jeans and oversized sweaters and sometimes I want to embrace summer and bare those arms and legs. While they’re still tan and I still can.

Casual #1, with olive-colored cargo skinnies, a slouchy white tee and chain purse (ugh- nevermind the pile of clothes on the chair back there- this was before we transformed our place!– the point is just that they look really cute with cargo skinnies which are casual-cute and balance out the sexy metallic)

SEXAY #1- For a NIGHT OUT.

Casual #2- slightly distressed jeans with slouchy sweater (it has hints of metallic thread which I love)

SEXAY #2– Skin-colored American Apparel cotton one-shoulder dress + gold cuff + the shoes

My favorite is the hot pink mini skirt with the black-and-white. Sometimes summer nights just need a tight, hot pink, bandage mini skirt with metallic heels and a black-and-white tanky blouse. I mean, you know?

They are the Sam Edelman Yelena shoe and they actually still have them on 6pm.com in almost every size except for 7! So here is the link if you want them: http://www.6pm.com/sam-edelman-yelena

4 Comments

Filed under MyStyle

July 12, 2012 · 3:40 pm

MY DC

HEY Y’ALL!!

I did a super-fun feature for Meg’s blog, where I showed her my fave spots in DC, answered some great questions, and filled out a really fun/cute rapid-fire questionnaire with quirky questions. If you want to know more about me and “MY DC”, check this *ish out!!!

http://www.mimiandmegblog.com/2012/07/my-dc-alina-of-hyperbalist.html

6 Comments

Filed under Blog, Cute Ideas, Fashion, Food, MyStyle

July 8, 2012 · 1:43 am

1 Top, 4 Ways. A lesson in back-to-basics versatility

The top in question: A $20 Old Navy ruffle-front button-down tie-hem chambray!

1. With black skinnies, blue converse, chunky gold hoops, and a structured shoulder bag for a night at the movies with your boyfriend (plus slouchy comfy sweater for the cold movie theater air conditioning). And we saw Moonrise Kingdom. And yes, I was overcome with love. Never loved something more. Nothing could E-V-E-R top Royal Tenenbaums, but this tails it as close as something ever possibly could. I am so in love with Bruce Willis and Bill Murray, and the mini Lana del Ray lead.

2. With a navy blue, silk, high-waisted, pleated, full skirt + flat sandals + orange-red lip + mustard tote for a 6 p.m. stroll through Philly.

3. With oversized vintage denim shorts (I roll them because they’re big, and sometimes I like the big look and sometimes I like the rolled look), for iced coffee in the morning to explore the city of Philly all day.

4. With studded gladiator flats and Mexican striped cloth shorts to wander around your OWN city all day.

I don’t mean the shirt is the most innovative thing in the world, or that my outfits with it were innovative– they weren’t. I paired it with black skinny jeans, a full circle skirt, neon pink Mexican stripe shorts, and oversized vintage denim shorts and like zero accessories because that’s how I dress. Because I don’t wake up on a Thursday in my real life and dress like I’m in a magazine editorial or being photographed outside of a show at Russian fashion week. As many of you who’ve read previous treatises I’ve written on my style know, it’s simple-as-fuck. My point with the shirt is that it basically goes with anything. I could have paired it with zebra-printed high-waisted trousers, or a bright purple pleated maxi skirt, or a leather pencil skirt. It’s the bomb because it’s like…..AS versatile as a white tank top, but it’s not a white tank top. It has visual and textural interest because it’s chambray and has a ruffle-top and a tie-knot at the waist. But it could be the base to A-N-Y ensemble in the world.

Lately I have been SO SO SO SO all about staples and basics. I haven’t been buying anything that’s not a comfortable, simple, can-be-worn-a-GILLION-ways staple. But not because I’ve been TRYING to, as a philosophy, like “I’m not buying anything that’s not a staple”, it’s that I’ve been unintentionally drawn to things that are staples. Like without realizing it, the last 6 purchases I made were just really really really STAPLE to a wardrobe– a simple but interesting chambray top that goes with everything, the PERFECT black skinny jeans, the PERFECT neutral+metallic flat sandals, the perfect black-and-white striped slouchy tank. And then I’ve just been REPEATING REPEATING REPEATING, with different staples. Like the skinny jeans with the chambray top for day, and a silk top + bold lip and heels for night, etc. Like this. These super super cute cropped black DL 1961 skinnies with chambray tie-hem top by day (same outfit above), and by night in New York City last weekend with an evening-appropriate blousy silk tie-hem top. (I’m so all about the tie-hem these days).

Maybe it’s summer. I think the season begs for simple staples that can be remixed and repeated. Like music.

My original top is now on sale from $19.94 to $12.50, but they are sold out of chambray, but have two super-cute Paisley options (I love the white).

ALSO, they have this chambray tie-hem top, which is different because it doesn’t have spaghetti straps or ruffles but it looks really cute.

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Filed under MyStyle

May 23, 2012 · 2:36 am

A girl and her closet

We took these photos awhile back when Refinery asked me to be part of their “ultimate fashion go-to going-out nightime outfit’ series. I got to pick my all time favorite thing to wear when my plans for the evening are a glamorous and fun night out. Obvvvviiiiiiiiii I chose my uniform that I fall back on E’REY DAMN TIME I want to go out and have it be effortless and sexy: my vintage slightly cropped DKNY tuxedo vest + high-waisted Levi’s cut-offs + metallic d’orsay heels + red Moschino block letter belt + wavy hair + chain purse.

I found the vest for approximately 10 bucks at a vintage store in New Orleans and have written many a love letter to it on this here blog. It’s matte in the front…..

and a fun shiny satin in the back, which you can see in the pic below.

It’s such a testament to the ’90′s and I love wearing it with casual shorts and loose, wide pants.

Anyways, the feature went live on the site today, and I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo psyched! You can read the piece here. It was sponsored by Covergirl. Here is a screen shot of what it ended up looking like:

Affffftttter playing around in the closet for the shoot, I became increasingly aware that the bad boy needed a make-over in the form of something I’d been meaning to do for like 8 years: get mother fucking matching hangers. CASE IN POINT– this is what a sad, pathetic, abomination the racks looked like:

Like….AYFKMRN? That is a JOKE. That is NOT ACCEPTABLE. I think it’s the reason that SOMETHING felt ‘off’ about my life. Like I would carry on with my life, out in the world, doing things, living my life, working, and something felt wrong– like the princess and the pea shit– and it was the fact that my closet was embarrassed of its own self. Mismatched, haywire, ghetto ass hangers- paper, wood, wire, there was no rhyme or reason to anything.

But I didn’t just want to get matching hangers. I specifically wanted ULTRA-THIN, STREAMLINED, BLACK, FELT HANGERS. Felt– so that thin straps could stick to them and not just slide right off like a slut.

Well, like I do with most things, I completely forgot about my renewed intention to do this UNTIL I found myself in Nordstrom Rack last week, checking out with a $12.99 striped top, and spotted an entire section devoted to uber-thin, sleek, felt, black hangers– 10 for $4.99. Are you kidddddddddddddddding me, do you know what they normally cost? Like 30 dollars a pack. I literally bought……15 packs? I think? Because I was NOT about to get myself into a situation where every single thing in the closet is on a sexy sleek black hanger except I was too cheap to spend FIVE more dollars on another pack so I was forced to leave like 10 loser garments hanging out in their own section on loser wire hangers. No, you either go big or you go home. If ONE single garment didn’t have its own black hanger, it’s like….you might as well have not bought any because what’s the point.

Well it was the best decision I ever made.

LOOK AT THE RACKS NOW!

LOOK AT THAT!!!! LOOK. AT. THAT. UNITY.

Again, in case you blacked out the horror, let me remind you what it looked like before:

I’m obsessed. It changed my life. I did it and I was literally like, talking out loud to myself going “how does a human live their life NOT exclusively using slim black hangers??? Like how does one carry on in that existence?” What a FOOL I’ve been all these years.

As a side note, not sure the last time you worked hands-on with over 200 rag-tag hangers, BUT THEY’RE THE FUCKING HARDEST THING TO MANAGE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. I mean anyone who has ever moved residences knows this. It’s a fucking joke how annoying hangers are. You literally end up speaking to them, like, “Okay guys, really, THIS HAS GOT to a joke.” I felt like Elaine in one of her classic Seinfeld freak outs. Like, kicking hangers across the room and breaking them in half just because I got so exasperated from making them try to do anything. They don’t do anything except stubbornly refuse to fit anywhere that makes any sense. Hangers are THE WORST.

I got the most satisfaction in the world from piling them up in a giant Ikea bag and throwing them the fuck OUT. Except they didn’t fit in any trash or any can or any chute because they are the worst, so I literally had to just give up. I could not spend any more minutes of my life CORRALLING hangers.

So anyways, this what the bedroom liked like as I did this closet overhaul……..(total. chaos)…

But this is what it produced!!

I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t have this awesome 5-tiered shelf that was from TJ Maxx for like $20 bucks. It breaks up the closet and enables me to store things like bathing suits in a shoe box on the 4th tier, and all of my jewelry that I can’t hang. Very good storage maximizer.

I got these awesome skeleton trays in Brooklyn a few years ago and use them to lay cuffs, chunky earrings, and my favorite big cocktail rings. I use these pretty little porcelain bowls I got at Miss Pixies in DC for 10 bucks total, to store random rings, bracelets, nail polishes, and other odds and ends.

It’s definitely the best closet I’ve ever had in my entire life. I’ve had very, very, very, very, very cramped, dark, horrible closets my whole life, and it was just unreal when we found this rental. I don’t think I’ll ever find another rental in my life with a closet like this that’s so perfect for just…DISPLAYING your shoes. It has two amazing huge racks up top, and then the shoes that don’t fit up there (I have a lot of shoes!!!), are just shunned to the floor. They’re the ones that aren’t as visual, or that I just flat out reach for more often, like summer sandals and loser work shoes.

It came with built in hooks which I use to hang bags and nightgowns, and then I have a zebra storage bench I got from Target for resting purses and big necklace cuffs and other things.

And thatttttttttttt is how my closet looks.

FYI this is what our bedroom looked like AFTER the closet overhaul was completed, while I was packing for Miami.

I told you I am completely obsessed with laying everything out and arranging it. Like I could just play with my things all day long. In that way it’s like I’m 12 years old. But it’s also because my things are really special to me and I don’t view them as just function or I wouldn’t care about fashion or ever write about it. My belongings are my memories and I take care of them like they’re old friends. WHAT ELSE do you remember besides feelings? When you look at a picture 11 years after it was taken, you can feel a floaty rush when you remember the purple butterfly dress you were wearing when it was taken– the dress you were obsessed with for your entire high school years, that you wore to to the beach, that you were wearing when your crush and you kissed on the beach, and if you somehow lost it along the years, you feel sick to your stomach and wish more than anything you could find it and see it and touch it smell it and hold it. Because it’s ASSOCIATED and inextricably linked with the memories. YOU WERE FUCKING WEARING THE ITEM for god’s sake. It was ON. YOUR. BODY. How can you NOT be nostalgic for those things? Maybe you just have to be a certain type of sentimental person, but it’s at least how I feel. My jewelry, my shoes, my clothes, it’s very meaningful to me. So thank god they’re finally free from their former home on shitty wire hangers.

But really if you think about, clothes/shoes/jewelry are really the only material OBJECTS you can feel that way about, because as much as I love interior design and decor….you can’t feel nostalgic for like…a nightstand. You might love it, it might be your favorite thing in the entire world, but if it breaks and you’re looking back at a photo in 30 years, you’re juts NOT going to feel a rush of nostalgia and fond memories for your fucking nightstand. Or your lamp. Or your couch. Like that just DOESN’T happen. But a cuff you bought in Mexico on a really formative trip, or pants you wore throughout the entire course of a relationship that you couldn’t ever wear again without thinking of that relationship, THAT is special shit.

And also clothes/shoes/jewelry are mobile. So you can wear one necklace in like….every city you ever go to, so it can be in every picture you have of yourself for a decade, whether you’re at your best friends’ wedding or your honeymoon in Prague. But you can’t take a nightstand or a couch with you on a trip, so how often are you actually photographed with those things? You’re not. You don’t pack your flokati rug to go visit your best college friend in Seattle. You pack your clothes, which hang out on your body and witness and experience every ounce of the trip. So you’re just not as close with the things you don’t wear. Basically in my book, you have: people (human relationships), experiences/memories, and objects (clothes/shoes/jewelry). And they’re pretty much all inextricably linked. My memories of Barcelona are in my head, always, sure….but mostly they’re in the pictures. And in the pictures, I’m with people. And I’m wearing my things. And when I look back through my photos, I see me, in that black peacoat (the one I got for 30 euros at Mango, while wandering the side streets of the city alone, after getting coffee with that random creeper who wanted to teach me yoga), and I’m wearing those leopard heels, that I wore on my 21st birthday and that remind me of a past love, or I’m wearing those toolish silk H&M headbands I used to wear that were a reflection of the fashion/style at the time that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing now. What I wore, and where I was when I wore it, REMINDS me of what I was doing and how I was feeling at that time and brings up VIVID emotional memories. So yeah, I fucking LOVE material things. Because in none of my pictures from Barcelona was I naked.

To all who found my blog via the Refinery story, welcome!!!

My Summer Essentials andddd some outfits that illustrate them

1.A giant cocktail ring in silver tone | Adia Abur Crysal Bulb Cocktail Ring

2. A colorful (ideally neon) statement necklace | Zara Neon Tassel Statement Necklace

3. A giant cocktail ring that’s gold and turquoise | La Dama Gold+Turquoise Knuckle ring (The best YSL arty knock-off EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR)

4. A pair of huge statement earrings in gold and turquoise | Kenneth Jay Lane Turquoise Gold Hoops.

(Also in my summer rotation but not part of the collage—-, a distressed gold metal collar necklace (like the one I own by MONA ASSEMI in the instagram photo above,) and a delicate and edgy pair of gold drop earrings, like these Shashi skull chain ones also in the instagram photo above).

Clothing, shoe, make-up wise:

1. A stileto-heeled colorblock sandal in super fun, punchy colors | Zara Heel

2. Black lace/eyelet ballet flats | Zara Ballet flat

3. Oversized, distressed, light-wash, high-waisted, vintage, boyfriend denim cut-offs. (HAHA SOOOO many adjective but each one is key: ‘Boyfriend’ means they’re baggy in the leg. ‘Oversized’ means they aren’t tight because you can buy boyfriend shorts in your size, but I prefer to actually buy boyfriend shorts that are one size too big so they are even looser fitting. ‘High-waisted’ means they are cut to sit higher on your waist. ‘Distressed’ of course means they have fraying and holes and look worn. ‘Light wash’ is self explanatory, and vintage means they are either literally from a past decade, or they are just made in a retro cut. | Mine are from What Goes Around Comes Around vintage (I’ll post the link to them — I got them through my Style Etoile gals and they’re putting them up on the site soon); buttt in the mean time, this is a cute pair on Etsy.

4. A marigold colored blouse (looks amazing on tan skin, with raspberry colored lipstick, bright heels, white pants, and also those very jean shorts). Totally obsessed with marigold these days. | Top Shop, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21 generally always have some marigold/mustard options.

ALSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:

1. A tangerine colored dress | Top Shop or H&M would probably have an option this season

2. A crocheted or lace (I prefer LACE!) bell-sleeved sweater. (Free People and Nasty Gal always have a million options)

3. A raspberry/fuscia pink lipstick (Guerlain’s Rouge Automatique in 165, pictured above, is my new OBSESSION)

4. SKY BLUE nail polish (The NARS/Thakoon collaboration ‘Kutki’ color is the most amazing thing I’ve ever fucking seen IN. MY. LIFE. I tried it on in store and would have murdered anything that got in the way of me walking out with it. It is TOO AMAZING FOR WORDS).

(Other staples not part of the collage: a white tank, and a sexy tight-fitting white cocktail dress with capped sleeves).

Now I will show you a lot of photos of me wearing a mix-and-match combo of all of these things.

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Starting with………………………………..the La Dama gold knuckle ring that I have been wearing with EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYTHING! It’s such a fucking piece. Just so…so…..so….amazing. It just does the work. You don’t need to wear it with anything but jeans, white tank, and some raspberry lipstick and you are set.

This white one is a Banana Republic tank top I got for my work-wardrobe for $10 on a clearance rack. What’s funny is that I legitimately wear it to work with pencil skirts and cardigans and then on the weekend just totally slut it up. I’M KIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDING but the contrast between how I wear it during the week and weekend is kinddddd of hilare. This is me wearing the same white tank during the week with purple cardi, black pencil skirt and heels, and gold belt (shitttty-ass quality photo I knowww, but you can SEE what I mean):

This is another example of me at work duing the week– tailored and conservative in a way that is NOT me if I had my true way. (The ring I’m wearing in both work photos is the big crystal one pictured in the collage above!)

Many people have jobs– blogging, styling, the film industry, any really creative industry in general– , and who they TRULY are and how they TRULY like to dress, (sexier, grungier, bohemian, flirty, for me) can be the same as what they wear when they are working. I cannot. I can do that when I’m doing my freelance jobs, but for my 9 to 5 job that actually pays my bills I have to be professional and conservative in a way that I normally wouldn’t dress. Work me on the left (fancy blouse, red slacks, cardigan) , ME ME on the right (distressed shorts, cropped top):

Goingggggg back to the white tank outfit from the right, what’s funny is that I actually didn’t intend to wear it tied up, but I am incapable of eating food without spilling- seriously, I will give you the phone numbers of 11 people right now– boyfriend, 6 best friends(s) and 4 co-workers who will attest to this– I have N-E-V-E-R once not spilled on myself while eating– and I was eating pizza in this outfit and dripped orange pizza grease all over the shirt so I had to run it under cold water (pizza grease does not come out- friendly FYI, the water did nothing) and so then I had a lower half of a shirt that was cold and stuck to my body so I rolled it up into a hair tie. And liked it better than how it was before.

On top I put on my new favorite piece in my ENTIRE wardrobe– this bell-sleeved, gorgeous, lace wrap from Zara.

It has scalloped sleeves and is this creamy white/beige lace/silk kimono-ish number and oh my god I am so in love. I saw it on a girl in Zara and went up to her and was like WHEREDIDYOUGETTHAT and she said “Actually here, they’re not on the sales floor any more but we have two in the back” (she was a Zara employee off-duty!!) and went back and got me one!!! SEE, that is the kind of thing you get when you just speak your mind and tell strangers that you like what’s on their body- it ALWAYS pays off and you usually end up making friends.

SO: that is one way in which I combine some of my current summer staples. Simple white tank + lace kimono sweater + oversized high-waisted distressed boyfriend jean cut-offs + and gold/turquoise ring.

THE RING PEOPLE. OMG.

Next up, the Zara black eyelet ballet flats that I am completely obsessed with. I love how they look with boyfriend jeans. I love wearing ballet flats in the summer- a summery version of them- and there is nothing summer-ier than eyelet.

I mean they are so cute! They are see-through because of the nature of eyelet, and so I had turquoise-painted toes and it looked fun peeking through the black lace. I wore them the other day with this marigold-colored, SHEER (so cute), flower-applique top that was $17 at Forever 21.(And of course, the gold/turquoise ring and Guerlain raspberry lipstick):

Also I was personally surprised to find that I really liked how they looked with a fancy white cocktail dress. I have this awesome, tight-in-the-tummy area, super summery Iro dress that has puffed cap sleeves (for an ever-so-slightly futuristic Balmain look). It’s a really great piece for things like your boyfriend’s company’s cocktail party in the middle of July, BUT, I actually dislike it with heels because it’s truly a MINI and it just feels too like….I don’t know, basic, to wear a mini dress with heels. I tried it on with my raspberry lips, gold collar necklace, gold/turquoise ring, and black flats and loved it. I would totally wear this to a Friday night function.

I love the edgy glamor that the distressed-but-shiny gold gold cuff necklace brings to a fitted white summer party dress.

Nexxxxt up, the tangerine dress.

I got this piece 3 years ago for $20 bucks at a store in Denver, Colorado and have so many memories in it. That’s what I always say about clothing, and the moments you have while wearing certain things, and how fun it is to be able to say 4 years after you got the item, “I got this piece in Colorado when I was 22 years old, and in town for the Democratic National Convention (i.e. the 2008 Obama election, i.e. the most historic election ever probably), and was working as an intern for Swiss Television– 3 months out of college- and hadn’t slept in 2 weeks from the amount of work involved, but got 3 hours of free time to myself during the convention, and wandered down some meandering side roads in Denver by myself (what I ALWAYS do when I’m in new cities– wander alone looking for cute stores and coffee shops), and wandered into this store and snagged this dress, and then wore it for some of my favorite memories since, and always think of the journey of where I am now from where I was in life when I bought this dress at a random boutique on a sunny day in Denver, CO at the age of 22.” Ugh, CLOTHING, AND THE ACT/EXPERIENCE OF SHOPPING WHILE IN NEW CITIES SO THAT EVERY TIME YOU SEE OR WEAR THE ITEM, YEARS AFTERWARDS, IT TAKES YOU BACK TO THAT TRIP, IS THE BEST THING EVER.

I just love that all of our pieces have history to them. Even the ones that aren’t some ‘story’. Even just the things we just snag on a weeknight at Zara, and not a Zara in some cool new city, but just…the Zara around the corner from our houses. Even those have meaning. I generally keep my Zara pieces for fucking EVER actually. I mean Zara is truly incredible. I just don’t have enough words of praise. I bow DOWN. Their pieces are fucking ORIGINAL too. It’s not like Top Shop or Forever 21, where 70 percent of the stuff is knocked off (which I don’t have much of an opinion on either way, it’s like I get why it’s bullshit for the real designers to see mimics of their stuff in stores like Top Shop for 1/10th of the price, but I also get FIRSTHAND how awesome it is to have access to a particular look based on how affordable it is,…), but I’m just saying on the other hand that it’s legit to produce your OWN shit, and Zara’s pieces and looks and shoes and jewelry are just original. They’ve made their OWN place in the fashion game…like they stand on their own and bring something new to the table, a.k.a. they genuinely add value. In blogging terms, they “create original content that’s valuable.” And every fucking season they create these amazing pieces- shoes, or blazers, or dresses or sweaters- that end up E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. (on every blogger, fashion editor, and average joe on the street) because they are fantastic and versatile. And to me, it’s just a testament to the insane versatility and originality. Some of the shit is just straight from the minds of a genius and has never been done before, and some of the stuff is just really awesome updates on classics. Like their INFAMOUS shoes of seasons past– the brown and black cap-toe pointy-toed pump from last Fall, for example— you saw it worn on NO JOKE EVERY BLOGGER AND HUMAN IN THE WORLD, but because the piece is so fucking VERSATILE, it’s worn in a completely different way and it’s inspiring. Some wear it with cuffed kaleidoscope jeans and florescent blouses, some wear it with sheer high-low maxis, some wear it with rompers and kimonos. And when every person and their mother owns the same shoe it generally is lame and makes you not want the piece, but when Zara does it, it doesn’t even MATTER because the item is capable of being worn an infinite number of ways.. And that is my love letter to Zara.

So, ON THAT NOTE, these colorblock heels that have been everywhere (I even wrote a piece about them for Refinery 29 because I just loved them so…)

I finally had to pick up a pair. I really liked the purple-red combo, and wore it with the tangerine Denver/CO dress, raspberry lips, and the chunky gold/turquoise earrings and ring from the collage above.

earrings–

Sooooo my friends, that is my list of what I’m MAJORLY digging for this season.

-The color tangerine, in any form, but particularly in the form of a sexy summer dress

-Raspberry colored lipstick, preferably #165 by Guerlain

-Black eyelet ballet flats

-Colorblocked stileto heels

-A big gold/turqouise ring

-Gold and turquoise hoop statement earrings

-A Gold collar necklace (the versatility of this item for your summer wardrobe/every-season wardrobe is a JOKE)

-A Victorian-esque cream or beige colored lace kimono-style bell-sleeved wrap sweater to wear with jeans and tanks. (Just a little visual and romantic interest to add to a basic tank-short combo in the summer).

-BOYFRIEND SHORTS!! (So sexy, preferably DISTRESSED)

-A white tank (if you don’t own a white tank or understand its versatility, get the fuck outta here)

-A neon statement necklace

-Sky blue nail polish (SPECIFICALLY THE NARS/THAKOON edition- OMFG best nail polish you will ever own)

-ANYTHING marigold (though something sheer with flower-shapped applique’s won’t hurt)

-A white mini dress with sleeves

-A crystal cocktail ring (the more giant the size the better!)

-Something with skulls (preferably something dainty, like a simple gold chain earring that has a wooden skull bead on it)

*As a postscript on the gold collar and its versatility, the Mona Assemi one I have looks as good with a fancy mini-cocktail-dress and lipstick as it does with a literal TEE shirt and jeans and boots– I am going to be doing a separate post on the gold collar altogether because MAN they are fucking everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyywhere recently. This is an outfit I wore it with a while back (which you may have seen the post on already):

Category Archives: MyStyle

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Apartment Therapy House Tour Outtakes

How I ended up blogging for DL 1961, aka a tale on how being an internet stalker can lead to great opportunities! Or potentially will them to happen. Like that book “the secret.”

The Weekend

Put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right

MY DC

1 Top, 4 Ways. A lesson in back-to-basics versatility

A girl and her closet

My Summer Essentials andddd some outfits that illustrate them

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