Presents for Me

I didn't celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense this year.

I did, however, get this lovely sweater dress as a gift from the bf.

And these brown Steve Madden boots as a gift to myself. My first ever Steve Madden boot. Can you believe that?

Hey Mr. DJ

This weekend was a busy one. One of my best friend's graduation from college was on Thursday, and my own graduation, along with mom's birthday, was on Friday. 

My boyfriend's quite the DJ on the side, and provided the Motown tunes for my mom's birthday celebration on Saturday. 

He didn't have all of his gear, but the mixing still sounded amazing.

I'll admit it... I danced around the room with a water bottle as my mic more than a couple of times. Especially when Michael Jackson's Beat It came on.

Adolescents in Autumn: A Villanelle

I wrote a poem inspired by fall. It's a good thing I wrote it when the inspiration struck, because a storm swept across the Bay Area and knocked the remaining leaves off all the trees.

Wide Eyes stood still beneath the falling leaves

Beside her half, whose fingers reach for more.

With eyelids shut, she felt the fragile breeze.

They witnessed autumn have its way. Most trees

Were bare, chestnut and almond painted the floor.

Wide Eyes stood still beneath the falling leaves

And watched her half leap to catch them with ease.

Memories fell and grew crisp to their core.

With eyelids shut, she felt the fragile breeze

Find it’s way to niches kept still by boundaries

That few had the cunning to cross before.

Wide Eyes stood still beneath the falling leaves

And silently begged for her half to believe

The two of them would always find a way ashore.  

With eyelids shut, she felt the fragile breeze

And inhaled the faint scent of the dormant trees

Beside her half, whose laughter made them soar.

Wide Eyes stood still beneath the falling leaves

With eyelids shut. She felt the fragile breeze.

Swan Queen

It was such a gray day today.

It put me in a sort of melancholy mood. That, and the fact that I saw The Black Swan last night.

It was a dark tale about a ballerina who was awarded the star role in her ballet company's production of Swan Queen. The role required her to play both the White Swan, who represented purity and beauty, and the Black Swan, who represented guile and sensuality.

Already perfectly suited to dance the White Swan, the ballerina had to go hell to get in touch with her darker side.

 I highly recommend it if you like darker films that will stay in your thoughts for a few days.

Some Snow for Some Sun?

Every December downtown San Jose sets up this Christmas wonderland sort of thing in the park. Christmas trees, fake snow, ferris wheels - the whole shebang.

It's sort of funny how Northern California has to create fake snow in events like these to help set the winter wonderland mood and get us in the holiday spirit. I'm sure in say, Ohio, would love to trade us some of their snow for some of our famous California sun. 

I'd make that trade for sure. I've heard it can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, but I can definitely say that I am a big fan of the snow, and I wish Northern California got even just a little bit during the winter season.

I stand here professing my deep and unyielding love for snowy snow, yet to be fair, I have to admit that I actually have yet to have even stepped foot in a snow mound. Do you think I'd change my mind if I spent a few days trying to maneuver around in the stuff? 

I might...

This guy made me laugh.

This guy freaked me out. Shall we call him Gipedo?

Underwater Love

Yes, it's true. I love to watch fish.

I mentioned how amazing the Monterey Aquarium is, but I'm pretty positive the Atlanta Aquarium would blow it out of the water.

Ha. Ha. Get it?

It's the only aquarium outside of Asia to host whale sharks... and they've got four of them. Oh, they've also got four beluga (yes, beluga) whales.

Road trip to Atlanta, anyone? I really want to go.

Hosiery Cemetery

I have the most terrible time keeping tights alive.

I'm lucky if I can even get out of my apartment and off to where ever I'm going before I snag them on some angled monster. And these angled monsters seem to come out of nowhere just to ruin my hosiery. They must get some sort of sick satisfaction out of it.

If there's velcro, a rouge splinter, or a hang nail in the room, my tights will find it. 

We all know that what begins as a little nick will can turn into a gigantic run in just a few short hours. Luckily that torn, grunge look is sort of in right now if done correctly.

How long will this pair last? I give three more wears. If I'm lucky.

Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground

Familiarity breeds contempt.

As you spend more time with someone or something, often in a less formal setting than you might otherwise, you start to lose respect for the person or thing.

It may be strange to apply this idiom to leaves, but I'm going to. 

Often crunched on, but seldom appreciated.

Thrifting is to Weddings

Took another trip to San Francisco this weekend. There is never a shortage of things to do there, and each neighborhood has such a distinct feel to it.

The winning neighborhood this weekend was The Lower Haight. Again.

The neighborhood of choice for daytime activities is usually The Mission. With Dolores Park, their many food options (<3!) and megaton of interesting boutiques, it's a great place to spend the sunny hours.

Lately though, I've been spending more time in the lower Haight. It's a bit removed from the tourist mecca that is Haight and Ashbury, so I can avoid feeling that constant wave of annoyance that seems to fill my psyche when in areas of the city like Union Square (prime tourist shopping area). For those of you less familiar with San Francisco, think of it as if you were forced to travel through a smaller (and cooler - sf pride!) version of Time Square, New York just to get to your favorite tea shop while having to maneuver around awe-stricken tourist who seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to stop in the dead center of a cross walk simply to discuss which direction the nearest Gap is. Not that I have anything against Gap - I've gotten lovely pieces from there before.

Despite all of the touristy areas, I really can't wait to move there. Most big cities will have that issue anyway, so maybe I should think about getting over it. I'll be graduating from college in a few weeks, and that mean's that my long-time dream of moving out there will actually be within arms-length.

I've heard of thrift stores having a certain running theme to them before - like say an army motif or featuring lots of animal print - but never have I entered one that seemed to have a thing for weddings...

Never have I seen so many vintage wedding dresses in one place. Can't say any of them are even close to approaching my sense of style, but very cool to look at all the same. Lace and ruffles are just as in vogue now as they were back then (70's/60's?) i see. Some of you may remember that I have a slight obsession with all things weddings, so it's little wonder I was got camera happy. 

Picked up some cool jewelry from there. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

The skeleton key locked my bedroom in my family's last home. Some of my most fondest of memories were made in that house, so that key does have some ooey gooey sentimental value to it. I slipped it on the chain that the little birdhouse necklace came with, so now I can actually get some use out of it.

It's can be hard for me to incorporate new jewelry into my stock of outfits. I'll wear the said piece for a week or two and then completely loose interest. It's for this reason that I rarely buy jewelry, and when I do, I never spend very much on it. But, if all goes as planned, the above necklaces will be added to my arsenal (the thumb band, my pearls and a locket that is not pictured) and I can finally work some variety into my hum drum routine that is my jewelry life! 

Birthday 22

I can never get enough of aquariums. I've had them in the past and have kept some pretty random fish. I've had livebearers like Mollies and Platies, but my favorite tank I've set up is probably my all female Beta Splenden (commonly referred to as the Siamese Fighting fish) sorority tank. Unfortunately, my beta family is no longer with me because of ridiculous rules set by a ridiculous landlord. Sigh.

For my birthday weekend, my boyfriend(!) and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I love pretty much everything about this place. The location is beautiful. It's up against the Monterey Bay and they've got some gorgeous views of the sea. And sand dunes. Sand dunes galore.

(That is currently my go-to skirt. Too comfortable!)

I've been to all of the Bay Area aquariums, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium definitely has the most interesting exhibits. They've got one staring what has to be some of the laziest sea birds in existence. Wake up, dig through the sand for a mealy worm or some other type of crawly, walk around, get gawked at by screaming children. Rinse, repeat. What a life..? I shouldn't tease. I'm sure they'd choose freedom if they could. 

Sea birds are surprisingly fluffy when they don't ever have to be near the sea. 

Jellies. Jellies everywhere!

Although maybe not as cool as the jellies, the aquarium also has a sweet telescope. Once focused, it provided good ten minutes of spy-like fun.

It was a good day.