hat [ssfw] :: bracelets [aland, handmade]

mmmm it is officially fall and i have new accessories. the woven bracelet was made by university students and i was so charmed. i love buying lovingly handmade things. slowly reconducting a more grown-up arm parade, though i fear becoming another editor-inspired cog. whatever… can’t help it if you like something that everyone else likes. at least my hat has ears.

via ilovewildfox

i was thinking about the next season and i realized that i dont really want to reinvent myself or do anything revolutionary; i just want to continue wearing more or less what i was wearing last season and seasons past, with a few injected adjustments.

winter is coming and this girl is wearing the leopard coat of my dreams and boots from heaven-knows-where. someone please. please.

if you haven’t noticed-and i haven’t been explicit- but i’ve been trying to exclusively post only pictures i take/are taken of me on this blog (for the record, irony of this post’s photo was noted). i know it’s kind of a pain for you as a reader, but it seems to make more sense for me to show my process through my tumblr/pinterest (peruse them as you like) and focus this blog on results and documentation for now. maybe when i’m a bit more organized, i can go back to being more integrated; i always found that more interesting anyway.

aaaaand now that i’ve said that, i can go back on my word.

shirt [thrifted DIY] :: sweater [cheap monday] :: skirt [thrifted] :: shoes [dahong]

i don’t know how to describe my style anymore, but i wouldn’t say i’m trendy. being trendy requires conscious effort to be included in fashion waxing and wanning and i’ve become far too skeptical to moon over those things. i find myself either ahead or behind and if i appear to be en pointe, it’s just a lucky guess.

i love/d everything about this outfit and that day.

i love getting packages! nothing like meaningful mail.

shorts [borrowed]

spinelli has these great printed shorts handmade in ghana from her days studying abroad. african prints liberate me from my bohemian prejudices and i could use more of that.

my friends’ grandparents are dying and i’m trying to take pictures of myself in a typhoon.

shirt [samcheongdong store] :: top [asos] :: skirt [jcrew] :: shoes [ferragamo]

1) Going out alone heightens ones experience on a strange and invigorating scale. I was either body-less or on an erasing catwalk. This was good and glamourous for me.

2) I belong in a city. I don’t just mean the fantastic shopping, which there was and I paddled around that pond a bit. It simply feeds me visually. The country or the suburbs can only ease my petal-ed soul so much.

3) Being in a foreign country, I often forget I’m American, more than I’d like to admit. I’ve still got small shoulders when trying to reach out to strangers, something I have little problems with back home.

4) Staying on budget is such a great feeling. I feel like spoiling myself the way one spoils a small white dog or a baby with adoring potential.

5) Magazines make me want to buy things. Ergo I should stop buying magazines. At least this time around. Applause please!

dress [gap | thrifted]

there’s something about this dress. and my hair being clean. and it being friday. mmmmm.

lately i’ve come to edit photos like a moment. because it’s clearly posed, i’m trying to recreate a certain mood, feeling, something. i like to think i’m being poetic…but i realize it can be heavy-handed sometimes.

i really miss blogging. must be the lack of boy in my life, heh.

UGH. that was such a shitty, long trip. yes yes, it’s my fault for packing too much. but oh! the things i’ll wearrrrr.

it’s been a year. here are 5 things living in korea has highlighted:

1) i like subtlety in impact, glamour and opulence slightly restrained. head-to-toe color. pattern mixing. earrings only. one focal point is enough. sometimes, you are enough.

2) i understand comfort and casual now. working a (semi) real job, experiencing real world stress, i learned to say “fuck it.”

3) i’ve gained 10 lbs. and i’m starting to get the hang of “sexy.”

4) i love americana and texanism. aesthetics, values, small talk. i’m really proud of where i came from, not where and what people perceive me to be constructed of.

5) i learned how to listen. to really listen. what has been wasted on my lazy english ears? what have i missed or dismissed?

that’s not everything and there’s no way i could do it justice in words. and i have so many! but you know, i’m really happy. i wonder if any of these things going on in my hyper-active mind managed to manifest in pictures as of late, but i feel it. i really do.

general packing rules:

1) heavy/bulky things (gifts, laptops) in the middle, shoes in the corners (at opposite ends of the luggage)

2) clothes rolled, placed in layers

3) underwear rolled/folded into crevics, like inside shoes or as cushioned between harder objects (same for electronics)

4) nestle flat objects (books, laptops again) between layers of clothes

5) wrap up liquids in extra bags and ziplocks, store like underwear/electronics

6) fold jackets/sweaters in half or just lay flat as layer dividers/close to the top

7) discard as many tags/unnecessary packaging as possible (soooo hard with gifts)

however, i do find that my tactics always change slightly depending on the shape of the luggage. more on this later.