Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Kiss the Rain

So....not too many detail pictures for this outfit for some reason. I also miss the layout I used to do where I would lay out the clothes and take a picture of them-a model I am not. I like to let the clothes speak for themselves.

I remember these shoes, I was with Patricia at Target and I was walking around in them, fascinated by the simple beautiful design and the springiness of the cork soles. I was like, 'should I get them?' And she was like, "You don't need them."

Long story short, I visited my mom some weeks later and they were on sale at Target....so yeah. That happened.

So this top is craaazy. I found it at the thrift store and its basically a tank top with this long piece of fabric attached at the bottom and that has these two holes in the fabric for your...head? Arms? Usually if I can't understand a garment I don't bother trying it on, why invite the frustration? But this design was more exciting, like, how many different ways can I wear it?

So I think I am a wee bit obsessed with fur. Fake, real.....is it because I can't have a cat? And I just got this fox tail from Etsy, when I opened the box I think I petted it for 10 minutes straight.


I think I may be withdrawing from a class, and its very upsetting to me. It was the first step of a plan of mine...and the fact that it might not be working out is....simultaneously saddening and...exciting. I am still in a fog...I haven't taken any action yet and now I just feel sort of depressed about it. I think I will take this day to be depressed and maybe draw a bit, do something to make me feel better and think about it more.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tornado Watch

So I am skipping class right now. Its one of those classes where the auditorium is huge, there are about 300 people in the class and the notes are all posted on Black Board anyway.
Plus, there is a tornado watch in nyc so maybe its dangerous to go outside. Oh wait I have to go outside anyway. Grrr. Don't want to do itttttttt.
Want to watch movies and eat popcorn.

I hope to become the Queen of Layering someday. This belt cinched like this makes my chest look huge. Awesome.

Nothing in this outfit matches and its fabulous. Salmon shoes, a black and white tweedy skirt, a floral halter top, a brown vest and yellow cardigan.

Isn't this chest in the background great? My Aunt gave it to me.

My sewing machine is broken. I had my friend Patricia look at it...so its not that I'm doing something wrong. It IS pretty old, my Aunt gave it to me.
I used Patricia's sewing machine and it was sooooo fast.
I am considering actually buying a machine. I would totally use it like crazy.
And not just to hem my pants.

Outfit details:
cardigan, gift
vest, thrifted
top, anthropologie (from the two seconds when i worked there T_T)
belt, anthro
skirt, don't remember
shoes, f21 (my first pair of sky high heels)


Monday, September 27, 2010

Oh when she holds me, nobody told me All of the fear her love would bring

Oh my goodness, today is such a schlumpy day. Its rainy, its cold and I don't want to go to work.
I am super sore in a good way from doing so much yesterday. My sweety was away which meant I wasn't distracted so I did laundry, went for a run, made two necklaces (soooo exciting!), made this crazy potato leek bacon soup with eddoes and other random things from the fridge.

Whoops did not photoshop this one, kids!

Isn't that black thing in the right hand side of the picture neat? Its this candle holder with a magnifying glass in front of it. I got it for my sweety's berfday.

sooooooOOOOooooo many florals! I am in love with these earrings, too bad they're not professional so's I can't wear them to work.

I think I got these shoes after I was depressed after a biology test....I should not go shopping while depressed. Though these shoes are the most amazing thing ever. This great heel and oxford detailing. I am such a sucker for oxford detailing.

Today randomly I was on chictopia looking about and clicking on people, then their blogs and found this German girl's Etsy, except its in Germany so its DAWANDA. Check it out!

http://de.dawanda.com/

Apparently the word 'schmuck' means 'jewelry' in German. I am totally a schmuck for schmuck.
I am hoping to put up more things on etsy this week...slow going is Etsy at times. Its raining, you would think people would be swaddled up, drinking tea and looking at pretty shiny things on Etsy but noooooooo.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Get Down with the Sickness

So this past weekend was my sweety's birthday and a group of us went to the New York Renaissance Festival.
I had never been to this one and it was a blast! A friend of ours knew lots of people in it so we stayed most of the day to see them in certain shows. The guys threw knives and axes in the games, some of us did archery, me included (I am horrrrrrrible at it).
We drank mead (I had never had it, sooooooooooo delicious!!), ate fried dough, bangers n mash. We pretty much ate a lot, walked around a lot, watched a lot.

I forgot my camera, though our friend did take some pictures. Maybe I can get my hands on them.
I was all for dressing up in full on Renaissance garb, though I decided against it since I was going to be one in eight people who would be. One of the best parts in going is seeing people wearing period costumes. <3

I should post the outfit I wore to it, it was pretty cute.
Speaking of cute, i found this top at Goodwill! I was dubious looking at it on the hanger until I tried it on. Its a plain fawn color, I can see why maybe someone might've donated it. But i can't resist the design, the tie shoulders on the arms, the side ruffles, the deep V in the back and the deep tie on the bust.

Why does my hair always look so uncombed? Sigh.

This necklace is pretty sweet too. I thought it would make me look edgy, lol!

Close-up of side ruffle, go!

For his birthday, my sweety made a cake. Before I sound like a bad girlfriend, he totally wanted to do it. I think I wasn't home the night he did it too so I couldn't even help. Anyway, I helped him decorate it. Do you enjoy the little strawberry octopus I made?

And the hello kitty toaster on our counter?

After the Faire, we all came home and made dinner. We snacked on pears, cheese and wheat thins and then made a shrimp scampi, spinach and this awesome pasta dish with squash, pasta and goat cheese. And the cake for dessert, of course.
I was starting to get sick so by the time we were done eating and watching a terrible movie called Strange Brew (A Canadian version of a Cheech and Chong movie which involves beer instead of pot and Rick Moranis instead of Cheech Marin) I was super tired and slept through most of the movie.

outfit deets:
top: thrifted
skirt: gap
necklace: charlotte russe

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

fun (fun is the one thing that money can't buy)

I am having a bit of a dilemma.I don't know if its something to talk about on a blog. I like to keep it pretty superficial sometimes. I think maybe I need to do my best in the coming weeks and then maybe things will be clearer and less...angsty for me.
I found this top at Goodwill. Its something I thought I could never pull off or be interested in. But style changes over time and I was curious so I took it. I used to wear hoodies everyday and now I rarely wear them. What the eff, style self?

I really dig herringbone.
I really dig these shoes. They're too big and they're super heavy. My sweety doesn't understand, he's like, why would you wear shoes that are too big? When you buy things at clearance, you usually don't get too much choice in the sizes. I just love the brand Irregular Choice, and these were one of the last pairs of these. They make me feel super stylish.

So this necklace is a little more tangled than its supposed to be. I worked it.

So this top is pretty sheer. I am bringing back bras showing through shirts.

I am going to try to wear tights as much as possible this fall. I own many pairs but never wear them much because I am pretty squishy and when you wear tights and you're squishy, the tights push up your flesh in weird ways. Plus I have to wear them super high up (to my belly button) and thats not flattering. Why do I do that? I didn't think I was that short. Maybe I just need to work on that.

She's Leaving Home

So, I like to have a little photo shoot before I ship off the babies from my shop...but sometimes it feels weird, its like posing in a picture with a little kid without their parent's permission.

Once something sells from my shop, it is no longer mine, even if I did make it with my own two hands.
There is a weird sort of feeling when you sell things that you make...personally, I really really want other people to like the necklaces that I create and to want to treasure them; but I also don't want them to be gone from my sight. I will never get to see them being worn, I won't get to see the adventures they go on with their owners.
Maybe I am just weird...

As for thrifting finds, it is a totally different feeling! I think I am a bit of a design hoarder, where if I like the design of a garment, I want to have it; not because it makes me look tall or tiny but because the design is so unique. But I sometimes realize when things are not meant for me...and thats why I like selling the things I find. It almost feels like I am finding things for someone else to have. I get such a thrill whenever I find something that my friend loves to wear or when something sells on etsy-it means I was right in knowing when something is great or perfect for someone.



Bye, Akiyo Necklace! I know you're going to have awesome adventures!


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Jeffrey Campbell Shoe Design!

On a lark, I decided to enter this contest on chictopia to design some shoes for Jeffrey Campbell.
Apparently my shoe design was put up on the Jeffrey Campbell Blog!
Craziness!
Its the second shoe down under the Akira+ Chictopia entry!

Food Library

So I feel bad...I said in my little blog summary blurb that this blog would include food......and I haven't yet, not really!
Let me say a little bit about on the subject: growing up with my mom, the only spices in the house used for cooking were salt and pepper. I think once we did have spices but I did the cooking and went crazy with it and then we didn't have it anymore. My mom is just not a big cook, I guess.
When I was in college, my friend loved to cook. I helped her make curries and cookies and kugels. I was fascinated, so much more to cooking than instant rice and stuff from jars!

When I moved to NYC after college, I had my own room in an apartment and did my own cooking. It was very simple stuff and to my taste-chicken breast in soy sauce, the boxes of mac and cheese with tuna in it. This was before I knew of spices, still.

One of my best friends from College moved to LA and went to Culinary School....it seems that now its common to go to college for one thing, be unable to get a good job at that, and go to another kind of school to learn some kind of skill and get a job in that! Anyway, when I visited her I watched her cook and learned a bit more and she even lent me her cooking school manual! I remember looking at her kitchen and seeing all the utensils and the inside of her fridge and just being amazed at this whole world of cooking...

When I moved into my next apartment, I had three guy roommates, one of which was my SWEETY. Now, my sweety, he can cook! He taught and is teaching me, a lot about cooking! But I have always wanted to know how to cook and bake (much harder, chemistry is involved, lol!). We make our own bread and desserts and everything we make is from scratch. We even have our own spice plants in the dining room-rosemary, thyme, mint, lavender.

My friend Patricia in my building loves to cook, like Martha Stewart cooking-inspired. I learn from her just about how GOOD food can look....garnishes and sugared orange rind and cut up fruit in salads.

To me, visiting a restaurant meant seeing pretty food in a beautiful presentation.
But, its so not true.
I made spring rolls the other night and I garnished them with sesame seeds sprinkled on top and had alfalfa sprouts on top of the rice and dikon radish and I thought, this is my home and my food will LOOK good too.
I am always taking pictures of our food not because I am weird but I am just so amazed by how good food looks and tastes and feels...
Someday I would like to focus more on food here-how to make your own bread, desserts and such-but for now I just love to take pictures of it and share them.

*Pictured above are some of our breakfasts-french toast with poppy seeds, raspberries, peaches and crepes with powdered sugar and strawberries!

School Day

As promised, here are a few pix from my trip upstate! No class today so....

I took some time off from work before classes started so that I could visit my mom and sister, and then my sweety joined me upstate and we stayed at an amazing bed and breakfast (oh the food, oh the house) near Ithaca, NY.

When I arrived my mom was still in work, so I walked this riverside promenade from the bus stop to her place. Gorgeous day! Its silly but I was blown away by all the plants alongside the promenade...nyc is so nature-depriving to me. T_T

August/September is blueberry season! One of my favorite fruits to pick! Can't wait to pick apples next!


Check out my guns! Blueberry faaaaaaaaaace-this was obviously taken before I had eaten so many.


Fun Fact: When I was younger, I used to walk up to this blueberry farm to pick blueberries and they would pay you by the pound! At the time I was like, sweet! Best job evar...oh to be young.

Its such a small thing but the air upstate, away from the city is so clear and fresh and i just kept breathing the air. It was sooooo goood.

Another reason why I love visiting my mom: my kitteeeeeeeeeeh! I would love to take her back with me to my apartment, but I won't get a cat when it would have to stay indoors all the time. I grew up with animals that could always go outside and run around. I would feel sad if i had to keep an animal inside.

So here are photos of the place we stayed at!
I was a dumb bunny and decided to visit Ithaca during the time when all the students are coming back to Cornell and Ithaca College so it was tough to find a place to stay! We were lucky to find such a fantastic place! The fooooood!

Oh my gaw, the food. The first nite, my sweety got a delicious steak and I had sea scallops. I also had this drink that was basically some kind of liquer in root beer. it was awesome.

This B&B has a great history and they have photos up all other documenting it and the city its in. A lot of the original architecture and detailing is still there!

Like this telephone! I wish I had left my cell phone at home so I could've used this!


So....I didn't put up any pix of the room, because it so big! It had a big bed and wardrobe and dressers and a chaise and one of those sliding doors that slide into the wall to the connecting bath!
Fun fact: the reason I chose the room was because the bathroom had a clawfoot bathtub. I've always wanted to take a bath in one.
P.S. I totally did! Those tubs are HIGH off the floor!

Even the radiators have lovely details!
We ate breakfast every morning in the ballroom (no pictures :( ) I guess there is an Amish farm nearby and much of breakfast would come from there-banana and zucchini breads, quiches with mushrooms and arugula....oh my goodness.

In Ithaca there is a nature center that has a five story treehouse (i think its 5) built by a high school class! Its sooo neat!

This is Buttermilk Falls! I looooooove the State Parks in Ithaca!
Let me know if you ever want to stay at this B&B! I highly recommend it and I can hook you up!