I spent the summer wasting

My summer disappeared into the black hole that is my job. Aka a movie so horrid to work on that everybody competent quit and I moved up the ranks rather quickly. Which is nice, I in a way. At least I'm getting used to the horrible-ness to the point it's quite tolerable. Also it ends next week (or it's supposed to). I'm thankful to have a job as well, even if it is one that required me to work 100(!) hours one week.

My fashion sense has gone on hiatus, for the most part, but I hope to restart it with some cool fall fashion finds, including finally buying those damn thigh-high zipper stockings I've been thinking about since spring. The ones by Leg Avenue sold on Lingerie sites that are actually quite nice without stripper heels attached. I know a place in the East Village that sells them as well. . .

Oh, and my hair is longer and I'm kind of tan now. . . with freckles. That is all.

Lately

I've been not-so-busy with anything really. Messing about and trying to find a job. Spending days wandering about the city or the internet. I went on a 'no-clothes-buying-until-I-get-a-job' thing, and now that I have a job, which I start on Monday (!), I haven't really bought anything but a pair of sunglasses. Oh, and regular glasses, but they have yet to come in the mail. I bought 'vintage' frames off Ebay and I'm going to get lenses fitted in chinatown for crazy cheap.

I haven't had many photos taken of me outside of the party circuit, so here's a couple anyway.

I really love this one, taken by a very talented girl named Caroline. It was at a deadmau5 show a couple of weeks ago. Not the best show I've ever been to, but I had a good time that night.


This photo shows the last purchase before my self-imposed 'no-buying' phase: a (good-quality) faux-leather moto jacket. Oh, and a rare example of me wearing jewelry. I think the Japanese Popstars played that night.


This is from last friday, also at Webster Hall, where Dave1 from Chromeo really tore it up. Totally embarrassing party picture pose, but w/e. Shit happens.


My sweet-ass studded boots also made an appearance that night:



More daily events. On Friday I will be going to a party with a deep fryer where guests are encouraged to bring random foodstuffs to be encased in a layer of molten fat. Or something like that. I think I'll bring something pickled, or a candy bar. After that I'll probably go see another show, and hopefully get home as the sun rises. As it should be.

PICTURE POST

Yegads I've been lazy. Okay, not really, I was busy graduating (SUMMA CUM LAUDE, BITCHES!) from college. So here's some kinda old picspam of what I wore. I have since gotten a haircut and new clothing, but pretty soon I'll have a lot of free time with my impending job search, blah blah blah on to the pictures:













So, there's a venetian blinds shirt, a tank top I dyed myself, some bitchin' over-the-knee boots that were a thrift-store steal, my first foray into the world of leggings (they're so comfy!), my shitty camera and odd room decorations, and some diy bleached jean shorts. Hurrah.

Flavor-Tripping

I've been taking a break from the world of clothing --well, not wearing it, obv, just obsessing over it-- to indulge in one of my other loves . . . cooking.

Normally I'm an eat-on-the-go sandwich, smoothie, soup, salad, cereal, and rice type girl. Going to college and working a part time job and having a social life doesn't usually mean I feel like spending an hour every evening preparing dinner. But sometimes I do, and it's fun.

For instance, last weekend, one of my best friends was about to leave to go live in the jungle on a fairly tiny tropical island in the Caribbean for three months (yeah I know). So I invited him over for dinner and made Moules Mareiniere (Mussels in White Wine sauce) and we sat around and ate delicious mussels with a crusty baguette and drank the rest of the wine, etc. Mussels are super delicious in my opinion but usually pretty expensive in restaurants. However, if you live near the ocean or near a Whole Foods store they are fairly cheap to make yourself. The Whole Foods in Union Square sells 2lb bags of fresh pre-cleaned mussels for $6 and after that it's just a matter of rounding up the wine (a $3 Sauvignon Blanc from Trader Joes is great) and some basic herbs, etc. A pound of mussels is a large serving for one person, in my opinion.

The same friend also had a going away party with 'flavor-tripping.' That's where you consume 'miracle' berries with a natural protien that makes sour things taste sweet. Basically all of our friends brought neat food options and he provided the miracle berries. I brought a meyer-lemon, apple, and goat cheese tart that I whipped up with no sugar added. The idea was that the natural tart fruit acids in the lemons, apples, and cheese would make it taste sweetened already.

The party was really fun, I suggest trying the berry sometime with friends. Things that were good/tasted cool:
Lemons and Limes!
Strawberries tasted delish, even sweeter
Apple Cider Vinegar tasted like a fun soda
Guiness Beer tasted interesting, especially with Lemon Sorbet in it
Plain Goat Cheese tasted a bit like cheesecake
Greek Yogurt was good
Tomatoes were weird, sweet
Hot sauce went down smoothly

Miracle Tart:
1 meyer lemon, zest and juice
1 egg
5 oz-ish goat cheese
tart shell/puff pastry
1 or 2 apples, sliced thinly
sugar (optional!)

Mix egg, juice and zest of lemon, and goat cheese in bowl until no lumps remain. Pour into pie/tart shell, or on puff pastry, place apples on top in decorative fashion. Bake for 10-30 min at 350, depending on size of tart, obv. with smaller baking times for smaller containers.

If you are going to a non-flavor tripping party and just want a delicious tart, you can add about 3 TB or so sugar (to taste) to the filling, and maybe sprinkle some on top of the apples. If you are using puff pastry, you might want to cook the pastry a bit beforehand so it has a chance to puff up before adding the filling.

I was going to take pictures but the rate the pastry was consumed was quite alarming. Apparently it was good.

I also recently made some almost-flourless dark chocolate mocha cookies, and the slow-roasted pork dish Puerco Pibil --the one with the recipe off the 'Once Upon A Time in Mexico' DVD. It's pretty good, even if it does take forever to cook.



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In clothing related news, I went to TOPSHOP(!) the other day. A week after it opened and I still had to wait outside in line for a bit to get in. Crazy. Also DIY-d a tank top.

New Shoes, Bones.

Today after class I went to a 'warehouse sale' at some fancy boutique on the Upper West Side. It was all overpriced party dresses and stuff I neither wanted nor needed. I was still in a shopping mood so I decided to go to Century 21. I've only actually been there once before, even though I lived a 5 minute walk away last year. It's just so crowded and filled with tourists and the dressing rooms are tiny, tiny booths. They do, however, have an amazing selection of designer clothing that's quite inexpensive. Last time I went I got the Cheap Mondays that I'm wearing below for $30. Today I bought some cute shoes that were also super cheap. One other thing that is really cool about the store (besides the prices) is that it has such a large variety of designers in a small space. I think it would be kind of fun to go there with friends and just try on some of the ridiculous shit they have up on the top floor. For instance, although I was running late on time I tried on a funny mesh vest with bizarre pockets from Martin Margiela, and eyed some crazy deconstructed sequined stuff from god knows where. . .

Top Half:


Bottom Half:


I am standing on a table. In my living room. It is now my posing table. Nobody else really uses it.

Misc Hoodie
Thrifted striped tank top
purple H&M bustier-cut tube top
Cheap Monday jeans
Faryl Robin Wedges

Tomorrow I'm going to go see Ellen Allien play at Studio B and I don't know quite what to wear yet, but I think I'm going to wear my new shoes.

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Now, for a minor departure from talking about clothing, on Tuesday I cooked bone marrow for the first time. It was an experience, to say the least. I bought the bones at whole foods and soaked them overnight in salt water to remove some of the blood. Then I roasted them in the (toaster) oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. I think I cooked them too long though, because a lot of the fat liquefied and ran out into the baking pan.

The marrow tasted okay spread on some bread with lemon juice, but it was not the super delicious bone marrow that I've had in fancy french restaurants. I think part of this is because they were beef bones and not veal bones, and I cooked them too long. This definitely calls for a second try though . . . bone marrow is beyond delicious.

Music and stuff

Not feeling terribly inspired lately, for whatever reasons. Maybe the two giant papers looming in my immediate future. . .

However, two cool things:

Daft Punk will be scoring the new Tron film that's coming out . . . whenever. How cool is that?
sauce

Also the amazing The Mighty Boosh is coming to American television at the end of this month. It'll be on Adult Swim at 1am. Which would be cool if I had a TV, or got cable, or didn't already have it on DVD. . . But still very very cool. Maybe if they get popular in the US they might do a tour here. Cool.


sauce

I haven't really got any pics to post except some from last friday night. I wore some questionable layers and went to a DJ show at Webster Hall.

Here is an embarrassing picture of me with headliner, Calvin Harris:

Aah. . . I dunno why I wanted to get a picture with him. Oh well though.
Now to my strange top, which was a sort of strange DIY Ksubi 'hole t' knockoff I made last summer over a black lace blouse.



Also I always see Celia from the current season of America's Next Top Model at these shows. I was watching this season (for creepy-chan, aka Allison and her weirdness) and I sort of recognized her but I didn't put two and two together until last Friday. She was at the last show I went to there as well (Xavier from Justice). She dresses pretty cute most of the time. Here's her last Friday chilling out on a speaker during the show:


I kinda want to say Hi sometime but I don't want to ruin her night. . . on the other hand, she is a reality tv show contestant. . . so there is a distinct possiblity she likes attention.

Laundry Time

Lately it has been getting closer and closer to 'laundry time.' That time when life is so busy (supposedly) that doing laundry gets put off until it is an absolute necessity. This produces outfit combinations like this:



Weird fur hat - thrifted
Top: Forever 21, I've had it for years
Jeans: Cheap Monday
Shoes: Adidas Country Sleek - Secondhand

Or this:




Sparkly brown top: H&M
Cut-off Levi's
Diamond tights: Boots drugstore in the UK, I think. A gift.
Polish boots

Or this:


Hello blood red walls in my room (and high ceilings, yay!):



Although admittedly the above look was worn to go to a show (Hearts Revolution) and I would probably wear something similar to a club even when not in dire need of a trip to the laundromat.

Tank: H&M
Shorts: Cheap Monday 'bondage pants' - on sale for $20 and I chopped off the legs
Stockings: Misc. Probably from Target or something
Shoes: DIY studded Polish boots

Space Cat Returns + Gum Review

Hello new and more original name. 'Space Cat Meets Mars' is a book I really liked when I was a kid. It's part of a book series about a cat named Flyball who travels the solar system with his human companion and has loads of adventures. If I was a DJ, my DJ name would be Space Cat. Except maybe not, since that name is already taken by an Israeli trance musician. Ummm, no.

The other day I was at a Japanese market in the East Village when I spied this:


Fuwarinka Gum! I read about it a couple of years ago and have been dying to try it since. It supposedly contains weird chemicals that make your skin exude pleasant odors after you chew it. Naturally perfumed skin?? . . . basically I had to get it. They had the rose and the citrus flavor but I've found I'm generally not a fan of flowery flavored concoctions (violet pastilles. . .blech). It comes in little squares with cute pink stars on the outside of the foil wrapping. Unfortunately it loses the flavor after two minutes and is kind of gross after that. I chewed three or four pieces yesterday and I don't think it works. I definitely didn't smell anything different. Citrus apparently makes your skin smell like vanilla, but my skin just smelled like skin.

The gum is supposed to work because it contains geraniol and linalool, two ingredients found naturally in aromatic flowers. So I guess the assumption behind this gum is that if you ingest enough of these chemicals that your body cannot break down they will come out of your pores. This is what happens when you eat too much garlic, btw. I personally think it's pseudo-science marketing B.S. though.

The concept is pretty cool, but I think overall it doesn't work and is pretty silly. After all, people with good hygiene tend to smell nice anyway. Additionally, almost all modern toiletries like soap and shampoo are scented, and so are a lot of laundry detergents so people end up smelling like something no matter what. For practicalities sake, it would be a lot cheaper and infinitely more effective to just use perfume or scented body lotion if I really wanted to smell like vanilla.

Fuwarinka Gum = novelty purchase, no scent change, also fails at being good gum.

Oh, and for a nuanced and beautiful vanilla scent try Comptior Sud Pacifique Vanille Abricot or Amour De Cacao. Two of my favorite perfumes ever. I also have Vanille Cannelle but it treads a fine line between lovely and a holiday scented candle. Which is cool if you love vanilla/cinnamon scented candles. The dry-down is much more subtle than the initial scent.

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The other night I went to a fancy dinner at my university. Afterward I ran into some friends and followed them to a Ra Ra Riot concert on the spur of the moment. It was pretty fun, although I'm not a big fan of the band.





My floor's not that dirty, I swear! It's just I live in an old converted warehouse and the floor is painted but with permanent stains worn into the paint. I guess that does sound kind of gross but w/e. It's um, bohemian. Anyway I love my apartment. More on that later.

Dress: Iro, second-hand
Belt: Betsey Johnson. The elastic is fraying (poorly made) but it's so cute I would get another one in a minute.
Tights: Chinese Laundry - they are ribbed but you can't tell in the picture.
Shoes: Max Studio

Serious Business

So, boots have been studded. And worn. They're spiky and punk but not necessarily in a girly way. I'm hoping they're more oldschool punk than Hot Topic but we'll see.

To avoid scrolling down, here are the boots again, pre-damage:


Post-damage:


BAM.

On the inside they say 'Made in Poland' not 'Wyrabiany w Polsce' so I am guessing they were made for American consumption. Still awesome though.

They have little salt-lines on them since it was snowing when I wore them around the city. I know it's bad for leather (faux-leather?) but. . . I'm lazy.

What I wore today:


Excuse the 'tude hoodie. I bought it because at the time I desperately needed a hoodie and it was comfortable. I don't think that the picture on the front is anybody in particular, and yeah, I'm aware that I'm 22 and wearing a hoodie for high-schoolers with asymmetric hair (to each their own).


Underneath was this charmingly bland ash/charcoal/pewter/motherf'ing gray v-neck American Apparel T. And some thrifted Calving Klein jeans. I've had these jeans forever and boy does it show:


Oops. I always forget about that and then wonder why people on the subway are staring.

Since I am new to this whole outfit picture taking thing I thought I'd try out the jump jump jumping pose! Fun.

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Oh, and did I mention I have tons of studs and spikes leftover? What will go under the knife next. . .

Miike and More

So a couple of weeks ago I went to see the Japanese horror director Takashi Miike speak at the Japan Society in NYC. I'm a big fan of his films, especially The Happiness of the Katakuris and Ichi the Killer. Oh, and I really want to see his film that just came out in the states, Yatterman. His films are really strange, grotesque, sometimes violent, and always awesome. The interesting thing is he doesn't write any of his films, just directs. So it's cool that he is able to retain his really crazy style from film to film.

I brought my camera and took some shitty pics.




Oh, and more randomly the director of The Burrowers (a film I worked on two years ago) was sitting in same row as me. Crazy. I said hi and ended up talking to him and his wife during the reception. He invited me to a screening of The Burrowers at NYU --and I went to it last Friday. It was nice to see it finally. I'm not a big horror film fan, despite loving Miike. However, the acting was great and overall it is much better than standard horror fare today. For one thing, it is serious and darkly comic, as opposed to being purposefully cheesy. . . although the monsters weren't super scary.

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So, I finished studding the boots, but I haven't taken a picture of them yet. I think they look quite cool though. . . However the limited opinions I've gotten (off guy friends) are disheartening. I still like them though. Not all guys appreciate the extreme bits of high fashion.

Here is a pic of the awesome-find thrift store boots pre-studding:



And here's a pic of what I wore that day:


Pants, H&M, via T.Ruxpin. . .
Shirt, Target
Boots, thrift store

Pictures of studded boots will be forthcoming. . .

Epic Nights and Spikes

So, in the interest of making my life in NYC seem much more interesting than it actually is, here's last Friday night. A fun Xavier de Rosnay (Justice) and Busy P (Ed Banger) DJ set in the grand ballroom at Webster Hall:




Okay, enough creepy pictures of me.


The above is not a photo of me, obv. But in the corner you can see my outfit. . . which is I guess mildly self-indulgent. A dress I got on sale at Urban Outfitters that is Japanese silk screen painting inspired. Xavier was wearing Adidas too.


This is a photo of me talking to my friend Alice in the VIP booth above the stage. We sneaked backstage and it was fun, but actually quite crowded after awhile. I met some cool people and some random chick got naked and started dancing on that pole next to my head. She was from LA? hah. Oh, and I got to meet Xavier! I shook his hand and said I liked the show and then I ran off. Totally not awkward.


He doesn't even light his own cigarettes.

Anyway, these were all taken from party photo websites so thanks guys. Without you I wouldn't be able to see how drunk I looked the next day --although on this occasion I wasn't actually drunk, but merely sweaty and generally dishevelled.

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Also, I ordered some spikes and studs from, um, studsandspikes.com. Which is a nice website, I think. The prices are good and I haven't received my package yet but I hope to soon. I will be tricking out these vaguely motorcycle-ish polish thrift store boots, and maybe some sandals too. The possibilities are endless. I'm not a big punk fan but I'm going for more of a DIY 'Rodarte-lite' look.