May 30, 2009

I'd like to thank...

all of my followers! I now have 20, which may seem small to some people, but it's huge to me! Also, if anyone wants to exchange links don't be shy, just ask!

Furthermore, thanks so much to Alice from Alice's Diary for this sweet award!



And thanks Leah of What Indie Nights for tagging me.

So, here it goes:

What is your current obsession?
I hate to say this but shopping. My internship puts in right in the middle of Philadelphia, about 3 blocks away from all the best shopping. Whenever I have a spare moment you can find me in Zara or Anthropology or something like that. We don't have those stores close to me, which is sad because I love them, but luckily they're right near the office buiding I work in.

What is your horoscope & do you relate to it?
I'm a Pisces. Pisces are described as creative, emotional, freedom-loving, and otherworldly as well as a little bit un motivated. I think this matches my personality very well... even the bad parts.



What are you wearing today?
J Crew denim shorts and an Urban Outfitters t-shirt. Exciting stuff. Lazy Saturday. 

What's for dinner?
I had a chicken marsala Healthy Choice steamer and a piece of cheesecake. Yum.

What's the last thing you bought?
An ice cream sundae, or a train ticket. I don't know if the train ticket counts... 

What do you think about the person who tagged you?
She's so lovely and sweet and very interesting! I didn't know she was so international before reading this post.

That question about a fully furnished, paid-for house that everyone answers with 'Paris' or 'New York'.
Tokyo.
I'd love to go there, or live there. I just read When Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and he spent an extended period of time in Japan. It sounded like such an interesting place to live, and I've always been obsessed with the street fashion. Oh, and did I mention sushi?



What is your must-have item for summer?
Sun dress. Or maybe a straw fedora... oh I'm not sure. Really I'd just like to go to a bunch of music festivals.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would it be?
Lady GaGa concert. I missed her when she came to Philly and I'd love to see her live!



Who do you want to meet right now?
My college room mate. Apparently I've been assigned my housing but I won't find out what it is until next month.

What is your favourite piece of clothing from your own closet?
I'm obsessed with my new white jeans. I guess that would be my favorite at the moment. That or my graduation dress. 

What is your dream job?
writer, artist, mother, international do-gooder

What's your favourite magazine?
NYLON or Vogue.
I can't choose, so don't make me.



What do you consider a fashion faux-pas?
Two tone hair. There is no reason for the top of your hair to be bleach blonde and for the bottom to be black. No reason! Also I really dislike those leggings with the lace at the bottom, and dark lip liner with light lips, and nail art, and oh you know, just general tackiness and ugliness and such.

Describe your personal style.
I guess it would be classic with a touch of preppy, grungy, or bohemian depending on my mood.

What are you going to do after this?
Watch TV? Actually I'm watching TV now. I will continue to watch TV.

Three styling tips that always work for you:
1. Just because its a cute shirt or dress or something doesn't mean its an outfit, think head to toe
2. dress for your body, not the body you wish you had
3. when shopping remember trying things on is free. Don't leave something on the rack because you don't think you can pull it off. Try it on before judging. 

What are you proud of?
I'm a good writer, I'm a good artist, I arranged for an author to speak at my school about a topic I'm passionate about, I'm going to the college I wanted to go to next year, a lot of things I guess.

What does your favorite underwear look like?
I have a pair of undies I bought at Aerie that are red and white with whales on them and resemble boys style breifs. They're so cute and comfy! 



There are rules to this tagging shenanigan... Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Tag eight others.

I'd like to tag:

Oh also, check out this giveaway! You could win a beautiful Jenny Yeun handbag!

May 29, 2009

Just my Luck



You completely miss the ruffle detail in the color of this shirt because of my hair. Oh another sleepy face pic too. YAY!
Cardi: BCBG, Blouse: UO, Skirt: AA, shoes: Cole Haan?

After work I met my ex in Rittenhouse Square. He's been at college while I've been in High School so I thought now that we were in the same place something would start up again. It was nice seeing him but I didn't really feel the same way I had felt over a year ago when we were dating. I was relieved to know exactly what my feelings were. I had spent way too much time on my outfit (white skirt and black racerback blouse) to be this underwhelmed - but otherwise it was fine, except when I mentioned my recent luck he told me that good luck was promptly followed by bad luck. What a jinx.

I should probobly stop taking pictures at the end of the day... not cute.
tee: UO, skirt: kensie girl, belt: vintage, shoes: UO

Today was rough. I thought it would be another lovely day, I got a ton of compliments on my outfit and while there wasn't much of anything for me to do in the office it wasn't horrible. Then after work I went to visit my friend. I had some time to kill before our train home so I thought I'd exchange the Shekels that have been sitting in my wallet since I went to Israel last summer into US dollars. It wasn't until I was back at my original location, 6 blocks away, that I realized I had left my cell phone at the currency exchange office. The office was closed. I walked all the way back to see if there was someone still there, but it was 40 minutes past closing. Then it started to rain as I walked to my train.

My luck has turned for the worse..

May 27, 2009

America, the Beautiful

cardigan: American Apparel, top: UO, jeans: Club Monaco

shoes: DSW

I look rather patriotic today, although not on purpose. I like the classic color combo of red white and blue. To be honest I'm not so thrilled with the country at the moment. It is completely unconstitutional to continue to ignore the marital rights of homosexual couples. I'm so glad I'll be moving to Massachusetts next fall, to a state that supports equal rights for all of its citizens.

Otherwise today was good. There wasn't much to do in the office so I spent a lot of time online or reading. Productive. I also wore heels, which I haven't done in a very long time. I forgot how painful they were but they looked too cute with my brand new white jeans! Oh well, at least I sit behind a desk most of the day...

May 25, 2009

Without a Paddle


there were butterflies... but they wouldn't come play with me.

I'm back from the country. It was such a nice weekend, to just relax with my friends and we spent a lot of time in the water. Today we drove about 4 miles up the river and spent about 4 hours floating back down to the cabin in kayaks. I'm so incredibly sunburnt it is not even funny, but I had a great time none the less. That's what I get for not wearing sunscreen... I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend too!

May 23, 2009

Holes!


After months of saying I'll get it done, I finally did! I got a second hole in my right ear! I really like it and can't wait until I can put a little hoop in it in about 6 months. I think I need new earrings though, the pearl studs I usually wear just don't match the second hole. At the moment I'm wearing these little huggies but I think I'm going to get a new pair of studs on Tuesday. But seriously, I cannot go shopping anymore! The only reason that is ok is because I have a gift card. Otherwise this is a problem. I have gone shopping like every day this week. BAD!


road trip outfit!
shirt: golf (Israeli brand), sweater: H&M, shorts: J Crew, shoes: NAOT

Today I'm going up to my friends cabin in New York. I won't be able to post until I get back Monday. I hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day Weekend filled with sun and leisure. 

May 21, 2009

I'm a winner.

Eh, end of a long day out. My shirt is all wrinkly and my jeans are stretched out and I'm not wearing shoes... but I really like this blouse. I looked cuter in person, earlier in the day, I promise.

blouse: Anthropology, Jeans: Levis

Today was fabulous. All week has been fabulous, although I don't really care for the word fabulous. But seriously, I don't think I've had such a great day let alone such a great week in a very long time. First me and the other intern met some girls I go to school with for lunch and we had al lovely time. Then there was cake in the office! Seriously, CAKE! It was being judged for "Philly's Best," an edition of Philly Mag where the best places are judged. I'm not sure if it's just food or if it's stores as well, but let me tell you - the cake was great! I had such a big slice but I couldn't stop eating it. Then I got out of work early because I finished all my projects and went to visit my friend at her senior project. I wanted to take the train home with her but didn't want to continue to follow her around so I decided to get a little shopping done. Yay gift card! Finally I got home and an email was in my inbox saying I had won $500 in a Lucky Style Spotter contest! WHAAT! I thought I had won but I couldn't be sure. I'm so psyched, especially since I'm so broke. Haha. I also won a pair of Sperry Topsiders.

Here's my winning outfit:



and here's the shoes I picked out:


Sperry's aren't really my style but these were so sunny and I think they have a very lovely sense of humor. I wonder what outfit I'll actually wear them in...

May 20, 2009

Uptown Girl

And the internship continues. I've spent the day making phone calls getting contact information for an upcoming article and copying an interview into a word document. Phone calls are easy, transcribing is hard. It takes hours just to get half an hour of conversation down.

Luckily the other intern and I get to take about an hour break for lunch which is lovely. Rittenhouse Square is only a few blocks away from our office and it's so nice spending the free time out in the sun surrounded by tons of happy people - often accompanied by dogs! I love being in the city, even if it means a half hour train ride every day.

Yesterday for lunch I got a thai peanut sauce and tofu wrap filled with tons of veggies! It was so delicious. You could never order anything like that anywhere in the suburbs.

necklace: Peru, tank: GAP, jacket: Argentina, Jeans: Levi's

Today me and the other intern stopped into Urban Outfitters during our lunch break and I picked up a crop top and a new wallet.

Dress: Vintage Laundry by Shelli Segal, jacket: Vintage GAP, scarf: TJ Maxx, Shoes: GAP

I'm having such a good time and am so glad I'm not wasting away in school anymore.

May 18, 2009

Black and White and Red All Over

 
sweater: anthropology, tank: gap, jeans: found denim, shoes: keds

Ah I've been super busy for the past two days. Sunday I went shopping and found some great deals. Anthropology was having a sale and I picked up the cute sweater above (it doesn't photograph well. The grey part to the pattern is partially dots, partially hearts!). I also picked up a beautiful blouse and a knit hat. I also had some great finds at TJ Maxx and The GAP.

While I was out shopping my dad called and asked if it would be ok if we met up with his girlfriend and his girlfriends daughter. My parents have only been seperated about two years and this is the first girlfriend I've met. My dad has been with her for about 10 months, and while I've met her on several occasions I had never met her daughter (although there were a few occasions we were supposed to meet. So, this long anticipated introduction finally occured.

Part of me anticipated a horrible brat of a 15 year old, while the other half of me almost wanted the little sister I never had. GF's daughter was neither. She lacked maturity and table skills but overall she wasn't a bad person or anything. I can deal, although long periods of time together may cause me to be overwhelmed by her overwhelming freshman-ness. I mean no offense, I know freshman who are very mature cool people, but this girl didn't really lean that way...

blouse: J Crew, tank: Target, skirt: Aqua

Today I began my senior project at Philadelphia Magazine. My school, as well as a lot of schools in the area, know that the last few months of senior year are a waste, and rather than cooping us up in school they allow us to take up internships or other similar activities for a few weeks once AP exams are over. I've always been interested in journalism and media so this is a really great opportunity. Mostly me and the other intern, a senior at another High School in the area, are calling up people who need to be interviewed for a future article, and transcribing interviews. The other intern is really amazing though. She's a really sweet girl and we have a ton in common! It really couldn't have been more perfect.

After work I took advantage of being in the city and went to LUSH cosmetics to pick up a belated mothers day gift for my mom. I was so surprised to walk in and see the same cute guy who had helped me about two months ago when I first went to LUSH. To top it all off I could tell me recognized me too! I almost died.

Once I picked out some nice things I walked around the park for a little while. While walking I noticed a book sitting on a bench. I noticed there was a piece of paper in the book telling me to keep it! I was so thrilled even though there's a very small chance I'll ever read it...
Around 6 I met up with some friends also working in the city for the next two weeks and we went out for Ethiopian food. It was really interesting. The food was all served on a large round tray and you ate it all by scooping it up with this spongey bread. Between walking to and from train stations I probably walked around four miles. It was ridiculous.

Now I'm so exhausted, so please excuse my horrid face in the pictures above... well, good night.

May 14, 2009

Magenta


sweater: BCBG, tank: AE, shorts: J Crew, flip flops: Havina 

This is what I wear when I'm lazy. Actually this is what I wear when I'm a step above lazy, lazy is just too embarrassing to post. I had my last AP exam yesterday, and I think it went ok... (we'll see in a few months whether magenta shorts are my new lucky charm). It was the Art History AP and during the exam slides were projected onto a screen. During one of the short answer questions a slide came up that the class and I had never seen in our entire lives. Rather than begin in shame we began cracking up at how pathetic the exam was going. The proctor was so confused and asked "What's so funny?" I also got through the difficult questions by drawing cartoons into my short answer questions. I hope whoever grades my book enjoys all the detail I put into my responses.

But, who really cares? I AM DONE! No more High School anything! Summer is so soon and I can't wait!

Also, I would like to thank Sher from Fashion After Forty for this lovely award! Thanks so much dear!

May 12, 2009

The Slave Next Door

So, about once a month or something since the conception of this blog I have stepped away from the topic at hand (fashion) and focused on something a little less pretty. Service and awareness are very important to me, so it's just natural for me to want to share my many passions with you.

Today I have the very special opportunity to promote a book written on a topic that almost no one knows about or talks about: slavery. I had the opportunity to invite one of the authors speak to speak at my school and he was so eloquent and intelligent.  If you're involved in consumption (and we all are, aren't wee) its almost impossible that you haven't encountered products that have been touched by slave labor. It's a sad truth.

As people who love clothes it's important to consider where the clothes come from. Please take a moment to read the excerpt below from the book The Slave Next Door by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter.


CHAPTER 6 

EATING, WEARING, WALKING AND TALKING SLAVERY

Slavery probably crept into your life several times today, some before you even got to work. Rolling off your bed, standing on that pretty hand-woven rug, maybe you threw on a cotton t-shirt. In the kitchen did you make a cup of coffee, spoon in a little sugar, and then kick back with a chocolate croissant and your laptop to check the headlines? After a shower, maybe you drove to the station. Waiting for the train, perhaps you made a couple of calls on your cell phone.

 

All in all a normal day, but slavery was involved in almost every step. Hundreds of thousands of rugs are hand-woven by slaves in the “carpet belt” of India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Cotton is grown with slave labor in India, West Africa, and Uzbekistan, the world’s second largest producer. Coffee cultivation also encompasses slave labor, mainly in Africa. Enslaved Haitian workers harvest the sugar in the Dominican Republic, the largest exporter of sugar to the U.S. The chocolate in that croissant can also be the product of slavery, from the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast. Even the steel and iron in your car can be polluted by slavery. From a quarter to a half of all U.S. imports of raw iron in different forms come from Brazil.[i] In that country slaves burn the forests to make charcoal, which in turn is used to smelt ore into pig iron and iron into steel. In America, the single largest consumer of Brazilian iron and steel is the automotive industry, though the construction industry also uses a large amount. Pressed against your ear, that cell phone keeps you connected to friends and family, but also to slavery. Cell phones (and laptops and other electronics) just don’t work very well without a mineral called tantalum. In the Democratic Republic of Congo poor farmers are rounded up by armed gangs and enslaved to dig tantalum out of the ground. Every one of us, every day, touches, wears, and eats products tainted with slavery. Slave-made goods and commodities are everywhere in our lives, but, paradoxically, in small proportions. The volume is unacceptable, but rarely critical to our national economy or quality of life. And slavery in our lives is not restricted to cotton, coffee, cocoa, steel, rugs, and cell phones. The list goes on and on, with new commodities and products turning up all the time. Some of them, such as shrimp, might surprise you.

 

Huckleberry Finn it ain’t

If there is an archetypical picture of rural youth, it is the barefoot lad with the fishing pole over his shoulder. The dusty riverbanks, the lazy heat, the straw dangling from his lip, it all says that halcyon days are possible in our youth. Today even this picture out of Mark Twain is shot through with bondage. Across Africa and Asia children are enslaved to catch, clean, package, and dry fish. They feed a global demand for everything from shrimp cocktail to cat food. One of the world’s largest consumers of seafood is Japan, but the U.S. isn’t too far behind. Americans imported 2.5 million tons of seafood in 2006, worth over $13 billion.[ii] And when it comes to shrimp, the US imports significantly more than the seafood-loving Japanese. Americans love shrimp, and the little crustacean that was once an expensive specialty food is now as ubiquitous as chicken. More than three million tons of frozen shrimp were imported to the U.S. in 2006.[iii] The huge demand for shrimp in the U.S. and other rich countries has generated a gold rush along the coastlines of the developing world. From India to Bangladesh, from Indonesia to Ecuador, Guatemala and Brazil, coastal forests, mangrove swamps, and natural beaches are ripped up to build hundreds of thousands of acres of shrimp farms. In all of these places adults and children are enslaved to cultivate and harvest the shrimp.[iv] In some cases whole families are caught in debt bondage slavery, in others children are kidnapped and hustled off to shrimp and fish farms on remote islands. Children are regularly enslaved in fishing and shrimping, since kids can do the work and they are easier to enslave and control.

        

In Bangladesh, boys as young as eight are kidnapped and taken out to remote islands like Dublar Char off the southwest coast. Sold to the fishing crews for about $15, they are set to work processing fish on shore for 18 hours a day, seven days a week. If the boats return with a large catch they might work several days with no sleep at all. Like robots they clean, bone, and skin fish; shell mussels, shrimp and crab, and wash squid to remove the ink. Other children sort, weigh, check, and load the haul, processing and preparing the fish for freezing and shipment. The slaveholders sexually abuse the boys and beat them regularly. They get little food, no medical care, and sleep on the ground. If they sicken or are injured and die, they are thrown into the ocean.[v] Dublar Char was raided and the children freed in 2004 when researchers linked to the US anti-slavery group Free the Slaves discovered the situation. They worked with the State Department’s anti-trafficking office to bring diplomatic pressure on the Bangladeshi government, which led to a raid by military police. (The local police were on the take from the gangs running the island).

 

No one knows how many other remote islands conceal such slave camps. Much of the fish and shrimp from these islands enters the global markets and then comes to the U.S. Dublar Char is just one example of the slave operations that supply our hunger for seafood. Around the island of Sumatra in Indonesia the sea is dotted with what appear to be ramshackle rafts. They are actually fishing platforms, crudely lashed together and moored up to twenty miles off the coast. There are some 1,500 fishing platforms in this region, each holding three to ten children whose only avenue of escape is a twenty-mile swim. Promised a good job, they are left on the platform to cast nets, catch fish, and clean and dry the catch. In heavy weather the platforms can break up, children can be swept overboard, or they might simply fall through the holes in the rough bamboo deck. On irregular visits, the boss collects the fish and administers beatings to increase productivity. As in Dublar Char and so many other places, the children are sexually abused, and if they become ill, there is no relief. If they die of illness or injury, they are simply rolled into the water. The revenues from Indonesian fish exports reached $5 billion in 2006; America is one of the top destinations for frozen shrimp, canned tuna, tilapia and sea crab from that country.[vi]

 



[i] See: Michael Smith and David Voreacos, “The Secret World of Modern Slavery,” Bloomberg Markets, December 2006.

[ii] See report of National Marine Fisheries Service, at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/trade_and_aquaculture.htm. Accessed Aug. 2007.

[iii] Shrimp imports also reported at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/trade_and_aquaculture.htm.

[iv] See for example, “Dying for your dinner” Environmental Justice Foundation, accessed at http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=1932; and Report No. 32 on Forced Labor in Burma, International Labor Organization, accessed at http://burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199809/msg00281.html.

[v] Report on Indonesian Fishing Platforms, Anti-Slavery International, 1998.

[vi] See: http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-779909/Indonesia-hopes-to-increase-fish.html#abstract. Accessed Aug. 17, 2007.

May 10, 2009

I'm on a boat!

I hope everyone had a lovely Mothers Day! Me, my mom, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle went to a restaurant in Philadelphia located on an old boat. The food overpriced and the service blew but besides that it was fine... I still haven't picked up a Mothers Day but I think I'm going to pick something up at Lush on Friday when I start my internship! Yay! Only two AP's to go (Enviro & Art Hist) - I couldn't be happier!



dress: Aqua, cardi:GAP, shoes: GAP, bag: bought in Argentina
please excuse my deer in headlights face seen above...
i hate the seaming on the bust on this dress but otherwise its super cute and springy. perfect for mothers day!

May 8, 2009

Look Familiar?

So I've spent some time trying to find the best photo location. At the moment I've enjoyed taking pics on my back porch, but my old faithful has been my brothers room where I can prop my camera on the desk and then pose in front of the horrid blue wallpaper. Last week my mom spent hours stripping the wallpaper off of the walls in an attempt to make the house more "buyer friendly." Sadly the desk has always been moved so i was having some trouble trying to figure out where to place my camera to take pictures, but these were the final results.

vest: j crew; tank: j crew (i didn't mean to be so branded - i borrowed the tank from my mom) jeans: gap; shoes: the same ones i've been wearing, you know; necklace: mom; bracelet: gucci (gift from my grammi)

Today was First Friday in Philadelphia. All of  the local galleries open their doors to show of their latest shows. Next week my friend is beginning an internship at Fuel Gallery (home of Real World Philadelphia) so we stopped by there to check out the place. Then we headed up to the Pennsylvannia Academy of the Fine Arts to check out their student show and it was amazing! If you're in the greater Philadelphia area go check this show out. Their students are so talented. We ended the night buy having dinner at Continental which is one of my favorite Philly restaurants. The Lobster Mac& Cheese is my favorite!

May 7, 2009

XOXO Gossip Girl

As a kid who's grown up (relatively) in the private school system (I attended public school until fifth grade) I feel a special connection with Gossip Girl. Though my school is very little like the drama TV show, except for one party about 20 years ago where a bunch of kids broke into the school in order to continue a party - well, one thing lead to another and somehow a couch caught on fire, I still associate with the high pressure society and the modified preppy fashion.

That being said, I've also grown to have a love hate relationship with little J. She's cute and generally likable now that her wild child phase is over, but I can't ignore the fact that she had a Mrs. Bradey mullet a few months ago. Right now though, me and Jennie/Taylor Momsen (the actress who plays Jennie) are more in the love zone.

Reasons I love Taylor:

She's not afraid of fashion or makeup


She's in a band! And its not bad!


She writes her own lyrics - and they're all about drinking

She's almost like Lindsay Lohan but with a career

She's only 15 and acts like she's 21, but doesn't apologize for it like Miley
Click to view full size image
Oh and she was Cindy Lou Who
Click to view full size image

Please excuse my shameless celebrity indulgence... normal posts coming soon, but I've had AP's and such so nothing too exciting has been going on.

May 5, 2009

Blue Moon

As I'm sure everyone knows last night was the Met Costume Institute Gala. If I could do anything in my life it would be attend the Met Ball. Sadly, instead of a glass slipper I chose a normal slipper for Monday night. Overall I was disappointed by the fashion at the Met, while it might be the Prom of the fashion industry, too many of the dresses looked like the Prom dresses being worn all over this country by 17 and 18 year old girls (with 17 and 18 year old taste).

Here's the looks that most stood out to mee as "Prom Approved" (and I don't mean that as a compliment):

    
Donatella Versace and Cindy Crawfor
  
Victoria Beckham and Lake Bell

Ok, so I love the female tuxedo, but I needed something to round out the grouping. Otherwise these dresses just didn't live up to my expectations. Even the dresses I consider less of a flop I wouldn't consider that exciting or groundbreaking. Very few looks stood out in my mind. Maybe people are being more self conscious because of the recession, but please, stop! This is neither the time nor the place - this is the Costume Institute Gala. Seriously people!

May 4, 2009

M'appeler

Laziness combined with crap weather has caused me to kind of neglect my blog... I'll try to be more interesting in the future. For the mean time I just got a new phone which required a new ringtone (the normal ones just weren't cutting it). Now, I'm someone who picks really lame ringtones like lil' mama's Lip Gloss or Katy Perry's Hot 'n' Cold but I think this ringtone is an improvement:





Enjoy! Happy Mondays! More interesting post coming tomorrow.

oh, and I now have 11 followers - which is 11 more than I ever expected to have, so thank you so much guys! It really means a lot to me!