In Autumn's Jungle

______Today's temperature peaked at an astonishingly humid 84 degrees.  Being the end of October and all, it wouldn't make sense for it to be like, nice and cool or anything, right?  Right.  Even though it was so warm, I decided to say, "I ignore thine silly boundaries which thou hast lain for me, O weather," and wear black tights.  And so I did.  And I kind of died.

______At least I looked cute buying groceries.  But not as cute as the old ladies who were wearing matching pumpkin sweaters and carefully picking out the perfect ratios of Halloween candy.  They were really super cute, and totally won the grocery store cutie contest (that's a real thing, you know).

______One day I'll be as cute as those old ladies.  One day.  Just not today.



Leopard dress: Know-Style ($20, yeah!)
Fringe necklace: Forever 21
Studded bracelet, earrings: Charming Charlie
Heels: bought at Ross, but I studded 'em myself

Here and There

______I'm glad that most of you enjoyed hearing about my dream in that last post (and I seriously had a nice time reading all of yours, as well!).  I think it's tons of fun to write down dreams and reflect on them, and sometime this summer, I'd really like to start illustrating mine.  I think that'd be fun--drawing something that you barely remember and all.  Sometimes, I'll only recall snippets of dreams, such as how last night I was a secret agent on a mission in a post-apocalyptic hospital and ran into my partner agent dude who warned me about the swarm of earplug bees that were on their way.  Thanks for the warning, fellow secret agent bro!

______Bahaha, but alas--my dreams have yet to be illustrated anytime soon.  However, until then, here's a little collection of some drawings and such from my sketchbook so far this year.


 




______Drawing II, Fall 2012

Sapphire Safari

______Oh man, it's been one of those weeks.  One of those weeks where just when you've finished something for the sole purpose of getting ahead, you receive even more things to do, and you're all, wait a minute! I just finished something that's due in two weeks.  What's going on?  And then you start acting a little bit insane over the tiniest things and maniacally work your butt off all week until you're finally greeted by the weekend's warm embrace.  But I guess that's kind of how most people's weeks go, no?

______ The result of such a hectic week was one crazy dream that you guys may or may not be interested in hearing about.  I dreamt that I was a giant bat whose primary objective was to a) fly around like the super cool bat that I was and b) liquify myself into a ship's hull to obtain a sacred golden vegetable (I think it was celery?) that was crucial to the opening of the newest Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store.  Unfortunately, I kept getting blocked off by this flying purple holiday wreath and the humans below detected that I was not entirely of the bat species, both factors which made my mission quite difficult.  I think my mission was successful in the end, though.  I'm not entirely sure.  I might've actually caught on fire.

______Upon researching some of the symbols that appeared in this totally interesting dream, I learned that I am apparently bitterly disappointed with life, have realized a new dark potential within myself, and need to worry about my financial situation.  Well, that's one super enlightening and positive way to see it!

______So basically, the interpretation makes just as much sense as my dream.  What about you guys?  Any silly and/or thought-provoking dreams you'd like to share?



Royal blue sweater, ankle socks: Forever 21
Leopard skirt: Charlotte Russe
Ankle booties, necklace: Charming Charlie

Queen of Diamonds

______Criticism hurts, and even praise can do an equal amount of damage.

______Criticism has a broad definition.  It can be simply put as something that occurs as the result of another person viewing something you've done with no negative connotations attached, but it can also mean that something you've done isn't up to par with some kind of standard, or that you didn't put your whole heart into something.  Praise is more specific.  Praise is seemingly a good thing, a reward with words, but the results aren't always as equally endearing.  Praise can make others give you those little looks of hatred out of the corner of their eyes.  It can make others less likely to approach you.  Praise can hurt just as much as criticism can.  It follows you around, and sometimes that can be good, and other times it can seem bad.

______I always come across phrases like, "Don't listen to anybody but yourself," or the more blunt, "Fuck the haters"... but how realistic are those, really?  It's difficult to do things on your own without considering the wellbeing of others.  When one option may please someone, it may not please another.  When one option may please you, someone else may be discontent with it.  When both parties are pleased, one may be secretly not pleased as to please the other.  And then it can get really complicated, and you think that you're pleasing someone when in reality you actually did the opposite of what they were thinking all because they were trying to please you at the same time.

______So what does this even whittle down to?  What am I even talking about?  I'm not even entirely sure, perhaps a whole bunch of things that were seeping into the crevices of my mind and compiling themselves into a nasty little blob of consciousness, but somehow, writing the aforementioned swept those things away.

______But hey, enough of this jumbled thinking for now.  It was a busy week, and I'm most likely just rambling.  Though the week seemed rather lengthy, it ended on a good note--on Friday, my roommate, a friend, and I were able to see a movie to unwind: Hotel Translyvania!  It was super cute and witty, and if you love yourself a good animated movie, it's definitely one you'll have to keep in mind.

______Have you seen any lovely movies lately?



Lattice dress: Forever 21
Belt: Know-Style
Red ankle socks: Forever 21
Ankle booties: Charming Charlie
Chain bracelet, chevron earrings, red and gold layered bracelet: Charming Charlie
Whale bracelet: gifted, maybe vintage?

Fragments of Faith

______My art teacher is a merciless trickster.

______It all began when he gave us our first drawing assignment, which was to simply draw a still life that was set up before us.  Alright, okay, no problem I've done this before a ton in Drawing I--throw some charcoal down, move it around a little, and in about two class periods, I've finished it.  Not bad, not bad.  For the third class period, he wanted us to add some color to it, to "embellish it," as he so eloquently put, so I traced out three circles and filled them with muted purple and yellow.  I hastily snapped a picture of it with my iPhone before leaving class that day.

______But wait.  Later in the day, el art teacher e-mailed everyone and instructed us to bring in an exacto knife, a ruler, and some rubber cement to our next meeting.  Interesting, I think.  I wonder if he'd be crazy enough to make us cut it up?  To cut it into squares or strips or triangles?  

______I would soon know the answer to my foreboding questions.  We come in the next class period, and he reveals to us that we're not yet done with the assignment.

______Now cut, he says. Cut your work into two-by-two inch squares.

______Our work, which we had spent some 9 hours on, was now to be reduced to cracker-sized squares that resembled abstract nothingness.  I might as well have been cutting into my own soul when I ever so precisely snipped and trimmed my art down to a lowly pile of mocking squares.

______My art teacher is a cruel one.

Rabbit Holes, 18x24, charcoal and colored pencil, Drawing II Fall 2012

______Unfortunately, he also must know some things, because I kinda liked the end result.  I worked the colored portions together to create a sense of objectification within the circles, even though there really isn't anything super recognizable there.  I suppose it's more interesting than the initial "boring still life" (no, seriously, that's what he named it on the syllabus) that we had to start off with, but I wish that there was some way I could have saved the initial drawing, too.  Art teacher said that my final drawing had a kind of depth to it, and some girl in my class compared it to Salvador Dali, who is pretty much my king, so both of those comments made me one super happy squid.  That being said, art teacher's assignments have been fun so far, and I'm kind of glad he's such a rad and surreal kind of dude.

______I suppose the fact that I wasn't too attached to the initial still-life drawing helped me reach such a conclusion about him, but hey--I can't just give him all the credit.

They Tell Me I'm Heart to Spot

______...Actually, they don't really tell me anything.  I don't even know who "they" are.  I just wanted to make a punny title (heart to spot ha ha ha haHA), and I totally spent longer than I needed to mulling it over.  I hope I'm not the only one out there who spends ridiculous amounts of time chalking up these witty titles that nobody really thinks twice about.

______But hey, even if you don't care about my silly titles, that's all right.  And if you do care, I wish that I could buy you a tiny ornamental cactus, because you're seriously lovely, and tiny ornamental cactuses would be my way of telling you that.  Either way, my big, red, sweater-emblazoned heart will go out to you, 'cause I care about you, citizens.  I sure do.

______I haven't much to say this week, so have a lovely Friday and weekend, you guys!  I know I will--I'm rather enjoying the refreshing coolness that's crept into my morning bike rides, as am I that spicy and invigorating scent of decaying leaves.  Ah, how magical the changing of seasons is!



Sweater: Old Navy
Shorts, red booties: Charlotte Russe
Tights: ASOS
Necklace: Charming Charlie
Purse: vintage, via Missing Lovebirds giveaway
How punny I am: priceless