I blame Claudia Kishi

I am about 12 years too late for this song, but it’s been running through my head for the past couple of days. If it was ever released on Rock Band, I would jump for joy and sing the shit out of it.

I kind of wish my 13-year old self had been into Lush instead of certain other bands that I will not name here.

(from Under the Radar Mag)

Anyway, had I been into Lush at 13, I would have totally rocked Miki Berenyi’s red hair. Oh hell, I would totally try to do that today if I thought I could get away with it. I wonder if Hot Topic still sells manic panic.

This was going to be a longer entry, but it took me way took long to figure out how to make embed the youtube vid. And contrary to popular belief, just copy+pasta the youtube embed code did not work. And then I broke the blog. Ahem.

Anyway, I did find my way to an Old Navy over the weekend with sad results. The shorts were picked over and the ones that were left were way unflattering. So I went to the bookstore and bought some books to make up for my lack of summer clothing. I’ll just have to be indoors or something this summer, I guess.

I got tired of my blog name. So I changed it. And amused myself in the process. However, the Beau asked me who Claudia Kishi was. I’ll assume that the Beau never dedicated his life, from age 8-12, to The Baby-Sitters Club. Claudia Kishi was one of the first Asian (excuse me, Japanese!) characters that I came across that did not fall under the “model student/fresh off the boat” characters in kid lit. I mean she is a flat character, but at least she’s different!

Anyway, reading BSC convinced me of a few things:

1. When I turned 12/13, my life was going to be kickass! Parties, dates, going into town to hang with my group of friends, solving mysteries, and financial independence through baby-sitting!
2. Claudia Kishi had the best style in the world. The BEST!
3. Vacations = will find true luv!
4. Middle school was going to be awesome.

Needless to say, I was wrong on all counts. Numbers 1,3,4 never happened. I did get it into my head that Claudia Kishi should be my style icon and I should try to be like her.

This is where I would examples of her dressing skills, but I have no idea where my BSC books are located. Thank goodness for the interweb!

Fashion Is Spinach pulls together some examples of Claud’s artful fashion sense. And there’s a whole blog dedicated to what Claudia wore.

For example: (taken from what claudia wore)

“Today, for instance, Claudia was wearing lime green bicycle pants, a long, long bright pink shirt, and a cropped lime green striped shirt over that. She was also wearing black hightop leather sneakers with pink butterfly barrettes clipped to the laces. She has two feather earrings in one ear (lime green, of course), and a tiny pink heart in the other.” -Kristy for President

I fully blame Claudia Kishi for my purchase (when I was 9) of electric blue leggings that I wore for the next six months. And the rest, I’ve repressed. I’m sure one day I’ll be strolling around Anthropologie and it will all come rushing back to me and the Beau will find me in a fetus position underneath one of Anthro’s pretty tables.

If I had any sense, or an older sister, I would have quickly realized that what works in a piece of fiction, does not necessarily translate over to real life. Fortunately, I snapped out of this phase relatively quickly and there is no pictorial evidence of this failed experiment. Sadly, because of this sartorial experience I am cursed with wearing a daily uniform consisting of: jeans, a solid color tee/threadless tee, chucks/flip flops, and a hoody if it’s cold outside. Apparently, I’m punishing myself for the folly of youth.

Well, I say, no more! I’m not saying that I’m going back to the Claudia Kishi end of the spectrum, but I think I can do with some fun injected into my closet. Or I could totally go back to my lazy uniform ways. Whatever, I’ll just pretend online and until I make the six figures, I’ll stick to what I know. Ehh, it’s a toss up.

I truly forgot where the hell I was going with this, however, I’ve had this title in my mind for months now, so I’m gonna run with it until I give up or it works. HA! And can I just say that for the past hour or so that I’ve been working on this entry, I’ve had the actual BSC show song stuck in my head. Y’all, I was so excited when the cable company added the Disney Channel as a part of the line up and I turned to it on one day and the Disney Channel was airing the BSC show! A rerun of course and pre-Lizzie McGuire Disney Channel days (I think). Anyway, say hello to your friends!

Oh good, I can finally stop thinking ’state of blog’ over and over again..

In other news: my fav. fashion blog of all time has left the building. :(. RIP A Serious Job Is No Excuse. DC will truly miss your advice.

However, I am super stoked to discover a Lurlene McDaniel blog and of course two new blogs about the baby-sitters club/young adult books I read when I was a kid.This ain’t no Gossip Girl people! It’s the real deal! Also I’ve only read up to book 3 in the Gossip Girl series because my sister stopped buying them and I’m totes ashamed to be buying GG books, yet I make a weekly trip to the (one very awesome) used bookstore to look for old books I used to read. I swear I had a ton, but somehow those disappeared and all that is left in my closet are my sister’s manga books. Ahem, anyway…

I’m pretty sure for one summer before I was 16 (before the driver’s license and something that resembled a life) I was obsessed with Lurlene McDaniel’s books. Probably because that’s what the library carried. I mean hello, what is not to love about cancer(possible death)+(possible) love interest?

Which is how most of them go. Girl gets cancer/life threatening thing+Girl meets guy with cancer/super-understanding/sick in another way and either the guy dies and leaves girl with a new lease on life/new understanding of life OR the girl dies. Cheery, these books are(n’t).

Not all of them were like that though, I remember one book where a girl had like tumors in her face and so she had to get them removed and it messed up her face and she was all ashamed of it and got made fun of at school and shiz. Then she met a guy in the hospital who was temporarily blind and got all emotionally involved with him…yadda yadda yadda…no one dies and actually ends on a somewhat happy note (the doctor thinks she can get plastic surgery to repair her face and the dude can see and is still going to hang out with the girl because the INSIDE is what counts, man.) I can’t remember anything about php to save my life, but this I retain. Way to go brain!

Anyway, I’m just excited to read that the McDaniel blog will recap the Amish books. So apparently, I needed to update this blog and inform the public…

And I’m intending to find cheaper looks for the whole Lucky (Feb. 2008 with Rachel Bilson) spring trends thing, because I have nothing else to do with this blog. Although, if I know the internet and I’d like to say that I do, that idea has probably already been done again and again. However, I’m okay with that because none of the blogs I read have done it. So there.

I need to get my hands on approx $825.00 right now.

I fell in love with this jacket when I was at the store and I need need need neeeeeeeeeeeeeed it.

Mike & Chris leather jacket

Sadly, I am not a trustafarian so the jacket will remain not in my closet.

The combination of the Sufjan Stevens christmas cds and the smell of holiday cookies baking in the oven pretty much put me in the mood to celebrate the holidays.
And by celebrating, I mean shop for my loved ones of course.

But what the hell…what do I get people? I put together a list that might help others cause it sure ain’t helping me out. Phooey. Yeah, I know there are like 19 days left til Christmas, but if you’re anything like me, you haven’t done your holiday shopping yet. Unless you’re giving Hanukkah gifts, in which case…if you’re still looking for gifts for kids, try Pokemon shiz. Oh, and this list is completely stuff I would totally buy for myself. So I guess this list really helps no one, but it lets me update my blog for December, so I might as well give it a shot.

1. For the person who adores all things Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years
(Fred Flare : $22.95)

Audrey Style
(Amazon - $26.40)
This book is the reason why I racked up huge fines from the library. Yet, I still don’t own it.
It’s just pictures of Audrey and her clothes. A great coffee book and probably great for someone you don’t really know.

Audrey Hepburn 5 pack
(Amazon - $30.99)
Contains: Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Paris When It Sizzles, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Your basic fan probably has already seen at least three out of the five movies, but if not…hop on it!

I do adore:

Charade
(Amazon - $29.99)
Buy this if only for the following exchange:

Peter: We don’t know each other, do we?

Reggie: Why? Do you think we’re going to?

Peter: I don’t know — how would I know?

Reggie: I’m afraid I already know a great many people. Until one of them dies I couldn’t possibly meet anyone else.

Peter : Yes, of course. But you will let me know if anyone goes on the critical list.

It looks like there a ton of different editions of Charade out there and it looks like the Criterion edition might be one of the better remastered ones. Take it from the girl who bought one of the five dollar editions - not worth it. It looks bootlegged even though it’s a legit edition. Booo!

2. Hell, for the person who adores all things “Old Hollywood”.

The Complete Thin Man Box Set
(Amazon - $44.99)

Who wouldn’t adore Nick and Nora on their television screen, drinking and being witty? Alright, a lot of people wouldn’t, but hopefully for someone who claims to love old movies, this would be a dream box set. As with the case with all sequels, the original The Thin Man (17.99) is the best.

Bringing Up Baby (2-disc)
(Amazon - $24.99)

Or you could pick up Katharine Hepburn’s autobiography. Or try out a Spencer-Hepburn movie. Desk Set is a lot of fun, but I think more people are into Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (bonus: Sidney Poitier).

3. I completely forgot my headings.

Interactive Sherlock Holmes
(Fred Flare - $24.95)
I’m sort of in love with this book yet I fear that it could be really cheesy. The one person who reviewed it on amazon gave it four stars, so not the biggest help there.

Vintage Name Rings
(Day Lab- $16.00)
If you know someone named Shirley or Shelia, and if she always complains about how she can never find anything with her name on it…especially when she was a kid so she had to settle for some other name that was close to her name. You could totally make her holiday.

Initial Necklace
(Day lab - $12.00)
I think this initial necklace is my favorite. It’s a little bit different and I’m a sucker for script. Also, I’d pick X or Z, but that is just me.

StoryPeople - I like the idea of it. And the one person I know who has a print seems to love it. Although her mom did get it for her, so not exactly the greatest endorsement right there. Easiest way is to go to top ten selling stories and work your way around. The website drives me a little crazy because you click on a story and then you have to navigate over to left hand menu and mouse over ‘Products’ to see if you can pull up what the print would look like.

This print is probably one of my favorites (I’m a sucker for love).

Exploding Dog is always good for a print or perhaps the book?

Diesel Sweeties always has cute shirts.

And you can never go wrong with beauty sets.

Dior Detective Chic Eye Palette
(Sephora - $49.50)

Fresh Sugar Star Treatment
(Sephora-$85.00)

Philosophy Home for the Holidays
(Sephora - $30)

And finally, if you know someone with a region-free dvd player (lucky), consider giving this box set as a gift:

Spaced- Definitive Collectors’ Edition
(Amazon.UK - roughly 30 bucks American)
Seriously out of all the items on this list, this is the one that would make me jealous.

There is an unofficial outfit that (most) all the girls around campus wear around here:

North Face Denali Jacket

+

Either black leggings or a pair of PINK sweat pants tucked into

+

Uggs

At first it’s a little disconcerting to notice the same outfit over and over again. However, once you experience the fun winter tempatures that makes up Cold Town, Pa, it becomes clear why almost every single girl has adopted this outfit as their normal winter wear. Y’all, it is muthereffin cold outside. If someone were to try and sing a certain duet song that involves telling the other how cold it is outside, instead of singing the reasons why I couldn’t stay, I’d be like “Damn straight boy. Pour me another glass of wine.”

Baa baaa says the sheep who bought a north face fleece. In my defense, it’s the kids size therefore cheaper and I needed a jacket that landed somewhere between nice 3/4 coat (a dumb buy on my part, but I love it so much) and a jacket suitable for snow. I promise I will never wear leggings tucked into ugg boots with it. I swear.

I know I could have probably found a jacket warmer and cheaper than I ended up buying, but I was cold and ready to throw down whatever was needed to keep my top half warm and toasty. Normally this would be where I would post a few examples, but I don’t see anything that really catches my fancy that falls under my made up parameters.

(The song is “Baby, it’s cold outside“)

Things that I want this week (but will probably never buy):

Free People Newsroom Coat

Theory Button Down

J.Crew Cashmere Owl Critter Cardigan 

These days with the job-blues and the mean reds, the year 2007 has not been the year of me. Mostly due to the fact that I am not the most happiest camper with my job and I have no direction in my life. However, thanks to youtube, my eyes are opened…

“My life dreams are to drop out of school, to be on girls gone wild, and to have my baby!”

When I was in high school, I used to wear a different body and body work or victoria secret body splash like every week. At one point I brought every single body splash thing I owned to a school trip and people were amazed at the sheer collection of the bottles. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until much later that I learned that you should test out different scents with your skin to make sure everything works out. I guess it’s a good thing that stuff smells uniformly on everyone.

Alas, that is why Stella McCartney’s Stella will never work out for me. I love the scent, but I just can’t get it to work with me. I once made Sofie smell it in a mad dash of hope that she would approve (she is usually pretty pro-things for me) and she was like “oh…no…just…it doesn’t…no.” Someone suggested the body lotion which I happily bought. It smelled like ‘Stella’ and it smelled great. The thing is every time I use it, I can see the lotion go down and down…since I am not a lotto winner, I use the lotion sparingly, like on special occasions and even then just trace amounts are applied. One time, Chester applied some and aside from my screams of pain, he smelled very pretty. I did joke that some larry the cable guy type was going to come up to him and be like “You smell purrty, boy!” Sadly, I never had to defend Chester’s honor and he never touched the lotion ever again.

Anyway, Stella McCartney introduced Stella Sheer. The clouds parted for I could wear the scent and have it smell nice. I’m pretty sure I did a jig in the aisle of Sephora. The problem is that was two years ago so now I’m in search of a more summery scent to wear. The nice thing about buying body splash is the fact that it’s pretty cheap. Perfume — not so much. So I don’t have much of a perfume collection because I have become picky about what I like and don’t like and I spend all my money before I can get to the perfume counter.

That might change with Marc Jacobs Splash - Orange. I was a little wary at first since MJ and I haven’t had the best luck with each other, but I think I freaking love it. I kept smelling my wrist at work and probably freaked a coworker or a customer out. It’s cool though because it smells that good.

 There is a Ted Leo/RX contest over at threadless that makes me want to learn how to draw, be creative, and learn how to use a graphic design program thingy.  Can I learn four years of graphic stuff in one week? Hmmm…

Damn the fact that there is no artistic bone in my body! It prevents me from winning this contest!!