thoroughly digging right now: neutrals edition

After a lot of excitement and truly appreciated face-to-face time with people I love, I'm beyond thrilled to be hunkered down for a bit devoted to semi-solitary pursuits.  This includes finally focusing on my writing for the first time too long and going at it for real this time.  Though I'm currently catching up on a few things I've already promised to people, I will be looking for more more more to do very soon, so if any lovely readers want to point me in the direction of people/publications to pitch to, it would be much appreciated!  FULL SPEED AHEAD ON MY DREAMS

Another cool thing is that I'm also back to liking things again! Honest to god appreciation, y'all.  It's a good feeling, so I thought I'd share.

URSA MINOR

Obviously, Ursa Minor is the best name for anything, and so I'm quite happy that Elizabeth Hudson's clothing and accessories line is so good and full of the other things I'm super into when I'm not too busy loving bears and space.  These shots for Fall/Winter by Francesca Tallone capture the perfect dark-meets-light, dreamy, and unfussy thing that I'm always going for and never achieving quite this well.

 

VIVIAN GIRLS SIDE PROJECTS

Vivian Girls is one of those bands I'll always have a certain affection for, and so it's pretty cool that they all have side projects and that their ex-members (like Frankie Rose!) do cool things too.  Earlier this year, bassist Katy Goodman released her second record as La Sera entitled Sees the Light, which was the perfect happysad break up album.  Cassie Ramone's band with Woods' Kevin Morby, the Babies, will release Our House on the Hill later this year and I'm looking forward to it.  I think the Vivian Girls charm for me, personally, is that they always seem to provide something I need at the time.  Like, right now I'm inching towards the end of summer and it's still too hot and I'm just over it and tired and I don't really want to talk to anyone about anything.  These bands are perfect for indulging my angst without getting too deep into it.  

THE BABIES - "Moonlight Mile"

RENNES & METRODE

Rennes and Metrode are a collaboration made in heaven.  I was impressed by the quality of the Rennes pieces I handled at Myth & Symbol when I visited and have dug Metrode's aesthetic for a while now, so I'm naturally smitten with these beauties. It looks like I've already missed out on the tote, but perhaps there will be a pouch in my future!

AUBREY PLAZA


Despite compelling evidence to the contrary, I find it pretty hard to actually care about celebrities.  Gossip's entertaining and all, but I typically don't feel any sense of personal investment.  Now and again, though, I do get fixated on certain people who I will almost definitely never meet, and right now I have it bad for Aubrey Plaza.

I love her on Parks & Rec and have always thought that she's really, really pretty...but it wasn't until watching an interview with her (and then like a dozen more interviews with her in rapid succession) that I really became obsessed.  Like, I cannot even tell you how much I want to be her. Well, I could, but you would definitely judge me because it's super pathetic.

MAGGIE

My sister got a kitten recently and, though all kittens are wonderful, this one is especially great, I think.  The day I met her, she spent a full hour napping in my lap and, though I was exhausted myself, the thought of closing my eyes and missing a single second of her cuteness didn't quite seem worth it.

summertime sadness

Earlier this month, I snuck away to visit Boston & New York for the first time since moving back to Texas for a much needed visit with everyone I've been missing too much.  I feel like to adequately describe how important it was to me would inevitably end up in mega cheesball territory, so I'll just say this - nothing quite like staying up 'til dawn with people who know and love you right down to your rotten core to peel a few layers of cynicism right off of you!

I also got to spend time with folks I don't know nearly well enough and meet a slew of good new ones!  However, one downside of going above and beyond my normal level of social interaction was that I went through spells of complete brain death. To the lovely people who I could only respond to with blank stares and jumbled thoughts that sounded bad in my head and worse when said aloud, my apologies.  Here's to a next time if you'll have me?

Anyway, here are my disposable camera pix!   Initially I wanted to have an entire roll of sad faces, but I slipped up and got some smiles.  Angst typically is not a challenge for me, but I guess having fun sometimes gets in the way.  I'll let it slide.

Life is pain. The beach is pain.

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Time spent with Noelle and Alanna is like having a devil on top of each of your shoulders and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Wistful porch culture forever.

Squeezing fresh lime juice onto flaming hot Cheetos before checking out some art, obviously.

Michelle, Pam, and Venice are not pleased. 

Pam, Matt, and I all desperately need to live in cities so we can spend all our time talking about how great nature is and venture out into nature-y settings in clothing that is not appropriate for outdoor activity, so we're a natural team.  

Pam and Dana slurpin' slurpees.  Dana is one of those people who I had only met once before moving, but became tight with after we lived very far away from each other and now I feel very comfortable reaching out to her if I need fashion advice or someone to text about my feelings (important things.)  Getting to bring our friendship's newfound slumber party vibes to real life was a treat!  

Noelle, Anna, and Alanna being treated to my professional portraiture skills.  

 Finally, a person I am not friends with being angsty without my explicit direction!  The last night of my trip, Noelle, Alanna, and I saw Dirty Beaches & Ice Age and it was excellent and the events that followed turned into quite the send off.  Noelle and I initially met when she recognized me from the internet at a Best Coast show, which I maintain is the most hilarious and stereotypically me way I have ever met any of my friends.  She became one of my very favorite people quite quickly and music has been a big part of that, so going to a show together again was exactly what my nostalgic heart needed.

I'm (slowly getting around to) putting up the last of my phone shots from the trip on my Instagram, too, so let's be friends there! 

everything goes wrong

I had hoped for a super chill birthday last month, but even simple things always get stressful and I ended having to postpone plans so I could search desperately for my cat for two hours because he thought it would be cute to go missing.  

I still think it was a birthday success once it got started, though!  Nature + people I like + a dog I love + Bouldin Creek with their heavenly chipotle pecan pesto and $2 glasses of flavored champagne is kinda foolproof.  

Mociun for UO

Every once in a while, Urban Outfitters will do a designer collab that makes me almost forget how shitty they are (and can we please talk about how strange it is that Urban and Rookie are doing a thing together?). Mociun for Urban is sort of perfect. And by sort of perfect, I mean I need every piece in the collection. My head should be resting on the throw pillows right now. Now I have to deal with my moral dilemma at wanting to order some of the pieces.

SHELVES!

What is it about being in your mid-twenties that suddenly makes organization and shelving units so appealing? I'll be moving into a new apartment next month with limited kitchen storage and have been obsessing over shelving possibilities. After seeing how expensive ~rustic shelves are over at West Elm (see below), I've decided to take on the task of making them myself! All I need is a drill and some wood. I CAN DO THIS! And do not fear - there will be pictures and a tutorial: "Shelves - How to overcomplicate what should be simple"

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sorry no source - from pinterest oblivion

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goodbye, girls

People who know me well are aware that I'm a big advocate of bands breaking up at a point in their careers when it still hurts to lose them.  And dammit, you've done it to me, Girls.

Frontman Christoper Owens announced this morning that he was leaving Girls, and anyone who's a fan knows that he is Girls, so the band is effectively over.  To me, he's intriguing because of the seemingly opposing qualities he possesses - he's damaged but pure, flamboyant but humble, universally appealing in his isolation.  Earlier this year, he posted sixty pictures from his trip to a cactarium to his Twitter account in rapid succession, which I thought was a very Kanye West thing to do but knew it was not done for Kanye West reasons.  That's what I love about Christopher Owens...his sincerity and passion; I don't think they are something that he should ever compromise, and I hope this decision is one he made to hold onto what's great about him.

I can't be too sad about the breakup, though. After all, I've been lucky enough to see them a few times at various points in their career; as the opening act yet to release their record in a dirty club where I tried (and failed miserably) to explain to those around me why they were special before they took the stage, playing an acoustic set in a record store full of enthusiastic kids, and, most recently, at a festival performing on a flower-filled staged to god knows how many onlookers.  One girl in the front row was trying desperately to get his attention and let out quite the shriek when he finally, sheepishly waved back. At one point, I had to shift positions because the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne was standing in front of me blocking my view with his signature salt and pepper curls. It's nice that I always saw the rise and never the fall, you know?

Anyway, here are some pictures that I really love of the band taken by Sandy Kim in 2008 to remember these two together by.

Best of luck to you, Christopher Owens.  

baggu

I'm sure all of our fellow internet fan girls have already seen images of the latest Baggu collection circulating around for a while now but I'm just so smitten I can't help reposting these. The leather bucket bag is especially wonderful.

images via shop.creaturesofcomfort.us, designsponge.com & baggu.com