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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Five-O-Clock Shadow

I really would like to stop talking about the weather, but there're only so many inane topics you can cover when you're not interested in getting into "real talk." I mean... I'd do that, but having real talk on a street style blog that's public is about as prudent as shoving as many Skittles as you can up your nose: At first, it's vivid and bursting with flavor, but after a certain point that it comes back to haunt you.

Besides the point. My glasses broke so I super-glued one of the ear-hangy-thingies (that's their official name, I'm pretty sure) back, but I didn't insert the metal hinge part deep enough so now they're too wide for my head and they fall every time I look down. It drives me up the wall.

In less than 24 hours, I will be on my way back to Atlanta, where the players play and all the sports teams worth rooting for are swathed in some variation of red and/or black [I'm (not) looking at you, Georgia Tech], so forth and so on. I expect a whirlwind weekend of Chinese food, cuddling my Mom for the first time in a year, escapade-ing around all the sights in Atlanta, tearing up an Animal Collective concert, riding an ultra-sketch Megabus whose center of mass is far too high for my comfort (If I don't get back, I careened off a cliff. No, I'm serious), and probably doing a little bit of MCAT work, as well).

Hopefully I'll have some interesting pictures up for your viewing pleasure. If not, it will be because my camera equipment got jacked at a Greyhound station at 4 in the morning. Yeah. I'm taking a Greyhound back. At four in the morning on Monday. Why, you ask? Well, I like to mix up my shady ventures, let all the creepy people take a shot at me. Also, I'm extraordinarily cheap. How's that for real talk?

Enough about me. Meet Liz, whose bleached denim shirt coral pants combination instantly caught my eye last Wednesday! Her outfit is reminiscent of all those slack-jawed afternoons that play no part in the grand scheme of our careers, but matter indubitably in the grand scheme of our lives. You know what I'm talking about?


To set the scene: You and your friends are broken down on the side of some interstate in Idaho (cause you're... on a road trip... to... Canada). It's sweltering hot, not a cloud in the sky, and you feel like you'll never get back to civilization. You briefly consider cannibalizing one of your friends (kidding). Then out of the honey comes a group of devastatingly handsome, chisel-jawed motorcyclists--they stop and offer you guys a ride. As you hop on the back of five-o-clock shadow's bike, all of you go riding around town on a delirious adventure! You make some bad decisions, some worse decisions, jump into motel pools naked screaming at the top of your lungs, sing karaoke along with the jukebox at the local pancake place, set off fireworks in the middle of some dark field, get lost in the woods, basically live like you're in an Urban Outfitters ad campaign, and by the morning you're back at your car with four gallons of (what you assume is) gasoline. This is what you'd be wearing. Well, not all of you. You've got that one friend in high-waisted leopard hot pants and a sheer white crop top, as well as five inch platform shoes.

What was she thinking?

The sun washes out every photo that is important to me ;_;
Love

Jenn


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

The reference to Mr. Rogers isn't a jab at Diana and Laura's outfits, I promise. Although I do find it quite adorable that they dress up teacher-style every Wednesday to go tutor small children. They are very teacherly, of course, and quite stylish too. I love Diana's collared dress/cardigan pairing; the yellow tights  stand out in the very best way. And I equally love Laura's color palette, along with the florals peeking out. The burnt orange and rose pink incites a warm yet Autumnal feeling. They are definitely a pair of sartorial educators.

It's more so a tribute to the pleasant afternoon I spent with the two--they were nice enough to pose for photos during the free hour I have between classes. This, after a well-portioned meal at the Commons (is it just me or do they serve significantly smaller portion sizes on Main campus this year?), was the cherry on top of a quite wonderful day, if I say so myself. It was a brief respite before I holed myself up in Featheringill until 3 AM and subsequently went quite insane... I think I need a break from school. Or, at the very least, more afternoons like this.


Here they are sitting on a tilted bench. Diana has just put away her cheetos and is feeling quite pleased with herself.


These are their angry-teacher glares. Diana's is very stern, but Laura's insinuates that she just might be thinking about killing you.

In my head I have secretly dubbed Tuesdays "terrible Tuesdays," for reasons.

I will now have to seriously consider the name "Wonderful Wednesdays" for Wednesdays, as well.

Thursday, of course, is and always will be Thirsty.

Love,
Jenn

Monday, September 24, 2012

Disoriented

I bet all of you are wondering (well maybe not) why I haven't posted all the photos that I have... Well, it's been a crazy weekend, in the sense that I wrote my essay the whole weekend and still had to pull an all-nighter last night. So today has been a weird sort of day when I've been grabbing at any sleep I can get and generally feeling off my mark. I thought I'd take some time to update, though, because I've got a lot of great street style for you and an outfit post as well, but it'll take me a bit to get it out there...

Although, you'd really think that I'd be better at studying efficiently by now, now that I'm a Junior and all? Instead, I think I've regressed to Pre-Freshman laziness and it's very disturbing. Sure, it's up to me to get myself out of this wallowing hole, but I also completely love it. But I hate it. See the dilemma?


I don't know if you can tell, but I've been focusing my attentions on the rather flowy dresses lately. It's sad to me that they won't be here for much longer, now that fall is pushing it's way in! I'm starting to feel the chill.

See you soon,

Jenn

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Sleep Is My Friend And My Rival

Some of you may notice that this post is coming at you at 3.00e8 meters per second at 2:40 AM from Featheringill, the hall where dreams go to die.

Kidding.

Sometimes I get weird when it's really late and school hits me over the side of the head like a cast iron skillet. I get all useless at working and mostly pop bubbles or virtually slice fruit to itsy bitsy pieces on Fruit Ninja. I guess I am apologizing for this post before I post it and while I post it. Surely I will also apologize for it afterwards.

Have I mentioned how valuable the lost art of color-blocking is? Its incomprehensible nature can often elude the sharpest of fashionistas. We'll buy things that come pre-color-blocked or pair otherwise cute colors that, together, look rather odious. So when I see it done right, that's when I like to get a picture. Combinations that generally work for me include:


  • Monochromatic Colors
  • Monochromatic Colors with different vibrancies (i.e. Chelsea from last week)
  • Almost-complementary colors (How good does blue look with yellow? Eh?)
  • Multiple, uneven ratios of interesting color combinations.
  • Neon/Pastel, although I've yet to see anybody on campus do this...
  • And... like Adesewa does here, complementary colors (essentially).

What softens the look somewhat is the peachiness of the blouse (as opposed to loud and bright orange). To me, this works better.

I feel like I am going crazy though, so I must sign off.

Jenn

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Singing the Sunday Blues

For the first time in a long while, I've had a weekend dedicated mostly to hedonism and pure enjoyment rather than work, errands, and an endless checklist of misery-inducing tasks (dramatic much?). In a majority of ways, it has been fantastic... Good food, good friends, a Beach House concert (!!!) and the delaying of my anxious ways, just for a little. It's been a long time since I've done something like this, so I definitely forgot how terrible it feels when Sunday afternoon hits you and you've still got a litany of things to do... Like an essay, amongst other things... Blargh.

And then the anxiety catches up to you, tenfold, as you begin to wonder whether it was worth it after all to spend most of your weekend doing not much of anything. The good thing about that is once anxiety accumulates and crosses an anxiety threshold, it can offset an anxiety action potential that depolarizes your laziness and catalyzes getting shit done. Sort of. Or it can pace around endlessly while you sit there and continue to play Fruit Ninja and pop bubbles and occasionally sigh with despair. It's one or the other.

At this point, I'm rambling. But I wanted to post this photo anyways, despite the puerile writing, because I love the dresses that Nixxi and Natalia were wearing when I ran into them last Sunday. The flowiness of maxi skirts and chiffon-everything that was in style this past summer really calms me, especially when the fabric floats and fluctuates in the breeze. Also, this blog acts as a checkpoint on my sanity. When things start getting fudgy in my brain, I take a second to update. I don't know if it's the photoshop-fiddling or the deluge of babble that I put here, but when I'm done I feel like I've accomplished a lot more than I really have.

 
How did you guys spend your weekends? Wisely? Or with reckless abandon?

Love,

Jenn

Friday, September 14, 2012

E'erday Struggles

Can I tell you how difficult it is to take pictures when I feel like I'm sleep walking? It's a direct result of me being short on sleep for the past week, for absolutely no reason. I guess I've been working a lot, but I keep feeling like I'm getting nothing done (this seems to be a direct side effect of doing research of any sort, whatsoever. Yuck). I was reminded that it's always the assignments at the beginning of the year that serve as rude awakenings concerning the quality of my work ethic and the quality of my work in general. Last year, it was a 66 on my first Physics test (but yo I'm not embarrassed because eventually I got an A in that class OH YEAH). This year, it's a not-so-well-written paper that's kicking my ego in the butt and my motivation into overdrive. I'm a hamster on a wheel.

As a result, my "creative juices" are running a bit dry, so I'm still using pictures from last week. I took this of Collin and Charlotte last Friday at Grins... I'm in love with bright colored maxi skirts for the S/S season and I also really like how put-together both of them look! I have serious bag envy, too, because I adore structured bags with elegant lining, just like Charlotte's. Although... if it weren't for the context of school, I'd assume these two were on vacation. They look so relaxed, it makes me want to sail off to some faraway place. I guess Friday afternoons at Vanderbilt are kind of like a mini-vacation, though. 


Happy weekending,

Jenn

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Pattern Pretty

I approached Taylor last week in Grins because her skirt caught my eye. I don't really know what I love more about it... the pleats, the pastel pink and white polka dots, or that perfect mid-calf length that's not too bothersome yet totally flattering.

She told me she got this from a homeless shelter, if I remember correctly... This just goes to show that thrift/vintage/second-hand shopping really can pay off! I'll have to take advice from Taylor because every time I go to Good Will I have horrible luck. I think it's just a lack of patience to dig through the trash in search of treasure... but I think I'll give it a another go one of these days.


For any of you car-bestowed-upon people living in Nashville, Thrift Smart near Nolensville Pike has student discounts on Friday, is what I hear! Definitely take the time to check it out if you're interested in vintage or thrift shopping. One day soon I will venture out there (actually, I lived super close to it all summer and never visited! How dare I?!) and check it out.

See you soon,

Jennifer

Monday, September 10, 2012

Sullen September

I love this weather; it's got a hint of crispness, yet the warmth of the sun still cradles the weight of your heavy bones. It's not too late, not too early, and change comes upon us quickly and stealthily. That moment when you blink, when your eyelids shut for just shy of a few mili-seconds--that's the divide. When you open your eyes again, Summer is bowing its adieus and Autumn is coming in. She is opening the door, she is rearranging her papers, polite, brisk, reserved, but means well (it's Winter you should be afraid of).

Now is a moment to breathe, a short respite from extremity of any sort. Yet you take a moment to address some sort of lingering wistfulness, because you know that it won't be long until you're dreaming of those dog days of summer once again. Gone are the days you never thought you'd miss, their drudgery and the quick-to-anger burn of the sweltering afternoons. True. But gone also are the clearest turquoise waters that you've ever seen, the freedom of non-structure, the faraway lands and tucked away spaces, the ever-so-slight rescind of time's bony fingers.

So let's take a moment.


Look closely, my dears. There are pennies in his loafers!

Jenn

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Can I Wake You Up?

I cherish the weekends like little gifts given to me by the (Union) gods. After working a month at a grocery store and two research labs, where weekends were just weekday numbers six and seven, I appreciate them all the more now that they're lazy days. They're days I like to spend catching up, taking it slow, experiencing new things or rediscovering old interests. Even so, or maybe particularly because of this, I detest waking up too late on the weekends. When this happens, I feel like I've really missed out on the most important resource: time. Particularly, happy fun free time!

While undergoing this tedious process of maturing into adulthood (...right), I've found that more than anything, time is what I'm missing the most. I'm lucky enough to not have to worry too much about money, because the worse option is having to miss out on meals, or a place to sleep for the night, or a relative degree of certainty about my personal safety... As grateful as I am for that, time spent with loved ones, time spent doing things I enjoy--that's what I feel like is most rapidly slipping through my fingers. It's easy, especially with my anxiety, to get caught up on the tasks that constitute a hefty checklist. It's easy to get lost between the pages, to miss seeing the forest for the trees. But weekends are a time to re-calibrate and realize the value of taking a breather, to remind myself that time well spent means a lot more than just finishing assignments...

It can be spent appreciating your surroundings, whether it be the presence of a friend, or the aesthetics of the moment, or the pull of something you find engaging or stimulating (but might be useless for advancing your career). I don't know. Anything and everything.


(Also, weekends can be great times to experiment with photo sizes that may or may not be too big).

Love you guys.

Jenn

Friday, September 7, 2012

Lonely Metamorphosis

The act of growing can be an awkward endeavor. In changing, you alienate yourself from the things you have known, and this may include people or habits or creature comforts you've come to adore. Yet, you're not who you will become, thus leaving you without a bridge to achieve some new paradigm. You're in this... awkward stage, where your goals and hopes are morphing inside you in some grotesque, unseemly fashion. Really, it's best to be left alone at times like these, and let things settle as they may before attempting to interact with the outside world.

Of course, some would say that there is no such thing as concrete snapshots of reality before something undergoes change. We are always changing, always growing, and the formation of self is never a complete thing. We are not who we were five years ago, or six weeks ago, or even a few hours ago. We are constantly responding to stimuli and absorbing it into our malleable identities, so maybe it is not such a lonely thing after all.

I got to thinking about how things change (and how they also stay the same) quite honestly because of topics in my classes, but also because of this street style photo I took the past week. If you've a keen eye, you'll notice that I've shot these pair of pants before, from around this time last year. But the way Chelsea has paired them with new accessories, a vibrant, monochromatic color scheme, and a new hairdo makes it virtually unrecognizable. It's what I love about style--with enough tweaking and a new approach, you can make something you've always had look completely novel.

My brain is too tired to connect all of this together into some poignant soliloquy that ties together style and the finicky details of change in identity. So I will just leave you the pretty.


Have a lovely weekend, everybody. Be kind to yourself (and others).

Jenn

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Summer Lasts Forever


Erm... is it frivolous to spend 8 bucks on a rather large vial of delicious, aromatic, thick, thick honey? Other than the reason that I've been eyeing it for a long while? No? Ok. That's what I figured. Well, to rationalize, taking a spoonful a day really does make the allergies go away... particularly a spoonful of Wildflower Honey, as the Honey Lady (as I have dubbed her) informed me. There's more pollen in it! And with my terrible pollen allergies and hay fever that even translates to Oral Allergy Syndrome (basically getting an itchy throat and swollen lips whenever I eat an Apple, or anything from the Plum family...), why the hell not. I want to eat fruit without hating life, and if I have to endure an extra helping of something sweet to do it, then I will suffer the consequences.

Getting back on the photographing horse is hard, by the way. I found myself hesitant to ask all the beautiful Vandy people whether I could take their photo. I'm reluctantly mindful of what others think of me... oh well. But all in all, there's a lot to be excited about. After spending a deeply painful summer working more than 50 hours a week every week, I've bought myself a camera and will be acclimating to its features for the next, oh, five years. Hopefully this means better quality photos for my blog, which will increase the aesthetic appeal, which will attract readers, which will up its reputation, which will... well, I haven't decided what the endgame is. All I know is I love photographing street style! It's a yearning that burns inside me, man. It's a fire I can't contain.

So. Yeah.

Did anybody else notice how freaking muggy and hot it is for September the 6th? Please stop it. Just stop. 




I realized my mini-photostream is actually pretty chronological. First comes flowers... then the bees... which results in gobs of gooey-golden honey for the masses to enjoy.

In case you thought I was forgetting street style... shame on you. I always save the best for last! I took this Tuesday afternoon in the heat of the day... walking sweat-i-ly down the Rand pathway, as I am often wont to do. I ran into this girl, who does not happen to go here (can anybody say visiting girlfriend?). Yet she was more fittingly dressed for the weather than I. The last vestiges of summer style and sensibility--crochet tops, of course--over a breezy black skirt... A simple color scheme, sure, but eye-catching nonetheless. I might pull out some crochet tops, myself... it's too hot even for chiffon.


Anyways, I'll be posting more often from now on! It's taken a bit for me to get on my feet (especially with school being so... ugh). Yay. Be excited. I know I am.

Jennifer