When it's Springtime...

...I'm going to sleep in light, airy things like this:

Aerie Vintage Chambray Romper (sold out online...)

...I'm going to memorize short poems, such as Louise Bogan's "Epitaph for a Romantic Woman":

She has attained the permanence
She dreamed of, where old stones lie sunning.
Untended stalks blow over her
Even and swift, like young men running.

Always in the heart she loved
Others had lived, -- she heard their laughter.
She lies where none has lain before,
Where certainly none will follow after.

...I will make mixes that include songs like Juana Molina's "Salvese quien pueda":

I've only had a day of snow, and I'm already looking forward to spring in Charleston, which is maybe the most beautiful thing imaginable. Only a little over two months until the farmers market opens, bringing with it giant containers of lemonade, stands selling crepes and fruit and flowers and fresh bread. There will be people and music and sunshine and everything that is good about spring.

A cure for the cold.

* Stay in bed a little too long indulging in outlandish dreams.
* Cinnamon hot chocolate: sweet and spicy.
* Bright Star: lush, stunning, stirring. As they fall in love, you do too. (Here's the swoon-worthy trailer.)
* Homemade chicken soup. (I will probably be having this for lunch and dinner.)
* Camp out in the bathtub for hours with a book and a glass (or bottle) of wine.
* Put curry powder on (or in) everything you eat.
* thigh-high socks.
* "Keep Me Warm" by Ida Maria.

Maya's first snow!

She had no clue what to do with herself.
Winter Wonderland has commenced.

Some things, and other things.

• J Crew's Passport to Portugal makes me want to hop a plane right now.
• The death of a reclusive legend.
• In lighter news, my fairly recent love for boiled eggs means I'm going to make great use of Egg Watchers. (Daily Candy)
• I can't wait to hop in the car to visit my folks, just so I can listen to this.
• Garance's photograph of Giorgia (the top image) literally takes my breath away. 1940s and modern at the same time.
• Speaking of taking my breath away, I have two words: Melvil Poupaud.
• The new iPad looks pretty fancy. Once they get the kinks worked out, I think it would be a pretty swell toy.

My bedroom companions.

I never want to get out of bed.

No one understands me like Florence.

I almost can't wait for this song to loosen its grip on me. The anguish, the force, it all becomes a lot to bear. But what would we do about these songs? The ones that you can't help but listen to on repeat. The ones that hang over your head while you sleep and wake you too early with their haunting rhythms and words, like incantations.

Today was Virginia Woolf's birthday.

1902

"I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past."

~"A Sketch of the Past," 1939

Sleek and Chic.

I love gray. Another great shot from The Sartorialist.

A completely different shape, look, and silhouette from the dress I featured on Friday, but no less eye-catching. This is a perfect look: the coat is timeless and those pumps are to die for.

Ellie Goulding.

I cannot stop listening to Ellie Goulding:





It looks like she's touring the UK with Passion Pit. After all, she does do a remix on their song, "Sleepyhead."
And she covered Bon Iver's "Wolves (I & II)"!

And this song of hers is just lovely:

I am obsessed with this dress and this song.

I want to wear this dress, the perfect combination of stripes and fluffy tulle, while I slow dance with a charming boy to the quirky wonderfulness that is Jens Lekman's "A Higher Power":

Happy weekend, almost!

Arawak for “mountainous."

Today is the birthday of writer Edwidge Danticat, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1969. The Writer's Almanac quotes her as saying this, "Writing was forbidden as dark rouge on the cheeks or a first date before 18. It was an act of indolence, something to be done in a corner when you could have been learning to cook." She has written beautiful novels and even her prose reads like poetry.

Here are some quotes by her that I enjoy:

"Love is like the rain. It comes in a drizzle sometimes. Then it starts pouring and if you're not careful it will drown you."
~from Breath, Eyes, Memory

"Their Maker, she said, gives them the sky to carry because they are strong. These people do not know who they are, but if you see a lot of trouble in your life, it is because you were chosen to carry part of the sky on your head."
~from Breath, Eyes, Memory

She also said this:

"I think Haiti is a place that suffers so much from neglect that people only want to hear about it when it's at its extreme. And that's what they end up knowing about it."

Unfortunately, this is one of those times. Luckily, there are plenty of ways we can help out:

* Visit the Red Cross's website to find out how you can donate money, supplies, or blood, or how you can organize or volunteer for a drive.

* Text "HAITI" to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross. (The $10 gets added to your next phone bill.)

* Text “QUAKE” to 20222 to charge a $10 donation to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

* Text "YELE" to 501501 to donate $5 to the Yéle Haiti fund.

* Make a donation at your local Publix. You can tack on any amount as a monetary donation for help and supplies at the end of your transaction; just ask your cashier. (I'm sure other grocery stores are doing similar things--just ask.)

* CNN's Impact Your World has a comprehensive list of relief organizations so browse around there.

It's been a week since Haiti, a nation already plagued by poverty and unrest, suffered the worst earthquake in the Caribbean in over 200 years. I don't even really know what to say, so I'll close with another all-too-true quote from Edwige:

"As rich as this country is, most Americans are very limited in their interaction with the world, unless the world comes to us in a very shocking way."

Maybe after this, we won't forget. Maybe we'll get so used to reaching out our hands that we'll keep them outstretched.

Vinyl I found at Goodwill today:

Carole King, Tapestry


Joan Baez, Diamonds & Rust


Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water

Frank Sinatra, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!

The Orchestra and Chorus of Henry Mancini, Dear Heart and Other Songs About Love

Bessie Smith, The World's Greatest Blues Singer

The Wührer Chamber Orchestra, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

Today at Goodwill was an absolute jackpot.

Art and life. Life and art.

When I was in high school, I had a book. It was part sketchbook, part journal, part collage. I carried it with me everywhere, pasting in photos, jotting down notes, having friends doodle in the corners of pages. The artist featured in the documentary Beautiful Losers treat their whole world like I did that book. They make things with whatever is around them and have been the group that influences today's advertising and creative culture. This film was the jam. Especially Margaret Kilgallen. Her life and work are extremely inspirational. Wow. (Also, this film is on Netflix Instant. Watch it. It's literally at your fingertips.)

On a related artistic note, how cool are Miranda July's scripted pillowcases? I want them:
Don't you love it when something inspires a creative spark in you? Anyone else have a run-in with creativity lately? I want to do another sketchbook...not just a journal, but a multimedia snapshot of my life as I'm seeing/living it.

Dace Spring 2010: can this be me, please?

On this dreary, drippy, drab Charleston Saturday, I'd like to transport myself to the dreamworld that is Dace's Spring 2010 line:







Ah, yes. Me with my perfectly-lined eyes and long messy hair, scooting around on my moped and hanging out with my cute dog before kissing my adorable boyfriend in a hallway and lounging around. Sounds like a pretty perfect Saturday to me. For the full effect, check out their Spring 2010 video that I posted back in September.

I've been MIA.

Hello, readers.

I've been MIA lately because, frankly, I haven't had much to say. My life has been consumed with counting down the days until Skins Season 4 premieres (13!):



I've been listening to "Cosmic Love" by Florence + The Machine pretty constantly:


I've been drinking a lot (a LOT) of home-juiced fruit and vegetable juices:

This is Granny Smith apple, golden beet, and dandelion greens juice.

Today at work I pondered the mysterious appearance of a Japanese paper wall clock in my cubicle:

There is no battery in it.

I saw Up in the Air yesterday, which I enjoyed, but I felt like I needed a hug afterward.

A lot of well-known actors have cameos in this film, like Zach Galifinakis and that guy from one of the Law & Order shows.

I'm also enjoying:

* "Two Gentlemen of Lebowski"--The story of The Big Lebowski written in the style of Shakespeare.

* Found Magazine's Find of the Day.

Happy Weekend!

A bulleted list tied together by the fact that I like and/or am interested in whatever the points contain.

• I spent a possibly embarrassing amount of time reading about cants on Wikipedia. A cant is a "secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group." How cool is that.
• Baggu is offering a one-day 50% discount on their x3 set through Lucky magazine's site.
• As if I didn't already have the travel bug, this is making the itch to leave the continent worse.
• I wouldn't change a single thing in this townhouse's decor. Not a single thing. OK, maybe I'd take down the antlers over the bathtub, but that's it. I love it.
• I just need season four of Skins to be on now.
• "Onion" by Sean Hayes is quaveringly lovely.
• It might be meant for weddings, but I'd wear this everywhere, all the time.
• ohmygoodness...is this person real? So romantic.
  

What a wonderful world.

My weekend consisted of: gingham shirts and pinstriped blazers, celebration, liters of beer, oysters and mussels, tables full of friends, temporary tattoos, jukebox dancing, "Suspended in Gaffa," great conversations, early Saturday Santi's patronage, that boy who you just know is going to get under your skin, peanut butter in the juicer, mix tapes, sweater-pants, Youth in Revolt, and more than I can put into words.

You see, this weekend I had a little birthday gathering. While my various groups of friends in Charleston are generally disparate, this was a time when the majority of them were gathered under one roof. And it was a blast! (Well, I don't know about the others, but it was for me, at least.) More than that, seeing that many people come together to have a drink and a laugh with me cemented my feelings: Charleston is my home and this is exactly where I need to be right now. Maybe not in the coming years, but for now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than sitting in the middle of a long wooden table picking out temporary tattoos, sharing tales, and drinking beer by the liter with people I care about. Because this is my blog and I can be as sappy as I want, I'll go ahead and say this: I haven't felt this loved in ages. What a way to start another year of life.

A Change Is Gonna Come by christoff

Oh, vimeo.

So apparently I like to steal Vimeo videos from my Facebook friends:

Oren Lavie - Her morning elegance from Mimì on Vimeo.

Skhizein (Jérémy Clapin,2008) from Bertie on Vimeo.

The day after.

My birthday, pictorially:

A red velvet cupcake from Cupcake!

Don't Hassel the Heise.

A Mad Men fan, loud and proud.

Dinner at Pane e Vino...yum...

My very own Le Creuset bouillabaisse!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this is my year.

It's here, it's here, it's here!

On my 25th birthday, I was making responsible resolutions. I was at my quarter-century mark and hoping for the best. I was hoping to fight the quarter-life crisis and form myself into the most well-rounded person I could be. I aimed for contentment with my situation--making the best of the life I had. This is not that year. I remember how bleak I felt; how I was questioning everything around me--my relationship, my job, my whole life situation. This is not that year!

Of course, there will always be questions and uncertainties, but for me, 2010 is like one giant open window. This is a new decade and I'm finally done with 25! I'm so excited about the future.

Mary Oliver, who I'm pretty sure is a kindred spirit, wrote a few things that have become my theme for life, especially in this new year.

From "Starlings in Winter" (visit The Writer's Almanac or Concrete Cowgirl for the entire poem):
"I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings."

And from "A Pretty Song":
"And I say to my fingers, type me a pretty song.
And I say to my heart: rave on."

So that's my goal for the year...to be like a starling in winter and to say to my heart, "rave on."

On the day before my 26th birthday, I love...

...these dresses from Anthropologie.
...impending eclipses.
...Christopher Silas Neal's illustrations
...plans for a fun weekend birthday celebration.
...delicate underthings, like here, here, and here
...this adorable rendition of "Obladi Oblada" (love his outfit!).
...my new ($17!) pinstriped blazer.
...this amazing line of natural beauty products.
...this "cookbook"
...this illustration of a NYC Missed Connection.
...my afternoon snack of plump blackberries and this white pear tea.

Good luck charms.

Ever since I received this little compass necklace from Cathy it's become a sort of talisman. The combination of it being a hand-me-down from a friend, the symbolism of the compass, and the fact that I got it at the brink of a new year (and decade!) makes it the perfect good luck charm. I've worn it endlessly. And it's really cute.

Anyone else have any good luck charms?

Also, here's a song that I love:


Come and touch the things you cannot feel.
And close your fingertips and fly where I can’t hold you
Let the sun-rain fall and let the dewy clouds enfold you
And maybe you can sing to me the words I just told you,
If all the things you feel ain’t what they seem.

Classic '60s style.

It's been days since I've seen An Education, and I still can't stop daydreaming about the styling of the movie. The clothes were all fitted printed sheaths with gorgeous swing coats, and the outfits are all accessorized with little hats and gloves and Ray-Bans. And the make-up--nude lips and copious amounts of liquid eyeliner, faux lashes, and hairspray.









Now if only Season 4 of Mad Men would start right now to help me fuel my obsession...