San Francisco/ Big Sur August 2014 Pt. 2

The drive back home was beautiful. We (Ryan and I) took the coast home with our friends Dadi, Chindy, and Patrick, stopping at a farmer's market and Big Sur along the way. (And yes those are nicknames.)

Seeing giant containers of fruit may be one of the most exciting things to me. I LOVE fruit. I absolutely cannot get enough, it's a little weird. So here I am pressed up against the window of the car like a child freaking out because the road home is lined with farmer's markets, and all of a sudden we pull over to one. I was in heaven.

Another amazing thing about buying locally grown produce is that the prices are way more reasonable, and what you're about to eat is as fresh as it can get. The greens are greener and the fruit is vibrant and juicy. From the ground to your hands is the best way to go.

But the best part of going to side of the road markets are the photo ops- because who does't love being an artichoke or standing by that cowboyish tractor driver?

Even my boyfriend found a new friend.

Big sure was like a dream. It was my first time seeing it in person, and wow.

The one thing you're not supposed to say when you get back from a vacation was "the water was so blue!" because that's pretty much true for most vacation spots and it's all people hear about, but I mean come on. It was so blue! Blue and green and clear and untouched by human hands. 

The drive home may have been my favorite part of the trip because we saw so many beautiful views for hours. Driving 8+ hours down the coast to get home was definitely worth it.

San Francisco August 2014 Pt. 1

Special thank you to Lou who drove Devin, Ryan, and I up the 101 fwy for about 7 hours.

You can find his crochet art here (Louie's Loops). It's pretty incredible what this guy can make using yarn.

One of our first stops of the trip was Aardvark Books, which has thus far been a tradition whenever we go up to visit our friends Lou and Sara. I always go to the "new releases" section first, then to the "art history" section, circle the comic book table a few times, and leave with the newest volume of High Fructose art magazine.

There is apparently a cat that wanders the store, though so far I have only seen it's bed. No cat yet, which means I'll be back.

After lunch we found thrift store, NO, which had an awesome selection of gorgeous vintage items, from lux fur coats to sparkly 80's blouses to peculiarly patterned button ups.

Our next stop was Stuff, a store we found on the side of the road while walking to our bus. It was a giant warehouse lined with chandeliers and vintage curiosities.

If you're looking for furniture, clothing, vinyl albums, wall art, vintage ephemera, kitchenware, or anything that might have existed anywhere from 20-100 years ago, you'll find it here.

One place we absolutely had to stop at was a comic book store.

The poison of choice was Isotope Comic Book Lounge.

After a long day of walking (something suburban Los Angeles residents are not so used to), those super-hero-red couches were heaven sent.

The next morning, it was time to leave. It was a short but action packed trip.

Breakfast at the Bashful Bull was delicious. I had never tried an avocado shake until that trip and I think all of us agreed it was something we craved for the rest of the day.

Leaving San Francisco is always bittersweet. I realized that things don't just get better if you pack up and move, though a change of scenery every now and then helps clear the mind. My heart will always be in SF, but I'm incredibly lucky that I get to come back home with the people who make those trips so special.

Foreign Films To Watch

I personally love foreign films, specifically French and Japanese. True, it may be a bit much for some people to read the lines below the story moving so quickly on the screen, but for me it forces me into another world.  

For this first post I'm going to keep it a bit more modern with a few older exceptions, giving a list of just a few 'subtitle films' that I suggest everyone try to indulge in.

Amelie (French)

Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is a quirky young 'naive' French girl, who gains a sense of justice and decides to do good deeds for those around her. Through her journey of helping others, she discovers love, and nervously is pushed into confrontation with her dream man through a series of mysterious and quirky interactions. A bit surreal, and definitely feel-good, it's a fun modern classic.

The Dreamers (French)

Oh my, I adore this film so much. Matthew (Michael Pitt), playing a young American man studying abroad in Paris, befriends French twins Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). Inseparable, the twins lead Matthew around Paris during a time of student riots, and show him the culture of film and romance and a life he is fascinated with. As he dives deeper into their world, their secrets unfold in curious ways and Matthew learns more than he bargained for.

Blue is the Warmest Color (French)

The newest of all of these films, it really pushes the boundaries of what well known film generally shows, which is why I adore foreign films. There is a normality in what many people have hesitance to or prejudices against. Starring Adele Exarchopoulos, this film shows the unfolding of a young girl's discovery into who she truly is, and a new kind of first love that has to be hidden away. The strange and beautiful blue haired Emma (Lea Seydoux) helps to unfold truths in what has previously been a mysterious world to young Adele.

A Woman is a Woman / Une Femme est un Femme (French)

Anna Karina and Jean-Claude Brialy are such a charismatic couple. Karina, playing a striptease artist, is feeling desperate to become a mother. When her boyfriend reluctantly suggests his best friend to fulfill those feelings, things become complicated when she accepts the offer. It's sassy and contemplative and a fun watch.

Paprika (Japanese)

If you liked the film Inception, this is another one for you. Basically the guidelines for the Inception film, Paprika is an even more complex, trippy, animated version of that similar concept of traveling through other peoples' dreams in order to affect reality. When one of the doctors working on the "DC Mini" dream machine goes insane, Dr. Atsuko Chiba and her alter ego Paprika set out to find the cause behind the madness, discovering betrayal and danger along the way.

Any films by Hayao Miyazaki (Japanese)

This list goes on forever, though his better known films which I have watched and loved include Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki's Delivery Service. You really can't go wrong with any of these. They're lighthearted and each have their own soul-searching adventure that is exceptionally moving and enjoyable. Even if you are not interested in an animated film at first, you'll be happily surprised with how these will immediately grab your heart. 

The Modern Vintage Muse

What is it about this “Modern Vintage Muse” that I adore so much? I have been so fixated on the idea of decade hopping between the stereotypical ladylikeness of the 50’s and the mystical spiritual exposure of the 60’s & 70’s. I feel so strongly about my place in both worlds, both of which I would never live to actually see, and are now simply fantasy worlds to the younger generations. 

I do not pretend that these times were perfect or that I know the struggles they faced. This goes hand in hand with the "Gay Nineties" or the 1890's, which was portrayed so beautifully but was filled with horrible living standards and disease, and yet we look back upon it as lovely. 

I wonder how people will look back at our lives. I am not ashamed to be living in my own fantasy-like world. After all, it's beautiful, positive, and pleasant most of the time!

There is a strong separation in my soul between a feeling of an unbreakable power in a learned properness and ladylikeness, and a wild need for freedom and chaos and going back to nature. I think we all have both sides inside of us, though are taught to be ashamed of one or the other. As humans with complex hearts and minds we are everything all at once and will only ever be at peace with ourselves and the world if we allow ourselves and others to embrace these things. 

Perhaps this is why I’ve grown so fond of weddings lately. Just the idea of being able to bring people together in a beautiful environment of your own making and dressing in your nicest clothes and expressing your heart through one of the only traditions many cultures still share is so exciting to me. I can make my world hippie heaven and be a proper doll at the same time.

Special mention goes to the incredible Frida Kahlo (who I wrote a twenty page biography paper about a few years ago and could talk about forever), who often wore traditional garb from Mexico in a time where most women wanted to wear their new slinky party dresses with heels and jewels. She was traditional and she embraced the nature around her and of herself. She broke boundaries and pushed limits all throughout her life while being inspired by the past and the mystical but harsh truths of the present to create a life that would influence the future. She was the ultimate warrior in so many ways, and significantly by embracing the elements of who she was and also who she wanted to be/portray, which honestly are both a part of your singular true identity.

Love her music (which I do) or not, Lana Del Rey embodies the concept as well. Her “All American Girl” look lends itself to the Kennedy era filled with class and scandal or the Neil Krug world of film photography and desert sunsets.  She's become the ultimate character muse of this ever changing world of glamour.

Wildfox’s lookbooks are filled to the brim with the chaos of girliness, from the idea of dressing up for tea parties to dressing down in the sun. They do a lovely job of making the old world feel fresh and the modern world feel historic.

I love when you almost can’t even tell which decade it is- it’s just so honest to human nature to embody both sides of the polar spectrum. Strong, free, sexy and ladylike (and in great clothes) all at the same time? I'll take it.