i fear no fate

for the past couple years i've been wanting to get a tattoo, but never really pushed myself to set anything up. there is a boy i know who is a tattoo artist and i told him how i wanted one, so he helped me get things moving. he started it for me the begining of december. i was a big baby, though. i almost fainted too because i worked myself up so much, i felt really silly because i said i wouldn't make it a big deal. i got it above my knee. i am only part way through, i still need to do shading on the one side and above the knee on the other leg. it will say "i fear no fate" which is from an ee cumming's poem. this is the rest of the line from which i am using "i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)."  also to me it reminds me not to fear what happens to me, i will always be okay. 

some of the lines look a little shaky but that is because my leg shook a little a couple times (it will look better when done), haha. i hope to get it finished soon! 

090711

i'm so excited! the renegade craft fair will be in chicago this weekend! my sister is coming in from michigan to go to it with me. i went to it last year and had a blast! there were so many amazing items, i wanted to buy so much, but only went home with a print from berkley illustration  (which i love)! i love the free photo booth, the music, and the food! last year i saw elsie at her booth, but was too nervous to say hi. 

sweater weather

 

 

 

i hope everyone is enjoying their extended weekend! saturday night i made a cake to celebrate getting my official photography website up! later that night steve and i decided to start watching star wars episode 3: revenge of the sith. it had been so long since i'd seen that one! sunday night me, steve, and our friend stephen hung out. we walked over to lake michigan and i took pictures of them for the cover of their ebook they are collaborating on. i also took a lot of other photos (as seen above) because the lighting was so beautiful at sunset! 

i am very excited because sweater weather is here! this is my favorite time of year. i love the cool crisp fall air; it's getting me excited for everything i love about fall! the cute pumpkins, apple cider, crunchy leaves covering all the sidewalks, corn mazes, and apple pie! i also just love the coziness of it. 

what are some of your favorite things about the fall season?

something else

i always love everything nasty gal has in their shop! here are some of my recent faves! 

1. cutout collar dress  2. renee sweetheart dress 3. kate chiffon blouse

picnic + a movie

last night i went to the ravinia festival. it's the oldest outdoor music festival in the united states! there are a series of outdoors concerts & performances held from june to september. it's in highland park, il.


we arrived early and sat in the grass to enjoy a picnic. then we took our seats in the amphitheater to watch the lord of the rings -- the fellowship of the ring. the chicago symphony orchestra and an adult & children's choir performed as the movie played on a giant screen. it was amazing and i had a great time! i hadn't watched that movie in so long; i forgot how much i liked it. not to mention how good looking the character aragorn is, hehe.

pinata

i saw this amazing diy project over at the blog oh happy day today! i thought i would share it with everyone that follows my blog. the diy shows how to make a number pinata! this is a great project, easy and fun to do, and i may just do this for an upcoming birthday! 


click here for instructions for this project!

here she comes now

nasty gal

happy birthday

happy 19th birthday to my sister, becca!

you can stop by her blog and wish her a happy day, too!

click here.

yum yum

i got this new cookbook about a month ago and i finally took the time to make a recipe out of it! the book is called appetite for reduction. it is written by isa chandra moskowitz. she is also the author of veganomicon, vegan cupcakes take over the world, and vegan brunch. the book features 125 fast & filling low-fat vegan recipes. the book came out earlier this year. 

for dinner last night i chose to make the following recipes...

+ red thai tofu

+ bhutanese pineapple rice

+ green beens with thai basil

i couldn't find bhutanese rice, so i just used long grain brown rice. the meal tasted amazing! i was very satisfied and i had leftovers from it today! 

beauty and the beast

this past thursday i went to see the musical, beauty and the beast, at the oriental theatre in chicago. it was my first musical! it was also something on my list of 22 before 23, so now i have another item crossed off the list!

i was given two tickets to this as one of my graduation gifts. i brought steve along with me to the show; we both really enjoyed it! the theatre looked really cool on the inside. the set looked amazing and set changes were really smooth! all of the songs were fun! steve and i especially loved the singing and dancing for the songs "gaston" and "be our guest." 

today is july 4th. i've been hearing fireworks going off all weekend! there have also been a lot of nice days weather wise.

happy july!

062611

last week i had a couple of job interviews. i got a call from the one place i interviewed at and they are having me come in for a second interview! i'm excited! i hope everything works out. 

today is the gay pride parade in my neighborhood. i have my windows open letting in the warm air and sunshine. i've been hearing music and people having fun all morning! 

last night i lit a few candles in memory of my friend who passed away last week. the candle lighting was an event organized on facebook. i was having a difficult time this week. at first i didn't want to believe that my friend was really gone. a couple days after i heard the news i started to get a lot more emotional, it was the only thing i could think about. the past few days were happier because i thought of all the great memories i had with this person and how i was lucky to have known him. lighting the candles was really comforting. i know they were just candles, but they gave me such a warm happy feeling, to me they symbolized my friend's presence, he lit up the whole room all day! 


later this week, i am going to be crossing something off on my 22 before 23 list! i'm very excited!

goodbye, friend

rest in peace, brian.

you will be deeply missed.

february 14, 1990 - june 18, 2011

m.a.c. style sessions: spot on trend

last night i attended a m.a.c. cosmetics style session; it was a lot of fun! it was my first time attending one! to reserve my spot at the session, all i had to do was buy a $50 gift card that we could redeem for products at the end of the session. the session i attended was "spot on trend." the m.a.c. artists showed us three looks; they were "the everyday celebrity," "the academy awards," and "the grammy look." i was lucky to be a model for the grammy look (the face chart for this look ca be seen in the image above).

they gave each of us a welcome packet that had a notebook with face charts, the looks for the evening, and lots of space for notes to be jotted down during the session.

after the session i began to shop around! i got myself a pro color palette, studio moisture fix, and sheertone blush in peaches. 

studio moisture fix

pro color palette

for the look they had me model, i loved the eyes, but the bright lips were a bit much for me (so i took it off). here is a little snapshot i got of the makeup look on my phone (sorry for the low quality image). 

i hope to attend another one of these sometime!

hooray!

i am all done with school! my last day was last saturday and i graduated this past monday. it feels so wonderful to be done! now i can cross a few things off of my 22 before 23 list! my mom and sister came up to see me graduate; it was nice to see them again. 

this week i am taking time to relax and catch up on a lot of things i let go while i was in school. the thing i've been working most on this week is organizing! i'm doing a deep cleaning of every room in my apartment! 

iron + wine

it's officially my last week of school! i am very excited! 


this evening me, steve, brett, stephen, and brittney met up at millennium park for their free evening concert series. tonight iron + wine was performing. there were a ton of people there and it was mega hot out! after the concert steve, brett, brittney, and i went on our first double date (hehe) to the chicago diner for vegan milkshakes. it was a great night. 

me oh my

it's been a while since i've written a post! i've been very busy with school, but thank goodness everything is starting to wind down. i have this week and next week to go (and i still haven't missed a day)! it feels AMAZING to almost be done! i graduate on the 13th of june. i'm so excited! school has really overwhelmed me and has been keeping me busier than ever. the past few weeks i've been looking for internships, submitting my resume to places, and just trying to make a little time for myself.

i also haven't been blogging much just because my days are so similar: i wake up 5 days a week at 6 am and head to school and don't come back home until 6 pm. i'm happy thinking i'll have more to share as graduation rolls around and new stories begin: new job stories, summer fun, friends, events, beach days, date nights, and more!


today steve and i put our air conditioner in the window. last summer we put it in the living room window; this year we're putting it in our bedroom window, since sleeping in the heat is no fun. having a cool room to sleep in is going to be amazing!


does anyone have any fun plans for this summer?

american woman

nasty gal.

friday etsy favorites

happy friday, everyone! here are some of my current favorite items i found on etsy!

1. loop necklace - vincavere 2. painterly two piece bather - minnow bathers 

3. space cat and milky way print - corduroy 4. quartz stud earrings - alana douvros 

5. lunar stranger - promopocket

have a lovely weekend!

happy birthday!

happy 4th birthday to my dear kitty, mrs. francis picabia!

our story

this is the story of how i met my boyfriend, steve.

it was june 2005, and i had just finished my sophomore year of high school. i logged onto my myspace page and i had a friend request from a band, scopata di morte. i checked out the band's page and accepted because i saw they were local! i remember looking at the band's pictures, and this one boy, the drummer, caught my eye. i didn't know his name, so i commented on the band's page and asked "which one of you is the short haired one, tee hee." from there i think steve added me from his personal account. we started writing each other back and forth and i found out he lived just three miles away from me; i didn't even know it! our exciting little friendship began. we would write each other e-mails and chat on msn messenger until 5 am. we probably chatted online for about a month until we finally met for the first time.

in our chats i told him about how i liked photography. i was exploring different types of photography. steve and his other bandmate asked if i would be intersted in photographing this concert that they were playing in a few weeks. i was really interested! it was a concert on the beach in harbor beach in mid july. i was nervous to meet steve. on the day, i came there to take pictures of the concert event. there he was up on stage setting up for his band. i don't think we got to say hi at first because he was busy. i took pictures of his set and a lot of the others; it was fun! it was my first concert. i think i felt a bit disappointed because i didn't get to hang out with him for a lot of the show. toward the end of the night he came up behind me and tapped on my sholder and said hi! he asked if i brought any grapes with me like he said i should on msn messenger (i hadn't).

for weeks after the concert, steve, myself, and his friends (also all my new friends) would hang out with each other. i remember a few of his friends liked me actually, and i was overwhelmed with all the new boys. i liked them all; they were all so nice to me. at one point i really liked another boy who was hanging out in our group, too, but then he went off to camp for a few weeks, and while i was waiting for him to come back,  steve called my house and asked me if i wanted to go out to the movies with him. i asked my mom, and she said i could! it was the first time a boy ever called me to go out. it was a cute moment, and i remember i was so excited! we went out august 1, 2005, to see the movie the island at a near-by theater. during the middle of the movie, he asked if he could hold my hand! it was so cute! i think i was nervous. i remember riding home after the movie listening to as i lay dying. we hung out a few days after that, too. i don't know if it was him or me, but one of us asked if we were boyfriend and girlfriend now, and we agreed that we were, haha.

i was in my junior year of high school and he was a senior at his high school, and i remember getting in trouble a lot because i wanted to go to concerts and my mom thought it was a bad idea because of all the boys that were going to be there. the next year i thought would probably be our hardest because that fall steve headed off to college in a town about 100 miles away. i was starting my senior year of high school. we would talk on the phone pretty much every night, usually for about an hour. pretty often, he'd be able to come up for the weekend.

in fall 2007, i moved to the same town for college. he lived in the dorms and i had my own apartment. it was exciting being able to spend more time together again! he spent the night at my apartment pretty regularly, and at one point i got in trouble with the landlord because they thought steve should be paying rent for how much he visited and stayed over. in summer 2008 we moved into an apartment together for the first time and we've been living together ever since.

now we've been together for five and a half lovely years! we've grown together and like a lot of the same things, but we also have our separate interests. we became vegetarian and then vegan together. we've both gotten excited about moving to a bigger city and then we did it. we've both become interested in blogging and certain kinds of music neither of us liked in high school. i'm so glad we found each other, and i'm really glad we've been kind and understanding enough with each other to get through the hard times and stay in touch with what we like about each other. i'm really happy with us and i'm so excited for our future together, too!

10 little reminders, part 5

welcome to part 5 of my series "10 little reminders," the final part of the series! before i get into the final reminders, here is a recap of the first eight:

1. surround yourself with positive people
2. it's never too early (or late) to start doing what you love 
3. stay organized and keep up with your home
4. don't just be kind to others, be kind to yourself
5. everything will always be okay in the end
6. not everyone is going to like you, and it's okay
7. don't hold grudges
8. don't compare yourself to others

9. focus on today! many times i get caught up in thinking about all the amazing plans i have for my future: where i want to live, the family i will have, the house i'll get to paint and buy furniture for, getting married, and getting my permanent studio! yes, it all sounds so exciting, but what about right now? i know a few years ago this was all i could think about: living on my own with my boyfriend in a big city. and now that it's here, i just keep thinking about what's next. i think it's a good idea to just focus on today, to be in the moment. i am here now, i am living in chicago with my high-school sweetheart. i'm really happy about this, but i rarely focus on it and just appreciate it. time is going to go by so fast, and soon i'll be in my late 20s, married, working for myself, and perhaps with a baby on the way. i think it's good for me to appreciate the now when it's just me and steve and all the adventures the two of us will have. we are young and we are in school, anything can happen! i want to appreciate the days we are having right now.

10. take time to appreciate the ones you love. i don't talk with my dad much; he wasn't really a big part of my life growing up. one day a few years ago when i was just starting college, i decided to write him and get to know him more. since then, i've visited him a few times, and he even got to see my sister graduate from high school. i know he must have been so happy and proud of her. i'm very happy that he has been able to be in our lives again. it makes me happy to see him happy. sometimes i get caught up in my daily life, though, and don't always have time to contact him that much. i keep saying i'll write him a letter later. we can get so caught up everyday with school and work, and then when we get home, surfing the internet, etc. i think it's nice when we can take the time to sit down and call someone, write a loved one a letter, or just talk to your partner. as with the above tip: you will only be in this period of your life, surrounded by these people, for so long. take time to really focus your attention on the ones you love.

10 little reminders, part 4

welcome to part 4 of my series, 10 little reminders!

7. don't compare yourself to others. everyone is great in their own ways. if you're always comparing yourself to others, you will never be happy. there will always be someone who has more, who has accomplished more, or who looks better. also, when you compare yourself to someone else, you probably focus on their unique gifts. you probably don't have all the same gifts, but you probably have some of your own that you are forgetting about. embrace your own strengths. even with common measures, the only valid comparison can really be with yourself: are you getting better over time? charles bukowski said, "my contest is only with myself."

8. don't hold grudges. if a situation is already bad, it doesn’t get any better when we keep being unkind to each other. holding a grudge never really helps; it just hurts you and people around you. especially when it's over silly things. i've been in a few situations myself where at the moment i felt like i could never forgive a person. usually i've had to give myself about a year to have the courage to forgive the other person, and i think that is okay, although ideally it would be quicker. sometimes it takes a while to realize that what happened between you and another person was silly and not worth ruining a friendship over. forgiving someone feels great both for you and for the other person. when i forgive someone, i feel like a "big weight has been lifted" off my mind/heart/everything!

stay tuned for part 5, the final part of the series, next monday!

elizabeth taylor

 

rest in peace, elizabeth taylor.

1932-2011