Going Home Again

After much deliberation and many indecisive moments, I have decided to move back in with my parents. This was not an easy decision, and I am extremely apprehensive about it, but as of right now, logically speaking...it seems to be my best option.

I have not lived with my parents steadily since high school. Sure, there were a couple of years after high school when I was going to college and living at home, but I was always spending time elsewhere. There were summer vacations spent here, there were intermittent periods of unloading all my belongings just to pack up again and leave.

Comings-and-goings of that nature, I have found, amount in an excess of...stuff. Years and years worth of junk. I would post some pictures of the clutter...but it looks like a hoarder has been living there. My bedroom was demoted to a storage closet about two years ago, amassing not just my junk, but my family's junk as well.

My mission for the past couple weeks, which will span into as many weeks as necessary, is to get rid of EVERYTHING that hasn't been touched in over a year. So far I've parted with three garbage bags full of clothes (2 closets and 2 dressers, and I still can't fit everything I own? Give me a break.) One bag of shoes, three bags of things stuff for the trash, one bag of books...And I'm maybe halfway through the trenches.

BUT!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is this:

Tempaper is a company that makes removable wallpaper. It's similar to a contact paper, made of vinyl, and goes on as a decal.










The wall behind my bed is flanked by 2 closets, making it a perfect candidate for some snazzing-up. I've chosen the Honey Jade Marrakesh pattern, and am yet to choose a wall color to go with it.

I want to avoid a Moroccan theme, so I plan to keep the rest of the room pretty neutral (Orange? Purple? No thanks.) I'll update as the project progresses. Heres hoping it goes well!

Holiday Gift Buying

Well, it's about that time again. Thanksgiving is a few days away (delicious) and then come the other holidays. The present giving holidays. The ones where you bestow beautiful gifts on the people you love, all in the hopes of putting a smile on their face and giving them something new and wonderful to use/wear/play with/love.

What could be better, you ask? Well, apparently when you're me, going shopping for yourself is better than shopping for other people.
Now hold on before you go getting all judgy on me.

Every November, (ie: the beginning of the cold season, ie: no more summer clothes, ie: WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?!) All the stores go into holiday mode with ridiculous sales. 30% off my entire purchase? Yes, I will be buying that sweater, a pair of pants, scarf, and ohh look at those necklaces!

November feels far too early to do any holiday gift shopping. Perhaps that's the procrastinator in me, but until December rolls around, I can't seem to equate shopping with buying gifts for people. So I end up going into stores, lured in by their sales (you tricky marketing people, you!), rationalizing (as I mentioned before) that I need new winter clothes, and spending money. On myself. Am I the only one who falls into this trap? I can't possibly be. Or maybe I just suck at not shopping. hmm...

Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly do love buying gifts for people, especially when I think it's the PERFECT gift and know they'll adore it. But...until December rolls around...

So with that in mind, here are some things I've been coveting:

This fabulous Jcrew sweater with pink sequins. Practical? No. Affordable? No. Beautiful and fun and perfect and I want to own it? Yes.

Really now. A sweater that sparkles.






Can you ever really have enough plaid shirts? I mean, if I'm going to potentially possibly maybe ever live on a farm, I need to stock up. 8 is not enough. I need 9. actually, theres a blue one similar to this that I probably need also, if we're being realistic...

This watch. Now, I already have a really awesome Marc Jacobs watch, so I'm having a rough time figuring out a justification for this one, but boy is she perty. 

Confetti Ornaments. I LOVE CONFETTI! wait a minute...perhaps this could be a gift to give someone else! Aha! 

Anyway, I suppose my point in all of this is...well, i'm not sure I have a point. But shopping has been on my mind, and I've felt (mildly) selfish for only wanting to shop for myself...so I figured...I should probably write about it.

In other news, (AKA: why I haven't been blogging very often) I've been getting A's on all my school assignments. woo-hoo!

30 by 30

30 by 30. A list of 30 things to accomplish by the age of 30. I have 5 years to go.

In no particular order, I present my list:

1. Leave New York

2. Graduate College

3. Earn a Masters Degree

4. Run a half marathon

5. Go to Asia

6. Go to Australia

7. Buy a car

8. Ride an elephant

9. Drive cross-country

10. Cut my hair short

11. Go to Mardi Gras

12. Own a bicycle and ride it often

13. Start my career in interior design and NEVER WORK IN A RESTAURANT AGAIN

14. Be a vegetarian for 3 months

15. Get Married

16. Support myself financially

17. Live in a house

18. Keep up with friendships

19. Buy a Louis Vuitton bag

20. See the pyramids in Egypt

21. Visit Berlin

22. Settle into a home I love

23. Pay off all my credit card bills and achieve good credit!

24. Save $5,000

25. Enjoy yoga

26. Learn how to use a camera. properly.

27. Be proud of myself

28. Be a good daughter

29. Spend all the time with my family that I can

30. Be happy with who I am

So there you have it. Some of them are more important to me than others, but all of them are things that I want (or wanted and achieved). Perhaps my list will change as time goes by, perhaps not. But as it stands right now, this is my list. And if you happen to have the means to help me achieve any of these...DO IT! TAKE ME TO GERMANY! TEACH ME TO USE A CAMERA! ENLIGHTEN ME ON THE ART OF YOGA!!! 

The State of Things

This is my drafting table. That is a floor plan and reflected ceiling plan of my classroom. 

This is my desk. Those are watercolors and a color-matching project.

These (and my crap job) are the reasons why my blogging has become so intermittent. But it's a means to an end. And...pretty enjoyable, for the most part, so I really have no complaints. That is, aside from the lack of free time. And sleep. But those come with the territory.

Sometime soon I'll write about my whacked-out professor who doesn't actually teach us how to do anything, just sort of explains what each project is in the most confusing way possible. It's as if he sits at home contemplating how he can make as little sense as possible. He also sort of resembles a hobo. I'll try to snap a pic of him tomorrow tonight. It will enhance everything else I write about him.

Till then...

Inspired By:

I find inspiration for my style from almost everything I come in contact with. The most tangible and easily accessible way for me to reinterpret this inspiration is through clothing. It would be fantastic if I were also able to apply my ideas to the space I live in, but unfortunately it's just not feasible. (ie: furniture etc. is expensive, thrift store finds risk beg-bugs in NYC, I'm not the only one living here, and there's the small issue of the 5 story walk-up.)

So for the time being, I stick to clothes.

I just attended an awesome Housing Works event called Buy the Bag, to which I was invited by NLP (one of my friends and old Managers from The Palm). Housing Works, apparently, has a warehouse full of donated clothing that never has a chance to make it to one of their brick and mortar locations. So, for this aptly named event, you go into the warehouse, rifle though thousands of items of clothing in what is similar to a sample sale on crack, fill up as many of the provided paper bags as you wish, and then buy the bags. Each bag cost $25, and I walked with two of them, stuffed to the brim with label and non-label clothing.

My favorite item, albeit slightly difficult to find a wearable purpose for, is this amazing sweater:

Sure, it's a little juvenile/ christmas-esque/ welcome to the 80's, but I love everything about it. From the sparkly bows, to the princess shoulders, it is perfect. Actually, I almost put this gem back because of it's impracticality, but NLP encouraged me to take it. Good call, NLP, good call.

Another great find were a pair of flared Citizens of Humanity jeans that I also have on in that sweater photo, although you can't see very much of them. I love the jeans, but I've been having a hard time figuring out how to wear them in a casual outfit. I haven't purchased a pair of bell bottom jeans since...let's see...my first year of college, seven years ago. I think it's safe to say that my style aesthetic has evolved since then, as has fashion itself (Skinny jeans?). So, not wanting to look like a high school version of myself, I needed a little inspiration on how to wear these. But where to find it? 

I was perusing What I Wore this morning, and came across this fantastically wearable outfit:

YAHOO! I'm not intimidated by these jeans anymore! And I'm also not in high school! I can totally reproduce this outfit in a way that is my own, and I am muy excited about it. I don't love every little thing about the look, but it feels accessible and, overall, looks good. Mission accomplished.

Now I just need to figure out a way to wear that sweater...

WI

It's been a while, I know, I'm sorry.

It seems that since I last wrote, the entire format of Blogger has been updated (ie: CHANGED! WHAT'S GOING ON! FIRST FACEBOOK AND NOW THIS! AHHHHH!!!). I suppose I'll get used to it. What other choice do I really have?

So, in the weeks (months?) that have passed, I've been knee deep in school, work, school related work, and everything in between. I really find that things are either stagnant or moving a bajillion (yes that's the technical term) miles a minute in my life. All or nothing, all the time. It's hard to manage sometimes, but, just like dealing with the new blogger format, what choice do I have? It is what it is.

I happen to be sick today, laying in bed with a gross cold. Stuffy nose, sore throat, the whole deal. It's not fun. But it's given me an opportunity to write, so write I will.

Last week, BF, who's from the Mid West, proposed a potentially life-altering idea to me. His uncle and grandfather both own a great deal of farm land in Wisconsin, where they have dairy cows. BF wants to (potentially) move out to the cow farm and expand it, turning the business into a high profit dairy cow milking farm.

Thing is...

The farm is in the middle of n-o-w-h-e-r-e. As in....

that red dot.

Now, I would love to have a farm. I'd love to have horses, cows, chickens, a garden, I'd love to wake up early and care for animals, I'd enjoy it...I think.

I've lived in a city for my entire life. 

Yes, I've spent time on various farms, and yes I loved it, but I have no real way of knowing whether I would still love it if it were my only way of life. Could I cut it being a farmer? being so far away from everything and everyone I hold dear to me? Will anyone care about my cute outfits? Will I be able to design? Do I want to be surrounded by the literal opposite of a melting-pot? Will the lack of culture destroy me? Are people intelligent and open minded out in the middle of Wisconsin? Will there even be other people out there in the middle of Wisconsin??

I've been stewing over all of this since he mentioned it. I've been thinking about it too much, most likely, but what can I say. It's exciting and scary and different and new. Of course I'm thinking about it.

I also just really like that picture showing where Greenwood, Wisconsin is located, and I wanted to use it for something.

If I'm still writing this blog five years from now, I may be writing from a cow farm in Wisconsin. Giddyup. I mean moo.

Project I

Last week I began my classes at Fashion Institute of Technology, a.k.a FIT. I'm taking three classes: Drafting, Survey of Interior Design, and Presentation Techniques.

In drafting class, we're learning about what life was like before the invention of a lovely little thing called autoCAD, which is a computer program that assists in creating floor plans, layouts and such. In other words, I am learning how to hand-draft.

Here's my almost finished first project:

To create this, I used vellum, a drafting board, architectural scale, T-square, circular template, lead holder, drafting tape, a steady hand and a LOT of patience.
No idea what any of those things are? Yeah, neither did I until last week.
I still have a couple of squares left to finish, but so far so good.


In other news, it's been raining for three days straight, and the subways are still in service. Maybe...if we give this week of rain a name...Bloomberg will shut everything down again. After Irene we'd be on J, so let's go with...Joan. HEY BLOOMBERG, JOAN IS HERE! LET'S SHUT DOWN THE CITY SO NO ONE GETS WET!