Monday, March 19, 2012


“A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.” 


— Albert Camus

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Things that are not so good.

Sometimes there are things that are just not so good. Lots of times there are things I think will not be good [like those kind of burritos with fritos inside] but then I try them and change my mind. But there are some actual things that I just don't like.


  • Wal-Mart. I really try to give this place a fair chance because they sell this kind of lip balm I have a small obsession with for like a dollar, but I just hate it there. It is crowded and people bang into you and everyone who goes here is so freaking weird and there is never any parking and I just feel all anxiousy and panicky when I try to venture inside.
  • Del Taco Shrimp Tacos. There is a lot of build up to shrimp time at Del Taco. Except it is actually not very good. But, I mean, I like shrimp. And even though I know I do not like the shrimp tacos or burritos there, every time I go I order it. It's like when I start ordering, my brain falls out and even though as I'm saying can I please have a shrimp taco I know it will not be good. I don't know what it is, they are just not very good.
  • The radio station 100.3. I have it programmed into my car even though I have never heard one good song that I wanted to listen to on it. Even when my haunted car mysteriously disprograms all the radio stations, I still reprogram it in even though I never, ever listen to it.
  • The giant new Forever 21 at the mall. I like Forever 21 and all but this place is too big. It's very overwhelming on my senses. I have not heard of one person who likes the new one. The music is so loud and you can't get any service. It is so big that you have to spend hours inside to look at things even if you are a superfast eyeball shopper like me and so the problem is you can't call anyone to say you will be late. Or where you will meet them. Every time I go with someone else, I lose them and don't find them for thirty minutes. It also is some kind of time machine where you go in at 3pm and leave and it's dark and you've missed dinner but it feels like you weren't even there that long. Also all the shoes are hiding out on super tall racks by the mannequins and not in the shoe section and I actually can't reach up to any of those places.
  • The new technology of new things. This is tricky because sometimes there is super good new technology. Such as when those one serving coffee makers came out. My parents bought me the Tassimo which was invented before the Keurig. At the time, it was like, It. Except now Kuerig is totally dominating the world and they barely make any Tassimo cups and you have to go to the ends of the earth like the Bed, Bath and Beyond down by the train tracks to even find any and then when you go, you find out that there is no more espresso things because they were exploding on people and burning their faces off, so there was a huge recall and now you have to go to Starbucks for espresso every single day. This is why it is better to wait out new technology and make sure it doesn't explode in your face and maim you. Also because buying two different hundred plus dollar coffee machines because you are too lazy to pour coffee into a filter is not super justifiable. 

bangin in my white tee

pretty sure that is from some gangster song.


Let's talk about these. You know how in movies girls can just throw on a tee from the guy's house they spent the night at so they don't have to wear the same outfit to work because of course they overslept and now are facing a possible walk of shame but worse because it's into your office? And how the shirt just fits and looks great and matches what they are wearing perfectly?

This is that shirt.

[Here's the thing though, you aren't going to find this in some dude's closet. Unless that dude is your little brother because otherwise they are going to be too big. Unless you are dating someone the same size as you and in that case, I'm sorry, how terrible for you. ]

The good news is they sell these things everywhere. And they come in three packs. Or five packs. I have tried a lot of tees in my life and these are pretty perfect. Also, super cheap. And they go with everything and the size smalls of the comfort something or other v-neck type are perfect. I know this because I convinced the lady at Target awhile back to let me open up all the bags and test the sizing and type. Also they have no tags, so there is nothing itching you on your neck. That drives me crazy.  They are also made of a super comfy material that is also kind of thinnish so it doesn't feel too boy-like of a material. Because I know they make some like that and I am not that into it. The only problem with these is the sleeves are kind of big-ish. Except I kind of like that because recently my mom told me I have no shoulders [seriously, so rude] and so I am trying to bulk up that area with some sleevage. 
The nice thing is they also come in different colors. Although I only have a hundred thousand white ones. Because they go with ev.er.y.thing. Jeans, skirts, shorts, swimsuits, pj's, I don't even know.

You can find them in the boy section of places.


movie review: Like Crazy

Where do I even start... I kind of felt like I have lived this movie. Except, you know, I'm not British, have never been married and have not yet been kicked out of the U.S. but watch this movie and you'll know what I mean. The film is about this super cute British girl, I already forget her name but she's like a foreign exchange student but like for all of college in LA. I don't really like British people or accents but she is just so cute for some reason it doesn't bother me. She kind of like seriously falls in love with her american TA from one of her classes. He falls in love back and then they have this super relatable, perfect at first, lovey love love kind of romance type thing and she wants to stay in bed and snuggle so much that she overstays her visa and gets kicked out of the country. Then they kind of break up a lot and get back together a lot and date other people in between because they are separated and they think they don't need each other maybe. At the end they kind of leave it open. I think they are like back together finally for reals but it's like probably not going to work or they will stay together even though they maybe shouldn't because so much has happened that they can't go back to how it was. The little moments of this movie, like one part where they show all these snapshots in quick succession of them sleeping through the whole summer, are super super super cute. And so are the things they say to each other. It's just like you feel the feelings they feel. Like real life. [Except in real life they probably wouldn't be together at the end.] But it isn't like really sad like 500 Days of Summer. This is the kind of movie you want to climb inside of. And that makes you fall in love with every person in it. Like the main guy isn't that cute but then all of the sudden you are kind of totally in love with him. I don't know how it happens. Plus the main girl wears all these long skirts and britishy type outfits that you can't really do if you're american but somehow she makes it work because she is english.

This might be my new favorite movie ever.
Like ever, ever.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Project!

So I have this thing for vintage samsonite suitcases. Well, maybe just vintage luggage in general. I recently picked up this Samsonite suitcase for fifteen dollars at this cute little vintage flea market in LA. Upon bringing it home, my entire family proceeded to make fun of me, saying how my grandparents used to have an avocado green one. [sidenote: They still have it. When I was living with them last year, I totally saw it. Another proof of great investment, they seem to last for-freaking-ever!] So I decided a little rehabbing was in order. Here is my step by step process:

This is the original inside. As you can see it was kind of coming apart and as you can't see so clearly, it was old as f*!k. Needed to come out, even though the white and yellow polka dot fabric was super cute.

All I did was rip it out. Surprisingly easy. Surprisingly dirty underneath. Wiped it out a bit because there was mysterious orange dust underneath, afraid it was some kind of asbestos drug powder trying to get all over my future packed things.

Was feeling lazy and also a little budgetey, so took two old pillowcases and kind of cut around the old fabric to size it. Used the two layers the pillowcase already had in it for extra padding. Glued it with a glue gun under the leftover yellow leather lining. Then I stamped the pillowcases with a cute little bird stamp and a black stamp-pad. [Advice, stamp the fabric BEFORE you glue it in, way easier and the stamps won't have to be restamped because they are at an awkward angle. I would also use a more satiny fabric next time.]
This is the original outside. Kind of water-stained and off white. 

Siding kind of worn out and dingy.

Just a side view, to show for comparison to finished product.

This is the after product! I used a primer [I just found one in my garage meant for wood, my dad kept telling me I HAD to get one for plastic or it wouldn't work, but again, lazy and budgety prevailed and it seemed to work fine. I put on a bunch of layers of primer all over. Then I used a kind of seafoamy green spray paint and sprayed it a bunch of times. I went through a whole can and this isn't a super huge suitcase. It needed a lot of layers. I'm glad I started with white, I can't imagine doing a dark one. You'd have to stay in the dark range, I'd imagine. Then I printed out this deer graphic that I've been kind of obsessed with for awhile and just cut it out really carefully. Then I took a paint roller and some gray acrylic and taped the paper and rolled over the cut-out part. Then I took a glitter spray paint in silver [glitter spray paint is AMAZE. new obsession, comes out so thick you don't even really need paint underneath and comes in a bunch of colors.. I kind of glitter sprayed a bunch of other things too.] Then I just took a D and an A stencil and did the same thing. [sidenote: When I showed this to my mom, she goes 'why does it say DAD?' I was like 'uhhh, those are my initials?  Remember how you chose my name?'] I taped newspaper over the other parts so I didn't accidentally get paint on the parts I didn't want paint on. Then I sprayed a sealer spray paint all over and did a bunch of coats.


The way I did the lining and siding is I used a lot of painter's tape [the blue kind.] This part is what took the longest. It is a pain to only tape the parts you want to not paint. I taped all the silver part when I was spray painting the green. Then removed and taped the green edges so as not to get the gray paint on the already green painted main part. [does that make sense?] I ran out of gray paint and  so I just mixed up a black and white acrylic and made a semi dark gray. I then painted almost all the silver siding as well as the previous white lining [see above 'before' picture] I didn't do the tabs. It took a couple coats because I didn't prime this area in the beginning like I probably should have. I then taped up with newspaper so no green was showing and also taped up the tabs. Then I spray painted the sides with the glitter spray as well. And then sprayed sealant over it.


This is just the other side. No initials on this side. Just simple.


I added those little square stickers for a little nod to vintage. I left the samsonite part and silver latches untouched by everything but sealant. 

I now LOVE this suitcase. I recently took a trip to Nebraska and I had absolutely no trouble locating my suitcase at baggage claim. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more samsonite suitcases to rehab for myself or as gifts in the future. 

Let me know what you think!