LOVES // current obsessions

001. New backpack.
I thought I'd give you guys a tour of my schoolbag... it's a new one from Urban Outfitters, I'm pretty pumped.





002. Huge eyes.
America's Next Top Model is like candy to me — I know it's crappy but sometimes I just indulge. And the All-Star Cycle? Ohmygod Allison Harvard is my favorite person ever. Her eyes are frickin gigantic. I pretty much threw a hissy fit when she lost to Lisa.

003. YouTube makeup videos.
My obsession with her eyes led me to troll YouTube for hours, hoping to improve my makeup routine (my foundation is particularly icky). I hold fast that the internet was invented to keep me from doing my homework or anything productive whatsoever.

004. Ingrid Michaelson.
Her songs are all SO PRETTY. The lyrics especially make me want to die from the amazing. They're so deep and gorgeous and well-spoken.
This one is my favorite.






005. Cat sweaters.
After months of searching, I finally found one. You can see it in the video.
Hipsterdom level up.
Sigh.

006. Grimm & Pretty Little Liars
Fairy tales + crime show = ohmygodfreakout. And Monroe is so. adorable.
AND PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS BACK *dies*

LOVES // things do to for christmas

Traditions are great. Really, they are. Our family has the really odd one of having paella every year (not sure how that got started).

And let's not pretend that we all don't get up just a bit earlier on Christmas day. Come on, admit it, your brain hasn't recovered from being seven years old and super-pumped for Santa. (My own story of losing belief in the Tooth Fairy, Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc, is actually kind of a strange one. It's at the bottom of this post.)

So in the hour or so before normal humans awake, what do you do?
Grab your laptop, of course, because I have a couple things you absolutely MUST do.

One, read about Krampus.
If you aren't good this year, Santa's buddy Krampus will tie you up in a sack and eat you.
I was raised with books about evil fairies, and Norwegian trolls who ate children, and the original Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson stories where most of the characters end up brutally murdered, and two parents who actively encouraged me that there were several ghosts in our house. Krampus just comes naturally to me.

Two, watch A Nightmare Before Christmas.
It's like a Christmas movie AND a Halloween movie, and the main characters are all dead. It's fantastic. As a child I watched it year-round (and let's not forget about similar Tim Burton masterpiece Corpse Bride).
Seriously it's a fantastic movie. I want to live in Halloweentown and Christmastown at the same time, but mostly I'm just curious about the sketchy circle of trees.

Three, Christmas dubstep.
Do I really need to say anything else?
No I don't.
So here's some of my favorites.
Carol of the Bells — favorite song ever to begin with... and then there was BASS.
Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy — some ballet company SOMEWHERE has to dance to this.
Jingle Bells — but of course.
So now your Christmas has either been stripped of childhood joy, or made a whole lot awesomer.

Four, yes, go watch some Glee.
Go on, we all know that Glee is like Christmas crack.
It's so cute... my brain is melting. And their love triangles/squares/pentagons/hexagons/heptagons/etc are hilarious. And then there's that one Irish guy with the fantastic accent! I love Irish accents.

Oh, right, the non-believer story.
Well when I was newly seven and at the peak of my tooth-losing, I was looking for something in my parents' dresser. Instead, I found a tin of teeth. My teeth.
My seven-year-old mind immediately jumped to OH MY GOD MY MOTHER KILLED THE TOOTH FAIRY.
This is the kind of child I was.
I then proceeded to search the house — which was a former WWII army barrack, as at that time we were living with my grandmother on Great Diamond Island — for the Tooth Fairy's tiny corpse.
I didn't find it, so then I was like ooohhhhhh. no real Tooth Fairy. gottttt it.
But I still don't think my mother's forgiven me for pegging her a murder.


❦ Merry Christmas! ❦

LOVES // summer is.

001. Fresh strawberries from the garden, with the earthy flavor before you wash them and the juicy one after.

002. Stupid songs sung badly.





003. Haircuts and the lightness you feel afterwards.

004. Pretty new tops. (this one from Target)

this photo was pre-haircut

005. Photobooth.

the words say "my SHELL burst", by the way.

006. Dresses with boots.

007. Awkward tan lines.

What's your summer?

LOVES // five awesome things

The week is almost over, can I get a cheer? It's Friday, so here's seven fantastic things of the week.

001. This song, and this video. The song's been stuck in my head all week, and the video... it's just weird. And interesting.

002. Chocolate-peanutbutter-frozen-bananas. Need I say more? Make here. (I excluded the coconut, and used a bit more chocolate chips than peanut butter, and went un-vegan. THEY ARE DELICIOUS.)

003. This hat. It is my new favorite. I got it at a yard sale for a quarter. The nails I painted, then dipped in sparkles, and painted over with clear. It lasted a surprisingly long time.

004. Remember this? I had more fun, and this time Twiggy got brought into the picture.

You know what I realized? Her eyes are lopsided. Mine are too. You can't tell as much because I use makeup to even them out, but they are just as off as hers. I feel proud.

(ps: no claim on any of the images... except the circles ^_^)

005. Today is my LAST DAY of final exams, and then I am FREE!

(I do have to return on Tuesday for a two-week summer gym class... since I need it out of the way before IB program junior year, and next year I'll be a sophomore, and it can't fit into my schedule next year, I have to take it during the summer. Which rots. But let's not think about that.)

006. I'm channeling Ke$ha with this outfit, and I kind of love it. Plus it was a lot of fun to mess around with flash in my (messy/dirty) basement.

Mossimo tank top, Goodwill belt, vintage vest, Payless boots, unknown shorts, Forever 21 necklace + earrings

(this would be the I-am-poor outfit)

007. The mice are now reduced to two, but those two are looking fat and healthy so hopefully they'll make it! They've been moved to the laundry room...

desperately seeking summer

(Please see end of post for weeklygiveaway info!)

Just a little bit. Ahhh, I want sunshine and birds and butterflies and flowers and yellow. I want it to be warm and bright and barefoot-weather. I want, I want, I want.

“I want …" sobbed Mig. "I want… I want …"
"What do you want, Mig?" the princess said softly.
- The Tale of  Despereux by Kate diCamillo

I want summer. I was browsing through some lovely sites this morning and for some reason found myself aching for summer. (Weirdly, as I was searching for that above quote — I couldn't quite remember the wording — I came across this site with the exact same theme as Kittenhood. It was pretty sketchy because I'd been thinking "oh such a pretty theme" like five minutes earlier.)

I want bright colors and tank tops and shorts without tights underneath. But for now it's merely early spring, and though the snow from yesterday has almost completely melted away — thank God — I want to visit a garden store in a sundress and sip lemonade from behind big sunglasses and a floppy sixties sunhat. I want to paint my bicycle yellow and ride around like this.

I want to pack away my coats and boots for a later date and break out the flip-flops and sandals. I want the gold paint on my toenails to show, and I want it to match the sun. I want to run around with a butterfly net, even if I don't catch anything.

entomologist. by oh*livia

I reallllly want this dress from ModCloth. Of course it's one of the most expensive ones out there... sigh.

We had tech rehearsal for our theatre club's spring production yesterday night from 2:30-9:00 pm (and that's a very early end time, the tech rehearsal for the fall musical ended at 12:30 AM the next morning...) and we were all watching the gorgeous moon. It was cold. I want it to be summer so you can watch the moon without freezing your buns off.

I want teal and orange and strawberries with sugar, straight from the garden. (The strawberries, not the sugar.) I want sunflowers and seagulls and sunlight all day long. And sometimes I want rainshowers, making everything wet and sparkling and beautiful. I want to ride around in a yellow taxi cab with the roof taken off and wave and throw flowers at everyone I see. I want to take a daysail out to one of the Casco Bay islands and wander around and touch things, snakes and seashells and stones and feathers. (You know I used to live on one of those islands? Yes. Great Diamond Island, actually. It was lovely, if a pain to go on the ferry every day to school.)

via weheartit

I want it to be sunny but also not 36º F (ahem, today, ahem ahem). I want the weather to match Owl City music. I want to open my eyes in the morning and be able to step outside into the dew and the sun without getting hypothermia.

(Are you noticing a trend here? Sun. Yellow. Color. Warm. Sun.)

I want to travel around to other summery places. I want to play guitar and sing made-up songs on street corners with my friend Samantha (this is a shared dream...) and harmonize and not care if we make two dollars or two hundred. I want to learn to play piano and flute because those are summer instruments.

I want to sew my own dresses and purses and shorts. I want to throw flower petals over my head and say that it's raining. I want to take pictures with a fisheye lens and laugh.

Groan. Whyohwhyohwhy must I live in Maine? I want summer. I am desperately seeking summer. Severely wishing for summer. Truly yearning for summer.

I want summer....

xoxo.

(PS: anyone catch the 80s reference in the title? *wink*)

listening to: Rainbow Veins - Owl City

About the weeklygiveaway:

I'm shuffling some things around to plan for our 500-Follower bash. Please excuse that we won't be having a weeklygiveaway this week or next week (because next week we'll have so much more!). Last week's winner of the three scrapbook kits was #2, Lauren! Lauren, you know the drill: please email me and we'll get you all set up. :)

Teeny Tiny Happy Things

Huge piles of snow (how do they get it up so high?)

New photos in my Etsy Shop

Homemade bread

Sun peeking through three windows to finally reach me in my dark little bedroom

Kitty cats

Birds in the snow

A new look for my website

Bare feet + snow

My cell phone camera (better than I expected)

Peppermint hot cocoa with pretty swirled cream on top

{all these photos are from the past 48 hours. yesterday was a snow day (at last) and today was back to school... sigh. midterms next week... double sigh.}

breathe.

One little word for 2011.

It's simple.

We do it without thinking.

But sometimes we forget to breathe.

Sometimes we get lost in clutter, both mental and physical.

Sometimes we are suffocated by all the bad things and forget about the good.

This year, I will remember to breathe.

Ring It In

... and by "ring" I mean "smash gong and cymbals and other percussion paraphernalia so hard and loud you loose all sense of hearing due to ruptured eardrums".

Can you tell I'm a wee bit excited?

I stayed up reading the Pretty Little Liars books (second season coming out soon, eek!) and watching old X-Files and that Babies movie (adorable, by the way) and reading blogs. And now... it's 2011.

Wow. That looks so weird. 2-0-1-1. Just when I had stopped writing "2009" on the top of my school papers, 2011 comes in. Sigh.

I love new years almost as much as I love new schools. (Having moved around a lot in my life I have a bit too much experience with new schools...) It's a new start. A chance to reinvent yourself. A chance to be even better than the old you, or perhaps to let the old you shine a little more.

The official color for 2011 is honeysuckle — which happens to be a favorite color of mine. Grey and crimson are tied with grey and honeysuckle as far as color schemes go — anticipate the next HorseFeathers look to be honeysuckle and grey. Love. (Honeysuckle, by the way, is a warm pink... see the color of "2011" in the graphic at the end of this post.) Don't worry — not too much will be changed for the next look. The crimson shall become pink, is all, and maybe a few photo changes.

But that's all in the future... and speaking of the future, you know how there were all those hilarious, failed predictions of what would happen in 2000? Well, I looked for some for 2010 but everyone seemed too wary. Except one site that spoke in Scientific Gibberish about climate change models from 1980. Apparently it's funny if you're a scientist.

My predictions for 2011:

• The robot vacuum cleaner people will expand into cooking robots, dusting robots, and mopping robots.
• Harry Potter 7, Part II will be a blockbuster but not actually very good.
• There will be the release of a road-safe hovercar but it will only work in big cities.

What are your predictions? Link up in your comment!

So happy 2011, everyone, and have a lovely new year. :)

Refreshed (Aspirations for a New Year)

{This is the last day to enter the Words for Snow art contest! $50 to Robin Blogs... worth an entry, no?}

I'm not one of those obsessive-compulsive people who makes lists about everything. Actually, lists of things-to-do are my archenemy. Hatehatehate. But for a new year I decided to write down all my aspirations — hopes, dreams, wishes.

Not resolutions. I was going to do resolutions. I was going to force myself to do a 2011 Boot Camp for resolutions. They were going to be strict, they were going to be specific. I was going to post them at the same time as I put up this new look for a new year.

But my dear friend Hannah had an inspiring post that made me reconsider. I thought to myself, "why? Why should I make resolutions? They're constricting and I never end up following through because I'm the sort of person who hates schedule and order — I thrive on the unknown.

So I give to you, dear readers, a list of hopes. I give to you a list of goals, a list of dreams. Things that I know I will do because I don't need to do.

For the sake of not being too head-in-the clouds I've added a practical way to achieve the particular aspiration. Just to keep me sane.

Aspirations for 2011

This year...

I dream of being perfect in the mirror
but instead of crash-dieting
(which I would never do, by the way)
I will instead accept myself
for who I am
+ eat more fruits and veggies and not as much sugar.

I hope to be a better Christian
but instead of slaving over my Bible
and not enjoying it or getting any faith from it
I will go to church
and listen to the sermon with an open heart
+ get (finally) baptized and confirmed after all these years.

I dream of being a more successful model and actress

but instead of complaining

I will be thankful for what I have

+ email my agents and ask them for help.

I wish I sold more of my photography

but instead of hungrily checking the views in my Etsy shop

I will go outside and take more photographs

of beautiful things

+ start advertising locally.

I hope to be a more well-rounded cook

but instead of just making more cookies and cakes

I will help my mom with dinner

and make real food

+ read Joy of Cooking and try 10 new recipes.

I wish I had better skin

but instead of getting stressed about it

(which only makes it worse)

I'll be chill and not worry

+ take steps to help my skin stay clean.

I want to help people

but instead of looking and saying "I should help her"

to the girl who dropped her books

then walking away

I will go up to her, say hi, and pick up her books

and maybe we'll become friends

+ volunteer at a charity.

I dream of being a mass-published author

rather than 50 copies, I want to sell 50,000

but instead of moping around and daydreaming

I will faithfully write/edit/send off to agents

my very best work

+ do NaNoWriMo again.

I wish I was a neater person

but instead of thinking that

then going and making an even bigger mess

of my room

I will clean it up

+ finally organize everything in my bedroom.

I want to be on the computer less

but instead of blogging about it

(haha)

I will turn it off

and go outside

or do something productive

or exercise

+ I finally broke down and got a Twitter account
so I won't feel like I have to post so much
(though I'll limit myself on Twitter too).

I hope to be a better daughter and friend

but instead of holing myself up in my room

and not saying anything

and sleeping

I'll call a friend

or help my parents

or tell someone I love them

+ make it a habit to do one nice thing every day

for someone

in my life.

I dream of being a better person

but instead of wishing and dreaming

I will make it happen

+ bookmark this post

and read it if I'm flailing.

Happy New Year, everyone...

and as Benjamin Franklin said...

"let each new year find you a better man."

Or woman.

Welcome 2011...

I hope this year will be a good one.

I {heart}... fashion

(Quick note: My fever is going down and I'm no longer a shaking nervous wreck hiding in fear from purple Christmas elves — thanks so much for everyone's concern and prayers while I was sick!)

Okay, guys. You probably know by now I'm a total fashion bug. My walls are plastered with cutouts from fashion magazines (including an alarming array of Karlie Kloss photos, who happens to be one of my role models), my closet is filled with both modern and vintage artifacts, I wear semi-outlandish things to school. You've all seen my epic outfits. Usually I don't wear things quite as crazy as this, but I do occasionally make exceptions. Namely for hilarious photo shoots with friends. It makes me cringe to wear something that I know looks hideous. Even when I wear sweatpants to school I make sure I have a nice shirt or something. It's my own personal brand of OCD. Obsessive Fashion Disorder. Make fun of me all you like.

Anyway, here are two of my favorite things related to fashion.

1. Polyvore

I recently discovered Polyvore and I think I'm in love. Basically you can put together collages digitally of really epic clothes and such. This is what I do with magazines, so it makes me happy not to have to cut up my Vogues.

Want a peek? Here are two I've made today.

2. Goodwill.

Gasp! Scream! Faint! Gasp, scream, and faint simultaneously! Yep. Goodwill. That place for homeless people. That's where I do about half my shopping.

Let me explain. I am not a wealthy person. My family is not rolling in cash. We live in a pretty small house, but we get by. We do, however, live among extremely wealthy people. I'm not kidding; I say where I live and people start frisking me for hundred-dollar bills (well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they do glare at me with a certain amount of suspicion before I add that we are not among the richer people of the area).

And all these wealthy people have vast amounts of clothes. They shop at high-end stores just for the heck of it. So their closets get filled up with stuff they never wear. If you've seen Confessions of a Shopaholic (which by the way is a very epic chick flick which every female on the planet ought to see), imagine Rebecca's closet pre-auction. So these wealthy people hire personal organizers to help them sort through their clothes so they can go buy more. It's kind of disturbing if you think about it. But hey, I'm not complaining — because guess where all those clothes go? That's right. Goodwill.

Thus, our local Goodwill is small, but it's a treasure trove of high-end and high-fashion clothing. Lots of my friends go there. Even Hannah, who claimed that Goodwill creeped her out and didn't want to set foot in the store, agreed that this Goodwill is like a mini high fashion mall. Most, if not all, of the clothes are in new or very good condition, and the percentage of yucky ugly clothes is surprisingly low. There's not only a lot of runway stuff, there's also good stocks of American Eagle, Abercrombie, and the like.

Remember how I was raving about this BCBG Max Azria vest? Well, over the weekend I found another BDBG jewel. It's a loosely knit pink sweater with a neat off-the-shoulder draped neck and the most epic bell sleeves you will ever see. But I found something else even awesomer on that same day. A pair of jeans. Not just any jeans.

These jeans are from 7 For All Mankind and they are the most comfortable things ever. They feel like sweatpants on the inside, they're so soft. And they fit me just right.

Normally, these jeans are $200. Two hundred smackers. Phwee! Guess how much I got them for?

$10. Ten dollars. And the sweater was $5. So I got approximately $350's worth for $15.

See why I love Goodwill?

(Note: I'm not epically brand-obsessed, don't worry. I just have this thing about quality. And I know which brands fit me well, so I seek them out. And now I will be seeking out a whole lot more of 7 For All Mankinds.)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

I have major butterflies in my stomach as tonight is the opening night for our musical, Fiddler on the Roof. I have to be at the school for my stage makeup in a wee bit so this list obviously can't encompass everything I use and love in daily life.

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid to advertise any of these products. I just love them.

PLUS: 299 Followers? Wow! Can we break the big 3-0-0 before tomorrow? *winks*

1. Pantene Pro-V Shampoo and Conditioner.
My hair is very thick and curly, and most shampoos and conditioners leave it too dry. (Apparently curly hair needs more moisture than regular hair.) I had been using Herbal Essences Hello Hydration and it worked alright, but I wanted to try the Pantene version. I got the Medium-Thick Pro-V set and LOVE it — I may even move up to plain old Thick.
- Recommended for: Any gal with thick and curly hair.
- Related Favorites: Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Anti-Frizz Serum. A little bottle with a big name, I use this stuff after I get out of the shower. Scrunch and twirl and my hair keeps its curl without getting frizzy.

Your pie will look similar to this. (credit)

2. Key Lime Pie.

Remember how I promised I'd give you guys some pie if you put up with me for long enough? Well here it is! This is a family recipe that we've perfected over time and it is THE BEST pie you will ever taste, guaranteed.

CRUST:

Blend 1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 stick of butter (melted and cooled), and 1/4 cup of cane sugar. Mold into a 9-10" pie plate. Bake at 350º F and cool.

FILLING:

Combine and blend one 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk, 3 fresh egg yolks, and 1/2 cup key lime juice. Pour into crust and bake for 15 minutes at 350º F.

- Recommended for: Everyone! This pie is amazing and quick to make. My stomach is growling just looking at the recipe card.

- Related Favorites: Whipped cream you whip yourself makes a delish topping!

3. IKEA.

I was literally nurtured on IKEA. For my entire childhood I lived in a almost completely IKEA and Danish modern design - furnished house. I still do, actually. It's a family affair. When I was younger I loved the stark look of classic IKEA and redecorated my room in green and white — everything from IKEA. Now I favor a gentle balance between French Provincial and modern design, but IKEA still rocks my socks with its awesomeness (and often adorableness) and low prices.

- Recommended for: Anyone redecorating on a budget that loves clean lines and great style. Especially people who live in apartments or whose rooms are small; IKEA stuff fits together quite nicely. Be warned, though: You'll need to assemble the furniture yourself. It's easy and painless but some people are surprised.

- Related Favorites: Antique furniture. My bedroom is a mix of antiques (painted white) and IKEA modern stuff. It keeps it from looking to grandmotherly or stark and gives a fresh twist to old favorites.

4. Apple.

*sigh* Every time I visit the Apple store I wish I was a billionaire so I could buy everything. Apples are so functional and pretty. They last, too! My current computer is a PowerBook from 2003 and it works like new (looks it too!). My iPod Nano was left out in a rain-and-sleet storm for four days on the front lawn and worked perfectly. It's also gone through the washing machine a few times. My iTouch is brand new so I can't speak for its durability quite yet, but it works ah-mazingly. Did you know that Apple's touch-screens are heat activated rather than touch activated? That's why you just brush the screen, rather than actually pressing. My family used to have all Dells but I started a trend by getting my PowerBook and there's no going back now. Apples may be more expensive but they are worth every cent. (I did a calculation and found that we had to replace our Dell laptop every two years or less. The cost of that was far more than purchasing a refurbished Apple.)

- Recommended for: People looking for functional and glamorous electronics that last a long time.

- Related Favorites: Nikon. I know it's not a direct relation, but all my Nikon camera gear is similarly functional and long-lasting.

5. 80's Fashion.

It's crazy, it's wacky, it's at times truly hideous... yes, my friends, I am talking about the fashion of the 1980's. Like vintage furniture I also love vintage clothing, so I covet my mom's old clothes from that era. Today I unconsciously styled my outfit to look vaguely 80's-ish — cropped t-shirt, big earrings, skinny jeans, and ballet flats. The tee is advertisement for our play's opening night, all the cast wore them. I modified mine a little... you can't really tell from the horrible photo to the left (in which I look a good 20 pounds heavier than I actually am), but the shirt's neckline bares one shoulder where my tank top strap has a cool design on it, and it's cropped at the bottom. When I got to school my hair was misbehaving so I swept it to one side (which I never do; I always have a center part)... and ta-da, instant 80's dance movie.

- Recommended for: Fashionistas who love vintage and aren't afraid to wear something wacky. I got a few odd looks today but those were cancelled out by the compliments. :)

- Related Favorites: Vintage shops and Goodwill. Clothes from those two places make up a good deal of my wardrobe! Some things from Goodwill can be truly horrifying, but some are really awesome and would probably be ten times as much at a vintage clothing store.

Well, I really gotta run for makeup! Wish me luck... but please don't say "break a leg" because I'm so clumsy backstage that might actually happen. Meep!