Whoops.

So, I didn't get to take the pictures of my lovely vintage show outfit today because I was out of the house until after dark on an unplanned adventure...

This morning (ok, early afternoon, but that counts as morning on vacation, right?), I went to the gym to get my bike on. I like to ride the stationary bike because I can read a book while I ride and as you may know, I wear reading glasses. Anyway, I finished my ride (and was getting to a really good, near the end, part of my book too) hook my glasses over my shirt (like you do with sunglasses, you know) and went to stretch. Then I pulled out a mat to do some crunches and was about to sit down, but oh hey... where are my glasses? Answer: under the mat. Smushed. Whoops. One of the ear pieces was essentially at a 90 degree angle to the lenses (impressively still attached) and the other was not much better off. I do have a second pair of glasses, but of course, they're at school. So, new glasses quickly became the project of the day.

After a shower and some lunch, my mom and I headed down to Fabulous Fanny's, a veritable hipster and gay guy's haven of vintage glasses frames. They had a lot of cool stuff, but a lot of the more "out there" looks didn't sit so well on my face, haha.




{a sampling of their selection via the online catalog. They carry sunglasses too}

Glasses are a big commitment because you wear them ALL the time (I know you don't see mine much on the blog, but I wear them in class and when I'm doing homework which is probably about 85% of my life, haha) so after an excessive amount of hemming and hawing I chose a pair and we headed over to their recommend place to get the lenses, in Chinatown. My mom decided this was walking distance... and it was... but it was quite the hike. A hike which involved lusting after some beautiful boots I wasn't willing to spend $125 on and some free sampling at Whole Foods.

Eye exam in Chinatown: only minorly sketchy. Of course, they had the lens available for one of my eyes, but not the other. boo. So the ready in one hour option was alas not an option pour moi. While waiting to get my eyes checked, I also got a text from my friend inviting me over for pizza and ice cream cake for her birthday. At 6. It was 5 and I was waiting for my eye exam... in Chinatown... uhhh... but luckily, the doctor was able to see me shortly and we were done at about 5:20. Since the glasses couldn't be ready in an hour anyway I decided to forgo an early dinner and dessert at Vegetarian Dim Sum House and Chinatown Ice Cream factory and whip uptown at super speed.

I was also able to bend my glasses back far enough (that was scary- I was sure they were going to break!) to use for tonight and tomorrow. Though right now I look like this:


As you can see, I am also much in need of a bang trim. Thankfully, both the bang trim and picking up the new glasses are on the agenda for tomorrow (and maybe that Dim Sum/Ice Cream trip after all).

So much for a day where I had nothing to do, huh?

Regards,
Freddie

For Spacious Skies

So I didn't plan for my return after my unannounced, but very forewarned, hiatus (it seems like it's been way longer than a month and 10 days... a lot can happen in that amount of time I suppose) to happen when I was in such an odd and deep mood... but I did plan for the return to be today, so blame it on the man on the subway. Or just the shock my return to the New York City atmosphere has provided in general.

There was just something just so profoundly beautiful and sad about the little Asian man playing America the Beautiful on his Casio electric saxophone on the train, while a mother tried to control her five small, rowdy children and a bunch of teenagers yapped and fought. And then when the man ended, he stood there for a moment, eyes closed, as if deeply moved by his final high note (or maybe just out of breath). And all that was going on around him with people caught up in their own worlds, not paying attention to him. Though to her credit, one girl gave him some change. Not me.

{yes, this is actually him. I googled "man playing electric sax on subway" !}

There's just something different, and sad, about being back in the city. Like it's changed in the past 2 months since I was here. Which is silly... but maybe it's true. Or maybe it's me who's different? I will always love New York, but I just find myself more saddened and disgusted by a lot of what I see than I have ever been before. Maybe I'm finally noticing the recession? Or maybe that's just an excuse.

Sorry, I'm not describing any of this very well... I'm not terribly poetic, I just needed some place to write it down. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I'm finding my playwriting class this semester so terribly challenging? The whole, not so poetic thing? hah.

Anyway, I had planned to post again today anyway for a few reasons:

1. I have missed blogging and the blog world so! Though I'm still poking around some foodie blogs now and then, it's not quite the same as when I'm posting and reading my favorite fashion blogs too.

2. Today was the first full day of my self imposed, elongated fall break. We do have this coming Monday and Tuesday off of school and I had been planning to come home, but I also have an audition (for that elusive abroad program... while a lot can happen in a month and 10 days, finding out about this was not one of the things that did) and was going to have to go back to school Tuesday evening, come back to the city Friday evening, and then go back to school again on Sunday o_o The number of hours on a bus (and yes, I get car sick) that would mean = not fun. And so, I have decided to take the whole week off! I firmly believe I have earned it.

{ShortLine buses: a necessary evil}

3. Today my mom and I also went to the Manhattan Vintage Show! It seems to have become a sort of tradition for us. Sadly, they don't allow pictures in the show, but I will have pictures of the bag and dress I bought sometime soon :) We did our best to be conservative with our spending but I'm really happy with my two pieces. You can also see pictures from some past shows here (if you look at the 8th picture in the April 2007 show -- I am the owner of that dress. I wore it to my high school graduation and that was not an example of conservative spending ;) haha) I think this is my third time attending the show, or fourth if you count the time my mom went and sent me picture messages of things.

{Inside the Metropolitan Pavilion during the Manhattan Vintage Show}

4. Somehow, according to sitemeter, my little corner of the virtual world had 472 visits last week! What? I haven't updated in more than a month... and even when I was updating, I never had more than 100 visitors in a week... often more like 40. Looks like a lot of people have been searching for pictures of sunflowers on google images lately. hahaha. Statistics are so very interesting and amusing.


Anyway, I keep saying that so much has happened in the past month... so, what exactly has happened?

1. My show opened, played 7 performances, and closed.


2. I auditioned for this show and didn't get in (don't worry, I made a fairly quick recovery)


3. I dropped a class (New York Women) and added another one (Costume History)

4. I took some tests, presented some scenes, wrote some papers, did a lot of reading, wrote part of a play, scrapped part of a play, went out a lot, stayed in a lot, pulled two almost all-nighters, made some new friends, saw a dance concert, a show (Love Song), and an improv show, signed my lease for a beautiful apartment to live in next year, finished my abroad application... and well, a whole lot more. This was really not as interesting as I intended it to be, but point being: I've been a busy bee. Also in just over a month: the weather can go from appropriate for sundresses/shorts/t-shirts to requiring tights/pants/jackets... we've had a frost advisory in Ithaca already folks, how insane is that?

{ok, so it doesn't exactly look like this yet, but you know}

5. A lot happened in the world too of course (Obama's peace prize anyone?). But we don't need to get into all that.

OK THAT WAS A LOT OF WORDS. Should I stop now and wait until I have interesting fashion-y content to share? I think so. Also, my apologies for all the random, uncredited pictures- I saw how many words I had written up there and knew I needed to break it all up a bit. haha.

I hope to catch up on some of your blogs this week too.

Kudos if you made it through any of this.

Regards,
Freddie

Chocolate Sunflowers (or some other equally uninspired post title)

Wow, two days in a row? Not gonna lie, I'm kind of impressed. However, this has got to be a quick post since tomorrow is my crazy day... eek. Gonna try to do a little more reading for Queer Performance (which I had for the first time today and I think is gonna be super interesting) and then go to bed. Setting the alarm for the dreaded hour of 8am. Ack. It's been a long time since I woke up that early... or since I went to sleep early for that matter. Hopefully I can manage.

I also had dance ("dance technique 1" ie: the dance class for baby baby beginners) for the first time today and I'm super psyched for it! The teacher is a crazy modern dancer who I worked with when I assistant stage managed the dance concert in the spring, and even though she moves a little fast, she's always willing to show stuff again and I think it'll be a fun break in my day and a good way to get in some nice aerobic exercise too... because I have a feeling my recent going to the gym kick is halting about... well... now. No time. Go figure.

Anyway, I wore this (but changed for dance):

{hanes men's undershirt, coup de cour skirt, h&m cardigan, mom's belt, target shoes}
I don't mean to look so disgruntled, really, I promise.

What's with me and the white and the brown and the yellow lately? I really don't know... honestly, when you say the colors "white, yellow, and brown" they don't sound terribly interesting or appealing, but for whatever reason I'm really liking them lately. Also totally matched my rehearsal bike again (calling it mine because I ride it across the stage in one 30 second scene change, haha) and still wanted to take a picture with it.

Anyway, eye candy for today (as you can see I'm enjoying this new little format and content idea) is pretty things that are brown, yellow and white. How creative of me! ;P

Chocolate. I love chocolate. Almost any kind will do, but I believe it's at it's best in dark and molten cake forms.

{smh.com.au, foodisluv}

The chocolate bar I am particularly savoring at the moment is this. Delish.

Sunflowers. Probably my favorite flower. I think.

{heavypiano.com, prajna photography}

Puppies and kittens. Yeah, this is totally and completely shameless. Deal with it. You know you can't resist baby animals. It's just not possible.

{kecute, oregon city classifieds, must love dogs}


{piccat.com, great-pictures-of-cats.com, the cute report}

And then there are polar bears. Does anyone remember Knut? I got to see him in person in the summer of 2007 but he was already starting to get a little less cute than he was here:

{Berlin Zoo}

Yeah... ok... uh... thanks for indulging me with that last part. Shall we all move along now and pretend that never happened? Ok, thanks.

Regards,
Freddie

Procrastination

So I'm starting to remember how I managed to post during the school year last year... it's yet another way to procrastinate. haha. It's funny how the skill (because we all know it is one) of procrastination has returned to me so easily and effortlessly.

Anyway, this was the outfit for class day two. Granted I only had to go to one class, Psychology of Entertainment Media, from 12:20-1:10pm. It's far away though. My Thursdays and Fridays are really pretty great... but I make up for it the rest of the week, I promise. And of course all I've experienced so far is a Thursday and Friday so wish me luck with this upcoming Monday-Wednesday. My Tuesdays are especially killer. oy.

{target top, lucky jeans, vintage boots, laila rowe earrings which I lost at the gym midday :( }

I seem to be drawn to a much more muted color palette lately. And I'm also really enjoying ponytails.
Non sequitur: There is a vintage bike we've been using in rehearsal that I really wanted to photograph this outfit with (the bike is brown with white wheels) but somehow I don't think I could explain that one to the rest of the cast, my director, and stage manager. haha. The lighting in the black box is also not very good.

Anyway, no foodie pictures today but I have really been enjoying cooking for myself. I managed to get to Wegman's over the weekend and the past two nights I had corn on the cob. So delicious. I wish I had bought more. I also made sweet potato fries... and asparagus. And since my first class isn't until 12:20 tomorrow (ok I know that doesn't make it sound like too rough a day, haha) I kind of want to try making something like this, this, or this for brunch :o We'll see.

Ok, I lied. Two pictures:

{Mark Bittman's Potato-Asparagus Frittata, Chard and Onion Omelet from Serious Eats}

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement about keeping up the blog during the school year. I really do want to so we shall see what happens.

And finally, a little more eye candy (but not food this time -- shock!) for the day, because I'm pretty sure some of you have to be as excited as I am for these two films to come out.



{Where The Wild Things Are stills courtesy of allmoviephoto.com}


{Alice in Wonderland still courtesy of USA Today}
More here.

And some inspiration taken from these films on Refinery 29. (A big source of fashion news and inspiration for me now because they send me e-mails. haha)

Alrighty, time to actually buckle down and write this "what I learned from my summer internship and what I hope to accomplish at BADA" shenanigan so my professor will write me a recommendation. I hate writing things like this because I always feel they sound bullshitty and never sincere (even when they really are). Alas, I'm sure I'll come up with something... I always do... eventually. haha.

Regards,
Freddie

Falling into, well... Fall

It really is hard to believe that I'm back at school and classes have now begun. I'm still drifting about in a sort of weird, in-limbo mood which has left me not terribly inspired to blog and all that jazz. The weather, too, is not cooperating, because after about 2 or 3 hot summer days, Autumn seems to have hit Ithaca. Not surprising really, but I feel like it took so much longer last year. And I guess I'm exaggerating when I say Autumn, but the weather certainly isn't hot anymore, it's getting into the 50s in the evening and only barely eeking above 70 during the day... and that if we're lucky. While I had mentioned before that I was getting excited about fall clothes, I'm still looking for ways to stretch those summer pieces, especially some new ones I haven't even gotten to show you yet!

Combine this with the urge I still retain from childhood to wear something special on the "first day of school" (which is a little hard to pinpoint in college considering I've been physically at school for almost 2 weeks (!!), and although my first day of classes was today, I won't have had all of my classes until next Tuesday) and I came up with this:

{? white long sleeve, silence & noise for urban dress, Forever 21 bracelet,
shoegasm sandals, German Tausche bag}

This is actually the dress I wore to my grandparent's wedding anniversary, so it has the option of looking fancier as well. I like that. I've got to get a picture of the back, it's quite nice. And I do love this bag, which I got in Berlin a few years ago, but it's really not big enough to use on any class day other than the first ;)

Though... not gonna lie, even with the long sleeved shirt underneath (and a cardigan on later too) , I was kinda cold! Especially in our black box theater where I had a two hour class and then four hours of rehearsal in the evening. eek.

Anyway, we all saw this coming, but I have a feeling I may be trailing away from the blog world for a while... we shall see. It's a shame though since I so enjoy the community I've started to become a part of, but I just know I am not going to be able to keep up, especially after how pooped I feel after my first day, a day which was really not that challenging, especially compared to what's to come! Maybe the weather (in addition to the cold, it's getting rainy too!) is contributing to this off-crankyish mood I've been in? Or maybe it's nerves about upcoming auditions for our production of Romeo and Juliet... or for the London program I'm applying to go abroad to in the spring... or just for the semester in general? Hah, I apologize... no one wants to listen to me whine about nothing in particular ;P

We'll see, I'm sure I'll be back at some point (maybe sooner rather than later, who knows?).

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with some eye-candy. Looks like I'm not the only fashion blogger with foodie inclinations as of late. Check out this article on Refinery 29!

Special shout-out to Blushing Ambition, who's blog I'm already a follower of. She has such great, simple pictures of both food and clothing--I love them!


Amelia has been sporting some gorgeous foodie pictures lately too! (And some cute back-to-school-ish looks as well)


Then there are the always lovely latte pictures provided by notebookdoodles:


And the many incredibly tantalizing Asian goodnesses photographed by Yulanda of little thoughts:

Seriously, go look at this post right now. It's kind of ridiculous. (In a good way of course)

Even the famous Cherry Blossom Girl has been getting her foodie on as of late... and in New York City too. Not gonna lie, some of those photos made me glow with hometown pride ;)

P.S. Please note that these beautiful pictures all belong to their aforementioned bloggers! (And if any of you don't want me using your pictures in this way just let me know and I'll take them down pronto!)

Funny, you know, putting those last pictures together (much of which I did during downtime in rehearsal... haha, shhh) was rather nice... perhaps the first step out of my blogging semi-rut? Maybe I just need to start posting about other people's pretty pictures rather than taking my own... which are never quite so nice (and I'm just not ready or able to invest in a fancy camera or tripod or a magic sun to shine above Ithaca at the moment, haha) and often take me more time anyway? Like I said, we shall see... but until then, try not to forgot about me, and I'll do the same for you ;)

Regards,
Freddie

Surreal (or perhaps, in retrospect, this post should be titled: Upgrade, in bold)

I've been back at school for almost a week now (ok, not quite, I got here this past Saturday) and have been in rehearsal for four days (though I had Tuesday off) and I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that in one week, I will officially begin my Junior year... and also that tomorrow is Friday, the beginning of the crazy time that is freshman orientation (and the upperclassman's excuse to party as much as possible before classes begin). I don't know if I'm ready for this. Living off campus in an apartment is so weird and different. I can go home from rehearsal and make lunch and dinner for myself (something I do hope to keep up during the semester) and I also now walk home in the opposite direction... away from campus rather than across campus in the 20+ minute trek I did at least once, if not twice, a day, every day, for the past two years. The beginning of last year didn't feel this weird... I just can't explain it. Not that it's bad weird really, but it's not really good weird either, at least not yet.

Anyway, enough of my internal, unexplainable crisis... what IS for sure good about my off-campus apartment is my room. Last year, when we were figuring out housing, I agreed to pay a little more rent to have the bigger room and was starting to think it might not be worth it... but I have now confirmed that it is. It so is. Mostly because of my closet. Actually, almost completely because of my closet. My closet is amazing. I love it. It may not look like much to you... but this is the biggest closet I have probably ever had in my life. My clothes have room to breathe (although I realize it may not look like they do... I promise you they have more breathing room than they have ever had before) and I'm so in love I had to show it off:

Yes, my closest is big enough to have two doors. Last year I had a closet with one curtain. Now I have not one, but two, doors. Upgrade.

Also, note the new hat set-up. Remember the old one? Well that was pretty nice, but this too is an upgrade. (And not just because I seem to have acquired a slightly exorbitant number of hats in half a year, haha)

Seriously, I love my closet so much it almost makes me not want to go abroad second semester so I can live here for more than just four months (fourth months? Seriously? That sounds SO short) but obviously the key word here is almost.

Though please do note these are not all my clothes... I also have a chest of drawers, with two extra plastic storage drawers on top... as well as 3 coats (this one, this one, and this one) stored in our hallway coat closet. Yes, we have a coat closet. Upgrade!

And while I'm not such a fan of this outfit picture... (Something about my face and neck is somewhat off... I swear I didn't suddenly turn into a ghost upon arrival in Ithaca! ...Though I suppose that wouldn't be all that surprising... haha) I had to show it to you for a few reasons. 1. For the fact that the outfits I've been wearing the past few days have not been all that different from what I wore in the park this summer, haha, 2. To show off these lovely tights that my mom bought me in Scotland over the summer that I have not had the opportunity to wear until now (it's hot outside, and in my apartment, but super chilly in the performing arts building!) , and 3. Well, for the sake of it being the first outfit picture taken in my new apartment of course!

{men's undershirt, urban short-alls, tights purchased by my momma in scotland,
vintage sam & libby ballet flats}

Anyway, unpacking into this lovely closet was also kind of fun because I rediscovered a lot of clothes I had sort of forgotten about... kind of making me feel ready for fall-attire (and making me realize I have way too many gym/sleep t-shirts and should get rid of some), but I know I need not rush it, fall will be here (and then over) before I know it. Eek.

Anyway, look forward to more room and apartment pictures, as well as a return to more fashion content (rather than existential crisis type content, haha), and probably some foodie content too.

Until then,

Regards,
Freddie

P.S. While on the subject of wearing similar outfits to those I wore in the park this summer, I felt my fellow interns and my bosses (who have all read this blog, haha) would appreciate my sharing this picture. This picture also shows you how badly I needed that bang trim, haha.

{vintage polo-type shirt, urban overalls, headband by me, target tights, converse,
incredibly stylish first-aid blanket handbag}

P.P.S. Someone living within earshot has been serenading me on the cello for the past two nights (ok not really... but I can pretend). How great is that? (And while I enjoy it while awake, thankfully I'm pretty sure I can't hear it with the windows closed, or at least they've been done by the time I want to go to bed).

Ok, now that's actually all. Regards again and goodnight.