Official Etsy Re-launch

Etsy Launch!

(or re-launch, as it were).

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade elcamino70.etsy.com

Here are the items which I have listed. Check them out!

HTML is my bitch.

Take that, HTML.
I am making a website for my portfolio to submit for my grad school application. Today was all about blundering about the confusing world of HTML. So far, everything is going according to plan, which is somewhat surprising and very pleasant.


So, I am in the process of getting all my transcripts, resumes, and portfolio paraphernalia together for my application for grad school. Forgive me if my posting is erratic and not quite as often. I'm trying to actually do this, instead of thinking about doing it and then forgetting/losing interest. As for the etsy shop which I promised you all, I am still planning on having that up by tomorrow. I just have to take photos of all my items, put them up on etsy and then I'll post the link here. And today is the last day to enter the giveaway, so click the link above and enter for the giveaway tomorrow. I'll post the winner tomorrow!
Here are some lovely photos which I found on the web. I think I got them from ffffound.com, but I'm not sure. They've been sitting on my desktop for a while.



In conclusion, I will end this short post with some life instructions.

34. Learn to identify the music of Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven.

35. Plant a tree on your birthday.

36. Donate two pints of blood every year.

37. Make new friends, but cherish the old ones.

(No thanks, #36... needles...)

I am sewing a skirt.

I hope it turns out. I decided to make it out of mustard yellow polar fleece. Kind of odd, I know. I haven't sewn anything... pretty much ever. I know once I made an apron in 6th grade. If it is ugly, I promise I will not show it because I am much too prideful for such things-- but I think I will try again if I fail. Get right back on the horse when you fall off, right?

I found this quote tonight, and it has always been my philosophy on marriage as a woman. I would never want someone to marry me if they didn't like being around me just as much as "one of the guys."

Choose in marriage only a woman whom you

would choose as a friend if she were a man.

Joseph Joubert

Today I wore a black shirt and skirt with orange leggings. I have a feeling (in retrospect) that I looked a little too Halloween-y. I was inspired by this look by Chris March, but I think his worked because the top was a more grey, tweedy type texture. Mine was just black jersey. Oh well.

While I mostly dislike reality T.V. shows, I do enjoy the ones which are focused on showcasing people's artistic abilities (not the ones like "real world" or "survivor" where it's basically built around people making asses of themselves in front of the world). And I like Project Runway and So You Think You Can Dance the most because they are showcasing the abilities of these people which I only dream about being able to do. I think it would be incredible to be able to make my own clothes, and not just stupid "did your grandma make that dress for you?" kind of clothes, but really special and unique clothes like many designers on Project Runway do. And to dance like those on SYTYCD? Incredible. I like American Idol alright, but for some reason it's not the same for me. It's more about celebrity than pursuing a passionate career in that which you love. I know this is probably not the case for all those contestants on Idol, but singers have much more of a celebrity status than dancers and clothing designers do in American society as a whole.

ANYWAY I said all that to bring me to a quote from Tim Gunn about going to school for art or design. I found it to be very poignant and an encouragement, as a student of the arts.

"Part of what was so unshackling was the whole aspect that when you're studying art or design, the answer isn't in the back of the book. The answer's in you, somewhere, it's a matter of tapping into the resources you have and being creatively untethered."

This is what I liked so much about being an art student. And what was most difficult about it at the same time. There isn't one right answer. 2+2 doesn't have to equal 5 every time. There are no absolutes, and I think it makes a lot of people uncomfortable. So they become business majors. Nothing against business majors. I just can't imagine one grows as much personally when studying business as they do when they study art. In art, you are always reaching inside yourself to discover the answer. You aren't looking to another book or another research paper or another equation.

I think this is why I enjoy style so much (I don't like calling it "fashion" because I believe that fashion and style are two wholly separate entities). Style is all about you, it's a reflection of oneself. You reach inside yourself and you think, "What is the story I would like to tell with my clothing today. What is it about myself that I want to communicate to that wide world out there?" Or at least, I think that's how it should be. I think sometimes people get much to caught up in the trendy aspect of fashion and style-- always wanting to be vanguards of fashion. For me this has nothing to do with it. Of course, it is interesting to see what those creative and talented fashion designers are producing, and obviously it influences the way I dress to an extent. Just as much as what artists are producing today influence the work I make, whether I like it or not.

Okay well, this post has been heavily laden with text, and I'm not one to enjoy large blocks of un-broken-up text (oh postmodern graphic design, you!). So here are some photos of Shelley, who I'm sure many of you will recognize from Chictopia and Lookbook.

The thing I like about Shelley is that you would know her from a mile away. She's so Shelley. I think this is precisely what true style is about. It's about being completely yourself, not other people. This is why I am slightly annoyed when people go all ga-ga about celebrity fashion and try to be just like certain celebrities. I think there was even a reality TV show about people who would get plastic surgery to look like their favorite celebs! Gross.

Alright, well I'll stop inundating you all with brain vomit. I hope your weekend is going well! I for one am excited for Mad Men tomorrow! I know, I know, I don't have enough going on in my life if that's one of the most exciting things all week.

Disposable

I am multi-computering tonight because I'm trying to upload a video I took of this thing I went to and for some reason my mac doesn't have a firewire port but my brother's does. So I was sitting here waiting for it to upload when the screen went into screensaver mode and started a slideshow of his iPhoto library. I liked a couple and thought they were very beautiful, though he didn't take them with an artsy mindset.

I'm pretty sure they are both from disposable cameras. I love the look of photos from disposable cameras and earlier this year promised to myself that I would use them all the time, but have forgotten. I'm glad this reminded me.

I just like the colors, the vignetting from the harsh flash, the graininess... They are so beautiful in a low-fi kind of way. Plus they are always so spontaneous.

Well tomorrow I finally have a day off from work. On my agenda: relaxing.

Betty Draper

Ugh, I had to cover another opening shift today. My day off! Plus I am in full-fledged under-the-weatherness right now and waking up was like hell. But whatever. More money to save/pay off stuff. This is the dress I bought yesterday, I love it. It is my Betty Draper dress. There's something about looking like a 50's housewife and feeling like a she wolf which is so ... sly.

dress/moon collection (from Cosette)

Well, I they never called me for the second interview. I hope it doesn't mean I'm nixed (they are really super busy right now at the state fair. Today was the first day of the fair and they have two booths), my guess is that the manager who was supposed to interview me is stuck at the fair doing stuff. I hope.

So today my Vogue readings found me reading a piece about photographer Irving Penn. It kind of seems like photographers like he and Ansel Adams and Dorthea Lange don't exist anymore. I'm not too into contemporary photographers, so maybe this is false, but those photographers seem to hark from a lost time.

What is it about black and white photographs that is so haunting?