how to revamp thrift shop finds

"I'll wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible" Recently for my school newspaper I wrote an article about how to revamp thrift shop finds on my fashion column, Style Diaries. Here is a short how to video. The dress and shirt were both purchased at Goodwill. Enjoy! xxx

tea with a splash of passion and a dash of dreaming

My lovely and dear friend, Abbee and I wrote an article about passion.... and here it is:

            All our lives, we've wanted to live in New York City when we grow up... well, okay, maybe Candy Land for a while.  We come from a medium sized college town in the Midwest, so we understand we sound like a cliché plot for a high budget chick flick, but this doesn't damper our enthusiasm.  Quoting John Lennon's classic hit “Imagine” “you may say I'm a dreamer,” and it's true. Our passion is to make our dreams come true by our own doings.  And the movie plot gets cheesier.

            So sitting here sipping Mao Fung Shui tea (a green tea from Zhejiang, China, with a sweet taste and an aroma of freshly mown grass) at one of the two non-chain coffee shops in our town, we ponder our future.  We attend an over-achieving high school where it's easy to describe the overwhelming majority (skinny jeans, American Eagle t-shirt, Ugg boots, and a North Face jacket). So part of the reason we are so passionate about leaving this town is we don't want to be stuck in the crowd, aka the bubble.  

            When our high school newspaper does the yearly pole on where the seniors are going to attend college, over half is the university in our town.  This leads to some people staying in this town for their entire lives.  One of our passions is to see the world. This is more cheesier than the plastic looking nacho cheese at our cafeteria. This small town has been a great place to grow up, but now we just want it to be a place we can refer to as home.  But unlike Dorothy Gale we aren't going to tap our ruby slippers. 

            At our age most people are trying to figure “it” out. The “it” is the thing that will lead that person to much success and money, and for most people in our town the words that come to mind are doctor, engineer, and science.  We have never had this out look, and this is coming from the daughters of engineers, who are wanting to pursue out of our town's norm.

            In five years we see ourselves bustling through the busy streets of New York City.  One of us working for a fashion magazine, and the other one trying to fulfill her dreams of being Ina Garten and renting a shoe box apartment with an exposed brick wall and hard wood floors.  The mere thought of being able to see endless city lights instead of endless corn fields makes us want to dance around to “New York State of Mind” by Jay-Z and “You Make My Dream Come True” by Hall and Oats. We know this dream will most likely require us to eat a lifetime supply of ramen noodles and although this may lead our skins to external suffering, we don't care.

            All our lives we have been hesitant to tell anyone about the entirety of our dreams.  When we have let select people into our tiny day-dreaming club, they give us the “that's-cool-good-luck-with-that-I'm-not-really-wishing-you-good-luck-I'm-being-sarcastic” look.  This just makes us more eager to fulfill our dreams.  At the same time we're scared.  We have big expectations, but we know we must strive to make them reality.  When we were little we were afraid of ghosts and zombie (The Thriller music video anyone?), but now that we've gotten older we're more afraid of tomorrow because we don't know what it holds and how to get where we want to be.  However without fear and judgment we would probably be settling for an easy life and job, Tivoing episodes of “Cake Boss” when we get home.  While this path is enough to keep our wallets and stomachs full, it is not enough to make us happy, because we are not living passionately.  We've realized throughout our endeavors thus far that passion is everything. If you are not passionate about almost every aspect of your life you may question your happiness.

            Here in our town we never feel like we can never truly be exactly who we want to be.  Not only our dreams but say the color of our blue dip dyed hair is restricted by the “what the . . .?!” look.  We are not afraid to be ourselves, but we find it easier to conform with certain aspects of our lives. But since when is life easy?  We don't necessarily want an easy life.  We feel that this kind of living is passion less and dreary.   One day there will come a time where you won't remember who might have laughed or scoffed at you when you wore purple lip stick or shared your dreams. Because you will be long gone.  When we think about this fact it makes us a little less scared of what lies ahead, and to fully express our passions freely to the world around us.  We believe that passion and hard work is the key that will open the door to the opportunities we want in life.

          So simply put our dreams lead us to be so passionate it keeps us up at night, but one night we hope that the city lights will keep us up instead. So now our teapot is empty and cold, but the passion is still steaming hot in our warm hearts.   So now we will get some more tea.

blue frosting

This is the story of two best friends; Carmen and Cee Cee. They painted their eyelids blue and their lashes matte and wore pale lace and patched denim. They went to a sweet sixteen party where they ate blue frosted cake and tasted their first bubbles of white champagne. It burnt their throat and warmed their stomachs as they made a teenage vow in the empty parking lot that they would never forget this feeling of being young and free. ♥