A Beetle's Garden

I must confess, since getting a "grown up" job, I haven't had the time to devote to fashion blogs and runway shows and fall campaigns as I used to. I promise you, I am sad about this. Ahh, the blissful days of college leisure. Alas, I am only able to view a few shows, but boy oh boy, am I glad this was one of them. The Giambattista Valli Fall 2014 Couture collection is outta this world. Look after look is spot on and really captures carefree happiness. An eccentric, strip-ed, flowered show. Like, the essence of Beetlejuice's suit dabbled with Great Gatsby's well-kept garden.

Here are some of my favorite looks, courtesy of style.com:

A Little Dark

Happy Halloween! Have you started thinking about Halloween costumes? I have! (And I have been since August...it's a little embarrassing, but I really wanted to get a jump on it.) 

I have a little hypothesis about Halloween costumes. I'm not a psychiatrist or theorist of any kind, but in my musings, I've decided--and maybe this is obvious-- that Halloween costumes are indicative of a person's mental/emotional state. But perhaps this is only true of creative people. "Slutty kitty" is often overused and probably just indicates the need to feel sexy. Or a guy who plays a jock or a cop might be craving a little power. But some costumes go a little deeper. In this regard, a skeleton costume might indicate a person who feels "bare bones". Or a "slutty Book of Mormon" character might reveal the pathology of someone's struggle with sex and religion. Or a girl choosing to be "Lisbeth Sander" or "Lara Croft" shows a girl who wants to be powerful and a little dark.

This is all inconsequential, of course, because it's good for people to live in the extremes of themselves for a while. It's healthy to play the part of someone who can't be fully revealed in our everyday lives. 

It's just interesting to think about... 

So what are you going to be for Halloween this year?

Photos courtesy of Debra Oliver, flickr, Fox News, grayflannelsuit.net, unknown, wikimedia, winteriscoming.net, brevard, and unknown.

"August is Hot" Pants

See what I did there? "August is Hot" Pants. That is some word play, people. Good word play? Not really. But word play nonetheless.

"August is hot"--Fact. "People wore hot pants in the 70's"--Fact. I could've also gone with "It's not in the 70's in August". But that seemed a little reaching.

Here are some "Hot" pictures from the 70's:

Photos courtesy of the Foundation for the National Archives

Proud to be an American!

Hello Everyone! 

Next week is the 4th of July (mimicks hands raising the roof), and to commemorate this beautiful country we call home (and if you don't call it home, come visit!), here are some photos that show the splendor. These are entrants into The National Geographic Traveler Magazine photo contest, and as you can see, this country has such variety and quite a bit to offer. 

I feel very fortunate to live here in this country of glens, and swamps, mountains and skyscrapers. Here's some of it for you.

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

East Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Florida, USA

Hygiene, Colorado, USA

Moab, Utah, USA

Okeefenokee Swamp, Georgia, USA

Pullman Highway, Washington, USA

South Carolina, USA

Yosemite National Park, USA

Cat Meets Man

People love cats. People love male models. Am I right?

This is a genius article that combines all of our favorite things.

Enjoy!

The Natives are Counting Stars

Oh man this has been a great few weeks for music!! I'm lovin life right now. First, Justin T. with his killa album, and now OneRepublic (read: not Direction) whose entire album is on Youtube. Both of them are also on Spotify, so do that too. And iTunes, which I think I'm going to hit up after I write this. I just utilized the Youtube version because Spotify is a no-go on my work computer. At any rate, here's that album!

Enjoy! It's amazing!!

Life in '63

This is one of those posts from Life Magazine I was telling you about. It shows an interesting side of the life of an actress living in 1963. This is Natalie Wood, an actress from such films as Miracle on 34th Street and West Side Story. I wouldn't say she's a favorite actor of mine, but her performances were always passionate. I recommend taking a look regardless. The clothes are fabulous. I mean, the fur hat alone makes this worth a look.