The southern california days of highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s cannot come soon enough.
Fall 2017 = leopard, faux fur, plaid, berets, olive green, mustard yellow, red, nude lips, and rigorous skincare.
Wednesday 13 September 2017
Friday 1 September 2017
adams square
Hello everyone! I want to start off by saying, no matter how much time has lapsed between my posts, I don't like to address it. I want my blog to be a fun little time capsule of things I like, stuff I want, tours, milestones, etc. Things that are fun to look at in posts that stand on their own. I don't want every post to start out "Phew! Been a while, huh?" But this time it's different.
I came here because I've been pinning the shit out of so many things. Ever since the wedding I always have like 50 different Pinterest boards going. I have the Pinterest app on my phone and it lives next to the Airbnb app in a folder titled "Basic Bitch." I opened a new post prepared to start writing about all the clothes I've been stockpiling in my Pinterest boards, until I realized Eloy and I moved since my last post. And I have so many Pinterest boards dedicated to the decorating of our new place!
We lived in a tiny little one bedroom guest house in Glassell Park from October 2010 - April 2017.
It was our first home together. Until we moved to LA together, we were dating long distance for two years, traveling back and forth between New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Eloy would occasionally meet up with me on tour wherever I was - Texas, Mexico, etc. It was actually in Austin, Texas where we had the conversation about moving to LA. I had recently filled in for Best Coast on a West Coast tour where they opened for my old band, Vivian Girls. Best Coast went to SXSW for the first time that year with a different drummer. I talked to Beth and let her know I'd be willing to drum for them any time. She asked me if I was willing to leave Vivian Girls and move to LA to drum for them. I was.
I remember pulling Eloy aside and saying "Would it be crazy if I moved to LA?" or something like that. He said "That's funny, cause I was going to ask you if it was crazy if I dropped out of college." This was March of 2010. Never being one to sleep on ideas, we immediately put plans in motion. Eloy would drop out of school and start working full time to save up money to move, I would start flying to the west coast to practice with the band and look at places. One week in August, I went out by myself to LA, rented a car, and looked for place after place. This went on all day for 6 days. Exhausted and feeling defeated, I called my mom crying. I was running out of time and wouldn't have another chance to look for a house for a while. I had just turned 24.
Bethany was actually the one who suggested I go look at this guest house in Glassell Park. I went to see it, fell in love, and signed a lease that day. For 7 years Eloy and I made that our home. We celebrated holidays and birthdays, had so many friends and bands sleep on our floor. My cousin Heather used to drive down from San Francisco and sleep on our little spare mattress, or "the pallet" as she called it. We named it Swiss Family Robinson House, because it felt like living in a tree house. In the last few years at Swiss Family Robinson House we started having music and comedy shows in our tiny little living room. The most insane show had both Ted Leo and Reggie Watts on the bill. We made so many friends, and lost some too. We got engaged after 8 years together, and came back to that house the morning after our wedding. The plumbing sucked and our roof leaked all the time, but it was our home. We grew up together in there.
We watched the neighborhood change so much in those 7 years. We saw house after house on our cul de sac go from chainlink fences and bars on windows to horizontal wooden gentrifier fences and brightly painted front doors. For Lease signs turned to coffee shops and helicopters stopped circling overhead.
On April 26th we woke up to about 15 LAPD officers with guns drawn announcing a warrant. It wasn't for us, obviously, but for our landlord that we shared our driveway and our home with for 7 years. I won't go into the details here, but that morning it stopped being our home. We were too scared and traumatized to stay. It was "tainted," Eloy said. "That's a wrap on Glassell Park," I said.
We are so grateful to have made so many friends in those 7 years, because we had so many options of places to stay until we found a new home. We quietly moved out and into a storage space and stayed with our dear friends Sean and Erin for the month of May aka the month Erin was due to give birth. TIMING!
That month we went through the motions of working, touring, house hunting, helping our friends out, etc. while we cycled through various stages of disbelief, resentment, and defeat. This time I didn't call my mom crying. Instead I laughed and cried about the ridiculous situation with my husband at night on Sean and Erin's pull out couch. I will always cherish this weird transitory time in our life together; eating dinner and watching TV at night with Sean, a very pregnant Erin, and Pizza, and taking turns showering in the morning while listening to Howard Stern and laughing together, just Eloy and I in their guest house.
I was touring California in my band Upset with Charly Bliss ahead of the release of their first album, Guppy, while Eloy looked at what would become our new home. We decided since we would likely not move again for a while, we should take our time and find somewhere with more room in a good school district to set ourselves up for the next chapter together. The married 30 year olds who finally feel capable of starting a family chapter.
We wound up getting another amazing back house in the Adams Square neighborhood of Glendale. I immediately started sketching out each room, brainstorming which of our existing furniture and decor would go where, determine what we'd need to start buying, and started scheming about our new home. It took me a while to adjust, but it finally feels like home. I'm antsy to complete it with special new rugs and curtains, but there's time for that.
It doesn't have a cute nickname yet, but we've already had a few sleepovers, BBQs, and a poker night and it's just...perfect. I'm really happy to be here.
Enough with the words, here are some boards...
Monday 17 April 2017
can you deal?
About a month ago my friend Christian and Jennifer Clavin (of the bands Bleached and Mika Miko) reached out to see if I'd want to submit to the zine they were putting together. It focused on women's experience in music and it was called "Can You Deal?"
I thought about it. In light of the new America, complaining about playing music as a straight, cis, white woman felt trivial.
I went back and forth about how I felt about contributing to the zine, and decided ultimately it was for a good cause (all proceeds went to Planned Parenthood), and it was a pretty big platform. Jennifer and Christian got some high profile musicians to contribute (Hayley Williams, Tegan Quin, Liz Phair, JD Samson, etc.) If even one person read what I had to say and it helped them in anyway, that's worth it. That idea of just one person getting something out of what I put into the universe is motivation enough.
So I wrote. And you can read it here: Can You Deal?
photo by Samuel Ware
Jennifer and Christian organized a show at the Echoplex for the zine's release. Side Eyes opened the show, followed by my band Upset, the Regrettes, and Bleached.
I changed my outfit like, 10 times before landing on this one...
photo by Eduardo Luis
photo by Eduardo Luis
photo by Eduardo Luis
photo by Eduardo Luis
photo by Andrew Gomez
photo by Andrew Gomez
photo by Samuel Ware
I actually really like the new Bleached song the zine was named for.
Here's the music video for Can You Deal:
sprung
I did some spring cleaning a.k.a. got tired of looking at my closet and decided to do a major purge.
I own so many pieces of clothing that don't fit, aren't my style anymore, or I just never feel like wearing. Out with them! So I started listing everything I'm willing to part with on my new Depop shop (check it out here). There's also a link up above to the right ^
I have been drawn to a couple simpler looks lately and want to start rebuilding my closet with some new staples. I started by finally getting the Kristen dress I've been eyeing from Hello Holiday. Hello Holiday is an awesome online store and brick and mortar in Omaha run by a couple of lovely ladies.
You should really check them out.
This photo Sarah posted on Facebook is what sparked my fixation on this dress..
It has pockets. POCKETS! God, I love dresses with pockets.
As I clear out my closet, I'm going to eventually add a pair of hikers
and some loose tops to go with my Uniqlo leggings pants.
My preferred lipstick of the moment is Mac - Darling Clementine and my favorite nail polish right now is Odeme - Cuba Libre (pictured). I also plan on nabbing a pair of the matte avocado & tortoise shell Crap sunglasses I've had my eyes on. I'm obsessed with the shape of their Wild Gift glasses.
Plus, it doesn't hurt that the style is named after an X song.
Basically, all I feel like wearing at the moment is black, red, turtlenecks, berets, boots, and leather jackets.
Q: WHO AM I BECOMING?
A:
But realistically, probably more like...
The other day, I put this look together from my closet. My mom said it was very Audrey Hepburn.
As someone who has always felt big and clumsy, I've never related to her waifish elegance.
Saturday 15 April 2017
tuesday bassen staples, elevated
Tuesday Bassen's best-selling classics are back and better than ever! With new and improved fits and materials, bombers and hoodies just got a serious upgrade.
Last week I went out to the desert with my boss and pal, Tuesday Bassen.
We hit up the superbloom on our way out to Desert X.
photo by Jillian Newman
glasses: crap eyewear, bomber: tuesday bassen
bomber: tuesday bassen, sunglasses: crap eyewear
photo by Jillian Newman
bomber: tuesday bassen
photo by Jillian Newman
young angry women tee by Tuesday Bassen
photo by Jillian Newman
photo by Jillian Newman
sunglasses: crap eyewear, hoodie: tuesday bassen
photo by Jillian Newman
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