Majestic

HELLO FINALS WEEK. 

THE ONLY THING getting me through these two weeks in the bottomless pit of studying and not studying is the constant reminder that once summer starts, I am officially on my three month hiatus of beautiful nothingness, at least until I start school at a new university in the fall! woo!

But that is ages away, and for now, I am left with 3am essays and massive under-eye bags to prove it.

ENTER MAGESTIC CASUAL station on youtube, my go- to for some of the best background music I've come across on youtube land.  It's a mix of airy electro and eclectic beats,  and a source I can count on at virtually any time throughout the day.

The genres of music I listen to tend to be so inconsistent that when strangers ask me who my favorite artists are, or what my favorite song is I have a mini panic attack before reminding myself that I am not Jennifer Lawrence or some high prof celeb, and no one really cares what song I choose. Natalie from Community channel on youtube did a flawless rendition of this phenomenon I'm talking about here. 

Anyhow, yes my range of music can do a 180 within minutes- from the incandescent magic of sigur ros to the sweet (by which I mean irritatingly catchy) teenage ramblings of t-swift's "trouble". But majestic has been a constant this month- it's the perfect backdrop as I make up every excuse to do anything but study- hence the 30+ drafts in my blog at the moment. But pas de problème ;)

Check it out! Safe to say, I'm pretty hooked:

xx

Rooftop illusions

-photos of my friend bryanna by yours truly-

Taken during our rooftop adventures last week. This girl's hair alone deserves its own post!   

ITS KIND OF AMAZING...

that after nineteen years in this city, I'm still discovering beauty in the most unexpected of places.
Another brick wall infused with ivy on bryant street, another tiny cafe tucked into the residential alley not far from bustling valencia.
The inspiration I find here is endless.
I shot these photos with the girls on a rooftop not far from the design district, surrounded by wafts of nauseatingly good scents of freshly baked bread from the factory across the street. Next to us, profiles of film students hunched over their computers, beats from someone's tracks playing on a loop in the distance. Sounds of the city, simple effervescence I can't live without.

xx

Flash Delirium

ROOFTOP SHENANIGANS from last Friday. 80 degrees was almost too hot for us picky San Franciscans, so instead of heading to dolores park or ocean beach like we usually do when the sun shows its rays, we opted to spend our Friday afternoon atop Win's film class or what they call "the factory". Had tons of fun shooting three stories above the city!

xx

Photo Diary : April in Photos

1. lolita, anthropologie, journaling 2. pop! of magenta 3. Jordi on guitar

April was a total whirlwind of a month- impromptu shoots as well as uber pre-planned events (beach house, electric run), cafe hopping, san cisco concert , foodie-ing around sf, and last but certainly not least, getting accepted into my top three universities! 

I'm glad that will the help of friends I was able to document a decent chunk of it.

So here we go:

EARLIER last month,  my design class took a little tour of CCA (California College of the Arts) 

in the design district of San Francisco. Think: warehouses with beautiful open space, too much facial hair, gourmet cafes, no parking, ... a bit like the Brooklyn of Norcal, at least the Brooklyn I imagine.  

First row- cherry blossom shoot in garden, thoroughbread cafe for lunch, golden hour in the mission

Second row- san cisco concert, new nike's, flowers at night in laguna beach

Third row- window shopping bakery style on valencia

 MID-APRIL, Win and I met up at the infamously over crowded fourbarrel coffee with win. The amount of times we've been there unsuccessfully is a bit depressing, HOWEVER my cafe latte was good enough (and pretty enough) to make up for all the table stealing hipsters.

-no hiding at san cisco concert, electric 5k night run, looking through the SF film fest features -

Now forcing myself to start an essay due tomorrow AM. Bring it, May!

xx

Only for the eyes

craftsman and wolves, dandelion chocolates sf

Revisited this cafe to pick up a cake for my mom's birthday.  This cafe's aesthetic (let's call it industrial...woodland) matches the quality of their desserts. They are freaking scrumptious, and unfortunately so are the prices. 

Thankfully our eyes can devour what our wallets cannot!

-trying that matcha coconut cake above on my next visit-

-caramelized hazelnut financier above is my all time favorite here!-

Here's to a great week ahead! Photos from our rooftop shoot soon.

xx

à la mode

IT WAS only one post ago that I said I wouldn't/couldn't wear a bold magenta lip out on a normal day. But... self inflicted rules are meant to be broken, and I gave this bright magenta hue a try for during the day, then out to electric run later that night.  More like "run" because there was very little running actually involved in this 5k. I think we got the most exercise simply trying to navigate our way to the event...and make it out of the sketch area of sf in one piece!

Anyway this make up forever lipstick survived all night amidst our dancing and craziness, and even acted as a lip stain the next day. Talk about lasting power. Paired with a simple winged eye, this is a look I'll be revisiting soon enough!

Now wrapping up a long Wednesday with Crazy Stupid Love. That Gosling/ Stone kiss scene in the bar...Gah. This will undoubtedly lead to a medley of other Gosling vids on youtube- fast forward to the "if you're a bird, i'm a bird" clip, ultimately reaching the general consensus that 99% of us still need to feed our 500 cats.

Furry animal love aside, April has been one of the best months of college yet- full of exciting events, a few new friends, and pretty golden times with the old. I'll post a more in depth photo diary of my April adventures soon enough ,but for now, here's a little look back into my month.

I apologize for overusing the peace sign, it's the Japanese kid/pop star within me!

Had a little fun with the drawing tool;) 

xx

Electric Youth+ DKNY

nastygal spring '13

HOW POLARIZING is this nasty gal shoot? If you've been following my blog for some time,

you know I tend to gravitate towards boho/ downtown off duty style (read: free people meets alexander wang). However, this month in particular, I've found minimalism and athletic wear, both long running trends, to be more exciting than ever. I've been pulling inspiration from every realm lately- graphic design blogs, korean sites like stylenanda (I know, I'm surprised too), 

and dkny+nylon videos (below), the first featuring Cara and the second with Tyler Blackburn. 

But back to this nastygal shoot- simply put, it's energetic& daring. It's a combination of sharp lines and sheer layers, and that bold magenta lip, that I admire but wouldn't be able to pull off, because let's be real, its the superhuman model that completely elevates- or rather, carries the shoot.

All this neon is getting me pumped for my team's 5k electric run tonight!
San Francisco will be a luminous, day-glow infused haven for one night, even more mad and eccentric than it already is.

 xx

my sin, my soul

lolita 

Loving this book so far. Yes, mildly creeped out, but mostly impressed by how beautifully written it is. Bien fait, Vladimir Nabokov. 

Your lovely prose helps overshadow the pedo aspect of it all.

 A mini april wishlist, musings, and in love with the cover of anthropologie's current catalog.

xx

Reckless is fun

-via google image-

 Beach House

TUESDAY April 16. Can't even begin to describe how magical our night at the Fillmore was. Eyes closed, bodies swaying. Fingers reaching for the smokey lights above. It's rare to find musicians so intertwined with both their music and their audience. With Beach House, everything- the vocals, the energy, the art and ambiance they created meshed together so seamlessly & evoked such a powerful feeling. 

Without a doubt, the most beautiful concert I've experienced yet.

Beach House favorites: 

Other People

Myth

The Hours

Lazuli

Walk in the Park  

San Cisco & Chaos Chaos

ON A MUCH lighter note, two weeks ago, five of us went to a see San Cisco perform at the little Rickshaw Stop in sf. We didn't feel so alone in getting marked with X's at the door, because turns out the members of San Cisco are barely 18 themselves! And I never thought I would see clips of Breakfast at Tiffany's playing against an indie pop/ rock soundtrack. But I'm sure Audrey (or at least Holly Go Lightly) would approve. Anyway, San Cisco- great energy and overall fun vibe, had us dancing all night. And best part is, they're only just getting started!

 "because reckless is fun when you're not the one that gets hurt"

Check these songs out:

Beach

Fred Astaire

Reckless 

x