Autumnal Photo Shoot

And just like that, my blog is back from the dead! Hi friends, followers, acquaintances. I haven’t truly used this blog as I originally intended since May, unless you count my post about meeting Taylor, which I don’t. Mostly because it was copied directly from my fangirl tumblr. Anyway! I spent the entire summer working on my portfolio for my FIT application. Well, not entirely. I mean, I also spent a great deal of time working on sewing techniques, working on personal projects.. and I got a cat. My little Daisy Maire, my siamese baby cat. I’m actually still not done with my portfolio, but I’m almost done. Like I could probably finish in a week if I really wanted to, but then I'd have to lock myself in my room and be productive ALL DAY. and I'd have to stop showing up to school and work, and we can't have that.

I also started my first class of the Fashion Industry Studies certificate program that Teen Vogue is doing in partnership with Parsons School of Design!! I started on the 15th of October and it’s an 8 week program, I believe. I’ve been having so much fun with it! For one of my assignments, I had to make a mood board on Pinterest and then style an outfit and photo shoot based on the mood board. That’s actually what this post is about! I chose pictures that were laden with plaids and simple solids, simple center compositions, short dresses, brick walls, etc. My mood board is very seasonal and classy, hence the name Upscale Autumnal. I love the look of a plaid dress with simple black tights. 

It’s incredibly classy. So yesterday, when Hannah and I went to Salt Lake City in search of the book mural, which we did find.. I also took some quick pictures of her against the wall next to it, which was actually better for the outfit pictures. The simplicity of the brick wall helps the outfit stand out even more, I think! And of course, Hannah has gorgeous red hair which, contrasted against the red of the dress, gives the outfit even more dimension. Honestly, red heads can wear just about anything and look sophisticated.

Alright, so I’ve been fascinated by the Fashion Industry Studies program, and I absolutely loved taking pictures yesterday! I’ll need to take more soon, so if any of you locals are willing, I’d be so happy to have you model for my assignments!

Have a lovely Sunday!

Worn: ME - Plaid Shirt (Madewell) // Skirt (Zara - similar ) // HANNAH - Dress (Urban Outfitters) // Tights (Target) // Black Booties (Urban Outfitters) // Bag (Kate Spade - similar)

That time I met Taylor Swift in Denver

 I wrote this post and put it on tumblr a few days ago, and I wanted to share it with everyone here in case you didn't see it on tumblr. and here we gooooo...

I met Taylor for the third time on Sunday, as some of you may already know. That night was so chaotic and wild, both in real life and on here, and I was so overwhelmed by all the asks and dm’s and texts I had waiting for me when I left the arena that I really didn’t feel like posting the whole conversation until I had digested it all. I did, however, tell two of my closest friends exactly what I said and what Taylor said in detail and then I just saved that in a document until I was ready. I feel like there were some assumptions that night and a couple things I would like to clear up as well. Honestly, I have never had a more perfect encounter with Taylor and I don’t think I would change a thing about how it went down.

After Erica and that one guy from Taylor Nation took me backstage, they put me in the catering room. It was just me and three little girls with their mom and dad. I think they said they had something to do with the arena, but I don’t quite remember the details of my conversation with them. I couldn’t stop crying and shaking and I had honestly never felt such bad anxiety in probably my entire life. I was trying to compose myself though because I mean I needed to remember this, it could very well be my last time with Taylor and there was so much I needed to say and I needed to highlight the fact that I’m so grateful for everything she has done for me. So then, they took us out into the hallway and the guy who had brought me backstage told me to stay back with him because I would be last and then another guy came up and told me to stand against the wall so she wouldn’t see me til the end. It was soon after that that I saw Taylor and her mom and Erica coming out, and she was in her WTNY outfit and I started crying again and then while Taylor was saying hi to the little kids, her mom came over and started talking to me. And she said she remembered me from the other day and that she saw me in the Swiftmas video and that her and Taylor cried watching it and I told her about how I spent the morning waiting for my mom and then we cried and I felt so happy and loved. And she told me to come sit with her in the soundbooth when Taylor was singing at the bstage area, and I asked her in Hannah could come too and she said “Of course!”

And then I looked over at Taylor and I saw that family was leaving and next thing you know, she’s approaching me with her arms outstretched, all like “CECIIIIII!!!! I’m so glad you made it!!” And she gave me this huge hug and at that point I had still been crying, so it was especially perfect and I needed it so bad. Side note, SHE IS SO TALL and beautiful and her makeup is on point and HER EYES HDJSHDJSHDJ ANYWAY, I was like “TAYLOR!!!!” when I first saw her and then as I was hugging her I said “Thank you for the presents thank you for everything thank you for making me feel loved,” and I was still crying and she looked at me and said, “aw, you ARE loved!” and I’ll never forget her saying those words to me. She said, “my mom and I watched the video together and we both cried” and Andrea said something about it being cute and I said, “I cried that whole day!” and she was like aw in her cute little way. And then she said, “I really didn’t know you were in salt lake I’m sorry we missed you!” and I said, “OH don’t be! It was more fun like this!”, and she said, “That’s good!” and I said, “I got to go on a road trip with HANNAH!” And without missing a beat taylor goes, “I love her!” and then I started talking fast and I went on my little rant of nervousness lmao. I said “I was crying after the show for like two hours cause I thought you forgot me and Hannah was so selfless. She sat there with me outside making me feel better and we decided to randomly try this” And then I kept going, I told her about how when Taylor Nation called we thought we heard one thing but we didn’t because I was screaming and freaking out and we didn’t make out what they said right so we got our hopes up for her, but then it was a mistake and I felt bad that I couldn’t make it better for Hannah after all she had done for me and I ended it with, “I am just so sorry” and I can’t believe I didn’t stop crying that entire time. And It’s amazing because when you talk Taylor, it’s just so evident that she cares so much about everyone. Just the way she paid attention to everything I had to say, and after I was done she looked at me and she said, “Ceci, it’ll be okay, I see her all the time!” and she talked about Hannah for a little bit and then she said, “I just wanted to meet you!” and I hugged her and she said, “Tell Hannah that I see how much hate she gets and I don’t want her to get more hate and it would get worse because people would be mad and it’s just not worth it. Don’t worry about it!” and I said, “I’ve never had a friend in real life that would do so much for me without asking for anything in return like her” and I don’t know what Taylor told her mom, but I took the moment to pick up all the presents I had brought in for her from friends and random people that I had set on the floor before she got there and I said, “I brought presents! They’re not mine though! We drove forever and got here at like 4am and we stayed with this random girl from tumblr, LAURA!” and taylor was like “WHAT NO WAY!” laughing and I was like “AND THEN SHE MADE YOU COOKIES!” and taylor was like “You guys are crazy!” still laughing and I was like “HONESTLY we almost died like ten times on the highway just trying to make it over here and one time at a gas station we left the key in a I ALMOST exploded Hannah” and Taylor started looking through the pile of presents and the first thing she saw was the drawing of Scott Borchetta with nothing but a “music has value shirt on him” and a sticker of Hannah’s polaroid as his loin cloth lmao and she bursts out laughing and goes “OH MY GOD MOM LOOK AT THIS!” and Andrea goes and looks at it and she was all like WHO MADE THIS ONE and taylor pointed at the sticker and she’s standing there laughing and I was like “HANNAH AND CAILIN MADE IT” and I was like “TAYLOR wouldn’t it be funny if I got a picture of you with it for them” and Taylor goes, “OH NOOOO he’ll be so mad!” and then we just laughed and Andrea was like “I was telling Ceci she could come with me when you’re on the bstage. During what song do you think it would be the best view?” and they argued about the setlist for a while and then they decided on a song and I forgot it right then and there lmao I was still in shock that TAYLOR was right there in front of me.

SO then I was like “TAYLOR HOLD ON I have this close friend on tumblr Arlette and she loves you so much” and idk how but we had like slowly migrated closer to where it was darker and I was like “She loves you so much you have no idea but you always used to like her posts AND-“ and I remembered I brought my favorite polaroid from the ones that came with 1989 and I took it out and I was like, “would you sign something for her please!” and Taylor said, “Of course!” and she was like, “You gotta help me out with this one” and she wrote “arle” and then she didn’t know if there were two t’s or just one, and then she wrote the “I *heart*” and her name and while she was doing that part I said, “SHE CALLS YOU TDAWG ON TUMBLR!” and Taylor laughed lmao  and then we almost took our picture in the dark area but Andrea was like no, you guys need to take it by the white wall, so we moved over there again and they took one without flash and then another one with flash because he said the first one looked bad, but I actually like that one best lmao and then I was like “Taylor, I love you!” because I wanted to make sure I remembered to tell her and she said, “Itt was so nice meeting you! Love you!” and I said, “I love you so much!” and she said something about how she hoped we both have the best time and I was shaking  and then I went out with that guy from Taylor Nation and I ran back cause Taylor was about to go on stage.

 Okay, so, I need you all to know that I didn’t spend my time with Taylor “whining” about Hannah, as some anons kindly put it. And I didn’t beg Taylor or Andrea and neither did Hannah. In fact, I would go as far as to say this was my best experience with Taylor because I got to spend it telling her about these beautiful people that mean a lot to me and I got to surprise Arlette with her autograph later and I was able to give her Cailin’s letter and Laura’s cookies. And I got to see how much Taylor really, truly cares about us. She’s a beautiful soul. And yes, I didn’t get to tell her everything I had originally wanted to tell her, but those were all unimportant things. I wouldn’t change this conversation for the world. A little while after I met Taylor, when she was on stage, she pointed out and sang to Hannah and I think that was her way of trying to make things better and I mean, she didn’t have to do that. It was just so genuine and kind of her. And then of course Hannah met her after the show and that was even better (see picture below) !

So that's the story of how it all went down! Have a lovely Monday morning :)

Thursday Thoughts

It has been a whole month, but the Thursday Thoughts are finally back! This week has been a busy one. I've been working extra hours, like I said. It was also the pan sale at the hospital gift shop, where I volunteer, so I ended up buying a ton of nice things for my cooking endeavors. Also, I'm finally done putting together my Mother's Day gift basket for my mom. I got her a couple things she was talking about needing, some pretty things she wanted, and something she has never seen but will absolutely love. And this weekend is going to be so exciting! I'm going to the James Bay concert at The Depot tomorrow with my sister. Before that, we're gonna go to a friend's party. On Saturday, I'm having a cheat day and I'm grabbing dinner with my family for Mother's Day. And finally, I'm just very excited to see my mom's reaction when I give her her presents. I absolutely adore putting together gift packages for loved ones, as you know. I mean honestly, one of my close friend's birthday is coming up in July and I've been collecting presents to send her since January. Anyway, here are your links for the week:

   - "‘There is not enough time for hating yourself. Too many things to make. Go.’" - Tavi Gevinson
   - One of things I'd most like to sew is lingerie, because since it's transparent, more effort has to be put into making it look beautiful from both sides.. similarly, these sheer wedding dresses look like a dream.
   - A 32-year-old woke up feeling 17. It's so cool I texted this to all my close friends.
   - The Sedentary Death Machine (of doom).
   - Do you ever celebrate May Day? I never do, but after reading this article, I want to.. and I think I'll save this for next year.
   - Why aren't women having children? Because they don't want them.
   - The Humans of New York guy photographed the Met Gala and added a new level of depth to the event.

Have a lovely Thursday!

picture credit goes to the ever so talented, Leigh Kendell.

Met Gala 2015

Hi, so right now, as I'm typing this, I'll probably fall asleep. It's not because I don't care, I mean I really do. I love the Met Gala. I look forward to it every year. The thing is.. I came down with a cold, I have two jobs, I'm spending like three hours a day cooking for the sake of eating healthy, and then I'm also trying to be productive and work on projects. Plus Taylor Swift just started her world tour and you know I had to be aware of all the details. It's exhausting. And guess what? I got another job. But don't worry, that doesn't start until the end of June. I'm actually going to have a whole three weeks of no work except on Tuesdays in June. It's gonna be exciting. I'm gonna spend it making art. As for right now, I'm going to have to make do with late-night blogging. Onto the actual topic.

The Met Gala was yesterday. The theme was China: Through the Looking Glass, which was actually a really interesting theme. Last year's theme was pretty bold too. It's always exciting to see who will follow the theme and who won't, and if they do, what they'll wear and how they'll incorporate it. I got home from work at 3:45pm yesterday and the first thing I did was get online to see the beautiful pictures and decide which looks I liked best. I'm just going to talk about a few of my favorites right now!

from top left: Diane Kruger in Chanel, Poppy Delevigne in Marchesa, Anna Ewers in Balenciaga, Lizzy Caplan in Donna Karan Atelier

Of those four, my absolute favorite has to be Diane Kruger's two-piece ensemble. I mean... those pants. They're flawless with the sheer lacy fabric, and it's just nice to see someone in pants at the Met Gala. Her look is just so effortlessly beautiful. My second favorite would have to be Anna Ewers in Balenciaga. I love the skirt of her dress, and how that's sheer too. She looks like a dancer in that dress. Her crown is very delicate and feminine too.

from top left: Wendi Murdoch in Oscar De La Renta, Kate Hudson in Michael Kors, Amanda Seyfried in Givenchy Haute Couture, and Gabrielle Union in Kimberly McDonald

Of these lovely looks, Kate Hudson's was my favorite. I just love the simplicity of a sparkly, gold dress.

Finally, I decided to narrow it down to my top four favorites and that was a huge struggle because I actually have at least a dozen top favorites. Some of the ones I absolutely adore but didn't include in this post (because I mean I don't want you to feel like this is ginormous novel of a post) are Lorde, Anna Wintour, Vanessa Hudgens, Allison Williams, and Alison Brie.

In my opinion, the most gorgeous look of the night had to be Rihanna in her stunning yellow gown. I mean if you haven't see that train, you have to scroll down right now. She was wearing Guo Pei.

Amal Clooney was wearing an equally beautiful gown, although less extravagant. She was wearing Maison Margiela. I love the ruffles on her dress and the different textures between the bodice of her dress and the skirt layers. Also, the deep red hue was a favorite of mine. And can we talk about her hair for a second? Oh my god, those perfect waves.

I was actually looking forward to seeing what Kendal Jenner would be wearing. I saw the sneak peek on instagram and I got really excited because green is my favorite color, as you know, and I wasn't sure what the strings would look like on the dress. When I think of strings, I tend to imagine an outfit with a very boho, beachy vibe so it was quite the plot twist to see what the dress actually looked like. It's definitely a favorite of mine from this year's Met Gala. It's Calvin Klein Collection, by the way.

Finally, I love the very regal look that Brie Larson, Courtney Eaton, and Annabelle Wallis were sporting. One of the things I love most about fashion is when designers go all out, very heavy with gold and jewels as well as with references to art history in their work. I feel like these Dolce and Gabbana looks exemplify this sort of style. The classic cuts of the dresses are also stunning, along with those headpieces. These ladies look like a dream. They look like what I think of when I think of the Met Gala.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope it's okay that I'll be posting so late! Have a lovely Wednesday tomorrow. :)

Mipsy.

HELLO FRIENDS!!!
I'm done with finals, which means.... I'm officially back! I have accumulated a list of post ideas and I'm thinking I'll be posting three times a week but you'll never know exactly what days cause sometimes I feel like posting on weekends or whatever, and sometimes I don't want to. You know how it is. I have news to tell you. I got a second job! I'm excited because that means I'm one step closer to New York and I'm also excited because I went earlier and they're such great people. I'm going to be the early morning nanny for another lovely family, by the way. Also, I'm still doing the Tone It Up Bikini Series and it's going fantastic. It just feels good to eat clean, even though I occasionally wish I could eat cake or something. You know how I love sweets. Whatever. It's been great. I like the recipes. I love that I get to to cook all the time, and I love that I've started losing weight again, and quickly. In other news, I'm now one of the co-leaders in another Girl Scouts troop and I know that's a little bit crazy of me, but I feel like if I have the time I should do as much as I can to help. It's something I'm passionate about. And finally, I plan on starting on my fashion school application portfolio next week or the week after so that's also exciting!

Onto Mipsy, or Meredith Grey, or just Mere.

I was so excited to finish this painting. A while ago, I painted the background and then I just sort of left the canvas sitting there for a month until I remembered that I needed to finish it because this is actually an end of semester project I needed to present in front of the class. So, with that in mind, I started painting the cat a couple days ago, and then I finished it yesterday. It must have taken me a total of eight or nine hours. I'm getting faster at painting. It's still just as relaxing though, especially with good music in the background. I'm actually intending this work to be a part of a series of four pieces, two of which are already done, counting this one.

I'm not sure if you guys remember the painting on the left. It's one I made in September of Taylor's other cat, the younger one, Olivia, or Dibbles. I'd like to have another Olivia and another Meredith so that I can put those two under these and then it can cover a whole wall, hypothetically speaking. I don't actually hang my own art up. I would feel a bit weird about that, not that it is, I just don't know why. Anyway, it's been so fun making these. By the way, it's acrylic on a 6"x8" canvas. I used my tiniest brushes mostly an 18/0 spotter and liner, but I also used my 0 and 1.

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely week!

Term Papers + Happenings

I swear I think about updating you guys at least a couple times every day, and I always say tomorrow will be the day I'm back on, but then things happen, as you know. For one, on Sunday I was thinking I had only two papers left to write for the semester, only to later discover that I had five more in total. To make matters, worse I procrastinated with one paper because it's the longest and most daunting one, so instead I wound up spending all day today writing it. I'm not even done yet. I'm down to two more pages, which is a huge accomplishment considering the length requirements. I also discovered I'm more productive when I don't sit down. See, I have a good friend who keeps her laptop not on a desk, but rather on top of a tall dresser, so that then she always has to stand when she uses it, because it's better that way. I didn't want to believe her, but it is. I know now. The downside is now I'm exhausted, because it's literally been all day.

But in all honesty, it has been such a busy week. I only have one true final exam, and then just tedious papers, so if I'm not on it's because of that. And also partially because I have a job again. I'm a sweet little girl's nanny. It's been lovely and crazy, but mostly lovely. I also got a new volunteer position at the hospital again and third of all, I've been insanely busy planning things for the Girl Scouts. I should tell you guys more about that. I mean I care about it enough that it should be a part of this blog, but then I also don't want to bore everyone if you guys don't really care. But why does that even matter. The point is, being a Girl Scouts leader is as time consuming as everyone said it would be last summer, but it's so fantastic and hilarious and worthwhile. I'd do anything for those girls. Anyway, so I just wanted to stop by and say hi and let you know that I'll probably stay on this weird sort of hiatus until halfway through next week. And then I'll be back to at least three posts a week.

Have a lovely rest of the week!

picture credit goes to Roma.

we'll just go til the road ends

 "just hold tight to my hand, there's no need for any big plans, we'll just go til the road ends." - Holley Maher

I'm inconsistent, I knooow. I tend to have legitimate excuses though, or at least I try. You know. If you wanted to know where I've been the last four days, I was holed up in my room blaring indie love songs and making art, obsessively. I mean it all started on Saturday night, when I was sitting downstairs listening to music, loudly, and thinking, mostly about the lyrics in said music. I came across the line, "I don't wanna talk about it, I just wanna hold your hand" by Rhodes, in the song Your Soul. It just sounded so nonchalant and intense at the same time, which is the nice thing about the subtleties of loving someone. I'm not in love with anyone right now. In fact, I don't think I've ever quite been in love with anyone, but I do know that I've loved people before, so intensely. It's something comfortable and beautiful and also terrifying, but at the end of the day that's not love, that's something crazy, but it's not quite it. I don't think it's supposed to be terrifying. Whatever. I'm nineteen. I'm not supposed to be in love. I'm fine. That was all besides the point.

Can I tell you something funny? I don't know much about Taylor's life. I know a lot about her career, but even that I don't know completely. I know what her sense of humor is like, I know her cats' nicknames, I know who she has dated, I know she likes wearing outfits that consist only of black clothes sometimes, I know what she would say in most situations, but I don't know much else... and I didn't realize that until last year when this one weirdly plausible article was put out that nobody really talked about. It doesn't even matter though. Okay, so on a more related note, I know she's dating Calvin Harris. That's the sort of thing you can't hide if you're famous. I know he said he wanted to see her in 2012. I know they connected at the Brits Awards two months ago. I know they were first seen together hand-in-hand on a stroll by a lake. But I don't know what exactly is going through her mind, or what she thinks of it all. I mean, I can't just assume she's so in love cause I know it's not like that sometimes. I just don't know. God, I hope so. She's a more rational person now, though. We all are when we grow up and get hurt a little.

Anyway, the whole point is that I drew this very lovey dovey pictures of her and Calvin holding hands and it all sort of just came together, like things tend to do. There's a candid of them holding hands and I drew it and I was going to stop there and quickly write that Rhodes quote on the bottom, but then I was like WHY STOP THERE WHEN THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF SONGS WITH NICE LYRICS and then I stayed up til 2:30am googling and searching and listening to songs until my eyes hurt and my fingers were tired of typing and I felt like an insane person. And then I changed the whole composition of it. The lyrics went on the side instead, and in faux calligraphy but with pencil. And then I was like, why should the hands be freely floating? They need a frame, enter the floral border. It was going to be watercolor, but then I decided to opt for watered down acrylic because it's more pigmented and I love acrylic. My sister walked in halfway through and was all like, "you should make something like this for a real couple you know, so they can hang it up on their wall" and I'm like, "is it that lovey dovey?" I'm not crazy, I swear. I actually love it for it's cutesy nature. And it did take me three days, so it better be worthy of being hung up on a wall, even though it does in fact reside in my sketchbook. Isn't that dumb? I spent three days on a sketchbook piece. What is wrong with me.

But anyway, my friends thought it was cute, and I feel proud of it, so whatever. Let's let it be cutesy. Let's all just gush over the fact that at least someone's in love, somewhere. Which reminds me, one of these days I'm going to post the playlist I listened to when I was working on this. It's my favorite right now.

Have a flawless Wednesday!