Tomorrowland

With these wise words courtesy of Mr. Dylan, I think I've found my New Year's Resolution to welcome 2010 with open arms with.

That, and possibly dying my hair red. I'm so hooked on the idea right now!

Love to you all,
Heather

Hair Today

Dove's beauty campaigns are normally hit and miss for me, but "Unstick Your Style" was really cool. I love seeing these cartoon icons and their new 'dos. Love the use of white space too.








Love to you all,
Heather

Merry Christmas!

This commercial was so lovely, I had to put it up. The song, by the way, is Reprise by Marcelo Zarvos and Peter Vronsky. Quite gorgeous.

Lots of pictures too, in my usual tradition.











I hope each and every one of you have a sweet and very merry holiday!

Love to you all,
Heather

Award Season

*warning: I am awful at tagging/linking people to notes. Sorry if it doesn't go through!

Intrinsically Florrie very kindly awarded me the Beautiful Blogger award which is all sorts of awesome and amazing! Thanks again darling!

Here are the rules that came with the award:
1) Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2) Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4) Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
5) Nominate 7 bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs I nominate.

Now to talk about myself...
1) I have fixations with the following items: men's dress shirts, white roses, In n Out grilled cheeses, going through my mail, writing in my day planner and watching Daria episodes on constant replay.

2) My eyes get talked about often. They are a mix between blue and green depending on the lighting. They are also very big, like a cartoon anime girl. I had a caricaturist draw me once and he did me as Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon. It is one of my most treasured pictures.

3) Porcelain makes me shiver anytime I touch it.

4) When I used to work at Panera Bread, I consistently stole drinks all of the time. At any given moment, there would be about 3 or 4 drinks floating around the store that were all mine. I hid them fairly well. A chai tea would be behind the box of mocha mix. An iced caramel latte behind the whipped cream in the fridge. Mountain Dew in the back of the store by the coffee machines and my personal favorite, iced tea underneath a stack of soup cups. Never got caught once.

5) I have a definite Midwestern accent and an even more prominent lisp. When you combine the pair, all of your vowels are lower than the consonants. There was a time when I could have had the lisp fixed but I was in grade school and you know how kids are at that age. I would be teased forever. So I kept it and to this day, the word "cheese" is my enemy. I have a difficult time saying it.

6) One summer before I came to the school I currently attend, I watched Dazed and Confused every single day about three times a day. I would go into work and spout off "Melba toast", "Slatterson" and "George Washington was in a cult and the cult was aliens, man" quotes throughout my entire 7 hour shifts. (That had to annoy some people though they never said it to my face). I almost wrote my college entrance essay "Describe a movie/book/art piece that changed your life" on that movie. I'm fairly surprised that I didn't do it because I could have spent a page alone describing how I felt when that first couple beats of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" starts up at the beginning of the film.

7) My heritage is English, Welsh, German and Native American.

Nominations Go To:
Des in Real Life
Dibbly Fresh
drollgirl
English Rose
Flower Girl
House of Harps
MT Days & Nights

Lastly, I also decided to hop aboard the Tumblr train with a Tumblr account of my own. Choo choo. One of my favorite friends at my school and I are on it to escape from our classmates and this site is seriously addicting so go here...

http://loveliesteyes.tumblr.com/

...and you might create an account too!

Love to you all,
Heather

RIP Brittany Murphy

"Rollin' with the homies..." Pretty lady, I hope that you are happy and content wherever you are now.

Love to you all,
Heather

Hate So Much

Hate is a very strong word that I try to steer clear of most of the time. I use "dislike" often.

But in the case of Facebook, I hate this site so much I don't think I have any words for it. If it was not for the fact that I'm doing my Honors project on it and that I am obliged to visit the site daily as part of my observations, I would delete my account today and not look back.

I know there are some good things about the site. I like being connected to my friends, especially the ones that I'm growing increasing distant from. I like to talk to them with the chat option and see what's going on where they are.

Is that all? It's all I can think of that I like. Being on Facebook seldom makes me happy which truly bothers me. I find it perfunctorily at best, it is just another site I visit in my long list every morning. I don't want to get another invitation to play Mafia Wars (no thank you). I don't want to join another "Snowball Effect" Group and for the last time, I am not going to post a photo of myself for the profile picture. I myself could not open that site every morning and look at a photo of myself. It makes me feel uncomfortable to look for too long at myself. Not sure why that is but it's been like that since I was little.

Earlier this week I changed my last name on the site. I did this mostly so I could start my post-grad job search and not have anyone poke around onto my profile and reconsider giving me a job offer. I must say, I'm not thrilled that I had to do it because I do really love my name but it's just a precaution.

Well, someone (one of my "friends") had to be an asshole and write underneath my status that "someone is looking for attention."

Someone just got deleted off of my friends list as a result.

Ugh. Just writing that sentence up there made me irritated to the point of laughter just now. I just felt like the biggest geek around- oh yeah? You don't like me? Well, I'm deleting you! ZAP! POW! KABOOEY!!

That was only the beginning. Some of my friends speculated that I got married, engaged, etc. Some were genuinely confused or just wondering. I explained it out for everyone and hopefully that did the trick.

Am I the only one who feels like Facebook is just an extension of high school sometimes? Groups that you have to be invited to join, the fact that how popular you are is viewed from the number of postings on your wall, how many people can like your status...does no one else feel absolutely positively claustrophobic on this site sometimes? It's a more recent thing for me and I'm not sure why that is, but I don't like it.

I'm not exactly the greatest person to follow on Facebook. I don't update my status every 20 minutes and aside from my occasional profile pictures switches, I don't really do much with my page.

My studies on Facebook keep leading me back to the concept of self-presentation- that all we do on Facebook and within our profiles is carefully, meticulously done. Decisions about others can be made within 2 seconds (that is really all it takes) and we constantly want others to see us in the best possible light.

Except me. When this project is over, I'm going to try to get kicked off of Facebook first to see if it can work and if that doesn't happen, I'm deactivating my account. I don't like to do what everyone does all that much.

And don't even get me started on Twitter. I could harp on that one for days.

I do like Tumblr though and have been highly considering getting one.

Love to you all,
Heather

Rockstar Superstar

Vogue's Jan. 2010 issue with the always lovely and versatile Sasha Pivovarova shot by Steven Meisel with various frontmen of rock groups.



Dear Lanvin,
I will always love your clothes, no matter what. They are timeless and modern.
Love, Heather



If I could pull it off, I would dress in styles akin to Balmain.



Love MGMT. Love this zany housewife-inspired dress.



I have never heard of The Horrors...I am officially old :(



HOLY GOLD GLITTER EYE MAKEUP BATMAN!!



Definitely my kind of style.



I smile every time I see this picture.

Finals are finally over! Thanks to everyone for their support through that stressful time!

Love to you all,
Heather

Stolen Moment from Studying

"I like being on my own. I think relationships are messy and people’s feelings get hurt. Who needs it? We’re young, we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world; might as well have fun while we can and save the serious stuff for later."
-Summer (Zooey Deschanel), 500 Days of Summer

When my finals are over I will:
* buy this movie
* laugh again
* smile all the time
* go for many, many walks
* write!!!
* read books that aren't for school!!!!
* adorn my room with fresh white roses
* apply for jobs everywhere
* live happily ever after

Love to you all,
Heather

House of Mouse

*From weheartit.com*

Little story from when I was little...

As a little girl, I always wanted a pair of white heels. A low heel of course. My Mom never let me have any. She said, "You'll look like Minnie Mouse." I did have lots of hair ribbons and every dress I had had a petticoat underneath it. I even had this one dress with a polka dotted skirt.

Still...

Why would looking like Minnie be something to avoid? She's a cutie.

Love to you all,
Heather

Remember These?!

Oh my goodness, how I adored these commercials. Sarah Jessica Parker is radiant in them.



Love to you all,
Heather

Moore Please

Julianne Moore in A Single Man trailer.

She. Looks. Breathtaking.



Directed by Tom Ford, naturally I'd trust that man with the costumes and makeup for this movie. It's supposed to be very spot-on.

I want to see it soon...





Not tonight though. It's an evening out with some of my very favorite, beautiful girlfriends on the face of the earth.

I'm sitting in my room drinking a bottle of white wine and listening to Seal (gorgeous voice). I simply do not understand how I am fortunate enough to meet the people in my life that I know. They are just too remarkable for words.

Sometimes I imagine what if. What if I came here two months too late? What if I did not have that job? What if I had decided to walk into a different building half an hour too early? My life would have dramatically altered. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed the change. Maybe I would have.

Love to you all,
Heather

Isn't That the Truth

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want."
-Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

This was my favorite quote when I was at my junior college. It's such a brave truth. I feel that these days, time is seeping faster and faster away from me. Sometimes I lie in bed and grab the bedspread, hoping that time will crawl so that I continue thinking.

Of course that never happens and it's 7:32am and I am running late. Again and again.

Today my Freedom of Communication teacher told our class that we should pursue our dreams. We should go towards them and not let anyone tell us otherwise. She is such a smart, eloquent woman. My girlfriends and I were really touched by how candid she was.

It got me thinking more about my plans post-grad. I really want to move again. But a bigger move this time. I can't go home. Thanksgiving return was a disaster. Less than 5 people from home will talk to me. Aside from my family that is. I felt disconnected and lonely when I was there. It was also really cold and rainy. I don't know why so few people will talk to me from there anymore. I won't be moving back. It wasn't home anymore.

Going overseas to live has got me more driven and motivated for something in a long while. Hmm...

And today, I saw him again. We talked. It was once again, really nice. He's got the most piercing blue eyes. I wonder if mine did anything to him. His made my heart jump. Just a smidge.

I also had a really, really delicious egg sandwich this morning. The bread was perfect. Soft, buttery, sweet. Yummm. With 3 m's. (Igby Goes Down reference anyone?)

Love to you all,
Heather

One Time Too Many

OH NO. NO. NO. NO.

I promised myself I would never write about this, but myself is running off of 30 minutes of sleep today. I dozed off in all three of my classes today and a few times while I was trying to tutor. Bad, I know.

I saw you today. It's been awhile and even though I know it's just my sleep-deprived mind talking, you looked better than ever. You even wore a nice pair of pants.

Shut up, sleepyhead. Just go to sleep and forget that today really happened. Dreamland beckons, but I am miles from it again.

You, and you know who you are, you looked great.

I didn't like that you looked so nice.
I didn't like that your hug felt too warm.
And I really didn't like that you had this perfect 5 o'clock shadow thing happening and all I wanted to do was reach up and touch your face, but I know you would have gotten weirded out even if it is me and that's how I behave.

And I really, really didn't like that you didn't look at me once when I left, even though I was behaving obnoxiously loud and irritating.

Above all, I hate that you will never read this. You know it though. You'd get the white roses reference. I hope.

You always will.

I am running. I'll meet you halfway.

Love to you all,
Heather

Ahead of Their Time

Even though it lacked a lot of dialogue, I thought that Marie Antoinette more than made up for it with the stunning visuals and costumes.

These images did not make it into the film for obvious reasons, but I love the contrast of old and new world just the same :)

Love to you all,
Heather

Action!

This is a truly glorious shade of red. I adore anything with a jewel tone.



Her energy is infectious, very tongue-in-cheek.

Love to you all,
Heather

Lifelong Love Affair

All it takes is one look and hook, line, and sinker, I'm gone.

It is a marvelous transformation for me. I go from rational to ridiculous in 5 seconds flat. I sputter. I stammer. I giggle and knock things over. My cheeks blush to an alarming degree of lobster red, and I eyeball him with my patented "come hither-Heather" glance.

All he has to do to win me over instantly is wear a crisp, white, dress shirt.



When I was little, I grew up surrounded in an environment filled with men's dress shirts. My Dad worked at Dillards, the department store, that was very much my version of Eloise at the Plaza. I spent the majority of my evenings, not doing homework, but hanging out over by the shoes, the hats, and yes, the men's dress shirts all neatly arranged by color on big wooden tables.

All of the male employees wore dress shirts, pressed and tucked in, with ties and the occasional dinner jacket. I used to iron my Dad's shirts, so I got a feel for the shirt itself. The placement of the buttons, the stiff collars, and the hemline are all forever engraved in my memory.

I'm not sure of the exact moment I fell for the dress shirt, but I think it was in kindergarten when I wore an old shirt of my Dad's for art class. The fit in the wrist was big, but the button adjustment helped it from sliding off of my arms. I remember loving that feeling intensely.

And then I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's.



Audrey Hepburn made it beyond sexy for a woman to wear a men's dress shirt (backwards, at that) to bed.

My love affair with the shirt deepened. Over the years, I've said some pretty damn stupid things to guys who donned the shirt simply due to the fact that they were wearing it. For this shirt, I take all of my expectations and throw them out of the door. You don't have to be particularly witty or charming. The shirt just kind of takes care of that on its own.

One of my roommates remarked recently when I was raptly describing a dress shirt on a guy that I seemed to be more in love with the shirt than the guy himself. Though it sounds horribly shallow, it was the truth. There is a fine line to tread there and usually, I step all over that line.

Every now and then I get really into a certain guy who pulls off the shirt with perfection. For a long while, that was Jude Law as Alfie in the pink dress shirt (only a truly confident man will don that one). Brief moments with Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, Cary Grant in North by Northwest, any James Bond movie ever, Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, that one insanely hot Russian guy I met at Bogie's, and Jon Hamm's Don Draper. All very good, but a little tired in my mind.

Then, I watched the Nine trailer.



Why hello Daniel Day-Lewis! I remember my junior year in high school English class and how we watched The Last of the Mohicans with you in it. Because I grew up watching that movie, your appeal didn't latch on to me like it did with the other girls in my class.

And then you had that God-awful mustache in There Will Be Blood.

You've since cleaned it up. It's, uh, looking pretty, uh, sharp.

See? I'm stammering on my own damn sentence!



Kate Hudson, you're one lucky lady to be so up close to the shirt. "He is the essence of Italian style." as the song Cinema Italiano from the film states.



And a full-length view. Sans the shoes, it's just damn good.

PS: I remodeled the blog again. I'm having a purple moment.

Love to you all,
Heather

You're Selfish Like Me/ It's Why We Get Along Famously

Sharing my love for my favorite British pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor with everyone. She's just so beautiful and talented! It always blows my mind to hear people say that they've never heard of her. I say, YouTube or iTunes around and watch some of her videos. I'm sure that you'll like it.

Love to you all,
Heather

For Real

I don't know what will happen and I like it like that. This is the first time in my entire life where nothing has been planned, there is no set route to travel on. I refuse to be scared because what is there to be frightened of? I've worked hard to be where I am and always will work towards my goals.

It's who I am and it will never change.

I know some people think I should constantly be in a state of perpetual distress over my finances. I know some people think I should move back home to pursue something easier. I know certain people that want me to want their version of what my happiness should be.

It's not going to happen. I'm not settling or returning back to a place that I feel I lost the phrase "home" in a long time ago. (My Thanksgiving return, despite the condensed version I wrote up, was far different than my expectations). I will pursue my own life on my own terms and I'll do it my way. So what if I'm not loaded down with tons and tons of material things and husbands and kids and everything society says I should want? It isn't a loss to me. We all write our own stories with our own pens of individuality.

And all I want out of mine, is to be free to be just me and a happy me.

Love to you all,
Heather