Petticoats, Vintage, and Beautiful Women.

What a ridiculous last couple months! Right now I'm all about appreciating the small things in life that are going amazingly well, completely disregarding what has been a burden to me achieving greatness! An epic sentence, I know, but things have been pretty amazing lately. 

I always look forward to the beginning of the week. They give you a chance to "reset" and a chance to start over on a new foot. Most of the time I actually look forward to them; they are an opportunity to take stock of your environment, your to-dos, and reaffirm your purpose in the world. Unless you have to be up at 6a... that's a whole different thing. 

Sitting at 12p, typing away on my long neglected blog, sipping a cup of coffee with some sweetened condensed milk-- I'm amazingly happy right now and have been on this trajectory for a little while.

Within the span of a week I got to see one of my fashion idols perform her beautiful burlesque show, got to enjoy the opera for the first time in my life, and got to dance down Market Street during one of the most momentous parades in SF history. I'm so incredibly blessed by the universe right now.

Reintroduction to Lolita + LOL LJ.

For those of you lurking, and following my posts for years, I'm coming forward and saying: I'm bringing it back! ...my LiveJournal I mean! And not because I want to become a regular blogger there again. Far from it, actually. I just would like to comment on communities now and again for shits and giggles (and to be honest, to drive traffic here as a by-product!)

What does this actually encompass? And why would I do such a thing?

Well, the first encompasses going back through 10 YEARS (holy crap!) of entries and marking them all as Friends Only. I never had an issue with people reading what I used to post, but in all honesty, I just want people to pay attention here, rather than there, which is why I'm closing off those old entries. I still want to keep everything at the old journal, though, for nostalgia, justice, and the LOLs. I still have a lot of housekeeping to do on that old account so no posts until I do. I know in reality it doesn't particularly matter what that old journal looks like, but to me, it makes all the difference.

I even went out of my way to give this blog a header image and a decent background so when its linked, it looks like someone LIVES here!

So again, why would I do such a thing?

I'm getting back into (classic) lolita.

:X

(I don't often use emoticons on this blog, but I felt this warranted it)

At the encouragement by several people I know both here in San Francisco as well as old friends back in San Diego, I'm doing it. That old 10 year love kind of came over me again with the quickness and I'm ok with it. I can kind of look at it with different eyes than when I did when I was younger and appreciate different aspects of it. Plus a huge sewing-kick is giving me a big head and convincing me that I can TOTALLY make some of those dresses with enough determination and patience. 

Anyway, LiveJournal comes into play with how I'd like to comment in communities every once in a while and I would like to do it without ads... Yup. Also, 15$ to rename an account? Honestly?

520 entries in and I've barely hit the 5-Year Anniversary post for my account. I had that thing since like 2003. Eep.

That was a Roadhouse Roadie margarita. Delish!

Texas was definitely a change of pace for me! It was a lot more vast than I had expected; having that much space is always a little bizarre for me. I'm so used to living in suburbia or densely populated areas so empty space amazes me.

I think next time I head out to Texas, I'll be a little more prepared for the experience. For some reason, I left San Antonio feeling like more could have been done with my time there and I didn't really get to see what the city had to offer. I will say, though, that it was great spending some time with my brother and see him so grown up. It's astounding what two months did to his personality and just generally how he carries himself. I'm really proud of him.

manifesto point #10

 There is Never a Good Excuse to Not Take Care of Yourself or Your Surroundings.

This nearly all is specific to a raging sore in many personalities everywhere. One has to wonder at what point did the entrance of laziness overtake (healthy)pride in the self and (healthy)pride in surroundings and environments. I will most certainly admit my room is a disaster area and my hair and makeup in a mess half the time... I'm definitely not immune to this point. However, there is self dignity that I've been trying to cultivate, making sure this isn't the case 9/10 times.

There is never an excuse to not take care of yourself. There really isn't. Laziness? The perceived freedom in being able to do absolutely nothing for yourself? There's really nothing noble in being a slob who doesn't bother to shower, let alone put on a clean pair of pants and make sure your nails look decent.

Lack of just giving any sort of damn about this is also unfortunately pervasive. "I just.don't.care."-- really, what sort of excuse is that? If you think that you're being judged solely on the content of your character, as far as modern times are concerned, it still a work in progress. People will first and foremost take a look at you, think to themselves "Damn- he/she looks like crap. WTF is wrong with him/her?"-- and bam, judgment. No one is above it, and frankly, its part of our times and way of life.    

I'm not trying to advocate being overly fussy and a macaroni. Just please be careful to take pride in the self, pride in your appearance, and as the saying goes "PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD." Everyone can take the time to put their best foot forward.

 

I love this quote from Dita von Teese about this topic (she probably puts it nicer than I do!):

"I always believe in taking a little bit of time. I'm telling you, the day that you decide not to brush your hair, or the day you decide just to put on a pair of sweats that have a stain on them and you don't wear any makeup, that might be the day that you run into that one person you don't want to run into when you look like that. So I have a rule about making an effort in the morning before I leave no matter where I'm going."

This point also is a reminder to take care of your things; they'll last longer if you do. Slow down. Consider how you like/need/admire this item, and how the life span of it will change dramatically if you actually care for it.

There is never an excuse to not take care of your surroundings. Pick up your trash on the street. Don't walk in the grass if there's pavement available. Recycle when you can. Common sense. Its unfortunate that so many people just shrug their shoulders or give lip service to this point. Is it really that annoying to not throw your garbage on the street? Really now, that's just stupid. Don't be a douche and ruin something beautiful.