bookbook

i saw this posted on over at designsponge & had to re-post it.
my birthday is next week. i also want to go to L'abri.
but i really want the bookbook.

it is 80 bones though. but it's sweet. maybe i'll try & make one. i just need to find a really big book. good thing there is a book sale at the public library tomorrow.

michael cera formula

when someone meets me who has a thing for pop culture, which generally leads to them becoming my friend/enemy in trivial pursuit, i usually get two response when they play the..."you know you kind of look like or do you know who you remind me of...?"

i get michael cera & andy samberg. both of them are awkward. andy & i share the big hair/nose theme. i can relate with michael's mannerism. i then usually proceed to take it as a compliment & not act like myself.

How to Make a Michael Cera Movie

what is "raw" denim?

Raw denim is denim that has not been washed after originally being dyed, and has never been treated with chemicals. Most raw denims are dark in color and really stiff, but you just gotta break them in.

If you are not the kind of person who likes neither the idea of having an instruction manual for your jeans nor having to work at getting them broken in, do not buy raw denim jeans. For those who are willing to work at it, the end result is both gratifying and rewarding. After six months of wear, your jeans will show lines and creases at natural places on your body and will tell a story about you. They will fit you better than any other pair of jeans you have ever owned previously and like life’s battle scares, you’ll be damn proud of the story behind every rip and hole in them. (source)

they are quite the investment yet it's a process that is rad to see. i own a pair of adriano goldschmeid teddyboy slim raw jeans. i noticed certain marks and grooves on how my body contorts with my jeans. i sit often times with my legs criss-crossed-apple-sauced, or at least one half up in my chair where creases now reside. of course, you have your typical blown out wallet pocket.

so next time you're at a hipster dive bar & you see a hipster dude that isn't wearing his favorite dark washed american eagle skinny girl jeans in a size 4 with stretch, he is probably wearing nudie jeans. & they cost him a pretty penny at that-- with his arm twisted, he opted out on this month's tattoo even though he probably wasn't going to pay for it anyway since 2/3 of his band members are tattoo artists.

jcrew jan 2010 mens shoe fail

take 3 shoes for 3 different occasions and meld them into one. one part driving moc, one part frye harness boot, & another part clark desert boot. and you get the quoddy ring boot. it's ugly.

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quoddy ring boot. i'm not sure whatjcrew  was thinking in their merchandising process.

year in review! part2

july:

this summer was an awkward summer because i did not work or take summer school. i taught sunday school and was casted as the lead role in my family's hit drama series entitled "two-divorced-families-living-under-one-roof-with-two-teenage-girls." i spent the summer traveling back & forth playing big brother.
the best idea of the year was to recruit a brigade of women (&jeff) to drive cross-country to SCOTTSDALE, AZ to pick up my brother & fiance from culinary school.

15 y/o diva (stepsis) + 16 y/o sis(fullofangst)
18 y/o girl cousin + 47 y/o neurotic mother
+       21 y/o male college student + small SUV

RECIPE FOR CHAOS

highlights:

• my mother mastering the art of chain smoking in the backseat in the middle of the night. (yes, we drove the entire way)


• my sister & i bonding over our circumstance that we were in. driving in the middle of the southwest at 3am listening to taylor swift while our crew slept through the night. i feel like i know what it feels like to be a teenage girl after listening to "fearless" with my sister for the night. lots of emotions.


• i drove the graveyard shift of midnight-8am and kept everyone alive.


• i convinced my soon-to-be-step-sister that 1) rat tails were cool & 2) to let me braid a rat-tail. if you know me at all, i love rat tails. especially braided ones.

august:

one of my dear friends-that-i-didnt-really-know-was-one-of-my-best-friends-at-the-time andy married one of my dear-friends-that-i-didnt-know-we-were-actually-friend-emilys-dear-friend linds. then they moved to korea & blogged about it.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="(photo by bethany michaela)"][/caption]

addison had a brilliant idea. the idea was to get a grand group of guys to go galavant and gather good times in the woods. well, numbers dwindled and dedication flopped. so my trusty ex-best-friend-patrick and i set sail for what is practically canada with addison as our leader.

[caption id="attachment_181" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="we unfortunately had to "camp" out at a "family camp" because the transmission broke just outside of minnesota"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_182" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="at this point, i had already set down a tarp to play scrabble and read harry potter."][/caption]

we even stopped by the pyrotechnics guild international show in mason city while hitching a ride with a man who said he was a college professor & wrote books on speed reading & liked college students. we're college students and i liked the idea of speed reading, so we went.



we made it to canada, kind of. addison & i didn't bring out passports while patrick made a vow to never leave the united states of uhmerka.



we camped, we sang, we smoked cloves, we hiked, we read. we survived the storm of the century in which i didn't know i could pray for 4 hours for my life. patrick lost most of his food. i brought clif bars and sealed food in nasty wrappers. i crocheted a fishing net, that was really a lacrosse stick. addison whittled spears. patrick read...a lot. we left with our heads down because we packed a tent from the 70's that only held 2 and our "shanty" didn't quite make it through the night. rained out and slightly irate, we left our little getaway.

september:

i moved into a beautiful new east campus home (haha) named 516 with 4 dudes. ok, this actually happened in august, but september was a slow month. here is a never before seen 516 family photo circa tall john.

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="sounds about right"][/caption]

october:

i went to my first, hopefully not last, NASCAR race with my mothers-current-boyfriend-or-fiance-yet-she-wears-a-wedding-band-and-engagement-ring-that-he-bought-her-but-my-mom-keeps-saying-not-yet.

after 2 long months or so of training for this wretched half-marathon, i did it.
i also decided that i was not going to wear shorts because after training on the MKT, i noticed that all of the hardcore runners just wore tights and a shirt. therefore, game time, no shorts was the only option. dress for the job you want, yanno.

i finished at 1:47. not bad for my first time half-marathon.

[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="i also noticed that all of the hardcore runners were drinking beer after their race. "drink like you have the job you want.""][/caption]

november:

i started a small cottage business. crocheting little headbands for hip girls to wear. then my wrist started to hurt, so i stopped. fail.

december:

i passed spanish 3 and officially completed all the spanish required by the university of missouri-columbia for a bachelor of arts in blah blah blah.

the 4th ANNUAL YANKEE SWAP rang in the holiday season with my high school friends & company. ed hardy hats, 5foot tall pencils, 10 commandments bible games, sarah palin autobiography hollowed out enclosed with a condom labeled "stimulus package" with a photo of obama on the casing+ pack of marlboro lights+ bottle of jim beam, recycled gifts from last year, a stolen sorority lamp from kappa alpha theta, and many others.