I WANT I WANT I WANT

mmmm shoessssss.....

Italia! Parte 1

Ciao d'Italia!! I arrived in Venice on Monday after what seemed like a never ending flight trip from sf-->ny-->venice. We had pretty bad luck with seating and so on the way to ny i was stuck in the window seat beside my dad and a guy from Armenia...i hate the window seat because whenever I have to use the bathroom, everyone has to get up. After a 3 hour layover, during the flight to ny I sat on the aisle next to a larger sized business man who was a pro traveler. He had no problem sleeping, while I was restless and easily scared by the turbulence. Oh well! We got here, and let's just say, Venezia is everything I'd hoped it'd be!! It's gorgeous!! There are winding, narrow streets with cobblestones lined with three or four story high buildings. Everything looks old, aged, and sometimes decrepit, but in a good way...like good old cheese :) There are no direct routes anywhere!

First day, we wandered somewhat aimlessly to San Marco piazza and the Rialto bridge/shopping area, and to get there we were largely reliant on the little signs with arrows posted on street walls, "Per S. Marco --->". There are so many canals here and every few streets you cross a bridge over the brackish green water, where you catch a glimpse of the colorful houses lining the canal. Anyway, on the first day we visited St. Mark's Square, which, after the claustrophobia of the streets and alleys, is a huge expansive space filled with tourists. The edges of the square are lined with shops and overpriced cafés with waterfront views. We went into St. Mark's Cathedral and they made me buy a table-cloth-like cover for my legs "out of respect"...i guessssss. It was beautiful though, and I'm loving Italy so much already because, everywhere you turn there's a painting, fresco, or work of art!! In San Marco there was also a relic room filled with creepy holy relics like saints hands, fingers, bones...skulls!!! Oh Catholicism. Also in the square is the Doges' Palaze, where the dukes of venice lived and conducted business. The Doges had it good...and as an art history nerd, I basically had mini-strokes every time we entered a room!

Second day, we visited another church (forgot the name), which had a lot of old tombs for famous people back in the day. While most stuck to the conventions rectangular marble tomb...some were a little out there. One, that framed a side entrance had sculptures of black slaves holding the tomb instead of columns, and their bodies were clothed in white, except for black marble marble peaking out of their knees and for their faces. There were also creepy skeleton sculptures holding inscriptions, and glaring down at us menacingly... these were larger than life size, and more then creepy. Next to that tomb was the artist Canova's (who I've never heard of) tomb. His tomb was shaped like a pyramid!! And surrounding the partially opened door (which supposedly houses his heart) were life-size figures of cloaked women, mourning his death. Apparently he designed the tomb before he died...and was quite imaginative. That day we also went to the Scuole di San Rocco, which were once academic schools. This building and the church beside it was full of paintings by the renaissance artist Tintoretto!

Yesterday, we checked into a new hotel, which unlike the other hotel, is located in the middle of Venice. It's called Ca' dei Conti, and is nestled near San Marco right on the canal with its own private bridge!! Che bello!! It's decorated in 18th century style, and our room, the "Casanova Suite" (somehow we were upgraded...I think my mom prob told them me or my brother had bad asthma or something) has patterned green clothed walls and rich furniture!! It reminds me of rococo decorations from France (pictures to come later, unfortunately). We spent most of the day resting after traveling and settling in, then wandered out to get dinner. I've been able practice my Italiano speaking a bit here, and am getting more confident!! yay!!

Today, Liam and I went off on our own, no parents :D Instead of going towards the uber touristy San Marco, we headed away from it along the water towards the Arsenale, and the Castello district. This area was pretty empty and the streets widened a bit. The gelato that usually went for 2 euro a scoop here went for 1 euro! We found a street that was covered with clothlines, and had shirts, underwear, and sheets strung out! It was so picturesque, almost like a cheesy movie set. AND we saw Venice's Communist party chapter headquarters...oh boy! haha Out of the red door came three or four older men, grumbling in italian and eyeing us suspiciously.

Right now we're taking a break on the terrace of the hotel and I can smell the dinner of the older lady in the building across from us....mmmm. I'm hungryyyyyyy.

Hope everyone is well, I miss you guys!!! (and I really wish that you came in my pockets)

Summer Lovin'

Hello blog! I've missed you. haha I can't say how many times I was going to start a new entry, then didn't because I ran out of time or something. Summer is here, and I thought it'd be a time to relax...but I was so wrong! I've been SO BUSY since we got on break, but in a good way. No school, thank goodness, but I've been working in Berkeley and at YBCA in the city every day! 'm loving my internship at ybca, and everyone there is really nice and chill. I'm learning so much about marketing and pr in an arts org already!! I can't wait to get back and start some big projects :D. And, for the record, I am already showing sign of workaholism...! Saturday I leave for Italia with the fam and I'm so excited (but a little nervous to speak Italian for my family...it'll be good for me though). I am def not looking forward to the 15 hours of flying we'll be doing :[ but it will be worth it when I step off the plane. I really wish I had a camera so I could take pictures I want in Italy :/ but I guess I'll just have to commandeer my mom's muahaha....

And now for something completely different....

...some arte I found via this awesome website fecalface.com

...and from some fashion blogs

and just because this picture is amazing...

I promise I'll write more this summer, especially when I get back from Italy! I hope everyone is having a lovely summer, and I'm sure I'll see you soon :)

Summer? Seriously?

So, as per usual I'm avoiding productivity. I started going onto the FB profiles of some of my friends and looking at the first picture we had together (on facebook)...and consequently got extremely nostalgic. This mood was also facilitated by the musical stylings of Yann Tiersen, who is AMAZING in concert btw. Anyway, I think I'll post those first pictures here. They're important. And out of order.

Original Fab Four

Neener Weiner! (also one of my first drunken experiences)

My first photo with Ryan!

First with Sophia!

AW! Alex looks all baby-like :)

One of my first with Chrissipher (in NY)

STEVE why is this our first picture?!?!

First with Lizzzzzz

Priceless oldies with my sweet Sara Low! (throwback -_-)

Mindy <3

First LEMINEE pic (possibly the best) + First Steph <3>

Oh nostalgia....

...now to watch some Freaks & Geeks! SO GOOOOOOD

Springin and Sprangin

SPRING IS HERE!!!!!! (face denotes my dislike of allergies)
FIRST shorts of the season :)
Sandalsssss
New old shoes

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It's been too long....and of course, I am posting in order to procrastinate. le poo. I have a Theater paper due on Thursday about "the performativity of identity in M. Butterfly and Junk Bonds", and an outline/draft for my Baroque Art research paper. I know I want to write about Velazquez's Juan de Pareja, but I'm not exactly sure what I want to argue. I feel like writing research papers about older art is difficult because most works have been written about already! I'm much more excited about wiriting my paper for my modern art class. I'm writing about Martha Rosler's photomontages on the Iraq War.

I can't believe school is almost over!!!! But it's not coming soon enough...I still have to get through a month of HELL: research papers and finals ugh. Summer should be fun, and I'm really looking forward to it :) It just need to BE summer already, not almost be summer! I'm tired of all this work, and I'm tired of being tired!!!!

Speaking of, I'm tired now! Tonight I watched the VSA culture show and it was AMAZING!!! I'm so proud of my little VSA that I live with, all the hard work that they put into it really paid off :) But, consequently + all the heat, I am ready for some sleepytime.

Rain Rain Go Away!

I just realized today that I haven't blogged in a really long time! (well neither have you guys, psh) All this rain lately has been a real downer, plus with my marathon run of every sickness in the world, life has pretty much sucked. I guess not totally sucked, I should blame all my sicknesses on a certain person! But yesterday when the sun came out, I actually smiled to myself while walking! I love the beginning of spring!!

I can't believe it's midterm season already...where the hell did that come from?! Seems like last week I was receiving my syllabus now I'm nose diving into midterm week! EEK! It doesn't help that next week also happens to be me birthday *woot the big 2 1*, so I'm basically gonna kill myself then get wasted. I do have goals to remember what happens on this birthday and not to throw up. Very managable, I think. I'm really excited to have my tea party with the girlies + Stevelicious! I love nothing more than getting dressed up and having tea and sandwiches. I am truly an old woman.

Looking back on the year, I can't believe how much has happened! This time last year I was barely adjusting to my first semester at Berkeley, and now I couldn't be more at home here! Now it's apartment hunting season and I can't help but look ahead to next year, which will be...different. I'm looking forward to living in the Co-ops this summer/fall and I'm really crossing my fingers for Italy in the Spring, but I don't think anything will be quite the same as living with Leminee in Cheney 312. Living here this year has been truly the greatest time of my life and it saddens me that I won't be living with Minee next year. It seems dumb to lament the end of our box-triple life because I know I'll come over to their house a lot and they'll eat at mine when they're poor. haha. I'm very excited about living in Berkeley this summer because it'll be my first summer not vacationing with the fam! YAY! I'll be doing my own thing, which is how I like it.

In all, life is pretty good. So i'll stop here. And leave you with some cool art:

Joan Mirò

An early Jackson Pollock
'Electric Dress' Atsuko Tanaka (in the museum and in action)

Class-ification: The first week of school

Yay fun outfit pictures! Sometimes I love copying those people on Lookbook...I'm actually really jealous of them all.

OK! I finished the first week of school relatively unscathed!! Being back into the semester mode is so surreal. I feel like I'm having deja vous but going to different classes. As much as I hate having class at 9am everyday, I do enjoy the hustle and bustle of a full campus and my morning routines. Speaking of classes, I am taking all humanities classes this semester *woof!* intellectual overload!! You may soon find me at a cafe drinking tea and wearing a tweed blazer, reading about the philosophy of the purpose and function of art...fuck, I already do that.

Anyways, this semester I'm taking: History of Art 170--Baroque Art, History of Art 190--Globalization, Art, and Mass Culture, Italian 3, and Theater 25ac--The Drama of American Cultures. So far, I like all my classes minus a few problemas. I was really looking forward to my Baroque class since I've taken a class with Prof. Olson before and he's one of those professors who is SO smart that you can't realy understand what he's talking about, but I like the way he dresses and find him amusing :) BUT of course I would get a dick gsi! He is such a prick I can't even handle it. Assigning extra readings, adding a research paper to the syllabus, trying to persuade the prof to give us pop quizzes...I mean who are you?!? My modern art class sounds lik it'll be really fun. I love the prof, and not just because he looks like an ignudo but he's actually a great lecturer and the topics we're discussing are really interesting! We're going to be looking at a lot of contemporary art, which I think is cool since I don't know too much about the current art world and its something i NEED to know about. My Italian class is...buonissimo! My professor is from Milan and dresses really well. I wanted to be her best friend when she walked in with some black cowboy boots and a leather briefcase. SO AWESOME. Plus, she has a vary relaxed way of teaching that makes you comfortable to talk in class, which is nice. We're focusing much more on culture and discussing topics rather than grammar at this level, so its exciting but a bit daunting. Last is my Theater class. Initially I signed up to fulfill my ac req with an easy class, but after the first few classes, I think I'm really going to enjoy this class! We're reading a lot of great plays including some by Phillip Kan Gotanda, who is setting a show for the dept this semester. I met him in the hallway at work and he was just the cutest little asian man. He was older and very sweet, and he had PURPLE hair!!
So, enough about classes and time for bed...if do less of anything this semester it will be sleeping. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Ploof!

Back to Bizerkeley

What I wore today: silky BR top, new vintage skirt from Mars, Steph's comfy gray tights, the brown boots of course!

So here I am! I made it through winter break pretty much unscathed minus a little argument about studying abroad. Words cannot express how excited and happy to be back in Berkeley, its and AMAZING feeling being home. Wednesday we had "Game-azing'finally!! It was so funnnnnn! We played Partini, Cranium, and Scattergories, drank some wine and had a lot of laughs. Plus the highlight was when Sophia puked while laughing hahahaha.

Now, all the VSA peeps and Soph are at retreats so I'm flying solo per il weekend. I know it's the beginning of the semester so no one is back yet, but everyone else being gone makes me kind of lonely *le sigh*. I feel like Berkeley is so huge but my group of friends is tiny! Don't get me wrong, I love my friends here to death, I would do anything and everything for them, but them being gone makes me realize that I should work on expanding my friend base and strengthening my relationship with the friends I already have! This semester I'm making a resolution to be less timid when meeting people!

Speaking of, today I met up with my friend Bailey from high school. I haven't seen her in about two years, so this was kind of big. We got tea and walked around College and Shattuck...and of course, like any good Convent girl, gossiped. Boy oh boy does our class know how to put on a shitshow. Hearing all the craziness (such as people in and out of rehab and mental institutions, suicide attempts, affairs, dropouts) and drama makes me think WOW I can't believe I went to high school with this! Not that I regret going to Convent, it was fun and we were certainly got a great education, but I can't believe how much I've changed since high school! And I'm glad about it...

So now I'm gonna stop wallowing and watch a movie and paint me some nails!!

LA Trip!!

This week I visited Mindy and SoCal peeps in LA!! I'm staying at Mindy's house and she's been showing me the best time!! We have seen SO much in the past few days and have been out nearly everyday from 10-8 or later! This is what we did:


*On Saturday after I arrived we went to Santa Monica and looked at shops. I got a $3 shirt from UO! What a steal! Then we ate thai food for dinner and it was further emphasized that I eat extremely slowly...bah, but yum yum pad see-eww!

*On Sunday I went with Mindy and Marvin to the Melrose flea market and the LACMA. The flea market was AMAZING!! I found so many things I wanted but I didn't bring enough money...poop. Probably for the best anyway, but I did come away with a big comfy grandpa sweater and three poster prints! Afterward, we went to the LACMA, which was so cool! There was an exhibit about Vanity Fair photography that spanned the mannny years that Vanity Fair has been in action. Well done. There was also this huge elevator that was literally 2x the size of our dorm room! How sad, but fun to ride in! For dinner we ate at this vegan restaurant in Hermosa Beach called The Spot, which was really really yummy! Who knew vegan food was good? After we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button!! Lovelerly. It was pretty long but I was so enamored with Mr. Button's story it didn't matter. ps Brad Pitt is so fucking hot.

*Monday we went to the the Getty Villa in Malibu with Steve(licious), which was gorgeous and had an amazing collection of ancient Roman and Greek art! In-n-Out for lunch; yumlicious as always, then we rented The Duchess with Kyra Knightly. The movie was pretty good, the costumes and scenery were lovely but the story was a bit sad and depressing.

*Tuesday we went to the Getty is Belair with Steve and Steph!! A LEMINEVE extravaganza! I love the collections there especially the impressionist works and the rococo furniture. Next we ate ice cream at this place called Scoops (recommended by our friend Gwyneth Paltrow). Delicious! Then, we explored the shops of Melrose and I found some cute black leather boots!! We ate at Olive Garden (my first time) and it was surprisingly good! Afterward, Mindy and I took a mini-break before heading to a club called Dance in LA with her friend Jocelyn. We literally danced the night away and the music was SO BOMB!! They played all the songs I liked andwish they played in Berkeley! Because the club is all ages there were SO many high school babies there all hoochie and some (no lie) with there moms!! Despite that, I had soooooo much funnnnnn! I love dancing!!!!

*Today (Wednesday) we took it easy. Woke up late and had lunch with Mindy's friend at Rascals. I had THE best burger ever:Teri-steak burger with beef teriyaki on a toasty bun with the perfect amount of lettuce, tomatoes and mayo :) We then proceeded to a few shops around the area and I got a simple black slip dress from UO, something i've been looking for for layering. So, now it's almost midnight and we just got back from froyo at Lotus Bar (scrum) and we rented Get Smart for our last night!

And, for my sister, a pictorial account of my spoils:

New grandpa sweater:




Black boots from Melrose:


Posters from the Fleamarket:
Edie!

Streetcar Named Desire-STELLA!!!

Lennon


Museums!


Steph's amazing Christmas Present--Thanks <3




This trip has been soooooo muuuuuuch fuuuuuuun and I can't believe we're headed back to Berkeley and reality tomorrow!! I'm so excited for the new semester!

Polyvore (ie new addiction)

So, thanks to Mindy, I'm addicted to this site called Polyvore. Fun, amazing, wonderful waste of time!!
Find me on Polyvore

I think if I could, I would dress like a lady going to tea parties all the time...