moving!

In the process of moving to WordPress for a punchier layout and a space for a pseudo-portfolio (?). There are lots of little features to play around with before I get the site up, so posts here might be scarce. Sorry, Blogger!

what she never should have worn

This right here is why I love my cousin. After a lot of online gushing about how much we love What I Wore and how little money we have to replicate that style, we thought of a counter blog feature. How it all went down:

Erin: I want to be edgy and cool. I want cute clothes. I almost bought a dress on ModCloth an hour ago, then remembered that I have no money.

Me: Whatevs, rock your own style. You can use your money on better things.

Erin: My own style: currently, jeans and a horrible sweater my mom made for Colleen and Colleen didn't want.

Me: LOVE IT. I want to know what this sweater looks like that Colleen refused it.

Erin: I'll make a blog. What I Never Should Have Worn.

Me: Erin, I'm not even kidding when I say this, but that is an awesome idea.

And that's how it began. We're hoping maybe Stacy and Clinton take notice, since it's always cool to get a $5000 shopping spree in exchange for a little harassment.

warning: may cause gluttony

Move over, Julia Child. My friend Mimi and I, in a fit of domesticity, made the most delicious banana bread. I'm not sure how someone could even call this a breakfast food-it had so much butter and chocolate, it was (almost) a crime. My favorite moment: Mimi takes a bite and says, "I know this might sound bad, but this would be even better...without the bananas." So much for that fruit serving.

The recipe calls for:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 very ripe bananas

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 cup choc chips

3/4 cup walnut pieces

Butter and flour 9x5x3 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter and add to mashed bananas, yogurt, vanilla, and beaten egg. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients, add walnuts and chocolate, and scoop into pan. Bake for 70 minutes, let cool for 20 minutes. Voila!

Taken from the cookbook How To Boil Water (I know, I know).

"oh, this old thing?"

Found the new(ish) vintage boutique in Davis Square this afternoon, called Artifaktori. Amazing jewelry, some old cameras (!!), tons of unique clothes, and a few odds and ends (a nice looking typewriter for $30!). If you're in the area, I'd absolutely suggest checking it out. Hoping to interview the owner and maybe arrange an article soon!

Also found this amazing blog called What I Wore. The creator, Jessica Schroeder, has great vintage style and beautiful photographs of all her outfits, complete with stunning detail shots (I've included some here). This girl would make the Sartorialist any day of the week-talk about a passion for fashion. Schroeder started the blog pretty recently (March of 2008) and it's got a fantastic layout as well. She seems to get a lot of things from ModCloth, a site that is currently making me wish I wasn't so poor.

quotations

Some quotations I've come across recently that I really loved:

"I sometimes think that making a film is a little bit like falling in love. At the school, I just filmed the kids who liked me and those I liked. I was thinking, 'Alex, I absolutely love you. I want to film you. I want to know who you are. I genuinely want to find out why you are here.' And so it wasn't as if I were filming somebody I didn't care about."

-Kim Longinotto on Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go

"I've always had a big passion for history...and people's lives and all the little events, how you get from A to B...all the small details of people's lives that are full of really epic qualities."

-Alfred Molina in Coffee and Cigarettes

Also would recommend taking a look at Longinotto's documentary. It follows several kids at Mulberry Bush School for troubled children in Oxford. She's been described as a filmmaker known for "creating extraordinary human portraits and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion." What a wonderful reputation to have. Ties in well with the second quotation, too, I think!

wise words

Oh, wow. Erik Lunsford's blog is so great, I don't know where to begin. Not a bad place to start: the latest, reflective entry "Do We Ever Go Back" looking at the push and pull between investing more time in a story (especially with memorable subjects) and embracing the next. And don't get me started about the thoughtful, Buddhist "Embrace". Lunsford uses his site to highlight the photography of others as well as his own, and offers musings on the field in general (which I think is where he really shines). His response to those who claim that journalism is "A Dying Field" really resonates (for me, at least!). I completely agree with his emphasis on developing news sites that are easy to navigate, unique and visually appealing, and dig his insistence on embracing the challenges. So what if the future of journalism looks like a scary black hole of doubt and uncertainty right now? Lunsford says "let's leap right in, then."

The opportunity to present work in new ways is richer than ever before. Sure, we're going to have to one-man-band it at times, and we may not like that idea one bit...Surprisingly, it's richly satisfying, because you're in control of the content...You are the only limitation and obstacle standing in the way, and once you realize how truly gifted we are as visual journalists and storytellers, then it could be the bottom of something heading wonderfully up.

Call me naive or overly-optimistic, but I've got a gut feeling we should be listening to encouragement like that.

robot comic!

Decided to take a break from the daily comics and make a more detailed one. Still based on real-life thoughts (my overactive imagination when it comes to technology), here's the final product:

Click to get full size!