Comin' home...

Yeah - I'm just gonna have to reply with a big fat "Ditto" for what Katie said, I've been kinda lame/"out of it" for the past few weeks. Blogging? Yes, but not here. (I've gone from the trail and begun a lil' bloggy-sideproject.) Yes, I've strayed from the known realm and tested the waters of other blog platforms. Lemme' tell ya, not quite as good as Blogger, hosting lovely OPEN DOOR! :) Yeah!! Can I get a 'whoop whoop' for the OPEN DOOR GANG? :) Yeah again!!

*high-five!! (too much? ok..I'll calm down...)

Anyways, so - it's time to revamp, redo, reinvest, and RELAX into the world of blogging. I'm a big fan of the 'digi-journals', really does help with life in general. BUT, as always, I've always got to have my NOTEBOOK with me. (Ask everyone and anyone, I've ususally got a weird-looking sketchbook or journal under my arm...in my purse...tucked in my sock...) Ok - so that last one was a little ridiculous, but I would try it if I could....maybe a really small notebook. It'll work. I'll make it. :)

So yeah - I must admit that I was totally begining to experience a "blog-shock" from lack of, but did have fun otherwise. See those COOKIES? Yeah - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut courtesy of Nick and his mom, and dannng...they were stunningly delicious. (And Nick made them happy too!) Ha.

Second, I've set a new goal for myself that you can all listen in on. I, Chloe, bloggin'-maniac, am determined to be able to draw a lifelike person by the end of the calander year. No really weird long necks, or big beak-like noses....lifelike.

Third, good luck to you Oakesdale Drama-ers!! :) We're all gettin' kinda squirrely at practice, especially those 2-hour Sunday ones when the heaters in the school arn't on...(burrr....). We dance and sing to keep warm. And then we get really really squirrely, and take weird photos. (Whoa - my gum is sooo bright.)

Let's get BLOGGING!

TWIST and shout!

I love Forever 21, simple as that. While I havn't yet entered that, crazy, inhuman, buy-everything-really really-fast (!) mode, I just may have to with their new line, Forever 21 Twist.

The description is short, sweet, and pretty hardcore, (or would I say "pretty-hardcore", cause everything is stinkin' cute too...) As opposed to the other 'flowy' and 'americana' lines of the store, Twist is definitely inspired by the punk and rock ages, but all for the great Forever 21 prices. The best of the best in $20 and $30 motorcycle jackets, black tulle skirts suitable for the coolest ballerina ever, and cool metal studs everywhere adorning bags, belts, and jewlery.  Any of the items will totally make you feel like you should listen to loud music and can kick down a door...even if it is just the dressing room door.

(Photos: Upper center - Examples from 3 looks of the TWIST collection...gah...I want every single one of them. Lower right: A TWIST zip-up mini, see the studs!? So rad...)

Dressed to the NINES, (or '9's...)

This number has become pretty darn popular, (especially in the entertainment industry). Check out your local movie theatre's listings and you'll be seeing a lil' pattern with two promising titles: NINE, and 9.

9 - This science fiction/action animation film is packing quite the Hollywood workforce, starting with director Shane Acker, producer and 'animation-guru' Tim Burton. It's even starring some greats like Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings...'Frotooo!') and John C. Reilly (The Vampire's Assisant). This post-apocalyptic film is based on Acker's 2005 short film of the same name.

         Wood, after coming to life in this 'end-of-the-world' state, finds that all humans are gone. He must take refuge with a small group of survivors that must hide, (or outsmart), the human-hunting machines that roam the planet. It's pretty short, only 79 minutes, but it didn't do too shabby in the box office: Gross Revenue $38,335,244.

NINE - I was inspired to write about this one based on the newest VOGUE magazine, one of my favorite magazines ever! :) Cover-ladies Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruze, Nicole Kidman, and Marion Cotillard, (not pictured: Judy Dench), will act in the silver screen adaption of Arthur Kopit's book of the same name.  The true inspiration for the whole monty was drawn from Fellini's autobiographical film 81/2. Due to be released December 18, 2009.

Smells like SCHOOL Spirit...

Ok - So I nearly forgot to mention this...it's spirit week. We all know that with Homecoming comes Spirit Week, and with Spirit Week comes some really crazy and wacky dress up days. This year's schedule:

Monday: Pajama Day...(this one is hard core tradition, every year the students get to look forward to spending all day lounging in slippers, robes, blankies, the works.)

Tuesday: Gamer Day...(not just video games, as it sounds like. We had some people dressed like dice and girls dolled up like the 'Deal or No Deal' ladies...we modernized it.)

Wednesday: Greek Day...(break out the sheets and slip em' on like togas! There were some really great get-ups here...I personally donned a baby-pink Hello Kitty sheet.)

Thursday: Movie/Cartoon Character Day...(I'm so pumped for this one! I'm not really sure at all what I'm going to be, perhaps a blonde, tall, un-freckled Shirley Temple? Hmm..it's going to take some thinking...)

Friday: SPIRIT DAY!...(Now this is the blowout dress-up day of the week! Everywhere you look is Blue and Silver, our school colors of course! We break out the vintage football jerseys, volleyball uniforms, and yes - the boys always gotta wedge on the old volleyball shorts...what a sight. We've had a few kids dye themselves blue and attack their hair with silver spraypaint. That's dedication.)

What are YOUR Homecoming plans? Any new and insane realms of school spirit?

(Photos: Upper Right: Katie ROCKS the banana suit! Here's a little secret...those of us who couldn't think up any games to dress up as created our own day, FOOD DAY! Katie's doing the produce while I was a Cupcake in a VERY flouncy and bouncy Vintage-DIY dress...awesome.)

October it is...

Two GREAT things are being released this month; so exciting I can hardly stand it. These awesome-ies come from completely different ends of the spectrum, but they're still amazing...

1) BIG SUR - Ben Gibbard, (yes! THE Mr. Ben, frontman of the great DCFC and newly wed, check previous post by Katie!),  collabo with Jay Farrar. How could this soundtrack to Jack Kerouac's Big Sur NOT be amazing with these power-twins at the helm? Yeah...there's no way...it's going to be great...I might drool. No, scratch that...I WILL drool. Look out, October 20th....here she comes...

2) THE TEEN VOGUE HANDBOOK - Not only a book with great photography, modeling, styling, and designing; it's a book ABOUT great photography, modeling, styling, designing, and how do do it yourself. The original Vogue is pretty known for being a standard in the field of fashion and the 'teen' counterpart is just as awesome..(erm...I mean educatonal, and such..:D.)  It's called "An insider's guide to careers in fashion" and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on it...Ahhh! October 5th! Get it quick!

Chick-Rock and Delicious and Pumpkin...

Ok - You know how much I like to blog about things that are neat...or that I find fascinating...or just think are cool in general. :) So here's a little update on some of my favorite things...(but don't start humming the 'My Favorite Things' song from The Sound of Music...that will just absolutely get stuck in my head for the next 3 days...painful...:D)

1) ModRocket! You'll have to 'iTunes' them or check em' out on MySpace...but they're great. These chicks do indeed understand a good pump up-dance-party song with some seriously strong bass beats-snappy drum hits-shake shake shake vocals! Love em...plus...they have GREAT fashion-sense. Just a cool plus...You guys got any great 'under the radar' bands?

2) Plain yogurt! Yeah...I eat a lot of yogurt. I'm finding this awesome obsession with any type of plain yogurt. You can put ANYTHING on it! Try maple syrup for a sweet version, or some heated pumpkin for a autumn twist! Mmmm...it's even good with cookies, pretzels, candy corn, (I've even tried it with pizza...:D) What's one of YOUR food-obsessions?

3) Green Bluff! Yup! I'm itchin' to get up to Spokane just for this fall-festival of fruits, berries, apple cider, corn mazes, pumpkin picking, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pie, hay rides, live music, more apple cider with more pumpkin pie, EVERYTHING THAT I LOVE ABOUT FALL! All wrapped up into the hills of Spokane...What's one of your holiday-weaknesses? (You'll get extra points if it's pumpkin flavored!)

Jason was amazing....

Yeah - Katie, Nick, and I...(and some chicks I talked to at the Zip Trip on the way home...) ALL agreed that Jason Mraz at the Lilac Bowl was an AMAZING show! Seriously....Spokane's music scene has got it goin' on....

Here are some pics Nick and I snagged at the show...

1) Ok - G-LOVE and the SPECIAL SAUCE were totally amazing. Had I ever heard of them? No. Are they popular in the 'stream? They should be. Was I dancing to their tunes like there was no tomorrow? Absolutely. Enough said. (Plus...they're cool enough to have a song called 'Booty Call'...yeah. How awesome is that?)

2) Yes! Then the moment arrived! More like JASON arrived! The crowd was all together yelling 'JAAASONNNN! JAAASONNNN!' It was a great feeling...a great feeling indeed.
What was your fave song done at the show? For those of you who didn't attend, What's your favorite MRAZ song in general?
Here's my 'Jason-love' lineup:
1) The Remedy
2) Butterfly
3) His rendition of the Marley tune. AWESOME!
4)Love for a Child
5) I'm Yours, OF COURSE!

3) Here's the entire ampitheatre done Panorama-style...Amazing is the only word to describe it. Really amazing.

Off with a Running Start...

This sounds pretty poetic and cheesy - but I love those magical days, those days when everything you see seems fresh and inspiring, whether it be your classroom, entire school, or just a new notebook. Yeah - I'm talking about that opening day into the world of Academcs...the First Day of School. (With delibrate Capitalization there).

Since my First Day I've been going to High School each mornin' to look forward to an open schedule for the first 4 hours. The SCC and 'Running Start' schedule begins Fall Quarter on September 21st and that day has finally come! (and went...)

It was truly amazing. Sure, I did sit in the wrong class thinking I had successfully located mine, (ok - I did that twice...but who's counting??) But everything did indeed have that fresh quality. The Campus Bookstore seemed to have more stuff, the Library seemed to be even more pristine, even the bathrooms and vending machines seemed pretty impressive. Things are good on the First Day, things are Very Good.

An Inside Looksie at My Schedule:

*Board the bus at 7 am sharp
Econ100 - 8:30 to 9:30
PolSci101 - 9:30 to 10:30
Anth100 - Online in my own time
*I'll head back to school on the bus after Political Science
Lunch at school! Yeah!
Spanish 1 - Online in my own time

AP English IIII - 1:12 to 2:07

Algebra II Independent Study - 2:10 to 3:30

What's your schedule this year? How WAS the First Day? Any college plans?

(Pictures: Top Right - The BIG sign at the entrance of the college. Bottom Left: A city view of good ol' Spokane)

Alright - I have to admit: I've really become DIY-obsessed. I'm not really sure how it happed...it seemed like one day I was just doodling around in a notebook and the next I was spending joyous hours beading my own keychains and necklaces, sewing my own purses and wallets, decopauging' personal postcards and binders, and my favorite - making buttons.

I know how THAT obsession got started. When I first got into zines and started distributing them, I found out that zine people really dig pinback buttons. It was odd - I never really expected that to completely go hand in hand with the "zine scene".

I noticed that the "button professionals" all used a Button Maker, you know, those fancy lever-things that pops the button into a clear plastic cover. (I wasn't really planning on buying one...I check em' out on Ebay...surprisingly expensive...) The time came for me to make some merchendise for Nick and I's little punk band, Fading Anchor, and buttons were the way to go. I've gotten a lot of questions on how I make these bad boys, so here's the recipe! Like I said, I really LOVE DIY, and I'm here spreading the love.

Make Some....
All you need to make some slammin' buttons of your own is well...some buttons. :) I love the fact that my buttons are completely recycled and reused. You can find pre-printed buttons everywhere, (oddly enough, when making some for my friends, they've given me a lot of 'Jonas Brothers' buttons to repaint...) Next grab some acryllic craft paint. Any color you want. Then some fancy-schmancy colored paper or stickers. (I like to type words out on my old-school hammer typewriter and then just stick em' on.) Finally, you'll just need something clear and shiny to seal the paint and pictures onto the button. I began using clear fingernail polish, but the strong smell and the fact that it's pretty chemical-filled and not so hot for the environment pushed me to look for an alternative. Ta-DA! Enter this amazing gel-like collage-sealant, simply picked up for $5 at a craft store. EASY. FUN. COOL-LOOKING. I LOVE BUTTONS.

(Picture: All buttons I made...)

I'm an addict...

It's not often that I post something that would have absolutely NO interest to the guys...but this could definitely be one. I'll just have to put that aside for now, 'cause this website must be shared!

Rachel Zoe is a Hollywood stylist, having dressed the biggest and the most famous stars of all ages, including Anne Hathaway, Debra Messing, Joy Bryant...ect. Here's another good reference to Zoe: Remember the first stages of the 'Olsen-fashion' trends? Really big sunglasses? Messy hair? Tons of jewlry? Huge layers of knits, furs, and vintage? Yeah - that was all inspired by Rachel's own look.

So I'm now an official addict: I click up to The Zoe Report just about every day while surfing the web. On her website, Rachel sheds some light on new trends and cool designer pieces in a blog-format, while even listing some similar alternatives with more attainable price-tags. It's basically the easiest way to get some great inspiration!

Shopping gone scary...

Marie Claire magazine has always been a magazine to tell it like it is; great photography and prose showing us the beautiful side of fashion and city-lifestyle while also never shying away from the darkers sides of the industry.  Finding an article with the tagline "Who knew japan's luxaholics could get any crazier?"...I had to read that story.

It's pretty common knowledge that the young generation in Japan is fashionable....and I mean fashionable. Uuber fashionable. Fashionable to the extremes. They are the definite definition of fashionable. It's completely common to see teenagers and young adults decked out in designer duds from head to toe, no matter what the cost.  (Some quick numbers: 40% of all luxury goods sales are straight from Japan, while around half of Japanese women in their 20's own a Louis Vuitton product...*sigh...lovely LV picture at right.)

This expensive style and obsession with designer labels can turn deadly, as the case with Keiko Onishi, 25 yrs. Oinshi ate nothing but watered-down miso soup for weeks in order to save up cash to buy a limited-edition Gucci bracelet watch. The result; Marie Claire magazine reports on "severe malnutrition and dehydration...the only wrist accessory she wound up with was a saline drip."

(Picture Left: Forever 21, one of MY fave places for cheap fashion...that I don't have to starve myself in order to indulge in...Picture Right: Natalie Portman's shoe line te' cassan...vegan and beautiful and something I would really really be tempted to spend a paycheck on...*double sigh...)

What kind of items are YOU willing to lay down the cash for? What's the most expensive item you've purchased?

Haute Couture no more?

I guess you're right; the world of haute couture is pretty insane. Known for the uuber-sequined glitzy ballgowns, impractically huge collars and even shoulder pads, (and basically everything that can't be worn to a normal day job), haute couture is that species and little dose of weirdness that makes the fashion industry cool.......really cool.

Reports by Reuters shows us that as fashion week unfolds, we see how the economy really has taken a toll on the world of fashion. The runway of French designer Christian Lacroix was pretty dang depressing as we now have to realize that "even the world's most extravagant fashion scene [haute couture] to face economic reality."

We hear about businesses 'kicking the bucket' often, but not in the fashion world. That's a no-no. And for a poufy dress and everything amazing-tycoon like Lacroix to be placing his fashion house under creditor protection is a big deal.  Dior, (another biggie fashion brand), Cheif Executive Sydney Toledano simply states that fashion isn't about survival of the fittest or richest, it's all about cooperation between designers and managers.

Lacroix is sheduled to put on a mini-show with roughly 20 models and a simple 200 guests. And what have we learned, class? The fashion industry will never die...it will only remain with the best of the best.

How has the economy hurt the things that YOU love? Any budget cuts at school? Is your wallet a lil' thin?

(pictures! Top Right: Lacroix and design. Bottom Left: 3 more designs, Fashion Week)

tuesday

Tuesday...counting tonight, it's only 2 days away. (2 DAYS!!) That'll be my first day of school.....September 1st - the first day of my junior year of high school education. This probably sounds pretty nerdy, but the new school year means way more to me than new pencils and clothes. (Although BOTH are really great...:D) It feels like a time to be drawing fresh inspiration, fresh influences, a fresh outlook. I look forward to September the way we look forward to the Ball Drop in Times Square on New Year's...

I feel it every year and know when it's time to search the internet, my music collection, magazines, and old photos for some unique things to ignite the fire of the upcoming year.  I love to just sit and think about what the school year could possibly bring! That's definitely one of my favorite kinds of day-dreams...The Future.

(Here are some of my inspirations for the upcoming school year...Top Left: One of the closest things I have to a baby, my FufiFilm s1000 digital camera. Top Right: Fashion-blogger Rumi Neely of fashiontoast.com. Bottom Left: September Vogue....they call it the fasion Bible after all...)

What are YOUR school year inspirations?

now that is a really good week...

I've still got Fashion Week on the brain. Seriously - a FULL WEEK of incredible design...amazing shows. It blows my mind that the public can see this insane display of the best of the best in the fashion-world. And what's even better: It happens like...6 TIMES! (Oi...this kills me every time). Let's make a little list...(and check out the pics of my FAVE Fashion Week 2009 pics...heavy research involved, my favorite kind of research..:D)

• You've got the Mercedes-Benz week in NYC, (check out my post 'bout that one on The Vox Box).
• Japan, one of my absolute favorites. The construction is sooo cool. And I love sushi. Alot.
• New Zealand, I heard about this one through fashiontoast...an AMAZING fashion blog that I'm kinda getting oddly addicted to...:)
• Paris, another crazy-good fashion capital.
• London, is it just me? Or do the Brits pretty much ALWAYS do fashion right? Who didn't fall in love with Luella Bartley's line for Target in summer of '06?
• There's even a fasion week being organized in PORTLAND! (it's got the whole "eco-friendly" schtick of course, but that's still great!)

We should definitely be bringin' one to Spokane. We've already got the great music and arts scene, why not up it to fashion! I would be one drooly, excited mess if that ever did happen...

dcfc and the 7th floor

open door open door open door...yup. That title definitely rolls off the tongue. It really did all start with talking animatedly about a Death Cab concert coming up in the good ol' Spokane, WA. Seriously...big hand motions, high-pitched sqeals, and even the loud gasp of agreement when talking about the amazingness of front man Ben Gibbard comprised the conversation that brought Katie and I together.

We both really really like Death Cab for Cutie...let's just put it that way. (ha...I even made an "I heart DCFC" button for Katie...check the baby-pic)

We were on the Vox newspaper and editorial staff together; she wrote articles for the written publication and I was a distance blogger for the website.  The monthly meetings located at the 7th floor of The Spokesman Review Bldg. were where we got to hang out with the rest of our nerdy and newspaper-lovin' peers. (They are all extremely PROUD nerds, though...and I am definitely also one of them...)

To make a LONG story short, we lost the Vox due to funding shortages, (Ha - no money backing a newspaper? Hmm..that's news to me...:D) and thus lost the website. Katie and I were pretty bummed, but kept stewing ideas for another lil' project.

Time passed...and now we're HERE! [our] open door is really just gonna' be a neato collection of our fave things...random thoughts bouncin' around in our heads (there are LOTS of those...), and just anything that strikes our fancy. Hope you enjoy...we just have a lot to say and LOVE to say it...

(this is one of my alll-time favorite pics that I've ever snapped of The Spokesman Review Bldg...I really miss that place...but we move on. We move on to HERE! *yay jazz hands!!*)