Something Beautiful I've Found: Quotation Station.

SartoriaLUST. September Oh Nine.

The few early prosaic days of September are coming to a close. This means a new month of photo's to come on my favorite fashion blog The Sartorialist. Given that fall is my favorite season, given the opportunity to layer without sweating like a cougar on a saturday night , i lent my focus from my academic pursuits to the glory of fall fashions. After careful review i chose my favorite looks of September 09. Enjoy mon amie.

Nothing Says Love Like Food

I am a particularly big fan of messages through food. I think food just manages to say all of the right things, in all of the right ways. In the same way that double fudge ice cream says "you don't need [insert ex-significant other here]", cake say's "happy birthday", home cooked dinner says "welcome home" and chocolate covered bacon says "i might be pregnant". For me, nothing say's "i love you, please stop acting like a bitch"

louder than coffee but if you wanted to take it one unnecessary step further and literally put it in the cup.

www.coffeestencil.com

Offers a lot of different stencils (an uncomfortable amount of cat stencils as well as customized text stencils!)

I liked the "I Love You" stencil because you could unconventionally express love, as well as remind yourself you love you, whatever you want to do, it's just something pleasant to wake up to. What would i write if i were to customize a stencil you ask? Oh wait, you didn't ask? You don't care?

I'd write "You're probably late, rock this coffee in an environmentally friendly to-go cup, you bitch."

Free People, Spawning Off Freer People.

So my favorite clothing empire is an abstract, young line called Free People. So over this past summer, it's come to my attention that Free People have spawned off a rocker chic/ Courtney Love (without the cocaine & the suspicion of murder)- esq line called "We The Free" It's a little bit less bohemian than Free People but it's still unique and include some great layering pieces (which is kind of a free people staple). Take a look, see what you think. I picked my favorite pieces, though I'm not particularly drawn to the collection i still think the good people at FP can do no wrong.

Look i Have More Friends!... Stop Looking Surprised.

Apart from Ms. Mutch, i have very few blogging friends, but thankfully Sanja (It's a common name in Croatia) has joined us in our efforts to waste time :) Cheers for communal distraction!

Anyway. My lovely friend Sanja shares her terrific musings with the world through Three Pears.

She's full of wit and satire & this week featured one of the funniest comedians I've ever had the pleasure of stalking.

Follow her Three Pears religiously.

Dear Sanja Avramovic, how adorable and old is this picture?

Too bad the boys were too cool for us,

otherwise they might be able to look back now and notice how adorable they are.

Too bad.

Pandora's Box Is Shiny & Jewel Encrusted.

I don't know how well-known Pandora Charm bracelets are in the world, i suspected they weren't very popular but when i was in Vegas i saw a Pandora jewelry store in Caesar's Palace... so maybe this isn't relevant. I've sort of been in love with the charm bracelets for the past 6 months. If you don't know anything about them they're essentially really beautiful charm bracelets. They're pretty pricey, i think if i built one using just the sterling silver with little bits of cubic zerconium & 14k gold as well as glass murano beads I'm still looking at about $800- $1000, but they're awesome gift ideas. They're really not that expensive if you're building them over the course of a years to two years just on every major holiday. It's a good idea for the husband who's running out of gift ideas. I thought I'd share with you my favorite charms. Enjoy, freshness'...

The Owl Bead (because I have a million owl pieces), The Tree Of Life Bead (14k gold illuminates only a few leaves, perfect), Glass Muarno Bead (doesn't it look like little feathers? The glass beads with the 14k gold are quite supirior to the sterling silver)

The Bow Tie Spacer (i love little feminine bows), The Queen Bee (appropriately enough) and the Knot (which i think is sentimentally significant in so many ways).

Welcome to The Philip Defranco Show, The Show That's Not Really A Show

My favorite way to get my daily news is either from hunky CNN reporter Anderson Cooper or from Philip Defranco's youtube feed. I've been part of the Defranco nation for a short 4 months but i couldn't imagine a week without him. With no apparent background in comedy, he brings you both obscure and mainstream news and puts a comedic spin on it. I literally end up hunched over laughing after the three or four minutes he spends bringing me the daily news. It's one of my favorite things... which is cause enough for you to watch it.

So Join the Defranco Nation You, News Mongering Bitches.

The Max Factor.

When i was 16, i read Tucker Max's "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell". From what i remember about the book, i didn't feel like it was significant enough to effect my self-esteem or distort the way i saw myself as a women or my respect for other women. I recall fondly reading it on an airplane and laughing hysterically while other passengers looked on with disdain. I understood, somehow that not all men were like that, that everyone had a capacity for superficiality & that most of the stories were made for entertainment purposes. Four years later, I would still encourage my 16 year old sister to read it, i wouldn't worry that she'd be psychologically damaged by it, because she also understands the elements of entertainment will, in a one-dimensional way, make women the butt of the joke. Which doesn't necessarily mean that women aren't equal to men. I would assume she'd be smart enough and strong enough to know that it wasn't representative of all men or their attitudes towards women. Even at 16, I don't recall being personally offended by the book.

This year, "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" is making a debut to a different audience - the less educated audience, the kind that apparently allows media to influence its every thought and action.

I'm aware that lines like "fat women aren't real people" don't necessarily send out a positive message, i still wouldn't expect any obese women to actually think that they aren't of human origin, nor would anyone be influenced by this statement enough to suspect that once a woman gains a specific amount of weight she is no longer human or worthy enough to be treated with the same element of humanity you would treat someone who's underweight.

Now, i consider myself a feminist, therefor i give women credit for being smart enough to take comments like this (given consideration towards the historical hardships and current advancements in women's rights) with a grain of salt. Instead, women are out picketing and writing angry letters... It's become a huge point of protest among feminist organizations & women all over the world, they're are calling for a boycott, claiming that the film is psychologically damaging for young girls, that it's degrading towards women (when in fact, it's women who are engaging in degrading sexual activity with a man who coins phrases like "meet them hot, leave them wet") & that it could influential enough to stop the entire male gender from ever respecting women.

Personally, i think that making the assumption that a movie could have enough power to have psychologically damaging effects to me, dramatically alter my self esteem or my change the degree to which i respect other women, is an insult to my intellectual capacity and my strength of character. I think that it's an insult to my father, my brother, my boyfriend, my teachers and my male friends to suggest that an hour of satire from the mind of a sexually degrading blogger, could make them treat me any differently, or respect me any less.

Fall All Over Me "C'mere I'm Gunna Smear Another Color Over You".

Can you believe September is almost over? The beginning of a new semester brought me :"Wonderwall" & "Come Pick Me Up" both by Ryan Adams, "Falling Slowly" by The Frames, Pink's "Please Don't Leave Me" (which i hear about 45 times a day at work), "All To Myself" by Marianas Trench & long time favorite "Little Bit Of Red" by Serena Ryder.

Enjoy, Muchachu.

I Only Back Down For Realism & Glee

No one necessarily NEEDS anything but it would be really nice if the clothing fairies would bring me the following two tops, though i am usually opposed to tee shirts for reasons I'm not entirely sure of... except maybe because i was so opposed to the "insert ironic statement about breasts or politics about which i know next to nothing except for what is stated here on this tee shirt" here tee shirts' ... because if no one listens to you, they'll definitely listen to your tee shirt. ANYWAY: The "I Heart Realism" tee shirt, which is fabulous and ironic.

Also, the "I'm a Gleek" tee shirt. In support of my new favorite show, which is on TONIGHT at 9 everyone!

"My body is like a warm chocolate soufflé, if i don't warm it up, it doesn't rise. "

Gentle Fawn: Gently Building Suspense Until My Dress & Sweater Arrive

I loved this seasons Gentle Fawn pieces! So much so that i ordered the little navy & black button-up dress (which i was informed makes me look like a fake mechanic & I'm fine with that) & the jersey/ fleece grey military style sweater, about a month ago. I'm impatiently waiting for the arrival. Go. Right now & visit the vamped up website to check out the rest.

September be like.

September 09

Efforts Towards Happiness

Alright so lately I've been very unhappy, just over worked and exhausted. To be honest it really isn't working for me SO to combat this general state of misery I took a tip from my mothers self-help books and wrote a list of ways i can be happier, though the list had no particular limitations, I thought 40 was a nice round number. Experienced but not necessarily senile. So i wrote myself this little letter & i thought I'd share it with the winternet because i figured: Who wants to be unhappy?

Dear Brittany, Here Are 4o Ways You're Going To Be Happier.

1. Take a walk. Even in the dead of winter.
2. Set your alarm really early so that you have time to wake up, to mentally prepare yourself for the day & to enjoy the peace and silence of the morning.
3. Get more sleep.
4. Every morning finish this sentence: "My purpose today is..."
5. Be empathetic. You're not the only person in the world.
6. Stop wasting time reading Perez Hilton. Read something you're proud to have said you've read.
7. Pray often, for other people more so than yourself. God likes that.
8. Eat more green food.
9. Drink more tea than coffee.
10. When you're blood sugar plummets, eat almonds & nuts (instead of Starbuck's Pastries & Swedish Berries).
11. Clear out clutter.
12. Ignore gossip.
13. Learn something valuable everyday.
14. Eat 3 meals a day. In other news, muffins aren't meals.
15. Smile.
16. " It's the same world that has brought you down, as the one that's going to pick you up" - Maria Taylor's 'A Good Start'
17. Find more to laugh about.
18. Stop holding grudges, you don't even remember what half of them are about.
19. You don't have to win every argument.
20. Make peace with the past. You're letting it spoil the present.
21. Stop comparing yourself to people who do less than you do.
22. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
23. Look at crisis in worst case scenario & then decide if it's really THAT bad.
24. You can't please everyone. Stop trying.
25. Stop caring about what other people think of you, start caring about what you think of you.
26. Everything heals with time.
27. Stay close to the people who know you best.
28. Get rid of everything that isn't either useful, beautiful or joyful.
29. Jealousy will make you feel stupid, compensation will make you look stupid.
30. Value your education more than anything else. It's the only thing no one can take from you.
31. "The best is yet to come"
32. "80% of success is just showing up" - Woody Allen
33. Embrace your family. Be nicer to your sister.
34. Before you go to bed every night complete these two sentences: "I am thankful for_" & "Today I accomplished_"
35. You're too blessed to be stressed.
36. At least once a day, stop everything and appreciate the circumstance.
37. Laugh when you can, apologize when you should & let go of what you cannot change.
38. Take more opportunities to be creative, that's something you need.
39. Let go of guilt, it's not getting you anywhere.
40. Celebrate small victories, give yourself credit for the good things you do.

Birkies: No Longer For Disgruntled Lesbians.

I am seeing the infamous Birkenstock EVERYWHERE lately, on the streets, on boutique employee's... but the one place i thought i'd never find bra burning foot wear was on the Sartorialist Blog (Which is the best fashion blog on the winternet, it's beyond compare.) While old european men and models have been showing off new looks for fall, these two dear women showed that you can work comfortable footwear wether you're grabbing a paper and running into moving traffic, or mounting the back of a vespa after you've vandalized a building.

I'd be lying if i said that i didn't wonder wether or not the sudden popularity of this shoe wasn't somehow connected to the less sudden partiality to spine deformation due to the lack of physical movement our lazy ass culture promotes.

Curiouser & Curiouser.

Chalkboard Paint.

This is such a good idea! It's just chalkboard paint painted on to an office wall.

I think that's just so lovely. What a stylish way to be organized!

It's MINA! Not Minka.

Hey goonie! The lovely United Kingdom has personally granted me 3 gifts (Like a genie. Imagine the queen is a genie. Or even a benevolent fairy godmother, with a fabulous hat collection.):

• My name. (Well, No i suppose my frightfully young mother gave me that name, because it was the name of her favorite soap star but when all of the other kids names had meanings like "grace" & "precious" i could say i was a town in the UK.)
• A monarchist symbol. You know, someone to look to in times of... global insignificance
• Mina UK's fall line up.

Clockwise from top left: Phoenix Dress, Elm Dress, Crinkle Dress, Darling Shrug.

Rejoice!