Pinterest Picks of the Week

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been spending quite a bit of time on Pinterest lately. One must practice constant vigilance in planning for their future house, defining their personal style, and finding fitness motivation, otherwise who knows what might happen. I figured I'd start sharing my favorite images each week because there really are some beautiful graphics on that site. Check out my Pinterest boards to see the original pins, and don't be surprised if you get sucked into the blackhole of DIYs and OOTDs.

Emoji-Nation

More fun with modernizing art! Ukrainian artist Nastya Nudnik pairs famous paintings with applicable social media-speak. My favorite is the Edward Hopper piece below, which reminds me of this Banksy-esque street art. Because isn't that feeling of no new Instagram followers the worst?

Hip Hop + Art = Fly Art

It's a surprisingly beautiful marriage you don't often see: the aggressive (if not occasionally witty) rap lyric mixed with the classical beauty of fine art. It's the type of stuff my mother would hate because she would detest the foul language and wouldn't understand the written references. I would suggest she listen to more Jay-Z, but I would also most definitely not suggest she listen to more Jay-Z. A classic catch-22.

Fly Art is a project "born out of boredom, frustration, and the internet" and inspired by other genius art hacks like Swoosh and The Carter Family Portrait Gallery. Class and taste aside, I think it's pretty on point for Millennials (excuse the obnoxious self-awareness) and hip-hop aficionados. The juxtaposition ends up breathing some cultural relevancy into the Old Masters and everything ancient is new again.

I've curated (if you will) a few of my favorite NSFW images below. If you can name the songs titles, you get 2 points. If you can name the paintings, you get 5. And if you can name both, let's date.

Spotted by Ariella.
Spotted by Danielle: Wearable Fly Art x Rad.

 

I Wore This

Am I the only one who hates the abbreviation of Outfit of the Day? Whenever I see people hashtag #ootd on instagram I get a weird feeling because my immediate reaction is to try and sound it out and then I end up say "ooh-t-d" in my head and it's uncomfortable.

I digress. 

I often have these moments where I say to myself, "Hey, I kind of like my outfit today. And the world needs to know." But the idea of forcing my roommate to take glamour pics of me or, even worse, posing in front of my camera on a tripod in self-timer mode gives me amateur shivers. So I figured I'd do a more forgiving version of portraiture using watercolor of what I wore when I had people over for  brunch the other day (post to follow on that).

It was incredibly therapeutic and after having done hundreds of fashion illustrations for my major, it was kind of nice to get back into the grind, as rusty as I may be. I'm still deciding, though, if this is something I should do more often. Thoughts?  Also figured I'd go ahead and put some info on what exactly I have on although, not gonna lie, my life is all URBN all the time since I started working for Anthropologie (you can't really not use the discounts, you know?) so sorry for the lack of excitement in the labels on this one.

Necklace: Anthropologie

V-Neck: Anthropologie

Printed Harem Pants: Urban Outfitters

Chunky Platforms: Topshop

Bangles and Bracelets: Chan Luu and a lil sumin sumin I picked up in Uzbekistan.

Looking back, I got every single thing I'm wearing on sale (the Chan Luu I got at 60% off (!) at a great 2nd Street Boutique in Austin). Guess I'm just naturally thrifty. Also that Anthro V-Neck is the softest thing I own, I highly recommend it. 

peace out.

Gift Guide Part IV: For Your Friends Who Are So Wide Ranging And Diverse, You Don't Really Know How To Sum Them Up In A Few Phrases.

1. Tattly One Year Subscription $60 Because these are the best temporary tattoos ever and to receive 8 of them in the mail every month would be like Christmas once a month.
2. Anthropologie Tiled Fado Guitar $3,600. If there was ever a Tiled Fado Guitar to spend $3,600 on, this would be it.
3. Topman White Canvas Backpack $100 For your stylin' guy friends. Or for your stylin' girlfriends. This is pretty unisex, I think. I'd wear it.
4. Duncan Shotten Rainbow Pencils $Kickstarter For your artsy friends. Because then at the end of a long drawing session you can have little rainbows spread all around and it will bring joy and happiness.
5. Mudpuppy Ceramic Skull Planter $42 I would tell you who I'd give this to, but then I'd have to kill you. #secrets
6. Free People Galloon Lace Halter Bra $38 For your friends that don't wear real bras.
7. Darling Magazine Subscription $20 The most perfect magazine for the most perfect friends.
8. West Elm Square Lacquer Tray $24 Can't go wrong with gold monogrammed things amiright?
9. Tina Zellmer Asia Map This beautiful map for your Southeast Asia-wanderlusting friends.
10. Marc by Marc Jacobs Eye Stud Earrings $48 Precious and (again) *designer*.
11. J. Crew Back Up Battery for iPhone $40 Because New York City drains iPhone batteries like it's its job.
12. Dwell Studio Draper Stripe Major Throw $198 For your friends who have long commutes and an obssesion with stripes.
13. Rothshank Wheel Thrown Beyonce Mug $39 No explanation needed for this one. But bonus points if you accompany it with her new visual album (duh).
14. Natural Quilts $50. These hand block printed and natural dyed quilts will brighten up any room.
15. Diptyque Orange Chai Candle $32 Because orange is a happy color and chais are yummy.
16. Wolfum Floral Pop Teepee $325 Who wouldn't want this in their apartment??

"Blank Walls Are Criminal" -Banksy

I am not allowed to mark on my walls or put nails into it. This has led to an apartment full of blue tape and 3M hooks a.k.a. my college dorm room. While this is unfortunate, the apartment does have wonderfully high ceilings. You win some you lose some. 

Banksy is well-known for agreeing with my theory that white walls kill creativity, so I wanted to create a little somethin somethin using removable black painters tape to fill the space. However, a thorough search through Home Depot, Michaels and Paper Source led me to believe that no such thing exists. So armed with plebeian masking tape and a jumbo black sharpie, I meticulously colored-in several yards of tape and pulled a poor man's Pygmalion on my wall. I also decided to film the process and set it to happy music because why would you not.
*spoiler pic at the bottom of post*

We Crave a Different Kind of Buzz

 Ten Reasons Why I Want to Be Lorde

1. That hair
2. She is only 16 and already more famous than you will ever be
3. Grimes tweets at her
4. She rocks a laurel wreath better than Caesar
5. She can sing without opening her mouth
6. Her real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor
7. Her life is so exotic
8. She does Yeezus better than Yeezus
9. She's been called "The Thinking Person's Lana Del Rey" (I thought Lana Del Rey was the thinking person's Lana Del Rey but whatev) 
10. She's Queen Bee 

One Reason Why it Would Never Work Out Between Us

                                           1. Tigers on a gold leash don't interest her 

How to Lose Money and Make Friends

I would just like to point out that some of Nathan Pyle's "NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette" can also be extremely useful in other places. Such as, say, wandering South Congress in Austin. Take this one, for example:

 

While in town for SXSW last spring, I had the unfortunate luck of being vampired by a Green Peace representative. "Vampired" is a term I just came up, but I think it's fairly accurate to describe the way they sink their teeth into your skin and suck your blood.

I was flanked by two of my North Easterner friends who walked right past him. But my Southern blood is weak and susceptible to solicitation, and I had no choice but to stop and listen to him describe the sad fate of Bengal tigers.

Now don't get me wrong, Bengal tigers are beautiful creatures that deserve to thrive on this planet and Green Peace is a highly respectable organization. But COME ON. Don't you think if I wanted to spend $25 a month saving the planet I would already be doing it?? Of course, now I'm a terrible person for saying that because $25 is, like, three coffees at Starbucks. Well, guess what? I don't go to Starbucks.

 Needless to say, I didn't know how to say "no", so I signed up, thinking, "Ha! I'll just unsign-up when I get home, sucker." But I can't figure out how. I've searched their website so often, it was on my Top Sites homepage for weeks. Consequently, I've been leaking $25 a month to these guys.  Your grandchildren can thank me. And their pets, too. (By 2040, I'm hoping that we will have domesticated tigers.)

Anyway, then I moved to NYC and was approached by more of their drones. No wait, "approached" is the wrong word. I was yelled at from across the street in Soho, "Hey, you look like a hippie! Sign up for Green Peace!" That was the second time that day I had been called a hippie (I wasn't even wearing anything weird!) and I was in no mood to save the polar bears because I was hungry and it was hot. I politely told him I was already signed up, and he grilled me on the details of whereabouts I sold my soul to the devil. Apparently, he has friends in Austin. Cool, bro. Now let me sweat through all of my clothing in peace.

After living here for three months, I thought I had finally perfected my New York City Indifference, but last week I had a thirty minute conversation in Union Square with a man trying to sign me up for a hair salon -__-  Apparently, his girlfriend recently visited Austin and is now convinced it's the new Mecca. Good story, bro. Now let me eat my Chloe's soft serve fruit in peace.

So hey, maybe I'm a sucker and maybe my friends will continue to make fun of me for contributing $300 a year to Green Peace (ahem Richard), but at least I'm making personal connections on a-day-to-day basis, and how many New Yorkers can say that, huh?

(BONUS: If my parents ever sell our house in Austin, I'll have a plethora of semi-mutual friends I can stay with when I go home!)

***

Also, this illustrated tip by Pyle. EVERYDAY without fail I witness this on the subway. And EVERYDAY I want to yell at these people, "YOU CAN HAVE THEIR SPOT IF YOU LET THEM OUT." Morons.

NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette via Selina