Awesome Bostons on Etsy

You guys, I love Boston terriers. They're just so cute and bouncy and TOTALLY AWESOME DOGS. I had a Boston growing up, the infamous Tarbo, known far and wide for eating underwear and racing around the middle school track like he was ON FIRE. Tarbo was a true dog of the people--he hated other dogs, in fact, what a little weirdo. Anyway. After Tarbo tragically left us in my freshman year of college, I've had a rather large place in my heart for Boston terriers. On Potrero Hill in San Francisco, I found a hardcore ball-chain necklace with a glass-encased charm with a wee Boston terrier photo on one side and "MIGHTY" printed on the other. Needless to say, it's my low-self-esteem-day necklace, as if the little Boston declares to my enemies that he may be one foot tall and twenty pounds if that, but he will JUMP UP and RIP OUT YOUR JUGULAR, fo' shizzle.

Thus, periodically, when I can't sleep, I take a little stroll through the goldmine of beauty and craftiness known as Etsy, searching for Boston terrier paraphenelia to adore. See my picks below! I love it! I want them all! Priced lowest to highest:

Even though my life is pretty much in transition for the next year or so, I still harbor a desire to decorate my (future/permanent) apartment with some Boston terrier goodness. What's better than polka dots AND the best kind of dog in the whole world? $20.

How great is this necklace? The clasp at the front balances everything out so well, and I hate that kind of clasp in the back--I always feel like it's going to come loose when I'm not paying attention. Still! A little subtle Boston terrier-ness for the discerning jewelry-seeker. $92.

What a saucy mister that little dog is, in his top hat! Sure, it's $250, I'm not rolling in the monies right now, but it's a great idea. Showdog!

all images from etsy.com, respectively: ?, Jade Scottand Vanguard Gallery.

Need a little luck?

I wouldn't consider myself unlucky, as a rule. I'm just someone who needs a little extra push at times. I'm also somewhat superstitious, so I do believe in things like lucky charms and karma and all the things that are supposed to bring good energy/things into your life.

So, in the interest of sharing that good energy (in the hopes of getting more back!), here are some things that might just turn out to be your lucky charm!

Above, from Kathryn Riechert on Etsy, the Lucky Penny necklace. How adorable is that! I'm forever picking up pennies, and have been known to kick them until they're right side up. (Generally, I pick them up anyway even if they are face down.) One of my favorites in her shop is the Nesting Birds necklace, as I've been crazy about wire/beads birds nest jewelry lately (if you are too, check out Starry Designs on Etsy -- I have an oxidized Robin's Nest ring and I love it; look at how beautiful the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg ring is).

I've also been wearing a St. Christopher's medallion for good luck in travel. I'm not a surfer or Catholic, but it doesn't hurt to have something cool and lucky on you, especially when it comes in hot pink (yes!!). Another wearer of a St. Christopher? Sam Tyler in Life on Mars. (Not Doctor Who, as I thought, but still good, right?)

Another good way to find a lucky charm with more meaning to you is to find your personal crystal. Now, I know it's all hippie-new-Age-y-maybe-Jeanne-stayed-in-Eugene-too-long stuff, but if it works, it works, right? I've been wearing amazonite, lapis lazuli, and smoky quartz bracelets I bought in Japan. For extra bonus, once you find the stone you want, go search for it on Etsy and support an independent artist. More good karma, right? Who doesn't want that?

image from kathrynriechert.etsy.com

My Shoe Conundrum

Oh, man. I have a pretty big shoe problem. Not only do I have a lot of them, but I never seem to have the right pair. Seriously, it's a problem. Unfortunately, even WORSE is that I'm trapped between two seasons and thus, two distinct shoe needs. I may be moving to Hawai'i for five-ish months come January, so I want some awesome humid-weather shoes that are semi-professional and NOT FLIP-FLOPS. On the other hand, it's just getting colder and colder here, enough to make a girl feel the pull towards those quintessential sexy knee-high black boots.

Do you see my conundrum here? Do I invest in a super-hot, ass-kicking and taking-no-names pair of knee-high Victorian-detailed black medium-heel boots to wear with my disgustingly vast collection of black A-line skirts, or stock up on all the cute sandals/flats that are just going on sale? All the anticipatory shopping, it drives me crazy.

Add to that Footlux's weeklong sale (now only two more days! hurry hurry!), and I am so much more inclined to browse shoes online than study for midterms right now. Take a peep at these awesomely patterned and adorned flats by Monica Garcia:

Not only do I love the toile, the teal ribbon, the little black sparkly beads that look like caviar (SWANKY), the little dash of plaid, and DID YOU SEE THE TINY BOW IN THE BACK?! Oh, my goodness. I could cover that shoe in chocolate frosting and eat it.

Since I seem to have a fatal attraction to volcanic islands and tourist traps, these Ashley Dearborn "molten" flats are calling out to me. The molten part looks more like tortoiseshell, but GLORIOUS.

Still, I find closed-toe flats to be a compromise for shoe conundrums like these. I've almost worn my black and white polka-dot with blue details Keds into the ground. These are strangely attractive, despite the fact that I own nothing in that lovely sort of Napoleon ice cream color palette:


Boden always has cute, simple clothing at cheaper-ish prices than J. Crew--just like J. Crew, I am skeptical of their shoes' quality, but these sandals are just too juicy to ignore:
On sale from $88, not bad, right? I just caved in, even though my wee toes will freeze if I wear them here. Conundrum solved? Possibly.

Images from footlux.com, piperlime.com and bodenusa.com.

Cheer up, emo kid! Jeanne's black eyeliner picks

Feeling angry and sad at the same time? Like there's some sort of goopy thing taking over your life and making you a jerk? What better way to express it than by lining your eyes with black liner? It's an instant "don't mess with me, I've got issues!" look. Plus the ladies are all over it, especially when used in conjunction with some sassy dance moves.

Seriously, though, black eyeliner is always hot in the fall and winter, and if you're looking to vamp it up for Halloween or just in general, there are lots of different options for a great black liner.

Liquid: If you're going for a solid black line that won't turn grey on you like a pencil can, you'll probably want to go with a liquid. But be careful and take your time! Tarte's Indelible Wink eyeliner does have a smudging end with powder to go over your line and soften it, but in my (admittedly, one) use, I haven't really found that useful. The interesting thing about Indelible Wink is that the liner itself doesn't soak into your skin. It peels off. (Okay!) It also comes in Brown and Charcoal if you do want a softer color.

Cream: The classic choice here for a cream eyeliner (the kind that comes in a pot and you apply with an angled/eyeliner brush) is MAC's Fluidline in Blacktrack. Some people swear by Bobbi Brown or Stila, but pretty much everyone's got Fluidline in Blacktrack. Fluidline also comes in lots of other colors, including one called Blue Peep (hee!) and a gorgeous gold that just came out in their new Holiday collection, Uppity. Probably not the best choice for the true emo look, as it's hard to tote around the pot and brush when all you want to do is a quick dash of eyeliner to go out, and if you leave the top loose or off, it can dry out (which will just make you cry).

Pencil: This will break your heart: The best black eyeliner pencil I've found is limited edition. It's a MAC product again, but they really do know their stuff. The Kohl Power Pencil in Feline is the best black eyeliner pencil I've used, period. It's dark, it's soft (doesn't tug on your eye), and it stays on. For example, Benefit's Bad Gal pencil is a nice fat pencil, but it doesn't have enough of the black pigment to look truly black on your eye -- it looks like a very dark grey on the skin. The Kohl Power Pencil is a true dark, dark black. The other colors are awesome as well: I've got Orpheus (black with gold pearl) and Jealous (black with green -- SO PRETTY); the color in this picture is Raven (black with red pearl). They're amazing pencils and I'm sad to think that they're a limited edition product.

My top pick? For a great black eyeliner, you gotta get your hands on the Kohl Power Pencil before it's gone. But everyone's preference when it comes to eyeliner is different -- I dig the pencils, and some people prefer liquid or cream. Still, black eyeliner's something you ought to have in your kit this fall and winter, and you know, just in case you get possessed by a symbiote from outer space. Hey, it could happen!

images from rollingstone.com, sephora.com, nordstroms.com

I told you so.

Dear Stylish Nation,

What did I say about staphylococcus aureus? Come on now, really.

Excerpted from the Reuters article:
In schools, staph infections are prone to spread in places like locker rooms through shared personal items like towels and athletic gear, officials said. State officials urged students and others in schools to wash their hands regularly and take other precautions like not sharing personal items.

Please wash your damn dirty hands.
Sincerely,
Karen

Ooh! Ooh!

Okay, I know it's a policy of mine to not write about things I haven't personally purchased for myself. Which, honestly, can make for slow blogging when you're not reporting on the new lines that come out every other week (I just *bought* from the newest MAC collection, and there's going to be *another* one *next* week? ...okay, FINE).

But have you heard about this? I read it first at Now Smell This: Lush is putting out solid perfumes. Our love for Lush has been well-documented here -- slowly but surely, I've been trying new things from their catalogue, and I'm still hoping for their cosmetics line to come overseas.

But solid perfumes! I do love me a solid perfume! I'm excited about this; while I do know that Lush's scents can be overwhelming, as you can smell them a block away, I imagine that a solid perfume should still stay close enough to the skin that you won't blast people with fragrance as you walk by. But we'll see. We'll see.

You can definitely count on me reporting back on these once they're released!

The scents are:

Karma: Patchouli & orange
Honey I Washed The Kids: Honey & toffee
Potion: Spicy carnations
Fever: Exotic floral bouquet
American Cream: Strawberry honey milkshake
Go Green: Citrus & earthy
Silky Underwear: Jasmine & vetivert
Dirty: Herbal spicy
Champagne Snow Showers: Wild oranges & cognac

I can't wait!

image and info from lush.com

Ready to go?

Ah, yet another trip for me where I lugged around a lot of cosmetics and found that I really only relied on the basics. What made my trip to Japan different, however, was that I purposefully didn't bring any of my special/limited-edition items for fear of losing or breaking them. This means my beautiful new Smoking Eyes quad stayed home.

So it was a good excuse to get reacquainted with some of the things in my make-up kit that I don't use on a regular basis. Instead of bringing my Tarte cheekstain this go-round, as it got super-melty the last trip I went on (nooooo! also, unacceptable for hot'n'humid Japan), I brought Smashbox Skin Tint in "Heat". Great for putting on under bronzer, this is a near match to the DuWop cream blush in the June Bronzerush, but with the added benefit of not getting icky due to finger-swiping (mine appears to be full of lint -- um, ew?). I also found that my powder didn't rub off onto the Skin Tint as much as it does to the gel Tarte cheekstain, which was unappealing. Since I like applying it directly to the cheek versus swiping it onto my fingers and then to my cheek (granted, it gets on my fingers either way -- I just like blending it with fingers versus applying it), I was pleased that it didn't suddenly turn beige a la Tarte.

I also brought a new shiny toy, because why not? Alas, this didn't make it out of the bag in Japan, but I've already used it at home for going out. If you haven't already heard about NARS putting out their Multiple (lips, cheeks, eyes) in their famous shade "Orgasm", well then. I bought this when I should have been saving for Japan, but I knew I had to have it, and had been waiting for this since I first heard about it months before (from, I believe, Beauty Addict). While I haven't used it on my eyes yet, and I think it might be too pale for my lips, it's a great cheekbone highlight on top of bronzer and (surprise) Heat. Great for stashing in the bag for some extra night-time glow after work.

So now that I'm back from Japan, and back to earning a regular paycheck, you can expect to be hearing more from me (hopefully). Things I'm looking forward to picking up once the funds start flowing in again: no! no! from Sephora (has anybody reviewed this? at all? because I really, really want it), P.S. Kiss from Lancome (already on its way to me!), and getting ready for the holidays! Can you believe it's already October again? Any plans for super-awesome Halloween costumes?

Both Smashbox Skin Tint and NARS The Multiple can be found at your local Sephora or Sephora.com; the Multiple in Orgasm is a Sephora exclusive.

images from sephora.com

The TV you are probably not watching, but totally should be.

I usually spend my summers watching shows I missed from last season to decide what should fill up the holes in my tv dance card. This summer was no exception, although it was a little heavy on the Brit TV this year due to enthused pushing from my friends. Apparently this is the year of the Brit. (Say hello to: Spaced, Doctor Who)

And I have to say, I am glad I found these shows when I did, because I am not impressed with the new TV season. None of the new shows are really popping out at me, and even though I have three weeks worth of Gossip Girl taped, I cannot bring myself to watch it. (I clearly am still in mourning over The O.C. and Veronica Mars.)

So, without further ado, the shows that you probably are not watching, but you totally should be.

1. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

Um, is there anything more awesome than this show? It is clearly LEGEN--

You wouldn't think there is a sitcom that has more heart than the smoopsyness of Jim and Pam on the Office, but here is one with not only more heart, but no love triangles! YES. THANK YOU GOD. After last year on the Office (and also the show of which we do not speak, which was probably a worse offender, come on LEXIE GREY?,) I was going to barf if there was another love triangle with sad sacks moping because they couldn't have two boyfriends or weren't over their exes.

--wait for it...--

While Ted is occasionally a sad sack, everyone else on the show mocks him for it, as one's good friends (should and often) do. There are slap bets and laser tag, Canadian jokes, frequent use of the word awesome, and lots of laughter without relying on awkward humor. (See: The Office, Arrested Development) It's a refreshing show-- clever and realistic (apart from the ridiculously large apartments they all seem to have in the middle of Manhattan, but minor quibble) and somehow oddly feel-good.

Also Barney goes on the Price is Right in one of the episodes. Seriously. Truly, this show is... --DARY.

Mondays on CBS at 8pm.

2. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
I initially ignored the buzz surrounding this show last season, because who wants to watch a inspirational sports movie every week? It gets old. But even though no one can come up with a more coherent plot summary than "...Football players? In Texas? But it's not just that?", this show is excellent.

Reason #1 to be watching: MATT SARACEN. Everything good about my high school boyfriends wrapped into one little neat (with nice abs) football-playing package. Hello, my new fictional TV boyfriend.

Reason #2 to be watching: The music is quite good, even if you wouldn't be able to guess it from the disjointedness of the soundtrack they put out.

Reason #3 to be watching: The Taylors are made of awesome. There is so much awesome in that fictional TV family that I suspect them of having stolen all the awesome from the new TV pilots this season. How else can you explain it?

Reason #4 to be watching: The documentary style (while occasionally queasy-making) is fun to see on the screen. It's different than the rest of what's on TV now, and it really works with the show and the type of stories they're telling.

Reason #5 to be watching: the DVDs are super cheap, (19.99! Seriously!) and with some sort of money-back guarantee, so HELLO. And for those of you that are broke, all the episodes are available online at NBC.com to watch.

Although having seen the second season premiere on Yahoo TV, I have to ask, "How are they going to recover from THAT?" I look forward to seeing what they are doing with that (Please, Jason Katims, don't ruin it like the second season of Roswell.) The actual TV premiere is tonight, so we shall see what, if anything changes from that viewing.

And yes, it is on Friday, but that is what VCRs and Tivo were made for. Saturday morning hungover TV watching. (or 3am drunken watching. Whatever. That is what got me through the third season of the O.C.- I was watching it at three in the morning whilst drunk. Also, shut up Johnny, because Kaitlin is awesome.) Clearly.

Fridays on NBC at 9pm.

images from cbs.com and nbc.com.

Clear Eyes, Full Skirts, Can't Lose

According to a general overview of my wardrobe, which is currently split between two houses due to my student lifestyle, I have far too many skirts. Specifically, A-line mid-length skirts, the kind that hit so pleasantly just past the knee. They are so flattering and easy to wear that I can't help but look for more, new, beautiful skirts to add to my growing collection. What, my mom collects vintage aprons and pillbox hats, my great-aunt collects gads and gads of antique jewelry, give a girl a break. It being fall, with me being single and too lazy to shave my legs more than once a month, I am more and more inclined to wear skirts with opaque tights and my new brown shoes. (These shoes deserve a separate post of their own, they are so, so comfortable, so cute, and were so on sale at Nordstrom! So great, in fact, that I am considering investing in a pair of Sofft brand knee-high boots.) Now, on to the lovely skirts I found for you!

Saltwater's pleated skirt with a cheeky little bird embroidery is too cute.

Twinkle by Wenlan's apple-green frilled but almost cyber-punky number looks a little elfin, but in a cute Deschanel way. Don't you think?

Boden's "swishy knitted skirt" looks like the navy-blue high-waisted, belted glory of a knitted skirt I bought at Marshall's last week for a song only in slightly more exciting colors:

Check out this charmingly butter-yellow Japanese patterned cotton skirt at Stars and Infinite Darkness (LIKE MY HEART!):

Nick & Mo clothing is so damn cute, but it just KILLS me that their sizing is for that absolute fashion fallacy known as "juniors." I love a great border print, every time I take a wee stroll through the fabric store I am like, YESSS LACY BORDER PRINT GLORY, oh you are sadly made of plastic and meant for tablecloths.
It almost makes a perfect match with the first skirt, with the birdies. You could have a THEMED SKIRT WEEK if you were so inclined. Oh, the mere thought makes me smile!

Images from saltwater.net, shopgreenapple.com, bodenusa.com, starsandinfinitedarkness.com and modcloth.com.

Hints for Health and Vigor, #2

Your mom always told you this, but--

2. Always wash your hands.

Wash your hands after tying your shoelaces and, appropriately, making a #2 because YOU HAVE NO IDEA of the creepy-crawly disease-causing things in dirt and fecal matter. Here's a reminder: anthrax spores and E. coli. Oh, yeah, THOSE.

You don't even have to use anti-bacterial soaps and hand sanitizer all the time, in fact, it's probably better that you use a mix of regular fancy-smelling soap made from lamb-chewed France-milled oats and organic, gluten-free soy protein molded in recycled Starbucks containers with antibacterial products. Bacteria can develop a resistance to the common types of antibacterials to become SUUUUPER GEEERMS, as in, super-deadly. You've heard about that terrible kind of antibiotic-resistant staph that kills people in hospitals, right?

The lamb thing will be saved for a different HHV edition later on staying away from livestock. Especially in England.

Hints for Health and Vigor, #1

So I'm starting a new thing here out of my academic interest in public health and infectious disease, and that is an ongoing list of tips and hints to prevent germs and bacteria from breeding all over you. Maybe not really. Let's just call it general health, safety, and contagion prevention. Tonight's lesson is from the gym, courtesy of Sweaty Men Everywhere:

1. When filling your water bottle at the gym, always use the water fountain by the aerobics/pilates room, NOT the one nearest or in the weight room.

Why? Men are disgusting. They scratch their nether regions and then drink from the water fountain, not to mention putting their mouths right on the spigot. You might say that's all kind of sweatily sexy, but do you want infectious mononucleosis or amebiasis? Remember cholera?

Let me tell you, women are much cleaner, wash their hands more often, and don't put their mouths on the spigot. Here ends lesson number one. Have a good time at the gym!

Image from dpd.cdc.gov.

LaFont Frames

Oh my god, I love glasses. I. Love. Them. Glasses and tiny hats. I may not have a boyfriend, but I've got glasses and hats to last a lifetime. It's genetic, really. I am descended from nearsighted librarians and telephone operators. My whole family wears glasses--you should see the way glasses salespeople's eyes light up when we all walk into a store together. Right now, I have a pair of vintage-style geometric cats-eye frames in grey plastic with black rhinestones embedded in them, made in France, you know how it is. They're from a little place here in California that's been around for three generations and keeps their dead stock from the 1950s on display. I'm going to keep the store my little secret for now, but suffice it to say that if you've ever desired your grandmother's glasses from her old photos, you can find them there.

So about LaFont's frames: I was downtown today getting above-mentioned glasses adjusted since they keep falling off my damn face during workouts, perused around the local glasses store and found a new brand, LaFont. I tried on the following: SAPHIR, BABY. You can't see it very well in those photos, but APPARENTLY the design is laser-etched (sounds fancy, right?) and really looks like cherry blossoms and flowers. Check out all the coloooors!

Next up, the Scarlet:
Sure, they look a little bit like really stylin' worms have crawled onto your face in a pleasingly symmetrical way, but hello, nurse!

For the nerdily gorgeous semi-professional baker in your life, MERINGUE:
MERIIINGUE. Look at those little curly peaks and frameless tops! Oh, boy oh boy. Maybe a dash of sexy librarian in with that baking thing? Maybe I really need these for my next frames?

Okay, the Pompadour: Don't think of it as the Elvis-y "pompadour," but more like Madame de Pompadour, King Louis XIV's lesser-known lover. (Remember that episode of Doctor Who? Yeah, her. Awesome.) This delectable cupcake-y butter yellow and amethyst purple is the only colorway I like it in, otherwise the stars look kind of like icky barnacles. You'd probably have to have amazing skin tone to pull this off, but who am I to judge?

Last but not least,
SHAZAAAM! Plaid glizasses! How you like me now, bitches?

Images from eyeglass.com.

Edo Period Japan and the White Man: a lesson in closed empires.

This is a slight departure from my normal posts, which discuss things that are awesome. Today we are going to discuss (nerdily, with examples from my thesis-- you know you want a history lesson!) why a certain TV show (aimed at nerds) needs to pick up some of the (nerd) slack. Yeah, that's right Heroes, I'm looking at you.

Last season that show was all anyone could talk about (well that and Meredith's drowning on Grey's Anatomy, but we do not speak of that show) and as a Japanese major, I did find the fact that a good five minutes of any given episode was entirely in Japanese to be awesome. Granted, at times it was interesting Japanese (since apparently Masi Oka does all the translations of his lines? Which kind of just makes him even more adorable.) but Japanese nonetheless.

The season season premiere was basically half spent in subtitles, and you know my little language loving heart LOVED IT. What it did not love was the fact that David Anders (SARK) was somehow inexplicably running around in Edo period Japan. Has no one on the show done their historical research?

Granted, I wrote a thesis dealing with Women's Travel in Edo Period Japan, so I may know a bit more about the time period than the average Heroes watcher. However, almost anyone who has taken some Japanese or World history should know the following information:

"In the Edo period, a culture of warriors and warfare found itself a country at peace due to the emergence of what was to become the Tokugawa bakufu, or military government. Not only was the country free from civil war for the first time in over a century, it was also almost free from outside influences, due to the isolationist policy implemented by the Shogunate in 1639. Foreign threats to the Tokugawa reign were thrown out of the country, with only a handful of traders from the Dutch East India Company allowed in a sectioned off area in Nagasaki. Any other foreigners who came to the country were contained and interrogated by the government, and not allowed into the country."

-ME, from my thesis: "Historical and Literary Representations of Women Travelers in Edo Period Japan."

While it may be a bit of an over-simplification of history to say that all foreigners weren't allowed into the country (in fact, the Dutch traders were expected to travel along the Tokaido to pay homage to the Emperor, just as the Daimyo (samurai landowners) did,) the vast majority were not. So how in the world is Sark, with his baby-blues and peroxide blonde hair and his British accent running around in 1671, 32 years after the isolationist period began? I mean, according to Wikipedia, "Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial." While we may have discovered that (SPOILER) this might not be a huge issue for David Anders, it still does not explain how the white guy is running around Edo Period Japan being a huge drunk, and no one thinks it is weird.

So, Heroes, can you throw a girl a bone and pretend that David Anders is Dutch, or working for the Dutch East India Company, or has magical superpowers (in addition to his actual superpower) that allow him to appear to be Japanese, horrible foreign accent aside? Also, did they even have peroxide back then? Surely on a show were everyone and their mom has superpowers, you can come up with some plausible explanation for a white dude to be running around a period in Japanese history where no white dudes were running around?

Also, stop making Masi Oka do all the heavy lifting on the Japanese culture front. Hire a translator and a history consultant. It is not like you don't have the budget. If you don't, just off one of the Petrellis and then you will.

And no, even your clever ruse of a shirtless Petrelli will not distract me from my quest to discover why David Anders is running around in Edo Period Japan, being all white. Please answer my questions/hire a history consultant before I have to write yet another blog entry bemoaning the fact that this otherwise enjoyable show is making me angry that I went to school and got an education and now I am too smart for TV. I don't want to be too smart for TV, Heroes! What would I blog about then? So please, sort out this problem asap so I can get back to enjoying my shirtless Petrellis and Japanese speaking David Anders in peace.


If anyone is curious to learn more about Edo Period Japan, I'd recommend watching the excellent, if poorly named, documentary from PBS: "Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire." or visiting their website here.

Image from NBC.com.