New Love

I must have a thing for redheads. Shirley Manson, Karen Elson, and now Mercedes Helnwein.

Mercedes is an artist with a mix of other things. She draws these amazing portraits of people in colored pencil. The details are so amazing that the image almost looks like an actual photograph. Here are some of my favorites:

The Accomplice

Untitled (Self Portrait)

Love Is A Dog From Hell

Lovesick

Michelle with Giraffe

She also makes short films, writes, and has been in Beck's music video for "Gamma Ray" You can check out more here: http://www.mercedeshelnwein.com/

Not only do I really like her work, but she is very pretty and has a great sense of style. Her wardrobe seems to have a sixties feel that I just love so much!

Here's the Beck video. She's the one with the big hair.

Give Me Back My SUN!

This crappy weather just makes me feel lazy! To lazy to explain the horrible Valentine's day I had, but also the amazing gift I received the day before, so I'll do it as quickly as I can!

I had plans with my brother to try to go to a Conan taping with The Black Keys as the musical guest. We spent the night in Norwalk, woke up around five and headed out to Burbank. My brother noticed something wrong as we were on the freeway so he pulled over and realized it was a flat tire. We quickly put the spare on, but still hadn't made it passed downtown. We stopped again for a bathroom break and a funny smell, then back on the road. We finally made it and waited in line to get out standby tickets. The line didn't seem to long, especially because Justin Bieber was also a guest on the show and there didn't seem to be any crazy Bieber fans.

We thought we would make it. Our standby tickets were fifteen and sixteen, not bad. We had lunch, came back and waited to see if we would still make it. It turned out we didn't make it and it was a horrible feeling. We wished we had told the chick who was passing out the standby tickets that she was going the wrong direction. Had we done that we would have made it.

Then we had to figure out how to get all the way back to at least Norwalk because my brother knew he had to get a new tire. We decided to go to the Griffith Observatory to kill some time.

It was closed, but we walked around, lay in the grass resting, and went for a quick hike towards the Hollywood sign.

I was feeling so tired when we got to the car I was slowly falling asleep. My brother was worried about driving on the spare tire so he figured a way to take the streets back to Norwalk. I passed out as he drove through various parts of L.A. and soon after I woke he pulled over when he noticed something wasn't right. The other front tire was about to pop.

A while back my brother got into an accident that messed up his alignment and was now causing his tires to wear out pretty quick and badly. We flinched and moaned every time we went over potholes and messed up pavement. We finally made it to a place that sells used tires cheap in Norwalk. Of course they didn't have any so he would come back the next day to check again.

The whole day felt like those tires. Warn down and deflated from the excitement and bad news and events. By the end of the day I was beginning to feel depressed remembering it was Valentine's day and I had no one to share it with, again. Everything that could have gone wrong did.

Now I'm trying to shake off the blues as best I can, but the weather is no help at all.

The only thing that was good that came out of the past few days was the gift my mom gave my dad and I as an early Valentine's gift. Tickets to see Rush! I have known Rush since I was four when my dad would listen to them in the car with my brother and I in the back seat. 

Rush has been around way before I was even born! Now I have the chance to see them like I saw George Carlin before he passed.

Pause-Play

I've had to take a break from my shorts due to lack of zipper, which I intend to get later today. Once I get the zipper in I'll finish the rest. I can't wait to try 'em on! I was really looking forward to finishing them today, but I'll just have to wait.

In the meantime, I'll start working on the vest that will go with the (striped) shorts.

Of course I'll start with a sample to check for fit. Once I get that all sorted out I'll move on to use the striped fabric!

I have considered wearing these pieces when I go to Coachella, but for that I may decide to add pockets for convenience.

Progress!!!

I have just finished my second sample of high-waisted shorts. I had to fix the cuffs again, but I've got it figured out now. It's still a little hard to decipher how they look because the color isn't very flattering. So now, I'm going to use a lightweight denim to make my final pair and see how that looks. Here's a swatch of the denim for an idea of the color:



Speaking of shorts; I was browsing Urban Outfitters when I spotted a pair of shorts that I designed sometime last spring for a project at Fidm!

Here's MY design:



And the shorts I found on UrbanOutfitters.com:



I also designed a skirt with the same detailing. Both would be a good idea to make.

I'm off to start my denim shorts! And then I'll use the striped fabric!

Dreams and Realities

For some reason I've had a few dreams where I'm buying doughnuts. Well, I never actually get them and eat them. The whole time I'm trying to find a way to get them and buy them. Of course this causes me to want them when I wake up! Since I had to take the bus today I needed to break my five and what better way to break it than buy a doughnut I've been dreaming of. Weird, I know, but it sure was damn satisfying!

On the other hand I had a very weird dream about an actor. Apparently we had a class together and he showed up in a suit. He seemed weird and everyone else seemed to think so too. I displayed some emotion of confusion or boredom, something that translated to feeling uncomfortable in the class. It was like I didn't understand something and he was trying to reassure me. Next thing I know he's taken a pair of my undies that appeared from nowhere and raised his voice to ask the teacher something while everyone turned to look at the display. As it unfolded in front of me, I quickly became so embarrassed and tried to sneak out of the room as fast as I could to avoid humiliation. I wandered around for a while not wanting to go back till the class was over. I visited a teacher from my high school and suddenly I was walking with all my stuff next to that actor asking why he did what he did. He didn't give a direct response, not that I can recall, but I began to analyze him. I said to him "Let me guess your dad is one of those 'You have to be a lawyer' and 'You'll do what I say you'll do' type." I must've said this because I sensed that he felt out of place and wasn't there for himself, but for his dad. I was trying to understand him and the last thing I remember was gently stroking his pinky finger with my thumb, index, and middle fingers which he somehow didn't seem to notice. And then I woke up wondering "huh? What was that all about?"

I'd rather not say who exactly it was, just 'cause I think it's weird.

Now, back to reality.

I've finally got myself to work on my shorts. I spent most of yesterday working on another sample and tweaking things here and there. The waistline is pretty high, or I seem to think so because I myself have a high waist. Sometimes I hate it, but I'm stuck with it. Doing fittings is weird because the samples are made with muslin fabric and its not the most flattering color.

This time around I've detached the cuff and made them a little shorter. The next fitting I will decide if I want to lower the waistline at least to my natural waist. I can't wait to actually use the fabric I've planned for. It's a little rough, but hasn't been washed anyway.

Go Me!

I think it was two weeks ago already that I dropped off some applications to some clothing stores. Since that week was busy I called them back this past Monday. One store said they weren't hiring and the other, well there was no answer.

Luckily they called me on Tuesday to set up an interview for today! Before that I was beginning to think I'd have to fill out a ton of applications at a dozen locations. I know that this interview isn't a guarantee that I'll get the job, but I have confidence in myself that it will go well.

I'm just glad I was able to get an interview sooner than I expected.