last week, Pellet came by my work for the first time.

now when i share stories about people that i work with, he has faces to reference!

like my boss that calls me “lynndenburg” for being such a great disaster, and my coworkers (who, btw, are close to my dad’s age) that come to my rescue with their best velociraptor impersonations.

consider that Restocking-Pony ridden

it was a quiet night at home after an exhausting day of school and work. i was checking my email for the first time all day while Pellet read the paper. without any warning, my poorly coordinated unbalanced breathing kicked in again.

Pellet didn't even bother putting the whole paper down. with little to no ounces of alarm, he just bent the corner and asked, "did you just buy something good online?"


NO.


i bought it last night. the order confirmation just arrived!


exhale exhale exhale. ok. cool. so ends my year-long pining for this incredibly handsome tool bag. all i need now are tools to fill its beautiful belly.... starting with this hammer!

my proudest body of school work to date

i have a habit of only posting design work about a year after its creation date (and on days when i am avoiding the most homework.) in my 4 and a half years of school, fall semester 09 was the only time i ever felt glad to be there.

this Ohlone Shellmound Cultural Center was from my Senior Studio Green Design class:

i was also enrolled in a furniture construction class where we designed and built our pieces from scratch. (mine wasn't nearly as awesome as my classmates' works.) it was exciting to see how everyone canoodled with their creativity by starting with the raw wood planks that we unloaded from the truk ourselves and ending up with wonderfully functional pieces.

as temporary as it was, i'm glad there was at least a small piece of my time in school where i genuinely enjoyed what i was doing. thankfully i no longer have to fear looking back on my youth and regretting my academic choices. college wasn't so bad afterall...

crisis averted

my first generation ipod nano, more affectionately known as Little Schroeder, has finally decided to forfeit this annoying month-long session of hide and seek.

i am an extremely sore loser so the alternate outcome of this game would not have been pretty. not at all. i’m talkin’ tears, destruction, and an eruption of obese puppies ugliness.

thankfully i can now resume my hour-length night walks with my dog where i continue my attempt to memorize the lyrics to Spanish Bombs by The Clash. Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón!

berkeley kite festival

2 hours was well worth the wait to finally step off the shuttle service and arrive at the bottom of this hill.

on this cool summer evening

i enjoyed the soft breeze while sharing a large combination pizza with my parents on the front steps of our home.

i first talked with my dad about various woodworking techniques and the sorts of machines you would need to carry them out. when my mom joined us, we discussed the tiny puppy that i cared for for a week before turning him over to his future owners... only to run away a few days later. eventually, my dad spoke the words i had been waiting for: "this feels just like we were back in vietnam."

i am happy to share any little moments with my parents that link them back to a time before they had to abandon their roots to jump on a boat headed for america, even if for a brief moment.

like any other 22 year old, i've had my share of ups and downs with my folks. and like all these same young adults, i know they can understand how much a rare little occurrence such as this would mean to me.

unbored at the boardwalk

i rode *this* particular theme park ride last night. it was the first time i’d ridden anything since high school and much like the many “first times” or “first time since”s that have presented themselves in my life these past few months, the sensation that comes with forfeiting complete control over everything you think or feel or touch for a minute is what i needed.

your body is forcefully being swooped at all angles in all directions, holding hands with gravity and shoving it around all at the same time. blood rushing through your head in mid air is an effective way to clear your mind. i will try to remember that :)

i also rode the ferris wheel for the first time ever! ferris wheel operators that allow your carriage to come to a hault at the top for an appropriately brief amount of time are kind, kind people.

(or at least their managers that force them to do that are.)

about two weeks ago, on a whim, i decided to cut my own hair for the first time

and ended up with an accidental mullet >_>

one long day, one little pleasure

no matter what job i have, no matter what kind of work place it’s in, i hope that free coffee and tea will always sit high and pretty on my list of office perks.

4:30pm

find a carpeted room with a sun spot
crawl towards it, and curl into a ball
call your person, and listen to them read the newspaper
and your tummy ache will be cured

history of fashion excerpts

Two major silhouettes dominated women's wear in the 1950s. Both silhouettes showed the influence of Christian Dior in their rounded shoulders and slim waistlines. One silhouette paired the round shoulders and slim waist with a narrow skirt called a pencil skirt. The other silhouette combined the rounded shoulders and slim waist with a full skirt.

Simplicity printed pattern, 1950s

Dior had wanted to make women look like flowers, but he also designed a slim-skirted look.

Hardy Amies suit, 1951

The two silhouettes of the 1950s were evident in evening wear as well.

Christian Dior evening gowns, 1951

A new method was developed in the 1950s to construct the armholes and sleeves in dresses. In this new design, the sleeve was not a separate piece of fabric from the bodice. Both the sleeve and the bodice came from a single piece of fabric that was cut straight across. This method created sloped shoulders in garments.

John French, Blanes cotton checked skirt, 1957

Swim Suits

Strapless bathing suits became popular. These one-piece suits had built-in boning to create structure, and each suit consisted of two layers: a short skirt over briefs.

Jantzen bathing suit ad, 1950s

Christian Dior became the fashion leader of women's wear in the 1950s. He didn't sew -- he just designed -- but his ideas made him famous. Dior also knew how to hire the right people to work for him.

Christian Dior, Cigale dress, 1952

His elegant, ornate evening wear played with silhouettes.

Christian Dior, Cupolla dress, 1953

Christian Dior, Mai dress, 1953

Dior named his mid-1950s lines after the silhouettes he created for them. The H Line of 1954 consisted of long, tight lines that elongated the distance between the bust and hips. The A Line of the 1955 consisted of a triangular shape extending from narrow shoulders to a wider skirt.


When Dior designed, people watched. He dictated the hemlines of the mid-1950s. He measured the length of the hem not from the waist but from the floor, so that the measurement was uniform for all women. His ideas for hem lengths varied by year. He first changed hemlines when he introduced his New Look in 1947. There was some backlash to this longer skirt because women, especially American women, had become accustomed to showing off their legs.
Two other designers dominated fashion in France in the 1950s: Jacques Fath and Pierre Balmain. Fath and Balmain were among the designers who participated in Théâtre da la Mode to reinvigorate the Paris fashion scene after the war.

Jacques Fath

Jacques Fath (1912–1954) was known as a master of draping. He did not sketch, cut, or sew. He was known for diagonal details, plunging necklines, bustled skirts, and fin-like fishtails off skintight gowns. You can see in the fronts of these dresses the way he used draping to create the shapes of his dresses.

Jacques Fath dress, 1955

Pierre Balmain

Pierre Balmain (1914–1982) was a perfectionist with regard to detailing. He used fine, subtle embellishments on his garments. His signature details included draping or a bow across the shoulders and fur details, such as hoods, muffs, or trims. Like Dior, Balmain created a full-skirted look after the war.

Pierre Balmain, 1950

Balmain, Dior, and Fath were dominant forces in the postwar fashion industry.

Cristobal Balenciaga

Born in Spain, designer Cristobal Balenciaga (1895–1972) moved to Paris during the Spanish Civil War at the end of the 1930s. He opened his house in Paris in 1937, but it is arguably his work from the 1950s that has become most iconic. Balenciaga was known for his architectural approach to design. He was a master of cut and color. He created refined, tailored garments that effortlessly skimmed the body's contours. What Dior was to romance, Balenciaga was to drama. Unlike Dior, who relied on elaborate understructures, Balenciaga used fabrics that held their shape without support. He invented the stand-away collar, for example. He employed solid-colored fabric, and his design details were in embroidery and beading, not construction.

Balenciaga often framed parts of the body with his designs. One of his trademarks was the bracelet sleeve, which displayed the wrist. His work was also thematic. Each collection evolved from the last. He experimented with his most dramatic ideas for evening wear and late-day fashions. He also frequently referred to history in his designs and was particularly inspired by Madeleine Vionnet's bias-cut techniques. He draped, cut, and sewed every toile himself.


In the late 1950s, fashion at Dior and Balenciaga was dominated by the loose-fitting chemise dress, which the popular press referred to as the "sack." Balenciaga's take on the sack was directional. The simple black sheath-like cocktail dress he created in a shorter length became the look of the 1960s.


This sack dress, which looks like a dress from the 1960s, was created by Balenciaga in the 1950s. Again, you can see his trademark sleeves.

Balenciaga "sack" dress, 1957

Hubert de Givenchy

Hubert de Givenchy (born 1927) is known for his simple designs. His elegant simplicity is evident in his solid-colored black or white dresses.

Givenchy started as the assistant designer to Jacques Fath, and he took over Fath's line in 1954, the same year he met actress Audrey Hepburn. Givenchy became known for his designs for Hepburn in movies such as Sabrina (1954) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Jacqueline Kennedy also wore Givenchy to the funeral of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, in 1963.




Madame Grès

Madame Grès (1903–1993), also known as Alix Barton, designed from the 1930s to the 1960s. Her designs were considered "the epitome of haute couture." She did all the hand sewing to create her garments.

Grès was known for her mastery of draping techniques. Because she didn't like seams on her garments, she avoided cutting the fabric. This gown uses a single piece of fabric; the same circumference of fabric that is used around the skirt is scrunched up around the bodice.

Madame Grès dress, 1958

Norman Hartnell

The designs of Norman Hartnell (1901–1979) were characterized by elaborate embellishments. Hartnell, an Englishman, began designing in the 1920s, but he achieved fame with his designs for the wedding and coronation gowns of Elizabeth II. In 1955, he wrote a memoir titled Silver and Gold.

These Hartnell gowns display his intricate embroidery and beading.

Charles James

American Charles James (1906–1978) is often considered America's first couturier. James is famous for his evening dresses, which were usually inspired by elements from nature. Like other designers in the 1950s, he tried to come up with new ideas for how to create things.

you won't find any answers here, sorry

“Sometimes you just need to be alone. Sometimes, not even your best friend needs to know. Sometimes, you need to put up the walls so you can examine yourself in the peace and quiet. Sometimes the loud sounds need to fade away, leaving only the silence and you; that’s it.”

- unknown

keeping in the spirit of not explaining myself

something just for me