Meet Me In St. Louis

Source: Wikimedia

Woah. Let me start off by saying that I wasn't really expecting much from this film. A lot of times I don't like movies made before the fifties (with some obvious exceptions) as I believe them to be a little dry and boring. However, I felt obligated to see this film as it is playing in the background in nearly every contemporary Christmas movie. I can honestly say that I was blown away. This film made me crack up and it also made me tear up. I could relate to the plot (moving to New York), as college is just around the corner and I may have to move away from friends, family, and everything I've known my whole life. The thing that really got me was the humor. I really didn't expect a film made in the forties to crack me up, but it did. The Grandpa is hilarious! If you haven't seen Meet Me in St. Louis, you really need to. I regret how long I put off watching it and it is truly one of my new favorite Christmas movies. Watch!

P.S. You know it has to be good if it was the first movie review I've written in months. I didn't even do that for Harry Potter!

Home. (part 2:my room)

I have been wanting to do a room tour for quite some time now, and as I was taking pictures of my house for my "Home" post, I just went for it. Let's be honest: your bedroom is totally the place where you feel most at home anyway. It's completely decorated by you and it totally represents you. No ugly flower couches here!

My dual Christmas trees! I am actually really lazy so I just put these trees o my closet shelf as soon as Christmas is over without putting the ornaments away. The pink tree has so many more ornaments because after I got the black tree I was too lazy to even it out. I sense a trend here.. Ooh and you can see my Degas cover in the background. It's one of my favorite pieces.

This is my "shelf of wonders!" Or random crap my mom gave me. or I bought. And then there is the James Dean poster, two of my hats (fedora and thirties style. not sure what it's called) with a felt owl in the middle complete with a feather clip my friend made me.

Then I have the "starry night" print with "DREAM" above it and the "Chairman Mao" print with "PEACE" above. Sometimes my cleverness astounds even myself.

one of my favorite spots. This is all of my makeup!

My dresser. My sister sold it to me and my mom touched up the original print and changed the colour from a nasty pink to this green. I love you mom!

There's a Monet print, I think it's "Field of Tulips." And then there is my other shelf, filled mostly with junk, ticket stubs, and Christmas cards. And there is my favorite recent purchase, a pink glitter skeleton!

This is the unnamed wall of art. there's the "Ballooning over Paris" print, a yarn owl, some of my own artwork, James Dean calendar, two vintage glamour shots, and some photo booth strips. The light pink painting is a self portrait actually, another one of my favorites.

This is my most favorite thing I own. It's a peacock and has small sequins throughout and it is the most random gorgeous gaudy amazing things. Have you ever seen anything like it? Thanks again April!

My Andy Warhol shower curtain/ bedroom curtain.

My closet! Might not be as big as you would expect but this makes me realize I have A LOT of shoes..

I'm thinking I might change my room around over winter break as I have had it like this for over a year and I need a change. I've probably spent $200 or less on everything (not including makeup, clothes, or shoes), because I mostly go to yard sales or make things. It's taken me awhile to acquire it but that's what makes it so much fun. There's a story behind everything in my room and I love that.

Home. (part 1)

Home. What a word. It can be defined as so many different things. It's almost an abstract word as it means different things to literally everyone that is asked. For me I think of safety, a place where you can be yourself, a place to relax, a place where you cannot be judged for your actions. I went around the house and took some pictures of things that represent my home, and then I have a second blog post that is focused specifically on my room. Here goes!

To me, a home never seens more homey than at Christmastime. We got our tree last Saturday and finally finished decorating on Mmnday.. it's a long process (aka we get halfway through and then get lazy.). This is probably one of my favorite trees even though in past years it has been more decked out. By a lot. And then there's the fireplace. Complete with the family portraits up top, gaudy stockings galore, tacky seventies architecture, and a nativity scene!

My mothers oriental collection. As tis the season, she put up her rather large Santa/ angel collection. Nothing goes together better than Asians and santas! And on the left you can see my genius demonstrated by the wreath over a clock. Wow what an invention!

My mother has been wrapping the presents.

Although I hate them (look at their beady eyes- piercing your soul in thew worst kind of way), Christmas would be incomplete without the elves. all 45 of them.

Now onto the more "home" things. This ugly couch. as much as I absolutely hate it it kind of fits into the house of hodge podge that I call my own. It might have promise deeper in, but on the surface it is quite gaudy and odd.

What are your basements filled with? Ahh entertainment centers and mini kitchens or storage? Well, it's not a real home unless it's filled with books books and books!

I absolutely love our extensive VHS collection. We probably have over 150 tapes, and even though they are horrible compared to DVD's I wonder if we will ever get rid of them.. Do you guys still have VHS tapes? Am I the only one left?

Anyway, this is my home. These are some of my favorite pieces, mostly because they just stick out on their own but if you come inside you see everything is so out of place it fits in. Sort of like my family, we're all strange in our own ways but when we come together you can see how we're a family. I think that family is the deciding factor in whether or not you live in a house or a home. There are some things I absolutely despise about my home (stained carpet anyone?), but all in all it's a place I can come home to at the end of the day and just be whomever I want to be. It's good to be home.

Xmas Tip: DIY

As you may have guessed, I enjoy making presents more than purchasing them. I thoroughly recommend you try and make most of your gifts this year if you have the time. I started thinking of ideas in October and I'm almost finished with most. Making your own gifts saves a lot of money (trust me!), and I would so rather receive handmade gift rather than store bought because even if you don't like it, you know that person spent time making it specifically for you (at least I would hope so). I will be sure to post the tutorials on her as soon as Xmas is past for obvious reasons.. Anyway, just wanted to share yet another holiday tip!

P.S. If you don't have time to make anything but would still like to give a handmade gift, check out Etsy.com. They have really cute stuff and you can always find really good deals. And they carry vintage!

Quick Tip: Buying Gifts

Christmas is barely over a month away which means most are beginning to think about gifts. Around the holiday season companies will often release gift sets that are a better value than buying the products individually. A really good way to save money is to buy one of those sets and distribute the individual products to different people as stocking stuffers or otherwise. This way you save money and multitask by getting more than one gift at once.

That's What Christmas Means to Me My Love

Ahh the sounds of Christmas music. For me, Christmas songs make me feel so many different things. When I hear "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth," I think about my younger years when I would call Santa and tell him what I wanted. Those were the days when I would listen to the Santa Watch on the radio. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, though the weeks leading up to it usually are better for me. I love giving gifts. I love getting them too, but giving them is so much better, especially when you know you got them something they will love. Or make it. That's what I try to do. AND I WISH I COULD SHOW YOU WHAT I'M MAKING BUT MOST OF THE PRESENTS I'M MAKING ARE FOR THE READERS OF THE BLOG. So that's that. I just changed my caramel apple wallflower to fresh balsam. And I'm listening to the Xmas station.

The only bad thing is it kind of makes you miss people. I have not spent a Christmas with my brother, Eric for 3 years. and a clean Christmas would be even longer than that. My other siblings will come down for a gathering which is always fun, but still I feel like there's never enough time. It's true. You don't know what you've got till it's gone. When we lived in the same house i mostly fought with my siblings but now I do miss them quite a bit. It's not the same sitting around the tree with just my sister and parents. I love them, but still...

Anyway. Just felt the need to update. And I'm feeling so damn sentimental because of Christmas and also I was reading an article about Harry Potter and how it's the beginning of the end and holy shit. I'm going to cry my eyes out.

Comfort

I was sitting in church today and I realized how nice it is to have a community of believers surrounding you. I think sometimes I take that for granted, but today especially I could just feel the warmth enveloping me and it felt amazing. I recently became a member (finally), and I am so happy that I go here. Sometimes the church's and my views do not always match up, but I think on the whole that ECC is pretty accepting, probably mostly because there are so many college students that attend. Regardless though, It is the best feeling in the world to be walking down the halls and have people say hi to you, and they actually care about how you're doing, unlike a lot of the generic fake people in high school. It's refreshing.