Brain-aches

I can feel my mind being stretched, and it's a little uncomfortable. I can feel myself changing and I'm not sure if I like it. The inevitable shift from who I was to who I will be is upon me and it makes me nervous, afraid, it makes my brain hurt.

Not my head, aspirin, sleep, water, and leftover prescription painkillers from my various injuries they can fix that. But not this, not the feeling of a brain going too fast for itself, thoughts too big for my current self to process so they just fly by leaving me with snippets, glimpses, tip of the tongue ideas, and almost-epiphanies; leaving me with a brain-ache.

Galliano's Funeral Procession

Nicole, Taylor and I stalked the crazy that was the Dior show. I can't say I was disappointed but I have come to learn that I am (for all my attention seeking ways) a backstage person, I love seeing famous and talented people in their all black boring, but artsy, attire getting things done; not dressed to the nines standing in front of photographers. The highlight was getting a photograph with my favorite street style photographer Phil Oh of streetpeeper. But other than him and Anna Della Russo of course!

I wasn't really as excited as I thought I would be, to see all the people you read about in magazines (mostly in the credits pages)

For example, Vika Gazinskaya, a wonderful designer, I really like her work. I don't like that she stood outside the show, for a good hour just getting her picture taken by various photographers. It seems to me like she is more well known for her great style (and don't get me wrong she has GREAT style) then for her talent and hard work. An hour posing, when most invitees just

walked inside, necessary? Is that what it takes to get well-known? I started to wonder if she even had an invite.

Anyway, enough complaining about people more successful than I am. I LOVE PARIS DURING FASHION WEEK!!!

I Propose That We Just Keep Walking

I went to the Louvre, and while I was standing outside the Starbucks (yeah there's a Starbucks in the Louvre.) A little old lady came up to me and told me that I was beautiful and that my outfit was perfectly elegant. I didn't really think so, but she did say it in French so maybe she was saying "the orange is ridiculous and I can't believe your brooch". Whichever she said, it made me smile (as did her little leopard print fury hat, teal salwar kameez pants under a black tunic and ten yard long blue scarf trailing on the ground.)

From the Louvre

Caption: Oh my gosh, what's wrong with you?

Why can't you explain it?

You just feel sad?

Are you PMSing?

Why are you mad? It's a viable question!

I don't understand!

Inter-sex communication, a universal anomaly.

On the Champs Elysees

All prettyful and what not

Constance, Nicole and I...great weekend of Museums, exploring, and salsa dancing.

The Musee de Quai Branly

A wonderful collection of art and artifacts from indigenous societies all over the world.

Weird seeing Fiji from an anthropological, art history stand point.

Scary Head!

Someone needs to make a Hello Kitty horror film.

Pont de Bir Hakeim!

A bridge from one of my newest favorite movies...Inception.

We also walked by another corner cafe where scenes from the movie take place.

Totally made my day!

Nicole and I at Le Piano Vache

The talented Ollie Fury. Nicole met him playing in the Metro, she's cool like that.

Amazing performances in the coolest location:

I leave you with this image:

Do you even need to ask why?

What are your thoughts?

Someone super cool asked me yesterday "What are you thoughts this week?" and for some reason I just found it to be the most interesting question I've heard in awhile. Mostly because I have had so many thoughts that I can't seem to slow down long enough to think them, if that makes sense. But her question got me thinking and I'm going to try and think my thoughts more this week and not let them flutter through my head by the millions, unfiltered and unthought.

Random thoughts:

- I had a dream about a bird my "friend" Alex had it was named Kali and had three yellow stripes across it's wingspan, it escaped out of the house (my old Navurevure house for those of you who know it) and I had to save the day because Alex was parking my Dad's car, so I shoved my finger in a Papaya and ran outside, when I brought the bird inside it kept running into the fans, my Mom tried to convince me that the bird would learn to stay away from the fans, I just told her "Mom, they don't call people birdbrained for nothing." how mean.

- I've been thinking a lot about Art Nouveau or Jugendstil lately and wondering if I can just decide to be inspired by it or if that is too blatant and a more natural inspiration must happen, either way I'm in love with it right now...I blame all the beautiful Metro stops

- I just remembered a time when I was probably nine and learning to type, a friend tried showing me the shift key and how it would make capital letters for you, I was too stubborn and insisted on pressing caps lock every time I wanted a capital letter and then pressing it again to go back to lowercase letters.

- I wish I read more, reading is definitely cooler than dreaming, and that's saying a lot coming from me, but books are so expensive. I think I get more sad when I can't buy a book than when I can't buy shoes. I guess I could probably buy more books if I bought fewer pairs of shoes.

- I need to fill out my OFII forms and apply for the CAF and get an Imagine-R card but i don't know how to do it and I'm scared to ask someone in French, not because I don't know how but because they'll probably explain it to me very clearly and beautifully and I just won't understand, but because I'm too proud I'll nod and say "oui, oui" and try and figure it out myself.

- This last weekend was so much fun, I hope I can have that much fun every weekend. Highlights: Musee de Quai Branly, Musee du Louvre, Champs Elysee window shopping, GIANT-ass Sephora, did I mention the Musee du Louvre? And salsa dancing on a Sunday night!

- I'm officially studying at two schools and will so have no time for anything, I'm sad I didn't use the free time I've had the last few weeks better.

- Poor college student food here is so much better than poor college student food at home, but it's definitely not better than rich college student food. MLIA

- Helping organize the Rick Owens fashion show and being apart of the photoshoots, I'm so excited...what to wear?

- Trying to stereotype people here has proven a failure, there is no box into which all Parisians can be stuffed, but I bet if you gave them the box they would find a way, they are all so space efficient!

-My converter for my computer broke (or was broken) so I only have a few minutes left, I'm running late to class and here I sit using up my battery blogging.

I wish I had more interesting thoughts lately, now that I sit here and read them, I begin to understand why I haven't been thinking them, there are too many and they are too boring to be thought. Sorry to waste your time, if you made it this far, you probably should have gone and done something more worthwhile with your time.

I want to be Josephine Baker and wear a banana skirt, Prada has one out but that's not going to happen now is it?

Boring Bits and Portfolio Snippets

A boring and informational post about what's new with me.

I'm a planner, I love making plans, writing lists, graphs, powerpoint presentations, diagrams, organizational seating charts etc... But ask anyone if I've ever followed those plans and they will laugh. Now don't get me wrong, what needs to get done always does, just never in the way I set out.

So lately my plans have changed and instead of studying French this semester and fashion for a month this summer I am now studying French AND Fashion this semester. No big deal, well aside from the remarkable price difference between the two plans and the days that used to be four hours of classes becoming twelve hours of classes a day. It's also made it imperative for me to create a portfolio. So for those of you give two and a half shakes of a baby's rattle in legoland outer space, here is the link to my portfolio

I would love any feedback on the layout or organization from anyone, positive or negative.

And a picture:

My school is right behind the Pantheon!

The Fondation des Etats Unis. I live here.

Oh let's all be the same kind of unique!

"To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting."- E.E. Cummings

Should I find it ironic that I saw this quote on the urban outfitters blog? Probably not,and yet...I find it ironic.

Quotes...my newest excuse to post pictures.

Eiffel Tower Ice Skating

Nope it's not another clever post name, I did it!

The Eiffel Tower is a lot bigger than I thought it would be but smaller than I last remember it from Summer 2008.

The million and a half African and Arabic men selling illegal mini sculptures that lit up in neon colors made the experience a little less magical...but only a very little, tiny one inch Eiffel Tower little.

It was a very eerie night, there was a fog and several times I thought it was raining, but it never did. As we took the elevator up to the second story, my breath was promptly taken away by a spectacular, but very surreal view of Paris. Then the tower lit up and 20,000 lights bulbs sparkled and turned the Eiffel Tower into a dream.

We walked around the whole second floor and I kept thinking of all the amazing people who must've come here, and the marriages that started here, and the artist's who've been inspired here, but when I tried to think of actual names (you know, Rush Hour 3, A View to Kill, French Kiss, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, etc...) all I could think was "I bet Beyonce's been up here" , how embarrassing.

On the first floor there was a free ice skating rink, it was tiny and filled with some French under-twenty-too young to be mature football team, but it was still so much fun and I am a surprisingly good skater for not having done it in fourteen years.

How I felt:

I watched the movie "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and in it the boy draws imaginary maps and some of the maps represent people and the insides of their heads. This picture reminded me a little of that. I want to meet whoever this is:

My partner in exploration Nicole and I (that crazy look in my eye, it's been there for awhile. And I wonder why I haven't made very many friends here yet.):

Needless to say, this was an experience I don't think I'll ever forget.