“I think it’s important to look at death if it comes under the word macabre because I think that it is part of life. I’ve always been fascinated by the Victorian period of death where they used to take pictures of the dead. It’s not about brushing it under the carpet like we do today. It’s about celebrating someone’s life. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I think it’s a very sad thing, a melancholic thing. It’s a very romantic thing because it means the end of a cycle. Everything has an end. The cycle of life is a positive thing because it gives room for new things to come.”

It’s New York Fashion Week’s opening day today -but the news of the death of Lee McQueen of Alexander McQueen, sent shock waves through Bryant Park, and all people who loved his work.

It took me about 0.6 seconds to fall in love the first time I saw his designs. He took edgy to new extremes but with that Savile Row tailoring expertise that makes your heart pound on seeing such perfection. He always told a story of fantasy and nightmare, love and death, beauty and macabre, the morbid and the foreboding…

The loss is monumental for the industry, as McQueen was unarguably one of its incomparable talents. I am destroyed that he was no longer driven to create, but his body of work stands as a testimony to his true creative brilliance.

Please enjoy this sample of my favorite pieces of his work.











Alexander McQueen’s Target line is supposed to hit stores on March 1; I wonder how this will effect that…?

(this is my 666th post, creeping me out…)

The baobab tree is an integral part of the African landscape. Nicknamed the “upside-down tree”, it looks like it has been planted on its head, with its roots sticking up into the air to produce a somewhat eerie silhouette.

Bush legends about the baobab abound. One has it that the god Thora took a dislike to the baobab growing in his garden and promptly chucked it over the wall of paradise; it landed below on earth, upside down but still alive, and continued to grow. In another popular myth, the gods get so irritated by the vanity of the baobab, as it tosses it branches, flicks its flowers and brags to other creatures about its superlative beauty, that they uproot it and upend it to teach it a lesson in humility.

(Volunteer photobooth -yeah, you like those shades…)

Today was really great. I met a whole slew of new people. I fell in love with everyone I volunteered with, we all jived so well.

There is no way I can do a full re-cap, mostly because I didn’t attend any of the panels… crazy, right?

My take on the day:
(Sorry in advance for not making this post have any links to the people I mention.)

+ I swear I drank over a gallon of coffee, which I also found out hotel catering charges $50+ for that. (One of the girls who was volunteering with is in school for event planning, and had the most amazing factoids.)

+ Everyone loved the panels, it was fun to see how everyone tweets the speakers words real time.

+ I really want to go to Barcamp… everyone was non-stop talking about it.

+ @Tessa is a really badass chick.

+ The Destructo’s (Miss & Mr.) are fucking awesome people. So many laughs.

+ Square1 burgers for lunch was the right choice. I had great company, the Less Accounting crew + Jessica and some others. (I could link all these, but I am dead… free flow typing/thinking…)

+ I want to have a tweet-up game night; also found out settlers of catan has an iphone app… I think I should get an itouch or it’s time to switch to at&t, asap.

+ Finally met Jeremy from VisitTampaBay.com-the guy I win all the stuff on Twitter from- we talked food. I won’t hold it against him that he still says Mema’s is his favorite Tampa restaurant.

+ Mike Wong inspires me.

+ Jessica is my redheaded soulmate.

… Spending an entire day taking and joking around exhausted me… Thanks everyone!

Thanks Gala!

(iLiveAlive)

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.

Arthur Rubinstein

+ Flickr searching “Puppies with hats”
+ Strong coffee
+ Sharing a printable Qdoba coupon with my office (Free meal when you buy a drink =$1.92)
+ Work voIP phones being down this morning; being fixed in under 1/2 hr.
+ Winning panties & cami from EdenFantasy on Twitter. #EdenNights
+ Lost premiers & reading theories online the day after.
+ Love Locks/Sweetheart Locks

Dear crazy bitch driving the blue Mazda 3,

I’m sorry! I had just left my friends house -we couldn’t get Lost to come on her cable box, so I was driving home to catch it there.

I know! I almost plowed into you in that turn, you were in my blind spot. Thank god you honked your horn!

I admit it way my fault! I was so focused on getting home! I needed my Lost!

I even mouthed, “I’m sorry” at that first red light! You saw me do that! We made eye contact!

I usually love people that drive Mazda 3’s -they look like smiley faces!


(UR SUCH A QT)

BUT…..

Did you really have to tailgate me for 20 minutes? I couldn’t even see your headlights you were so close! Did you have to follow me for 20 minutes to make me think you were going to kill me? Did I have to circle my neighborhood five times till you finally stopped following me?

You are seriously psycho.

Love,

Allie

I decided that once a week I’ll tell stories from my life. Not that I have too many crazy memories or great stories to tell, but at least this will be a nice place to house them all.

Okay, true story, I’ve hit two people in my life. (Well, three, but we don’t mention the third…ahem)

The first time I hit someone was my senior year of high school. I was taking a class named “Senior Survival” to fill up my credits and to get an easy A. It was a filler class, in it you learned how to balance a check book, set a table, buy a car, and …how to sew.

By this time in my life, I had already had my fair share of time behind a sewing machine, but on this particular day we were learning how to put in pockets. I was really excited and paying close attention.

Now, there was one girl in my class who had been a complete trouble making, disruptive, brat the entire year. She’d curse, interrupt… On this day, as the teacher was instructing us, she was at her worse.

After a few minutes of not being able to hear, I had enough. I turned to her and said, “Shut up, Come on!” (I told you I really wanted to know how to sew pockets.)

She got up, walked across the class room, and pushed my desk into me.

I stood up and just hit her -in the face.

Immediately, the class/teacher had us off each other.

In the end, she got expelled, and all the students/teachers had said she hit me first(?) so I got to learn how to make pockets.

The second time I ever hit someone, was at a St. Patrick’s day party my friend Luis was hosting. I think this was 2007.

It was a huge house party with a bonfire. Music was loud, and everyone I knew at the time was there. I had been drinking my fair share, and I remember having a wand with bells on it.

I started to run around the backyard with the wand, and then proceed to kick the folding chairs. (When I’ve had too much to drink, I have this “idgaf” attitude…flaw) Someone had brought over about 10 pellet guns, and I threw one into the fire, then a chair…

I kept running around, and people started to chase me. I was seriously being crazy. Finally, Luis caught me, and I started yelling, “I hate your house!” over and over. Luis then looked me in the eye and told me I was being a crazy bitch. (Hindsight, clearly I was.)

I smacked him in the face. Really hard, it stung my hand.

Luis then screamed at my boyfriend at the time to, “Take her the fuck home!” -which he did. In silence. all the way home.

He dropped me off, then went back to the party.

The next morning, when I woke up, I was covered in pen ink, and had a pad of paper scribbled with how sorry I was and how I would never drink like that again. -And I haven’t since then.

The ironic part of this story, is that I would eventually live in that house, which I had “hated” so much!

During the bombing raids of WWII, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, “Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow.”

Linn, Dennis et. al, Sleeping with Bread

- LOST starts tonight (!!!YES!!!) and I have decided to skip my favorite yoga instructor to watch the premier. I think next week till May, I am going to DVR it while I’m yogaing/gyming, and ignore everything till I get home to watch it. I cannot stand spoilers. Who wants to swap theories with me?

- Grey Market plays Friday at the Orpheum in Ybor. I saw them with Black Moth Super Rainbow late last year and I really want to go to this show… It might not be possible since…

- I’m volunteering Saturday morning/afternoon with Habitat for Humanity. :D

- Sunday morning I’m going to a walk-though for volunteering at Social Fresh which is Monday! I’m very excited. I met someone else going, named Jessica through twitter, and we’ll be able to meet up. Yay for new friends.

- I won tickets to the Florida State Fair from Visit Tampa Bay, and it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to use them till the 14th. (Valentines Day) I don’t know if that will really work out, but the fair ends the 15th! It’s really hard to work out weekend events since I work 12-4pm every Saturday. It really breaks the weekend. I need to talk to my bosses about nullifying that.

- Last weekend I went with one of my best friends, Joe, to a gig he has in St. Pete. He was playing dub-step. It just reminded me that I need to get back into the scene. Here is some dub-step for your listening pleasure. How can you not move? My hips won’t stop!

- Hear ye hear ye! The 2010 Bay Area Renaissance Festival starts on the 13th, expect to see some pictures from that. It’s one of my favorite things. & also proves my nerddom.

Soft Maps © are incredibly amazing! They quilted maps of cities and neighborhoods. I’ll take the Greenwich Village in a queen please! How soft do they look? The price tag is KILLER ($800), but would be well worth it.

I know the season is pretty much over, especially for us Floridians, but this scarf, named the Julian Scarf is so functional with it’s incorporated pockets. The website tells a story about two girls who went out dancing and whacked people with their big purses, so they invented this.

ttys! :D

This is the oldest picture of me I have on the internet. I was a freshman. (14)

Just wanted to share.

I told my friend Jessica that I would KILL for this hair color & cut. She quickly replied, “WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WANT TO LOOK 70?!?!”

I laughed so hard. I still love that hair color. Can’t wait to be old!

The heart under your heart
is not the one you share
so readily    so full of pleasantry
& tenderness

it is a single blackberry
at the heart of a bramble
or else some larger fruit
heavy    the size of a fist

it is full of things
you have never shared with me
broken engagements    bruises
& baking dishes

the scars on top of scars
of sixteen thousand pinpricks
the melody you want so much to carry
& always fear    black fear

or so I imagine    you have never shown me
& how could I expect you to
I also have a heart beneath my heart
perhaps you have seen    or guessed

it is a beach at night
where the waves lap & the wind hisses
over a bank of thin
translucent orange & yellow jingle shells

on the far side of the harbor
the lighthouse beacon
shivers across the black water
& someone stands there    waiting

Craig Arnold

Haha, Thanks to NubbyTwiglet for reminding me of this song.

Look at this amazing piece by legendary German kitchen manufacturer’s Bulthaup!

So tidy and everything has it place & then closes up!

Here’s what’s going on this weekend!

Friday:

I’ve loaded my purse with printouts of Miss. Sasha Grey as reference, to take to the hairstylist tonight. I’m getting a much needed trim, but I also am ready for some bangs… I think. My long hair has really because a security blanket of sorts… but I am trying to remember it grows out.

Later tonight I think I am meeting up one of my good friends for coffee who I had a falling out with a few months ago. I am a bit anxious about how it’s all going to go. I’m trying to remain positive and hope for the best, since I’ve really missed this person in my life.

Saturday:

Morning; I am going to meet my friend Matt up at his job, Atomic Tattoo in the Brandon mall to catch up and visit for a bit, maybe get breakfast.

Afternoon; I work from 12-4, blarg! Make money!

Evening; I’m not really sure what I’m doing, my friend Lindsay wants to hangout, and then my friend Jessica was getting on me about not spending time with her… who knows really, it will probably involve drinking with someone.

Sunday:

I am going to see Manatee’s at the Manatee View Center with my friend Jen and her adorable one year old son, Orson. :) I think I am also going to take them both to lunch, just because I love her little guy.

In the evening, I think I’ll be hanging out with Gregg, we usually see a movie! :D ALTHOUGH, I have been challenged in Wisest Wizard by my friend Brett! Who knows!!!