I'm open for business!!

Oh how excited I am! Today I opened my Etsy shop and added my first listing. I have many more items that will be up for sale, but I'm going to pace myself in putting them up in order to get the most exposure. I'm quite nervous and overwhelmed by all the work that I had not anticipated; it's like a full-time job! But I'm completely dedicated to running a successful shop, making beautiful art, and doing something fulfilling with my time!

click VVV
http://LondonBricks.etsy.com



I'm going to blog here about new items added. Currently I just have the one set of vintage earrings (more will be added daily) that belonged to my grandmother. Unfortunately I've never been able to wear earrings, so I know my grandma and I would love for them to be in the hands of someone who will really get to enjoy them :) I have 13 more sets of hers that are all gorgeous and I'd be proud to wear them if I were able.

When I quit school for the semester, I went into a mini-depression, thinking, "Damnit. Now I'm just going to waste four entire months." But it is completely the opposite; I've never been more busy! I'm also in the process of finding a new apartment and I'll be starting the busy process of moving in mid-November. I'm still way excited to return to school in the spring, but this time off is invigorating, and I'm so glad that something real and good is going to come out of it.

Beach House.

On September 2nd, I saw Vampire Weekend and Beach House at In The Venue. Yes, I'm aware that was quite a while ago, but this month has been busy with personal matters, and my blogging has taken a toll :( I hope to return to my regular blogging soon. Also, I have no pictures of the show because I left my phone at home. But they wouldn't have turned out that well anyway. So here are my simple, ever-adoring thoughts...

Do I even have to say that Beach House blew Vampire Weekend out of the water? They played one of the best sets I have ever seen. It was almost all Teen Dream, but it was soooo delightful. I literally enjoyed every second of it, which is so rare for me because I get annoyed at concerts really easy, and it should have been especially so at this one considering the HIGH concentration of high schoolers. But Victoria Legrand just hooked me, and I really couldn't take my eyes off her. Her stage presence was mesmerizing, really. I literally turned to Ryan and said, "Oh my god. She's so interesting." The way she moved with her music was so intriguing, and not in an awkward way. She kept saying things like "There's a really positive energy here, and I wish you all the best." And "Just thought I'd say... today is 90210." She loved the fact that it was 90210 hahah. Ten minutes later inbetween songs, "...90210."

I guess part of the fact I enjoy them so much more now is because for the first few months I listened to them, I thought the vocalist was a guy. And if you listen to it that way... it's not as good. But now I am just insanely jealous of Ms. Legrand's ethereal voice and her all-around godliness. We can safely say that Beach House has nudged their way into my top 10 bands. And I have never wanted to see a band again so much before. I would drive hours to see them play another 20-minute set! Love. Love. Love.











And Vampire Weekend was okay. Their music's so weird that I guess I expected more from their show, but they were kind of just like any other band.

I'm currently in Parowan. Been here since Sunday night for my brother's 21st birthday. I can't wait to get back to Salt Lake though. I have big things planned! :) Time to get my life in order.

Unrelated: I was thoroughly disappointed in the season premiere of Glee. If you think you liked it, you're lying to yourself. I love Glee more than probably most things on the planet, but that was the most boring season premiere I have ever seen. The music sucked, the new characters are just meh, and Rachel was completely OOC. Get rid of those bangs, I don't see Rachel anymore, I just see Lea Michele.

And just because I love pictures, meet my birdie friend! Cutest necklace ever!

This was more important than rice and chicken.

Story time.

I'm sitting on twitter, waiting for my chicken to cook in the oven and my rice to microwave. I'm pretty stoked because I love homemade dinners! My boyfriend is out at a 21+ concert (again) and since I'm home alone, I decided to make myself dinner and curl up on the couch with Mad Men. But then, all of a sudden, I see a couple tweets linking to mychemicalromance.com. And I just knew this had to be big, because we've been on the edge of our seat for weeks now.

And so it is. The day that I've waited four years for has finally come.

And if this isn't quote:"sleazy rock and roll" then I don't know what is.



Let's just say I'm so happy that Ryan was out when I happened to discover this, because I flipped. The way that MCR has been describing their new sound for the last four years kind of made me think of the Desolation Row video - and the sound. And I figured that was kind of what they were going to go for with this album. But this is so beyond that. This is angry, and strange, and kind of like a breath of fresh air. This is the kind of music that makes me happy to be alive. The kind of music I will blast in my car until my ears bleed. It is sleazy, it is colorful, and it is beautiful. This album will redefine a My Chemical Romance concert forever. No more 5-foot tall, black-haired emo kids making out through their lip rings in front of me; no more preaching about suicide to a microphone covered in black roses. And in a way that's kind of sad, but I've already experienced that. And five years later I want to see what this band can do.

This is my favorite band. And anything they could create would be wondrous to my ears and my soul but I think this will really set a standard in the thoroughly dead state of music.

Well that's that. Enjoy, friends.

Stars that clear have been dead for years.

So today I got it all cleared up. I'm no longer a student for the rest of fall semester. I'm both sad and really happy. I'm sad that I could've realized earlier that culinary wasn't what I really wanted to do, and I wouldn't be wasting all this time right now. (Thankfully I could refund my tuition though and didn't waste money too.) But I'm happy that I have some time to relax and at the same time look harder for a job.

Today was a really nice, peaceful day. I got myself a honeydew milk bubble tea from Caffe D'Bolla mmmmmmmmmmmmm



Let me plug this place. It's so great. It has espresso, tea, bubble tea, and some pastries. It was closed for like a week last week, and Ryan and I went there this last weekend, and it was remodeled! It's a lot classier now, and we love it. The barista is the sweetest lady in the world too :)







Well then I checked out a consignment store called Emilie Jayne on 8th & 8th. It is so cute! It's a consignment store, of course, so the prices aren't as low as a thrift store, but everything is so darling. Exactly what I expected it to be. It's just littered with tiny treasures. (It's a lot like Now & Again, the consignment shop by my apartment on abouuuut 2nd and 5th. But Emilie Jayne is a bit more girly.) I found the sweetest silver cream and sugar cups; I had to tear myself away. The set was only $9 though, so it's really not bad. I'll probably get a number of things from there for my next apartment - which is going to be completely girly, antique-filled, and 90% thrifted.

My wardrobe is being dysfunctional, so my outfits suck lately. But I can't go wrong with all black.


cardigan: H&M, shorts: don't remember, shoes: Urban Outfitters, bag: grandma's, necklace: Forever 21

Excuse the horrid background. We're slobs.

Tonight's plans are homemade popcorn, painting my nails, and if it came in the mail, Mad Men. This is what my life will be like until January if I don't get a job. Dramatic sigh.

I have seen your heart.

Not much blogging lately because I've been so busy with sorting out school stuff. Bleh. It's complicated. Let's just say if I don't get a job soon, I'm going to have a very relaxing three or four months.

So let's just talk about this.



My prediction is that Part 1 will be overwhelmed with this incredible fear, and that Part 2 will just be a sob-fest all over the place. I'm already sad that it's almost over.. :( I just want to say "STOP! This part of my life is NOT over yet."

Who am I kidding, it never will be.

I feel old. But not very wise.

"An Education" on Blu-ray arrived in my mailbox over a week ago. And I still haven't stopped thinking about it. I'm pretty sure every girl on earth has felt like Jenny felt in this movie. I identified with this character more than any sappy chick flick. And the clothes just killed me. Just hand me your wardrobe, Jenny. Come on.

















"The life I want, there is no shortcut."

the weakends

So I had the most lazy long weekend ever. I waited until the very last day to START my homework, and hardly left the house the whole time. Went out Saturday night and that's about it. So I was excited to get out of the house, at least for a little bit, today. I planned on going thrifting but I've ran out of time :[ Time management isn't my forte.

We went to Nostalgia to get some homework done before tomorrow. Nostalgia is really one of my favorite coffee shops. It's quiet, but not like library quiet, it's clean, and I actually like the art.





I got a pumpkin spice latte, which was a new flavor for me. Could have had a little more spice. I'm a fan of spiced lattes/teas. But I'd get it again.



And Ryan got the cutest cupcake! The cupcakes are one of the best parts of Nostalgia. They have these special mini cupcakes that are decorated so cute. We've already had the "Tiffany's cupcake" which is the classic Tiffany's blue color, with little silver pearls on top. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! But this one was a lemon and toasted meringue something or rather. It was very lemony! But the frosting was so perfect, and glossy! The whole thing was a little lopsided and messy to eat, but mmmmmm it was good.



BTW: All my photos are taken with my iPhone (3G S, no flash). And I'd say I'm doing pretty well with that! With the help of PhotoStudio 6 (smaller program than Photoshop, and much more user friendly), I think my photos are turning out just fine, and thankfully doing my food blogs justice. Because bad food photos are just embarassing. How I wish I had the money for a $500 Canon camera, but, I just don't.

So today I'm finishing laundry, then gym, then one more homework assignment. And it's back to school tomorrow :[ At least it's only two more school days until the weekend again! I might visit home this weekend or in the near future. I'm a little homesick :(


top: Forever 21, cardigan: H&M

(Question: Do I rock the straight bangs look? Sometimes I like it, sometimes I think it makes me look even more like an Asian boy.)

Have a great Tuesday (:

Food bloggin: Vinto

There's this phrase that's been passed along my family and friends... "Jami loves pizza." And trust me. It is true. And it just so happens that on my birthday over the summer, Ryan, Blake, and I journeyed over to this pizza place a couple blocks from my apartment called Vinto.



And it might just be my favorite pizza ever.

So we had a very relaxing pizza and movie Sunday and got take-out Vinto! (We watched Avatar for the first time, but I won't even go into what a waste of my life that was.)

It's wood-fired pizza, and their topping combinations are so delicious. But of course, my favorite is good plain pepperoni. But it's not plain whatsoever; it has a way of being slightly spicy without the use of crushed red peppers. I don't  know how they do it, but it's delicious. Ryan got the Giovonni pizza which I didn't try, but it looked really good. (They're all personal-sized pizzas.)





And I must mention also, even though that we just had take-out today, that the atmosphere at Vinto is wonderful AND everyone there is so incredibly nice. They gave Ryan free gelato today because the pizza was taking a little long. So if you're ever around...



On an unrelated note, I signed up for chictopia though I doubt I'll use it any time soon because I'm still uncomfortable with taking full-length pictures. Just the idea of free stuff excites me. But the whole point of the site is that you get free stuff by using the site. Hm.

Well thus, I have managed my time badly, and while I have more to add to this blog, The Great Food Truck Race is about to begin. (Who's stoked to see the Nom Nom truck get booed!?)I have so many blogs to write, it seems. I'd like to write a couple film reviews... and put up some pictures Ryan and I took on the roof yesterday, and I still have to write on the Beach House show. It'll get done.


top and sweater: Forever 21

Wishing you all well.

She & Him / Dum Dum Girls

So two Thursdays ago, She & Him and the Dum Dum Girls played the final show of the Twilight Concert Series here in Salt Lake. And it was fitting as the final show. Even after big names like New Pornographers, Modest Mouse, and Beirut all summer, nothing could stop everyone from being excited to see the lovely Zooey Deschanel. But.... that was the problem.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First was the Dum Dum Girls.

I actually enjoyed them. And their outlandish outfits. The Asian drummer tried a little too hard to be sexy, and the singer was a little awkward, but they played well and sounded good. And they were actually the first band I've ever seen to drink straight liquor on stage. Kinda sweet, I guess.

But the audience did not want to have it. All they could talk about was Zooey Deschanel, unaware of the fact that there was another mentionable member of the band. They were yelling things like "Wrap it up!" at the Dum Dum Girls. Finally Ryan got fed up and asked the bro behind us, "Have you ever heard of this guy named M. Ward?" He received, of course, a resounding no. And they continued to be the most obnoxious people I've ever stood next to at a concert. If you can believe it though, it did get worse.

In about the middle of She & Him's set, the duo did a beautiful cover of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" with Zooey on a ukelele, and it was wonderful. One of my favorite songs! It would have been this really powerful, positive moment. But some jerks behind us were screaming and swearing at the stage; I don't even know what they were yelling about, but it was awfully rude, and it completely ruined the video recording I was trying to take of the song. I would post it here, but thecnically, photos/video weren't allowed at the show and I might get in trouble. I guess I'm posting photos, but videos seem worse than my shitty iPhone pictures. But what's funny is that at every one of the other Twilight shows, photos/video were allowed. The famous have to be protected or something? Who knows.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful set, even if the rest of Salt Lake City disagrees. Reviews complained that it was boring and too long, but I thought it was perfectly balanced and a great ending to the summer concert series. I love their music because despite its sometimes gloomy and heartbroken lyrics, there's a great positivity to it. Zooey's voice even blew me away at times; I hear that she's come really far in her performing. And I'm just really happy I got the chance to see them. For free!

And my apologies that the blog isn't in great working condition yet. I'll make it better, promise. Just a few more kinks to work out, but I'm mostly pretty happy with it :)