Felix, age 11

The sixth graders were surprisingly cute today for our first day of spring term. Even though he was definitely trying to be entertaining, I still shrieked with laughter when I read this. In response the warm-up question #1. Write down the first things you can remember about German last quarter, Felix writes down something totally legit. Question #2, however, was "What do you think the E.U. stands for?" (I am wondering if any of them can produce "European Union," sure enough a few of them did. Felix had other ideas though...) I'm pretty sure my favorite is the misspelling of "uterus." This is what I'm working with, hahahaaha.

Sunday = Skull smashin' man fashion

As I have recently been coaxed into some doing some man shopping before jumping the Atlantic (euro/dollar exchange rate, expensive Levis in Europe yadda yadda), I luckily stumbled across this shop. It's pretty much exactly how New York SHOULD look and all hot skinny androgynous men should be dressing. Euro or no. Oh, AND they have excellent lady selections as well. It's pretty much just like the man fashion but with spike heels and some dresses thrown in. As it should be, as it should be...Images all from oaknyc.com

Shopping will rot your brain and then your brain will replace the rot with great new ideas.

Click the pics to burn an hour looking at great clothes. You know you're going to do it anyway.

OMG, WHOA, OMG.

Yep, this is what I do all day. Channel electricity from my brain into lightning bolts that become semi-sheer racerback peplum dresses...or otherwise. It kind of depends on the day.

Thursdays are for thinking...

So, a good friend of mine became recently smitten with a German theoretical physicist. I cannot tell you all how stoked I am because...that means now she wants to learn GERMAN! HAHAHA! SOMEONE CARES! I mean, not that I've been suppressing an portion of my being or anything...anyway. In light of getting stoked for more old-worldage on the immediate horizon, it got me thinking a bit about how obnoxious I am to pretty much everyone I know if they get me talking too much about speaking German or whatever. So, instead of talking your ear off next time we meet, I thought I could just share this essay I wrote for my (successful, BOOYA) grad school application. "Write about a multicultural experience that has affected your professional life" OKAY.

They were wearing tight acid wash denim, fluorescent ski jackets, and had strange haircuts. It was nighttime and champagne was squirting everywhere, coating joyous heads and hands with sticky fizz. A celebration. I could not entirely comprehend the reason these people were so elated, but as I watched the artificially lit neon bodies in the inky cold night, embracing warmly and clamoring over a large, graffitied cement structure in the dark, I knew it must be something terribly important. My parents were also glued to the only television in our northwest Portland home. In 1989, I was six years old and the Berlin wall had finally shuddered under the weight of popular dissatisfaction and succumbed to history. It was the first time I ever saw, or thought about, Germans.

German felt familiar to me at first “Hallo!” in a seventh grade language sampler course. It gave me something to grip, a secret string leading me somewhere unknown. I held on, intrigued. My study of German slowly escalated through high school and college until the words were pouring out of my mouth and Berlin became my first adult, post-university home. Somehow, speaking German helped me logically formulate thoughts I could never name in vagabond, gooey English. German is crisp; it is exact. Even now, after two years living in America, a German word will still accidentally escape my lips. It seemingly rearranged my neurons for a more efficient, precise fit to my thought.

Like my language neurons bypassing their convoluted English predecessors, German culture has replaced old habits as well. It offered me rules and a routine for things I had not been taught in our diverse, anything-goes, moving at breakneck speed, workaholic country. It was in Germany that I learned punctuality, social responsibility, to relate quantities with numerical values instead of approximate analogies, to bring small gifts when first invited to a home, to look everyone in the eyes while toasting, the value of leisure time, and most importantly, that there is more than one method for successful, enjoyable human existence in this modern world. Little did I know in 1989, as I watched the wall crumble, that German language and culture would one day fill my own holes of American being.

P.S. Don't even think about using this for your application. No one will ever believe you.
P.P.S. No pun intended with that last sentence! HAHAHA. You know what I'm talking about. Yes, YOU.

Birds of a feather...

It's so simple, but it's so cute. I can't help but like Erin Fetherston (we do appear to have some things in common...) Shola sent this to me; I thought I'd be nice and share.

Musical Monday #1: Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Matthias introduced me to these guys quite a while ago. It wasn't hard to hook me on 2009's the Snake. I am such a sucker for both Sweden and good husband and wife bands (more on that soon...) so with their crazy atmospheric percussion and her witchy, wonderful voice they sort of have it all for me. I even went to see them open for St. Vincent not too long ago and her voice is just as stunning live. Click the pic, listen, love it. Do it.

Toile about you...

I WAAANT IT. This happens to me every time I stumble upon Threadless.com for whatever reason. BING, I pop over there last night and they're celebrating their 10 year anniversary with a $10 T-shirt sale until Sunday! WHAT? I still remember when Alex was like "hey Caitlin, have you seen this site" back in our Cal Poly days. Was it that long ago? (1..2..3...4...yep, I graduated from university almost FOUR YEARS AGO? WTF?) Anyway, I'm not sure what it is about Toile, there are just so many funny things you can do with it. Like my hot pink bondage girl sheets disguised as old-fashioned French countryside scenes! Or this T-shirt...

SOLD.

The book of faces

WHEE! You can finally find my dresses on Facebook! It's a great place to browse my work if you are not yet an Etsy champion, AND you can be a fan! This means you'll get an update in your news feed every time new dresses appear (which we all know is...not that often at the moment, so it will be exciting! Can't....WAIT...to...FINISH...TEACHIIIING). I plan to post new stuff to the page before it hits the shop so it should be a great place to get a heads up/stalk. Check it out, fan it, join the creeper club...

Riot Siren and the Quiet Collector on Facebook

Spring is NOT here you blossoming trees!

And then I felt bad for thinking that because, wouldn't trees know when spring is and isn't better than I? But then it snowed a little bit and turned freezing. Yeah guys, you just SEE if any insects come to pollinate YOU. But in the meantime I'll wear my spring dresses outside for photos...

"yeah, since we were small"

So, ever since my friend from college dancing days, Lauren, sent me this video, I simply haven't been able to stop thinking about it. The accents, the neighborhood, the interview, how weird South Africa is...everything. I mean, it's the answer! Thank you Lauren.

It puts the gas in my tank, butter on my biscuit...

While I continue wrangling with the "do I" or "don't I" question regarding grad school (I got in), some new dresses are on the way....