Florence & Thom align again!

What a cute little hiatus.

Thank god Valentine's Day is over.

As a cookie decorator, this holiday seems endless.

It's kind of like:

Me: "Hey Valentine's day, here is my soul"

Valentines day: ::runs off with soul::

Me: "Oh, you didn't have to eat the WHOLE thing..."

Now to choose a direction to take this;

I guess I can talk about my overwhelming excitement for two things happening musically;

First off, while listening to XRT on Monday they announced that Florence + The Machine would be back in Chicago and that tickets go on sale this Saturday. I loved her the first time I saw her last April and I was feet away from the stage. The show last year was at the House of Blues, which is a great little venue and good for the first time an artists makes their landing in Chicago. This time she'll be playing at the Aragon Ballroom (one of my favourite venues)

which is significantly bigger...

Don't you worry, there is definitely an ellipsis for a reason. I should probably mention that a vacation is booked for the date she will be here, June 18, but I will purchase a ticket just in case said vacation stays planned for a short time. However, I'm nervous that her new album will drop before she comes here and she will be performing that. I might be wrong* but I think that will be the event. Bigger venue? Aw man. This means-how do you put this without sounding extremely snobby? Well, guess you can't-you get the shitty fans. The 12 year olds that didn't hear her before she was all over every pop station, but she isn't exclusive to the Kiss FM crowd, which is good. It would just be a different kind of show than the last one. Which is fine, but I love a more exclusive crowd. With Florence, it won't matter though. She will be great no matter who her audience is. I love those first shows that artists do in that city, which is why I regret big time missing out on Lissie when she was at Lincoln Hall a few weeks ago. I love being there for support the first time around and making my rounds every time they appear on a Chicago bill.

These are from the last time I saw her.

That setlist right by her feet is now in my top drawer.

I actually pulled those images from a previous post that summed up a bit more about that concert and also included a quick review of the Atoms for Peace concert that I saw the night before I saw Florence. It's odd because the other news I'm extremely excited about is the release of Radiohead's new album, "The King of Limbs". I couldn't *fucking* believe it when Frank E. Lee announced that it was going to drop this Saturday. When the words escaped from his mouth I actually cheered and took a lap around the store and exclaimed to customers the good news! Pre-sale is already available online HERE. I'm sure it's 10 tracks of pure splendor.

I love this cover.

It looks like Saturday is going to be a big day.

You know, I have to make a side note and just say how happy I am for Florence. I am so happy that people recognize her as a musical force now. Every time I see her perform on anything I almost alway cry because I'm either (a) so proud of her (b) because she does so well and it's probably always (c) all of the above. Her Saturday Night Live performance was amazing and so was her Grammy performance. I would love more than anything to see her 30312491324 more times, but settling for once more wouldn't be too bad either.

Performance on SNL: HERE

Performance at the Grammy's: HERE

**I might be wrong = a Radiohead song. Hardy Har Har!

Good finds at Goodwill.

Sheer luck.

I decided yesterday was going to be the day that I made a little trip to Goodwill. Normally I like to give myself a good hour or two in these stores so I can really explore, create outfits, etc. Yesterday I was pressed for time, but realised if I didn't do it then, I wouldn't have another chance till next week. So I snatched the opportunity, went in with 20 minutes to spare, and ended up finding exactly what I wanted in less than 10. I seem to have remarkable luck when it comes to sauntering into stores like this and finding the goods;

I was definitely on the prowl for sweaters. I love them and have no other choice but to wear them every day being that my body cannot handle the cold. I love the good mix of where they came from too. The shoes were my best snag. I went in looking for shoes just like this. A beat up, yet in pretty wear-able condition pair of combat-ish looking boots. Score.

Prada stole my Starburst wrappers--& THANK GOD!

Faaaantastic. I was excited when I read about THIS. Elise Øverland is combining fashion and ice and using the Ice Theatre of New York to do so. This perfect inception is being choreographed by Johnny Wier, who is apparently a long time client of said designer. I'm anxious to see it played out.

And then there are these...

These awesome, awesome shoes.

I love these shoes. Unfortunately, with my current means, I lack the ability to ever own a pair, but these are so fun; flirty, a little bit of tack, a ton of colour, and they totally remind me of those chains I used to make out of Starburst wrappers...right?!

How perfect. I remember sitting on the sidewalk outside a friends house eating starbursts and making these chains for hours. It definitely provokes my desire for endless bags of sour starbursts, conversations with no limits, and hot pavement under my legs. It's beautiful when shoes make you nostalgic.

For now it is winter and this was my outfit from Friday.

The sweater vest is my moms & the striped sweater under it is Old Navy.

The stickers on my phone ARE from the most recent issue of POP.

Exhilarating!

This is what happens when winter wallops!

Such a well forecasted storm with such fantastic results. I loved being snowed in.

Ah, here's to Chicago Snowstorms! On that note; WXRT posted the remake of Aliotta Haynes Jeramiah's LSD (Lake Shore Drive), but it's the snowed in version (see below!) What's funny is that I always used to hear this song on the radio and I loved it, and then I found out my mom used to date the lead singer, Mitch. Unfortunately, no one I know has ever heard of this song, but I think that's an outrage! Especially if you're from Chicago! So go ahead, grab some Starbursts, and groove out!

Original Version of LSD

Snowed-in Version

-Tessa

"Your North Face doesn't match your Uggs!"

Ah, Perfect. What would have been a 10am-6pm work day resulted in cancellation.

When you're work closes because it snows too much, you're living in the right place, whether you know it or not. However, I remember the time in my life where a snow day didn't mean a monetary loss like it does now. I am certainly not complaining, but you do have to factor it in. While stuck indoors after attempting to help shovel the driveway, I find myself feverishly craving Portillo's, an establishment I hardly doubt is open in such conditions. You better believe I'll call later to find out.

outside my house this morning.

20'' drifts!

The perfect topic to write about pranced perfectly into my life the other day and was perpetuated by a male. How refreshing! It's only refreshing because it applies to what girls are wearing today. He works in a movie theatre and stated ;

"All the girls look the same. It's only Ugg boots, North Face jackets, and different shades of jeans. A pack of 8 girls will walk in and they will all look exactly alike. Why do they want to dress the same...I don't get it."

Perfect observation. He forgot to mention the PiNK sweatpants that adorn the legs of so many high school girls today--& to each their own. Hearing that Uggs (I own two pairs and I actually love these things), North Face Fleece Jackets, and pricey falsely labeled coloured pants still make the way into the lives of every girl when she hits the age of 16, is just plain amusing to me. Fortunately, the sweatpants, jacket, and Abercrombie/Hollister everything stayed out of my life, but it is almost reassuring to see that this is still an ongoing trend.

We live in a world that projects news stories through so many different mediums and they all reach their targets effectively. Stories move SO fast which is able to stir up so many different responses and opinions in such a short period of time. While it is extremely convenient to get "hot off the press" news via twitter/facebook/blogs/news widgets it makes us move so fast that we lose sight of so much detail embedded within those stories because of the speed of the new focuses rolling in. Of course, having a twitter allows news publications to get smaller, maybe less focused on stories out to the mainstream. It almost gives you a reason to put every little thing out there--and why not?

Because of this, we have influences coming from endless amounts of places. Not only are there the same mediums that provoked tastes & trends in the 50's and 60's, but now there is the added faster means of communication and retrieval of information that comes from those mentioned earlier. Trends already move at lightning speed and as it would seem to me logically, people would be moving at the same pace.

I hate to go here, I really do; I remember when I was in high school. Freshman year; 2002. We didn't have Facebook or Twitter (THANK GOD). We didn't have android phones and we probably all still had our very first email addresses from 7th grade that went something like SugrNSpice0791. Of course, we knew how to work the internet, some better than others, we had access to magazines of any topic, and reality TV began to really take off. We had different sources of influence, but not as many, I feel. I could be wrong, but I feel like so many of us were the same--conventional suburban high schoolers. Although I hate to lump myself into that category, because I don't feel I dressed like anyone else, but that's because Vogue was my bible.

When I heard that girls in high school now are still dressing like the girls when I was in high school (given, only years apart), it gave me this sense of reassurance that maybe things aren't moving as fast as I think. It made me think of times in the 50's, when the girls looked the same; same hair, same high-waisted skirt, same jewelery, but they had a reason! They were limited in terms of access to various sources of trends. They all idolized the same people and had the same aspirations. Now, I feel like people have the potential to do anything; we have so many ways to retrieve information, so many influences, so many choices, and we have the power to get our word in some way that might be effective. I just think it is hilarious that people have such a huge range of style to choose from, yet so many girls dress exactly like each other. Why is that? "Trendy" doesn't mean better.

Of course, I know this UggBoot/NorthFace/Pink Sweatpants wearing trend cannot be thrust upon everyone. I know that there will ALWAYS be people in your high school that completely go against trend, they bow down to Good Will, and use fashion as an art form-or as a way to spark an idea or use it as a way to communicate. So while, this is not like the 50's and girls today hold much more individuality and aspirations, these packs of 8 girls clad in Abercrombie & Ugg boots make me feel like times aren't changing too fast--even though they have all the means to be. Of course, I think we can agree, the trends of the 50's were much more favourable.

Ha, you just have to laugh and be ready to plant your face in your palm in years to come.

I have to also respect the fact that people probably hate what I wear.

If I wear a huge headband, I assume that people think it looks stupid, but I don't care, because I dig it. I love wearing strange things. I also wear funky ass leggings & tights all the time. Of course though, I wear them with long shirts or short dresses or something appropriate. I know it is a trend that people cannot stand, but I love it. So I can understand that these girls dress for comfortability and not fashion and that's cool too--as long as you don't think you're making a statement.

-Tessa

In cookie form.

CREATiONS

of the weekend

I made this scarf last week and I couldn't wait to finish it.

I love the colours and I'm so glad I got it done quickly so I can wear it for the remainder of the cold months.

Casual Fridays rock my world. I wore this on Friday.

Sorry for this odd angle, it was all the effort I was willing to put in.

The leggings are from uniqlo; the best store with tons of funky leggings.

They are one of my favourite purchases from Japan.

The plaid blue/black shirt is from Target.

A cookie I made for Eric this weekend.

I make him a custom cookie or two every Saturday that I work.

Toby is our cat.

His second one. This one is our cat in cookie form.

I custom made the frosting to try and match his colour using brown, black, white, & yellow.

I used a #233 tip for his body.

See here;

Aw, Toby!

A custom order I did for someone who ordered a design I made up in the shoppe.

Just got done watching the SAGs. I will imput my opinion sometime tomorrow, but all I have to say right now is that Tina Fey rocked her Oscar de la Renta and Julianna Marguiles gave the best speech of the night. Take it easy; keep that Sunday groovin.

-Tessa

'Our Man In Europe'

THIS

has to be one of the most inspiring fashion compilations that I've seen in awhile.

ENJOY.

cookies I decorated today. teehee.

Hey, Mr. Postman

My onslaught of magazines have started to arrive and I couldn't be more excited.

I came home last week to;

How sweet they sent me the December

This cover is perfect.

It reminds me of Honey West re-vamped for 2011

and I think Lily Donaldson looks beautiful here.

Getting a magazine in the mail reminds me the days of being 14 and receiving my "Teen" magazine in the mail. I still remember those colors, those covers, and that block font like I pulled it from the mailbox last week. Through some rough google searching, I was able to find this gnarly little fucker;

YES!

I think this was the first issue I actually got in the mail?

It's cut up, taped on some 6th grade notebook or binder, and long gone by now.

But it's nice to re-live the good old days!

Seeing all those old magazines via google is especially odd. When I got those magazines, we just were getting internet rolling in our house. The old ads, those silly quizzes where I feverishly circled A, B, C, or D, and those covers that were covered with tacky yet catchy little phrases that kept me reading about whatever the hell my little mind wanted to wrap itself around, oh man.

So, my goal for dealing with all these magazines that are about to bombard me (Vogue, W, Nylon, Bazaar, V, Pop, & Vanity Fair) is to read them in order. So December W was first on board. I found my new shoe adoration among these pages and I am so excited about them even though I most likely will never own a pair. After that statement, I feel like I should note that I am not a shoe person--shoe person as in "crazy obsessed girl has to have every pair she sees". The first sentence of the article was "Remember jellies?" Cue to me grabbing the magazine with both hands and holding it up in honor. OF COURSE I REMEMBER. I've only been mentioning them in random conversations for the past 10 years. Kartell, yes, the contemporary plastic furniture powerhouse teamed up with Moschino, specifically Rosella Jardini their creative director and out came this beauty of a flat;

kartell.com // moschino.com

Ah, the time has come;

Bottega Veneta came out with a watch, the BVX, by creative designer Tomas Maier

You can watch the vid about the creation HERE.

now go get your $14,600 and buy it :D

The "What" pages in this magazine are tuning in so nicely to my interests.

21 drops.

this seems interesting.

For 28 bucks you can snag yourself an aromatherapy blend that are created to cure various ailments/moods/feelings. I'd be interested to see how effective they are.

Don't worry, if they don't make the aroma for your therapy, you can get your own for $415. Jesus.

ugh. As winter continues to carry on, I still find myself in the same jean-hating phase I dove into over a year ago. I just find denim deplorable and I don't see an end in sight. Any asshole can wear jeans, but its about more than that. Sometimes I will accept jeans on my body, but I am just never pleased. Nobody is praising your outfit when denim coats your legs. I find myself in them today and I just feel--extremely boring.

On another note, something to perhaps get you on your feet. My cousin the other day introduced me to this music called "dub step" and it's pretty groovy in the weirdest way. When he described it initially, he said that the music "wobbles" and it does. This song was the first song he played for me and it has been in my head ever sense. Move a little furniture or find some open space and move around a little bit to THIS--especially if you want to honour Jack Lalanne just a tad more (such a sad passing)

Hopefully you're settled into the week. Make it a good one.

-Tessa