Let Your Stuff Talk For You : My Top 20 Statement Tees, Totes, & Sweatshirts

20) Trust No Bitch Sweater, $58. 1991 INC.

Television I'm Excited For in 2014

 The Second Half of Pretty Little Liars' Fourth Season

I inhaled all three and a half seasons of Pretty Little Liars in a span of four days and since then, I've asked people who'd be in the know (i.e. my 21 year old sister who is into White Collar) what they thought of it. She told me that she stopped watching because "it was just the same thing again and again". She's right. But like the Vampire Diaries, PPL is the crack cocaine of teen drama. If you watch them fast and dirty, you begin to seriously look past plot inconsistencies, poor acting, and the tedious drone of "WHO (THE FUCK) IS A?!" and when I got to the end of the first half of the fourth season, I had a horrible rolling-on-the-kitchen-floor-while-moaning withdrawal. I cannot, for the life of me,  figure out what they'll do next with the Ezra is A, isn't A, or A's minion dilemma. But I won't have to wait too long for answers, it's back January 7th on ABC Family.

Rose & Pinkie's Poisonous Love In Brighton Rock

I watched Brighton Rock without knowing it's cultural baggage: it's the second film adaptation of Graham Green's 1938 novel and it's cinematic predecessor is well regarded as a classic British film noir. First time director Rowan Joffé had big shoes to fill, a message contemporary critics brooded over relentlessly in their reviews. I realize it's difficult to see an adaptation if you've watched or loved another (Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice comes to mind) but the reviewers' joyful take down of this version seems excessive. Evaluating it independently of it's artistic ancestors, I think Brighton Rock stands up well on it's own.

My Top 15 Discontinued, Sold Out or Otherwise Unavailable Wishlist Items

#15 : Darling Adelina Suits

The last on my list is a cheat since I own the jacket above, the matching trousers, and a grey pencil skirt from the same line. Darling is one of my favorite brands for their youthful elegance, British sensibilities, and unclichéd femininity so a few years ago, when I began losing weight and felt newly confident in my body, I tried on this matching set at a swanky local boutique. I was happy to see my healthy habits paying off and this design really resonated with me. It came in three different colors I believe and there was a jacket, trouser, or skirt option in each. Looking back, I should've bought one of everything.

Christmas Haul

My younger sister was the super hero of Christmas gifts this year: she surprised me with an expensive dress I'd fallen in love with in August! I've lusted after the Stop Staring Raileen dress from afar (read: online), when I tried it on it fit like it was made for me, and all the 40s inspired details make me very, very happy...but there's no way I'd throw down $150+ on a dress right now [Taking my other blog to the next level has left me super duper broke.]. My sister knew how much I wanted it and since she's one of the most generous people I know, she scooped it up. I can't wait to wear it! :D

All Good Things Have Small Beginnings

La Roche advertisement (early 1950s) by the ingenious Lilian Bassman

I have another blog, one that I operate as a professional laday where I write about a very specific topic and in my humble opinion, it's a wonderful blog. But I need an outlet, a place where I don't necessarily have to worry about my grammar or anxiously count unique visitors. I want to talk without expecting anyone to talk back, although if anyone does, that'd be great too! Can you tell I was the type of girl who kept a journal in high school? Haha, it was mostly about my "prospective" boyfriends, but please don't worry, this blog won't be focused every detail of that one time I kissed Max B. outside school during our rehearsal for Hamlet. So -- as I'm sure you're wondering -- what will be the focus of this blog? It'll be about whatever tumbles into my obsessive, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor-ing (#problems) brain and shit I like. Here are some of those things: