Buy n' Large

Over the winter break my family decided to make a very uncharacteristic spontaneous trip to Sedona, Arizona. I'm not going to pretend like being alone with my family for 4 days with only hiking as a pastime was eye-opening and epiphany-inducing, but some of the places we passed on the way there were lovely.

My favorite part of being on the road was getting to see pure, unfiltered America. I grew up in a very multicultural environment: my parents are from Argentina and never fully assimilated, I go to a French school with an almost completely French curriculum, and most of my friends are foreign in one way or another. I only really know English thanks to the extensive amounts of media I have consumed throughout my life. Consequently, I've lived in the heart of Los Angeles my entire life and I don't know the rules of football, I've never been to Wendy's or Wal-Mart, and I have never seen a real life suburb. I know, it's weird.

This road trip satisfied my obsession with an "In Cold Blood" type of americana and a Virgin Suicides/Edward Scissorhands perfect pastel suburbia.

"The suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out happy lives for themselves."

It does not get any more 'murica than this. I love it.

If this is not the cutest thing you've ever seen, you're lying.

Urban Outfitters jeans, mom's hiking boots, American Vintage flannel, Brandy Melville top, Forever 21 hat

Needless to say, I was feeling very tourist-y, hence the mismatching prints and hiking boots.

P.S. I've discovered that I don't like hiking. It was cold and there was no cell phone reception and the only source of entertainment was my parents (gross, right??).

#newyear #newme

So it's the new year and people are being gripped by a sudden sense of purpose that will ebb away in the next few weeks until the grocery lists go from "kinoa, kale, and Greek yogurt" back to "hot dog buns, Stouffer's, and string cheese". The temporary obsession with self-betterment will inevitably fade after it becomes overshadowed by this thing called real life.
Somebody mentioned to me at a New Year's party how selfish it was to analyze yourself and what you were feeling, which got me thinking a lot about the way I've been living. Yes, I agree, it is self-centered, even conceited to an extent, but isn't it also necessary? As David Foster Wallace put so eloquently in his commencement speech to Kenyon college: "There is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of". I'm not saying that we should only think of ourselves, I'm saying that we should look into ourselves as a means of understanding others, and therefore learning how to cope with whatever life throws at you.

And that was my pretentious philosophical rant of the day. Enjoy these pictures of my BFF Ruby modeling my clothes.

Thrifted jacket and dress

Garage sale necklaces

H&M shoes