Hello Friends!

Hello, hello! So, I have news! I have MOVED location! I was experimenting with a new layout over here and realized that my archives were getting horribly messed up. I decided that all in all, it would be easier to move to a new blog address. I'm trying some new things over there, and I'm very excited! I hope you'll all give it a read!

I'll still of course refer back to this blog on my new one, and perhaps even post here sometimes for a true 'Walk A Mile In These Shoes' moment where I document someone else's life and chronicle a piece of their past...or maybe even literally take a walk in their shoes (I mean maybe I'll meet someone who will let me borrow their shoes and I can take them around my yard for a spin? Hmm, the possibilities!)

But anywho, I'm still fiddling around with fonts, colors, headers and such, but give it a look and perhaps stay, for you know, a cup of tea or something.

I'm sorry that this is all horribly scattered brained, but what can you expect--it's a Wednesday after all!

Well, hope to see you all here at On the Corner of Belleview soon!
Thanks, and hello and goodbye!

(Hey, now, I understand why the Beatles wrote that song...)

Poisonous

I never knew that the following two words could put so much misery into my life:

POISON IVY.

or for all I know, poison oak or sumac.

(the doctor wasn't sure: he said it could be any of the three.)

But whatever it is, it's itchy and it sucks. Anyway, it was spirit week in honor of homecoming which basically means being able to dress up like a fool and not get looked at like you're too crazy. So, to match my poison ivy and my irate mood last week, it was accordingly class color day. Which for some reason unbeknown to me (but sort of ironically) is red!

So, itchy itchy itchy...but still, I'm managing.

(And crossing my fingers that it will be gone soon!)

Annie's shirt, Forever 21 necklace, mom's skirt, gifted headband

Until then, long sleeves for me!

P.S I hyperlinked poison ivy for your benefit, dear reader, so you can visit the official poison ivy site and avoid the dreaded plant at all costs.

(You're welcome.)

Running Club

Once or twice a week, Lineth and I go for runs after school.

Unfortunately on Thursday we hadn't exactly planned for the sudden chill of fall weather and therefore couldn't quite bring ourselves to change from our warm layers into short sleeves and shorts.

So, to pep ourselves up for the freezingness, we opted to warm-up with a more aerobic routine! Who knew that playgrounds could provide so much exercise?

We try to put our game faces on...

...but really, we're just still little kids.

Basically the whole outfit was composed of clothes from my mom's past with the exception of TJ Maxx tights and a Stylish Wanderer astrology necklace. Lineth, Lil, Becky, Sarah, and I split the cost and we trade it around every week. To me, one of the best parts of our 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Necklace' is feeling like I'm carrying something that has a history bigger than I even know. I love picturing the adventures our little necklace has with each of us, and of course seeing how each of us bring our own style to it is always really cool.

Just perfecting that hair flip, (you know, no big deal!)

The homecoming game was last night. The band, as always, was the best part. But sitting on the hill drinking huge one dollar cups full of hot apple cider courtesy of the Little Theater Club and cheering Lily rolling down the grass was a close second. The dance is tonight...I feel like it will be the same ol' routine as always, but who knows? It's been known to surprise in the past...

Traditions

Every year, Lily, Sarah, Lineth and I go to the local 'Oyster Festival.' We buy expensive seafood, spend too much money on carnival rides, and listen to some wonderful music. The evening usually ends with funnel cake and dancing, (although we always seem to run out of time by the end.)

The first year The Village People (!) performed. It was ridiculous. Nearly everyone got up to do the YMCA.

It was then we realized that we were really awesome spellers.

***

The next year, we posed with people inside furry costumes and Sarah and I got some disappointing Sweedish meatballs.

Everyone got face paint that year. This guy managed to creep into the picture.

That year, Los Lonely Boys were playing. The guitar solos were amazing.

We ran into some friends who helped us spell out LLB's number one hit (or at least basically the only one we all knew) 'Heaven.'

But still, we had to end the evening spelling what we spelled best!
***

This year started like it usually does. We went to Lil's first to pick up everybody (with a quick interruption to meet the adorable new kitten next door!)

We saw some friends who had just gotten tattoos I very much approve of.

"Silly Lollipop Game?" Basically describes Lily. I told her she had to pose with the sign.

After much much MUCH (how do I stress this enough?) debate and discussion over which ticket deal would be the best, we got a sheet of 22 and shared them for the price of $20.

Third year tradition for Sar, Lineth, and me to ride the Cliff Hanger, second year tradition for Lil.

The Ferris Wheel was a must.

We walked off the ferris wheel like royalty, waving to our fans.

Well, of course he had to creep into the picture again this year, too!

Confused as to what any of us are? I would give you big money if you got all of us right. Here, I (the fire breathing tiger...I told the guy to do whatever he wanted--I feel like they get bored with doing the same old thing so I told him my face was his canvas) am attacking Lineth, (the bloodied up zebra.) But that's what you thought...right?

I think this was post Lineth's fish-winning. She wanted company for her fish, Fire (or as he is better known to Sarah, 'Lucky.') He got his second name after sliding under the refridgerator and nearly choking on a pebble and living to tell both tales. The man gave Lineth three fish and she let us each name one. We came up with Pansy (Lil's), Shark (Sarah's), and Monsieur Galileo (mine).

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played this year. How I wish I could have lived in the 30s. I would have been a swing dancer, no question.

The night always ends the same: smiles and YMCA. It really is a wonderful tradition.

***
Have a lovely Wednesday,

Sylvia

P.S I henceforth dedicate this post to Lineth, who turns 17 (!) today. Happy birthday Linut!

Benny Ninja Wears A Tutu Around His Neck

This=Fashion's Night Out: Fierce. I can think of no simpler way to describe the wonders that Annie, Emmy, and I experienced last night!

It's fashion week, baby. All the time is runway time!

Emmy was kind enough to document my spur of the moment runway walks and my unfortunate "missing of the train!" Oh noes!

Eeeee!!! (I'm sorry I cannot be more literate at this time.)

After a peek in at Gucci, we went over to Prada...and...

...SAW GRACE CODDINGTON! Suddenly, Annie said: "Is that Grace?" We turned around. My heart started thudding before my mind could comprehend.

AND SASHA!

Grace was really very sweet, although I must say I felt very incompetent in her presence. I said something to her about the September Issue film but headed up my comment with an apology because I was nearly positive she had heard what I said just about 3,000 times.

Sasha was incredibly gorgeous and had such a warm way about her.

Emmy snapped this picture in Bergdorf's as we waited to get our shirts.

Crowds and crowds and crowds to see the lovely Milo! I got just close enough to take this picture before being ushered away by a guard.

After staring for a bit at the beautiful models, we headed over to Sak's where Annie and I got makeovers!

Annie's green shadow treatment looked absolutely stunning.

Honestly, I totally would have thought she was a mannequin if I hadn't seen her blink.

I was taking this picture when Emmy and Annie said "Sylvia, Sylvia...is that...Jade??" I literally sprinted, sprinted, and stopped right in front of her. "Um, hi! Can I have a picture?" She looked me over, smiled, and said "Yes, of course." She was elegant and classy...she WAS JADE!!!!! Do you KNOW how many ANTM youtube videos I've watched of her?!?!?!?!!?!?!??!?!?!? AH! AH AH AH AH!

I had an incredible urge to chase after her and tell her she was the most beautiful "biracial butterfly" (her own self proclaimed term) I had ever seen.

We went into Tiffany's, which was completely beautiful and got iced coffee and petit fours.

At Barney's there were many fabulous people.

There were people offering a photobooth session and free flip books with the final product.

Annie's finger is pointing to one of the photos from our session! After that, we had to run like the wind to Grand Central and make our train. Thanks to my dad's incredible New York way about him (he works in the city and has that unbelievably quick/traffic defying walk), we made it! We wish we could have stayed longer, but what we did see and do was well worth the short time we were there!

Naturally, today we all had to wear our shirts.

I borrowed Annie's skirt for the day and paired it with a vest from Forever 21.

We just had to indulge in some self timers with Emmy's camera after our own photoshoots.

Karatay.

Well, I seem to be on a theme with this hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil thing...maybe I can somehow incorporate into a third post in a row?

In conclusion, life is amazing.

Love to all and good night,
Sylvia

I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera

Why, hello there!

Fancy running into YOU here...really, it's been too long. So, although you might have suspected I'd fled the country, the truth is much less exciting: school has started. And honestly, it's not that bad. I'm trying to keep on top of things...getting my work done, keeping the daydreaming in class to a minimum, etc., and so far it's been working out. But then again, it's been a week so I'll check in on this in another month or so.

Anywho, I went to Bex's after school on Friday. I always looked forward to these kinds of afternoon in the past when we'd go to her house, raid the pantry of any delicious snacks, play the piano, look at old yearbooks, and last (but not least!) grab the camera and go lie in the grass and indulge in long strolls around the neighborhood.

See no,

hear no,

speak no evil? Certainly not!

Our friend Sabrina came by to drop off a plate she had of Becky's.

She's a good driver.

Who knew plates could be so much fun?

Becky lecturing me on the rules of the road, of course. She's got it down!

After Sab left, we took inspiration from senior portraits in the yearbook and posed with trees. We did the typical ones...

...and then made a few of our own (including the ever popular tree hugging!)

(Because really, look at it. Trees DESERVE to be hugged!)

After our deluxe tree posing, we headed inside to play the piano.

I played a little Simon and Garfunkel, and Bex played some classical pieces, including one of my favorites...if you give it a listen, my favorite part starts around 2:10. I could just listen to it all day!

Inspired by Sabrina's visit and the ensuing car photo shoots, Bex helped me study for my permit test.

After leaving, I went to my hometown to have dinner with two of my oldest friends and the family. It was a lovely evening, complete with photo albums from 7th birthday parties, fresh gossip, the Simpson's road rage video game, homemade ice cream, and a nice long soak in the hot tub looking up at the beautiful evening sky. The weekend continued to be wonderful. I went to see Our Town in the city with the cast of the fall show and Annie, Lily, and I stayed in with two friends to eat Japanese food and get kicked out of a guitar store. Pictures will come, I promise! On Sunday, I waitressed from 9:30 to 7 and then went to Sabrina's for a very relaxing bonfire in which I ate way too many S'mores. Then today, Sarah came over and my dad helped us make a pop-up book for our human bio class (yep, that's right. We're still in 2nd grade!) Afer that was finished, Sar and I got fancy with the mixes and made some devil's food/yellow cake (nutella and peanut butter frosting recommended.) It turned out pretty delicious, if I do say so myself. I wish I could virtually give you all a piece, but that will all come with technology, I'm sure! Anyway, hope everyone had as great of a weekend as I did! For those of you who are starting school, good luck! For those of you who already in it...woot. And for those of you doing non-related school things, tell me what that's like.

So, have a lovely week!

Sylvia

"Hey, that's a nice dress. Can I talk you out of it?"

So, true to my word, here is my post about my most recent city adventures on Friday. Sarah and I went in to visit our friend Laura in Brooklyn. The night before we had a reunion with our three friends Becky, Lineth, and Lily and had then slept over at Lil's, so we left from there to catch the train. After coming home on a 7:14 train, we dropped Sarah off at home and then I headed straight to my friend Sabrina's house. Her two brothers both had friends over so we had a pretty intense game of Taboo. My team (Fourtility) lost and then a very long fight ensued over the rules of the game, but it was really fun. It was a non-stop day, but that's what summer's all about, you know? Or maybe it's supposed to be about relaxing? Hmm…

I got this dress at Goodwill. Lily, Sarah, and I ducked in for a look and we met a woman who said it made her so happy to see us interested in vintage clothes and that she would be opening a shop in the neighborhood. Just as we were getting ready to leave, she ran over carrying this dress and said she could totally see me in it. I don't think I ever would have picked it up otherwise, but I'm always up for trying things on and after a visit into the dressing room, I decided I really loved it. So thanks to her find and a spare 6 dollars, an outfit was formed for the trip into the city!

American Colonies, mocha frappuccino, and a camera case! Whoo.

Sarah's clearly a night creature...

and I like to twirl...

and hail subways.

I asked her to be high fashion on the subway stairs. I believe that she rose to the challenge.

Oh, right. My motorcycle...hmm, well I guess it's out of gas. I'll take it to work tomorrow.

We headed straight out to the garden when we got to the apartment.

Sarah stole my camera for the next two shots as Laura filled me in on a German friend in DC.

Wouldn't really be a complete day without self timer, now would it?

Apartment 225! Though of course my enthusiastic gesture to this is covering the fact...

Sarah could spend a day chasing around the dogs of the city...and I would probably be running behind her documenting it.

We saw the most beautiful couple in the world. I know I've said this before, but now I really really mean it! I've rewritten Mary Jo Salter's 'Boulevard Du Montparnasse' a little bit to match. I've entitled it...

Across The Street From The Restaurant We Were Looking For

Once, on a street in Little Italy, I saw
the most beautiful couple in the world.
They were each the single most beautiful thing in the world.
She would have been nineteen, perhaps; he twenty-four.
Their skin was not the same shade,

yet they complimented one another effortlessly,

as if that was their duty on Earth: To simply match one another

with his burnt tuscan and her impossible creamy pale.
And they walked by, looking like they had just been

photographed by The Satorialist, and now

another camera was most surprisingly being

stuck in their face.

She was lazily fanning herself with a 4 dollar paper fan,

but she made it look like it was crafted of the

finest material this side of Chinatown and

had cost 700 dollars, at least.

They glanced at the camera inquisitively,

as if they had never had their picture taken before that day,

although they must have already been snapped up by

ten tourists that day, all who assumed that they must be a celebrity couple (whose names they were just having trouble placing at the moment.)
I thought: Mary Jo Salter wrote a poem for exactly

this moment, for when I saw such a couple.
And although Sarah and I had every urge

to follow them down the street, we

hesitated. And so then, in that moment of doubt,

they were gone, as if they were

fairy dust, meant to make things just a little bit

more magical, but never to linger for too long.

Within a couple of moments from the sky being a beautiful blue and white, the forecasted thunderstorm started to brew.

I can hardly express how much I love when this happens. I want it to last forever, this limbo between the sunshine and the rain.

We ducked for cover at Pinkberry where I got pomegranate yogurt.

When we decided we were ready to brave the rain, we saw that there was an even cooler place right next store: a shop that solely sold rice pudding!

Sarah got caramel and gave me a taste. It was delicious.

I couldn't tell if this guy was trying to hit on this girl or if they were dating. But in any case, much to my embarrassment, he caught me trying to document it all!

We ducked into Top Shop and tried on shoes. Basically everywhere you looked there was a glorious sale rack, and I ended up walking away with an 18 dollar pair of jeans.

Oh and finally! I will get to doing my Kreativ Blogger tag, gifted from Sarah. Thanks again, girl!

1. I think of everything as a souvenir. It’s a mentality far beyond being a pack rat. Like, I’ve come back from Europe with napkins from restaurants, cereal tops, chocolate wrappers, metro cards people left on the ground…it’s a problem. I still have a water bottle from Vermont that’s 3 quarters of the way filled and a bag of sand from Martha’s Vineyard. Oh dear. But I love all my useless things anyway.
2. I have a Barbie umbrella from my childhood that I still like to use. In fact, it is chilling out on the door handle to my room right now. Makes it easy to grab on my way out into the rain!
3. Lava lamps are really entertaining. I mean…to a point. But still. Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise.
4. I talk to myself. I didn’t realize how much until the people at work started being like “What? What’d you say?” and then I just have to admit, “Oh nope, just talking to myself.” Which I guess it’s something that everyone does (right?) but really, this issue has only been increased due to the fact that my job is to be a waitress. Like I have this ongoing (and out loud) chant of “bacon quiche, no asparagus, extra fruit but no melon…hey I wonder why she doesn’t like melon! Oh and iced tea.”
5. I want to be Pam of Pam and Jim. Like, I cried when Jim cried in season two of the Office. I need a Jim Halpert in my life.
6. I’ve always wanted a sister. I would ask my mom when I was younger and say that I wouldn’t ever ask for anything for Christmas again if I could just have a baby sister or brother. I’m grateful for my older brother and I love him, but I always wanted tons of siblings. I think that’s why I want so many kids, so they can have what I (believe that I) missed out on.
7. I love pick up lines. Like I said, after I came home from the city, I went to Sabrina’s where her brothers and their friends were reciting different pick up lines. After they commented on my incredibly red dress (which just made me blush a red I didn’t even know was possible,) I asked them what they had as far as pick up lines went. One of them said “Hey, that’s a nice dress. Can I talk you out of it?” I just love it. Sabrina’s mom said that I would be easy because most girls hate pick up lines, but really they just make me laugh like crazy. If a guy is actually brave enough to try one of them out, I think it’s worth at least a conversation for the effort!

***

Alrighty, enough from me!

Hope everyone's week is going well so far,

Sylvia