I Have Been an Absent Blogger

I'm sorry I haven't written guys. It's tough to keep motivated these days. I didn't get the job at Sony, as a result I did get to go to North Carolina's Outer Banks for a week with my best lady friend in the whole wide world. But I cannot lie, I really would have liked a job. I've been back from vaca for a little over a week and it seems there is another bump in my road. My temp job in the office where my dad works has evaporated. My boss, it seems, is on permanent vacation and therefore has left me with nothing to work on. So long income! So I spend my days sending out hundreds of resumes. Making mass quantities of follow up calls and going on daily crying jags.

Truth is, I'm lonely as hell out here. I don't know a soul in Ithaca and all my parents friends(and my parents) seem to ask about is my job hunt. The sad fact is, there's nothing to tell. I'm like the little engine who could, but I'm runnin' outta steam! I'm frustrated and I'm feeling pretty useless. I'm not even getting call backs. So sometimes I take the dogs hiking in the gully and I can escape for a little while. But I can't escape the ever growing isolation I feel. It's pretty much me and my TV. However, I can safely say I recommend Heroes the TV show, I can say this cause I've watched every single episode of all four seasons. Don't say I never achieved anything.

I am still dating that boy, I'm not where it's going, mostly cause I'm not sure where I'm going. But I like him, and it would be nice to have him be my in city gentleman friend rather than my travel to get smoochies friend. I've also got a wedding to go to this weekend with a friend of mine from NYC who's coming up to stay with me. I'm actually really looking forward to this, he's my french speaking ex but also one of my closest friends and I know that he gets where I'm coming from. Plus, it's an indian wedding, in other words, bright colors, lots of dancing and celebration. I think it's exactly what I need.

Fireworks

My annual fourth of july post. I don't know about you but I like to dress the part for the 4th. I bust out my red, white and blue and go for it. In honor of that I've found some red, white and blue for you as well. Hope you like it!
high waisted jeans or shorts would be great with this for a casual look. You could also pair it with a sweet skirt or even wear it over a bikini for a 4th of july beach party.
how great are these? They're so classic and of course you can wear them all summer, not just the fourth.
Oh I love it, how sweet! It's fitted and charming and just a bit silly.

It looks like I'll be heading to NYC for the fourth. I've got a few parties to attend and some good friends to run into. My social life is more or less exclusively in NYC at this point, I've got the contents of my apartment ready to go and frankly, I'm ready to hit the road. All I need now is a job to come through and I should know sometime around Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Once a King or Queen of Halsey Always a King or Queen of Halsey

^The ceiling in my old roommate at Halsey's room.

Ah new york, new york. It was so good to be back. You want the recap? Ok, I'll try and keep it short...

So I arrived in NYC with the help of my mom's best friend who is a real-estate agent in Tribeca. We got into the upper west side and I hopped a subway bound for my beloved Brooklyn. I arrived and was met by my ex roommate/pseudo ex beau. The one I mentioned who I dated for awhile after B and I broke up. We're not dating anymore but we're still good friends and whenever I'm in NYC I still crash at Halsey Kingdom. I met him at our two friends adorable little ground floor brownstone and we had a few beers and some mexican candy in their charming little backyard. It made me terribly jealous, it is exactly the kind of apartment I want. It was also so much fun.

Now, the next part of my evening requires a little explanation. For the sake of full disclosure I'm going to be straight up with you. I did the unthinkable. Ok, so here's the thing, several of my good friends admitted to doing it too and so I got curious. I figured, what's the harm, I'll just give it a try, have a look around. But then, I was hooked. That's right, I tried online dating. So, I had yet to actually get up the nerve to embark on any actual dates but there was this one guy I'd been talking to. We'd exchanged a few messages, he'd called and we'd talked for an hour(yeh, like in middle school), and he seemed sweet and non ax murderer-y. So I said to myself, Self, why not, let's give it a try. So I packed my metaphorical pepper spray, casually informed my best friend and then hung up on her before she could lecture me, put on my pretty blue maxi dress and headed out to the west side.

I met him at a cute, darkly lit little bar, we found ourselves a quietish corner and a few glasses of wine. To my complete shock and awe it was neither awkward nor blood bath horrible craigslist killer like. It was actually, kind of, fun. And the fun kept coming, we talked, we laughed, we headed to a new quieter and only slightly brighter bar which afforded the luxury of a couch. Bars with couches get serious points in my book. We had a few more beers, psychoanalyzed each other(what, what do you do on your dates?) and then all the sudden he looked at me and said come home with me. Yeh, I know, alarm bells should have gone off. But instead I found myself getting in a cab bound for the upper west side(my what a circular day) and then I found myself getting falafel(yum). And then I found myself making jokes in an upper west side studio with a boy who was playing guitar.

As it turns out dating, while scary, can also be really really fun. I don't know if this will go anywhere, maybe, but either way it was a really great date with a really sweet guy. He has since called(side note: we're also getting married and coming up with names that fulfill both our irish and indian heritage...kidding) and I will hopefully be seeing him again. However, the next day and therefore the next post was the interview, dun dun dun...

Curiouser and Curiouser

Unbirthday Party by acelovesvintage featuring Vivienne Westwood shoes

A happy unbirthday to me!!

I have decided that I deserve a party. An unbirthday party. When I get a job and my darling best friend and I find an apartment and move to new york I am throwing us a house warming unbirthday party. I'm talking tea cups and tiny cakes and silly costumes and other such nonsense. There would of course be a heart shaped red velvet cake(yum, my fav) and me in black and red cause after all, I'm the queen of hearts. Just like the picture, and how great is that jewlery???I would really love to have a little top hat on a headband like I've seen out there. You are, of course, all invited. I'm a fan of theme parties, are you? Know any good themes?

P.S. I think this dress would be swell!

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

It's been a long absence and I apologize. I have been rigorously searching for a job in NYC and settling in to my parents lake house. Well the kitties and I are settled, more or less. Granted our stuff is strewn about the upstairs of the cabin, but we're making due.

I've got a working car, home cooked meals every night and the accompanying elliptical necessitated by said meals. Sadly, no "grown up" job yet. But I had an interview at Sony not too long ago and I've got a second one in about 2 weeks, keep your fingers crossed for me.

In the meantime I'm temping at my dad's office and continuing to send out resumes. I'm hoping to start volunteering at a local animal shelter as well and I'm looking into taking a dance class. I'm also looking into working part time or interning at a local radio station to pad my resume while I keep looking for work in NYC.

In other(good) news my best friend may in fact be coming with me to Brooklyn. We're both applying for work, her in restaurant PR and me in music and crossing our fingers. We're also having visions of a cute prewar apartment hopefully with a yard and a whole bunch of second hand furniture as well as my two kitties plus her dog and kitty. My what a family!

I am also beginning to think abotu having a new dog in my life. Losing my little bear was really really difficult and I'm far from over it but I'm also feeilng very lonely and purposeless without a dog in my life. As it turns out a friend of my mom's has a little dog that she needs to find a new home for named Coco. I'm thinking about fostering him for awhile, maybe he's not for me, but either way it would be nice to help.

Anyways, I'm also doing this thing, I believe it's called dating. Since B and I broke up I haven't really dated anyone seriously. I dated my ex boss, kind of, but it was never anything serious. The closest I got to something real was dating a friend of mine who as it turned out was not much of a friend afterall. So now I am cautiously dipping a toe in the dating pool. That is to say, I am not dating anyone. But I'm open to it, I'm just not seeking it out so much. That said the thought of dated outfits does get me all a twitter...

Nerd by acelovesvintage featuring TopShop bags

Bustier Jumper
$325 - loefflerrandall.com
More rompers »

Chelsea Crew Perforated Oxford
$58 - urbanoutfitters.com
More oxfords »

Small Pushlock Satchel Bag
$90 - topshop.com
More TopShop tote bags »

Alkemie + Cupid's Arrow Bangle
$140 - econsciousmarket.com
More bracelets »

Barrie round-frame acetate glasses
$360 - net-a-porter.com
More Oliver Peoples sunglasses »

Belfry Smith - Panama Straw Fedora: Hatsinthebelfry.com
$88 - hatsinthebelfry.com
More hats »

The Painter in Paris

My roommate and I have this thing, we like to troll Craigslist searching for apartments for our completely unrealistic dream lives. One of my many dream lives is to be a poor but happy painter in Paris. It is a dream because it is a sad fact that I cannot paint, though my finger paintings are quite good.

The Painter by acelovesvintage featuring Betsey Johnson jewelry

Mostly what I want is the excuse to wander about drinking good coffee and wearing charmingly paint splattered clothes, smoking cigarettes without worry about the consequences and of course, lots of hats, scarves and maybe a delightfully scruffy painter boyfriend.
This would be my charming studio and oh yeh, that's a working fireplace for those nights when the passion of painting becomes discussions of art and life while drinking red wine in front of a fire. Ah yes, that would be the dream.

What's your dream life?

Falling For New York

I posted awhile back that one of the scariest parts of going through a breakup and being on your own for the first time is feeling something for someone new. It hasn't been long since my breakup, and I'm the type to second guess myself a lot, it's what I do. I wonder if it's too soon to feel something for someone, if perhaps I should be in some sort of relationship mourning, I wonder if he's the right person to feel something for. Is it rebound? Or perhaps am I rebound for him? I worry that I'm treating having a man around as a crutch, I tend to over analyze.

But my last trip to New York made me appreciate this certain someone and how much he respects me, cares about me and wants to be around me. It feels good to be wanted, and though I've resisted, I find myself wanting as well. I'm not saying I want to jump in head first, eyes closed and hope for the best. I am the portrait of emotional caution, of slow, timid movements towards anything beyond friendship. He would like more, he has been honest about that, and I respect that, but he also respects the fact that I am far from ready for anything more than casual and cautious.

I haven't invited him to Boston yet, it feels too intimate to bring him into my space, in the place that to be honest I hide from feelings and let myself be unashamed and hurt. He understands that hurt as well I know, having been through similar if not worse hurt himself. But bringing him into my place still feels too overwhelming. All the same though, it feels good to have a few timid butterflies in my belly.

There's No Place...

Like home?

The day has finally come, I'm leaving NYC. I'm a bit heartbroken, I must admit.

Moving On...

Ahhh moving on.  It comes to us all at some point.  Remember the ex I told you about?  Well, last week after not talking for over 3 months he texted me.  And texted me a picture of us no less.  Then proceeded to tell me we still couldn't talk.  I know, I'm confused too.  Well, talk anyways we did.  I spilled my guts to him, apologized for wrongs I had done in our relationship and was really and truly honest because I still cared about him.  Well, he was less forthcoming.  Truth is he was rather cruel, as if he took pleasure in trying to tear me down.  I had felt for awhile like things between me and him had been left unfinished and I think now I know why.  I made some mistakes in our relationship, but so did he and I didn't deserve to be crucified for my transgressions while he justified his own.  

I finally saw him for what he is or maybe has become.  He is angry and unforgiving and he wanted me to hurt because I had hurt him.  He flip flopped between telling me he missed me and loved me and that I was a terrible person and a selfish child.  It made me realize what I had been missing for a long time, the fact that he had changed, and so have I.  So after a long and drawn out talk/fight we finally and truly ended it.  Which is something I don't think we ever really did 2 years ago.  It was something that I needed in order to truly move on. 

 At the end of it all I ended up telling him I was sorry for the way things worked out but that it's better that we remember how good things were then try and get back something that isn't there.  And that I knew he didn't love me anymore, and that was ok and that I hoped he would be happy because I knew I would be.  In the end friends, we all have to move on because eventually everything will be illuminated.  That's all for my epiphanies today.  Thanks for listening!

What I'm Listening To:

Full Moon- The Black Ghosts

Road Trip

Hey guys, I will be heading back to Boston this weekend to do some serious soul searching heart to hearting so I won't be posting but have a lovely weekend and wish me luck!

What I'm Listening To:

Sweet Illusions- Ryan Adams

Kitty Bear Stays: A Little Piece of Paris In Brooklyn

Ok, I want this apartment.  I will admit to occasionally trolling craigslist just for fun, just to see what nice places are out there and this morning over my lovely cup of coffee was just one of those occasions.  Then BAM, I found this. OK OK, I know it's not the nicest place ever, it could use some TLC.  But look at those chandeliers!!!!!!!  
It's a studio, not far from where I live now but much closer to my favourite cafe, bonus!  I love the hardwood floors, though they admit-ably need polishing.  I also love the nook by the window, can't you just see a cute little window seat there?  And guess what, I've already got the perfect one.  Also, yeh, that's a fireplace, I can just imagine me curled up on a  rug with hot cider, lots of pillows, a sexy man and a good book.  OK Ok, maybe one or the other.  Also, can I point out that pressed tin 15 foot high ceiling??  How lovely is that?  It's a studio, so it would be cozy, but for just me and my little furry companions it would be perfect.  Add to that the fact that it accepts said furry companions and I'm in fixer up heaven.  

My French Apartment by acelovesvintage featuring aerie

This is how I imagine my lovely apartment with all of my favourite things in it, in no particular order.  Of course there would be lots of cupcakes and pretty lingerie and a lovely red fainting couch and for whatever reason a peacock broach.  So, my question is, is anyone looking to place hold my apartment for me for the next year?  Hmmmm, takers?

Show Girl

So for the fourth of July I did something truly American and wen to see a free show in Battery Park.  What free show you ask?  Why none other than the lovely Miss Jenny Lewis and the one and only Conor Oberst who performed with the Mystic Valley Band(great band name).  It was an awesome show.  It was out on the open lawn which was really nice and there were tons of people having picnics.  Jenny was amazing though seemed a bit melancholy.  It is amazing how her voice has matured and gotten more gravelly since starting with Rilo Kiley all those years ago.  She also is about the cutest person ever.  

I already had the Outer South CD but I was intrigued to hear Conor and his band live since I assumed that was how their sound was really meant to be heard, and I was right.  They were phenomenal.  Conor was totally on, and sporting a pretty crazy, huge black hat.  Sadly my delightful roommate who was kind enough to accompany me didn't quite get what he referred to as cowboy music.  Though I suppose the joy of country music and the fourth of july is understandably lost on him, he is from Belgium after all.  

None the less we had a wonderful time and headed back to the Kingdom after the show for drinks on the roof and later to a party at a friends apartment.  All in all it was a lovely weekend(except for the hangover the next day), how was your fourth?

Ink

I want another tattoo.  I have two already.  I have a pair of aces on my ankle which I got the week of my high school graduation.  Ace was my middle and high school nick name, it seemed appropriate that I commemorate surviving high school with that symbol.  It also looks hot with heels and is a great conversation starter.  My second tattoo I got the Christmas eve before I started school in Boston.  I had just moved from NC where my fairytail beach life with my best friend had gone horribly awry and I needed to start over.  I chose an ancient latin saying "Fortune Favors the Bold" to curl around my wrist like a bracelet.  This tattoo has several meanings to me.  It was about surviving a failed dream but also pursuing a new one.  When I moved to Boston I switched from an English major to music and made a commitment to a career I knew would not always be easy but that I was passionate about.  The placement of the tattoo around my wrist was very much an eff you to the mother who called visible tattoos job ruiners.  It was my promise to myself that whatever job I got it would accept me, ink and all.This brings us to my next tattoo.  Moving to NYC has been a rather epic moment in my life.  From the first time I remember stepping foot in Times Square at the age of 8 I knew that this was where I was supposed to be.  I have at last achieved a life time goal and I am loving it.  It makes it seem as if all the things that I've gone through in the past few years, not all good, have been worth it.  With that in mind, I want to commemorate this amazing summer with a piece of body art.  I am toying with doing the outline of the NYC skyline on my back left shoulder.  It would be similar to the above picture but it would be only the top line and it would not be so angular.  I've had some negative responses to the idea, cheesy, I would look like a post card, etc.  But it's my body, so if that's what I feel like, I'll do it.
I also really love the placement of this tattoo and the saying.  Moving to New York represented freedom and finding myself in a lot of ways.  Often I think of the placement of a tattoo before the actually image comes to me.
This one is not one I would get, I just thought it was lovely and creative and figured I would share.  Do you guys have tattoos?  Do you want one?  Got any great ideas for me?  Lay it on me!

This Is My Friend Jack

It's one of those days.  One of those days where a bubble bath and a few gallons of whiskey seem like a pretty good solution.  Sadly, my bathroom does not currently have a door so the bath is a no go, I'm settling for beer and an upset blog post.  My beau and I are not doing well.  As I told you, he's still in Boston for the summer while I am here in NYC and to be truthful he is not very happy.  We've been together for 2 years and by no fault of our own they have been 2 of the most difficult years of both our lives.  He is more or less wed to his baby restaurant and I have been in 2 rather difficult years of school, but we've made it through and have been lucky enough to be able to lean on each other.  

This summer however is proving a more difficult trial than expected.  He is unhappy with his subletter, he is working far too much and not making much money and he feels like he has no friends because he has been so wed to the restaurant that he hasn't had time for them in the past two years and now they have moved or have new friends.  Meanwhile, as I believe it is clear from my posts, I am loving New York.  I have wonderful friends, a job i enjoy and a city I simply can't get enough of.  I would love to share this with him but instead, every time I tell him about the fun I'm having he seems more distant and more resentful.  This of course leads to me not wanting to talk to him, which leads to yet more trouble.  

As I've said, I don't know how to reconcile the fact that in the coming year I will graduate and will need to begin looking into my career and where that will take me.  I want to be in New York, he needs to be in Boston.  I suppose it's best that I'm figuring this all out now, but still, it's messing with my head and ripping out my heart.  Any kind words, advice, encouragement or cold adult beverages are welcome.

What I'm Listening To:

Troubled Waters- Cat Power

Well Meaning Chaos

If there is one thing I have learned to love and appreciate from my artist roommates it is a little well meaning chaos.  I will admit it, my name is Ace and I am a neat freak( Hi Ace).  I haven't always been but over the past few years it has gotten worse.  It's generally a response to stress and frankly, college can be pretty damn stressful.  Living in a house full of artists, one can not be a neat freak.  This is not to say I'm not clean, I am, but I have learned to accept a little bit of chaos as a welcome part of my life.  The photos above and below are a good example of how a little crazy can work together and be just lovely.  OK, so there's dishes in my sink and my floor is far from perfectly shiny but that's ok cause I'm happy, I'm having fun and I'm enjoying life.  
We all get so wrapped up in being perfectionists sometimes that I think we forget to just let go and enjoy the world around us.  Go on, smell the roses, who cares if they're covered in dirt?

What I'm Listening To:

Little Secret- Passion Pit

P.S.  How much you want to bet that half of the stuff in those pics is second hand, don't forget, going green is good for the soul!

Laundry Day

I have got to do laundry!  I mean, I really have to do laundry. I haven't done it since I moved here!  And yes, I'm aware that me doing laundry doesn't usually look like this.  Generally I'm more clothed and realistically, I'm in sweatpants.  But I'm also taking this laundry griping oppurtunity to share with you the new Forever21 lingerie line which I am quite in love with. 
Like I said, I haven't done laundry in awhile, and while I've got lots of clothes, my underwear supply was running dangerously low.  So I did what any sensible New Yorker would do, I popped into Forever21 and bought more!  

And let me just tell you, the selection, though rather picked over, is quite adorable!  And at 3 for $10 pretty darn reasonable too.  

So while I'm sitting in my ratty sweatpants tonight, reading and doing my laundry why don't you go buy yourself some pretty little lovlies?  You know you want to and come on, who doesn't love new underwear?

Coney Island

So Sunday my roommates, my man and I all headed over to the legendary Coney Island.  Sure, it's a bit trashy but we had so much fun!
We spent a good deal of time lounging on the beach drinking beer and laughing at each other.  We rode some rides and watched some street performers.
We also introduced my french roommate to the wonders of deep fried oreos.  Oh, and bacon cheese dogs, bacon cheese fries, corn dogs, lemonade, cheap beer and subsequently heart burn and indigestion.  It's an American tradition.
I wish I could say I looked as lovely as this girl but sadly due to improper sunscreen application I got a bit toasted.  So allow me to take a moment to encourage and beg you to use your sunscreen!  Think, you could be as lovely as this alabaster beauty.

What I'm Listening To:

Coney Island- Death Cab For Cutie

Sometimes...

I get kinda down.  Today is one of those days.  I'm getting sick of rainy New York and need a little sun.  I'm also a little concerned about how much I love NYC and the fact that due to owning a rather needy restaurant in Boston my boyfriend is rather permanently there.  I still have a year before graduation but you know how fast those things go.  Once that's up I have to make grown up decisions about what I'm going to do and where I'm going to be.  I could work in Boston, but the ceiling is pretty low there and there isn't a lot of what I want to do.  The reality is I have always wanted to be living in New York and now that I'm here not only do I know that I can do it but I know that I love it.  Have any of you of been in a situation like this, are you now?  What did you do?  Career or love?  Isn't that what we're always asking ourselves?

What I'm Listening To:

Sweet Carolina- Ryan Adams

Ahoy, Sailor!

So this past week I told you I was going to the Shins and Delta Spirit show.  Let me start by saying the show was mind blowing.  It is always wonderful to see the wild and rock and roll Delta Spirit boys but it was a real treat to hear the Shins as well.  They are amazingly as good live as they are on CD!  That said, following the show, which ended rather early, my darling roommate and I did some upper west side wandering.  We amused ourselves by swinging on the swings in a near by park for awhile but as we were wandering back to the subway we saw a cheesy looking tex mex bar.  

The thought of nachos and corona on our minds we crossed the street and skipped on in.  To our immense surprise it was Fleet Week.  To those of you non-New Yorkers, Fleet Week is an annual NYC tradition.  It is the one week of the summer when all the Navy boys come to port for the week and general debauchery ensues.  This bar was packed to the gills with boys in spiffy white uniforms.  So we did what any two sensible New Yorkers would do, we grabbed some beers and parked it!  My roommate is single so my job for the night was wingwomaning, as if she needed it.  The place was like shooting fish in a barrel!  After a few lovely hours of beer pong and cheesy pictures of us in Navy hats we headed home, while the lovely boys tried to press crumpled phone numbers into our palms and the braver ones tried to follow us home.

Fleet Week is in my opinion a glorious week!  Sure, I can't bring home a sailor, but getting to say I played beer pong at fleet week is still pretty great.  If you can make it down single ladies, I highly recommend it.

Halsey Kingdom

Meet my home sweet home for this glorious summer.  My apartment goes by the name Halsey Kingdom and is inhabited by the most wonderful group of artists I have ever met.  The above pictures are of my room.  The bottom is the desk from which I currently greet you.  It's still a work in progress but it is certainly starting to feel like home...

What I'm Listening To:

Barking At The Moon- Jenny Lewis