north beach, art update (commissions still open!)

This past Tuesday I took my darling friend Elle around North Beach. It's been years since I've been in the neighborhood, and upon returning, I wasn't sure why it took me so long to revisit it. All those restaurants, all those cafes and cute little boutiques...definitely right up my alley. (Unfortunately, not literally).

Started out the day at Beacon Coffee & Pantry. Very nice place, lovely interior, gorgeous lighting, and the drinks were delicious. Won't be my first time stopping by. There were so many cafes around to choose from, but something about this place sold me when I was reading about it on Yelp.

Caffe Greco was recommended to me by a friend in the city, so I knew I had to take Elle there. I got to try my first cannoli! I thought it would be way too sweet for my taste (I'm not a huge sweet tooth) but it was actually a lot richer than I was expecting. Stil pretty good, though.

I've been spending a lot of time with Elle this summer, and I still miss her every day. It's August, and classes resume at the end of the month, and as much as I'm dreading falling back into that routine, I know I'll have a lovely summer to look back on. Besides! I still have a few things to look forward to before fall semester starts up. Audrey, who I stayed with in LA during spring break, is coming up to visit me!

Other things:

+ I'm seeing The Horrors @ The Fillmore in October. Also, Drowners are playing here again in that same month. Still debating on whether or not I should go since I have class that night, but...I mean, we all know how well I can resist a good show. (Spoiler: I can't. I'm awful. I have no willpower. Especially since there's the chance I'll get to chat with the band again.)

+ Art commissions are still open. As of this moment, I still have four slots available -- please read the information here for details. In the meantime, I've been drawing a lot, to keep the creative spirit alive. Here's (yet another) Holmes and Watson sketch I whipped up:

( post @ Tumblr )

What I've been wearing: I hate summer weather. The end. Summer as a holiday I adore -- shame that it comes coupled with the temperatures I can't stand the most. My sense of style hasn't really changed since spring ended. I've mostly been wearing shirts and my favorite pair of high-waisted shorts. But! I am wearing necklaces on a regular basis again. Here's a photo of the ones I've been alternating between.

What I've been inspired by: Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and literally everything about her aesthetic. Cosmic goddess, Sailor Scout galaxy grunge (by the way I'm enjoying the SM remake), pastel space witch, intergalactic femme fatale, whatever the hell kind of aesthetic you can come up with -- she can do it. I've spent hours on YouTube watching live performances. You should watch this video of Rattlesnake and Digital Witness live @ La Cigale Paris 2014. (Flashing light warning.) I'm still hitting myself on the head for missing her show here back in March, as well as the show in LA that she did while I was there.

What I've been listening to: A lot of St. Vincent, obviously. For some reason I've been revisiting some favorite bands from middle school, particularly Ladytron, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab for Cutie. (Ladytron were really fucking good, man. Forget Lana's "Blue Jeans", Ladytron's "Blue Jeans" still kills me with how great it is.) I had no fashion sense then but damn I had a hell of a music library. Oh, and I'm still dancing along to Late of the Pier, and still waiting for their next album even though it's been six years. On nights I need some voiceless, instrumental fuel for my creativity, I listen to Zoe Keating's wonderful cello work. (You might recognize her from the Elementary soundtrack. Check out "Escape Artist" and "We Insist".)

What I've been reading: Why do I even have this section here? I haven't read a book in months (that wasn't required for class). I've got two literature courses coming up, so that'll be fun. I don't know, do random articles of information about, say, deadly ingredients in cosmetics or the journey your luggage makes in an airport count? Writing murder mysteries with friends puts some really strange things into your browser history, let me tell you. That being said, don't mind me if I wipe it clean -- pardon me for a moment.

keeping it short

Remember how I said in my last post that I was going to update regularly this summer? Yeah, me neither.

July's already ending -- classes resume at the end of August -- and I feel like I've both done enough and not enough this summer. Apart from (unsuccessful) job hunting and watching my sleep schedule resemble that of a nocturnal creature, I've been trying to keep myself busy on the days it's too hot to go outside, which turns out to be most days.

Some things in a short list because I don't have enough to make a proper update at the moment:

+ I'm back to having short bangs. Pictures...eventually. When it's not a billion degrees.

+ Been doing some cafe hopping with my dear friend Elle. We're going again tomorrow around North Beach.

+ ...And writing some murder mysteries at said cafes. (Elementary's third season doesn't premiere until late October so I have to do something, right?)
+ Recently put together a short electronica/rock mix on 8tracks. Listen to CUTGLASS here!

And last but definitely not least: I've opened art commissions! Check out the post on Tumblr here for details. Reproduced below are my rates according to particular illustration style.

summer break

Hey! I figured it was about time I updated; it's been a little over a month since my last post. I've been on summer break since sometime in mid-May -- while I've got twice the amount of free time I had before, I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with all that time. In fact, I have no set plans for this summer other than sticking to my goal of simply doing something productive this summer.

I have a lot to cover in this post, so pardon the mess below. 

Here's a list of what's been going on since my last post:

+ I got a haircut:

  

+ Amidst the nightmare of finals week, I was blessed with a great opportunity: I've been featured in the Golden Gate Xpress under Fashion Forecast! Here's an excerpt of the article on summer style in San Francisco, and one of the photos from the shoot:

“It’s no secret that San Francisco weather is wildly moody, but that doesn’t mean style has to be sacrificed. There are a slew of ways to embrace the sun but still be well equipped for San Francisco’s temperamental temperatures. “I definitely have to pull out a pair of shorts when the heat wave strikes and set the leather jacket aside,” said Roanne Quiozon, a Comparative and World Literature major at SF State who interns for a college fashion website and has her own fashion and lifestyle blog. “I just make a series of simple swaps, such as switching from pants to shorts, skirts and tights to skirts without the tights, or boots to loafers.”

Read the whole article and see more photos here!

+ I turned 21. It's only been a little over two weeks since then, but so far, it's been a great age. There is nothing more refreshing at the end of a disgustingly 90+ degree weather day than a margarita.

+ I know I said I'd do commissions once summer began. For some reason, most of my drawing motivation flew out the window the moment summer break settled in. (It was all over the place during finals, though.) I'm working to get the drawing bug back. In the meantime, there's free shipping at my society6 store till June 8 at midnight, so check it out through this promotional link!

+ A few posts of mine at the Fashion Inspired by Art column over at College Fashion were published since my last update. Click the names of the following artists to see outfits inspired by their work: Suzuki Kiitsu, Wayne Thiebaud, Kobayashi Kiyochika, and Georgia O'Keeffe. I have one coming up next Wednesday, so be on the lookout in case I don't create a post here. If you're a cat lover like me, I think you'll enjoy it.

+ Thanks to the hot weather leaving me clueless on how to update my style (and some birthday money/gifts), here are a few cute things I've bought and have been wearing lately:

1) A bee necklace from J. Topolski. I've been wearing it literally every day since I've gotten it. I wear rings all the time, and I thought I'd try getting back into wearing necklaces on a regular basis. This special little trinket was my birthday present for myself, and it may or may not be a way for me to further express my love for my favorite TV show, and one of my favorite scenes, ever. (One year later and it still gets me.) 

2) Wedges. They're my first pair. Wedges have always looked so cute on other people but for some reason, I could never picture myself wearing them...I've never even bothered to try on a single pair until these came in the mail! These are the "Bamboo Tessa Wedge" from Urbanog.com.

3) Maroon felt hat from Mars Mercantile in Berkeley (a venue I recommend, by the way -- they've got the cutest vintage dresses organized by decade). Anyway, I haven't had a hat I regularly incorporated into my outfits since this one green slouchy beanie I wore all the time in high school. Since I cut my hair, and since it's in that weird, growing out stage right now, I wanted to have something to fall back on when it refuses to cooperate. My short hair looks better with hats than my long hair did.

4) Light wash denim overalls. (Or shortalls, technically.) I was actually looking for medium wash ones as I'm not a huge fan of light wash denim in general, but these were on sale, so.

Some other bits of my life: 

+ Joining the discussion at #YesAllWomen and partaking in countless angry feminist rants -- not that there are days I'm not an angry intersectional feminist. To be frank, I'm a furious one, and the fact that there are people out there that continuously misinterpret feminism and its goals gets on my nerves every day. The fact that there are people who treat these issues like they aren't important puts me in an even worse mood. 

Feminism isn't just some cute trend or man-hating club, y'all. Do your homework, do your research, remember to always keep intersectionality in your feminism, and spread the word because discussing and raising awareness to these issues -- as well as unlearning all the problematic notions you've internalized and continuously checking/correcting your problematic behavior -- is really fucking important.

If you haven't visited the #YesAllWomen hashtag yet, I suggest you stop reading this messy blog post now and go read everyone's contributions. (Various trigger warnings.) If what you read there doesn't open your eyes about the blatant misogyny in our society -- the same blatant misogyny that society continues to ignore -- I honestly don't know what will.  

Wake up. Please. Just because you yourself have not experienced what the women in the hashtag have, or just because you think you aren't part of the problem (being silent about sexism only further perpetuates misogyny and does nothing to help women), doesn't make misogyny any less real. It doesn't mean you are exempt from the issue and the discussion that desperately and continuously needs to be implemented into our daily lives.

+ Elementary ended its second season a few weeks ago, and even though this season was hit-or-miss (don't get me started on the last two episodes), I've felt a void in my heart ever since. I did binge watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine though, which I completely adore, and which I regret watching way too fast because that's left a void in my heart, too. (I'm watching Broad City now.) 

+ Speaking of Elementary, I've done a few doodles since my last update. View them here. 

+ After years of not really doing anything with nature, I went hiking at Redwood Regional Park. 

...I feel like I'm more or less done with this post for now. I'll try not to have such a huge gap in-between updates again to spare you the sloppiness, and to spare myself from trying to remember everything that's happened. I might add a few more things to this entry if I remember them.

One last exciting tidbit of news: Lucy Liu tweeted me. What a bad time to have a play on my name as my Twitter title, huh? (Somewhere, the 10 year old in me is crying with happiness. And by '10 year old' I mean me, now, as a 21 year old, and every age in between. She's just my absolute favorite.)

See you soon!