Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend: Take ii

I know this is late, and for that I apologize, but hello, I'm here, and here is the second installment of Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend!

Wearin' Clothes: I know I tweeted earlier this week about what I was going to blog this weekend, and I said I was going to talk about Hudson Jeans, but I changed my mind. As it turns out, it's the dead of summer and most people aren't wearing jeans, you know? Including myself. So I changed my mind, because I wanted to talk about something I'm actually wearing, and that is this:

"World Peace Through Inner Peace" Tank

So this tank has been down at 3B for a few weeks now, and I have been eyeing it since the first day it got in. It's beautiful, obviously. So I finally got it, and I love it times infinity. The thing that's great about it is that I can wear it to yoga (with my Wunder Unders!) and then I come home and wash it real quick while I shower and whatever, and then I throw it on with shorts and a denim vest. It's the best.

It's made by a brand called Be Love, which is one of those great companies who work for community-based change and charity and produce everything sweatshop-free and stuff. I'm totally all for supporting companies with a bigger purpose than clothing. It's a reminder that fashion can be so much more than just clothing, but a political statement or a personal moral statement or it can benefit change and share art and be a form of expression, and that's why I love getting dressed every morning, you know? And that's why I love this tank!

And look how cute everything else they do is, too (I want these pieces a lot (my birthday is soon and you guys can buy them for me if you want)):

Anyway. Clothes are great, and that's what I'm wearing this week, and I'm feeling great about it.

Readin' Books: You guys, this is about to get emotional.

This week, I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series.

I sort of feel like talking about these books is like talking about the first time I fell in love. It's almost as if I have more feelings than words. I could talk about their literary brilliance or the general loveliness of Rowling's rhetoric. I could talk about the insane way they all come together and how perfectly they're planned.

But this isn't an AP Lang essay.

What I want to talk to you guys about is the way the Harry Potter series made me love literature. These characters were the first ones I felt a deep, personal, human connection to. I grew up with these guys. I cried over their deaths and celebrated their birthdays and loved them. Deeply. And I still do. I love them.

I'm moving to New York on August 22 to study writing, and I am studying writing because I love reading, and I love reading because these books made me. They shaped me. They sculpted me. And in some way, they loved me back. And Luna Lovegood shows up? It was like I freaking walked into the Harry Potter books, you guys. I AM LUNA LOVEGOOD, PEOPLE. And these books have full-on spiritual value for me. The sad thing is that I feel a little out-of-commission on my Harry Potter trivia because it's been a while since I've just inhaled these babies. I think that last time I read the complete series I was in the eighth grade. So, of course, it's time once again.

If you haven't yet read the Harry Potter series, I'm not sure what you're doing with your life right now. Go get those books already, you crazy. And if you have read the Harry Potter series (as I'm sure (or at least I hope) most of you have), then it's time for you to re-read it. Because this isn't some hyped up fandom. It's a life-changing literary experience.

Listenin' to Music: Okay, so I know I also tweeted earlier this week that I was going to tell you guys about the new Avicii + Aloe Blacc song that I have on repeat. It's good, and I'll stick the video below (ignore, like, the first 45 seconds of the DJ talking) -- 

But what I really want to talk about this weekend, is this:

Vampire Weekend covers Blurred Lines

I know, I know. I talked about Vampire Weekend last weekend, too. But they're JUST SO GOOD, YOU GUYS. Okay, so you all know that Blurred Lines song, right? I know you do, don't deny it, and I know you love it, too. But I came across a VAMPIRE WEEKEND COVER OF BLURRED LINES, PEOPLE. I AM DYING IT IS SO GOOD.

I love you, VW. I love you.

Something New: 

Teen Wolf on MTV

Alright, I know. Everything about it sounds silly -- a show on MTV about teenage werewolves. Granted, these guys aren't (especially during season 1) going to win any Academy Awards for Best Actors and the tech teams are certainly not winning any awards for incredible CGI, but literally, this show could fill every nominee slot for the Academy Award for Being Super, Super, Super Hot, which is an award I just made up that I would like to be a thing. 

Anyway. So about a week ago, I tweeted a picture to Avery with the caption, "Told you," after telling her I had fallen in love with a boy on tumblr.

This, in turn, spurred one of the many classic emails I get from Avery, which opened with this: 

"Addy.

It is with the strongest emphasis and deepest urgency that I tell you that the Tumblr boy you fell in love with last night is from.....

TEEN WOLF.

Yes, *the* Teen Wolf. It's finally time you jumped aboard my one-woman fangirl train of adolescent lycanthropy and beautiful, beautiful boys."

The email ended up convincing me that I needed to watch Teen Wolf, and I am about to convince you of the same.

Okay, so first of all, there's this guy and he's called Tyler Posey and he plays a boy called Scott:

He's like the main werewolf boy who spurs the whole show and whatever. Avery calls him "cute but no one actually cares." He's definitely cute, and people definitely care about him, but not because he's cute. They care about him because he's a WEREWOLF and he drives the show. However, in the world of cuteness he has just too much competition for anyone to care about him for his cuteness, because --

There's this guy, who is called Dylan O'Bryan and he plays a boy called Stiles who everyone cares about because he's perfect and adorable and you can't help but be completely in love with him.

He's just a human, but nobody cares that he's not actually a freaking awesome creature of the night because he basically runs the comedic relief of the entire show and also he's just so incredibly cute that it's basically impossible not to love him more than any other human real or fiction.

And then there's this guy. His name is Colton Haynes and he plays a boy called Jackson and he is, as Avery has so appropriately dubbed him, "the first human being that God created actually perfect."

I'm sorry, did you catch that?

JAWLINE JAWLINE JAWLINE!

He's pretty much a God among men, and I mean, he's hot even in one episode where a werewolf claw comes out of his actual mouth and he starts freaking out (like anyone would) and you basically have trouble focusing on the fact of, you know, the werewolf claw that's actually inside his body for some reason because he is just so incredibly beautiful.

Also there's this guy who complicates everything and also solves a lot of problems who is sometimes hot but nobody cares too much (meaning me and Avery don't care too much):

But finally, and most importantly, there is the original reason I was sold on this show (prepare yourself because you're about to get completely bombarded with pictures and also perfection):

This boy is literally actually perfection. He's called Daniel Sharman and he plays a traumatized teen werewolf with a troubled childhood and he is literal, actual, incomparable perfection, and the fact of the matter is that I am helplessly, hopelessly, undyingly, and irrevocably in love with him. Avery calls him "childs' play" compared to the rest of the cast, but she is OBVIOUSLY WRONG on account of the fact that he is OBVIOUSLY PERFECT. I love him. I love Teen Wolf.

The only reason you shouldn't watch Teen Wolf is if you want to be a normal, sane, boring human who doesn't fall head over heels in love with fictional characters in the worst type of unrequited love -- the kind where the person who you love DOESN'T EVEN ACTUALLY EXIST. Like, I love Daniel Sharman, but I am IN LOVE with the gum-smacking, leather-clad, troubled teen werewolf who is Isaac Lahey. And this is how I live now.

I will finish this section of Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend with just giving you the sign-off Avery gave me:

"Is that enough convincing? HIGH SCHOOL. WEREWOLVES. BOYS. DRAMA. GIRLS WHO KILL PEOPLE WITH CROSS BOWS. KISSING. FIGHTING.

I cannot stress this enough. TEEN WOLF, Addy, is not to be scoffed at any longer! This is important! For America! For Narnia!

Okay. I'm done. Consider yourself warned. Make the right choice."

Something Inspiring: So last Monday at yoga, as we finished, my teacher said, "Practice and all is coming." I've thought about that a lot lately. In reference to yoga, I see it every day. I can do things today that I couldn't do yesterday. I roll out my mat and new things happen with each practice. It's exciting. It's real.

But it's so much bigger than just yoga. Anything you want to do or be good at or whatever, practice. Practice and all is coming. You can do anything. That's a promise.

And I'll leave you with that. That -- and this pretty picture, because I move to the place where this pretty picture is a month from tomorrow.

Thank you for your incredibly warm response to this new blog tradition, and I hope to receive a similar one for this one. Tell me again what you're wearing and reading and listening to and just generally loving this weekend. I have been inspired and reassured by each of you. Thank you. I love you, you beautiful people. 

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." -Winston Churchill

Yours,

Yours truly

Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend: A Brand New Weekend Tradition

Woohoo! Welcome to the brand-new, hopefully awesome, potentially very fun and cool new weekly tradition which I've decided to call Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend (name subject to change). So basically I've been wanting some way to start out on this whole blogging The Big Move journey and The New York Adventures and whatnot, and maybe this is a good way to organize it? Again, I've never been the most organized person, so I'm not saying I won't just be like, "blah blah New York concerts strawberry festival boys roommates classes etc blah" but maybe sometimes this will be a good way to break it up and I won't make your eyes hurt with my paragraphs that are infinity long.

Anyway. So it's going to work loosely like this: Every weekend (or so), there will be a little post (edit, having just finished writing this post: a HUGE post) here on the bloggity blog that has something I'm wearing, something I'm reading, something I'm listening to, something new, and something inspiring. I think it'll be a fun way to talk about books and music, share outfits, ideas, foods, etc. Here's all I ask from you guys: You guys have to be a part of this, okay? There are about a thousand ways to contact me, twitter, instagram, text message, phone call, appearing at my front door, setting your mat next to me at yoga class, commenting here on the blog, etc. I want to know what you guys are wearing and reading and listening to and just generally loving throughout the week. I don't want this to turn into "Hey I'm Addy and I discovered all this stuff myself" because that's absolutely no fun at all. Leave comments! Send me texts! Come to yoga with me! Do your own version of Stuff You're Generally Loving This Weekend Inspired By Addy on your own blogs and send me the link for heaven's sake. Tell what you're generally loving and I will try it out and probably end up blogging it. Especially books and music. Please. And then let's talk about them. Let's get lunch. Let's go on drives. Let's talk on the phone. I want to connect with you people. Can you guys do that for me? (Say yes. I just told you eighty billion ways to let me know you're in.)

So. Here we go, my darlings! The first installment of Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend begins now:

Wearin' Clothes: Okay, so I wasn't sure how I was going to work this one. Would I post a picture of what I'm wearing as I write this? Do I post a photo of my favorite outfit during the week? Do I use stock photos from the websites where I buy my clothes? I've made no real decisions with this one, so we'll just go with the flow, I guess.

Lululemon Wunder Unders

So I'm literally wearing a pair of Wunder Under crops as I type this from my bed, but that's not really a surprise at all considering the fact that I literally live in these. I swear by them -- trust me, I own five different pairs. I tried to find pictures of all of them because I love them all equally, but I couldn't find them online and I wasn't going to model them for you (maybe someday), so here are three of the five. I own the black pant, the black crop, the bright pink crop reversible, a gray herringbone patterned crop, and a dark purple heather-y patterned pant. These things are the gods of yoga pants. Plus they're cute and you can sleep in them and wear them to the store (don't roll your eyes at that; we all wear yoga pants in public) and wear them around the house and wear them to parties (maybe) and wear them to weddings (maybe?) and wear them to school (probably don't, actually) and I'm getting ahead of myself with all the places you can wear them, but what I'm trying to say is that I would like to be buried in a pair of wunder under crops. I love them that much.

I should also say this: Yes, I know Lululemon is expensive, and yes, I know Lululemon has developed a bit of a reputation for being, like, snobby yoga clothes, and yes, I know you can do yoga without a perfect Lululemon outfit, and yes, I know there are other brands of great yoga clothes out there (Gap Body and Teeki are some of my other favorites), but GUYS. Lulu is such good quality. They're such a fresh brand, constantly innovating, such great colors and designs, and they're tried and true. These guys are making such great quality, fashionable workout clothes, and it's worth your money. I promise. I've said this before on the blog (back on a post all about boots) and I'm sure I'll say it again: Don't spend your money on cheapie clothes. Save up and buy, like, one great Wunder Under crop or something. They'll last you forever and you'll love them for just as long.

Readin' Books: If I'm being completely honest, this one is actually a little hard for me to blog about. Here's why: I really, really, really love books. Like, a whole dang lot. Because of that, I develop this deep, personal attachment to great books and then I feel like they're mine and I really actually have a hard time sharing them with people. So. I'm going to open myself up and show you my insides every weekend with this one. To be completely honest, there are still some books I'll probably never share with you guys on here, but I'd probably tell you to read them if you asked me personally. BUT! I'm going to stop being so selfish and share with you.

This week, I'm telling you guys to read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Oh my gosh, you guys. This book. I won't say much because I want you guys to read it, and then we can go get lunch and geek out over it together, but I will say that if you love dystopian novels (1984, Brave New World, The Giver type stuff) you are going to love this book. Also if you can read the English language you are going to love this book. I mean, I think you will at least, because I definitely did. It was originally recommended to me by my fellow blogger and best friend, Avery, and I read it while I was in Europe and it's seriously so good. Oftentimes I feel like great plots are sometimes lost because they aren't supported by great rhetoric (Hunger Games, anyone?). The great news is that not only does this book have one of the most intruiging plots in the history of ever, Atwood also has such a gorgeous writing style on top of it. You will seriously eat this book up. It's brilliant on so many levels.

Listenin' to Music: If you haven't already heard, Vampire Weekend came out with their third album recently, Modern Vampires of the City. And if you haven't also already heard, it's freaking great. I've always loved Vampire Weekend and this new one has only made me love them more. It's got such a nice sound and vibe that's so true to what made me (and everyone else, for that matter) love them so much. (Fun fact: The lead singer, Ezra Koenig has a degree in English Literature from Columbia, so I love him for that, too.)

The whole album is great, but I'm especially loving a couple different songs this weekend:

1.) "Diane Young," obviously, because it's seriously good and fun to dance around to, but also because my dad today was like, "Do you know who Diane Young is? Do you know what this song is about really, huh huh?" and I was just like, "It's a song about some girl named Diane Young baby baby baby baby riiiight on time," and he was like, "Listen," and then we listened to the song and he sang some parts really loud and THEN I UNDERSTOOD AND IT IS FREAKING AWESOME AND I LOVE VAMPIRE WEEKEND, but I'm not telling you what the song is about because I want you to figure it out and then we can freak out about it together. (Hint: "Diane young" sounds like something else when you say it, especially when you pair it with the lyrics. You'll figure it out, and if you really can't figure it out I'll just tell you. Text me.)

2.) "Don't Lie," because the chorus is so catchy and Vampire Weekend-y and fun to sing along with.

3.) "Hannah Hunt," because it's like a weird love song and just generally good.

Something New: 

Salt and Straw Ice Cream, Portland, OR

So I went on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Portland, Oregon this week (which is a whole story in itself, but I can save that for another time), but the point is that I went to this ice cream place that I've been hearing about from my cousins up there for a while and my family had it without me not too long ago, so I've been dying to try it. The reason it's under the Something New section this weekend is because check out some of their flavors:

Like, WHAT? So I tried about infinity flavors and ended up with this delicious one that the girl said was her favorite and a salted caramel one, which, okay. Easily one of the best things I've ever eaten in the history of my whole life. Here are some google images of the one I went to on 23rd street in Portland.

 

The thing is, these pictures are completely deceiving on account of being, like, advertisement stock photos because never in a trillion years would this place be at all empty. There's a line that wraps all the way around the corner at all times and the seats are filled always, as far as I can tell. But it's SO WORTH IT, you guys. The worker people are the coolest, nicest humans and the ice cream is literally the best ice cream I've ever eaten and the whole place has that great Portland vibe, and if you ever get there, you had better try the waffle cones, too.

Something Inspiring: So this is the last installment of Stuff I'm Generally Loving This Weekend this weekend, and I feel like it could oftentimes get a little sentimental on account of me just being a sentimental, emotional person, but I hope it does in some way inspire or make you feel good or love the world a little more maybe and encourage you to spread good karma and do nice stuff and eat healthy and exercise and buy people things or whatever.

So this week, while I was out of town (to make a very long story short) my 15-year-old sister, Sophie, broke her jaw while running up at cross country camp. (That picture is her and my dad in the emergency room right after it happened, and I love that picture so much and it also makes me cry a lot.) She ended up in the emergency room with cuts and bruises all over, nine stitches in her chin, and the next day at the oral surgeon where they did some major surgery on her jaw. As of now, her jaw is completely shut and she can only drink liquidly things like soup and really over-blended smoothies and juice and stuff. I feel like I need to brag about her and how amazing she is as a runner and human and everything, but mostly I just need to say how inspired I've been by so many things that have happened since.

For one, Sophie is the bravest person I know. You guys wouldn't believe how tough she's been. It's just in her blood to be so strong (I mean, she's one of the best female high school cross country runners in the state, so I guess being tough is a requirement), but I haven't heard her complain once. She was doing exercises in the backyard just this morning and she's still laughing away, even with her jaw all shut.

For two, I know I speak for Sophie and the rest of my family in saying that we've been completely overwhelmed by the kindness she's received. I came upstairs yesterday to the entire AF girls XC team in my parents' room where she'd been lying down with cards and games and balloons. Her coaches have come to visit, called to check in. The team went to the emergency room with her. Her best friend's dad came to the emergency room. A guy who found her on the trail while her coach was getting his car and helped her came to the house to make sure she was doing alright (he's a total stranger, you guys!). People have just been so genuinely concerned for her, keeping her in their prayers, sending their love, and I think I just underestimate the kindness of humanity sometimes. It's been inspiring for me, because I know I can be nicer every day and try to think more about others and find ways to send goodness out to everybody, you know?

So. This has been the first installment of Stuff I'm Loving This Weekend. Does this work? Will you guys read this? Is this a good idea? Do you want to join me and talk about stuff you love and whatever? TELL ME IF THIS IS A GOOD IDEA BECAUSE I THINK IT IS BUT I NEED YOUR INPUT BECAUSE THIS BLOG IS A DEMOCRACY (sort of). (Maybe it's more of a benevolent monarchy.) Point is, tell me if I'm doing this right, because I've never really blogged like this, but I kind of like it, and I think this is the direction this blog is going.

What are you guys wearin' and readin' and listenin' to and generally loving this weekend?

"Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have." -Doris Mortman

I love you guys.

-Adds

Yoga: How I Came To Love It, Why I Do, And Why You Should Too

There's a weird thing that happens to ballerinas around the age of 13. Calling myself a ballerina sounds glamorous, but it wasn't. I mean, I wasn't one of those glorious, waify things who danced 50 hours a week or anything. When I finally realized that I wasn't ever going to have perfect turnout, and I didn't have enough drive to force myself into it and also into, like, anorexia, I left the dance world. I knew I wasn't ever going to be one of those 90-pound sprites who fought through the politics and ended up bleeding her way, literally, into the chorus of ABT. I was more comfortable behind a novel or telling people stories. So I quit dancing. Which, truly, was a little sad, but I was 16, and I was already past my time.

The point is, I had discovered and become some things as a dancer that I wanted to hold on to. I was flexible and balanced and strong, and, apparently in some effort to replace my downright depressing turnout, I discovered this incredibly flexible spine of mine. For years I'd practiced yoga maybe once every few months, and on December 27, 2011, I woke up at 6:00 am and went to a yoga class.

The things I discovered over the months following were baffling to me: You could come to yoga no matter your weight. You could come no matter your age. You could come to matter your religion or gender or education or passions or commitments or phobias. You could come and have a few moments of solace, just you and your mat. You didn't have to be anything or look any certain way, you just had to keep breathing.

I have now been practicing yoga seriously for a year and a half. I have a special place in my heart for the little studio in Alpine where it all began, and I love every place and every teacher who I've had the pleasure of practicing with, from Bikram in West Linn, Oregon to Bikram in Lehi, Utah, to Sonic Yoga on 9th Avenue in New York City, to the place that has come to feel most like home: 3B in good old P-Town. During the summers I practice 5-6 days a week, at least an hour a day, and I remember last August when I was plugging in up to five hours a day. It's addicting, that much I know for sure. It was during that yoga marathon of a month (August 2012) when I did my first 30 Day Challenge, which was nothing more than simply practicing yoga every single day without fail. One of my teachers offered up the challenge saying, "You never know what you might discover," and in it I discovered, among other things, 3B. (I named my yoga mat "Thirty" after the challenge.)

I was discovering things like this:

And I've never seen something so simultaneously exciting and calming and inspiring. The part where she lifts herself up into that handstand you can see the shot of the city behind her just gives me chills.

I found myself daydreaming about acro yoga during history class:

I get so excited about yoga, you guys.

Like, just take a look at this:

 

It's beautiful. It's inspiring. It's exciting.

Yoga is so universal. In my travels around the world, I have found and been able to practice yoga anywhere I am. Yoga is healing, and the benefits range from sleeping better to weight loss to muscle toning to improving your digestion.

But for me, more than anything, yoga has helped to make me joyful. It's hard to explain all the things I love about yoga and the reasons I practice, but yoga has, both physically and as just, like, a person, made me stronger, more balanced, braver. It has allowed me to trust myself.

I think back often to the day I first began my serious practice and I am reminded of just how far I have come. There is nothing like the first time you hold bakasana (that one where you balance your legs on the back of your arms) or jump out of it into a chataranga or balance into a headstand or wiggle into lotus or kick up into pincha mayurasana (forearm stand) and I realize so often that when I began, I could not do these things. In fact, I couldn't do some of these things three weeks ago, but here I am, doing them, and that is so rewarding.

Just a couple weeks ago, my mom sold our kitchen table, so I happily claimed the space as an in-home yoga room, and I was thrilled to come home one morning from class and show off this new balance. (That's actually me on my mat on my kitchen floor.)

Yoga, I have discovered, is about so much more than being bendy. It's about discovering who you are. I'm really into dedicating my practices lately, which is something I used to forget to focus on, but I really believe it, even if it sounds a little wild. I dedicate my practices to people I love or goals I have or simply to myself and to having a good day, to being a little better than I was the day before.

There are so many associations with yoga that I have come to really love. I found myself explaining chakras (yes, they're for real, and yes, they're for awesome) and the symbolism of Om (harmony with the universe) to the cashier at Color Me Mine last week after having painted a cup with a huge lavender Om symbol and the words, "Be kind (to yourself, too). No exceptions," and "Everything has beauty." I'm an impatient, flawed person, and I find myself becoming more what I want to be with each vinyasa.

Originally, this post was maybe going to be an explanation of why I love yoga or the story of how I came to practice and love it or maybe I was going to convince all of you to also practice and love it, but I guess I don't really have the words to explain why I love it so much. It just sort of fit with me and my energy and I just can't get enough of it now, you know? I guess the point is, you guys ought to maybe practice yoga just a little. You can come with me, if you like. I'm more than happy to take you along, and I'm almost always going sometime soon.

I guess what I'm saying is this: Namaste, you guys. All the good in me salutes all the good in you.

"Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind, and soul." -Amit Ray
ASB

*Most photos are from mayor-asana.tumblr.com, and many of the others are internet finds. I'd love to give credit where credit is due, so let me know what you know!