I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I had so much great stuff going on in my life! After finals I headed home for two weeks and spent some time with my family and friends back in Dallas. I also saw my amazing sister graduate from Texas A&M University (and she already has a job as a 4th grade teacher!) I've been back in Berkeley for the past 2 weeks and started my job at thredUP in San Francisco last Monday. It's been really great, and I think that I might make a post just on that soon. It's been interesting waking up to commute on the BART every morning (and, even worse, dealing with it on the way home). It really makes me wonder, if I do decide to work in the city after I graduate, if I would rather dish out half my paycheck on a place in San Francisco or if it's worth it to live in the East Bay and commute. There's certainly pros and cons to both- the whole Bay Area is awesome so you can't really go wrong. It's also been really weird feeling like an adult...I commute to and from my job at an office downtown everyday and I'm living on my own. Nick and I even went to some happy hour alumni event for his school on Friday where we talked to a bunch of actual adults. It's weird, but definitely enjoyable at the same time.
Anyways, a really cool thing happened last weekend and that was this photo shoot with Brittany at Work it, Berk. Her blog is really cool and talks about street fashion, bloggers, food, and more in Berkeley and the Bay Area as a whole. Everyone needs to go check out her blog right now! I was so amazed when she reached out to me to do a feature on me (mainly because I hardly ever update this blog, but I'm trying!) We shot these pictures on campus (isn't my campus just too pretty??), and I really like how they turned out. This was the first time wearing my new Jeffrey Campbell Temekus and they completely tore my feet up. Really bad experience. If you're thinking of buying them, think real long and hard about how much your little feet can take!
As far as music goes, I've been listening to a lot of stuff lately. Jamie XX's album, In Colour, was released recently, and that's been on heavy rotation. I honestly love all of the songs and a lot of them aren't even new, but "Loud Places" is certainly a favorite. I love Romy's voice and I literally CANNOT WAIT for the new XX album that they're apparently working on. Not sure if you guys know, but I used to be obsessed with the XX (and I guess I still am, but they just haven't done anything recently for me to get super excited about). I had Siri calling me "Mrs. Oliver Sim" for way too long. There were honestly pictures of Oliver Sim on my binder senior year of high school, way past when anyone should have pictures of their favorite celebrity heart throb on their school supplies. I saw them in concert that year, when they were touring for Coexist, and it was amazing. Nick and I tried to get tickets to see Jamie in San Francisco but the tickets sold out so fast and now they're going for $200 (no concert is worth that, for real). Anyways, here's "Loud Places", but everyone should definitely go listen to the entire album because it's great.
Hope to see you all soon on the blog, I'm working on updating more AND Nick is working on putting together a snazzy new layout for me! Til then,
I'm so excited about these pants! I wrote about them a few posts ago when I was talking about Jeremy's, my new favorite store. They're velvet J Brand bellbottoms and I got them at such a bargain. I've been looking for a pair of bellbottoms for a while and now that I have my ASOS platform boots that I wrote about in my last post I can finally wear them without tripping over myself! Also, when paired with the boots they make my legs look miles long, which is awesome. This mural that my friend Adam and I stumbled upon in Oakland last Thursday seemed like the perfect backdrop for my look. I really need to get out and explore Oakland more, and I think Nick and I are going to make it a goal to go there next weekend for a change of scenery.
However, this weekend, I (surprise!) spent my time in San Francisco. It was Nick's birthday so we went to Golden Gate Park and the De Young Museum, drove up to Twin Peaks to take in the view, and had a delicious dinner at Nopalito in the Inner Sunset. I'm hoping to go into San Francisco with my roommates one day during dead week because there really is so much to see there once you get away from the BART stops. I love the city more and more with every visit, and I can't wait to start working there in the summer!
Just LOOK at this city!
Today's song comes from Hundred Waters, a band that Nick got me into when he invited me to go to their concert with him shortly after we started dating. They were apparently the opener for Interpol on their East Coast leg of the tour I went to last semester, but Nick couldn't go because the show was canceled due to snow. Regardless, he looked up the band thinking that anyone related to Interpol in any way MUST be perfect. I'm glad he did so because they're great. I really recommend everyone check them out; their sound is a little difficult to describe: kinda ambient, electronic, slow and romantic at times but a bit creepy at other times. The singer has a really beautiful but interesting voice. A song by them that I've really been digging lately is called "Down From the Rafters" so that's the one I'm going to post today. Enjoy and have a great week!
Details: Dress-Urban Outfitters, Boots-ASOS, Necklace-House of Harlow via Rocksbox, Socks-IDK my mom won them as part of a raffle???
Hello everyone! I'm here today to talk about two of my absolute favorite new clothing items that I just so happen to be wearing together in this post: this Urban Outfitters dress and these ASOS boots! First of all, I found this dress the other day when I was doing a "I just finished a lot of stuff I had to do for school and tax returns are a thing" trip to Urban Outfitters. I had picked out a few items and told myself that I was only allowed to buy one thing. I had originally picked up this dress not thinking it would be as bodycon as it actually is, but when I tried it on I instantly fell in love. I think the cut is so flattering for my body type, and it allows me to show off my curves without being too revealing. It's a moderate length, it's not low cut, but it still manages to show off my body in a way that I'm comfortable with. Also, it can be easily dressed up and down, which makes it super versatile. If anyone is looking for that perfect LBD, I highly recommend this dress! You can click the link to it in my details section. I'm also absolutely in love with these platform chelsea boots I purchased recently from ASOS. I've been wanting a pair of boots like this for a while but finally took the plunge because these were on sale (and still are!) and I had just found the PERFECT pair of bell bottoms at Jeremy's and really needed a shoe of this exact height to be able to wear them without tripping over myself. They're a but more heeled than I'm used to, but after wearing them around for a few days, I'm relatively used to walking in them now. This is also a shoe that I would absolutely recommend to anyone because they're pretty comfortable, affordable, and are also really versatile and can go with casual outfits or something a bit nicer. It feels so great to know that the purchases I make for my closet are really going to go a long way. I think that's something I've been getting better at - making purchases that really make sense. I think more now when I think about buying something about how many times I would wear the item, how many things could I pair it with, is it really a sound investment? I guess I'm maturing.
If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'll know that last semester around dead week and finals week I went through this really weird stage of only listening to pop punk music that I listened to in middle school and early high school. It really kept me motivated to do my work for whatever reason. Maybe I was transporting myself back to a less stressful time in my life or maybe there really is just something about Patrick Stump's voice that inspired me to keep those statistics practice problems going into the wee hours of the night. Whatever the reasoning, it's happening again? This year's pop punk breakdown star is My Chemical Romance, and I've been really feeling the nostalgia the past few days. Gerard Way just gets my teen heart beating faster, faster, ya know? Anyways, I've been listening to this real throwback from their first album (before Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge), mainly because the video is just so...Gerard. Anyways, here is "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of us" (also can we just talk about how ridiculous early 2000s pop punk song titles were? It made making mix CDs so difficult!)
Details: Pants-American Apparel, Shirt-Urban Outfitters via Jeremy's, Flannel-Vintage, Necklaces-Forever 21 and Dailylook.com, Shoes-Freebird via LF
The weather here has been so indecisive lately, which I guess is pretty normal for the Bay Area. Yesterday I really couldn't decide if I was cold or warm all day, hence the loose and cool shirt paired with the warmer flannel to pull out during gusts of wind. I absolutely love this backless black shirt and almost bought it while it was at Urban Outfitters, but I'm glad I didn't because I found it a few weeks ago at Jeremy's for over half off! Jeremy's is literally the greatest place on Earth, and I feel so bad for all of you not from the Bay Area who have to live life without it. It's a discounted retail store and they have such great stuff from Urban Outfitters, Free People, For Love and Lemons, Alexander Wang, ect...you get the picture. On my last trip there I found this shirt, some black bell bottoms from Joe's Jeans, and a Free People bralette for $5. #winning
I had a very busy weekend and am now catching up on all the schoolwork I have due in the upcoming weeks. On Friday I went into the city for an internship interview, which was nice because I love going to San Francisco whenever I can (not that it's hard now that I have an excuse to because of Nick). Then I went to a karaoke social I had planned for WYSE, a club I'm in on campus. I spent the night horribly belting out "Helena" by My Chemical Romance and reliving my middle school years and also that weird post-punk meltdown I had before finals last semester. On Saturday I went into the city with Mackenzie, one of my roommates, to get brunch and go shopping. Nick and I met up after Mackenzie went back to Berkeley and we went to the Exploratorium, which I've been wanting to go to for ages! It was pretty cool I suppose; some of the stuff was kind of hit or miss and there were children everywhere, but it was fun exploring all the little science things with Nick. I was very much that person that just walked up to a thing without reading the instructions and just starting pressing buttons and Nick would have to stop me and say "omg no you have to turn this thing first and then touch this metal to this other thing and then you can press the button". We ended the night here in Berkeley hanging out with some of my floormates from last year playing Mario Kart (which I used to be good at and am apparently now just AWFUL at).
I've been working much harder during the week than I have in past semesters since I spend my weekends doing fun stuff with Nick. Still, I don't think I've become a "weekend warrior" or anything because I still manage to set aside time in the week to grab coffee or dinner with my friends just so that I'm not overwhelmed with studying always. I have some pretty great stuff planned for the next few upcoming weekends, and I can't wait to take pictures and blog about it all! Til then, here is the song for the day. It's by Banks, who I've been listening to a lot lately. Her music is so beautiful and it was hard to pick just one song to feature today! I've chosen F*** Em Only We Know because I feel like a lot of her songs are about lost love or anger towards a loved one, and that's really not what I'm feeling right now. This song is definitely about that Bonnie & Clyde Ride or Die kind of love, and the lyrics are actually really sweet, so enjoy!
Nick and I are getting into a nice routine of alternating between Berkeley and San Francisco on the weekends, and this was a San Fran week. We did a lot of tourist-ey things that he hadn't done yet like go to Union Square, Westfield mall, and the Piers. We (and by we I mean I) really wanted to go to the Exploratorim, but by the time we got there it was close to closing. We ended up just walking through the swarms of tourists at Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf which was honestly kinda miserable. We have plans to do the whole Exploratorium thing next weekend though so I'm not complaining. The weather in San Francisco is rather weird because how the temperature feels is really dependent on whether or not it's windy or sunny. It was both of these things on Saturday which was super confusing. This outfit was a pretty good compromise for the sometimes cold and sometimes warm temperatures. However, this morning it was actually a bit rainy which was nice since we really need that here. Also, this resulted in me having to borrow Nick's super nice mustard-colored rain jacket that I am now in possession of until the end of the week (mwahahaha).
This semester has been flying by so quickly and it's crazy to think that it's already April and I only have a few weeks of classes left! There's a lot of (arguably unnecessary) stress occurring in my life because of this. I'm spending rather large chunks of my time looking a summer internship, and I've found a select few that I really like. Still, not knowing precisely what I'm doing with my summer is a little scary. Then of course there's Nick and I's impending post-summer LDR which is something that I try not to think of. I'm working on living in the moment and being happy with the way my life is going right now, which isn't difficult since I am actually really happy right now. I just know that everything is going to work out. Here is a nice song by LCD Soundsystem because I tend to listen to them when big things are happening in my life. Most of their songs progress a lot from start to finish and I like to imagine my life passing by in some great cinematic montage when listening to them.
Details: Shirt-Project Social T via Urban Outfitters, Pants-Urban Outfitters, Shoes-Coverse, Bag-Fossil
This isn't really an outfit post as much as it is a recap of what I've been up to lately since I haven't posted in a little while. I just finished my first day of school after spring break and, in classic Karis fashion yet again, am writing this post to avoid doing actually pressing school work. Anyways, I figured I would give a quick little recap of my break apart form just posting my outfit picture from the other day, which by the way makes me look more "Berkeley" than just about anything I have ever worn.
I was back home in Dallas for my break and spent the majority of the week bumming around with my boyfriend and my parents. Most of my friends weren't on spring break at the same time as me, but I did get to see a few people. Anyways, I actually got a lot done such as finalizing my resume, applying to some jobs/internships, and writing/styling a blog post for the Cal FAST blog that I also write for. Probably the most exciting thing I did was go on a little Texas day trip with Nick, my boyfriend, on Monday. The most interesting place near Dallas appeared to be the Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, TX, so we drove there and spent a few hours hiking, taking photos, and checking out some very sketchy "dinosaur footprints". We then intended to go see the original Dr. Pepper bottling plant in Dublin, TX, the real home of the nectar of the gods despite Waco attempting to claim that title. Sadly, the museum was closed on Mondays? Just Mondays. Definitely should have checked that before driving for an hour to get there, but you live with your choices. We then drove to Waco to visit my two closest friends from home who go to school there. It was nice getting to see them and having them meet Nick, but there wasn't really a whole lot to do in Waco besides sit in their apartment and get Tex Mex food. Regardless, it was a nice day and Nick and I enjoyed getting to spend some time driving around our state (even though I was kinda asleep most of the time in the car, oops).
Here are some photos from our magical adventures:
The Dallas skyline
Eating some sandos in nature
The only slightly interesting thing in Dublin, Texas: this creepy cowboy mural
I hope everyone had an amazing spring break, and now it's time to get back to work!
It's getting warm outside so that means that my pale thighs are making their seasonal debut. I've dressed them up in my big birthday purchase: my one teaspoon 1955 Bandit shorts! I've been wanting a pair of One Teaspoon shorts for a long time but was never really sure how they would look on my body. The models and bloggers I see wearing these shorts are almost always a size 0 and the tiny garment always hang off their legs in a way that I really didn't think I could achieve with my body. However, I saw these at the Wasteland in San Francisco last week and figured that it would be a good opportunity for me to try them on and see how they fit. I actually quite like how they look on me. They're a bit short in the front and I have to give them a good tug down every once in a while when I'm walking, but they get longer in the back which is awesome because they completely cover my bum! And that's really what matters in this world, am I right ladies? The denim is also really comfortable; it's just the right amount of distress so that they're not stiff. I also picked up this amazing vintage tee at Wasteland. I really love vintage band tees but to avoid being a hypocrite I only buy shirts for bands I actually listen to. Soundgarden is without a doubt one of my favorite bands so of course I jumped at the opportunity to own an actual vintage concert tee from their 1996 North American tour (and vintage concert tees can go for some crazy high prices but this one was actually really cheap). As you can see, I'm really excited about the fact that there's a Wasteland here in SF. I could have sworn that the only one was in LA, but I was walking through the Haight with Nick because he lives in the area and I saw it and basically died right then and there. I can already tell that I'm going to be making a trip every time I'm in the city.
I would also like to take a moment to talk about how this outfit makes me feel. I've been feeling a bit down about my body lately, specifically my legs. The bloggers and models I follow and am inspired by tend to have rather lithe bodies with straight, skinny legs and thigh gaps. Sometimes I feel like my body doesn't have a place in the fashion world or that I can't wear the things that I want to wear because they just won't look "right" on me. It's an issue for me because I really do enjoy putting together outfits and blogging about them but I don't like looking at my body in pictures. However, I really like the way the pictures today turned out and I feel proud of my body and my thighs and the fact that these shorts that I felt for sure would look horrid on me actually make them look pretty great. So lets all embrace our bodies and love them for what they are and be happy with everything we put on them. #bodypositive. Here's a Soundgarden song because what else?
Details: Dress/Shirt-Free People, Shorts-Urban Outfitters, Shoes-Doc Martens, Necklaces-Urban Outfitters (owl), Nasty Gal (gem), Buffalo Exchange (skeleton hand), Lips-Cyber by MAC and Nightmoth by MAC
Here I am wearing this dress again, but I thought today I would try it as a shirt. The pictures on the Free People website show it worn both ways so I decided to experiment with it and I really like the way it turned out. Also, you may have noticed the bold lip I'm rocking. I was in the city this weekend with some of my friends and we went to the MAC store to try on some lipsticks and I just fell in love with Cyber. The lipliner is actually doing most of the work though, and it's called Nightmoth. I've been searching for a dark lip color for years because I've always wanted to be one of those people who casually wears a dark lip but I could never find one that was as darkly pigmented as I wanted from the drugstore brands, so I took the plunge and got the MAC one I had been eyeing for a while.
This weekend was one of the best I've had in a while. My birthday was last Wednesday, but I had a midterm the next day so I didn't actually do anything to celebrate except go get Mexican food from a place I've been wanting to try with my roommate. It was nice, but not even enchiladas can take away the pain of political science. I had a birthday party on Friday though, so that made up for everything. It was a night surrounded by my closest friends and my wonderful boyfriend who was meeting quite a few of my friends for the first time. On Saturday I just sat around in my apartment and didn't really leave my bed except to go get food. However, on Sunday, as previously mentioned, I went to San Francisco with friends and drooled over handbags and leather jackets that we couldn't afford on Filmore Street. I feel in LOVE with this little bag from the Kooples but sadly I'm not going to be getting a surprise $500 anytime soon.
Here it is; be still my heart. This color isn't available on the site, but here's a link to the leopard one: CLICK ME!
To be honest, I'm still kinda on my BBC kick, but I'll spare you and make the song of the day something a little different. I was in the car with my friend today and this song came on the radio and I instantly was hooked. I don't usually listen to the radio, so this is probably kinda old but I don't care. It's a remix of one of my favorite jams from early freshman year, You Know You Like It by AlunaGeorge, by DJ Snake. Hope that you can all jam to it while cramming for those last midterms before spring break/while you're on spring break/while you're getting back into school after spring break (this is such a weird time because my spring break is next week but a lot of my friends back home had their already last week or are just going on break now).
Details: Pants-American Apparel, Tee Shirt-Madewell, Scarf-Urban Outfitters, Shoes-Freebird via LF, Denim Shirt-Thrifted
Today I'm wearing mostly black and white as usual but I decided to add some color with my denim shirt (also it's kinda cold and it provides the perfect amount of warmth). This is a very special day because I actually got up early enough to put on a real outfit before going to class whereas I usually just roll out of bed, walk to campus basically in pajamas, and then change into something cute once I get home. I felt the need to actually look somewhat nice since I was organizing a shoot today for my next Cal FAST blog post and wanted to present myself as the fashion-conscious individual that I am rather than a bum.
I'm still riding the same high I was in my last post. Plus, my birthday is coming up this Wednesday and that's always exciting. I'm having my friends over on Friday which is a little concerning because the capacity of my tiny apartment is certainly smaller than the number of people I've invited. Hopefully they don't mind being uncomfortably close to other humans. I spent my Saturday in the city with Nick, the person I alluded to in my last post. We brunched, went shopping in the Haight, explored Golden Gate park, watched Exit Through the Gift Shop, and took some photos at night near the USF campus. Every moment I spend with him is so exciting and special and I can't wait for him to meet all my lovely friends on Friday. Hopefully he doesn't mind being uncomfortably close to other humans either. Also, I went hiking yesterday with some of the girls from WYSE, an organization I'm involved with on campus. We went to the Redwood Regional Park in Oakland and it was so beautiful; I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the Bay Area. In short, I walked a whole lot this weekend.
I'm definitely still on that BBC kick because my taste for upbeat indie music goes up with my mood. Today I've made the post title an album name rather than a song lyric because it accurately represents my mood as of late, however the song I've chosen isn't even from that album. It's all very confusing but all that needs to be said here is that BBC makes me feel happy inside, not that I really need anything else to make me feel that way right now. Anyways, here's "Lights Out, Words Gone".
Details: Lace Top-LF, Bralette-Free People, Necklace-Forever21, Pants-American Apparel, Boots-Freebird from LF, Irish Cream Latte-Cafe Blue Door
WOW! What an amazing time I've been having lately. It's been a while since I've been this incredibly happy about everything that's happening to me and I'm so thankful to be able to share all my joy with you! First of all, I found out on Friday that I got into business school at Berkeley. The way that the business major works here is that you apply the end of your first semester as a sophomore and you find out the next semester if you get into the Junior/Senior program or not. I came to Berkeley because I knew how prestigious the Haas business program was and it was so scary not knowing for the past three semesters if I would even end up majoring in the thing that brought me to this amazing school in the first place. But as of Friday at 5:00 I now know what the next two years hold and I couldn't be more excited!
Additionally, I really love my classes and the things I'm getting involved with this semester. I'm taking a lot of classes that talk about current events, politics, and things that I, as an American citizen and voter, should be aware of. Although I'm not taking anything to get me towards my major, I think that the classes I'm taking are very important and have made me so much more aware of the world I live in. I've also gotten involved with the Fashion and Student Trends club this semester as a blog writer. I've already published my first post (I'll put a link to it at the end of this post) and my second one, which is a video, should be up tomorrow. It's cool to be doing something more related to fashion and I'm meeting a lot of really lovely people with similar interests to me, so that's a bonus.
Finally, I've met someone who has really made an impact in my life. I don't really want to go into personal details of my life here, but I'm sure that you'll be seeing more of him soon. All that you need to know is that things are going really well for me right now and I sincerely hope that you can all experience this happiness too! I know it's probably a stressful time for a lot of you if you're in school (midterms, ugh) but believe me when I say that surrounding yourself with the right kind of people and getting involved in the things that you want to do can play such a big part in helping you live a fulfilling life. Keep your head up, pour yourself a cup of tea, and let the stress escape you for just a moment each day. Please. Do it for me.
I've been listening to a lot of Bombay Bicycle Club lately; I find that during periods of optimism I tend to listen to a lot of "indie" music whereas usually I would listen to more grunge, shoegaze, ect. Anyways, I'm a big fan of theirs and one of my favorites by them is actually off their first album which I guess is sorta old now as far as modern music goes? It's called "Dust on the Ground" and it's gotten me through a lot of stress this week so please enjoy. Also, Jack Steadman is kinda a cutie? Is this just me? Please let me know.
Sorry this post was so long, I just have a lot of stuff to celebrate! Hope you all have a good week!
Karis the Baybonnet Link to my post on the FAST blog: Click here
Yesterday Caroline (who is now my semi-official photographer?) and I went and shot some pictures on her roof. I really like the view of the bay in the background of these pictures. It reminds me of what a gorgeous place I live in. I am so lucky for that. Today's outfit is relatively simple with neutral colors. I made a conscious effort to show my shorts in these pictures because there were definitely times today that I looked like I flat out wasn't wearing pants. This sweater really stretches a lot just in the span of one day. It was like I woke up definitely looking like I was in shorts in a sweater but by 2:00 I was somehow wearing a dress all of a sudden.
I had a really great week, and the concert I went to on tuesday was amazing. The picture above is the only really good one that I got, but I like it. Bad Suns were really great live and I urge anyone who is looking for a fun concert to buy tickets to their show in your city. Regardless of if you know their music or not, you'll have a fun time and you'll probably want to buy the album afterwards. Their second opener, Coasts, was also really good. I had never heard of them before and while they were playing I was being a little cynical about the Matt Healy wannabe singer, but that was definitely just because I was eager for Bad Suns to come on. When I got home I bought their EP (called Coasts - EP) and I really liked the four songs on it! The song that I've featured today is called "Wallow" and it might just be my favorite out of all of them. "Rush of Blood to the Head" and "Oceans" are also pretty good. I've been jamming hard all week.