All of These Things Will Change

Details: Boots-Dolce Vita, Tights-Urban Outfitters, Dress-BDBG, Flannel-Thrifted, Necklaces-Nasty Gal and Bufalo Exchange

So it's been forever since I blogged, and that makes me sad, but hey I'm here so that's cool. Anyways, today I just want to give a shout out to my favorite month, October (now that we're like halfway through it). Fall itself is my favorite season; the changing leaves, the cool weather, the darker style that becomes more commonplace, starting new classes and meeting new people. Despite the fact that I've never been a PSL fan (I'm all about chai lattes 100% of the time), there is really something special about this season of change. I always feel like I have the chance to become a new, better version of myself. October itself is the perfect month within fall because I've had time to get into the swing of school and life, but there's still this chance of wonderful changes and surprises ahead. Also Halloween and all the spoopiness leading up to it is pretty great.  I've finally decided what I'm going to be this year and I'm super excited, but it will have to be a surprise until I make a Halloween post.

Today's song is this beautiful jam by Banks, who I got really into about a month ago (I just haven't been able to talk about it here seeing as I haven't posted in a while). Change was the first song I heard by her and I instantly fell in love with it. Everything about the song is beautiful: the lyrics, the beat, that awesome little guitar lick at the very beginning and end of the chorus (the way I feel about this lick is very similar to my feeling towards the guitar part during the verses of Sweater Weather-gfsgfjhlk). It's a melancholy song but it's also so sensual and beautiful, plus it really struck a chord with my personal life at the time that I heard it. I think it's a wonderful song to accompany my feelings about fall; not only is it literally a song about change, but it is somehow the exact feeling of curling up in a warm blanket with a hot beverage as the leaves fall put into song.

Til next time,

Karis the Baybonnet

Home Sweet Home

My necklace collection - on the wall by my bed

The only three books that I really love - on my bedside table

DIY plaque

So, I've been meaning to make a post about my apartment for a while now, but I was waiting til we cleaned the kitchen and made it all pretty and stuff. I am just now realizing that our kitchen will likely never be pretty and we're okay with that. So, I'm just posting the pictures of my side of the room that I share with my friend. The apartment has two rooms, one big (that I share), and one small (that my third roommate lives in) and they're joined by our kitchen (that is always messy due to a lack of cabinet space). It's a pretty nice place though and it's super close to campus. Honestly, we are so lucky and thankful that we found this amazing place! Also I just love my room! Most of the posters are the same ones I had on the wall in my dorm (except for my new nbhd one that I got this summer),  and I also made a cute little sparkly motivational and sassy plaque that's on the right side of my main wall, so I'm pretty proud of that crafting endeavor. I also like that I have a mix of bedding. I had the purple tye-dye tapestry from last year and also the super soft light blue throw blanket usually ends up being the only thing I actually sleep under, so I chose to get a black and white comforter so that nothing got super clashy. Oh, and I love my hanging rack (it's on the very right of the top picture). The previous owners left it and the wooden hangers that are on it, and I love it because it makes me feel like a real fashion blogger who hangs all their favorite things of the moment on these nice fancy hangers for everyone to see (even though I literally just put my dresses on there because they were to long for the top part of the wardrobe closet thing). 

I'm really excited about my first space and all the memories I'll create here with my friends- the ones I live with and the ones I don't. We've already had "dinner parties" (my roommate cooks pasta...and I goof off as she does so).  I'm also pretty excited about my classes and all the other exciting things that lie ahead of me this semester. I'm going into the year with an uncharacteristically optimistic outlook- who knows, maybe this is the first step of me changing my pessimistic ways entirely! It should be a good time. 

Karis the baybonnet

It Takes a Bit More Than You

Details: Dress-free people, Bralette-free people, Shirt-Urban Outfitters, Socks-Urban Outfitters, Shoes-Doc Martens

Hello! Today I bring you iPhone photos taken in front of the kinda dirty door to my apartment complex (there's like 6 units, I don't even know if we can call it a complex). I'm finally getting back into the swing of that school life. Today I missed the bus and had to fast walk up endless hills to get to my media studies class so that was good. Shin splints ensued. Anyways, here is my outfit from yesterday. It's a pretty busy outfit for me, meaning that I packed on a lot of my favorite things all at once (whereas today I'm just in boyfriend jeans, a baggy gray tee, and Birkenstocks looking like a true Berkeley student/possibly an actual male). I'm in love with this new bralette from free people though. I've really been into interesting layering techniques lately, and free people has a ton of awesome strappy bralettes right now that are only feeding my addiction.  There's also some subtle pattern mixing going on here with the polka dots on the dress and the plaid shirt (I say subtle because the polka dots are hardly noticeable on the slip. I usually really don't like polka dots so I probably wouldn't be as in love with this item as I am if they were super noticeable). I'm also not usually one for pattern mixing, but I'm slowly becoming more accustomed to it and welcoming it into my wardrobe. Gotta branch out sometimes, ya know? That's kinda been my motto in my life lately- that and just letting things happen as the universe intends, which is entirely new to me seeing as I'm a total control freak.

The song for today is "you" by the 1975. I've been obsessed with this song and with the 1975 for a while now, and while I've been listening to a lot of the 1975 in general lately, this song has been a definite go-to jam for me. I think it fits with my letting things happen vibe because it's a very relaxing song I feel, and the lyrics are pretty much about not letting people's flaws and past experiences get in the way of how you think of them. 

Anyways, I hope you are all having a lovely end of the summer, soak up that sun while you can! 

Karis the baybonnet

Alive in the Superunknown

Details: Dress/Tunic(?)-Free People, Shoes-Nordstrom Rack, Black Lace Shorts-Urban Outfitters

So, it's been a while since my last post, and for that I am quite sad. I've just been super busy getting settled into my new apartment and preparing for the start of school. I'm so in love with my apartment and the wonderful people I am sharing it with. I will probably post pictures soon, but it's honestly kinda in a state of horrible mess that we've been too busy/lazy to deal with yet. But hopefully, for all of our sakes, we will tidy up soon and I'll be able to take some pictures of it. 

It seems odd having been in Berkeley for so long and just now posting these pictures that Jack took just before I left Dallas. Regardless, Jack is amazing and I miss him so much already (and also missin his photography skills), so I had to put these up! We headed to Kyle Warren park downtown to shoot these, so I really had to buck up and face my fear of awkwardly shooting in public. It's a really beautiful park full of all sorts of fun little areas though, so it was definitely worth it!

Since coming out here, I've spent quite a bit of time in San Fran (definitely more than I did last semester). I went and did some more touristy things with my mom right after arriving here, and then I went to the 20th street block party in the Mission District with some friends and saw this really cool band Cayucas a few days later. Then, a few days ago, I went to the Mission again for some serious food tourism (no really, we literally went there to hit up a bunch of restaurants). Overall, it's been awesome getting readjusted to Berekely life. There truly is no place else I would rather be, and I'm looking forward to an amazing year in this city and at this school!

After seeing Soundgarden a little over a week ago, I've really been jamming out to them. Superunknown in particular is a song I've really identified with because I'm living pretty much on my own for the first time in my life. There's so much to look forward to, and I am very much alive in the superunknown.

Karis the baybonnet

The City Sees us All Like Babes

Details: Dress-Reformed by the Reformation, Necklace-Forever 21, Shoes-LF, Sunglasses-Cotton On, Purse-Urban Outfitters

What a beautiful day it was today in downtown Dallas! It was my mom's birthday so I took her to the Zodiac Restaurant at the flagship Neiman's. It was really nice to spend some one-on-one time with her before I jet off to Berkeley on Thursday. I can't believe it's happening so soon! All summer I thought "wow this couldn't be going by any slower, I'm so ready to get back!" but now that it's happening, I'm frantically spending my last moments with my friends here and also frantically packing because I've completely neglected to do that up until this moment. Anyways, I was really happy to finally have an occasion to wear this dress! I had my eyes on it for a while and finally bought it during a 50% of sale sale when I worked at Urban last summer (I got a good deal, no big). I had literally worn it once to work and then just kinda had it in my closet waiting for the perfect outing to wear it to, and I finally found one! 

My last days of summer have been pretty great though. I saw Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails with my step-dad on Sunday night and that was awesome! I'm pretty sure I was one of maybe 10 females under 27 (all the others were in father-daughter pairs too), and needless to say people watching was great (die-hard NIN fans...wow).  Soundgarden was amazing and Chris Cornell's voice is still actual perfection. I really don't know how he does it, but I'm not going to question it and just keep enjoying it's existence on this earth. 

Despite recent grunge and industrial metal happenings, Interpol released their second single off El Pintor TODAY, so naturally that has to be the song of the day. It's called Ancient Ways and it's pretty great if I do say so myself. I'm so excited for El Pintor to come out on September 9th AND for me to go see them on September 20th! So many things happening in September, its sure to be a great month! 

Karis the baybonnet

On Why I Cut My Hair

Details: Shorts-Urban Outfitters, Shirt-Madewell, Bra-Free People, Shoes (not pictured)-Converse

Let me preface this by saying that the second picture of me is just the worst. But, it's the only good one that my mom got of my whole outfit (even though this post is obvi about my hair). I'm literally about to move from cute smile to talking-my mom has a really special talent of snapping pictures of me the exact moment that I make a weird transition face because I THINK she's already taken the picture. But hey, isn't that what moms are for? (Thanks mom for taking these awkward pictures of me because Jack is on vacation-love ya)

I digress. MY HAIR!! While pretty much everyone and their grandma was swooning over my short locks today at the office, I feel like a lot of people that I know personally want to know "WHY?!". My long hair kinda became a part of my identity throughout high school. After I chopped off all my hair right before freshman year, I vowed to never cut it again. I mean, it was bad. It was at this weird length and kicked out at the end and oh I had these horrid bangs the covered my whole face. Not cute. So, I let it grow and grow until it became a security blanket to me. I would tell myself "well at least my hair looks pretty" whenever I was feeling down about myself. "At least I don't look like the loser I was when I was 15" I would think. But, no more! I find that a lot of people I know are actually lobbing their hair off right now, and I think I know why. I've just finished my freshman year of college; I've survived a lot of self-discovery and I've learned that I don't need a security blanket of hair to make me feel confident about who I am. I'm at a really exciting point in my life where I have my whole life ahead of me and I know that many exciting and potentially difficult changes are ahead of me, but at the same time, I've been through a lot and I have learned A TON about who I am, what I like, what I dislike, how I deal with emotions, and how I can make myself feel confident about who I am no matter the situation or setting that I'm in. So, what better time to make a huge change to a part of me that's defined who I am for the past three years of my life? And I am SO excited about my hair and the exciting year it has ahead of it.

Anyways, here's my favorite song of the moment, Cardiac Arrest by Bad Suns. It's kinda become the Sweater Weather of this summer in that I can't go a day without listening to it (don't get me wrong though-this fact still applies to Sweater Weather)

Karis the Baybonnet

That's How it Starts

Details: Dress-ASOS, Bra-Urban Outfitters, Belt-Buffalo Exchange, Shoes-Doc Martens

Hello Interwebs! I can't believe that summer is almost over for me! It's finally starting to feel like the end; I have just over a week left at my job, band camp for the little high school kiddos has started up, it's hot as the seventh circle of Dante's Inferno outside...anyways, I digress. Not a whole lot to say about my outfit other than it's incredibly typical for me. I think I wear this dress more than anything else in my closet. However, I only recently realized that I could wear it backwards and make it into a (kinda) new dress! Since the front neckline is cut higher than the back, simply flipping it around gives more room to accessorize my décolletage (wow that sounds fancy). I just cut the tag off so it wouldn't pop up and make people think I'm a crazy lady who puts her clothes on backwards (even though they would be 100% right).

It took me a while to decide what my song should be today. I have an extensive summer playlist I've just been adding to all summer and it's kinda getting to the point where I want to post like 10 songs at once because I love them all so much, but I like trying to find ones that somewhat emulate the mood I'm feeling/wearing. I've always felt an emotional connection to the music I listen to- not in a cheesy "ah yes this reminds me of the time I did that thing and it makes me sad/happy/whatever" way, but in what is probably, upon further reflection, an even weirder way. Bear with me here, but whenever I hear a song, I imagine a little scene with it as if I were making a movie and deciding what part of the movie to put the song in.  So each song invokes some kind of emotion, but not necessarily an emotion that I can relate to personally. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone nor do I know why I am going on about it, but anyways, here is "all my friends" by LCD Soundsystem- an oldie but a goodie. I feel like this song, along with pretty much any song by LCD Soundsystem, belongs in some long montage that builds up to an important thing. It makes me hopeful and nostalgic at the same time, which is exactly how I'm feeling as the summer wraps up and I reflect on my first year of college as I head into my second. I also realize that is maybe the cheesiest thing I have ever put into writing and I now feel like I should say something actually insightful to even everything out, but I have nothing.

til the next time,

Karis the baybonnet