HANGIN' IN VENICE

On this day I got a matching piercing with Alex, drove to Venice with Kim in a very cool mustang and tried Blue Bottle coffee for the first time. Our first stop was at the iconic Venice High School where we loitered  explored for a bit. We then went for a walk in the Venice Canals. They were very pretty and the surrounding neighborhood was very nice as well. After walking in the heat we needed something to cool off so we went to Blue Bottle. I can personally say their coffee is at the top of my list. That iced latte changed my life, okay I'm being a bit dramatic but it definitely is my favorite. What a bummer that it's so far from where I live.

Anyway, hope you're all doing well. Here's a quick ootd for ya.

 

    

VIOLENT BY DESIGN

Francisco Reyes Jr 

Violent By Design was a group exhibit  showing at Stay Gallery. It consisted of illustrators and designers in the streetwear industry. Opening night had a very successful turn out! It was very cool to see Stay Gallery full of people supporting the art movement.

Back in December we attended the Holiday Bazaar in Subliminal Projects where Alex got to meet Francisco Reyes Jr. He happens to be an artist that she admires very much. I mention this event because he was one of the many featured artists in Violent By Design. What a small world! It just proves what a big name Stay Gallery is making for itself. Reyes's work happened to be our favorite pieces in the exhibit. Below I added other work that we liked as well.

The exhibit is no longer running but I'm sure there's plenty more exciting exhibits happening in the near future!

talk to ya'll soon

Carolina

 

PLAYLIST | ON REPEAT

It's been such a long time since we posted some music on this blog! So I gathered the tunes I found myself playing over and over again and made a playlist for you. You could say I arranged them from my "most favorite" to "not-my-most-favorite-but-still-a-favorite".  I think this is my most diverse playlist to date. I mean, c'mon, I put  Drake and All Time Low on the same playlist! Now, you're probably wondering why I'm even listening to All Time Low, amirite?  I really have no explanation as to why I would go listen to what 14 year old me loved but I do know that I appreciate their songs  a lot more now than I did back then. They just make so much more sense now. This playlist also features La Roux, who I hadn't heard of since Bulletproof took over the radio stations a few years ago. Did you just groan? I feel like you just groaned when you read her name. I know that song was annoying but give her another chance!

 I'm not sure if making a playlist with so many different genres is something I should be doing since they might clash *shrug*.  I obviously haven't mastered the art of making a proper playlist but I hope you enjoy the variety.

Happy listening!

Carolina x


     

COFFEE WITH A SIDE OF MURDER

Iced latte w/ caramel from Steel Head 

I'd like to start off this post by praising my iPhone photography and editing skills. The picture above is probably the best picture of coffee that I've ever taken and I'm ridiculously proud. Like, seriously stop and just look at it. OK, moving on. There is nothing I enjoy more than a good cup of coffee except maybe reading murder stories. Don't think about this in the wrong way. I'm not admitting to an unhealthy obsession with murder or anything like that. I simply enjoy reading about major cases such as the Black Dahlia or Manson Family. While meeting up with  Kimberly, from Belle En Rouge, we realized we share this interest. I'm not sure how murder popped up into our conversation while we had a cup of coffee but it did.

Kim's taste in murder stories happens to be a lot more ...close to home. She told me about murder stories that happened in the city of Long Beach (where we were at the time). She told me about the murder of  Dorothy Bembridge in her own home. The Bembridge house is located in Long Beach and is considered a historic landmark due to the house being built  in a Queen Anne Victorian style in 1906. Obviously, we had to go take a look at the house itself. We couldn't take a tour of the inside on the day we visited but I can say that the outside was stunning. As for the murder of Dorothy, she was killed in her backyard by a burglar. I was surprised that the house still existed. This isn't the first time Kim surprises me with her extensive knowledge on the history of Long Beach. I guess she really does live up to her bio, the 'Sherlock of coffee and history'. 

Before going to the BemBridge House we visited a cemetery. I'm not quite sure which cemetery it was but it had very old graves and looked fairly abandoned. We explored about half of the cemetery and we found that the most recent burial was in 2008 while the oldest was in 1903. It was nice (and a little surprising) to see that a few of the graves had fresh flowers and even decorations. We started getting a little superstitious so our visit didn't last very long.  

Kim also introduced me to the world of podcasts. Obviously, this podcast is relevant to the theme of the day which was murder. Serial, a podcast about true stories, tells the story of the murder of a girl named Hae Min Lee. Her ex boyfriend was accused of killing her but he might have been falsely accused. It get's a lot more complicated and mysterious than that. I'm currently on the third episode and I'm hooked!

After our exploring we had some lunch at The Village Grind down on 1 Street. I had the Awesome Bagel (pictured) which was honestly pretty awesome. I had an issue eating the actual bagel due to the fact that the egg kept slipping out. The egg itself had a funky taste so I just threw it out but besides that I enjoyed the meal! The place is cozy, has wifi and plenty of electricity ports so I think I'll be visiting again but with my laptop in hand.

We ended the day after our good lunch. On our way to the car I saw this lovely message on the floor which gave me the perfect opportunity to take a picture of my new shoes. *smirks*

SURROUNDED BY ART

A couple of weeks ago Long Beach had it's first Pow Wow which was basically an event where 20 artists were given a wall and painted whatever they wanted. We went to see most of the paintings and the exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art where there was even more art from the 20 artists! The point is there was a lot of art to admire in the city of Long Beach so we couldn't miss out on the opportunity to check it all out.

In a previous post Alex  wrote about our day and shared some pictures which you can see here. The video below features our favorite art seen in the streets and the museum on that day. If you're interested in learning more about the artists who participated in this years Pow Wow press here!
Also, the exhbit in LBMA runs until October 25th 2015 so there is still time to visit that.

Thanks for reading!

p.s  if you visit the museum on a Friday the admission is free.

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DID YA KNOW CHIPOTLE IS A JALAPENIO?

For those of you who didn't know chipotles were jalapeños I'm just as shocked as you are. I guess I've been away from school so long that I never made the connection that the chile on the chipotle logo looked just like a jalapeño. *face palm*

Speaking of school, it is near. The back to school season is here and I couldn't be sadder.  Not having responsibilities and the freedom to take late afternoon chipotle runs without the fear of having enough time to get home and finish that dreadful assignment is going to be deeply missed.

Yes, Carolina and I managed to make our schedules so that we go at least 65% of the week. The work load is still there. 

HERE'S A HINT FOR YOU INCOMING FRESHMAN WHEN YOU PICK YOUR SCHEDULES YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO ALL FIVE DAYS!

 I know, shocker right? Well, we learned the hard way. As for you college freshmen who are reading this and weeping at your unfortunate choices, you still have next semester.

I know I make college sound suuuuuper hard and terrible. Well, it is all that bad LOL. No really it is but you're strong and you can handle this because it's ultimately your choice and you're doing this for you. College is supposed to be hard, it's there to challenge you and make you better. Believe me I couldn't have done what I did all last year 3 years ago. You learn how to manage your time. I couldn't believe how many times I made the right decision by making my studies my priority. Yay me. I'm very proud. I'm very responsible. Kinda. I did make lousy choices though, like choosing to sleep for example. I may have chosen to sleep over finishing an assignment a couple times. But, hey we are all bound to do that at some point. We all know our limits. 

I hope my talking about my experience realistically can help calm your nerves or let you know you're not the only one. I could talk more about my experience and tips and tricks maybe even sharing some motivational posts?  LMK. The reason for my rant about school in a chipotle-related post is because today we caught up with our friend Conny whom we go to school with so I guess this was a little reminder that we need to put our game faces on and continue on this streak.

ANYWAY ENJOY THE PHOTOS I TOOK, I HAD FUN TAKING THEM

LOITERING IN BLACK

Once again we loitered in our favorite parking structure and took a quick ootd. We dressed up to eat some sushi and look at cool art, which you'll be seeing soon in another post. We decided to keep our looks very casual for the day and, as usual, black. Anyway, keep an eye out for new YouTube Content!  The summer is coming to an end so we're trying our best to wrap up all our projects and check everything off our bucket list.

We hope you're enjoying what remains of the summer!

SUMMER READING THAT COULD'VE HAPPENED

As our summer daze comes to an end we'd like to review our checklist. We had a lot of things on our checklist for this summer and one of  them was to do some summer reading. Summer reading. Let's be real with each other right now, It's not going to happen. Regardless of the fact that there will be no reading done these remaining weeks we decided we'd share our reading list with you!

I must mention that both Alex and I already own these books...we just have to actually read them. In our defense we have actually tried to read them. I've read the first and last pages of  On the Road and it seems like a great read *laughing emoji*. Yes, I'm that person that reads the ending before starting the book. It gets me excited to read the book!

This "summer" reading list will probably go on to be  a "fall/winter" reading list. One way or another these classic novels will get read!

So what's on your summer reading list?