So I finally watched Black Swan tonight

I'm so behind, I don't watch movies in the theater as much as I used to. I watched more movies when I lived in California. I love going to the movies with my family that's why, and over here, it's just that I'm so busy with everything else, I don't make the time as much as I'd like to. Anyhow, I filled many pages in my sketchbook with writings and how the movie related to me. It was definitely very intense for me. I liked many aspects of the movie, but at the same time it stressed me out throughout.


Here are some of the words/phrases I've captured in my sketchbook alongside my girl character, Lonegirl (http://www.lonerisms.com/). I don't have a scanner on me, so my blackberry is the best I can do to show what's in my sketchbook right now.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays - Self Reliance

I just bought a book called The Daily Reader, by Fred White http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Reader-Selections-Productive-Meaningful/dp/1582975892, and while on the plane to Tampa last night, I didn't just read one page, I read 200 pages, to which I identified with the selections made by Fred White, what most related to me, what touched me, and spoke to me.

One of the selections I stumbled upon was Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays on Self Reliance. What rings so true (to me at least) in his essay is this:

"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, & it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost. Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each..."

Self-reliance is about how it is the aversion to conformity. I relate to this because as much as I do try to conform, there is that part of me that wants to be free, that doesn't want to conform, such as when I dance in the streets. I don't want to be confined to just dancing in lounges/nightclubs, I want to challenge the status quo, and declare my own personal independence. That I don't need to be in a nightclub to justify my dancing. I just am.

He further writes: "Nothing is last sacred but the integrity of our own mind...No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature...the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong is what is against it."

Behind the scenes of a recent photo shoot

Yesterday I had a small photoshoot with a photographer named Claudio. He spotted me some odd weeks ago walking down on Chrystie Street on my way to Patricia Field. I was going there to show John (store manager) my outfit (see prior blog post). I was wearing my Veritree Hill corset, a poofy skirt, and my feathered Veritree Hill hat (that matches the corset), with Jeffrey Campbell chain/sparkly high heels.

Below are some photos from the shoot taken from my blackberry and from Tiffany's iphone (she's so cute, she's Claudio's assistant)! I had a lot of fun, even though I hate photoshoots because I hate being told what to do without seeing how I look. The studio was very small, and I was hoping we'd take pictures outside during the day time. I hate plane backgrounds and whatnot, but again, he was very kind to give his time to me, and to even want to shoot me.

One of my test shots, taken with a Polaroid camera

With my good friend Rabhy. He's super creative and has crazy style! I love it!

I style myself

I'm so bad about blogging, but I'm going to try to get better about it. Anyhow, here are some pictures I took of the outfits I wore recently. Most of the clothes are from Patricia Field, one of my favorite boutiques! I also recently got my photo taken inside the store so John, one of the managers, could post it on the Patricia Field blog, but I don't know if he'll be able to post it- as Pat is pretty particular about what goes up on the blog. :D

I also got my picture taken when I attended a presentation during New York Fashion Week some weeks ago.

Inside Patricia Field

Photo by Ricky Jones