Quite Sirious

dragon!

2010-07-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'm still a nerd...

oh what a wonderful - and horrible - world.

2010-07-11T11:26:00.001-07:00

Life throws you for a loop sometimes. Like when you turn around and realize that you've been in love with someone for years without even realizing it. Or when you realize that you are in fact loved, when you never were able to fully accept that truth. Or when you realize that thinking about your childhood just makes you unfathomably sad. Or when your twenty-two year old cousin dies a week before his college graduation... and everything you thought mattered totally doesn't in comparison. (That was two months ago.)

Just something I've been thinking about a lot.

<3

siri's top five style staples, summer 2010

2010-06-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

5. Red lipstick
My favorite lipstick has a creamy texture, flattering orangey-red color, stays on like a dream, feels sophisticated, and is neither too matte nor too shiny - it's dewy. I've had this tube of Revlon Moondrops lipstick in earthy for a while now, I inherited it from my mother over year ago because she has problems finding lipstick that doesn't turn pink on her, but I'm not giving it up ever. I hope Revlon still makes them, last time I checked they did.

4. Pointy-toed Flats
for the Audrey in everyone

3. High-waisted short-shorts
for legs that go on for miles

2. Soft breezy tissue-weight t-shirts

for lazy days

1. Dresses
any style, anywhere, pure beauty.

FASHION 2010: A return to femininity and class?

2010-06-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well from my summer magazine reading, it looks like the fashion world's obsession with distressed, ripped, overly-zippered, pantsless, just-rolled-out-of-bed-hungover, neo-grunge style is fading, replaced with a revival of classic femininity and clean-cut masculinity. THANK GOD. Hemlines are lower (i.e. no longer bordering on nonexistent), skirts are full and flirty, waistlines are nipped in, shoes are taking a step away from the sky-high-platform/bondage combination that has both frightened and disgusted a good many of us (or at least myself) for far too long (in favor of delicate kitten heels), handbags are structured, and maybe the pressure to spend 100 greenbacks on a tissue-thin, safety-pinned and destructed white tee is finally on its way out.

In short, it appears that the novelty of the heroin-chic revival has finally (and too late) worn off. This is good. Most normal people cannot (or just will not) wear tight black leather hotpants (or whatever cracked out fad that has circulated in and out over the last few years). Aside from being downright unflattering on most (all?) bodies, they aren't practical for most workplaces, and sitting in a sweltering classroom with the back of your thighs sticking to the chair while the leather scalds your ladyparts and the prof drones on and on? No thanks. Hemlines that are too short make modesty impossible, heels that are ridiculously high are hard to wear and let's face it, the cage heel has gotten incredibly passé. Etc. And spending so much money on clothes that look like they've gotten run-over by an ATV, twice - well, everyone knows it's ridiculous and yet we do it anyway.

Plus, along with the clothes (or lack there of) comes greasy bedhead, heavy black eyeliner and straggly extensions (TAYLOR MOMSEN!) - a tired cliché that no longer appears fresh, if it ever did, and I think most of us are ready to show a little hygiene every now and then. We should embrace clear, glowing skin and the occasional (or daily) red lip. I know I can't get enough of it.

So I welcome with open arms what's been creeping around the corner for a while now (and doubtless has been the standard for classic dressers everywhere throughout all the madness) the resurgence of full, late 50's inspired skirts and dresses, tailored pants and cardigan sweaters, sexy librarian looks, cape coats...

Aside from the mere fact that this revival means there might be an end in sight to a lot of the more hideous fashion trends that have been running rampant everywhere (even in my small town in Minnesota), it excites me for some other more personal reasons.

I've been a longtime lover of vintage clothing from all eras, but particularly the fifties and early sixties. (By the way, I am glad I didn't grow up in America during the fifties, since women definitely got the short end of the stick, there was a huge problem of sexual repression, and there were wide-spread pressures to be part of the nuclear family...ugh... but anyway). I think the styles fit and flatter my body-type - I'm fairly petite, but I have full hips and thighs and a decent waist (I think) and decent breasts - and I have the legs of a dancer, so I'm all for full skirts and nipped in waists. Plus, I love the music, the films, the dancing... and the feel of a good retro diner, so I'm all for this.

Also, it signals the rise of the curvier model - which I find heartening. I am so tired of seeing girls who look cracked out, fourteen years old, boyish and anorexic totter down runways in giant stiletto platforms that make them look like they have hooves, not feet - like bambi on methamphetamine. Not to condemn the models themselves - they are a product of the industry they must conform to in order to be hired, after all. I imagine most of them are just born that way, and I'm all for challenging the standards of beauty. A skinny extraterrestrial type can be beautiful, just as a curvy size 16 can be gorgeous. It's all about being comfortable in your own skin. But that doesn't mean we should all strive against the way nature intended us to be, and we shouldn't have to conform to one standard. This has all been said before - I'm just saying it again.

I hope the prediction comes true, and that it stays a while.

risen from a long slow sleep...

2010-06-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

I'M BAAAAAAACK!

...

One year done with college, it's summer, and I'm living with a crazy group of students from the "other" school - the rival college in the town where I go to school - and we are putting on a musical. A coffee shop musical. Crazy? Yes - I keep asking myself how in the name of all that is sane and rational did I end up here? (Answer: open auditions, gave it a shot on a whim, got cast, decided what the hell, and...)

I am stepping out of my comfort zone in a major way, here, but I love it. I'm living with beautiful people, mostly strangers that are fast becoming trusted friends. That is a big thing for me - I'm definitely adjusting well, but living with ten people is a far cry from living with one roommate or with your parents.

I play a character named Libby, she is absolutely a dream to play - sweet, awkward, shy, and geeky (but with hidden spice and gumption!). We're taking the show on the Midwest Fringe Circuit - chicago, minneapolis, kansas city and indianapolis, which is sort of huge. Yes? Anyway, I don't want to go on to long here about the show, but if you would like more information, you can go to www.grindthemusical.com, which is up and running, although still a work in progress. We also have a twitter, @grindthemusical, and a facebook fan page.

But anyway, this blog - I'm-a try and actually update it at least every few days, with interesting things. Otherwise, what's the point of actually having it?
xoxoxo
siri

a love poem

2010-04-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

this is a love poem
for lovers
lovers whose words
roll
off swollen lips
through sunburned hands that intertwine
neurotic
in hunger
lovers whose words alight
on smooth countenances
and
in juxtaposition
on stirring limbs
need coursing through veins
pooling
in soulful eyes
mercurial
in vulnerability
this
is a love poem for
lovers

November.

2009-11-26T23:25:00.000-08:00

The leaves

Dead crispy frozen things

Crumble beneath our feet

And as your hand curls at the small of my back

I am crumbling also

At the whisper of your flannel

Against my hungry cheek

At the cold as it scorches my nostrils

Crackling into my lungs

Carrying with it the memory of burning fields

Mixed with the scent of you

At the way my voice doesn't seem to work anymore

At the way my hand curls

At the crook of your neck

All this as the leaves

make their frozen dead crispy crumbling way

into nothing

We are breaking apart.

snort... another haiku

2009-07-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

I snort when I laugh

at stupid jokes and slips of tongue

keeps the blues at bay.

(So there's this boy... kinda like him. And vice versa. If you couldn't tell. But he's started me writing haiku, it's rather addicting. I've written a bunch.

I will get back to doing outfit photos soon, the original object of this blog... but one more, before I go)

she didn't realize

until too late, silly girl

he reads this blog too...

matching

2009-07-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

bemused
she marvels
at how the lines in their palms just seem to
match
of their own accord

bemused
he studies
the crease between her brows, smooths away
the signature
with a callused finger

and their hands catch
once more

she has never felt so
certain
of her own self-worth
has never
felt the kiss of wet grass upon her skin
and welcomed it so readily
has never let herself
just breathe
and accept
and allow one to come so close
to her

and their hands have caught
each other

and she finds it funny
how he doesn’t drink coffe
while she inhales it like the first gulp of oxygen
after a chlorine-infused plunge
and how he can’t carry a tune
but sings along with her and the radio
anyway
mostly unabashed
while she can’t let herself be rubbish
at anything

yes
oh yes
she finds it funny
how themselves they contradict

but even so
she thinks, bemused
she has welcomed the kiss
of wet grass against her skin
she has let this ragamuffin
come so close
close to her

and somehow
inexplicably
the lines in their palms just seem to
match.

a haiku from a would-be actress with new hope

2009-07-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

she pulls me aside
her words a kind of music:
"you have potential."

- Siri

101 things to accomplish before I die

2009-07-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

1. Go skinny dipping
2. Ride for hours on a carousel
3. Backpack through Europe
4. Be fluent in another language
5. Live in a foreign country
6. Publish a work of poetry or fiction
7. Be a professional actress
8. Release a full-length album w/a record label
9. Be able to convincingly imitate a range of different accents
10. Star in an indie film
11. Make love in a field
12. Ride horses on the beach
13. Adopt a child
14. Have a pen pal I’ve never met
15. Aide in an impoverished country
16. Write a letter to the editor of a large scale publishing
17. Write a play
18. Stand naked in the rain
19. Help a complete stranger
20. Become first-aid certified
21. Work in a coffee shop
22. Design and sew my own clothing
23. Be on staff at Camp Cross
24. Write a song for every person who has touched my life
25. Walk barefoot for 5k
26. Rock climb
27. Dive into a glacier lake
28. Perfect my dive
29. Go bungee jumping (with someone?)
30. Go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras
31. Attend a masked ball
32. Ride an elephant
33. Spend a (naked) afternoon at a nude beach
34. Become a skilled latin (and swing, and ballroom) dancer
35. Go clubbing
36. Learn the art of Burlesque (and then use it to seduce someone)
37. Learn to cook
38. Fall in love with a musician (or another kind of artist)
39. Have a musician (or another kind of artist) fall in love with me in return
40. Unstop a fire hydrant and have a party in the street
41. Float in the middle of a lake
42. Write in wet cement
43. Walk on my hands
44. Lie down in the middle of that see-through bridge over the Grand Canyon
45. Go parasailing
46. Hug a celebrity
47. Climb to the top of a water tower
48. Serenade someone (for real)
49. Get serenaded (for real)
50. Climb out a two or more story window
51. Ski down a black diamond (without falling on my face)
52. Navigate the Subway, Underground, and Metro (and any others) all by myself
53. Make love underneath the stars
54. Kiss underwater
55. Go streaking
56. Dance in Times’ Square
57. Go to Africa
58. Try shrooms
59. Work in Ellen’s Stardust Diner in NYC
60. Go to Sasquatch
61. Take cold showers for a month
62. Attend a religious gathering for every major religion in the world (and minor ones too)
63. Understand music theory
64. Learn to belt
65. Ice skate holding hands with someone special
66. Land a clean quadruple pirouette en pointe
67. Get my extension at or past 180 degrees (in dance)
68. Have a bathtub in my kitchen
69. Learn as many constellations as possible
70. Go to Siberia
71. Swim in a hot spring
72. Learn different massage techniques
73. Read Tolkien's Silmarillion all the way through
74. Swim with dolphins
75. Go to Montreal
76. Get full-body henna tattoos
77. Grow my hair past my shoulder blades
78. Go without makeup for a month
79. Wear nothing but flannel shirts all winter (not counting other clothing)
80. Drink absinthe
81. Cover my walls in collages
82. Dye my hair bright red
83. Put a smile on a sick child’s face
84. Sing with Maddie in every cathedral, monastery, or abbey we can find in France
85. Go on a bicycle tour in Ireland or Norway
86. Put my feet in every ocean (maybe not the Arctic...)
87. Write my regrets in the sand at low tide, let them be washed away
88. Write a message in a bottle
89. Never grow old (in spirit)
90. Have a bird land on my finger
91. Send off a bunch of helium balloons from the top of a cliff
92. Meet a giraffe
93. Go to ~~Middle-Earth~~ New Zealand
94. Read Le Petit Prince in as many languages as possible
95. Play Eponine in Les Mis
96. Play Peter Pan in the musical or play
97. Kiss in the rain
98. Emulate the grace, class, and style of Audrey Hepburn
99. Live without fear
100. Believe in myself
101. Accept myself for who I am, mistakes and all

thought of the day: love is possible

2009-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

"A bird may love a fish, signore, but where will they live?"
"Then I shall have to make you wings."
- Ever After

I think that we should all forget about what we worry other people think of us, forget about circumstances such as time and distance and social class and what our parents or girlfriends or buddies might think and just love who we want. Perhaps that's a common idea, probably nothing extraordinarily insightful, and I probably didn't put it as eloquently as it probably deserved - but really, if Danielle and the Prince could do it, then why can't we all?

Happy loving,

Siri

Siriously. =) 10 things

2009-06-13T18:48:00.001-07:00

1. enjoys big cities (the motion is intoxicating)

2. but loves sitting in fields away from every single light (as long as it's with a good friend and the stars are out)

3. writes poetry at 2 a.m. (too many words, too many words in hear that need to escape)

4. can't wait to get out of this town (has to wait a few months)

6. words and theatre and music serve for her release and expression (but dance is sometime the purest form)

7. hates being judged (but is sometimes too quick to judge in return. tries not to, though)

8. has a serious weakness for vintage and indie fashion (has a bigger weakness for coffee, cheesecake, and chocolate)

9. Has little money to spend on any of the above (is largely a useless, jobless, fresh high school graduate)

10. Has started this blog because lazy, hazy summer days have driven her to try and find yet another outlet for pent-up energy (but as a result is still stuck in front of the computer)