Random Sunday

UNITED STATES—A backyard family barbecue, 1959.

My Mom is Cool and I am Older

My birthday is this Sunday (29, eeek!) and look what just popped up in my email from my mother. Quite a stylish lady indeed.

I also love this image I found on So Much to Tell You, apparently you should be getting me cream pink roses for my special day.

My brother Andrew, his wife and Baby Sadie arrive in Berlin tomorrow. You can find us here or here in case you want to know where I will be celebrating the last year of my 20s. Lucky me to be in such good company. So once again a nice weekend is on deck, I hope you have one too! 

Dream Catching

I have been having some seriously long vivid dreams the last few nights that wake me up and make me lay in bed and ponder before falling back asleep. They go in and out of being nightmarish but I am calm throughout. Wish I could know where they came from. Do you think dreams mean something?

Photo from Souvenirs of a Girl.

Walk of Shame

MK Night

MK (and Ashley) Next Day

Pics from Olsens Anonymous.

Little Things I Love About Berlin...

...the lush green, the leaves outside my fifth story window, and the tree-lined street where I took my first German class with three Spaniards, two Aussies, a man from Italy and a girl from Poland.

Bike Month

May is bicycle month in the good old U S of A. Have you been riding? I highly suggest a good bike ride, sometimes there is nothing better than being on two wheels and feeling the wind in your hair.

Veiled

The French government approved a draft bill on Wednesday that prohibits the wearing of full facial veils in public places, which is expected to lead to a vote in Parliament in July. According to the draft bill, anyone wearing a garment “designed to hide the face” would be subject to a $185 fine, and anyone who forced a woman to cover her face could be fined as much as $18,500. While it is likely that Parliament will approve the bill, the Council of State, France’s highest legal authority, has signaled that it may be unconstitutional.


I have heard arguments on both sides of this very controversial matter and agree with bits of each, but I don't have a solid opinion. What do you think?


From New York Times. 

Wowza!

The Sartorialist is holding a little vintage photo contest over on his blog and although all the pre 1950 black and whites are nice, this photo just blows my mind.

I'll Say... Announcements

*Today my first story for Bang Bang Berlin is up. I am nervous but excited.

*Today I start German lessons. I am nervous but excited.

*Today I may just well be the busiest "unemployed" person in the world. I have never had so many projects on my fingertips and such a busy schedule. It all just makes me so nervous but excited.

Photo is a little nostalgic randomness from London 1964 because I missed my Random Sunday.

Berlin Weekend Roundup

So when I bid you adieu last Friday I predicted I would have a fabulous weekend, and with someone like Julia coming to town I knew there was no way I could jinx that. But how was I to know that I would fall so hard for her friends Manny (who lives in Berlin!) and Stuart, two Brits who couldn't have been more sweet and more freaking hilarious. Each of them continuously cracked me up in his own totally opposite way. I think all the weight I could have gained from delicious food and German beer was burnt off from laughter alone. I couldn't think of a better group to have frolicked around the city with for two and half totally fun-filled days. Then just as I sent them off on a bus to the airport, it was time to see another friend from New York's band play the final show of their European tour here in Berlin. Needless to say it was another long debaucherous evening, but thankfully Karsten didn't have to work on Monday so he joined in on the fun and we got to lay in bed and recover from it all together the next day. Still think I need a few more days to recover yet still. And despite all the excitement I did not take many photos (I left that to the two first time Berliners), but this will give you a better idea.

It all went something like this: Julia and Stu airport pickup, stroll through Neukölln and Görlitzer Park, four person photo booth, Oberbaumbrucke sunset, East Side Gallery, delicious street pizza, beers outside, Soho House Berlin, bar meetup, club in basement, redbull!, dark late night club with no cameras, early morning light, cheese plate fresh oj brunch, window shopping, Holocaust Memorial, laying on top of each other in the park, Goth outfit, Richard's birthday champagne, Richard's fabulous birthday dinner, Konrad Tönz, late night walk, late night chat, brunch by the river, bike riding, Badeschiff big bench photos, afternoon beer and bratworst at Berghain, sad farewell, bike ride, Atlantic/Pacific show, NYC friends and Berlin friends night out, early morning again, lazy bed Monday.

Happy Weekend!

This fabulous chica who happens to be one of my favorite people in the world arrives in Berlin in less than two hours AND the sun is finally shining.  Hallelujah! Hope you have a lovely weekend, I know I will. 

Sneaky Sneaky

PARIS (AP) -- A lone thief stole five paintings worth up to half a billion euros ($613 million) total, including major works by Picassoand Matisse, in a brazen overnight heist Thursday from a Paris modern art museum, police and prosecutors said.

I don't know why things like this fascinate me so much — Hollywood probably has something to do with it. I mean, Matisse and Picasso may as well be the two most brilliant/famous painters and yes these works (pictured above) are worth incredible sums of money, but how exactly do you get the funds when you have blatantly stolen them from the city of Paris. Is there really a black market for this? I want details.

Read the rest of the story here. 

I Heart Impostors

Been listening to this guy because he sounds like Neil Young. 

Want this dress because it looks like this Miu Miu.

Gimme these shoes because they are straight up copies of this Chloé 
pair.

These Two...

Wow. Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling, dressed to perfection at Cannes. Not sure if it gets any better than this.

Oh and hey, why don't you follow my blog with bloglovin.

Pic from The Neo-Traditionalist.

Only in Berlin

Last week a group of cyclists dumped 13 gallons of paint on the road at Berlin’s busy Rosenthaler Platz, creating a series of colourful lines as cars drove through. The various colours of paint were dumped onto the road in large puddles at different locations throughout the intersection. As traffic drove through, the paint was spread around creating lots of colourful lines. The whole action took only a few seconds: bikers had poured paint from big boxes in front of cars that waited for green lights. So the cars and their wheels, if the driver wanted it or not, became the brush tool for this guerilla public art piece. 


Read the rest here. 


Could you imagine people in their convertible Beamers and SUVS in LA allowing this to happen?

More photos on Flickr. 

If I Was Having a Party...

...I would make this little pie lollipops, and probably eat 50 of them.

Thanks for the idea Pink and Blue blog.

O.S.F

My friend Stian's snapshot from the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco a few weeks ago makes me miss my true home just a wee bit. Even compared to NYC and Berlin, they still no how to throw down.

Birds of a Feather

These gap-toothed models (Mick Jagger's daughter on the left) frolicking in St. Tropez gave me a little laugh. My one-and-half-year-old niece has a gap tooth and I find it adorable, but will she loose it before it's time for her modeling career to begin?


Thanks for the pic Studded Hearts.

Based in Berlin

Now that I am a Berliner (of sort) I love discovering other people who have also called this city home. As I mentioned before, my boyfriend's birthday was last week, so I gave him a copy of one of my favorite books: Middlesex by American author Jeffrey Eugenides. I hadn't read it in over six years and didn't remember much more than the basic plot details and the fact that I really enjoyed it, but I still had the desire to pass it on. One major fact that I failed to recollect until K started reading it, is that a majority of the book takes place in Berlin. After doing some Internet research I found that Eugenides himself lived here while he wrote the novel. Have I always been drawn to this city and just never realized it? I won't get too California girl on you and start discussing fate and all, I'm just saying.... So here is an excerpt I found interesting (bitchy NYC and David Bowie!) from an interview with the author after he wrote Middlesex, which of course I highly recommend along with his other novel The Virgin Suicides, which Sofia Coppola highly recommends as well.

He, his wife, Karen Yamouchi, and daughter, Georgie, moved to Berlin at the invitation of the German Academic Exchange programme. It was here that most of Middlesex was written, with Eugenides taking advantage of the chance to take a break from the pressures and bitchiness of literary New York. He weaved Berlin into the book.

"What with its history as a divided city, it seemed that it would fit into the theme of Middlesex - the divisions between and within people."

He lives on the unfashionable but lively Hauptstrasse, home to a large proportion of the city's Turkish population, in a house, according to the neighbours (who have all read his book and discuss it with him in the stairwell), where David Bowie lived during his love affair with the city in the 1970s and - appropriately enough - during his flirtations with androgyny.

Cute Confidence

Loving this cutie's classic yet original look. The hat, glasses, blouse, jeans each unique on their own make a killer combo.  Shot by Jak & Jil during Australian fashion week.

Inspiration?

Everyone in the fashion world is getting inspired by this Miu Miu line, maybe Miuccia found some inspiration here?

Photo from Hannah and Landon.

Berlin Weekend Roundup

We finally got to celebrate Karsten's birthday properly last Wednesday and lucky for us that was actually the start of our extremely long weekend. Thursday was a bank holiday here (Men's Day?) and he took Friday off, and since I, you know don't really work for anyone at the moment my weekend got to start there too. I continued with my new cooking habit and whipped up (not really it took three hours) a French stew that Karsten has not stopped talking about since my sister-in-law cooked it for us in NYC about six months ago. I was somehow able to pull it off (I am really enjoying cooking these days, who knew?) — see there we are all happy with our dinner in front of us. The second pic was taken yesterday on the river when the sun decided to show its face for the first time (see all those happy people enjoying it) in what feels like weeks, so yes all the time in between those shots was spent shivering from a winter-like cold that blasted Berlin mid-May. What? Anyway despite the cold, the weekend was relaxing and enjoyable.

It all went something like this: coq au vin, birthday ice cream cake, drinks at Muschi Obermaier with Franziska and Jay, sleeping in, breakfast in bed, Almost Famous, pizza movie marathon, Neukölln junk shop expedition, avocado sandwiches, sewing date with Erin, sleep early, reading in bed, home-made Spanish tortilla like the good old days, Black Eyed Peas concert (don't even ask), champagne on the tour bus (that may explain it), more fun at Konrad Tönz, early morning walk home, Sunday laziness, afternoon stroll, greasy food, A Single Man.

"It's All Happening..."

I watched Almost Famous this long weekend for the umpteenth time and I will admit that despite it's cheesiness, it is still one of my favorite movies. I mean journalism, rock n' roll, 1970s attire, Kate Hudson at her finest (if I could be Penny Lane for a day...), Philip Seymour Hoffman in complete self-depricating glory, and Billy Crudup with facial hair (not to mention Zooey Deschanel, Jason Lee and Francis McDormand). I mean come on, how could I not love it? You are talking to a girl who's other favorites include Dazed and Confused.


Anyway, Cameron Crow just knows how to warm my heart, but since we (side note: one of the bonuses of dating a non-American is he hasn't seen so many of my favorite films) watched it I have been feeling a little worried about my future, my job (or lack there of), my life away from the US etc. Not that it had anything to do with the movie directly, but it started there. Our weekend continued with many little discussions about these matters and it ended with me having more of a grasp of what I want out of it all but still with uncertainty, which we all know can be scary. But this morning, after sleeping in way too late I was awoken to a flood of emails about new opportunities and projects, each one offering a little glimpse into what my future has to offer and getting me excited for this new chapter in my life where I am the one dictating my moves. It feels good my friend, to say it like the Band-Aids of Almost Famous "It's all happening..."

MK and Me

A little inspiration from this lady helped me write my first article for Tangent Mag. Woo hoo! Read it here.

Random Sunday

ENGLAND—Teenagers at a jazz festival, 1964.

Sometimes I wish I was...

...a redhead. That is all for now.

Photos from Alexandra Cameron Photography and Souvenirs of a Girl.

Obsession

Balloons and Miu Miu in one. Brilliant.

Pic from Souvenirs of a Girl.

Living Vicariously Through...

...Other blogger's girl crushes. So, I am at a crossroads here with big decisions to be made. I have grown out my bangs and have been enjoying rocking the middle part hippie look for awhile now, but I think I am in need of a change. I may want that fringe back — the big thick straight across kind, oh yeah. But I am not completely convinced. Oh what to do? Life is hard with so many serious decisions to be made. '


But where does this living vicariously mumbo jumbo come in you ask? Well it's girls like Twin's crush singer-songwriter Diane Burch that make me want to chop 'em and girls like Garance Dore's crush, editor of fashion mag Rush Stevie Dance, that make me want to keep them as is. Whose lead should I follow? What should I do?

Gera Weekend Roundup-ish

It feels like I haven't spent a weekend in Berlin in quite some time now. Last night I got back from yet another trip, this time to Karsten's hometown for a family gathering. That's a pic for you of us looking like yuppies at the train station. I will tell you I had been pretty nervous for some time over this whole meeting the family thing, but despite my lack of a handle on the German language it went pretty smoothly and I really enjoyed meeting the people he shares all those good genes with. It was so nice to get a glimpse at even more of the person I love, even if I couldn't understand what anyone was saying. Ha! It was certainly a situation that I could have never guessed I would go through. But my inability to communicate did not simply give me a feeling of complete idiocy, but also a new found inspiration to learn. Oh and it was Karsten's birthday too, but we are planning on celebrating it properly this week. I will spare you of an actual roundup because it would have to be in German.

Aus-some!

Now this is what I'm talking about for a catwalk setting. Amazing shots from the Dion Lee show during Australian Fashion Week.

Photos from the UO Blog.

Random Sunday (Mother's Day)

LONDON—1971.

To Be a Fashion Blogger

Been reading a bunch of fashion blogs (and blogging up a storm!) today in preparation for my new gig as an online fashion writer for Tangent Mag (yay!). I will be blogging on trends, new lines etc — but I am specifically talking about the bloggers that take pics of their daily outfits. You know them, there are millions. Although I find them entertaining and have posted a few outfit photos of myself here on Another Zoe Day (before swearing them off), I can't help but question the high criteria that comes with becoming a fashion blogger.

I am the first to admit that I am a little vain (maybe even more than a little), but does this take vanity to whole new level? I have heard both arguments. Maybe it does, but I love the fact that real people have become the new model. These blogs are so much more inspiring then a fashion spread, and these ladies are really real not just "real girls" made up for a special section in a mag.

Also, is it a fashion blogger requirement to have a boyfriend? I mean who else is taking all these pics?  Who else would be willing to deal with taking photos of you posing day after day without getting to see you without those clothes at night? And of course you have to be pretty, or pretty confident, which in turn makes it easier to find a boyfriend/photographer. Okay that is my rant. What do you think?

Got this pic of a fashion blogger meet-up off WishWishWish.

If I Was Getting Married...

...this might just be the perfect dress. Vintage, simple, and look at that belt. So purdy. But a dress is not a reason to get married, right?

Thanks for the idea HomeRunBallerina.