remember, remember...what i wore 05.11.09

ignore my grumpy face!

notes on the outfit:
i felt very professional without the stiff snobbery. these tights are my favourite (so is the skirt, and the top, and the jewellery...). my bracelets clanged against each other all night and it was wonderful. i wore practically this same thing out blues dancing in fort collins last week, though it was much less appropriate and dancing in a pencil skirt is a difficult task. tonight however, warranted dressing up.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

notes on the night out:
tonight was guy fawkes night, affectionately known otherwise as bonfire night. fireworks! burning effigies of the pope! general debauchery! i was invited to the member's-only naval & military club with an acquaintance held in high esteem, where we had hella fancy food in a library/dining room (apparently the dining room proper was booked for an event). it was all quite historical and very, very english. to put it mildly, it was decadent: stimulating conversation in an environment so fancy that i felt a bit uncomfortable— and i'm usually really good with that kind of thing!

of course, i'll be celebrating for the next few days along with the rest of the city. it's a holiday commemorating [the thwarting of] an attempted explosion! it's all about fire and religious tensions, so count me in. it's hard to say, but i think guy fawkes day may have hallowe'en beat in my book.

silly kiss-blowing shoe shot; relaxed morgan is relaxed.

outfit details
♥ oversized white tank top with flower details: forever 21
♥ black pencil skirt: ebay
♥ black patterned tights: target
♥ black boots: payless
♥ black suit jacket: h&m (london)
♥ silver bracelets: heirlooms, the big one apparently "african"
♥ black necklaces: heirlooms as well
♥ white banded/blue faced watch: fossil (not pictured, my jacket covers it)

i heart it

(photo credits)

♥ autumn leaves on the ground
♥ shifting perceptions of what relationships "should be"
♥ doing incredibly well in class
♥ hallowe'en and november/thanksgiving time
♥ we heart it (beautiful and inspiring images as per above &below)
♥ meeting a wonderful old jewish man on the trans-atlantic flight
♥ tiny hidden wine bars + cheese fondue + good conversation
♥ a planned trip in the works
♥ daydreaming about snow
♥ decorating my flat via feng shui
♥ being on fabulous terms with my professors

(1 &2)

♥ reading: currently, the book thief
♥ cute emails from a cute boy
♥ museum exhibits... in denver! genghis khan: nifty indeed, even if not extraordinary
♥ waking up each morning to the guardian
♥ impressing my ever-influential highschool history teacher by chance (via hair salon)
♥ playing with my brother's iphone and realising that i much prefer my blackberry

“let there be spaces in your togetherness.”
—kahlil gibran

also, these links:
creepy infomercial ♥ "and then the warewolf" by joey comeau ♥ photo-series on plastic on the midway atoll albatrosses (top of the page) ♥ info on speed reading ♥ nytimes photoseries "obama's people"

in memory of...what i wore 28.10.09

(photos taken by my lovely mother)

details
♥ vintage dress worn as a blouse: heirloom
♥ black fitted skirt: forever 21
♥ black pea coat: m&s
♥ black scarf and patterned black tights: target
♥ black purse: h&m (london)
♥ black boots: payless
♥ coloured wooden bracelets with beads: heirlooms
♥ asian(?) head necklaces: heirlooms

this is what i wore to see zombieland with my brother/his friend. it was a good time (and i'd recommend the film to lovers of such folly).

the heirlooms all belonged to my grandmother; she owned a boutique in chicago for some time and most of her jewellery was sold there (she wore it with the price tags dangling innocuously from their clasps). i now have pieces originating from pakistan to new york city to ethiopia, and some ambiguously labelled "african", for instance. you'll no doubt see more of them soon.

unfortunately my camera battery died on my trip back to the states and this was the only outfit i was able to photograph— though it should be noted that it snowed something fierce and my apparel after that was mostly sweaters, jeans, baggy-girly tanktops and my boy's clothing.

wales trip of ancient glory

the ruins of a roman ampitheatre in caerleon, wales
more photos here

this past weekend my friend anjali and i took an overnight trip to wales: specifically cardiff (the capital), newport and caerleon. departing from the bus station in victoria on saturday morning, we arrived in cardiff the early afternoon and searched for a nice welsh food joint. as it turns out, that was a difficult task. cardiff seemed filled with the same types of "authentic" pub chains that litter london, and their high street was dotted with starbucks (and a random fashion show that looked like this). the bay was nice, but we spent most of the first day inside between cafés and running to our trains and buses, because (due to our scheduling inadequacies) our hotel was in newport, the next city over; as per usual, we were late.

newport castle, literally right next to a freeway.

after a frustrating late-night bus ride full of drunken welsh chavs, we arrived. our hotel had a darling full breakfast and a girl at the front desk suggested we check out newport castle and caerleon, a village with ancient roman ruins. we hopped a cab and marveled at the greenery. (note: none of these photographs are shopped to enhance the colors. it was so beautiful).

the roman barracks

the most amazing thing was that there was no one around, save for a father playing football with two little boys.

the roman ampitheatre

everything was so green. the weather went from sunny to rainy every few minutes (seriously) and it was rather muddy. in fact, i slipped and fell in the mud running down into the centre of the ampitheatre. had it been less dreary (as in, lovely) we would have had a picnic in the middle. in case you're wondering, anjali's outfit is pretty much entirely thrifted from brick lane or "borrowed" from a boy.

a short summary:
cardiff was mediocre, but entertaining. newport was more "welsh" which we liked. caerleon was gorgeous and home to under-known ancient ruins; definitely our favourite part of the trip. should you go to wales if given the chance? yes.

final note:
my apologies for the quiet around here. this past week was all midterms and papers and presentations and travelling, but rest assured that there will be outfit photos abound with my newly acquired antique wardrobe!

what i wore 09.10.09at the electric circus for medical supplies in gaza

The Skandalous! crew will be letting their hair down and spraying it all pink and blue for a full on night of beautiful chaos! Our aim is to tickle all of your senses and all of your emotions with a miniature indoor festival of LURVE! This will be a Transylvanian Ball packed full of sexy, cutting edge performances from Dancers and Circus Folk from around the world, with music from some of the best bands and DJs the UK has to offer. Expect random acts of lunacy at every turn...

Our manifesto is to induce maximum fun and laughing while raising money for precious medicines needed by the people of Gaza.

the long queue made me apprehensive. walking in — after the lengthy security check — was like walking into a dream hosted by david bowie. everyone was dressed to the nines: there was an abundance of glitter, feathered headdresses, ruffled renaissance blouses (on the men), short sequins'd dresses, hats of all descriptions, tutus, neon wigs, hooker heels, face paint, and striped tights. the event's name was fitting indeed.

a fluorotrash dancer

i explored; this place was like a maze. there were four levels, all with incredibly high ceilings and at least two staircase entrances to each. the entire venue was decked out in beautiful painted posters, mostly of nudes. there was a bedazzled accordion player on a landing between the massive marble staircases. the dj played with a large, antique candle holder beside him. the top floor (known that night as the 'naked room') offered circus acrobats twirling on suspended hoops, a clothesline filled with frilly panties, and a bake sale. there was a guy in a fedora juggling neon-glowing balls. everything was coloured strobe lights and great music. the stage featured impressive beat-boxers, often accompanied by a guy in a banana suit, and a they might be giants -like ensemble; later is was full of "psychedelic pole performers". everyone was dedicated to the cause.

what was the cause exactly? providing medical supplies to people in gaza, most of whom are denied access to such resources by the israeli blockade (read: wall). after recently researching israeli-palestinain relations for a policy brief on a peace conference, i feel quite strongly on the issue. my stance: human rights, including self-determination but more importantly access to medical supplies, must be respected.

this is what i wore; i felt like the love child of elvira and a sexy secretary.

check out that eye make-up! someone told me they thought it "clever".

tiny bathroom photoshoot, what what.

details:

♥ black dress, macy's
♥ black peacoat, m&s
♥ black ankle boots with white socks (unpictured), payless
♥ black beaded necklace, claire's?
♥ black earrings, gift from mom
♥ dork glasses, eye doc

it was a seriously cool event for a really important cause. to find out more about the situation in gaza, start here.

twitter: not just for stalkers

a word cloud of my tweets from the past week

what's the point of twitter?
why would anyone care if i'm eating a sandwich?

this is something i hear all the time from a few of my friends. while the stalking possibilities are very real, there's more to it than that. twitter can be used for self-promotion, as a platform for change, and simply as a real-time news feed; the latter is what i find most valuable. there are lots of people who join simply for the feed without ever posting tweets themselves.

much in the way that rss feeds let you access all of your favourite websites at once, twitter allows you to keep up to date with friends, politicians, businesses, blogs, newspapers, government bodies, bands, causes, celebrities, and anyone else with an account. here a few notable people that i follow:

@guardiannews breaking news from my favourite source, as it happens
@UNIC the official twitter account of the UN
@yokoono for micro-inspiration
@cxs a really convenient way to let your senators/congressmen know what you think
@algore updates on climate change politics
@LDN and @tiredoflondon fun facts and things to do in london
@OHHDLInfo his holiness the dalai lama; news and good quotes
@barakobama news from the white house
@oxfam and @hrw (human rights watch)

twitter also lets you find out about events as they happen, all over the world, with the search function and public timeline. a few examples: the previous US presidential debates, the iranian election, swine flu paranoia, and people's degenerating opinions of kanye west.

i personally use trillian as a platform to receive tweets as they're posted, but i often check my main twitter page for an overall view of what's happening in the world. here's a v. basic breakdown of twitter's features and functionality:

♥ you have 140 characters to type your message. anyone who is following you will recieve your tweets in their timeline; likewise you'll see the tweets of everyone you're following in yours. they'll also appear in the public timelime (the master list of all tweets) unless you change your privacy settings.
♥ @ is used to send a tweet directed at a different user, or to "retweet" (or RT) what someone has already said. to make this happen without copy-pasting, click on the little arrow next to tweets. click the @[your username] link in your sidebar to see all @ tweets at you.
♥ # is a way to tag a topic; this way it shows up in searches.

@chrisguillebeau and @amnesty

♥ see those little stars next to each tweet? clicking that "favourites" them, and you can look at all of your favourites at once.
♥ direct messages: private messages between users.
♥ tiny urls. this is a website (and an add-on for web browsers) that condenses large urls into tiny ones, thereby taking up less characters.
♥ trending topics. these are the things most-tweeted about on all of twitter.
♥ and of course, your home page colours, pictures and fonts are easily customisable.
♥ a few other things to be familiar with: #musicmonday and #followfriday. there are also tons of apps, widgets, and platforms to post tweets from.

do you have a twitter account? if so post your username in the comments so i can follow you! i'm @miss_morgan; i generally use twitter to post interesting articles i read and random observations.

what i wore 07.10.09

wet weather calls for thick tights. a few friends and i went to a late-night lecture by anthony giddens, expert on china and former writer for the guardian. of course, the lecture was on china as a superpower: a subject on which i know embarrassingly little. afterwards i shook his hand and went to the library to study for my propaganda class.

hello, awkward 10 second timer poses

details:
♥ black dress, h&m london
♥ red scarf, target
♥ black patterned tights, target(?)
♥ black slouchy boots, angels
♥ black purse, h&m london
♥ black thick-framed glasses, my eye doctor; i'm so blind!
♥ long pearl earrings, accessorize
♥ black watch, fossil
♥ flimsy yet tiny black umbrella (not pictured), h&m london
♥ grey jacket (as seen strewn across my bed), target

my lips were hopefully not that pale all day, though what do i know.

today's tips: check to make sure your shoes are water-proof before tromping around in the rain; if you're poor, go to public lectures and snag the doritos and free wine; don't bother looking good for anyone else, because they're unlikely to notice; instead, dress for yourself!