Happy Japanuary!!!

While it's definitely not January quite yet, I'm happy to announce that on the 4th of said month, I will be flying on a jet plane back to my second homeland for the first time in three years!
I'm awfully, terribly excited. It's been far too long, I can't begin to count the people and things that I miss on a daily basis.
Onigiri and Oden at 7-11...
Hot canned coffee and royal milk tea out of vending machines...
Cigarettes out of vending machines...
The food...
Kotatsu tables...
Sala shampoo...
The smell of incense....
Everything...Everything...Everything.

Almost every minute of the day I'm thinking about the places I want to visit, the people I want to see, things I want to do...
And also, obsessing about how to make the 24 hours of travel involved as stress-free and luxurious as possible. This is a task in and of itself when traveling coach. And always involves sleep aids.

So incredibly excited!

Market Darling

This weekend I took off for Keene New Hampshire for the 24 Hour Starving Artist Music Festival, where my lovely friend Gwen's band performed. Unfortunately, I expired before the full 24 hours were up but managed to have lots of fun, and take quite a few photos:

Gwen's hand-made CD cases, SWOON.





























All in all an extremely good time. I'm lucky to have such an amazingly talented friend. You can check out the goods here on facebook.

Thrifting GOLD:

Lately I've been on a winning streak when it comes to second hand/thrifting. Here are some of my best finds:

#1: Vintage purse: $4.99 @ Salvation Army
It's much bigger than the Louis I've been using religiously since the end of August. Not real leather, but spotless and brilliantly designed none the less. With one push of the clasp at the top the entire bag opens up like a clam shell, I don't have to dig around for anything in this purse. I think I was drawn to it because of the hard briefcase-like structure in a vast sea of slouchy, oversized hobo bags. That, and the fact that it definitely resembles vintage Coach. And did I mention the lining?...



#2: Diane Von Furstenberg Heels: $24.00 @ Twice as Nice Consignments



The metallic pentagon shaped heels are responsible for stealing my heart.
Shown with another well-loved find, extremely long chain earrings from Savers, for $2. I've found these to be the cheapest, easiest way to add ping to every one of my fall outfits.

And then, saving the best for last:
#3: Authentic Louis Vuitton Wallet: $14.00 @ Savers



Savers...of all places. My Mother informed me that they were having a 50% off sale for veterans day, and after work I decided to drop by for a peek, never expecting to find this...buried underneath two obviously fake Louis pochettes in their "valued items" case. It was entirely too good to be true. And yet the date code, stitching, details, wear and tear...it all checks out. Say hello to my new wallet.

And lastly, another cheap-but-excellent buy:


Sinful Colors Nail Polish: $2 a-pop at Walgreens. I was on a desperate search for a cheaper alternative to Chanel's Jade Lacquer from Fall '09 (Yes, I'm admittedly behind the curve here).
Sinful Colors Mint Apple (shown on the far right) was the absolute closest I could find, and it's gorgeous. I bought this along with some of their other colors, including glitter coats and found that not only are they brilliant looking, but have extreme longevity. Highly recommended.

So now I'm off to bed. One more day of work and then a 24 hour music festival in New Hampshire with Gwen this weekend! I'm predicting vast amounts of caffeine in my near future.

Kazu Makino: Girl Crush.

Last night I hit up the Paradise with a bunch of good friends to see Blonde Redhead. It was my second time seeing them and I was no less transfixed by Kazu Makino the second time around, even though I'm not feeling their new album as much as their previous ones.
For whatever reason I find myself much more drawn to female rockers than their male counterparts...I can't take my eyes off of them at shows.
Karen O, Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes, and Kazu Makino...they just have this ethereal yet rock-solid presence on stage...I'm always left fascinated that a girl, cut from the same basic cloth as me could be so god-like. Their talent blows my mind. I want to be them.
And special props to Kazu for the fact that she's from my heart's hometown of Kyoto. And also for designing the band's t-shirts. I'm never usually a sucker for the merch stand, but last night I couldn't pass this up:

Now if only I could get my hands on a pair of those glitter leggings...

Here is a brief interview with Kazu that I found today. I wonder if any of my friends back home went to school with her. Hmm...