Kawaii

"Make-believe is much too fun."

I'm always flattered when someone tells me a certain music artist reminds him/her of me. In fact, I hope anyone I say that to also feels what I feel when that happens: I feel special. That means that I'm on that person's mind when he's listening to that music. That means that I'm with him mentally and emotionally, even when I can't be with him physically. For me, that artist is then tagged with "Lauren," meaning that I instantly feel a connection with the song and song is instantly attached to me.

Beth sent me a song file a few weeks ago by Eisley. The first song I heard by them was "I Wasn't Prepared." It was one of the most beautiful songs I had heard in a long time, and I couldn't help but have the song on repeat for days. I asked Beth if it was oh kay with her if I bought the album (because we're both rather possessive over our individual music artists). She said that, actually, she had the album already. Beth then happily handed it over to me. Eisley is now with me when I walk to class, when I write here at Vox, when I drive with Mum to the store and even when I don't have any form of technology with me. Eisley just... is.

Room Noises

Eisley

It's only once in a long while that I find a music artist that I truly connect with. I always feel cozy in my own, personal sanctuary when I listen to my music. I think that's why iPods made it so big. They're not just friends people can carry with them; they're the musical and artistic limbs of people. People, then in their own worlds, can express themselves to others, yet still remain in their own little worlds.

After I listened to the album for a while, I realized that I had another favorite, which is the one that appears in this entry. "Brightly Wound" is a song that really told a story for me. As much of an adult I try to be, my immaturity often peaks outside of what I should be and gets me in trouble. (More stories about that later.) When I played the song for my mom in the car this last week, she immediately turned to me and said, "Lauren, this is you." I knew what she meant. I really will never grow up. I'll never take on responsibility the way I should because of my tendancy to lean towards the imaginary-- the dreamy. I don't mind though. If you ask me, everyone else in the adult world is missing out. I like this make-believe world I'm in.

Side note 1: The brushes used in the image above were not created by me. I used brushes from another source.
Side note 2: I wrote this entry late last night, at about 2 a.m., I believe. It's amazing how the mind wanders at such late hours. I didn't feel like making it public until today.

Poster kid, ignited.

Finally, finally. I was finally given a chance to take photos of my new haircut. I know that the style may not look as different in the photos, but believe me, it's very different from my last cut when seen in person. I think it's more of an A-line cut, which is something I haven't quite had yet. There's also a lot more red in all of my hair, not just certain chunks.

Looking Glass

I went into the hair salon that day (Monday) with a pretty negative attitude. Everything that had happened previous to my appointment had gone completely wrong. All the computers in my house (four, I believe) had somehow become broken. I had forgotten to bring the photos of the style I wanted at my apartment, so I had been planning to print off some new ones at my house. I guess the universe was just out to get me that day, because I couldn't print them off with the computers down. I then had the seemingly brilliant idea to take a digital photo of the pictures on a computer, but none of the laptops or desktops would boot up that morning. Thank goodness, my new stylist understood what I wanted. My usual stylist, Sydnee, had broken her elbow, so I went to a new girl-- who turned out to be just as nice.

The Gentle Touch

Anyway, when Karina started on my bangs, I told her to go a bit shorter, which was my mistake. When I told her that I had never bangs "that short" before, she started to panic. I was really happy with the newer, shorter bangs though. The cut is a lot shorter than I had last time, and I think I'm going to have fun with this for a long time. The day became a lot better once I realized that I was in good hands with Karina. <3

I wanted to show off the side of the cut as much as possible, so I aimed at taking photos of different poses of the side of my face. I had a lot of fun going around the house and outside. The weather was perfect, but the sun almost gave too much natural light, which is usually never a problem for me.

Because this entry is dedicated to small self-portraits of me, I thought I'd make it more interesting by including some tips for self-portraits that you take yourself, not by another person. Personally, I like going to other sites with friends that are happy with their pictures, which in turn, makes me happy for taking those pictures. Here are a few key points that I keep in mind while taking portraits of myself:

1. Aim to use natural lighting (meaning the sun).Do not, by any means, use the flash. I know that it may be necessary for photos taken at night, but for the love of photography, try to stay away from using the flash if you want your photos to maintain quality. Flash takes away clarity and depth in photos. People want to see the real you! (See below for the exception. ^_~)
2. As nice as taking pictures straight on with a smile is, try to lean towards pictures of yourself in different poses. You can use props or different scenery to give yourself more photo opportunities.
3. As mentioned in the previous one, straight on pictures are nice, but if you provide a little negative space in other areas, you'll really find that the photo will look more artistic rather than just being a portrait.
4. Avoid using mirrors to reflect yourself for taking the actual picture. Having pictures with yourself and your camera buddy are nice, but they aren't professional looking. There is a trick to this. If you have your camera's view finder on the back of your camera or you have a posable one, you can stand in front of the mirror and point the lens at you with the view finder facing the mirror. You can then fix the camera in a position and angle your body in a way that looks good while mentally editing the shot. Just remember to get your eyesight focused where the lens is pointing on the mirror! If you don't, your eyes will seem to dart all over the place in the digital image. Haha, I've learned this one the hard way.

Make-Believe

There are a few others points that I'd like to make, but they won't seem to come to my mind right now. I'll make sure to update this post when I think of them. ^__^

Edit: Reesie pointed out that, yes, there are exceptions to everything I mentioned above. With the proper experience, I think flash can be used in an artistic way that gives quality to a photo.

Other than playing around with my hair, I've been keeping myself busy. Beth decided she wanted to go back home for a couple more days, so we spent a good chunk of our vacation with Mom and Kathleen. (I think Yukimo missed me a lot. Ever since I got back to the apartment, she's been running around her cage like crazy.)

On our drive back, I was thinking about how the past few weeks at school have gone and what I'm going to try to do to change my grades around. My grades aren't horrible right now, but I know that I can do better. After becoming discouraged with my grade in Oceanography, I became frustrated with all of my classes. "When one thing goes wrong, all hell breaks loose." That's exactly what happened to me. I think that this mini-break is exactly what I needed to pull myself together. I feel a lot more motivated to do well this semester. I'm ready to get back to school to kick some class ass. *air punch*

Otherworlds

Secrets Welcome

Sienna Skies

Reunited with the cool dude.

They Even Dress Alike

Squee! *dances around* I was planning to post photos of my new haircut and coloring today, but the lighting for taking photos is just horrible. I'll have to postpone that post until later on this week once it's sunny out. I love the rain, but it has horrible timing when it comes to photography sometimes. For some reason, my photos of Plum and Jinkies still turned out, so I thought I'd showcase 'em here instead.

I never really post about my daily life in detail, so I thought I'd change my Vox pace a bit and try that for once. ^__^

My break has been pretty great so far. I didn't think I'd actually have plans for the week, but after only a day of being off (last Friday), I realized that, yes, the entire vacation was going to be fun. I text messaged one of my very best friends, Jeremy, on Friday to see if he was in town yet. (He moved to Minnesota a few years ago for college, so Shawn and I only get to see him once every so often.) Sure enough, he messaged me back to let me know that he had arrived earlier that morning. We decided to surprise Shawn at work later that night by just showing up. Shawn wasn't even sure if Jeremy would be in town yet, and I saw his eyes light up as soon as he saw both of us walking towards him. (I tease them both about their "friendship." Sometimes I wonder if Shawn loves Jeremy more than he loves me, haha. It's all in good fun... I think.) Jeremy and I had been planning to see 300 with Shawn, but Shawn didn't finish work until after the movie started, so we put those plans off and decided to just sit and talk at Perkins for three hours. The three of us, and sometimes Beth, would sit at Perkins for hours every weekend when Jeremy used to live here. Even though it's sad thinking about all the memories when we're there together, I still get excited at the thought of just relaxing with my favorite people in the world.

"Sleepy" Jeremy

The next day was Patty's Day. I never really celebrate the day, because 1) I'm not Irish (and I think it's amusing that everyone who is the slightest bit Irish celebrates the holiday), and 2) I'm not a big party person. I did the most I've ever done on the holiday this year though. Shawn and Jeremy surprised me that night. Jeremy had said he was going to be busy, but Shawn ended up bringing him along. I was really happy, especially since Beth had decided to come home early from her plans. It was the first time in years that the four of us were able to be together and just... hang out. We played Pictionary and drank what little alcohol we had at my apartment. Like I said, I'm not a big party person-- meaning, drinker. I had my first alcoholic drink this past October and I only drink small amounts of alcohol when I'm around Shawn and Jeremy, just because I feel comfortable around them. Shawn brought me over my favorite wine coolers, and the two guys settled on their favorite, Jack Daniels mixed with gingerale.

Beth & Her New Hair

Shawn and Jeremy played Katamari until the wee hours of the morning, but Beth and I decided to go to sleep. We were all able to sleep in, finally. It was fun harassing Jeremy in the morning with my camera after I woke up. I thought he was asleep, but apparently, he was aware of me taking photos of him the entire time. None of us are exactly morning people, so it took about three hours for us to get off our bums and to get breakfast, er, lunch.

Shawn, Jeremy and I walked to the coffee shop down the street and waited for our food/coffee. Poor Shawn had gotten even more sick after he had just begun to get better during the week, so he was rather "out of it" the entire morning. After the night Jeremy and I surprised him at work, Shawn's throat became worse, and he could barely talk by Patty's day. (-__-) I felt so bad for making him more sick, but I think he'll agree that a few days with Jeremy was worth the pain.

My weekend was the best part of my break so far. Other than that, I had my hair appointment, which went fairly well. (Again, I'll post photos later this week.) Later that Monday, I went to the doctor to get my blood test done to see if I was anemic or not. The results came back last night, and they were normal-- so I'm not anemic. I have mixed feelings about the results. I'm happy that nothing more is wrong with me, but I'm also a little sad that there's not a solid reason behind the heart palpitations and the fainting spells over the years. Nevertheless, I'm still taking vitamins with iron to make sure that my body stays strong.

The Kicks

I'd like to send out a very colorful and warm thank you to Lisa. (<3 + ^__^) The outfit Plum is wearing (the shirt and skirt) was a present from Lisa. I received it a few weeks ago, but I haven't had a chance to show it off yet. For no reason at all, Lisa sent me a super sweet package with Blythe goodies. I almost started tearing up because of the gesture. Thankies, Lisa!

It's a harsh and pretty world, love.

Bear + Gun

Midterm time is... over. I can now sit down and breathe without having to stress about how well I'm doing in a class. I have to admit-- this feels pretty amazing. A lot of little events and new things have been going on in my life right now, so I thought I'd mix them all together into an entry. It'll be a good release after this week. Here's a rough sketch of what is going on in the life of Kawaii.

The event that's coming up that is making me the happiest right now is my hair appointment on Monday. My hair, even though it's still on the shorter side, has been driving me crazy because of its length in the front and small little tail-like pieces in the back. I've been wearing mostly hats on my head the past few weeks because of how insane it's making me! (I have formed a newfound love for hats. Wee.) I plan on getting some of it chopped off and a good amount of it highlighted. I won't spoil the fun and give away what I'll be doing, but I think it's going to be fun having some brightness. ^_~ Change is most definitely good.

Decrepid, Yet Pretty

Sadly, because Shawn and I attend different universities, our spring breaks don't coincide. His break was this past week, whereas, mine is the following week. *sigh* I would have liked knowing that we could spend more time together, because of the busy schedules we have when classes are in session, but alas, the universe doesn't revolve around us (yet). He spent over half of his vacation sick with a horrible cold mixed with a flu. After all the hard work he's done, I would have thought the universe would have been generous and given him a nice relaxation period. I guess not. Anyway, he's doing a lot better right now, and I finally get to see him for the first time in about a week tonight. Shawn's bringing over another Heart Day present for me, too. On Heart Day (Valentine's Day to everyone else), he told me that I should be expecting random presents throughout the year. He's living up to his word! This just goes to show people that one day shouldn't be set aside to show your significant other you love him/her. Every day should express that love, even if it's through simple means.

In Vox related news, I have several groups up and running, so I thought I would take this opportunity to mention all of them, even if I have already (with some) in previous posts. My newest group, Hamsters, was inspired by who other than Yukimo, my white dwarf hamster, also known as the love of my life. Plushies is also another group I recently created. You can check the description to find out what it's about, but I think the name is pretty self-explanatory. ^_~ The newest groups could use some love. Here's a complete list of the groups I'm running so far:

• Hamsters (3 members)
• Plushies (1 member)
• Blythe (83 members) co-mod
• Kawaii (25 members)
• Vox Banners (281 members)

Sweetness

And now, for other, more personal news, I recently started having some health issues involving heart palpitations. I thought they may be related to stress, but when I asked my mom, she said that they're usually not caused from that kind of tension. She's suspected that I may be anemic before, but I never had a serious reason to have tests done. (My mom is a nurse.) She wants me to come home during my break so I can make an appointment to see my doctor-- yet again, bah. After talking with Beth about it, I found out that Beth, too, was tested for anemia, but she didn't have it. I then talked with Kristin today and found out that she does have anemia, as well as Endometriosis. I asked Kristin if the two were interrelated, and sure enough, they are. I'm guessing that because of my status as a person with problems involving blood already, there's a good chance that I'll have anemia. I'm now kind of anxious to see if it's true. I don't see how it couldn't be. Anemia would explain the fainting, feelings of weakness, and buzzing in my ears over the years. The past few days have been especially difficult with the heart palpatations/noises. Even though I normally like to stay away from needles, I guess a few blood tests are for the best.

I'm keeping an optimistic outlook on the situation. Being anemic isn't the end of the world; it just means I need more iron in my blood. If anything, I'm happy to find this out now so I can prevent future fainting "attacks" and any other problems. At least I get to relax and not stress out about this with Spring Break here. *sits back*

Ah, now this is the life.

A milk carton's life.

Ever wonder what it would be like to be an inanimate object? I always think about it, especially when my Blythes are concerned. There are tons of horror movies that have been released over the decades that involve life within inanimate objects-- houses, furniture, dolls, cars, and so many more. People are fascinated with the idea of a lifeforce within something that seems to have the exact opposite: nothing and emptiness. I, however, have to disagree. Why can't something out of the ordinary have a personality or pizzazz? If you ask me, life would be boring without questions like that one. ^_^ I think my plushie milk carton agrees.

Milk + Empty Glass

I received Milk (the creative Blue's Clues-like name given to my plushie) from one of my best friends, Celena, for a Christmas/birthday present this last December. In the package she sent me, not only was Milk inside, but tons of other little goodies were as well, ranging from other plushies to vinyl figures to creative plushie pins that I can wear (made by the famous Maz!). For some reason, I got wrapped up in my hectic life *laughs* and forgot about poor Milk until just recently. I went home this weekend to relax after a long week of exams and stressing in the hopes of releasing all the pent-up tension inside me. I didn't bring Plum home (gasp!) so I thought I'd spend some much needed time with my neglected plushies, which mostly consisted of... Milk. I carried Milk around the house with me, disappointed that I had forgotten to bring my camera home with me, and attacked Kathleen with it quite a few times by throwing Milk at her. *smirk* That was probably the most "work" I did all weekend.

Milk Side View

I have to admit-- not having to do any work after that horrible week was a major gift to me. I'm mentally preparing myself for this next week. I figure that I still have a day or two to relax and set my mind at ease. Then I can focus on getting the last ounce of work out of the way before Spring Break.

Back to Milk. I was able to bond with my plushie a lot over the weekend. I spent a good amount of time looking at her creator's website. On Friday night, I was even able to talk to Celena for a little while about how she came to buy Milk for me. She was actually able to meet Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane in December at her booth at a plushie fair. (I'm so jealous.) Celena told me about how she wanted to just take all the plushies home with her that day, and I don't blame her. Heidi comes up with the most amazing and creative pieces of felt and fabric work (besides you, Maz ^_^) in the world. Her work ranges from toiletries to desserts to everday beverages (like Milk) to pieces of furniture around the house. Milk has become one of my prized possessions. I feel so lucky to have her with me.

I was proud to have a milk plushie in my family for three reasons: 1) Celena thought of me when she saw Milk, which means a lot to me; 2) Celena chose the pink version of the milk cartons, which means I have strawberry milk (a yummy flavor with a smashing color, my favorite); and 3) I have an obvious infatuation/obsession with milk, so this is very much the perfect new favorite plushie for me.

Milk was nice enough to pose for a photoshoot today, hence the "Adventures of a Milk Carton" theme of this entry. ^____~

Let's hope cuteness can kill off the stressful days.

I Love Sui

My Vox challenge is still up and running, and it will be until tomorrow. ^___^ I couldn't help but make a post today. I hate pushing the challenge post down, but writing is a big stress release for me right now.

(Edit: Due to the time I'll be spending on midterms this next week, I'm extending the deadline for entering my Vox challenge until Wednesday, March 14th. Feel free to still leave comments with your ideads in that entry!)

This has been a rough week for me to go through. It's midterm time for a lot of colleges right now, including my own. Normally, I pretty much breeze through midterm time because of my status as an English major. Most English professors require their students to write papers (a little longer in length, but still better than exams, nontheless), but I've been thrown into a different loops of classes this semester. I actually have to take exams, which has completely thrown me off track-- mostly mentally, and now a little physically. I haven't taken exams in almost over a year, but now that I'm faced with four of them within a two week period, I'm getting flustered and irritated with everything. Classes, assignments, studying and any other little stress-related situation that is thrown my way causes me to have a breakdown of some sort.

(On a side note: I've never been able to deal with stress very well. I let my worries about a situation affect me fully. That's one reason why I don't drive yet. I never got my license because I have a fear of getting behind the wheel. I also can't hold onto a job while going to school because I let the pressures of each work atmosphere get to me in too much of an extreme.)

Sanrio's Pandapple

I was struck with a period of paranoia last night. (-__-) I had already taken my Linguistics exam on Monday, but knowing that my Oceanography exam was the next day (today) put even more stress on my shoulders. I almost fell asleep during class (which I never do); I then came home after attempting to study and took a nap, yet I forgot to take my contacts out (which I've never done before); and I started having delusions again in the middle of the night. I went to sleep on the couch in the main room again (because I still can't sleep in my room with all the snoring my neighbor does), and I kept hearing noises all around me. Every little movement around the room freaked me out. At one point, I heard a crash in the kitchen. I was so paranoid that I called Shawn and had him on the phone with me as I checked what had tipped over-- some old garbage bags had. I felt like I was going insane. The fact that my body has been aching because of how tense I am lately does not help me. On top of all of that, I can't stop sniffling. I'm so afraid that horrible cold has come back to haunt me.

Sui, Up Close

I just came back from my Oceanography exam. I knew nothing. I never go into an exam unprepared. I tried to study-- I really did. I don't care as much about the grade I receive on this one exam as much as I care about how my overall grade in the class affects my GPA. I finally achieved a high GPA after all the work I've done over the years. I don't want to let one class take my great average away. My average isn't just a number to me; it stands for all of the hard work I've put into my college years as a student and as an adult. Somehow, the little picture of one class is affecting the big picture of my academic life. *cries*

I will admit, however, that I do feel better knowing that the whole exam is over with. I still have to write up a paper for my World Cinema midterm, and I have to somehow get myself together to study for my Irish Literature exam, but I'm going to try not to stress about that until next week. I feel better writing about my whole paranoia experience anyway, so this entry is a big help.

Here's a little something to brighten up my day. ^^; Yukimo, along with a lot of my colorful little plushie friends around the apartment, have been able to help me out a lot. I just look at all of them and smile. I think I subconsciously have them around to help me during weeks like this one. I took this photo of Yukimo about a week ago. She's sleep-eating, something that she does at almost every hour of the day, tee hee. Yukimo makes me happy.

Vox challenge open to all Voxers!

I wanted to try something new with Vox so I decided to propose a little game, or in this case, challenge. There won't be any strict rules or guidelines for this challenge. I will ask, however, that all ideas suggested should be within reason. In other words, no risqué suggestions! ^__^ This is open to all Voxers, so feel free to leave a comment with your suggestion even if you aren't in my neighborhood.

This challenge will be held from today (March 3rd) to Thursday (March 8th).
I have extended the challenge deadline because of my midterm period with classes, so I'll still be accepting ideas until Wednesday, March 14th.

The Challenge

Think up an idea for a photo. It can be crazy, weird, silly, serious, pretty, funny, exotic, dangerous, and any other adjective that comes to mind. I'm making my photography skills available to you so it's up to you to decide what you would like to see in my next entry. (So basically, I'm challenging you to challenge me.) Please keep in mind that my outside sources are limited because of the colder weather conditions where I live at the moment. I will still be able to go outside, but I won't be able to frolick in green fields for a photoshoot. (Haha, sorry.) You can keep the following suggestions in mind when trying to think up a photo:

• Dolls (Blythes; Hue, my Pullip; Swiss, my BJD, etc.)
• Vinyl toys (Dunnys, Mad*Ls, Tokidoki figures, Pinky Street figures, etc.)
• Plushies
• Yukimo, my hamster
• Snow
• Food
• Me (Again, within reason please.)
• Light
• Nature/scenery

There are so many more ideas, too. Try to be as descriptive as possible in your comment while still leaving room for my own interpretation of what you're suggesting. The possibilities for this challenge are literally endless. Just tell me what your idea is!

What You Do

All you have to do is think up the idea and leave me a comment with your suggestion. There will be a limit of two ideas per person, but you can, of course, leave just one if you wish.

Any Prize?

I will be choosing three of the ideas from the bunch and will then make them a reality. I will pick the three according to what I think I'm capable of doing and the final results will also be based off of my interpretation of what your suggestions are. The three winners will be able to see the photos I take in a special entry dedicated to the results of this challenge.

There will be one ultimate winner of the three photos that are chosen. I will choose this winner from not only the creativity they put into his/her idea, but also the end result of that photo. Basically, whichever photo I feel has developed into the most creative piece of artwork will win the grand prize. The grand prize winner will then be mailed a hardcopy of that photo as a small print. (No shipping charges will be required.)

Keep in mind that I will edit the photo and may alter images as I see fit. I want to make sure each photo is perfect.

Privacy Policy

I will only ask for the address of the grand prize winner after he/she is chosen. If you win, you have the choice of accepting or rejecting the prize. If you do not feel comfortable giving your address away, don't worry about it. You're then welcome to print off the photo for yourself during your own time. ^___^

Milk & butterflies.

(I used brushes from another source to make this graphic.)