link love

first thank you for the comments about my hair!!
and second i'm about to update and reorganize my links so if i dont have you but you want me to add your blog or website let me know in the comments!
happy day everyone!!
:)

oh you noticed huh?

ok i guess since some of you noticed yes i did cut my hair! and im not sure but i thought it was going to look so cool cause i was gonna curl it and it was gonna be all old school and yeah well um why did i forget my hair has a hard time curling?! so yes i have curled it (some) and it looks ok but for the most part its been looking like this! i was over at missa's blog and waaaaa i miss my long lovely hair! oh well its hair it'll grow back no biggie if thats all im worrying about then hey life is pretty good eh? ok go about your business nothing to see here move along...

happy trails...

went to a working ranch this weekend!

what to wear to a ranch? oh dear

and actually i shouldve worn jeans but live and learn:

i figured the vest and blue patterned dress together were country -ish enough

we did the typical hay ride thing, the camp fire thing, saw some horses in barns and all of that, had some bbq and cobbler -yum! the grounds were beautiful and massive (and there were costumed tour guides around to let you know what was what)

there was also a victorian house that we went into and although i was scared to take pics in case it was frowned upon i noticed that some rooms were more updated than the victorian era and were indeed up to the 50s that must have been the latest the family lived there and perhaps thats why but i was looking in one and saw in a closet these dresses!

i just wanted to grab one i mean would they miss ONE? eh?

yeah ok well i didnt i just took this pic!

had the most lovely sunset while we were wandering around the grounds

i even got to wear my new little booties!
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yay for trips and relaxing with friends and family!

there's always room for one more

thrifted this awesome dress a while ago but doesn't fit me so at some point I'll have to get around to altering it but i've just always belted it and put a cardi over and no one knows the difference! heehee!

i have like a bazillion black or black & white dresses but dude seriously this one is so perfect for me and the condition was not to be passed up! besides a dress can also be a skirt or a shirt so the possibilities are always more! yup thats my story and im sticking to it.

old school

How cool is my hubby?! Um, totally cool! Cause check these babies out! Oh yeah I'm in camera heaven! Unfortunately the Duaflex one is broken but the Polaroid is fine and dandy! Just need to get some film and oh yeah we're in business baby! Kicking it old school! Ok Ok I'll stop. But seriously it was cool to find these lovelies! I tried to get a background on them but hubby was kinda nonchalant about them but I guess when you have something around for a while it might not be a big thing but since I've never seen an old Kodak like this I was like WOW :)

Now the Polaroid I remember from when I was kid, we had one at some point as well but it's too funny how things come back around cause I'm sure when I was in high school I never thought of getting excited over a Polaroid! "That old thing!" And now with digital ones and photo shop -man it's such a different world taking pictures but I really am excited about going back and snap taking a real photo that pops out like that -crazy man! And the hubs is so sweet to let me enjoy my little hobby! He's quite encouraging in my photography and I couldn't ask for more than that -I am quite blessed to be loved by him. When I take my first photo I'm sure I'll think of him oh maybe I'll frame that first one -kinda sappy huh? Yeah well love does that to ya!

sometimes, ya gotta play

the more years on this planet the more i realize that if i dont just go with the flow i will absolutely not make it!
events in my life just dont go the way i want sometimes but hey what can i do about it? sometimes not much so let it go.
actions in others just dont change the way i want sometimes but hey what can i do about it? nothing since people dont change unless they want to so just accept it and go on.
emotions in me just dont go the way i want sometimes but hey what i do about it?...... well.... actually quite a lot! i can decide how i want to feel- my emotions are my own. things get out of hand, things go wrong, things get scary, things get out of control. and i dont know what is going to happen next. its a bit nerve wracking indeed. and i do have the right to be scared, sad, unsure, confused, negative, upset -all of that. i can feel those things because to put them aside would do more harm than good. but here's the important part- i choose to feel them for the time and then i have a right to feel safe, happy, secure, positive, calm -all of that. those are the feelings that i choose to reside more in my being than any other simply because they make me better. i get more out of them!
i dont want to waste my time being scared and unhappy. i've done that already. and i probably will do it again at some point. but right now i am calm, i am safe, i am cared for,
i feel,
i love
i love
i love
will that love come back to me?
yes, i believe it will. perhaps not how i envision it but i believe it will.
sometimes you cant sit there
and listen to the music others are playing
sometimes you gotta get up
and play a song of your own
elena lu
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what i see, you see

and so i've started another flickr group! this time its fashion magazine depot here's some examples from members in the group:

{click photos for source}

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it's got almost 250 photos right now hoping will get more and more -go check it out and get inspired through fashion magazines from the 80s to the the present!

keep it in mind

"Stretching his hand up to reach the stars,

too often man forgets

the flowers at his feet."

-Jeremy Bentham

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Kinda needed a reminder today and i hope it helps someone out there remember too -that we have many blessings around us just if we stop wishing for what we don't yet have and see what we DO have then we can see that we're already so blessed indeed~ Happy Monday :)

what to do in Nashville

Had a little mini vacation holiday

went to Nashville, Tennessee

figured i'd share some of my vast knowledge on visiting there since i've stayed 5 whole days :)

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first thing is to look up at the airport! i fell in love with these lights!

next is to really take in all the bright colors of the changing leaves

this is how it looks to some im sure, beautiful yes:

but this is how it looked to me!! it was beyond bright! it's the most fun to see orange, red and yellow trees! i dont really have this transition period my trees just kinda let their leaves fall one day and bam its done deal. but wow to see the different stages of the leaves and to watch them gently fall down around you

oh yes it was heaven.

ok so now that you are in Nashville you must go to Broadway street

and take in all the pubs, music, and funky little shops along the way

you'll also find musicians on the street corners a plenty!

a stop to the Lane Motor Museum would be a good bet!

This used to be the Sunbeam bakery but was renovated

and now holds about 150 must see cars!!!

my favorites have always been the bubble and mini cars

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an amazingly beautiful place to visit (seriously its gorgeous)

is the art deco Frist center for the visual arts (no thats not a misspell, its named after the family that contributed to remaking the building) which used to be a post office!

but it got a multi million dollar face lift and now houses a number of changing exhibits

including the "Twilight Visions: Surrealism,

Photography and Paris"

the Art Deco building was magical (im sure everyone knows i adore anything Art Deco) and i was totally in a lovely dreamy fantasy land

there was photography:

Paris at Notre Dame 1933 by Brassai

by Man ray (in Bazaar)

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and to my utter delight there were numerous films made by Surrealist artists playing at different little stations:

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1920's "Un Chien Andalou" by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali

- has no plot and you just have to see it cause theres no way to describe it!

1930's "L'Atalante" by Jean Vigo and starring the original Dita --Dita Parlo (Miss von Teese took her name from her as a tribute

-so its been said)

cant believe i got to see this one! didnt really see the whole thing and dont even know if the whole thing was playing but got to see some of it so i was happy

1930's "Hotel du Nord"by Marcel Carne

it was all so fantastic i almost sat there at each film station

and wouldnt budge!

but there were other people and oh yeah the hubby kinda wanted to keep things moving along

we also got to enjoy a delicious lunch at the Frist Cafe,

sat outside under falling multi colored leaves and did some people watching

i was so sorry i couldn't stay longer in that place!

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a place to check out is the Cheekwood Botanical gardens it was so awesome and BIG so its kinda too much to cover in a little ol post (above a tiny little treasure i saw) but look at the following photo and tell me this isnt odd! They had scarecrows around from schools and community organizations and look at what i found! "Goddess of the Garden" -can someone say Halloween costume?! Oh yeah baby! Well maybe if i looked like this in a black body suit but um no so i guess its not for this year! Very interesting piece though

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one thing i didnt get to do is visit Belle Meade (maybe next time?)

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but it's always lovely just to order room service and relax a bit!

and the bestest thing that could have happened is that i got to meet fellow blogger Rebecca of Baby Sloth! She is soooo pretty and sweet!!! Even met her hubby and oh my word they are just the cutest! we all had tons to talk about and i didnt know what to expect but really it was just the best :)

costumes on my mind

dressing up ideas for next weekend.... halloween

let's do the time warp again!

flipping through some photos

look its me with my hair up -yeah thats how wild i got ;P

-i think this was my romantic stage.

i think i looked good with it like this and better than i recall actually. makes me long for short hair (again, i always seem to be longing for a cut arent i?)

oh look i'm starting my love affair with red lipstick!

see even thats stayed i guess once i find something i like i stick with it!

nothing wrong with that -if it looks good that is :)

this was when i thought i'd try thinning my brows! i've always had bushy ones and so i thought hmm lets see what happens with this and hey they'll grow back! well ever since this they havent really grown back as they once were and i kind of liked my bushy brows (now i realize this!) im just not a thin brow kinda gal. i really love it on others but i think i need a thick brow to frame my eyes.

heres me actually letting my hair grow even longer than usual (i think i should give up on the short hair idea haha) and its funny cause i dont do anything with it but for some reason i like it long.

might be a safety thing (hey i can hide in it!)

plus check out those pants man!

i remember i felt like a rock star in those :)

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it's always fun to go back and look at old photos and see what you thought was cool 'back in the day' -haha i like saying that- im lucky that i've been exposed to so many bloggers style and see ideas that i've never thought of before~ i would never have thought communicating through a computer could be so personal but i have made some lovely 'friends' through blogging and i thank you for the inspiration.

WINTER wear

yeah member how i was excited about Fall in my last post?

so THIS is the extent of my current Fall wardrobe:

my new me made hat! (see? bare arms! ha)
back view
yeah im proud- wonky bits and all :)
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so much for the cold snap!

fall breakout!

FINALLY got some cooler weather!

know what that means,

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LOVELY COATS-

Isabeli Fontana by Arthur Elgort in Vogue

'WARM' colors-

jessica stam by Benjamin Huseby in Bazaar

Angela Lindvall by Carter Smith

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funky TIGHTS! and boots-

stephanie seymour by richard avendon in Vogue italia '93

and my fave... HATS!-

karen elson by Ellen von Unwerth in Vogue 2000

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My cold weather doesnt last long so i better make the most of it!

Eh! Coco! Eh! Coco!

i went to see "Coco avant Chanel" with Audrey Tautou as Gabrielle Bonheur and couldn't help but look up some early Chanel work since the movie concentrated on her life before her career took off

photographed by Edward Steichen 1924

photographed by Edward Steichen 1924

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Audrey was lovely in the film and the very handsome Alessandro Nivola was fetching as "Boy" but I did leave the theater feeling like it was a warm up for a part 2 film -which i wouldn't mind at all- so it wasn't as awe inspiring as i had hoped but i did love the cinematography.

but in a way i will get to see the continuation of Coco's story if i get to see "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky" starring Anna Mouglalis because its plot takes off where Coco avant Chanel leaves off :

wonder what to think of Anna Mouglais as Coco? im not familar with her other work but hey its about Chanel and will get to see some beautiful gowns so yes if it comes to my city -im in!

what you find depends on what you're looking for...

a sea of Hawaiin shirts!
an old accordian that still plays! a walk over a creek and

exploring under a bridge!

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sometimes garage sales are just so much more than buying knickknacks at a cheap price

-the people that you meet, the stories behind the items you look at, the off the beaten path places you can adventure in are worth so much more than what you actually buy!

and of course i had to stop and look at the small strange beauty of broken, long forgotten objects found on the way:

oh i am thankful for still being able to see beauty in everything, for finding joy in experiences of all kinds, and for people who give garage sales :)

outfit inspiration

no matter how convenient it might be to save fashion images on a computer and have gobs of them at the click of a mouse, i still find it so comforting to flip through magazines and cut out pictures and paste them together in my style file! maybe because thats how i started out doing it as a teen that now its a habit i dont know, but i love flipping through my binder and looking at my little bits of paper! do you keep a fashion folder? is it online or old school?!

making forever friendships

there i am holding my best friend in my arms not letting go because i'm scared i wont make another one, hoping that others will like me. we try so hard dont we? wanting to fit in wanting to have friends. ah but keeping them well thats the trick!

the other night i had dinner with a best girlfriend from long ago, you know when you're in school and you say 'you're my BEST friend' and you think this is forever! well lives change, people change, situations change and you loose contact with these lovely little friends you make. if you're like me you feel sadness and a bit of regret for the loss. i also wonder what did i do wrong? why wasnt it forever? how can this be?

i lost and finally found her and after a very long time of not seeing or talking we had dinner the other night. before we met i was a wreck: who was she now? would she be so different? would she like me? what happens now? will we stay in touch? how much can i share? will it be awkward?

well of course! we hadnt seen each other in over a decade! and as she put it (for i came to find out she had similar fears) it was like going on a blind date! :)

but we really had nothing to worry about, it was no lost time at all. we laughed and shared like always and i think it was the mutual vulnerability of letting go of our strong facades in exchange for an acceptance of our weaknesses that really made it so special.

and while yes that unique friendship of youth is gone, it lives each time we reminisce

we can never go back to where we were so we just preserve the memory of what was and accept what is now. no matter what stage we are in our lives it seems we are always looking for a shared openness and honesty of reassurance that we are not alone -in our fears, our dreams, our experience on this planet. no matter what our relationship becomes now -i am grateful to have my forever friend back in my life.

may you all feel loved and understood. may you accept the blessings of friendship and kindness. and may you give them right back!

share and share alike

update on my flickr group i started called "Crafty Thrifty Frugal"
dude, seriously there are some creative and smart folks out there and boy isnt it great that they share their ideas and finds so that everyone can be inspired?! wonderful!
take a look at how they are:
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thrifting the most awesome stuff:

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making all kinds of cool crafts:

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repurposing their old items into smart new solutions:

binder clip is now a beer stacker (genius!).... irons steps become shelves.... old drying rack plus shelves now a shoe rack!

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saving money while living well:

...library reading to your hearts content..... pickling items for later eating- yum

... dates that dont cost much but give tons in return ..... dinner parties that are frugal but no less amazingly elegant!

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and best of all,

how they are enjoying

the simple pleasures

all our lives have to offer:

keep 'em coming folks! and for credit (none of these lovely photos are mine) please go check out the group and maybe you'll find something that will inspire you!! happy tuesday :)

is this the face of a 35 year old?

well, it is when i was a baby :) dont you just love the look? big head, big ears, and big cheeks! dude i was cute! heehee i dont have many baby pics so i cherish the ones i do have and this one is my fave! that expression! its just priceless! thought i'd share it since i'm 35 now and birthday was last month oh but the gypsy theme bash was not meant to be BUT never fear it WILL happen (just for some other event or maybe next birthday) and i will document and report back to y'all when it does! but yes i am now 35! WOW how awesome huh? yeah being alive is pretty cool stuff man :) no matter the number its what you do with the days not what the years do to you that should matter
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so yes i took some time off from blogging and learned a few things:
-trying to control everything and everyone around me only leads to confusion and misunderstandings -totally the opposite of why i try to control!
-if i think i can prevent bad things from happening i'm doing myself a disservice by living in the "what if" of a future reality when i should be living what my life really is now
-in that same thought: i can't wait for things to be just right to do "a, b, and c" (i can't wait for some ideal future to start living or to start being happy). if i want to experience something then i should, end of thought. no more to discuss. no excuses. otherwise regrets are in the future and not to mention resentment (if even at myself)
-no matter how tired i am if i curl my lashes and put some lipstick on, yup i look TONS more awake than i feel! :)

-getting into jeans that USED to fit but now dont isnt as awesome as i thought, since the only way i got into them was doing a little jiggle dance and doing a shimmy across the bedroom and at the end of it not being able to sit! oh i could stand alright, but sitting DOWN yeah not so much; lesson- either buy a bigger size jean and accept that my body has changed or actually oh i dont know do some exercise and change eating habits, you know just a thought

-this pic of this baby you see hear? yeah thats pretty much how i see myself! kinda in awe of everything in front of me, kinda confused sometimes but hoping that it's gonna be good and fun, kinda just wanting to be still and wait for something to happen rather than making anything happen myself, kinda waiting for someone to take care of me cause i feel so small. in other words... vulnerable. and i feel safe in my childhood i think. but learning not to make it a crutch -stepping up and being there for someone ELSE thats important too. giving them the freedom to be vulnerable because they know that i can handle

-and no matter how small i feel sometimes i should always remember that i have gifts, i have power, i have an effect on others and i can give that to others; giving of oneself might just be one of the most beautiful acts one can do

-in that same thought: there will always be someone bigger, taller, wiser, prettier, funnier, stronger, more: talented, skillful, assertive, positive, powerful, sensitive, compassionate, alluring, ... just MORE than me -IT IS A FACT! he, she, they are out there right now and when i see them i can choose to feel insecure or i can choose to accept that i dont know a thing about them and that they have problems and insecurities too and that they deserve love and compassionate just much as i do, so i should smile as we pass and i should marvel in their gifts knowing that i have my own gifts and comparing myself to anyone else is a waste of my time and energy.

------did i already know this? yeah i did...

------did i loose sight of it? yeah i did....

but then thats the other thing: i am an ever growing, ever changing, ever evolving being that deserves forgiveness and compassion and not from others but from me! if i treat others with love and kindness then hey i can do that for myself too. it's ok to mess up as long as i learn from it and keep growing.

-last thing: i should stand up for myself. i have a voice and i have every right to have it heard. i should speak up and say what i think and feel.

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i'm a believer of affirmations so even though most of this i've said before i think to restate is helpful :)

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i have tons of outfit posts, wonderful macro photos, lovely nature shots, and writings to share with y'all but for the moment the babe will have to be enough since a new computer in on the way and until it's set up and working the rest will have to wait! and now off to visit your lovely blogs and see what everyone is up to yay! blogosphere -i'm back!

off for a while

thank you so much to all who come to this little blog and find something of interest
but i believe that unfortunately i will not post anything new for the rest of the summer,
i wish everyone much peace love and joy. take care.
elena lu

my granny loves me

see this gorgeous candle? yup i made it myself! cause my Grandma gave me some of her beeswax candle making stuff from WAY long ago so i can have some fun making these babies just like she did -and whats cool is that i think of her every time i do and thats just so wonderful cause i am so blessed to have a Grandma! See shes my grandma by marriage not by blood, my two grandmas have both passed on but i still get to be loved by a granny and let me tell you ITS A WONDERFUL FEELING :)