Practice Gratitude

 

Gratitude is the most important part of my spiritual practice. My spiritual practice isn't something I talk about often; I think it's personal. My mom is an ordained minister. However, I don't think either of us would call ourselves 'Christians'. The basis of my faith is rooted in Abrahamic tenants, but I openly admit to picking and choosing the parts I like from lots of different things and throwing the rest out. Gratitude. Gratitude is the well from where everything flows for me. My meditation and prayer time begins and ends with gratitude, every day.

Yesterday was kind of a weird day.

I found out one of my friends is getting divorced. They got married about a year (maybe two) after we finished college, and things between them and their partner seemed good up until...well, up until they starting telling everyone they were getting divorced.

I, more often than I admit, feel weird about not being married yet. Ten years ago I thought for sure I'd be married by now, with kids in tow. I'm very happy being single and I milk it for all it's worth, but the truth is, I'd rather be in a relationship. Then, I look around at my friends who married very young, and are already seperated and divorced. I can't imagine that kind of heartbreak. This may come off as an asshole thing to say, but it makes me happy that things have turned out the way they have for me. Gratitude.

I was invited to an event last night through my company. It was a private launch party for a makeup collaboration (I'll be posting about the line and the products next week). It was in Hollywood. Getting to the event was a nightmare---LA traffic, Siri telling me bad directions, a poor parking situation, rude valet, getting split up from my friends. I walked into the party cranky. So cranky. The bar was crowded, people in LA aren't always the nicest. I was in a mood. Until the DJ started playing one of my favorite Beyonce songs and it hit me. It was a Thursday night. I was in a posh bar in Hollywood, at a private party, for a makeup brand that I love, collabing with one of my favorite pop culture icons, and I had been invited because of my super cool job that I love to death. AND, as I waited for my friends, my favorite band was live broadcasting information about their newest album release. Why was I going to let stupid things ruin my night? I wasn't. Gratitude.

I'm not a believer in false positivity. Sometimes shit just sucks, and we owe it to ourselves to be honest about it and feel our feelings. But, there's always something to be greatful for. Take a deep breath and look around you. Could you take that breath? Do you have eyes to see? Gratitude.

Find the thing and live in that space for a few minutes. Just try it for me, k?

xo

I met freaking Hello Kitty last night. I can't get over it. 

I met freaking Hello Kitty last night. I can't get over it. 

The newest single by my favorite band, AFI. I'll probably be writing a post about what they mean to me leading up to the album release. 

Seapunk

Okay. Let's talk about yesterday's outfit; as it's my take on my new favorite style/subculture. Seapunk. Seaaaaaapuuuuunk. Sea. Punk. Seapunk! Yes, it's basically exactly what it sounds like, but we're gonna dig into it in this post.

I first became aware of Seapunk while reading Lumberjanes #17, which features a bunch of badass punk rock mer-people.

You should definitely be reading Lumberjanes if you're not already, btw.

I felt just like April in that last panel. Mermaids? Punk rock? Two of favorite things were meeting??  I was honestly surprised it had never crossed my mind to mash them up. Mermaids are pretty badass to begin with; if you really think about it. Women who lure men to their death with song? How more badass  riot grrrl punk rock does it get? I finished the issue and googled punk rock mermaids. I needed more. And low and behold, I stumbled upon seapunk. 

Seapunk originated on Tumblr in 2011. Seapunk is an aquatic-themed style of fashion, 3Dnet art iconography, and 1990s pop culture allusions. It's basically a lifestyle aesthetic that is all things oceanic and of the sea. (Fun sidenote; earlier this year a group of environmentalist seapunk activists protested against British Petroleum's sponsorship of a sunken cities exhibition at the British Museum in London, and calling themselves a "splash mob," dressed as mermaids and pirates in iridescent metallic blue and green clothing, sang sea shanties, and put on a theatrical performance with a black and neon green Kraken puppet).

Musically; seapunk "constitutes a tiny music subgenre" that has elements of witch house, chiptune, drum and bass and southern rap. The only seapunk artist I can really think of is that i would say is 100% about that life is Grimes, however Kreayshawn, Nicki Minaj, Soulja Boy, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Azealia Banks, Rihanna, and Frank Ocean have used the aesthetic.

Fashion; seapunks often wear bright green, blue, turquoise, cyan or aquamarine clothing, featuring nautical themes such as mermaids or dolphins, plastic Ray Ban wayfarers, shell jewelry, feathers, tartan overshirts associated with the surfer subculture, baseball caps, tie dye, transparent plastic jackets, and skipper caps. Symbols such as yin-yangs, smiley faces and references to the 1990s are also a part of the style. 

Hair and makeup; seapunks often dye their hair, and sometimes facial hair, with varying shades of turquoise, lilac, and sea blue.

Take a deep breath, and say it with me; seapunk. We're doing it. We're buying into it. We love it.

My seapunk look today consisted of; 

Rob Zombie Great American Nightmare T-Shirt (That I modified by cutting off the collar and might distress further - I haven't made up my mind.)

Mermaid Scale Leggings

Iron First Velvet Batwing Boots (Sans wings)

And a denim jacket that I've had for ages, so I can't link directly to it; but I found a nice one by Levi's.

I took it simple today and paired the outfit with a few of my "staple" accesories; a basic ring, choker, necklace - but I didn't do really festive pieces, because I wanted my leggings to shine. It's also why I paired it with this Zombie tee - there's a lot of green in the graphic to match the leggings and I definitely think Zombie would get behind the idea of badass killer punk rock mermaids. 

I've also got the following pieces in my closet that are definitely going to contribute to future looks; 

Tuk Metallic Boots

Silver Mermaid Bikini (I can wear it as is to the beach, or pair each piece separately for a fun festival look)

Little Mermaid Damask Crop Top (Duh, of course you can use Ariel in your seapunk looks.

On my seapunk wishlist; 

TopShop Sequin Jeans (I would never buy these for that price. I'm actually going to make a pair of my own for way beneath that price - keep your eyes on this space for a tutorial)

Little Mermaid Stockings

H&M Gold Booties

H&M Leggings

Iron Fist Bone Deep Maxi Dress

Valfre Bomber Jacket

Jade London Mermaid Body S

Mermaid Scale Sneakers

Valfre Mermaid Disco Skirt

Isolated Heroes Bomber Jacket

Sugarbaby Seadream Gladiator Platforms

Mermaid Skeleton Patch

As you can probably tell, my personal take on seapunk relies heavily on a dark mermaid vibe; I stress the punk part of the name; maybe I'm more sea-emo or seagoth. Whatever. Make it your own. If you're more into pastels than by all means do the pastel mermaid thing. Make it your own, kids! That's why fashion is fun. 

MAKEUP

You can be as natural, beachy, and ethereal OR as dramatic as you'd like when it comes to a seapunk makeup look. I would highly recommend Urban Decay eyeshadow in Lounge; it's a red/green pigmented shadow that changes color depending on how the light hits it. MERMAID or what?

Urban Decay Lounge

Also, don't forget your highlighter. You want to look like you just came to shore and the sun kissed the water droplets on your face and make you sparkle like a diamond. 

HAIR

I prefer my seapunk hair red. Like Ariel. Duh. I added a crown braid with a soft wave today, because what's more mermaid than wavy hair and random braids? 

MUSIC

I made a mini-playlist, because duh. This is me we're talking about. Everything needs a soundtrack. 

​

Until next time.

XO

OCTOBER PLAYLIST

It's raining in Los Angeles today and I feel like I have ascended to my full power. It's supposed to go back up to 90 by mid-week, but I'm not letting that ruin my beautiful, glorious, rain filled morning. I've been listening to some emotional, gloomy, angsty music, and sipping my tea like it's the best morning of my life.

I read somewhere that it takes between 1-2 years for blogs to really settle into their niche, find their voice, and build their following. I feel really good about that fact, because I'm going to be changing and shaking things up around here again. I've been building a new plan, setting a calendar, getting things together. I've been really inspired by one of my best pals over at www.urbanavixen.com, Rini Foxworthy. Her blog is amazing; she's going to build an empire. 

This space is going to be solidifying it's voice and going through a small transformation into an alternative lifestyle blog. This really boils down to MORE POSTS with more diverse topics, and a new layout. That's always been my goal; to have a lifestyle/life/beauty/fashion blog for girls who are a bit more Hayley Williams than Lauren Conrad. However, I had a lack of resources and my life wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be in order to authentically create that content and at some point, I lost some of my passion and felt the blogging industry was bogus. I've written about there here. Things have changed; I've been re-inspired by the recent, positive changes in my life. So, keep your eyes on this space. Things are changing in great ways.

To the point of the post; here's the October playlist! Full of some old school, long time favorite, creepster jams.