OH, ROSE CITYYYYY.

Going to my VERY FIRST professional soccer game on Wednesday and I am SO EXCITED. Tom says we have to be Portland Timbers fans now that we live in Oregon, which I'm okay with...








...so long as it doesn't interfere with my first loves, the Gunners. ;)

An awful lot has changed... again.

New everything. New city, new Casa Casa Mia, new neighbours, new everything.

Oh! And newly unemployed.

But one thing I definitely can say for Oregon: the flowers here are like nothing I've ever seen.

Buddha Beach.

Last weekend, Tom and I took a little trip over to Sedona to stay with a couple friends of his. They took us hiking on Saturday and to the most amazing park called Buddha Beach. It was... the most amazing thing. I'll just post the pictures already.



























The path to the creek and the entire beach was just covered in these little stacked rock towers, like wee creatures had been building for ages and ages. The whole place was like a scene out of a Miyazaki film. Beautiful.


...Well, that's the last of my adventures in Arizona. Next stop: Oregon! And not a second too late, as I hear Sarah Palin will be visiting AZ soon. Dodged that one!

Playing dress-up.

So I work at a little clothing boutique downtown, and recently I've been able to dress some of the mannequins. It's tricky sometimes, because I've got these specific styles that I like, but I can only use the things in the store, so sometimes I end up using different accessories or things I didn't expect.

These are two I'm particularly fond of. Steampunk Natasha from last week and Mori-girl Natasha from today (all our mannequins are called Natasha, lol). I'm not sure of all the brands of the items, but I'll share which ones I do know.









Hat: vintage
Top: Weston Wear
Skirt: Hard Tail
Belt: vintage
Boots: vintage









Skirt: Flax
Bag: Chinese Laundry

I really like all the Flax stuff that's in stock, but the looks on their website are kind of frump. Such adorable little smock dresses!

Anyway, I love my job. xD

It's finally fall.

I've never really lived in a place that experiences actual changing seasons. Florida pretty much had two: summer, and three weeks at the end of January when you could put on a jacket.

So you can imagine my joy when Tom and I returned from a weekend at his folks' place to this:

There are leaves on the ground. There are leaves. On the ground. There are LEAVES on the GROUND!

And then we went to our favourite bar (it's got a rooftop patio, ooOOOoooo) and the sunset was glorious.

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year, and I think I'll be frequenting this place quite often to write (and drink) and outline (and drink). Anyone else on the NaNo wagon? Hope you're all keeping up with your word goals!

CASA CASA MIA.

In addition to making an exceptionally inspired and productive blog post about decorating this adorable little apartment, this is a perfect excuse to post more dARI tunes.


La mia 'casa casa mia' is bright and cozy... but pretty bare as far as furnishings go. I don't know whether to go all out decorating and enjoy this space, or do it sparingly since Tom and I don't know just how long we'll be living here.

One thing I do know... I need to get OFF the inflatable mattress bed. Oww, my back. :c

Okay. Maybe not so inspired and productive, since I'm now distracted by music videos.

ETA: Oh, what nonsense. "Casa Casa Mia" can't be embedded. Have "Ho Spaccato" instead. :P

Changes, changes.

As you can probably see by the header, this blog is still undergoing some changes. It is now called City Moth, which I think is more reflective of me and my personal aesthetic than RSP was.

My boyfriend and I are now living together in small-town Arizona, in a little apartment that I adore and will probably blog about when we start decorating it. Downtown is close by, as well as a nice green park. There are also scads of thrift stores about, and Tom suggested that I put my thrifting habit to good use and start selling some of the vintage-y things I find on my Etsy. So expect to see more of that sort of thing on the blog as well.

Moving was a big process so I haven't been updating quite as often as I should (Read: at all. Shame!), but it's my birthday tomorrow and Tom and I are going to the weekly farmer's market, so I'm sure I'll come back with pictures.

Just taking things one step at a time, really. If anyone's linked my blog to theirs, please update the URL with the name change! :D

The blog evolves.

I'm kind of about to embark on a new stage in my life, so I expect this blog to change a bit alongside.

I want to take more photographs. I want to write more, more stories, more opinions, more about my life. I want to show off my knitting a lot more. I want to show my personal style in addition to the Polyvores and the fashion mag photos.

I'll still keep posting inspirational things and commercial interests, but it is my blog, after all. I want to share a little more. I've been lax about it for a couple of months now and I don't want that to happen again. I like having a wee corner of internetz.

Plus, I need to work on building my knitted scarf empire. Herp derp.

So, watch this space. Thanks for sticking with me. :)

As promised, Disney photos!

I've been out to the Disney parks more times than I care to remember, but I always have fun. My pass expired this summer, but I got one last visit in before it got too hot to go outside at all (like it is now, you tourists are nuts), and of course I took a lot of pictures.


Cinderella's castle!


Cute little details in Liberty Square. Remember this movie?


Definitely one of my favourites, the Haunted Mansion. (And not just because it's air-conditioned!)


I can haz this wallpaper?


The photos I got inside the Haunted Mansion came out spectacularly creepy, all misty lights and blurry shapes. This is the corpse trying to pry up the lid of his casket.


And the woman's head in the crystal ball.


And a portrait in the attic.


Ghosties dancing!


Lights and the picket fence in the graveyard.


One of the singing statues.


Omg omg omg Snow White! I want to be her, pleeeeeeeease??


My other favourite ride! (Also air-conditioned.)


You can sort of make out the projected image of Davy Jones in the mist. (I said MAKE OUT, not MAKE OUT WITH, Jones fangirls. I know there must be a few of you out there.)


Keepin' to the code.


Jack Sparrow!


Sorry, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!


And I couldn't resist having my photo taken with Mary Poppins and Bert. I told her that if I had a beautiful dress like hers, I'd wear it every day. (I so would.) Wish I had thought to take my sunglasses off!

Back in Real Life, my new laptop arrived yesterday. I did a proper brain transplant into it from my old computer, so this one's name will be Declan again. Very happy to be able to blog normally now! Only thing left to do is somehow apprehend a copy of Photoshop...

Hope your summers are all going well. 'Til next time!

Blargh.

It's the last two weeks of school FOREVER and I feel like crap. I've been sick all weekend and it's going to be nothing but work work work until the end of the month.

I haven't been in much of a bloggy mood, but I've been all over my Tumblr, which, of course, you all are welcome to peruse.

Need some serious downtime. Ciao for now, intertubes.

Epic fail.

So, remember when I said I had a super crafty plan to go back to London for a while?

The study centre associated with my school hires graduated students into RA-type positions to live with the students, help them out, work in the program office, and organise travel. I sent in my application last month. And whaddya know, they decided I was awesome enough to have a phone interview!

So the interview was this past Thursday. I was all awake and ready and excited for it and everything, and I thought I did a good job and was nice and friendly to the three ladies running the program over there. They said that 7 interviewees were up for 5 positions, and that I'd hear something early next week!

Which turned out to be this morning, when I got an email that basically said "thanks, you're really great... but you're just not good enough, sorry".

Sad panda. :C

Serious post.

Today was an unhappy day. It's been exactly a year since Zach passed away.

I went back and read my post from then. I remember thinking about doing this, thinking that one year into the future I'd be looking back and remembering. I wasn't in London this time, though, I was in my hometown for spring break, and in all the places we used to hang out.

I never did post my photography project. A month before the due date, it became my tribute to one of the brightest souls I'll ever know. The subject was, simply, light. Zach is light, now. He is in the sunshine.







The lines at the bottom are lyrics from one of Sound Cannon's songs, "Godspeed".


I suppose I'll always be able to hear his voice. He shared some of his personal music with me and I will treasure it.

Did see shooting stars tonight, in the form of some random fireworks over my neighbourhood. Thanks for the sign, sweetheart, I miss you too.