BETTER THAN NETFLIX

Like much of the human population, I love Netflix. Maybe a little too much at times. There are days when, one moment, I'm eating breakfast while starting an episode of "Mad Men," or "How to Get Away with Murder," and the next thing I know, it's 2am and I'm two seasons ahead from when I started watching that day.

Sometimes it's a good idea to take a break, so here are some of my favorite (non-Netflix series) videos at the moment.

This collaboration between Alexa Chung and British Vogue takes a deeper look at aspects and people of the fashion industry that often go unnoticed. This is the video series you'll want to show to your friends and family who claim fashion is solely materialistic, superficial and pointless.

I came across this second video via RUSSH mag's website (

here

). The work, entitled "Nimbus," features jewelry by designers

Sarah & Sebastian

and explores concepts of "painted light and mythical motifs." It's ethereal, intriguing, and stunningly beautiful.

Now this video...I can't even begin to describe how incredible it is. The excerpt from "Il Capo" by Italian film maker and video artist Yuri Ancarani depicts "The Chief" ("Il Capo") guiding his men through the marble extraction process in a marble quarry in the Apuan Apls in Northwest Italy. There's something hauntingly gorgeous about the massive chunks of marble breaking from the otherworldly white and grey landscape, which contrasts beautifully with The Chief's gestures and enormous machinery.

Other documentaries on my must-see list include:

"Dior and I"

"The Trust Cost"

"Bill Cunningham New York"

The latter two of these titles are actually on Netflix, so I feel like that goes against the whole title I've come up with for this post...but we're going to overlook that bit.

NOVEMBER MOOD BOARD

November Mood Board

In my eyes, November is the last hurdle I have to get over before the holidays. I'm not a huge Halloween person. Thanksgiving is alright. October and November are just...meh. That being said, here's a mood board to inspire your November - the month we all set aside to shovel ungodly quantities of turkey and pumpkin spice everything into our mouths.

I'm thinking cool outerwear. I love a good camel coat, but why not opt for a green velvet embroidered bomber instead? And while we're on the topic of velvet, I've also been contemplating velvet footwear. Perhaps a chunky heeled bootie. But neutral New Balances are a necessity, too.

And what about that hand cream? Nothing worse than crusty hands...keep them moisturized, people!

Knitwear. Obviously. Preferably, of the extreme turtleneck variety.

And makeup-wise, let's venture out a bit. I love a good cateye. I really do. But what if we switch out those black super sharp wings for a copper-y lid every once in a while? A swipe along the top lash line, and a horizontal line across the middle of the eyelid. So freakin cool.

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

Some snapshots of people/places/zines/websites I've been inspired by lately:

1. Rachel Nguyen aka @thatschic

I forgot exactly how, but I recently discovered

Rachel's YouTube channel

and immediately fell in love with her personality, effortless style and incredible creativity. I have since watched ALL of her videos and have read a good deal of her blog posts as well. Her are some of my favorite bits of inspo from her:

@thatschic

2. i-D Magazine

I need to start buying more magazines. They're so just expensive!! Luckily, i-D has some sick stuff on YouTube as well, so you can be inspired without spending the $15-$20 a good fashion magazine costs. They have a huge variety of content - everything from avant garde fashion videos, to spoof versions of city guides. Here are some my favorites:

3. My Tumblr

I've been on Tumblr since I was a Freshman in High School. Proof: my first url was "a-light-at-the-end." Yup.

Once a blog where I reposted pictures of doodled-on starbucks frappuccino cups and cliche teen couples, my Tumblr has since become more refined and is now a platform through which I gather a lot of fashion/art/literary inspiration.

4. My Pinterest

I used to be bat-shit

crazy

obsessed with Pinterest. I probably spent five hours a day on it. Over the years, I've gone from using this platform to collect an insane variety of recipes, to using it to archive other things like wishlists, "home-spo," and DIY projects. If you're as obsessed with organization (at least when it comes to social media...my room is a mess) as I am, you would probably really appreciate my account. Pictured below are just a few of the 68 (I didn't even realize how many I had until now...Christ...) boards I have. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hope this post (and the links I provided) gives you at least some inspiration! Let me know if you have any other go-to platforms you use when you're in a creative funk x

9: SELFIES IN LEATHER

I had a bit of an epiphany the other day.

I was on YouTube for the first time in a while, watching tons of videos by "

thatschic

" and "

i-D

." I spent

hours

, eyes glued to my laptop screen, completely inspired by the incredible content these individuals and teams had created.

(I'm actually going to do a more in-depth post on my favorite sources of inspiration as of late.)

Yes, creating one post of week focusing on a "look" is all well and fine, but why should blogging have to be that mundane? Sure, there are creative aspects to writing an "ootd" blog post, and each post takes a few hours from start-to-finish. You have you style a look, find a photographer (or, in my case, bribe your mom or brother into taking pictures of you on your iPhone), edit the photos, write the post, edit the post, then share the finished product to your other social media accounts. It's tedious, but at the end of the day, the resulting content isn't all that different from that of any other "fashion/style blogger" trying to "make it big" or whatever.

One of the reasons why I love Instagram so much is because it allows me to express my creativity. I don't have to post pictures that look like everyone else's. Through this platform, I can bring my own creative vision (pardon how dramatic that sounds, but...) to life. By sharing my own ideas in a visual format, I am creating a portfolio that allows me to connect with

other

creatives both in my city, and around the world. We are drawn to each other's talents, visions and aesthetics. I have been inspired by, and have learned so much from, the many people (everyone from bloggers, to people working at creative agencies, to designers, to photographers) I have met through Instagram.

And yet, I continue to blog #basic blog posts that all go a little something like this: "I LOVE this skirt for Fall - the color is just perfect and the cut is

to-die-for!

," or, "Here are five different looks featuring my favorite pair of boyfriend jeans!"

Mildly interesting? Possibly. Creative? Not at all.

Which brings me to the epiphany I mentioned at the start of this

slightly

 pretentious rant.

If I really want to express my creative POV and inspire others, I need to learn more/do more/work more to create content that goes beyond an obvious/fake-sounding description of a "SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL LOOK!!"

I've been doin' a lot of researchin', learnin' and brainstormin'. With that, I give you the first post of a series I've decided to start, called "9." The basic idea is to present 9 pictures of either something in-progress, or of something that doesn't require a lot of copy.

In this one, I decided to compile nine selfies I took whilst wearing a leather jacket on the first rainy/cold day I had experienced in MONTHS.

I was insanely happy because of the cooler weather (by "cooler," I mean 65 degrees), over the moon because of the rain, stoked about my purchase of this

Ganni leather jacket

, and on a slight sugar high from the "sugar lips" sour gummy

candies from Sugarfina

I had just eaten. These nine pictures are a visual description of a short (probably five-minute) period when I felt f***ing awesome.

I'm excited about the plans I have for my blog and the content I hope to create and share with you all! Let me know what you think about this new kinda thang I'm trying :) I'd love to hear your thoughts!

THE APARTMENT BY THE LINE 2.0

This past March, I visited New York for Spring Break (who wants to go to Cabo, anyway...). During my trip, I discovered - and fell

madly

 in love with -

The Apartment by the Line

in SoHo. Its beauty brought me to tears. No lie.

So, naturally, I was ecstatic to find out that they had created a West Coast counterpart located right on Melrose Place. If anyone ever feels the desire to buy me anything for my future apartment, just visit this glorious little setup and grab anything you see (did I mention that anything you see in the mock apartment is available for purchase). Cheers!

I would kill for the marble tables I saw there...

Wrap me in that vintage rug and bury me in that bathtub (along with all the

Le Labo

fragrances scattered throughout the different rooms of the apartment) when I die...

Ughh so much love for this place. If you're in either New York or Los Angeles you should check out "The Apartment" in your area! Make sure to leave your wallet at home (and possibly your iPhone, if you ever use Apple Pay) or else you'll end up buying a ton of home furnishings you really can't afford...

Bonus...how sick is this photo my friend

Nick

took of me there??