2 Years Down

   Exactly a year ago today, the first post for How Fitting went up. I looked like this

and every post went a little something like this. To sum it all up, I was a thirteen year old with a grand total of one friend and an uncanny amount of free time. I didn't really know where I was going with this blog (not that I exactly know at the moment) but I knew that I liked fashion and Tavi Gevinson and wanted people to like me because I had an insane amount of stress and problems with kids at school (most of them being my fault because contrary to popular belief, I was pretty horrible at that point in time). After a couple of incredibly embarrassing posts, I actually attracted people who wanted to read this stupid thing I created due to boredom. My interests began to develop from music to what I actually liked in fashion, and I realized what I wanted out of this thing I spent my time on. At first, I took a more zine approach and that worked and I liked it for quite awhile (more than a year) but a few months ago, after having been dissatisfied with the quality, I went for a more laid back style of blogging. I was becoming stressed and unhappy with what I was creating and blogging became more of a burden. The whole reason why How Fitting even exists is because I was bored and wanted to have fun and I decided the moment this is no longer fun, I either change what I'm doing or end this because I'm literally a fifteen year old girl sitting in my bedroom on my laptop writing pieces like this  while shitty pop punk plays. Though my main goal is to become a journalist in fashion, I can't take myself too seriously. Anyways, instead of focusing on horrible 7th grade Ann, I'd like to just have a quick montage of what How Fitting has become over the past year and all the super awesome things that have happened.

♥I have an internship! Though you guys probably already know this from here and here, I have rarely even talked about my love for BP Fashion Board. Not only are the discounts the greatest, I love the board. Every month, we learn something new about how to run such a giant business like Nordstrom. There are so many different cogs and wheels that go into it, and I'm fascinated with these people's stories. Also, as part of the program, I have to design a line and I think what I made is pretty cute (it's called "As If!" and is a modern day take on Clueless) 

♥Over the past year, I've worked with multiple really cool companies (here, here, here) and have already planned a collaboration with Moooh- which completely off the record has adorable clothing. 

♥I was nominated for a Liebster award by my friend Amelia Mad earlier in the year which was super exciting and it was so sweet of her. 

These things were about the highlights along with developing in quality, having Dean Dobbs say that my post on his song, "Consent" was a great review (and retweet it)

and also gaining a bunch of new lovely friends who like to read this thing I do. I'm really excited to start off this second year of How Fitting with more stupid things and pictures of me, Samantha, and John because that's really all this blog is. 

Love you from the bottom of my heart,

30 Reasons Why You Should Love Matthew Gray Gubler

(I found this in my drafts from about six months ago and thought it was the best thing I've ever spent time on)
As you all probably know, I have quite the obsession with actor, Matthew Gray Gubler, and here I will be simultaneously listing 30 reasons why I believe he is the best thing ever and bringing the quality of this blog down !!!

1. He is hilarious 

source

2. Can we talk about how adorable-y awkward he can get?

3. If you've seen any of his work, you can tell how amazing he is of an actor.

4. I absolutely can't stand horror but whenever Matthew directs any of the scarier episodes of "Criminal Minds" they're always fantastic.

5. He is on one of the only good crime shows.

6. Do I have to bring up Spencer Reid?

7. He can go from really nerdy cute to model status (which I personally don't like nearly as much).

8. He once stood outside in New York City on crutches taking pictures with fans and though he REALLY didn't need to do this, he really showed he wanted to be there and was extremely nice to his fans. 

9. "What Are You Going To Be For Halloween?". Need I say more?

10. His recordings of "Annabel Lee" and "The Tell Tale Heart" are so beautifully done.

11. He can be really self deprecating.

12. The fact he wears mis matching socks every day because the last time he wore matching socks he sprained his ankle is pretty awesome.

13. His mockumentary series is probably one the funniest things I have ever seen.

14. When he does that thing with his hair behind his ears.

15. OK let's not deny how gorgeous he is.

16. Can we talk about how talented he is? I mean this man is an actor, director, writer, and artist.

17. I really like how weird and "out there" his portraits are.

18. The amount of times he has changed his hair style fascinates me.

19. Matthew is just an overall interesting person. I mean his entire lifestyle is rather unique.

20. Am I the only one who thinks that the fact he lives in an old hotel in LA is the coolest thing ever?

21. He's close friends with Wes Anderson and was mentored by him in college.

22. His old modeling photos are the funniest things ever and I love how he pokes fun at them.

23. He has an appeal for anyone. 

24. Matthew's  dedication to his fans is so strong and I find that amazing.

25. His directing skills are so great like I swear to god he can make anything look good.

26. His music taste is A+.

27. It is adorable how during his liveshows he really listens to what his fans have to say and gets really engaged.

28. Can we talk about that interview he did on his first stage kiss? Because I loved how nervous he got for it showed even big actors like him can get scared over things like that.

29. His glasses though.

30. Um he's Matthew Gray Gubler.

OK this either made the quality of How Fitting go drastically up or dramatically down. It's hard to tell to be honest.

i swim in the water that's breaking your levy

John, Sam, and I hung out last night and it was freezing cold and I wore John's coat for a little bit until I took that off and became even colder. The ground on park across from John's was frozen over so we tried our hardest to get across the ice without it breaking and everything was peaches and gravy. 

i was trusted enough to take pictures of john and sam and they turned out surprisingly cute 

(i kept comparing john to bill murray throughout the night)

feminist fatalexmr john bell

we tried to take some "action shots"

john catching me mid fall through ice

Ain't That America? (Concepts of American Idiot and American Beauty/American Psycho)

   

   A favorite concept of mine is the American dream because what is it really? Grilling burgers at your suburban block party? A heterosexual couple with two children? Baseball? There's a constant undertone of this dream and completely destroying the idea through either satire or comparing it to our era right now in about everything from John Mellancamp's "Pink Houses" to my friend, Adison's, song "Bad Things" or one of my favorites, "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds. There are endless ways to take at the American dream from a picket fence house to milk and honey because it seems as though every movie or song or music video wants to be perceived as shocking. We want reaction and slight horror (basically anything you wouldn't want grandma seeing) every naked woman swinging on a wrecking ball or man singing about date rape is made for that shock factor. The idea of "edgy" that goes up against the entire idea of the American dream.
   Going off of this, two concept albums have highlighted the theme in similar yet different ways. Green Day's American Idiot and Fall Out Boy's most recent album, American Beauty/American Psycho both perceive the ultimate American dream of baseball and cute suburban towns but while Green Day's story follows rebels against this, Fall Out Boy has a mix between aggressiveness yet has this indifferent feel in other songs- they describe it as, "the odd place where light and dark meet. there is a threshold". 
   American Idiot is a pretty straight to the point with their story line: opening with the song "American Idiot" 
"don't wanna be an American idiot"
"subliminal mind fuck America"
and goes into the character, Jesus Of Suburbia, who then meets Whatsername and St. Jimmy who go up against these ideas and venture to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", and as we learn more about our band of characters there's a realization that St. Jimmy and Jesus of Suburbia are the same person (JOS is Jimmy's alter ego in a sense) and that him and Whatsername lose connection. In her self titled song through the point of view of Jesus of Suburbia/St. Jimmy, you get the sense she has given up on the cause and almost fell into classic America 
"did she ever marry old whats his face?" 
"she went away and then I took a different path." 
Billy Joe Armstrong's inspiration for his female character came from the famous Bikini Kill song, "Rebel Girl" who is most likely a teenager. The song "Whatsername" shows a grown up Rebel Girl and how as she grew older, no longer had the fight in her and instead married and settled down with a husband. 
   On the other side, there is American Beauty/American Psycho and though it's arguable, I would label this under being a concept album because the theme of classic America is ongoing. Though tracks such as ones named after American actress, "Uma Thurman", do have sense of dreaming America, the song that best depicts the fucked up American dream is no doubt "The Kids Aren't Alright". Mentioning trophy cases, crooked smiles, and old photographs of those who are now dead, it highlights the model family yet has a dark edge to it. Both verses have a sarcastic tone to them and cut into that while we can cover up issues with crooked smiles and distract ourselves with filling up the trophy case, the kids (people of America) aren't alright. 
   In the end, the American dream continues to be debatable because there are so many ways to take it on. My dad and I were in the car today discussing it this morning and he was telling me that there was a point in time where this dream was seen as something other countries looked up to because while we were grilling burgers in our backyards, there was (and continues to be) such a large amount of shit going on around us. Both concept albums have that spark of teenage angst mixed with real feelings against this almost impossible way of seeing the world today. 

all we ever share are dial tones

   i love so many people wow. John, Sam, and I hung out on Saturday before me and John went off to a birthday party for our friend, Eva, but beforehand, we walked into town to get her a present (we ended up deciding on a giant cupcake stuffed animal) and John took really pretty pictures of me and Sam. The entire night as a whole though was amazing- we went to the toy store and got fries at Stoney's and worked on the Fresh-Men's new hit single and everything was perfect and grand. When Sam and I saw the pictures, John commented that they looked somewhat cinematic. My response to this was naturally that it's a Sundance Film Festival short film about existentialism because everything is dark and people have colored hair. 

iconic.

it was fucking freezing outside but John insisted on taking photos of us as we walked back

as we we're walking into town- deer ran across the street from the reservation and I got overly excited

JUST DONT CALL ME WHEN IT FIZZLES

   So in a previous post of mine, I talked about being with my group of friends walking through various cool places of our town. Since John took some awesome shots, I decided putting them into a separate post would do them more justice. 

portrait of yours truly

i'm just an angsty teen from a suburban town who enjoys standing in dog cages from abandoned shelters

sam and i standing with a giant pile of salt 

flash spelling- i got the "o" because i wasn't trusted to write anything without fucking it up

me and my bff, Sam

a field we went down to find a lot full of buses 

smiley gurl

sunset over the field

corn field we had to walk through

awful attempt at light drawing

ps. I saw Fiona on Friday in the city (I also finally went to Housing Works bookstore cafe which is the best thing ever because I have the biggest love for Housing Works)

we've both grown quite a lot since the "twitter twin" days

me and fee's friend, carsyn, who i met that night too

All Hail The Unicorn Queen

♥Dress: Buffalo Exchange (originally Asos)

♥Headband: DIY

♥Choker: consignment

(John and I as the fresh-men)