(Room Tour 4.0)

So I'm realizing it's been quite awhile since I showed off my bedroom... thank god it no longer looks the way it did last time (or the time before) (or the time before before) but it's definitely within the same sect of teenage wasteland mixed with alcove.

Bottles across the widow (which leads to the roof) along with bits from Nylon's glitter goth and poolside spread. 

Various photos, magazine cut outs, and posters (my pride and joy being my signed Lights one duh) on the low ceiling above my bed. 

My (far too large) jacket collection strewn across my door and closet along with my main purses (at the moment being my leather backpack). 

My bed in its natural form.

A little look at my shoe collection along with the nickel board I stole from a friend in freshman year, and of course my "I'm a Belieber" magnet (a prized possession). 

My guitars carefully yet carelessly placed next to my keyboard and bookshelf.

My DVD collection next along with the TV I picked off the side of the road over the summer, and a bouquet of dollar store plastic flowers. 

Closer look into the true center of my room (my bed).

A couple of posters I stole from a pop up during Fashion Week over my dresser and bookshelf

I never fully bothered to organize my makeup resulting in this chaos. 

My favorite images over my bed (left to right: A Front Bottoms poster, This Is Our Youth, an editorial about School of American Ballet, a sticker from High Schoolers for Bernie, a Central Park Zoo ticket from a date, my train pass from 2 summers ago, a photo of my grandmother, a portrait from a friend, a postcard given to me by Tenn from The Deep End Club [RIP], a photo from a flee market in Williamsburg, this ridiculous essay my friend wrote, a postcard saying "My Outfit is NOT an invitation", a ticket to the Whitney from the first date with my ex boyfriend, "Happy Birthday to My Best Gay" card from my 16th, a photo Ben took, 2 post cards from Leslie Lohman, a photo from the Whitney rooftop, and a letter my friend Jurnee wrote me)

Bodega flowers paired with my various art history binders and folding maps.

One of the last standing collages in my bedroom over my makeup.

A One Direction shrine because?? 

Bits and bobs next to my bed (highlights include: multiple photos of Zayn, a dollar store "Feliz Cumpleanos" banner, and a Stop Slut poster from 2013).

Say to Me "Can You Feel It?"

THE DEETS:

-"Dads Against Daughters Dating" Top: thrift

-Leopard print skirt: thrift

-Mary Janes: Doc Martens

I Got No Friends Cause They Read The Papers (+links)

These posts are getting very circa 2013 outfit section (the ones I used to take every single day on photobooth ugh what an era) but you know I guess the lo-fi aesthetic is a good look as any- speaking of shitty camera quality, I'm finally treating myself to an actual device that isn't a webcam (or iPhone camera) for this blog- good thing it took me only four years to grow up and realize I need to reach at least some level of professionalism. Anyways, I took some shameless photos of my outfit that I was really into the other day as a last hoorah (we all know this isn't true) to this webcam blog photos. Along with this, I'm sharing some of my favorite links I've gathered over the past month or so because I guess I can be a semi 3 dimensional person. Enjoy.

THE DEETS 

-Top: Forever21

-Jeans: Levi's (thrift)

-Belt: courtesy of my mother

-Necklaces: crystal one from my sister after she came back from Germany, "Dingus" one made by my best friend's mom for my 17th

-Bralette: Aerie

-Scarf: courtesy of my mother

-Shoes: Docs 

LINKS 

- Daughter NPR Tiny Desk Concert (for that matter, any tiny desk concert is really golden, I'd recommend this one, The Front Bottoms, Jake Bugg, and PWR BTTM's especially) (Tiny Desk Concerts are also the thing that made me realize my actual dream job is to work at NPR I love NPR I love Tiny Desk Concerts I could go on and on)

-PWR BTTM: "I Wanna Boi" Music Video (it was put out about 3 weeks ago and has got to be one of their best videos- the color scheme and entire look of this video is so beautiful- Liv Bruce is also the most gorgeous human being on earth and the true love of my life)

-"Empty" Kevin Abstract (I'd like to thank Ben for this one- we've become kind of obsessed with portraits of America and this perfectly fit the narrative)

-"Can You Match the Scout Badge To The Reason It Was Revoked From Me?" (my all time favorite Clickhole article has resurfaced- I cannot stress how important this is)

-Spotify "What I've Been Listening 2" Playlist (I've put myself at that level of narcissism in which I actually think people are interested in my shitty taste- basically updating whenever I get into something)

-RosieLeizrowice.com (this one isn't particularly new but my favorite blogger- previously rainbowbobblysocks- has fairly recently started over and I'm so hype over it- Rosie is the sweetest)

-The Milk Club (Sofie has become one of my favorite fashion bloggers- her style is so put together and unique)

-

Try to Play It Cool But I Still Love You (PWR BTTM)

After months of waiting (since August precisely), Anh, Ben, and I finally saw PWR BTTM at Villain in Brooklyn on Friday (outfit post here) and with complete confidence, I'd have to say it was one of the best shows I've seen (a close second to The Front Bottoms duh)- it was honestly slightly odd since I hadn't been to a concert since last December, when I saw Frank Iero and The Celebration (one of the worst experiences I've ever had at a show), and after going through that phase in my freshman (and early sophomore) year of basically seeing a band every week, not seeing anything for nearly a year was a wild break.

Photo taken by Anh right after we got in- I remember being fourteen and fifteen and me and my friends would camp out for hours (like the time I waited in line for NINE hours to see All Time Low) outside the venue just to get the golden barricade. Just because I *must* sound pretentious and reflective at some point within this, this show was such a contrast from most of the emo shit I saw previously- for one there were was a lack of pushing teenagers trying to get to the front (that will not be missed). ANYWAYS, even though the three of us arrived fifteen minutes before doors opened, we ended up being right up against the stage (and lucky for me, right in front of the speaker- the ringing has still not left my ears).

                                        My loves, Ben and Anh, minutes before Lisa Prank.

The hypeman of the night was the "IM CIS" box- another really wonderful and beautiful point of Friday night was how gay everything was. I hadn't really been to a concert that was so reflective and made me so thoughtful about myself (whoa that sounds tacky and pretentious). In other words, I love my gay self and I love my gay friends.

Lisa Prank went on first and closed on a cover of "Dammit" by Blink-182- no matter what show I go to, I'll never be able to escape that middle school emo phase and that's partly because no one has fully escaped their emo phase either.

Vundabar was incredible as expected- Brandon was in front of me the whole time (god is he beautiful) and I fell a lil in love.

PWR BTTM !!! They opened with "West Texas" and I haven't felt so happy and hype and wonderful all at the same time- though my past concert experiences have definitely varied, there's definitely that same feeling of appreciation and love for whoever is on the stage and that's pretty golden.

                                       Love of my life, Liv Bruce, during "I Wanna Boi"

While Ben and Liv were switching instruments, Ben ending up falling literally behind the stage- all quite surreal and slapstick.

Nicholas being super beautiful and pretty- I ended up standing right in front of him and he snuck us smiles and side comments throughout the night.

The night closed off with a chant of "NO MAN WILL EVER LOVE ME THE WAY I NEED HIM TO" and encore with "House in Virginia"- all of PWR BTTM is so talented and I am literally in awe after seeing such an incredible band goddamn. '

*side note concert story: this entire night got me thinking of all the ridiculous things that have happened at concerts (which are especially funny since all of these take place with emo Ann from 2-3 years ago) and for some reason, the most comical and surreal and horribly emo memory I could come up with was the time I saw Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens on Valentine's Day 2015 (which is just a complete joke within itself) and Kellin fucking Quinn tells us the reason why he couldn't fully open his eyes was because he'd "just smoked a fuckton of weed" due to his valentine not being present. I'm not sure why that's what immediately came to mind but...

All The Boys Say They Don't Love Me (but i know theyre lying)

 On Friday, I finally finally (finally) saw one of my favorite bands, PWR BTTM, at Villain in Brooklyn (experience post going up tm!!) and as my two best friends and I discussed, if there was ever a time to dress truly to the nines, it was this. As all my ensembles go, quite a lot of deliberation and outfit changes went into this one before I decided on something I not only looked truly queer in but also felt comfortable wearing (meaning i wouldn't have to look at my reflection every .2 seconds or ask for constant validation). Anyways, this outfit got me through the night beautifully- I felt like the true gay princess I am !!

THE DEETS

-Top: Christian Dior (I s2g I got it thrifted for $4 w/o seeing the tag until days later- I vommed a lil-whata steal) 

- Skirt: H&M

-Belt: Thrift

-THE shoes: Buffalo Exchange (I got these 2 years ago because my shoe broke while in the city and haven't had such a fitting event to wear them to until this)

-Necklace: made by Viv's mom for my 17th (it says "dingus" on it- very fitting)

Sweet Seventeen

Yesterday, I turned 17!! That's so wild considering that when How Fitting was founded, I was at the ripe age of 13 with no actual sense of self (not that I fully have one now, it's improvement.). It really just is amazing how oddly different and similar I am from the seventh grade version of myself imprinted on the Internet. Forever. Ugh.

Seventeen is a rather odd and awkward age to turn. First off, there's so much in between. It feels like I've been in between forever. In the words of Francine Pascal, "I am seventeen. The good things about seventeen is that you’re not sixteen. Sixteen goes with the word sweet, and I am so far from sweet." and I take some sort of connection with that- a lot of being seventeen is no longer being sixteen. I'm on the cusp of legal adulthood and I'm nervous and excited and happy to just kind of hang back and be seventeen and not sixteen and do adult things such as driving a car (horrible at it. terrible. never good idea.) yet fully shying away from anything with unappealing responsibility. 

Along with this is the copious amounts of media surrounding the age of seventeen. I mean if we want to bring it back to my infamous emo days, there's an All Time Low song that says, "stay seventeen" and for some reason I was like "god I really can't wait to be seventeen because of this shitty song"- with magazines titles and lines from Abba songs, seventeen seemed like some sort of club to thirteen year old Ann. Television and music and film and photography made sixteen a rather pressured year for me to constantly have fun and be spontaneous and "be sixteen" be sixteen. be sixteen. And I don't want to feel constantly like I'm wasting some "precious" year (I'll honestly forget in twenty years) whenever I'm not be cinematically worthy. That's a boring and exhausting way to live. 

I sobbed the night before my birthday. I was organizing my DVD collection and fantasizing over what I'm spending my first paycheck on (as in a JOB. I have a job that PAYS. How crazy is that??) and something stupid triggered it like my phone charger breaking or not being able to find the lens cap to one of my cameras and I just broke down. I love birthdays. I hate my birthday. Similar to my feeling of pressure to have a grand ol' time at sixteen years old, I always feel like my birthday has to be some sort of magical, wonderful, day and I hate that. I hate expectations. Along with this was the actual fear of aging. It feels like I've fast forwarded through everything and now here I am and I don't really know what to do with that. 

The actual daytime piece of my birthday was quite plain and simple and average. It was Kol Nidrei (eve of Yom Kippur) that night and so my parents (who were observing the holiday) did not go out to dinner with me, which I was quite emo over at first but in the end, there was really no point in getting upset over trivial things like this. I shot a couple of photos of my grand entrance into the Great Seventeen Club (aka photographic masturbation) on my stuffed animal covered bed. I ended up being quite typical and watching The Naked Brothers Band Movie on the tv I stole off the side of the road that one time   as I do for every other milestone of my life. 

me holding up one of Ben's gifts

Actual night of the big one seven: I cried. Multiple times. I ended up going out for burritos with Anh and Ben and sitting in the park dipping chips into rice and beans and reading through mixtape playlists and eating sponge cake and being upstairs in my bedroom playing guitar and hanging upside down off my bed. All very surreal.

bedroom scene 

Overall, I'm not sure where I'm at with birthdays. I guess I've reconciled the birthday curse and understand the lack of perfection within them and the triviality of it all. In the use of a cliche, overused, Bradbury quote, "I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane." I hope to take this year to become less impulsive, twitchy, and restless and all the more. 

sweet 17: gifts